ALEXANDER J.M. WEDDERBURN
The Death of Jesus
Some Reflections on Jesus-Traditions and Paul
[Der Tod Jesu. Überlegungen zur Jesusforschung und zu Paulus.]
2013. XV, 226 pages.
WUNT I 299
ISBN 978-3-16-152114-0
cloth 89,00 €
ISBN 978-3-16-152281-9
eBook PDF 89,00 €
Published in English.
Taking up a number of themes and questions touched on in earlier works, the author discusses
critically some attempts to interpret the death of Jesus and the assumption that these make
about the nature of God and of Jesus. For Jesus himself seems to have left his followers no
clear guidance on how to understand his fate, in all probability not even at his last meal with
them. There is, moreover, a seeming tension in the passion story between his self-surrender in
Gethsemane and the reproachful cry on Golgatha, perhaps due to contrary views of God's will
and his own about God's intention. Confronted with this puzzling inheritance, early Christians
adopted a variety of di erent images in an attempt to explain what had happened, and its
place in the divine plan; and Paul, despite apparently eschewing any use of human wisdom to
interpret the cross, nevertheless draws on some of these lines of interpretation. Yet
characteristic for the apostle's theology and soteriology are his corporate Christology and his
talk of “righteousness” and “justi cation”. Yet the death of one person involving all humanity
presents problems of understanding and ethics. Or, if Jesus is a “model” for humanity is he a
perfect one and what example does he in fact give us? And is “peace with God” really all that
our justi cation entails, especially when the cry of desolation on Golgatha shows little sign of
such peace? That would mean that the views of both Jesus and Paul on this subject need to be
criticized and corrected if they are to be meaningful and of use today.
Alexander J.M. Wedderburn Born 1942; Graduate of Oxford University (BA, MA), Edinburgh
University (BD) and Cambridge University (PhD); 1972–1989, Tutorial Assistant, then Lecturer
University of St Andrews; 1990–1994 Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer Durham University; 1994–
2006 Professor of New Testament, Evangelisch-Theologische Fakultät, Ludwig-MaximiliansUniversität München; since 2006 retired.
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