Arthur Drews

“ Jesus imposed silence on the demon “by virtue of the divine spirit which he felt in himself.” If any one ventures to differ from him, Weiss bitterly retorts: “Any man who says that these religious ideas and emotions are inconceivable had better keep his hand off matters of religious history; he has no equipment to deal with them” (p. 121) . Then there is the healing of Peter's mother-in-law. “I have,” says Weiss, “no experience in such matters [What a pity! What a lot he might have taught us had he been able to experiment on his own mother-in-law!] ”

“ The story is so improbable, and so strongly suggests Jonah i, 3 and 5, that most critics since Strauss have regarded it as a mere legend, and one is disposed to ask, with Weiss: “If Peter could tell things of that kind, what use is he to us?” Nevertheless, why should we not once more see a real episode at the base of it, and suppose that the evangelist afterwards gave it the first touches of miraculous quality? In the same way, the story of the Gadarene possessed is supposed to be based on “a sound tradition” (tradition is always “sound” when it fits the theological scheme) . ”

“ This, however, is not all that we have to say in regard to the theological method of inquiring into the historicity of Jesus. There is a further principle, that all that seems possible to the theological critic in the gospel narratives may at once be set down as actual. Thus Weinel would regard a tradition as valid as long as “it is not clearly seen to be impossible.” But are there not plenty of things in traditions which are possible, yet may not in the least be actual? The story of Tell is possible, the story of the seven kings of Rome, or of Semiramis or Sardanapalus ”

“ Now let us listen.
“Now, after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God” (Mark i, 14) . “Thus Peter may have begun his account” (p. 136) . Then there is the account of the calling of the early disciples. Here we detect a certain amount of literary manipulation; the story reminds us too strikingly of the calling of Elisha by Elijah (1 Kings xix, 19) . It is not certain that the phrase “fishers of men” was uttered on this occasion. ”

“ The principle, however, overlooks the fact that, though everything that is actual is at the same time possible, the laws of logic forbid us to draw an inference in the opposite direction, from possibility to actuality. ”

“ It does not seem likely that the narrative tradition in Mark originated among the companions of Jesus?” [4] Otto Schmiedel also finds himself compelled to put more than one note of interrogation after the statements of Weiss, and observes: “We do not know with so much confidence (in spite of Papias) that Peter was Mark's authority.” [5] In fact, the whole method is in the air, and it is quite hopeless to attempt to deduce the historicity of the gospel narratives from their character. ”