“In the beginning was the Word,” so ring the words of John proclaiming that through the divine logoß all creation came into being. That same divine logoß took on flesh and dwelt among us that we may know the love of God the father and be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, freed from death and given new life in Christ.
I think that it is also fitting that we call scripture the word of the Lord, for in this word we come to know the Gospel of Christ, the counter logic of the Kingdom and the Life everlasting. Yet too many here miss something, they miss that it is not within the text that the true Word dwells, it is in the Body of Christ. That body, which was broken, given over to death , invites us to die, to rise and become one in Christ. It is from this Body of Christ that we have received the text, which testifies to God’s everlasting faithfulness. The Bible reveals to us the Nature of God and the sinfulness of man; not in axioms or propositions but by weaving the fabric of our reality up into the ultimate Truth which is God.
If a man loves a woman and desires to tell her that love, would he write her a propositional analysis of his acute euphoria? NO! The lover would speak in lyrical potency his love, and in so doing this love is made manifest to her. So just as through God’s Divine Logos creation came into being, through The Body of Christ God speaks to us with the lyrical composition of a lover. With jealousy, fury and passion God’s word calls us to repentance.
This love note of God’s, made palpable through the Church, is only the witness to God’s love, not the salvation itself. The Bible is not A Priori, because we are not a people who are A Prioi. We live and bleed our own experience and particularity into this text. The authors wrote within their particularity and we also read within our particularity. Yet the scriptures are not mired in our own carnal realities, but are glorified in them. God’s calling does not sound in spite of our pitfalls and struggles but rather because of them. When the Logos became flesh in Christ, he was not the holy one of God in spite of his flesh, but rather the scandalous particularity of Christ is what shows us God.
The Bible, our canon, our Scripture, must always and forever be bound tightly to our Body of Christ. The Bible is from God through the Body, for the Body and in the Body finds its Glory.
Showing posts with label Theology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Theology. Show all posts
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Saturday, 21 February 2009
A Cross That Teaches us to Mourn and Rejoice
The beauty of redemption In the Cross is that in its bitterness and raw audacity we see a microcosm of our calling as the church.
The Call of Christ eluminates the most horrendous parts of that which lies within us. The death and decay that we shuffle away to the periphery of our recognition is collected and hung before us, embodied in the crucifixion. Yet the promise of the Cross does not give us an immediate evacuation from this present darkness, but rather drags us deeper into its folds. Just as Christ dove headlong into all that is fearful and decrepit; so we who cling to him dragged into those places the world forgets; The darkest alleys, the deepest dregs of our human hell. We who hold fast to Christ and his Cross drink in the death that surrounds us, mourning, weeping, and paradoxically rejoicing , because God as Made new in us what God will some day make new in all of creation.
We are called not to the abandonment of this hell which our humanity has built, neither by middle class pews, nor spiritual euphoria but rather by the recognition of Christ’s eschatological death we are called to be reconciled and in this way the world will know the Kingdom by those who have been
The Call of Christ eluminates the most horrendous parts of that which lies within us. The death and decay that we shuffle away to the periphery of our recognition is collected and hung before us, embodied in the crucifixion. Yet the promise of the Cross does not give us an immediate evacuation from this present darkness, but rather drags us deeper into its folds. Just as Christ dove headlong into all that is fearful and decrepit; so we who cling to him dragged into those places the world forgets; The darkest alleys, the deepest dregs of our human hell. We who hold fast to Christ and his Cross drink in the death that surrounds us, mourning, weeping, and paradoxically rejoicing , because God as Made new in us what God will some day make new in all of creation.
We are called not to the abandonment of this hell which our humanity has built, neither by middle class pews, nor spiritual euphoria but rather by the recognition of Christ’s eschatological death we are called to be reconciled and in this way the world will know the Kingdom by those who have been
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
A Wrath that is God's Love
Speaking about God is in itself an Irony. To say God is X or God is Y automatically puts God within the confines of our puny language. If God is Infinite than we are always going to grasping after something so profoundly Other that we will fail over and over and over again to describe it. In scripture we have various images of God. God as the father, God as the King, God as protector and redeemer. Each of them is not able to hold a candle to our God, yet in their multiplicity we are able to gleam some sort of collage that draws us towards who God is.
