Annotated outline for Joachim Rhode s Rediscovering the Teaching of the Evangelists

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1 Annotated outline for Joachim Rhode s Rediscovering the Teaching of the Evangelists I From Literary Criticism to Redaction Criticism a. The relationship between literary and source criticism and form criticism In literary and source criticism, the authors/editors were regarded as individual authors of their materials this theory disregards the fact that authors had a bias ( exponents of the Christian community ) and discounted possibility of oral tradition. By investigation of preexistent oral tradition, form criticism becomes the palaeontology of the gospels. Form crit seeks the Sitz im Leben of the sourcces behind the text. b. Basic features of form criticism 1. the gospels are not homogenous, but collections of small units; 2. In the pre-literary stage, small units handed down orally; 3. Isolated small units can be categorized by genre; 4. The evangelists, starting with Mark (inventor of the meta-genre gospel), strung together small units; 5. Synoptic gospels testify to the faith of the early church, rather than the life of Jesus; 6. The Easter faith influenced the accounts of Jesus life c. An account of redaction criticism Concerned primarily with the Synoptics and Acts, Rohde gives great credit to Bornkamm, though first coined the term redaction criticism. For Bornkamm, faith in Christ crucified is the foundation of all traditions, and gives freedom to the revise tradition as needed by evangelists. An overview of Bornkamm s work on Matthew s account of the Stilling of the Storm. d. The chief concerns of redaction criticism Redaction goes beyond form criticism by being concerned not with the composition of many forms, but how the arrangement, ordering, and editing of those forms evinces definite theological viewpoints of the evangelists. e. The role of the evangelists in form criticism and redaction criticism To Marxsen, there is a preexistent unity of the image of Jesus Christ in the forms, and the evangelists by their arrangement further unified their accounts. Form crit concerned with anonymity of the evangelist by identifying the form, redaction seeks to know their individuality. For redaction crit, the final product, not merely the gathering of forms, is the real achievement. f. Determining the Sitz im Leben of the present synoptic gospels Sitz im Leben a term increasingly reserved for the setting of the redaction, not the historical event. Basic Sitz im Leben of the various gospels considered. Geographic and social locales are not necessarily in mind, rather the internal condition of the church. II Precursors of Redaction Criticism a. Form criticism Both methods, form and redaction, are byproducts of Wrede s Messianic Secret. Lohmeyer s contribution of framework study considered. Criticized for not examining manipulation of eacch pericope. Dahl and Michaelis advocate studies of gospels in their entirety as a response to the isolating tendency of form crit. b. The first beginnings in Old Testament scholarship and in Schlatter OT studies, especially VonRad, set course for redaction crit. The discipline further anticipated by Schlatter s work on Matthew. III The Gospel of Matthew a. Günther Bornkamm: End-expectation and Church in Matthew Matthew closely links ecclesiology and eschatology. Matt s Christology controlled by Messianic interpretation of the law. Matt fits his understaning of Jesus and interpretation of law within contemporary Judaism, not agianst it. Matt s anti-jewish tendency interpreted to correspond to post 70 Judaism.

