The range is comprehensive, from Greco-Roman sources to Jewish and other Mediterranean sources. Often the picture of Jesus that emerges is a construction based on social-scientific and literary trends.
There have been some important findings. For one, Jesus is understood more politically, proclaiming the Kingdom of God as a sociopolitical critique of his Palestinian context. This has given rise to important movements such as Liberation Theology in Catholicism. Another area of research has shown how Jesus fits the typical patterns of Jewish monotheistic piety. Furthermore, notions of the Messiah in Second Temple Judaism have been uncovered that point toward its prevalence and contestation. It is not necessarily clear that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah according to the Third Quest, but more likely that he fits the image of prophet, charismatic healer, magician, or wandering sage. Nor is it certain whether he was apocalyptic or not. In other words, the Third Quest has produced through examination of ancient sociology, anthropology, and textual criticism multiple possible versions of who Jesus might have been or what he might have looked like.
The Place of Tradition and Scripture in Catholic Faith
Scripture is the written revelation of God to humankind. Its books of divine origin come out of the faith of the early church, and, since their early transmission, function as the norm for faith. Catholicism asserts scripture as the highest authority for knowledge of God. The Church established a canonical collection of scripture. These are taken along with Jesus Christ and God's word in the Eucharist. In terms of interpretation, dogma was created to preserve the uniform and authoritative meaning of scripture. Not only the development of specialized theological terms, but also the development of various interpretive methods (the various "senses" of scripture, not just the literal, such as the allegorical and anagogical) have grown up over the centuries to enable a full understanding for the scripture. However,...
At the council of Trent during the Reformation, the ecclesial magisterium proclaimed that Scripture cannot be interpreted against Church teaching as handed down through tradition. What this means is that traditional interpretations are valid, while non-traditional interpretations (such as some of those of the Reformers) are not. Catholicism relies more on tradition against individual interpretations that use only references to other Scripture as a guide. Later Vatican councils have confirmed that the ecclesial magisterium is the norm of Scripture, not vice versa. In other words, to protect tradition against Scriptural attack, Scripture is subordinated to the magisterium. This ensures that the Church has control over biblical interpretation. Yet Vatican II returned to place the highest authority in Scripture over the magisterium.
What is important is that the Catholic Church is concerned to preserve continuity with the past through a tradition of faith and its transmission. Without such continuity, the ecclesial identity is questioned along with the historical message of revelation, salvation, and community. Tradition is likewise a defense against heresy. The canon, rules of faith, creeds, papal decrees, and dogmas are vital in the preservation of Church identity. In addition, the Fathers of the Church are considered authorities. Throughout history, the Church has maintained its commitment to the veneration of and reverence for unwritten traditions in addition to the written. Without tradition, there is no universally valid body of faith and teaching to commit oneself to, and therefore no way for God to continue revealing himself in human history. At the same time, tradition and scripture mutually condition one another. They are not contradictory. Both are valid for the whole church and are meaningful expressions of the traditional apostolic faith.
