The First Coming by Thomas Sheehan

First published: New York: Random House, 1986

Genre(s): Nonfiction

Subgenre(s): Biblical studies; church history; hermeneutics

Core issue(s): Church; Gospels; Jesus Christ

Overview

Thomas Sheehan is a professor of religious studies at Stanford University and the author of books on Martin Heidegger and Karl Rahner. In The First Coming, Sheehan explores the origins of Christianity, focusing on discrepancies between early Christian understandings of Jesus and Jesus’ understanding of himself. As Sheehan demonstrates, Christianity (understood as “mainline” Christian beliefs about Jesus’ person and message) is just one interpretation of Jesus and not necessarily the best one.

The First Coming offers a new interpretation of Jesus, an interpretation consistent not only with the historical Jesus described in nineteenth and twentieth century biblical scholarship but also, and more important, with Jesus’ self-understanding (insofar as it can be discerned). In Sheehan’s view, Jesus, far from being the divine Son of God, consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit, was a special but very human prophet, a man who, although gifted in important ways, was a lesser figure than most Christians believe. The novelty of Sheehan’s Jesus arises from his being both human and gifted: If his humanity distinguishes him from the Jesus of mainline Christianity, his prophetic gifts separate him from the Jesus of nineteenth and twentieth century biblical scholarship.

At the heart of Sheehan’s book is analysis of how and why the first Christians came to misunderstand Jesus. In answering these related questions, Sheehan draws on two centuries of biblical scholarship aimed at distinguishing the “Jesus of history” from the “Christ of faith.” As Sheehan explains, since 1800, scholars have treated the New Testament as a mixture of history and theology, reading the Scriptures as texts wherein authentic records of Jesus’ life coexist with spurious claims advanced by Christian dogmatists. The scholar’s task, it is argued, is to separate the authentic from the spurious, thereby recovering the “real” Jesus, typically presented as a man not a god, albeit a man of unusual wisdom and compassion. Such scholarship (which Sheehan calls “the quest for the historical Jesus”) is premised on a belief that earlier texts are more authoritative than later ones. Hence such scholarship aims to identify the very earliest records of Jesus’ life. These records are then used to recover the Jesus of history.

This Jesus—the Jesus of history—plays a key role in The First Coming, affording Sheehan a means of clarifying his own interpretation of Jesus. Very different from the “Christ of dogma,” lacking this figure’s divine status and familial relationship to God, the Jesus of history is much like Sheehan’s Jesus. That said, similarities between the Jesus of history and Sheehan’s Jesus are overshadowed by differences. Unlike the Jesus of history, Sheehan’s Jesus is a genuinely eschatological figure, a man whose presence on earth signals the dawning of a new age. Unlike the Jesus of history, Sheehan’s Jesus is an authentic prophet, a man cognizant of God’s plans and wishes.

Having described the Jesus of history and having contrasted this figure to his own Jesus, Sheehan turns his attention to the Christ of faith, an ever-evolving figure whose attributes change to reflect changes in Church doctrine. Moving chronologically through the first century of the Christian era, a chaotic period when numerous Christologies (interpretations of Christ) were adopted and discarded (or reworked), Sheehan discusses three Christologies, each developed to meet particular needs of the Church.

The earliest of all Christologies, developed by Jesus’ disciples, presented Jesus as the “apocalyptic judge,” a divine “Son of Man” soon to return to judge sinners. A second Christology, adopted by Hellenistic Jews (the first group to call themselves “Christians”), presented Jesus as reigning Lord and Christ, a heavenly figure already judging the dead. A third Christology, adopted by Gentile converts to Christianity, identified Jesus as the exalted Son of God, a figure equal in authority to God and the Holy Spirit. Evident in these descriptions is what Sheehan calls an “enhancement” process whereby over time Jesus acquires greater power and authority. Also evident is what Sheehan calls a “distortion” of Jesus’ message. Whereas Jesus presented himself as human (if special), the Christ of early doctrine is a divine being, raised from the dead so that others too might live forever. For Sheehan, this early distortion of Jesus’ message is regrettable. No longer is the Kingdom of God at hand, enacted by people in gestures of mercy and justice. Instead the kingdom has receded, albeit into the future not the past. Most regrettable is that although God is present in the world, people still await him.

