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106 - The Silence of Jesus: The Authentic Voice of the Historical Man |
The Silence of Jesus:
The Authentic Voice of the Historical Man
By James Breech
Philadelphia, Fortress, 1983. 245 pp. $14.95.
In his interpretation of the sayings and parables of Jesus, James Breech has attempted a bold and creative synthesis of historical method, literary criticism, and philosophical and psychological insight. Although he was educated as an historical-critical scholar of the New Testament at Harvard, Breech challenges some of the discipline's fundamental assumptions. The consensus in the field is that Jesus' sayings and parables must be interpreted in light of the history of his time and the thought of his contemporaries. Jesus was a man of his culture and age. The author assumes that Jesus was an original person and that his sayings and parables express insights into reality which a few novelists, poets, and philosophers also have glimpsed.
The interpretation offered is based on a selection of eight sayings and twelve parables. These are virtually unchallenged as, at least in part, the words of Jesus. In each case, the original form is reconstructed from the existing versions.
The reconstructions of the sayings are in line with recent scholarship and unlikely to be controversial. The saying about the children in the market places is interpreted first and serves as a kind of keynote. The saying implies, according to Breech, that John the Baptist and Jesus were disparaged by their contemporaries, not because of their ideas, but because of their eating and drinking habits. Offering insight into the group psychology of the situation, the saying suggests that Jesus and John aroused hostility in those who found their identity in being a member of a group and in following certain rules. This interpretation is indeed a plausible one. But the attempt to separate eating habits from ideas is forced. Such habits may be seen as the embodiment of ideas. The
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107 - The Silence of Jesus: The Authentic Voice of the Historical Man |
distinction serves Breech's concern to show that Jesus did not share the mythological views of his contemporaries.
In a quite novel categorization, the parables are divided into photo-dramatic and phonodramatic narratives. They are all dramatic because they describe what people "do." The photodramatic parables report " visible" actions only; the phonodrarnatic report "audible" words as well.
The reconstructions of the photodramatic parables probably will be disputed. All references to the Kingdom of God are eliminated as secondary. The parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin end with the searching, not the finding. The parable of the sower ends with the description of the four kinds of ground.
Breech argues that the characters in the photodramatic parables are meant to be neither typical persons nor examples of moral ideals. Each is a particular individual who is observed in a detached way. The narratives show Jesus' ability to appreciate the actual other in its freedom and without reference to anyone's ego.
This interpretation is evocative of thought; however, it seems more to be imposed on these parables than to grow out of them. When the references to the kingdom are removed and, in some cases, the climax at the end, the stories seem rather flat.
The second half of the book is stronger, the analysis and interpretation of the phonodramatic parables. Some elements in the reconstructions will be controversial. Breech argues that the original ending of "The Unjust Steward" has been lost and the three passers-by in "The Good Samaritan" were originally a man, another man, and a third man. Both are bold suggestions, but good cases are made for them.
The last three chapters of the book are especially well done. The narratives traditionally entitled "The Laborers in the Vineyard," "The Good Samaritan," and "The Prodigal Son" are interpreted in highly original and profound ways. They are presented as remarkable studies of human character, not in amoral sense, but in the deeper sense of the fundamental attitudes persons take toward themselves, others, and reality as a whole.
Historically minded persons will probably not be persuaded that Breech's interpretations express the intentions of the historical Jesus. Feminists and those committed to social justice will not feel much affinity with the Jesus portrayed here. Breech has, nevertheless, provided us with a powerful interpretation of Jesus for our time, one which does resonate with historically established elements of Jesus' life.
Adela Yarbro Collins
McCormick Theological Seminary
Chicago, Illinois