Michael Welker

For the most part of the 20th century, Christology, seen from the perspective of Western theology, was in a most complicated or even dismal state. In several ways theology itself was responsible for this development as it distorted and blocked serious Christological thought. There was a broad consensus in the academic community that we have no knowledge of the pre-Easterly life of Jesus Christ. The so-called “new quest for the historical Jesus,” now known as the “second quest for the historical Jesus,” resulted in a total historical skepticism which claimed that we do not know the historical Jesus, but have him only in “legendary paintings.” On this basis – that is, without clear perspectives on the historical Jesus – the problem arose that the crucified, resurrected and elevated Christ could not gain contours either.