By Schubert Ogden
More on Marxsen's Talk about Jesus' Faith
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29 April 2008
I must say that I've been struck during my recent re-reading of Die Auferstehung Jesu von Nazareth by the care with which Marxsen distinguishes more than once between "faith" and "the expressions of faith," or, alternatively, between "faith as an internal process" and "faith in its community-building function" (99, 125 f., 144). That these are, in fact, alternative, verbally different ways of making one and the same distinction seems clear enough from the contexts in which the terms occur. But, then, it is hardly less clear that the distinction is not unimportant to Marxsen, and it may even warrant considering another interpretation than I've given of many of the statements he makes about "Jesus' faith." Perhaps in them, also, he is not thinking so much of Jesus's faith as such, or as an internal process, as of the expressions of Jesus' faith, or of his faith in its community-building function.
One reason, at least, for considering such a possibility is the complete (or all but complete) absence from Marxsen's statements about Jesus' faith of any of the usual revisionary claims for its extraordinary or even unique character. Furthermore, there is at least one place where he's explicit in rejecting the problematic claim in Hebrews about Jesus' sinlessness (C-p: 47). It's also true that, for the most part, certainly, he conceives normative Christian faith, not as faith with Jesus' faith, but as faith with the faith of the first witnesses (cf., e.g., AJN: 129: "Unser Glaube ist nur dann christlicher Glaube, wenn er ein Mitglauben mit dem Glauben der ersten Zeugen, mit dem Glauben des Petrus ist. Darin ist Petrus nun wirklich der Fels der Kirche.")
On the other hand, he can say that one believes radically only when one believes "as Jesus believes and, against all appearances, entrusts everything to God" (191: "_Wer glaubt, glaubt nur dann radikal, wenn er we Jesus glaubt und Gott \ [gegen den Augenschein\] alles zutraut_." Only a few pages earlier, however, he says, significantly, that the reason "lived faith" includes hope is not that Jesus is risen, as this is usually understood, thereby making my coming resurrection certain, but "because Jesus of Nazareth has offered the possibility of this life" (187). I find this explanation significant because he does not say, because Jesus of Nazareth himself actualized this possibility by his own faith in God, but says, rather, because he, in effect, represented this possibility.). Also, and probably more telling, is that the only contexts in which he makes the distinction in question are those in which the faith in question is not Jesus' but Peter's. Wiki Markup
My best judgment then, is that not all that Marxsen says about Jesus' faith can be fairly interpreted as talking only, or primarily, about its expressions, or its community-building function, as distinct from his faith as fides qua creditur. Still, it seems well worth exploring just how much of what he says could be accounted for by this alternative interpretation.
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