Jesus and the Mythic Mind: An Epistemological Problem

EMANUEL PFOH

'Is this not the Carpenter?' The Question of the Historicity of the Figure of Jesus

Equinox Publishing

Lugar: Londres, Reino Unido; Año: 2012; p. 79 - 92

Since the Enlightenment, the figure of Jesus has been the subject of an intellectual quest for historical knowledge, beyond the theological message we find in the Gospels?the famous distinction between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. Yet, very little (if anything at all)is known historically of Yehoshua bar Yosef in the history of Roman Palestine out of the primary sources, aside from the much later words from his followers. The correct criticism raised during the last twenty years or so by the so-called perspectives from Copenhagen and Sheffield in Old Testament studies and the history of ancient Israel should find now its place among New Testament studies (at least as a research perspective that deserves to be pursued). Accordingly, in the present contribution an epistemological inquire is advanced in order to deal with a situation not ever seriously considered by biblical scholars: the strong presence of the mythic mind in the world of antiquity. And closely related to that: Is the historical knowledge of Jesus possible at all? And, how is Jesus known from the perspective of the ancient mythic mind of the ancient Near East?