Revolutionary contexts for the quest: Jesus in the rhetoric and methods of Early Modern intellectual history

Birch, J. C.P. (2019) Revolutionary contexts for the quest: Jesus in the rhetoric and methods of Early Modern intellectual history. Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, 17(1-2), pp. 35-80. (doi: 10.1163/17455197-01701005)

Abstract

This article contributes to a new perspective on the historical Jesus in early modern intellectual history. This perspective looks beyond German and academic scholarship, and takes account of a plurality of religious, social, and political contexts. Having outlined avenues of research which are consistent with this approach, I focus on radicalised socio-political contexts for the emergence of ‘history’ as a category of analysis for Jesus. Two contexts will be discussed: the late eighteenth century, with reference to Joseph Priestley, Baron d’Holbach, and their associations with the French Revolution; and the interregnum period in seventeenth-century Britain, with reference to early Quaker controversies and the apologetic work of Henry More. I identify ideas about Jesus in those contexts which have echoed in subsequent scholarship, while challenging the notion that there is a compelling association between sympathetic historical conceptions of Jesus (as opposed to theological) and a tendency towards radical and revolutionary politics.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Birch, Dr Jonathan
• Authors: Birch, J. C.P.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Theology and Religious Studies
• Journal Name: Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus
• Publisher: Brill
• ISSN: 1476-8690
• ISSN (Online): 1745-5197
• Published Online: 15 May 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 Koninklijke Brill
• First Published: First published in Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 17(1-2):35-80
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher