Quest for the Historical jesus

Inspired by the work of Hermann Samuel Reimarus (1694-1768) who believed:
- Early Christians tampered with the gospel accounts.
- There was a real difference between Jesus' beliefs and the early church.
- Jesus was a political figure who led a popular rising against Rome and was shattered by his failure.
- The disciples invented the concept of "spiritual redemption" in place of what Reimarus said was Jesus' message of a liberated Israel.
- The invented the resurrection to cover up Jesus' death.
Was explored in the 20th century with the following approaches:
- Apocalyptic critique (Weiss and Schweitzer)
  - Held that Jesus' ministry was determined by his apocalyptic outlook. Christ is a remote figure, whose hopes and expectations came to nothing.
- Sceptical critique (Wrede)
  - In Mark's gospel, theology has been…

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