Quest for the historical Jesus

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The quest for the historical Jesus consists of academic efforts to determine what words and actions, if any, may be attributed to Jesus, and to use the findings to provide portraits of the historical Jesus. Since the 18th century, three scholarly quests for the historical Jesus are distinguished, each with distinct characteristics based on the research criteria developed during each phase. These quests differ from earlier approaches because they rely on the historical method to study biblical narratives. While textual analysis of biblical sources had taken place for centuries, the three quests introduced new methods and techniques to establish their validity. The enthusiasm shown during the first quest diminished after Albert Schweitzer's critique of 1906 in which he pointed out shortcomings in the approaches used at the time. The second quest began in 1953 and introduced new techniques that plateaued in the 1970s. In the 1980s, scholars gradually introduced new ideas, initiating a third...

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