Anthony GIAMBRONE, O.P.  A Quest for the Historical Christ: Scientia Christi and the Modern Study of Jesus.  Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 2022.  Pp. xxii + 450.  $34.95 pb.  ISBN 978-0-813-23487-8.  Reviewed by Benjamin J. BROWN, Lourdes University, Sylvania, OH 43560

Anthony Giambrone is a scholar’s scholar, so from the title to the final line his wit, elevated prose, and erudition will both delight and challenge the well educated reader.  A Quest for the Historical Christ is a collection of his academic articles (and one previously unpublished presentation), which even though not his most technical are not for the faint of heart, overall excellently exemplify a biblical scholarship that advances our understanding by bringing to bear the best of both faith and reason.

Fr. Giambrone describes his “quest” in the cloak of Arthurian romance as “a charmingly haphazard yet forcefully unified undertaking, motivated by a deep desire awakened through a mystery of communion” (1).  His explicitly acknowledged presuppositions include the importance of engaging both text and archeology, of uniting exegesis and systematics, of confidence and joy in encountering the real Jesus Christ in the Scriptures (hence the titular phrase “historical Christ” that is jarring for many), and of the exegete operating out of a tradition (Chalcedonian) which itself emerged from deep biblical reading.  But despite the grand vision to which he ascribes and contributes, Giambrone maintains the humble scholar’s mien of offering pointed, but small, balanced, and nuanced support towards the final goal, often suggesting more than pronouncing what cannot yet be fully developed.

The articles are organized, somewhat loosely as is inevitable, into three groups of five each.  The first section addresses foundational issues centered around the historical reliability of the Gospels, beginning with an examination of the background and meaning of Dei Verbum 19’s teaching that the Gospels have an historical character that faithfully present what Jesus really did and taught vera et sincera.  Three chapters focus on Luke, the first of which argues that his account of the birth of Jesus manifests marks of local birth traditions that support the reliability of his non-eye-witness investigations.  Another compares the Greco-Roman cult of Asclepius to Jesus’ miracles in Capernaum and the Pool of Bethesda, concluding that the Gospel healings are “a form of historical memory” (105) grounded in particular places, and the third examines Luke’s accounts of the resurrection appearances as seemingly unbelievable (like other ancient stories) and so needing to be and in fact grounded in forms of accrediting the witnesses.

The second section, titled “Theological Foundations,” not intending to suggest that theology is limited to this section, might be classified as biblical Christology.  Here Giambrone looks at first century Jewish monotheism, especially focusing on the Temple, the miracle skepticism of Lessing, the deep philosophy of early biblical Christology, and lessons to be learned from the way that the Early High Christology movement has attempted to craft a Christology without the councils.

The third set of five chapters mostly examines particular issues or passages in the Gospels.  Giambrone begins with the observation that we need to attend to how Jesus Himself was immersed in the Scriptures, and he describes the whole section as a meditation on “the mystery of the Word interpreting the Word” (10).  He explores the vox Jesu in its scriptural richness and uniqueness, how the Transfiguration represents Jesus as the eschatological high priest, Jesus’ reading of Ps. 110, and Jesus’ infused prophetic knowledge, which “the evangelists attribute … to Jesus less often and less fantastically, but in far more provocative and diverse ways than is often assumed” (359).  Further suggestions regarding the scientia Christi (subjective genitive) are that he possessed a messianic consciousness, grounded deeply in his knowledge of the Scriptures; taught more rabbi-like than apocalyptically, rooted and operating within his Jewish heritage; and (with a Chalcedonian hermeneutic) that he knew himself in relation to the Father, especially revealed at his baptism but also that in the desert perhaps similar to Gethsemene his “human intellect is assailed here to the point of crisis” (283), and given the incredible intellectual difficulties in presenting his true self, adopted a “restrained strategy of esoteric teaching” (278).

Giambrone’s academic sophistication and assumptions of shared knowledge in multiple fields and languages relegate this book to the domain of scholars, but it is precisely the kind of work of which we need a great deal more: detailed, nuanced examination of complex questions enlightened by both theologically enriched faith and all the tools of human reason.