Ernst Käsemann's Birth

Jim West from the Biblical Theology blog has just posted this nice note commemorating the anniversary of Ernst Käsemann's birth (12 July 1906). Käsemann was a brilliant and provocative New Testament scholar. Just the other day I was reading his impassioned little book Jesus Means Freedom (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1972), which created such a stir in Germany when it was first published. Regardless of whether I agree with Käsemann's own conclusions, I can only admire his courageous defence of the freedom of theological scholarship to think critically and openly about its sources. It is always truth, not tradition, that matters most.