Jesus the Samaritan: synthesizing Two Approaches to the Historical Jesus and their Conceptions on the Continuity between Jesus and the Gospels

Abstract

Abstract This article documents how two approaches to the historical Jesus, the criteria of authenticity and the memory approach, generally produce divergent takes on the character of the (dis)continuity between Jesus and the Gospels. It highlights some of their respective strengths and weaknesses and attempts to synthesize their strengths through an analysis of the Good Samaritan. Alongside John P. Meier, it accepts that Jesus did not utter this parable, yet it also embraces insights from the memory approach on the role played by the memory of Jesus upon the Gospels’ portrayals of him. It argues for reading the parable as a creative remembrance, not of a historical utterance, but of a complex of historical impressions of Jesus.