In this Blog I am going to toy with an Idea about the Wrath of God. It is going to sound foreign and maybe even heretical, but I would ask that as a reader you see it as a member of the afore mentioned collage of images.
What if the Wrath of God, as depicted in the Old Testament is not looked at as an attribute of God's character but rather as a description of what happens to those who do not walk humble with God.
The Prophet Jeremiah wrote:
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched."
In this verse as with many, the Wrath of God takes the image of fire, one that lays the unfaithful people of Israel to waste. Yet the images of Fire in the Old Testament are not all equated to Wrath. When God comes to Moses he uses a "burning bush."
The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. - Exodus 3
Here the Flames represent the presence of God. Likewise when God takes Elijah up to heaven in 2 Kings, it is described as "a chariot of fire with horses of fire." God's presence is depicted as flame, yet God's wrath is not being invoked against Elijah, on the contrary he is being brought up into the heavens. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is often given a very similar description, such as the tongues of flame that descended upon the disciples in Acts.
What if the Wrath of God is simply the presence of God? If the nature of God is such that all that do not find their sustenance in God are destroyed by the very nature of God's incredible presence. And at the same time that Presence that was destruction to one, is paradise to another.
The Wages of sin is death; because the Love of God is so fierce that anyone who comes before God, with their own Mortal fragility ceases to be. Darkness is not something, it is a lack. Namely the lack of light. Sin is a discontinuity with God, a separation from God who is Life. This lack of Life results in death. When a light is turned on in a room, darkness is dispersed, not because the light must "punish" the darkness, but simply because in filling the room with light there is not more room for darkness.
The same may be said of God's perfect Love. That when encountering the Love of God one either burns with the joy of redemption or is consumed by the their own darkness being filled with light.
As I said in the beginning none of these words could ever contain the Truth of God fully, but I believe this image helps us reconcile the God of Love we see in Christ with the God of Wrath we see in the Old Testament. These different views do not speak of a different God, but rather of two different experiences of God's powerful presence.
I go by the name Bathed in Grace because of this Idea. That like the bush that was engulfed in flame and not consumed, so God has covered us with his Love that slays everything within us. Yet this baptism is not our end, but rather by Grace is our beginning.
In this Blog I am going to toy with an Idea about the Wrath of God. It is going to sound foreign and maybe even heretical, but I would ask that as a reader you see it as a member of the afore mentioned collage of images.
What if the Wrath of God, as depicted in the Old Testament is not looked at as an attribute of God's character but rather as a description of what happens to those who do not walk humble with God.
The Prophet Jeremiah wrote:
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched."
In this verse as with many, the Wrath of God takes the image of fire, one that lays the unfaithful people of Israel to waste. Yet the images of Fire in the Old Testament are not all equated to Wrath. When God comes to Moses he uses a "burning bush."
The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. - Exodus 3
Here the Flames represent the presence of God. Likewise when God takes Elijah up to heaven in 2 Kings, it is described as "a chariot of fire with horses of fire." God's presence is depicted as flame, yet God's wrath is not being invoked against Elijah, on the contrary he is being brought up into the heavens. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is often given a very similar description, such as the tongues of flame that descended upon the disciples in Acts.
What if the Wrath of God is simply the presence of God? If the nature of God is such that all that do not find their sustenance in God are destroyed by the very nature of God's incredible presence. And at the same time that Presence that was destruction to one, is paradise to another.
The Wages of sin is death; because the Love of God is so fierce that anyone who comes before God, with their own Mortal fragility ceases to be. Darkness is not something, it is a lack. Namely the lack of light. Sin is a discontinuity with God, a separation from God who is Life. This lack of Life results in death. When a light is turned on in a room, darkness is dispersed, not because the light must "punish" the darkness, but simply because in filling the room with light there is not more room for darkness.
The same may be said of God's perfect Love. That when encountering the Love of God one either burns with the joy of redemption or is consumed by the their own darkness being filled with light.
