Early Attempts
As originally defined by Albert Schweitzer, the quest began in the 18th century with Hermann Samuel Reimarus, up to William Wrede in the 19th century.
Reimarus composed a treatise rejecting miracles and accusing Bible authors of fraud, but he didn't publish his findings. Gotthold Lessing published Reimarus's conclusions in the Wolfenbuettel fragments. Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789) - "Ecce Homo -The History of Jesus of Nazareth, a Critical Inquiry" (1769), the first Life of Jesus described as a mere historical man, published anonymously in Amsterdam. D.F. Strauss's biography of Jesus set Gospel criticism on its modern course. Strauss explained gospel miracles as natural events misunderstood and misrepresented. Ernest Renan was the first of many to portray Jesus simply as a human person. Albrecht Ritschl had reservations about this project, but it became central to liberal Protestantism in Germany and to the Social Gospel movement in America.
Martin Kähler protested, arguing that the true Christ is the one preached by the whole Bible, not a historical hypothesis. William Wrede questioned the historical reliability of Mark. Albert Schweitzer stated that the histories of Jesus had reflected the historians' bias. Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann repudiated the quest for historical Jesus, and although the introduction of The Five Gospels asserts this it suppressed any real interest in the topic from c 1920 to c 1970, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church says there was a brief New Quest movement in the 50s conducted by Bultmann's students, and the search continued without break outside of the Bultmann school.
Read more about this topic: Quest For The Historical Jesus
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