John P. Meier, «The Historical Jesus and the Historical Samaritans: What can be Said?», Vol. 81 (2000) 202-232

Careful analysis of the Gospels shows that there is not very much hard data about the historical Jesus’ interaction with or views about the Samaritans. There is multiple attestation, found in the Lucan and Johannine traditions, that Jesus, different from typical views of his time, held a benign view of Samaritans and had positive, though passing, encounters with some Samaritans. However, there is gospel agreement, from silence or statement, that Jesus had no programmatic mission to the Samaritans. Besides the above important conclusions, this essay also makes clear the useful distinction between Samaritans and Samarians.

positive, though passing, encounters with particular Samaritans. But, by either explicit statement or telling silence, all the Gospels agree that there was no programmatic mission to the Samaritans during Jesus’ lifetime. While this may seem a paltry yield for so much work, it reminds us of a principle of scholarship that holds far beyond the quest for the historical Jesus but must be constantly reaffirmed especially in the quest: it is far better to be clear about what we know (or do not know) and how we know it than to continue to engage in widespread but unfounded generalizations.