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Therefore, even if stressing the "that" brings with it the danger that the figure of Jesus may evaporate into a mythical figure, "what is meant by the 'that' is a historical person, whose historicity can be verified precisely by historical-critical research. Such research is necessary for Christian proclamation, among other reasons, so that Jesus is not misunderstood as a mythical figure. It is as a historical figure that he is the criterion of the proclamation that legitimates it [Als historische Gestalt ist er das Kriterium der Verkündigung, das diese legitimiert.]. This is also how the Gospel of John proceeds, which puts all the weight on Jesus's having come [das Gekommensein Gekommen-sein Jesu] and treats the historical tradition concerning his life and sayings with great freedom. But even the synoptic gospels proceed with similar freedom in dealing with the tradition concerning the life and sayings of the historical Jesus. For the synoptic evangelists write, not as historians, but place what they say about Jesus in the service of the kerygma, . . . and so, in their own way, they, too, make clear that paradox of the conjunction of the historical 'that' and its eschatological point [jene Paradoxie des Zugleich vom historischen Daß und seinem eschatologischen Sinn]" (44).

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