2 b. Gerhard Barth: Matthew's Understanding of the Law Looking for both Matt s whole understanding of the law in addition to interpretation of individual sayings on the law. See s opponents to his view of law in antinomianism (Paul?) and the Rabbinate. Dominance of faith and obedience concept causes Matt to excise Mark s accounts of faltering disciples in earthly ministry. c. Heinz Joachim Held: Matthew as Interpreter of the Miracle Stories Miracle stories affected by condensed narrative and increased didactic. Matt omits unnesscesary persons and details from miracle accounts, more explicitly ties together the concept of faith and miracle. Also makes miracles into conversations or controversies. Miracles are most important by reason of the message they contain. Christology of miracle stories more advanced (fulfill OT, help the helpless, Lord of community, give disciples more authority in doing miracles) d. Wolfgang Trilling: The Understanding of the True Israel in Matthew The missionary command ( ) is the dominant paradigm for Matt s theology. Assumes an organic connection between the OT people of God and Matthew s true Israel, the church (78). The rest of unbelieving Israel represented by the crucifying tribunal. Matt s Jewish opponents are a type, undistinguished by party, etc. Jesus, though sent to Israel, is for the most part rejected by her, this is the basis for her condemnation. Gentiles are then eligible for the place held for Israel. Ecclesia functions as Israel e. Martin Johannes Fiedler: Matthew's Understanding of Righteousness Unpublished dissertation on the concept of dikaiosune in Matthew over against other concepts of the term in other contemporary literature. The righteousness of the Mattheaen community is attributed to their acceptance of the messiah. f. Georg Strecker: Christology and Ecclesiology in Matthew Emphasizes the unity between the tradition and the final redaction, so Matt is the representative of his community. Proposes that Matt forges a unity between the problem of history and eschatological expectation. Disciples use of Lord an indicator of Matt s community s confession of the exalted Lord. g. Reinhart Hummel: The Controversy with Judaism in Matthew The church has not yet parted ways with Judaism, Matt is a work that will be part of the final cut. Gentile Christians exist in Matt s community as well. Judaism will move from temple based to law-based after 70; the Christian movement s lack of total adherence to the law will thus finally exclude them from Judaism. Antitheses in the Sermon on the Mt. directed against disciples, not Jews (church debates). Matthew holds the replacement theory, where the church is now the people of God. While Jews have adequate obedience of Torah, they lack faith, and are therefore condemned. h. Manfred Punge: Eschatology and Salvation History in Matthew Concerned with eschatology and the destruction of the temple. Matt presents a realized eschatology, where future events (salvation) appears in the present and even the past (107). Waiting for the signs or the end in Mark becomes watchfulness to the obedience required by the Lord. Matt does not need Acts, because all promises are fulfilled in Matt s book and his community. IV The Gospel of Mark a. Willi Marxsen: Mark's Topical Eschatology Four investigative studies: John the Baptist, the geographical outline of Mark, the meaning of euangelion, and the little apocalypse in 13. John does not belong to the kingdom, but he prepares it. Geographical sign posts in the gospel need to be studied as forms for historical information, but can be studied by redactors in view to know the existence of churches there upon time of writing. Place is as important to Mark as time is to Luke. Euangelion reflects Mark s present, it entails the message of the Risen One, worked back into the historical narrative. Marxsen presumes Mark uses the word to invent a genre, into which Matthew and Luke do not fit. Mark 13 refers to the destruction of the temple, bound up with the Last Events. A healthy criticism of Marxsen completes the chapter.

3 b. Alfred Suhl: The Old Testament in Mark Suhl notes that unlike Matt and Luke, the OT citations and allusions in Mark are accounts of NT events in OT coloring. c. James M. Robinson: The Problem of History in Mark According to Robinson, the center of Mark s theology is Jesus struggle with Satan. Mark is a narrator of history and divides the course of history into three periods: (1) the time of the prophets, (2) the time of Jesus, and (3) the time of the church. d. Philipp Vielhauer: Christology in Mark Vielhauer s concern is the significance of Wrede s theory of the messianic secret for Mark s Christology. Rather than seeing the messianic secret as an apologetic theory, Veilhauer believes that it was shaped by Christological concerns. e. Johannes Schreiber: Theology of Trust Schreiber builds on Wrede s study of the messianic secret and considers Mark as a skillful redactor who reinterprets the traditional material and proclaims the description of the God-man Jesus as a message of the crucified and risen one. V Luke's Two Books Redaction criticism on Luke s gospel must also refer to the Acts of the Apostles since they form a unity. a. Hans Conzelmann: Luke's Idea of Salvation History Conzelmann argues that the delay of the Parousia causes Luke to abandon any imminent expectation of it and to reconstruct in its place a history of salvation which proceeds in 3 stages: (1) the time of Israel, the Law and the prophets; (2) the time of Jesus earthly ministry characterized by the absence of Satan; and (3) the present time of the Church in temptation and persecution. Luke s gospel describes the central period of salvation history as it focuses on Jesus ministry. This period of time can also be divided into 3 periods: (1) the time in Galilee (Luke 3:21 9:50); (2) the travel narrative (Luke 9:51 19:27); and (3) the end of Jesus life (Luke 19:28 23:49). This framework of Jesus life is neither chronological nor geographical, but kerygmatic in nature. Conzelmann s The Theology of St. Luke examines Luke s gospel in 5 areas: (1) Geography: The geographical elements in Luke s gospel have a symbolic theological significance; (2) Eschatology: Luke has replaced the imminent eschatological expectation by the conception of a salvation developing step by step; (3) God and Salvation History: Conzelmann considers Luke s gospel as a work of political apologetic in addressing the problems of the Church caused by the delay of the Parousia; and (4) Christology: Conzelmann believes that Luke has given no thought concerning the relation of the Father to the Son; and (5) The Church: Conzelmann sees no signs of early Catholicism in Luke s concept of the Church and believes that Luke portrays the Church as the successor of Israel. b. Walter Grundmann: The Gospel of Luke Grundmann s Commentary on Luke is based on the redaction-critical work of Conzelmann and Marxsen. c. Eduard Lohse: Luke the Theologian of Salvation History Lohse considers Luke-Acts to be a material and theological unity. Building upon Conzelmann, Lohse considers the Pentecost within Luke s salvation history as a pivotal event that points back into the past to the promise of the Risen One (Luke 24:49) and forwards into the future of the Christian church. d. Ulrich Luck: The Retreat to Form Criticism Luck attempts to go beyond redaction criticism but turns back to the form-critical studies of Dibelius.

