ABSTRACT
According to Borg, Jesus himself lived virtually free of the eschatological worldview. Borg contends that, fortunately, the Gospels preserve strong traces of the original Jesus. Convinced of the profound historical meaning of Jesus’ ministry and message, Borg devoted many years to understanding Jesus. The following is at least a resolution posed by the Fourth Gospel. Jesus is God’s supreme agent. Paul N. Anderson refers to this as “agency christology”. Like the Fourth Gospel’s author, Anderson has reflected long and hard on the Jesus tradition. Ironically, what specifically Anderson believes the historical Jesus did and said in the early part of the first century remains a mystery. According to Anderson’s analysis, the Fourth Gospel’s primary author employed the dialectical technique, deliberately incorporating contradictory views of Christ. Anderson correctly suggests that the Fourth Gospel brings contradictory claims together in perpetual tension, which neither the Fourth Gospel nor Anderson resolves. Anderson insists that interpreting the significance of Jesus’ ministry is a perpetual activity.