Jesus has been, and always will be, interpreted in many ways. In Sheehan’s view, the most credible interpretation of Jesus is that developed by Jesus himself, an interpretation recoverable only through single-minded study of scriptural texts. Modeling such study, Sheehan strips away later doctrinal accretions, not harshly but sympathetically, with an understanding of where they came from and what purpose they served. Having done so, Sheehan introduces readers to a Jesus they may not know, a man who sees himself not as a Christ or a Messiah, but as a human prophet proclaiming good news to the world.

Christian Themes

In interpreting Jesus—in describing who Jesus was and what he preached—Sheehan draws on both the findings and the methods of earlier seekers for the historical Jesus. He, too, uses linguistic, historical, and sociocultural evidence to distinguish early from late “Jesus material,” the goal being recovery of eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ words and deeds. Having recovered what he believes to be such accounts, however, Sheehan parts company with earlier scholars, advancing an original (and religious) reading of Jesus’ message.

Sheehan sees Jesus’ central proclamation as “The kingdom of God is at hand.” He argues that in making this announcement, Jesus proclaims that God has dissolved all boundaries between himself and humankind, transforming himself from a distant “Father” unfeelingly judging the actions of pitiable creatures into a close-at-hand “Papa” participating in and identified with the lives of well-loved children. The most important change in God’s status relates to God’s presence in the world. People no longer need await God’s arrival on earth—the coming of his kingdom—for he is already in the world. As conveyed by Sheehan, Jesus’ message is a radical one, particularly in its proclamation that God has arrived in the world (ending one era of human history and commencing another). This proclamation, Sheehan argues, effectively ends religion, for God is no longer a being distinct from humankind, a deity accessible only through intermediaries. More radical still is Jesus’ valuation of justice and mercy, a valuation reflecting a belief that God’s presence in the world is not unconditional but is instead premised on people acting with kindness. If Sheehan’s interpretation is correct, then God, for Jesus, is only (but always) present when kindness is enacted.

Sources for Further Study

Johnson, Luke Timothy. The Real Jesus: The Misguided Quest for the Historical Jesus and the Truth of the Traditional Gospels. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996. Takes issue with the “quest for the historical Jesus” while arguing that the “Christ of faith” is in fact the “real” Jesus. A useful balance to Sheehan’s book.

Kazmierski, Carl. Review of The First Coming. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 50 (1988). Unfavorable review that indignantly presents Sheehan as an amateur trespassing on a field (biblical exegesis) best left to professionals.

Quirk, Michael J. “Jesus and Interpretation: Sheehan’s Hermeneutic Radicalism.” Modern Theology 6, no. 2 (January, 1990). The most comprehensive discussion to date of The First Coming. Begins well with a balanced summary of Sheehan’s interpretation of Jesus before devolving into polemic as aspects of Sheehan’s methodology are dismissed as “incoherent.”

Rochelle, Jay C. Review of The First Coming. Currents in Theology and Mission 17, no. 4 (August, 1990). A favorable review of Sheehan’s book that locates it in ongoing debates about Jesus’ message and status.

Spong, John Shelby. Resurrection: Myth or Reality? San Francisco: Harper, 1994. Attempts by close reading of scriptural texts to recover the historical events surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion, finally concluding that “resurrection” had a metaphoric meaning for early Christians.

Zahl, Paul F. M. The First Christian: Universal Truth in the Teachings of Jesus. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B. Eerdmans, 2003. Explores the relationship between early Christianity and the Judaism from which it emerged, arguing that Christianity represented a genuinely new faith.