4 e. Hans-Werner Bartsch: The Admonition to Constant Watchfulness Bartsch builds on Lohmeyer s construction of early Christianity and argues that Luke s gospel addresses the problem that the primitive community had originally expected Jesus resurrection and Parousia to be one and the same event. Although Luke does not indicate any definite time for the Parousia, he urges constant readiness for an imminent end. f. Philipp Vielhauer: The Lucan Falsification of Paul Vielhauer examines the speeches of Paul in Acts and notes that the theology of Luke s Paul differs from that of the Pauline epistles. g. Ernst Haenchen: Working out Luke's Method of Composition in Acts Haenchen reexamines the relationship between tradition and composition. Although he concedes that the author of Acts never worked without making any use of traditions, Haechen argues that the books of Acts is a skilful piece of writing and not a straightforward narrative. In examining the Pauline speeches, Haechen remarks that they do not reflect the situation of the historical Paul but that of the author. Furthermore, Haechen argues that the author of Luke-Acs cannot be the same as the doctor and traveling companion of Paul in Col 4:14. h. Ulrich Wilckens: The Lucan Conception of Christian Missionary Preaching In contrast to Dibelius who believes that Luke derived his pattern of missionary speeches in Acts from an existing tradition of sermons and kerygmatic formulations, Wilckens argues that Luke himself created the form and pattern of the speeches according to his christological scheme whose structure is determined by his main idea of salvation history. i. Martin Rese: Luke and the Old Testament Rese examines Luke s use of OT quotations and repudiates the view that Luke used scripture in the pattern of prophecy and fulfillment. On the contrary, the quotations were altered to fit the context or a larger theological conception. j. Günter Klein: The Origin of the Twelve Klein argues that the concept of apostolate of the 12 was invented by Luke. For Luke, a genuine apostle of Jesus Christ must be an eye-witness from the beginning. Thus, the 12 apostles have absolute pre-eminence above every other Christian office-bearer. Consequently, Luke relegates Paul to a subordinate level. k. Helmut Flender: Criticism of the Unilinear Interpretation of Salvation History in Luke Flender critiques Conzelmann s unilinear interpretation of Luke s salvation history. On the contrary, he argues that it is a dialectical one, characterized by complementary, climatic, and antithetic parallelism. Flender also refuters Käsemann s understanding that Acts 19:1 6 show evidence of early Catholicism. l. William G. Robinson: The Orientation of Luke's Work in terms of Mission Robinson questions Conzelmann s thesis that Luke s geographical framework is governed by the significance which he attached to particular geographical areas. The significance of Lucan geography does not lie in the fixed significance of limited localities. Rather, it is a series showing the growth of the Word, the expansion of the Gospel through the world. VI More General Redaction-Critical Studies a. Günther Baumbach: The Understanding of Evil in the Synoptic Gospels Baumbach examines the understanding of evil in the 3 synoptic gospels and concludes that they are different in each gospel and are associated with the theological tendencies of the respective evangelists. In Mark, Satan and demons are the foes of the Messiah. In Matthew, evil is lawlessness. In Luke, Satan, demons, and sin belong to the unconverted world. b. Joachim Gnilka: The Hardening of Israel Gnilka examines the hardening of Israel motif (Isa 6:9 10) in all 3 synoptic gospels and concludes that although each of them kept to the traditional material, they gave it a unique presentation through the editorial revision of the framework.

5 c. Heinz Eduard Tödt and Ferdinand Hahn: Christological Titles in the Synoptic Gospels Both authors focus on the titles that are applied to Jesus in the synoptic gospels. They both regard as authentic those Son of man sayings in which Jesus and the Son of man are not identified, but clearly distinguished from each other. Both, however, consider sayings about the coming Son of man with an apocalyptic shaping to be constructions of the community. d. Siegfried Schulz: A General Redaction-Critical Survey of the Gospels Schulz s work is a useful redaction-critical study as it works over the results of all previous redaction-critical investigations in a judicious manner. e. Final Assessment of Redaction Criticism This study has tried to show that redaction criticism is not antithetical to form criticism. Instead, redaction criticism continues and proceeds from the methodological foundations of form criticism. The evangelists did not shape the traditions in an arbitrary manner but fashioned their material to correspond to the needs of their community. Redaction criticism then examines how the traditional material was shaped within the setting of the post-easter church.