Whose Historical Jesus?

3. Q and a Cynic-Like Jesus

3. Q and a Cynic-Like Jesus Burton L. Mack 1. Introduction There is loose shale on the eastern slope of the Mission Mountains in Montana. A single step off the high ridge can start a slide that cannot be stopped for a thousand feet to the glacier lakes below. You need good boots and a bit of balance if you want to enjoy the ride. It is dangerous otherwise. I think I inadvertently stepped off the high ridge when I wrote the chapter on "The Followers of Jesus" for A Myth of Innocence.1 1 was crossing a saddle headed for the peaks beyond where we could all see that Mark was myth, and early Christian fantasy would appear as obvious and exhilarating as a breathtaking panorama. But I knew that Christian mentality would resist viewing Mark as a mythmaker, so I needed a foil for a contrast to his story to make the point that Mark's portrait of Jesus was not a photograph, but a painting, fiction instead of historical account. To gain that leverage I mentioned the correspondence I saw between early Jesus traditions and what we imagine the Cynics were like. That was as far as most readers got and it started the slide that took me with them tumbling back to the camps below where the only question that anyone asked was about the historical Jesus. Now here I am still discussing Jesus instead of myth. It is myth that makes the world go 'round, not the lacklustre Jesus I find myself defending. Still, I must admit that the topic has grown on me. Especially when the contributions of others begin to stack up in interesting ways. I am thinking of Ron Cameron's essay on John the Baptist and Jesus,2 Gerald Downing's recent article on Cynics and Christians,3 Leif Vaage's work on the Cynic flavour of the early Q traditions,4 and a rumour I have heard about John Dominic Crossan making reference to some early Christian iconography that has Jesus dressed in Cynic garb.5 Heady stuff, really. 1 Burton L. Mack, A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988). 2 Ron Cameron, "'What Have You Come Out to See?': Characterizations of John and Jesus in the Gospels," in his (edited) Semeia 49: The Apocryphal Jesus and Christian Origins (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), 35-69. 3 F. Gerald Downing, "Cynics and Christians, Oedipus and Thyestes," Journal of Ecclesiastical History 44 (1993): 1-10. Downing argues that charges of incest and cannibalism against early Christians were labels that intended to classify and castigate them as Cynics. 4 Leif Vaage, Galilean Upstarts: Jesus' First Followers According to Q (Valley Forge: Trinity Press International, 1994). See also his "The Woes in Q (and Matthew and Luke): Deciphering the Rhetoric of Criticism," in David J. Lull, ed., Society of Biblical Literature 1988 Seminar Papers (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988), 582-607. 5 See John Dominic Crossan, The EssentialJesus: Original Sayings and Earliest Images (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1994), esp. 96, 180. [Eds.] 26 Whose HistoricalJesus? I should have known, of course, that the notion of a Cynic Jesus would not appeal to everyone. Consternation reigns in certain quarters, and the first move from the other side of the table has already been made. Cynics? What do we know about Cynics? In Galilee? In the first century? Prophets perhaps, but Cynics?6 Cynics just do not fit the picture of Galilee and Christian origins that we have all had in mind. So caution is called for. And it is true that we will not find it any easier to trace the connection between the Jesus movement and Cynicism than the links that have occasionally been suspected for Ben Sira's wisdom, Qohelet's advice and the early chreiai about Hillel that Henry Fischel explored.7 But the possibility of being more sure (as well as precise) about such connections has been increasing with recent studies on Cynicism by classicists,8 research on the shape of Hellenistic influence in Galilee,9 and continuing explorations of the rhetorics of Jesus10 and Paul.11 It is also the case that, according to recent readings, Thomas, Mark, Matthew, the Didache and Luke no longer stand in the way of a Cynic hypothesis for the historical Jesus.12 So the topic is worth pursuing for a while and, as I hope to make clear, strikes me as serious business that calls for a major revision of the...