Study of the Historical Jesus (EABS)

Call For Papers: For some decades, the history of Jesus research has been often described through the so-called “three-quests” model, with its threefold (or fourfold) division in “Old Quest” (“No Quest”), “New Quest”, and “Third Quest”. This historiographical model, however, has been subjected, at the beginning of this century, to devastating criticisms, according to which its assertions and assumptions are built on arbitrary grounds and are refuted by literary evidence and sound reasoning, thereby unveiling its incapacity of convincingly explaining the history of the research; some of these criticisms have even argued that this historiographical construct could serve theological interests. And it is generally affirmed that the research on the historical Jesus begins with H. S. Reimarus, but this contention has also been challenged by several scholars, with different approaches and backgrounds, who have compellingly pointed out that the attempt to reconstruct an image of Jesus independently of the theological interpretations of the churches is already attested much earlier. Therefore, there is a growing awareness in the field that one of our pressing tasks is the design of a new and more accurate interpretive paradigm of the history of this discipline. This year we will accordingly consider papers aimed at rethinking in an innovative and critical way the history of Jesus research. Some possible topics follow: Which authors previously to Reimarus (and English Deists) should be taken into account in this history, and why? When and in which contexts was a historical research of Jesus born? Should a purely diachronic approach in phases be complemented (or rather replaced) by another approach? Is it possible to write a history of Jesus research without ideological agendas lurking beneath the surface?

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