Introductory

On any reading, Jüngel's doctoral dissertation Paulus und Jesus, published in 1962, is a remarkable work. Explicitly intended as an exploration of the relationship between the synoptic presentation of Jesus' parabolic teaching and Paul's doctrine of justification, its close scrutiny of larger philosophical, theological and rhetorical issues arising from the interpretation of the New Testament makes clear that he is offering much more than simply another monograph surveying the well-worn territory of the ‘Paul and Jesus’ theme. And it is the way in which it addresses itself to these larger issues which makes the work of substantial interest for an appraisal of his dogmatic work. We shall examine one of these issues – his discussion of the relationship between historico-critical study and dogmatics – in a later chapter. For the present, we focus on four areas where Jüngel urges significant shifts in our understanding of the New Testament. We look first in broad outline at how he conceives the nature of the texts with which he is dealing and the appropriate response to them. We then move on to discuss in turn his analysis of the parables, his account of the coherence between the theologies of the synoptic gospels and Paul, and his understanding of eschatology.

Initially it is important to note that Paulus und Jesus is written with considerable enthusiasm for the work of Jüngel's Doktorvater, the New Testament theologian Ernst Fuchs.