Jesus the Jew: Survey on the Cliché in Its Context

Omer Faruk Kalinturk

Article Details

Jesus the Jew: Survey on the Cliché in Its Context

Authors:

Omer Faruk Kalinturk

Publisher:

Marmara University

Journal:

Marmara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.64 Issue 64, pp.47-70

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

6/2023

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001292660

pISSN:

1302-4973

Keywords:

Abstract:

 This essay pursues the studies pertaining to the Quest for the Historical Jesus, which began in the Enlightenment era, and focuses on the dominant discourse of this quest in the present-day scholarly works on Jesus the Jew. The late-coming acceptance of the Jewishness of Jesus is now a scholarly cliché. In the context of the Gospels, to say Jesus was a Jew is not a really shocking or unexpected idea. The problem with the Jewishness of Jesus is why it took until the 1970s for this idea to develop. The second problem is how the assertion of the Jewishness of Jesus could develop so tremendously in the contemporary academy. That is a difficult question to answer within the borders of mere theology. Therefore, in this essay, I will have recourse to the help of politics and anthropology, and ultimately will claim that the changing of the main discourse in the New Testament scholarship on Jesus the Jew has happened for several reasons, but the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli Wars and the Prague Spring of 1968 have played more important roles than others, such as multiculturalism, the Second Vatican Council, and neoliberalism. These two events might show us the motivation for the sudden but widely accepted alteration. With the rise of the Jesus the Jew emphasis in Historical Jesus Studies, the intensity of Holocaust studies has also increased. Whereas until the 1970s there was no significant concentration of work on the Holocaust, since the 1970s this trend has been reversed and has taken a dominant place in modern academia. The Holocaust narrative has also been valorised by the changing geopolitics of the world, which has also influenced Historical Jesus Studies. With the rise of Israel in the region as a result of the Arab-Israeli wars, which made Israel one of the countries that could serve the world system, the emphasis on the Holocaust and Jesus the Jew became a kind of propaganda in the academy. However, it is not these movements that have ensured the success of this wind change. The event that led to the thawing of the Cold War was the Prague Spring of 1968. The ideal of a Socialism outside the example of the Soviet Union, which was trying to be created in Czechoslovakia, was crushed by Soviet tanks. Since the Soviet Union itself destroyed this attempt to heal the corruption within itself, the Soviet reaction must be seen as the suicide of Socialism. It is for this reason that the second power of the Cold War period ideologically withdrew from the scene. The crushing of the Prague Spring led to a spring in a different field of modern academia: the Quest for the Historical Jesus and Holocaust Studies.

 This essay pursues the studies pertaining to the Quest for the Historical Jesus, which began in the Enlightenment era, and focuses on the dominant discourse of this quest in the present-day scholarly works on Jesus the Jew. The late-coming acceptance of the Jewishness of Jesus is now a scholarly cliché. In the context of the Gospels, to say Jesus was a Jew is not a really shocking or unexpected idea. The problem with the Jewishness of Jesus is why it took until the 1970s for this idea to develop. The second problem is how the assertion of the Jewishness of Jesus could develop so tremendously in the contemporary academy. That is a difficult question to answer within the borders of mere theology. Therefore, in this essay, I will have recourse to the help of politics and anthropology, and ultimately will claim that the changing of the main discourse in the New Testament scholarship on Jesus the Jew has happened for several reasons, but the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli Wars and the Prague Spring of 1968 have played more important roles than others, such as multiculturalism, the Second Vatican Council, and neoliberalism. These two events might show us the motivation for the sudden but widely accepted alteration. With the rise of the Jesus the Jew emphasis in Historical Jesus Studies, the intensity of Holocaust studies has also increased. Whereas until the 1970s there was no significant concentration of work on the Holocaust, since the 1970s this trend has been reversed and has taken a dominant place in modern academia. The Holocaust narrative has also been valorised by the changing geopolitics of the world, which has also influenced Historical Jesus Studies. With the rise of Israel in the region as a result of the Arab-Israeli wars, which made Israel one of the countries that could serve the world system, the emphasis on the Holocaust and Jesus the Jew became a kind of propaganda in the academy. However, it is not these movements that have ensured the success of this wind change. The event that led to the thawing of the Cold War was the Prague Spring of 1968. The ideal of a Socialism outside the example of the Soviet Union, which was trying to be created in Czechoslovakia, was crushed by Soviet tanks. Since the Soviet Union itself destroyed this attempt to heal the corruption within itself, the Soviet reaction must be seen as the suicide of Socialism. It is for this reason that the second power of the Cold War period ideologically withdrew from the scene. The crushing of the Prague Spring led to a spring in a different field of modern academia: the Quest for the Historical Jesus and Holocaust Studies.

