"Jesus through the Centuries"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how Jaroslav Pelikan, in his book, "Jesus through the Centuries", investigates the enormous impact Jesus has had on the evolution of Western culture. The paper notes that, although Pelikan never manages to break free from the Christian worldview, his book does offer a rich and scholastic chronology of the role Jesus played in Western social, political, economic, philosophic, and artistic histories. The paper describes "Jesus through the Centuries" as an ambitious undertaking which treats Jesus as a symbolic figure and historical force, and which mentions theology only when necessary to substantiate Pelikan's main ideas.

From the Paper:

"The introduction to Jesus through the Centuries describes the conceptual framework for the book as evoking "The Good, the True, and the Beautiful." Chapter One, "The Rabbi," elucidates some of the problems with literal interpretations of the New Testament in understanding Jesus' life and times. Here Pelikan emphasizes the time lag between the actual birth and life of Jesus and the historical legacy he left. The New Testament, according to Pelikan, "resembles a set of paintings more closely than it does a photograph," (p. 9). The author therefore differentiates between early Christian tradition and the Christian scriptures which evolved later. Similarly, Pelikan notes how different and sometimes conflicting translations of scripture affected the titles given to Jesus of Nazareth. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Pelikan, J. (1985). Jesus through the Centuries. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Stratton, R. (2000). Illustrated Jesus through the Centuries. Spiritual Life. Retrieved Mar 10, 2007 from http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3885/is_200010/ai_n8917794

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