Abstract:
The different aspects of the influential nature of Jesus' life were handed
down only after his death by those who met God on the basis of the traditions
with regard to Jesus. The historical Jesus is therefore to be distinguished
from the kerygmatic Christ. This article aims at arguing that
Jesus' call upon God as 'Abba' can be regarded as a dialectic material
link between the historical Jesus and the kerygmatic Christ. It is also
shown that this dialectic has divergently been articulated in the New Testament
writings and thereafter as time has changed. Today the historical
Jesus' message of the all-inclusiveness and already-presence of
God's domain is to be taken seriously by the church in pursuing the kerygma
in the New Testament. However, the category 'kerygmatic Christ'
seems to be increasingly loosing its explanatory and heuristic power in
the secular and postmodern religious age.