As I said in the beginning none of these words could ever contain the Truth of God fully, but I believe this image helps us reconcile the God of Love we see in Christ with the God of Wrath we see in the Old Testament. These different views do not speak of a different God, but rather of two different experiences of God's powerful presence.
I go by the name Bathed in Grace because of this Idea. That like the bush that was engulfed in flame and not consumed, so God has covered us with his Love that slays everything within us. Yet this baptism is not our end, but rather by Grace is our beginning.
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
The Gospel According to Brandon...Sort of..
I am in a Synoptic Gospels class here in Lithuania. It has been a very interesting and is led by a young professor who just got his Ph.D at 29! One of the assignments was to evaluate the editing process of the Gospel authors by writing our own gospel. I know it sounds heretical, but it was really fun! It has been a great opportunity for me to processes how I see Jesus.
The following is FICTION that I have written by drawing upon various source material from the canonical Gospels as well as from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas and my own imagination. It is followed by a comprehensive analysis. Here we go...
It was in the second year of Jesus ministry that he took the twelve to the Jordan. As they walked Philip came up to Jesus and asked him:
“Why is It that you do not mind the company of Gentiles, are they not unclean?”
Jesus Replied: “We have lived in a time where the purity of ones hands has defined their righteousness, but in the Kingdom of God it is not filth on ones hands that makes one unclean but rather the wickedness that has taken hold of their hearts. I tell you the truth that in the coming age the gentile will be grafted into the lineage of Abraham and receive through faith brotherhood among God’s people. For the Gentile will now be offered new life, Just as it is written:
“Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!”
So too will the Gentile may enter into the Kingdom if they repent. After saying this Jesus walked to the shore and cried out; “ Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God . Stand in the river and I will show you how the Kingdom will come.” So the twelve came down to the river, but the current was very strong so the disciples call out to Jesus saying to them, “ Jesus, the current is too strong, we will surely be swept away if we enter it.”
Jesus turned to them and said:
“ The Kingdom will not be calm and cool water, it will be violent and threaten to tear at your flesh. Yet only those who offer themselves up to the promises of God will be able to obtain it. “
Peter threw his cloak around himself and entered the stream. The water surged and tossed him under its foaming waves. The other disciples called out in agony but were too afraid to help him. In a loud voice Jesus parted the river and the water heaped upon it self. There at the bottom lay Peter. Jesus walked over to him and said loud enough for all of the disciples to hear.
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” With this he breathed on Peter and he was raised from the dead. All the Disciples now were amazed and rushed to Peter and after embracing him fell at Jesus feet.
Jesus told them : “Just as Joshua has parted this river to lead his people into the Promised land I separate it to bring you into the Kingdom of God. Just like Peter you must be willing to suffer. For whoever loses his life will gain it, but those who are not willing to suffer will not be able to enter into life eternal.”
After this Jesus and the disciples began their journey to Jerusalem. It was a long and hot day when they came through a small village. They stopped there to eat, and drink from their well. As they were sitting in the shade Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to someone and tell me whom I am like."
Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a righteous angel."
Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher."
Thomas said to him, "Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like."
Jesus said to him, “Are you intoxicated? Have not you walked with me for two years now, listening and seeing what acts the Son of Man has performed to proclaim the coming Kingdom of God!”
Jesus told them this story.
“ The Greeks have many false gods and tell tales of their ‘greatness’. One story is of Prometheus . A god who looked down on mankind and saw that they were without protection; without claws to hunt or fur to stay warm. Prometheus went to Zeus and asked permission to give man fire in order that they might live in light and not darkness. Zeus refused to allow man to have fire, to let man have light. But Prometheus brought fire to man anyways, for this act he was tortured and endured great suffering. This world is based around the power of the strong dominating the weak, just as Zeus has dominion over man in this Greek myth. In this world the Son of Man has come to bring light unto the world and release the hearts of men from their greed for domination. Just as Prometheus I will be persecuted by the powers of this world and will suffer the most brutal death.” He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter.
"Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Then he called a crowd to him along with his disciples and said:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
After hearing this Jesus’ disciples were perplexed, and did not understand what he was saying. So Jesus looked at them and said.
“I have not come to overthrow Rome but to overthrow something that Rome bows to. Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, that sin which makes brother kill brother and gives man the desire to dominate one another. It is this hierarchy of Power that I have come to negate. My teachings are a manifesto to the Kingdom of God, which inverts this fallen power structure and reestablishes right relation from man to fellow man, and from man to God. I will die to this fallen flesh and rise again as the first new creation, bringing to reality what will be made in full at the end of the age.
The following is FICTION that I have written by drawing upon various source material from the canonical Gospels as well as from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas and my own imagination. It is followed by a comprehensive analysis. Here we go...
The Gospel According to Brandon Walsh
A follower of Jesus
It was in the second year of Jesus ministry that he took the twelve to the Jordan. As they walked Philip came up to Jesus and asked him:
“Why is It that you do not mind the company of Gentiles, are they not unclean?”
Jesus Replied: “We have lived in a time where the purity of ones hands has defined their righteousness, but in the Kingdom of God it is not filth on ones hands that makes one unclean but rather the wickedness that has taken hold of their hearts. I tell you the truth that in the coming age the gentile will be grafted into the lineage of Abraham and receive through faith brotherhood among God’s people. For the Gentile will now be offered new life, Just as it is written:
“Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!”
So too will the Gentile may enter into the Kingdom if they repent. After saying this Jesus walked to the shore and cried out; “ Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God . Stand in the river and I will show you how the Kingdom will come.” So the twelve came down to the river, but the current was very strong so the disciples call out to Jesus saying to them, “ Jesus, the current is too strong, we will surely be swept away if we enter it.”
Jesus turned to them and said:
“ The Kingdom will not be calm and cool water, it will be violent and threaten to tear at your flesh. Yet only those who offer themselves up to the promises of God will be able to obtain it. “
Peter threw his cloak around himself and entered the stream. The water surged and tossed him under its foaming waves. The other disciples called out in agony but were too afraid to help him. In a loud voice Jesus parted the river and the water heaped upon it self. There at the bottom lay Peter. Jesus walked over to him and said loud enough for all of the disciples to hear.
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” With this he breathed on Peter and he was raised from the dead. All the Disciples now were amazed and rushed to Peter and after embracing him fell at Jesus feet.
Jesus told them : “Just as Joshua has parted this river to lead his people into the Promised land I separate it to bring you into the Kingdom of God. Just like Peter you must be willing to suffer. For whoever loses his life will gain it, but those who are not willing to suffer will not be able to enter into life eternal.”
After this Jesus and the disciples began their journey to Jerusalem. It was a long and hot day when they came through a small village. They stopped there to eat, and drink from their well. As they were sitting in the shade Jesus said to his disciples, "Compare me to someone and tell me whom I am like."
Simon Peter said to him, "You are like a righteous angel."
Matthew said to him, "You are like a wise philosopher."
Thomas said to him, "Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like."
Jesus said to him, “Are you intoxicated? Have not you walked with me for two years now, listening and seeing what acts the Son of Man has performed to proclaim the coming Kingdom of God!”
Jesus told them this story.
“ The Greeks have many false gods and tell tales of their ‘greatness’. One story is of Prometheus . A god who looked down on mankind and saw that they were without protection; without claws to hunt or fur to stay warm. Prometheus went to Zeus and asked permission to give man fire in order that they might live in light and not darkness. Zeus refused to allow man to have fire, to let man have light. But Prometheus brought fire to man anyways, for this act he was tortured and endured great suffering. This world is based around the power of the strong dominating the weak, just as Zeus has dominion over man in this Greek myth. In this world the Son of Man has come to bring light unto the world and release the hearts of men from their greed for domination. Just as Prometheus I will be persecuted by the powers of this world and will suffer the most brutal death.” He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter.
"Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Then he called a crowd to him along with his disciples and said:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
After hearing this Jesus’ disciples were perplexed, and did not understand what he was saying. So Jesus looked at them and said.
