SECTION C. A THEORY OF THE PERSONALITY OF JESUS BASED UPON HIS DEMONOLOGY

I. Preliminary Remarks

Before we consider the personality of Jesus, it may be beneficial to review some objections raised as to the methodology of our investigation. Can we consider Jesus as an historical figure and the gospels as an accurate account of his life and sayings? Would it not be better to consider only a "core of truth" in the gospels and reject the rest as a posteriori speculation? We have already remarked that this paper can only speculate about Jesus and that the only material which it can use is the gospel accounts. As for the second question, who is to decide what part of the gospels is a "core of truth"? Such decisions are necessarily biased. For example, most religious commentators would not hesitate to consider the words "Get behind me, Satan," as more likely the words of the gospel writers than those of Jesus. To such commentators, the words would not seem "significant" enough to warrant an exact quotation by the gospel writers. On the other hand, in our investiga­tion we have considered these words as highly significant, in which case they might well have been quoted accurately. The same reasoning will apply to the words "for a season" in Luke 4: 13.

The question was raised in Part B as to why evil spirits embody such a wide and seemingly arbitrary range of evil impulses. One could also ask why people must project these forms of badness in the first place? The following pages will attempt to point out the close interdependence of these two questions and their significance for the life of Jesus.

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