All the theology of the liberal type involves at some point -- and often involves throughout--the claim that the real behaviour and purpose and teaching of Christ came very rapidly to be misunderstood and misrepresented by his followers, and he has been recovered or exhumed only by modern scholars. Now long before I became interested in theology I had met this kind of theory elsewhere. The tradition of Jowett still dominated the study of ancient philosophy when I was reading Greats. One was brought up to believe that the real meaning of Plato had been misunderstood by Aristotle and wildly travestied by the neo-Platonists, only to be recovered by the moderns. When recovered, it turned out (most fortunately) that Plato had really all along been an English Hegelian, rather like T. H. Green.Fernseed and Elephants
And thus, the problem with the current trend of books that corrects our interpretation of Jesus sayings today. These authors distrust the gospel writers who lived with Christ or at least knew people who knew Christ personally. How can we trust them who do their reconstructions using modern interpretive methods, which may go out of date next year?
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