MİLEL VE NİHAL
journal for studies of belief, culture and mythology

Volume: 4 number:1
 Junuary - April 2007

Two Opposite Portrait of Jesus:
 Pre-Easter Jesus Versus Post-Easter Jesus

Mahmut AYDIN

Abstract: As is well know as a figure of history, Jesus was a Galilean Jew. But as the central figure of the Christian tradition which developed after him, he has been started to be considered as “the face of God”, the decisive disclosure of God and ultimately in the language of the fourth century Nicene Creed, the second person of the Holy Trinity. How did this transformation happen? What was the process whereby a Galilean Jewish peasant became of one substance with God? In order to answer these and similar questions prominant Christian scholars have developed some concepts. In doing so, Marcus J. Borg has formulated two important concepts namely pre-Easter Jesus and post-Easter Jesus. While the pre-Easter Jesus refering to Jesus of Nazareth, a first century Galilean Jew, the post-Easter Jesus refers to Jesus of Christian tradition and experience. In this article first of all we define two portrait of Jesus by explaining what these two concept mean and then we discuss their possible imlications on the Christian faith.

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