Jesus as Jewish Charismatic Healer
Jesus as Jewish Charismatic Healer
In chs. 13-17 we will examine in greater detail the evidence that many of Jesus’ Jewish contemporaries understood him as a sage and prophet; these views fit our textual evidence much better than proposals that neglect first-century Jewish sources. Nevertheless, we must introduce such categories briefly here lest some readers suppose that our position is a novel or idiosyncratic one.
I will revisit Vermes’ work briefly in ch. 17 (though trying not to repeat all that I have said here). Moreover, because I have deferred most questions about Jesus’ miracles to a separate book, I will not treat Vermes’ approach here as thoroughly as if I had tried to include all my material in one volume. Nevertheless, it is valuable to introduce his work here, as illustrative of a key element of the current discussion.52
The brief way in which scholars usually summarize other scholars’ views may be too rigid. Although Vermes emphasizes the “charismatic” rather than “eschatological” character of Jesus’ ministry, he recognizes that Jesus probably expected God’s imminent kingdom.53 Nevertheless, Vermes is best known for his comparing Jesus to “charismatic” sages,54 and it is to this comparison that we now turn.