The Christological discussion about the “Historical Jesus”

Abstract

What was Jesus doing? – that’s the interrogation that moves the discussion about the historical Jesus. To answer this question, we need to check the literature that historiography developed over the centuries. The modern age called it “historical criticism”. The figure of Jesus that comes from this research is called “the historical Jesus”. The investigation on the historical Jesus is limited only to empirically verifiable facts, through the so-called “evidence” (historical-critical facts) and statements that essentially contain the convergence of several sources. The historical Jesus, on the one hand, is more restricted than the “earthly” Jesus of the faith narrative. On the other hand, it is broader, because it may eventually present features that are not exposed in the gospels or in other writings of the early Christian faith, as would be in the case of the discovery of the diary recounting his wanderings between the ages of thirteen and thirty.