The Identity of Jesus Christ, Expanded and Updated Edition: The Hermeneutical Bases of Dogmatic Theology

by Hans W. Frei, Mike Higton (Foreword), Joshua B. Davis (Introduction)

This is a book about Jesus of Nazareth. It is not a book about "story" nor about "narrative theology" Hans Frei was not a theologian of story or of narrative in any general way, and this book is neither about the narrative quality of our existence and the gospel's relation to that quality, nor about the narrative shape of the Scriptures as a whole and the call on us to place ourselves within that narrative. Rather, this is a book about the way in which Jesus of Nazareth's identity is rendered by the Gospels-largely the Synoptic Gospels, particularly the Gospel of Luke, and especially in the passion and resurrection sequences-by means of a certain kind of narrative. -from the Foreword by Mike Higton

Genres: Theology

262 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

Reviews

[Mark Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overshadowed by Eclipse, this remains an important and remarkable book.

[Sooho Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hans W. Frei, one of the most important yet oft-forgotten theologians from his time, was a pioneer of a "postliberal theology" (or the Yale school of theology) along with George A. Lindbeck. Frei was not, comparably, prolific--many of his works are being published posthumously due to his untimely death in 1988. And though Frei would not consider himself a theologian, he understood very well how theology operated (cf. Types of Christian Theology). He is most well known for his narrative theology and hermeneutics, most rigorously argued for in The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative. His Identity of Jesus Christ, on the other hand, can be read as the product of his methodology explicated in Eclipse.

Frei was very frustrated with his contemporaries' theological enterprises. He believed that most started with fundamentally wrong questions and starting points. The who of Jesus Christ should come prior to the how of Jesus' nearness to us. This swapping of priorities is granted because, for Frei, Christians already assumed Jesus' presence is accessible. Why argue for something that is a given? We should rather be concerned with who Jesus is. And, according to Frei, one can only know from reading the gospel narratives.

His overzealousness for narratives, however, chokes out the necessity of historicity (he infrequently and passingly says "whether fiction or real" about the gospels). If Jesus' presence is a given, why go into the convoluted debates about Jesus behind the text or the various historical reconstructions. "Just read the stories and know him!" Perhaps there's something to Frei's zeal. Then again, perhaps there's also a real danger to it.

cf. www.sooholee.wordpress.com