 This essay pursues the studies pertaining to the Quest for the Historical Jesus, which began in the Enlightenment era, and focuses on the dominant discourse of this quest in the present-day scholarly works on Jesus the Jew. The late-coming acceptance of the Jewishness of Jesus is now a scholarly cliché. In the context of the Gospels, to say Jesus was a Jew is not a really shocking or unexpected idea. The problem with the Jewishness of Jesus is why it took until the 1970s for this idea to develop. The second problem is how the assertion of the Jewishness of Jesus could develop so tremendously in the contemporary academy. That is a difficult question to answer within the borders of mere theology. Therefore, in this essay, I will have recourse to the help of politics and anthropology, and ultimately will claim that the changing of the main discourse in the New Testament scholarship on Jesus the Jew has happened for several reasons, but the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli Wars and the Prague Spring of 1968 have played more important roles than others, such as multiculturalism, the Second Vatican Council, and neoliberalism. These two events might show us the motivation for the sudden but widely accepted alteration. With the rise of the Jesus the Jew emphasis in Historical Jesus Studies, the intensity of Holocaust studies has also increased. Whereas until the 1970s there was no significant concentration of work on the Holocaust, since the 1970s this trend has been reversed and has taken a dominant place in modern academia. The Holocaust narrative has also been valorised by the changing geopolitics of the world, which has also influenced Historical Jesus Studies. With the rise of Israel in the region as a result of the Arab-Israeli wars, which made Israel one of the countries that could serve the world system, the emphasis on the Holocaust and Jesus the Jew became a kind of propaganda in the academy. However, it is not these movements that have ensured the success of this wind change. The event that led to the thawing of the Cold War was the Prague Spring of 1968. The ideal of a Socialism outside the example of the Soviet Union, which was trying to be created in Czechoslovakia, was crushed by Soviet tanks. Since the Soviet Union itself destroyed this attempt to heal the corruption within itself, the Soviet reaction must be seen as the suicide of Socialism. It is for this reason that the second power of the Cold War period ideologically withdrew from the scene. The crushing of the Prague Spring led to a spring in a different field of modern academia: the Quest for the Historical Jesus and Holocaust Studies.

 Bu makale, Aydınlanma döneminde başlayan tarihsel İsa arayışına ilişkin çalışmaları takip etmekte ve bu arayışın günümüzde yapılan akademik çalışmalarda karşımıza çıkan Yahudi İsa söylemine odaklanmaktadır. İsanın Yahudiliğinin geç de olsa kabul edilmesi artık akademik bir klişedir. İnciller bağlamında, İsa bir Yahudiydi demek gerçekten şaşırtıcı ya da umulmadık bir fikir değildir. İsanın Yahudiliğiyle ilgili sorun, bu fikrin gelişmesinin neden 1970lere kadar sarkmış olduğudur. İkinci sorun ise İsanın Yahudiliği iddiasının modern akademide nasıl bu kadar muazzam bir gelişme gösterebildiğidir. Bu, salt teolojinin sınırları içinde yanıtlanması zor bir sorudur. Bu nedenle, bu makalede siyaset ve antropolojinin yardımına başvuracak ve nihayetinde Yeni Ahit çalışmalarında Yahudi İsaya ilişkin ana söylemin değişmesinin çeşitli nedenlerle gerçekleştiğini, ancak 1967 ve 1973 Arap-İsrail Savaşları ile 1968 Prag Baharının çokkültürlülük, İkinci Vatikan Konsili ve neoliberalizm gibi diğerlerinden daha önemli roller oynadığını iddia edeceğiz. Bu iki olay bize bu ani ama büyük ölçüde kabul gören değişimin motivasyonunu gösterebilir. Tarihsel İsa Araştırmalarında Yahudi İsa vurgusunun yükselişiyle birlikte Holokost çalışmalarının yoğunluğu da artmıştır. 1970lere kadar Holokost üzerine kayda değer bir çalışma yoğunluğu yokken, 1970lerden bu yana bu eğilim tersine dönmüş ve modern akademide başat bir yer edinmiştir. Holokost anlatısı, Tarihsel İsa Çalışmalarını da etkileyen dünyanın değişen jeopolitiği tarafından da değerlendirilmiştir. Arap-İsrail savaşları sonucunda bölgede yükselen İsrailin dünya sistemine hizmet edebilecek ülkelerden biri haline gelmesiyle birlikte Holokost ve Yahudi İsa vurgusu akademide bir tür propagandaya dönüşmüştür. Ancak bu rüzgar değişiminin başarıya ulaşmasını sağlayan bu hareketler değildir. Soğuk Savaşın çözülmesine yol açan olay 1968 Prag Baharıdır. Çekoslovakyada yaratılmaya çalışılan Sovyetler Birliği örneği dışında bir Sosyalizm ideali Sovyet tankları tarafından ezilmiştir. Sovyetler Birliği kendi içindeki yozlaşmayı iyileştirmeye yönelik bu girişimi bizzat kendisi yok ettiğinden, Sovyetlerin bu tepkisi Sosyalizmin intiharı olarak görülmelidir. Bu nedenle Soğuk Savaş döneminin ikinci gücü ideolojik olarak sahneden çekilmiştir. Prag Baharının ezilmesi, modern akademinin farklı alanlarında bir bahara yol açmıştır: Tarihsel İsa Arayışı ve Holokost Çalışmaları.

Article Details

Jesus the Jew: Survey on the Cliché in Its Context

Authors:

Omer Faruk Kalinturk

Publisher:

Marmara University

Journal:

Marmara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.64 Issue 64, pp.47-70

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

6/2023

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001292660

pISSN:

1302-4973

The Quest

the Nazis

Arian

Holocaust

Prague Spring

Communism

USA

Israel.Tarihsel Isa Arayışı

Naziler

Ari

Holokost

Prag Baharı

Komünizm

ABD

İsrail.

Issues

Article Details

Authors: Omer Faruk Kalinturk

Publisher: Marmara University

Journal: Marmara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.64 Issue 64, pp.47-70

Document Type: Article

Publication Date: 6/2023

Document Language: English

Document ID (Org No.): 2001292660

pISSN: 1302-4973

Issues

Authors:

Omer Faruk Kalinturk

Publisher:

Marmara University

Journal:

Marmara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.64 Issue 64, pp.47-70

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

6/2023

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001292660

pISSN:

1302-4973