Abstract
This study begins by declaring the standard criteria of authenticity ‘bankrupt’ and heralding a ‘Fourth Quest for the historical Jesus’ – a new stage focused on ‘overcoming the rupture between Jesus and Christianity’ (pp. 3, 97).
Part 1 charts a way forward by drawing on the critical realism of Bernard Lonergan. This philosophy of history is crucial to the quest because it avoids the extremes of both historical positivism and idealism, while clarifying the nature and role of objectivity and subjectivity. It also corrects the common error of equating ‘subjectivity’ with ‘bias’ and emphasizes the ‘inferential’ nature of historical reasoning. Bernier holds Longeran’s philosophy especially valuable for the work of historical ‘judgment’—the area where ‘we are most struggling as historical Jesus scholars in 2016’ (p. 63).
Part 2 examines three contexts essential for the Fourth Quest. (1) The ‘Dominical Situation.’ Here Bernier gives examples of how the quest might proceed with brief treatments of particular complexes of data regarding Jesus himself. (2) The ‘Ecclesiastical Situation.’ Here Bernier offers regional ‘case studies’ of the emergent Christian churches in various locales. Drawing on data in Acts regarding the Hellēnistai, Hebraioi, and Hellēnes, Bernier formulates a hypothesis for how the mission of the Jewish Jesus developed into a predominantly Gentile movement. A key thesis is that early Christianity was not ‘divided’ and ‘uniform’ but ‘diverse’ and ‘unified’ (p. 124). (3) The ‘Evangelical Situation.’ This section briefly canvasses hypotheses regarding Gospel origins. It proposes historical hypotheses linking Matthew’s Gospel with the Hebraioi of Jerusalem and Luke’s Gospel with the Sebomenoi in Acts. The book ends with a brief conclusion.
The primary weakness of the volume is the brevity of Part 2. The hypotheses forwarded there are often vigorously argued and thought-provoking. Nevertheless, some readers may remain unconvinced, since the issues are not able to be treated in depth, and some of the most probative arguments are buried in the lengthy footnotes. Moreover, in terms of specific historical judgments, at times Bernier appeals to reasoning that looks suspiciously like the criteria of authenticity (p. 75, n. 5). If the criteria are ‘dead’, the ghost of their logic still lingers. Nevertheless, this does not overshadow the primary strength of the book: its extremely clear explanation of Lonergan’s critical realism. Bernier’s study of objectivity, subjectivity, bias, data, and inferential logic is a major methodological contribution to the quest and a must read for anyone engaged in the twenty-first century historical Jesus research.