JESUS, PROFETA DE PALAVRA E AÇÃO: A FUSÃO DOS TIPOS PROFÉTICOS WEBERIANOS NA PRÁXIS DE JESUS

Abstract

This dissertation attempts to interpret and explain the impact of the historical Jesus on the life of his first disciples, as well as on the communities that came about around him. It is argued that the reason of Jesus‟ impact has to do with the fact that he merged the two types of the prophetic weberian sociology, namely, the exemplary prophet and the emissary prophet. In order to do that, the synoptic Gospels are taken as the main sources for the knowledge of the perception the first communities had of Jesus. Through research in these sources, it is observed that the prophetic characteristics are verified both in the deeds and in the words of Jesus. Indeed, Jesus understood himself as God‟s prophet. Additionally, both his disciples and those who met him, perceived him first and foremost as a prophet. Furthermore, his actions in the synoptic Gospels are strongly marked by the prophetic tradition. This thesis also reveals that the preaching of Jesus is shaped by that tradition in form and content. Finally, through the exegetical narrative of the temptation in the desert, it is demonstrated that the first communities formed around him perceived Jesus as both an exemplary prophet and as an emissary prophet. In this sense, the narrative presents the merging of the mystical experience, typical of the exemplary tradition with the ascetic practices and the ethical radicalism, characteristic of the emissary tradition. Therefore, the disciples and the first Christian communities perceived in Jesus a charismatic power which permeated his life and word, being that fact the reason of the great impact Jesus exerted over their lives and, in turn, over entire communities and, eventually, over the whole society.