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[1–5] Introduction From Jesus to the New Testament—this signals a development that led, in the first three centuries of the history of Christianity, to the formation of a distinct religious self-understanding. This was bound up with the emergence of a specific view of reality and history. With this we have already named an initial focal point of the studies presented here. In recent decades, an intensive discussion has been conducted in the science of history on how the past is appropriated as history and becomes a common point of reference for a community—how it becomes their “cultural memory” (Jan Assmann). History—it thus became clear—emerges not simply through the passing of time but through formative events of the past becoming the foundation of the self-understanding of communities through interpretation, placement in larger contexts, and differentiation from competing interpretations. Part I of this volume explores the relevance of this discussion for the history of early Christianity from a methodological perspective. In recent discussion within the theory of history, reference is often made to the identity-creating function of conceptions of history. In the process the key word “constructivism” has sometimes been brought into play. This should underline the fact that it is always thinking and acting human beings who appropriate the past—who “construct” it as history—in order to better understand better their present. The “constructivist” approach, however, has also led to irritations and misunderstandings, not least within theology. Therefore I will begin with a few observations in order to contextualize the remarks in the corresponding chapters of this book (in particular, see chapters 1–4). I must first stress that the expressions “constructivism” and “construction of history,” which are only used sparingly in this volume, in no way deny that in the early Christian texts events and experiences are reflected, in many different ways, that were extremely important to their authors 2 From Jesus to the New Testament and are also indispensible for today’s engagement with the beginnings of Christianity. [2] Thus, in the aforementioned approach it is decidedly not a matter of wanting to relativize the value of the early Christian texts as historical witnesses, let alone to deprive them of such a value. With this, however, the question of the appropriation of the past as history has not even begun to be answered, neither with regard to the events underlying these texts nor with respect to their later reception. For this we need instead to reflect on the process by which living history comes into being from the “historical material” (Droysen) through our engagement with it. If this process is reflected upon epistemologically and hermeneutically —this applies to antiquity just as it does to the modern science of history —then the interpretive character of historical work, which makes the witnesses of the past its own from the point of view of the respective present , comes into view. Therefore, it becomes evident that the appropriation of the historical material only reaches its goal when it learns to understand the present in light of the past. The concern then is with reflection on the process that always takes place, consciously or unconsciously, when we turn to the witnesses of the past—and therefore with an epistemological question that is fundamental for the science of history. The first four chapters of this volume deal with this theme. Here the link to Johann Gustav Droysen, who reflected on the methodology of historical work in a fundamental way at the beginning of the modern science of history, plays an important role. According to Droysen, historical work is precisely not exhausted in the examination and critical evaluation of the material (for him these steps are called “heuristic” and “criticism”), but first comes to its goal in the “interpretation.” This insight of Droysen into the character of historical work—which he simultaneously regarded as the fundamental difference from the approach of his historian-colleagues1 —is still relevant today. Chapters 3 and 4 identify concrete areas in which this understanding is significant for a history of early Christianity. Here, consideration is given to the Gospels and Acts, writings that are dealt with in greater detail in part II of the volume. But the event of Jesus’ death and resurrection as an event that is fundamental for a Christian understanding of history and reality also comes into view (chapter 4). The goal is to reflect in a manner informed by a hermeneutics of history on the beginnings of Christianity...

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