“I have not come to overthrow Rome but to overthrow something that Rome bows to. Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, that sin which makes brother kill brother and gives man the desire to dominate one another. It is this hierarchy of Power that I have come to negate. My teachings are a manifesto to the Kingdom of God, which inverts this fallen power structure and reestablishes right relation from man to fellow man, and from man to God. I will die to this fallen flesh and rise again as the first new creation, bringing to reality what will be made in full at the end of the age.
Comprehensive Analysis of The Gospel of Brandon
This Gospel provides both narrative and discourse that play into Brandon’s interpretation of the Kingdom of God and what it costs to be a disciple. The Gospel starts out with a discourse between Jesus and Philip about why Jesus eats with gentiles. His response calls on various Old Testament texts and shows clear connection to Pauline theology in the book of Romans.
Next we enter into a narrative at the riverbank of the Jordan, Where Jesus tells the disciples to go into the water. But they refuse because of the rapid current. Jesus quotes Joshua and alludes to the symbolic act of crossing the river into the holy land of Israel. After Jesus rebukes the disciples for not understanding that the Kingdom of God will be painful, Peter jumps into the river and is swept away. The disciples cry out in anguish but Jesus parts the river, just as Joshua parted the river to enter the promise land and Elisha did to legitimate his prophetic anointment in 2 Kings 2. Jesus sees Peter lying dead at the bottom of the river and brings him back to life.
Jesus then interprets his actions by telling them that just as Joshua led his people into the Promised Land that he would lead them into the Kingdom of God, and that in order to enter the Kingdom one must being willing to suffer, like peter. Jesus then leads them into a small town where he asks them a passage from the Gospel of Thomas. It is a request somewhat like the one found in Mark 8, where Jesus asks his disciples to tell him who he is. In this Gnostic version though Peter tells Jesus that he is like a “righteous angel” and the Matthew says he is like a “wise philosopher.” Then Jesus rebukes Thomas for not knowing. Brandon now adds the story of Prometheus that Jesus uses to explain his role in the world, saying that he goes against the will of the power that has dominion over the hearts of man and that by bringing them the Kingdom that he will be persecuted.
Then we see the exact words of Mark 8 transferred into this text. Where Jesus predicts his death and Rebukes Peter of denying it. Here again we see the theme of the cost of discipleship and Jesus ends the Gospel with a explanation of all of these actions. Jesus explains that he has not come to overthrow Rome but to overthrow something bigger, the fallen power structure of humanity.
This Gospel’s Genre is a mix between several different themes. It includes discourse on Jew and Gentile relations, a prophetic legitimating narrative and several discussions on the purpose of the Kingdom of God. It incorporates the narrative into this text with the discourse so that they can co-interpret each other. The discourse brings new understanding to the parting of the Jordan and the parting of the Jordan brings new meaning to the cost of discipleship teachings.
There are four distinct sources in the writing of this gospel and each is used differently to make the Gospels central argument. The canonical scriptures are used, including the Old Testament, as well as the Gospel of Thomas, Greek mythology and unique material that I will call “special B.” The OT verses used to support the prophet legitimation also provide a new way to interpret how they could be read in their original context.
The source material from the Gospel of Thomas is put in a new context to provide a new framework for Jesus’ own interpretation of who he is like, Prometheus. This element of Greek mythology is unique to this Gospel. It shows the authors interaction with Greek culture and possibly even language. This story itself is reinterpreted in order to show Jesus as the Prometheus and Zeus as the power (Satan) that rules the world.
Special B is a unique source material that seems to mix various elements of Canonical themes with modern interpretations of the meaning of Jesus. The source includes the parting of the Jordan, not found in any other source, and the final discourse at the end of the Gospel that describes the Kingdom’s new power structure.
The Christology that we see in this Gospel is not unlike Matthew and Luke. Jesus is clearly calling himself the Son of Man and performing tremendous miracles to show he is the chosen one of God, but he does not use any “I am” statements as he does in the Gospel of John. Jesus is still human enough to want to stop and get a drink of water in the village, but divine enough to raise Peter from the dead. This Christology reflects the orthodox paradox of Christ, both fully man and fully God.
