(Continued) 3. I am looking for the actual Jesus;
the Jesus who lived in a different historical era. This results in many differences to our current understanding of God and the world. It is exciting and important for historians to identify these differences in order to understand the otherness of the historical person.
To do this, historians need dogmatically correct statements of faith, but also heretical statements and remarks made by Jesus’ opponents, because the breadth of information is necessary for a full understanding.
- In my opinion the Gospels depend on classical literary models. The aesthetic effect (the beauty) of the narrative is more important in the Gospels than historical accuracy.
5. My image of Jesus does not require the scientifically problematic God hypothesis.