The Historical Jesus: A Survey of PositionsRobertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Religion
The Historical Jesus: A Survey of Positions
Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Jesus Christ -- Historicity; Jesus Christ -- Rationalistic interpretations
All the same, he accepts the narrative as history; and he sees
nothing in the fusion of the two speeches: "Sleep on.... It is
enough.... Arise now,"... though he rejects the proposal of Bleek,
Volkmar, and Wellhausen to turn "Sleep on" into an interrogation,
[159] and admits that the "It is enough" is an "unclear and very
insufficient transition" from "Sleep on" to "Arise." Once more, which
is the more superficial, this lame handling or the recognition of a
transcribed drama with two speeches combined because of the omission
of an exit and an entrance, in what M. Loisy admits to be "a highly
dramatic mise en scène"?
But it is over the trial in the house of the high priest that M. Loisy
most astonishingly redacts the narrative. In his commentary he
recognizes that Matthew's story, in which the scribes and the elders
are "already gathered together" in the dead of night when Jesus is
brought for trial, and the story of Mark, in which they "come together
with" the high priest, are equally incredible; and that the story of
the quest for witnesses in the night is still more so.
Once again we have a sans doute with which we can agree. "The nocturnal
procedure, no doubt, did not take place." [160] Recognizing further
that a Jewish blasphemer was by the Levitical law to be stoned, not
crucified, he simply gives up the whole narrative as a product of
"the Christian tradition," bent on saddling the Jews rather than
the Romans with the responsibility of the crucifixion. [161] In his
smaller work he simply cuts the knot and alleges:--
"As soon as the first daylight had come (dès les premiers lueurs
du jour), a reunion was held at the house of (chez) the chief
priest," where it was without doubt [!] arranged that they should
content themselves with denouncing the Galilean prophet to the
Roman authority as a disturber and a false Messiah. But it was
necessary to arrange the terms of the accusation and distribute
the rôles, to get together and prepare the witnesses. These
measures were soon taken. As soon as morning had come (dès le
matin) the priests brought their prisoner chained before the
tribunal of Pontius Pilate. [162]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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