Jesus, the Helpless Jew: A Forgotten Portrait of Jesus in the “Third Quest”

Abstract

This paper surveys the “Third Quest” (TQ) and the various portraits of Jesus within the first century using historical-critical method. It argues that such studies and portraits of Jesus have overlooked a significant portrait of Jesus, which sets Jesus in the first century socio-economic context as being helpless, an additional portrait to the various existing portraits of Jesus. A search for the true historical Jesus should recognize Jesus being a helpless Jew as revealed in the Gospels for such a portrait stands a chance of redefining the entire life of the critical historical Jesus and still places Jesus within the confines of the Gospels.