HOW HISTORIOGRAPHY CREATES (SOME) BODY: JESUS, THE SON OF DAVID – ROYAL STOCK OR SOCIAL CONSTRUCT?

  • Pieter F. Craffert University of South Africa

Abstract

In this study it is argued that the very question of whether Jesus was, indeed, a son of David is the product of a particular historiographical paradigm and that how things were in his life probably did not include royal ancestry. Instead, it is suggested that it is likely that Jesus’ biography in Galilee was credited with a royal ancestry in order to acknowledge his social standing. This position is based on an alteration of the historiographical paradigm used, rather than any new data being investigated. In an exercise of how historiographical paradigms shape data into evidence, traditional historiography in Jesus research is compared to anthropological historiography as a new paradigm in historical thinking.
Published
2013-06-12
Section
Articles