The Ideology of the Gospel is one of Christ’s purposes to restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden. Jesus has come to give an alternative way to live, according to the power structure of the Sermon on the Mount rather than the strongest dominate the weakest.
Next we enter into a narrative at the riverbank of the Jordan, Where Jesus tells the disciples to go into the water. But they refuse because of the rapid current. Jesus quotes Joshua and alludes to the symbolic act of crossing the river into the holy land of Israel. After Jesus rebukes the disciples for not understanding that the Kingdom of God will be painful, Peter jumps into the river and is swept away. The disciples cry out in anguish but Jesus parts the river, just as Joshua parted the river to enter the promise land and Elisha did to legitimate his prophetic anointment in 2 Kings 2. Jesus sees Peter lying dead at the bottom of the river and brings him back to life.
Jesus then interprets his actions by telling them that just as Joshua led his people into the Promised Land that he would lead them into the Kingdom of God, and that in order to enter the Kingdom one must being willing to suffer, like peter. Jesus then leads them into a small town where he asks them a passage from the Gospel of Thomas. It is a request somewhat like the one found in Mark 8, where Jesus asks his disciples to tell him who he is. In this Gnostic version though Peter tells Jesus that he is like a “righteous angel” and the Matthew says he is like a “wise philosopher.” Then Jesus rebukes Thomas for not knowing. Brandon now adds the story of Prometheus that Jesus uses to explain his role in the world, saying that he goes against the will of the power that has dominion over the hearts of man and that by bringing them the Kingdom that he will be persecuted.
Then we see the exact words of Mark 8 transferred into this text. Where Jesus predicts his death and Rebukes Peter of denying it. Here again we see the theme of the cost of discipleship and Jesus ends the Gospel with a explanation of all of these actions. Jesus explains that he has not come to overthrow Rome but to overthrow something bigger, the fallen power structure of humanity.
This Gospel’s Genre is a mix between several different themes. It includes discourse on Jew and Gentile relations, a prophetic legitimating narrative and several discussions on the purpose of the Kingdom of God. It incorporates the narrative into this text with the discourse so that they can co-interpret each other. The discourse brings new understanding to the parting of the Jordan and the parting of the Jordan brings new meaning to the cost of discipleship teachings.
There are four distinct sources in the writing of this gospel and each is used differently to make the Gospels central argument. The canonical scriptures are used, including the Old Testament, as well as the Gospel of Thomas, Greek mythology and unique material that I will call “special B.” The OT verses used to support the prophet legitimation also provide a new way to interpret how they could be read in their original context.
The source material from the Gospel of Thomas is put in a new context to provide a new framework for Jesus’ own interpretation of who he is like, Prometheus. This element of Greek mythology is unique to this Gospel. It shows the authors interaction with Greek culture and possibly even language. This story itself is reinterpreted in order to show Jesus as the Prometheus and Zeus as the power (Satan) that rules the world.
Special B is a unique source material that seems to mix various elements of Canonical themes with modern interpretations of the meaning of Jesus. The source includes the parting of the Jordan, not found in any other source, and the final discourse at the end of the Gospel that describes the Kingdom’s new power structure.
The Christology that we see in this Gospel is not unlike Matthew and Luke. Jesus is clearly calling himself the Son of Man and performing tremendous miracles to show he is the chosen one of God, but he does not use any “I am” statements as he does in the Gospel of John. Jesus is still human enough to want to stop and get a drink of water in the village, but divine enough to raise Peter from the dead. This Christology reflects the orthodox paradox of Christ, both fully man and fully God.
The Ideology of the Gospel is one of Christ’s purposes to restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden. Jesus has come to give an alternative way to live, according to the power structure of the Sermon on the Mount rather than the strongest dominate the weakest.
Sunday, 2 March 2008
The Idol of Certainty
There was once a time in my life that I wanted to know the Truth so badly. Truth was what I could measure, what I could in some way feel satisfied with: some sort of fact or explanation that could be proven. Something I could put my head around and feel content with, but I don’t think life works like that.
