Page 95 - A Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy

Jesus took up in his preaching will provide a sound model that contemporary preachers should

emulate.

It is difficult to pin down who Jesus was and what his role was in his preaching ministry.

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Throughout history, many scholars have tried to answer this enigma. Nevertheless, many

attempted depictions are possible depending on the perspective. The scholars perceived Jesus

primarily in two ways: as a prophet and as a teacher. Thus, this section will explore these two

preaching roles of Jesus as a prophet and Jesus as a teacher.

Jesus as the Prophet

Jesus is not simply a prophet numbered among the other prophets in Israelite

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history; yet, he functioned like a prophet during his public life. Jesus played the role similar to

that of a prophet in the world of early Judaism. First, Jesus stood in succession to previous

prophets to some degree, such that even his contemporaries identified him with his prophetic

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For a brief historiography of the study of the historical Jesus, see Mark Allen Powell,
Jesus as a Figure in History: How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee (Louisville,
KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), 12-30. He summarizes the history of the study
through the three quests: 1) “Quest of the Historical Jesus”; 2) “The New Quest”; and 3) “The
Third Quest.” The first quest was mainly concerning the life of Jesus, the second, the message of
Jesus, the third, the Jewishness of Jesus. Marcus J. Borg, Jesus in Contemporary Scholarship
(Valley Forge, PN: Trinity Press International, 1994), 18-43. He presents five portraits of Jesus
that were drawn by North American Scholars: 1) An eschatological prophet standing in the
tradition of Jewish restoration theology (E. P. Sanders); 2) A Cynic sage or Cynic teacher more
Hellenistic than Jewish (Burton Mack); 3) A wisdom prophet and founder of a Jewish renewal
movement with a socially radical vision and praxis (Elisabeth S. Fiorenza); 4) A charismatic
healer, subversive sage, and social prophet (Marcus J. Borg); and 5) A social prophet standing in
the radical prophetic tradition of Israel (Richard Horsely).