ABSTRACT
Culturology approaches the problem of the historical Jesus from a different angle. It presupposes that the cosmic Lord Jesus Christ figure came first in a special social and political setting as the product of many cultural developments. The cold fact remains that after decades of intensive research on the historical Jesus and the emergence of early Christianity, highly competent biblical scholars—some of the best in the world—have yet to arrive at anything beyond a thin, virtually meaningless consensus. Just as Plato drew heavily from his cultural heritage and in the process created literary and philosophical novelties of incalculable impact, so Paul drew from his cultural heritage and in the process created novelties of astounding and immeasurable impact. In many ways, literary criticism’s success has opened an even broader scholarly approach to historical-Jesus questions. To be sure, one or more people named Jesus who taught in aphorisms and stories might have lived in the first century.