Is faith reasonable? I think that faith is an inescapable element of the human existence and to discredit it is to play ignorant to ones own personal experience. Every day one has to operate at certain level in order to survive, we meet with other people, sit in chairs, eat food and drive cars without the slightest thought of what it takes to perform each action. It takes faith to believe that any other people around us are not just the firing of neurons in our brain, it takes faith to drive our cars without checking every nut and bolt before traveling and it even takes faith to sit in a chair. It is completely unreasonable to live life under the constant scrutiny of the logical process, putting no faith in things, always having to prove things. The truth is that there is no way to prove that you won’t die on the highway. So in order to live we suspend total scrutiny, and only use “pure rationality” when we want to feel certain about things.
I have often heard that religion and faith are crutches for the weak. Tools of the imagination to feel safe and loved, but I would contest that the same could be said for the scientific process of knowing. It is a way to satisfy that fear of the unknown inside us because when things are “scientifically proven” we can rest assured that we, the humans, are in control. We have to power to quantify and verify and control. I don’t think that it is fear that drives me into faith and thinking that drives me into rationality, it is fear that makes me want to be in control, and faith that acknowledges the reality that I am not.
I am not saying that all science is a crutch, or that all scientists are unwilling to accept that they are not in control. I am noting that it is faith that makes the world go round, that makes us able to function. Sometimes atheists or agnostics say that Christians have “blind faith:” faith that is not based on anything logical, anything reasonable. To this I ask what evidence they have that no God exists. Some will spout out speculation, but in the end they have no proof. They don’t have any definitive answer, just faith. They can take the little information that they have and get the edge of the cliff, and without proof jump off into atheism just as I have jumped off into Christianity.
I used to think that it would be comforting to know the Truth. I thought that it would let me understand and “subdue” the world around me, but I don’t think that a Truth that could fit itself into my miniscule mind would be much of a Truth at all. So I have resorted to something braver, submission to something bigger and better than what I can cram into my finite being. So I know God the same way that I know a chair will hold me, I sit in it and find out. So far, both have caught me.
Is faith reasonable? I think that faith is an inescapable element of the human existence and to discredit it is to play ignorant to ones own personal experience. Every day one has to operate at certain level in order to survive, we meet with other people, sit in chairs, eat food and drive cars without the slightest thought of what it takes to perform each action. It takes faith to believe that any other people around us are not just the firing of neurons in our brain, it takes faith to drive our cars without checking every nut and bolt before traveling and it even takes faith to sit in a chair. It is completely unreasonable to live life under the constant scrutiny of the logical process, putting no faith in things, always having to prove things. The truth is that there is no way to prove that you won’t die on the highway. So in order to live we suspend total scrutiny, and only use “pure rationality” when we want to feel certain about things.
I have often heard that religion and faith are crutches for the weak. Tools of the imagination to feel safe and loved, but I would contest that the same could be said for the scientific process of knowing. It is a way to satisfy that fear of the unknown inside us because when things are “scientifically proven” we can rest assured that we, the humans, are in control. We have to power to quantify and verify and control. I don’t think that it is fear that drives me into faith and thinking that drives me into rationality, it is fear that makes me want to be in control, and faith that acknowledges the reality that I am not.
I am not saying that all science is a crutch, or that all scientists are unwilling to accept that they are not in control. I am noting that it is faith that makes the world go round, that makes us able to function. Sometimes atheists or agnostics say that Christians have “blind faith:” faith that is not based on anything logical, anything reasonable. To this I ask what evidence they have that no God exists. Some will spout out speculation, but in the end they have no proof. They don’t have any definitive answer, just faith. They can take the little information that they have and get the edge of the cliff, and without proof jump off into atheism just as I have jumped off into Christianity.
I used to think that it would be comforting to know the Truth. I thought that it would let me understand and “subdue” the world around me, but I don’t think that a Truth that could fit itself into my miniscule mind would be much of a Truth at all. So I have resorted to something braver, submission to something bigger and better than what I can cram into my finite being. So I know God the same way that I know a chair will hold me, I sit in it and find out. So far, both have caught me.
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