1. WORD STUDIES

2. The word of the day is “apocalyptic”

3. Why study “apocalyptic”?

4. Because biblical historians argue whether Jesus’ ministry should be characterized as apocalyptic or sapient: Reza Aslan characterizes Jesus as a fully human historical apocalyptic messiah figure. John Dominic Crossan says that the primary emphasis of Jesus' ministry was not apocalyptic, but rather was sapiential.

5. Dictionary definitions: apocalyptic: describing or prophesying the complete destruction of the world; resembling the end of the world; momentous or catastrophic. (https://www.google.com/search?q=apocalyptic&ie=utf-8&oe=utf- 8&client=ubuntu&channel=fs&gws_rd=ssl) sapient: possessing wisdom and discernment; wise, learned. (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sapient)

6. Did Jesus perceive of himself as an apocalyptic messiah or as a prophet of God and teacher of Jewish wisdom?

7. Reza Aslan characterizes Jesus as a fully human historical apocalyptic messiah figure. ( Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Random House, 2013) 1. As a young adult Jesus fell under the influence of John the Baptist. 2. After Herod Antipas had John beheaded, Jesus took up John's message that the Kingdom of God was near. 3. This was a message that the Roman state would regard sedition relative to Roman sovereignty in Palestine. 4. Jesus aggressively preached his message, but only to and for Jews in supporting and sustaining Jewish law. continued...

8. continuing... 5. Jesus held an apocalyptic vision of the end of the world as it was known, to be replaced by a new world order that he called the “Kingdom of God.” 6. Jesus’ self-concept probably was that of the long-expected and hoped-for messiah who would liberate Palestine from Roman control and usher in the new world order in which he would be King of the Jews. 7. However, as Aslan sees it, Jesus failed in virtually all aspects of his messianic quest.

9. Bart Ehrman: 1. Jesus’ references to "Son of God" and "Son of Man" often are taken to refer to himself and to imply his own divinity. 2. "Son of God" is an ancient Hebrew term applied to kings of Israel who had been anointed by God (or his prophet), and thus had been "adopted" by God. 3. Jesus' references to "Son of Man" do not refer to himself, but to a heavenly lesser-deity described in the biblical book of. continued... ( How Jesus Became God, Harper-Collins, 2014)

10. Bart Ehrman: continuing... 4. The Son of Man, a heavenly being, will be sent to earth by God Almighty at the apocalypse to eliminate evil and establish the Kingdom of God over which a human messiah (an "anointed one") will rule as King. 5. Jesus didn't think of himself as God, the Son of God, or the Son of Man, but rather as the long expected apocalyptic messiah, a human, who would rule the Kingdom of God once the Roman regime had been overthrown. ( How Jesus Became God, Harper-Collins, 2014)

11. Bart Ehrman: continuing... 6. By the time that the Gospels were being written, Jesus may have become regarded as Son of God and eventually as God or co- god with the Almighty. 7. The term "son of man" came to be understood as referring to a normal human being. ( How Jesus Became God, Harper-Collins, 2014)

12. Peter Enns: 1. Literary projection may occur in either temporal direction, a. back in time by applying present understanding to interpretation of the past, or b. forward in time to interpret past events as applying to present conditions. 2. Enns says that Old Testament writers often "shaped how Israel's storytellers talked about their past" to apply to their present. continued... ( The Bible Tells Me So, HarperOne, 2014, p. 227)

13. Peter Enns: continuing... 3. New Testament writers Matthew, Luke, and Paul in particular, anxious to tell their perceptions of the Jesus story to their respective audiences, took liberties to reinterpret a number of Tanakh passages to refer to and predict the coming of Jesus as the long-expected Messiah. ( The Bible Tells Me So, HarperOne, 2014, p. 227)

14. Patrick Goggins: 1. Apocalypticism had been "in the air" in Palestine for five centuries. 2. The political environment of Palestine in third decade of the first century was relatively calm. 3. However, apocalypticism heightened significantly in the seventh and eighth decades of the first century (when the earliest gospels were being written) due to several destabilizing political and religious events. continued... ( A Reader's Guide to Bart Ehrman's How Jesus Became God, Part III, Kindle eBook, 2014).

15. Patrick Goggins: continuing... 4. Apocalypticism thus may have been projected by the Gospel writers in the seventh and eighth decades of the first century back to the ministry of Jesus in the third decade. ( A Reader's Guide to Bart Ehrman's How Jesus Became God, Part III, Kindle eBook, 2014).

16. Marcus Borg: Jesus' self-understanding was unlikely to be messianic:... we have no way of knowing whether Jesus thought of himself as the Messiah or as the Son of God in some special sense, or apocalyptic:... we have no way of knowing whether Jesus expected the supernatural coming of the Kingdom of God as a world-ending event in his own generation. ( Meeting Jesus for the First Time Again, HarperCollins, 1995, p. 29)

17. John Dominic Crossan: 1. The primary emphasis of Jesus' ministry was not apocalyptic, but rather was "sapiential," i.e., that the Kingdom of God is present in the here-and-now, and is open to the righteous. 2. Apocalyptic eschatology is a matter of humans waiting for God to act; in contrast, sapiential eschatology perceives that God is waiting for humans to act. ( The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, HarperCollins, 1992).

18. Conclusion: 1. If Patrick Goggins is right that apocalypticism was projected back to the ministry of Jesus by the Gospel writers, Jesus' ministry indeed may have been sapient rather than apocalyptic. 2. This implies that Jesus’ self-concept was more likely to be that of a prophet of God who taught the wisdom of the Tanakh to fellow Jews than that of an apocalyptic messiah.

19. This presentation may be viewed in essay form on-line at: http://www.dickstanford.com Click on “Selected Essays” Click on “A Post-Christian Theist” Click on “Ministry”