Here is a well-known quote from Kittel on the historical Jesus vs. Christ of faith:
The Jesus of History is valueless and unintelligible unless He be experienced and confessed by faith as the living Christ. But, if we would be true to the New Testament, we must at once reverse this judgment. The Christ of faith has no existence, is mere noise and smoke, apart from the reality of Jesus of History. These two are utterly inseparable in the New Testament. They cannot even be thought of apart … Anyone who attempts first to separate the two and then to describe only one of them, has nothing in common with the New Testament.
Gerhard Kittel, G. K. A. Bell and A. Deissman (eds), Mysterium Christi (London, 1930), 49.
2 comments:
This is an important quote. Paul Barnett says something similar in his book "Finding the Historical Christ". He purposely named the book this way to demonstrate the inseparability of the Christ of faith and the Historical Jesus. I am encouraged by Kittel's statement.
Bird,
You must read and write constantly. I googled three articles this weekend and was directed to your website each time. Topics ranging from NPP to TIS.
You're a stud.
Michael
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