What do I do now, how do I think and feel now; now that I
know that the presentation of Jesus Christ as a human – divine being as found
in the Bible, is just a literary characterization? For me, the bubble of looking at the Bible as
literary truth had burst long, long ago; yet I find this new (to me)
theological perspective that the "words of Jesus" are really the
"words of Matthew about Jesus" or the "words of Luke about
Jesus" a little disheartening and requiring of more introspection of the
basis of my beliefs. For it certainly
makes sense (of the old dirt-farmer common sense breed) that the basis of my
faith hold up to scrutiny both from my intellectual and feeling natures; to
live by what Emilie Cady termed "an understanding faith."
So, is Jesus Christ really in the Bible? For me the answer
is still yes, and the way that I work with the literary characterization
question can be depicted as looking at the difference between a biography of a
person versus the autobiography of a person. It is pretty clear from Dr. Tom's
class that we're dealing with the biography of a person, which is inherently a
literary characterization, in contrast to the literal words of Jesus, which
would be suggestive of true autobiography. Yet, to use the example of Abraham
Lincoln, we do have some of his writings, yet most of what I know about Abraham
Lincoln has actually come from others writing about Abraham Lincoln, as opposed
to my personal reading of the letters and writings of Abraham Lincoln. So, do I
still believe in Abraham Lincoln and in what he stood for? Yes I do. In a
similar manner, do I still believe in Jesus Christ and what he stood and lived
for? Do I still believe that Jesus Christ is really present in the New
Testament? Yes, I do.
Another aspect of my description of my beliefs that may need
to change because of this new perspective was my calling of myself to be a
"red letter Christian." Thus, the use of the "actual words"
of Jesus as the summarizing characterization of my beliefs needs to be used
more judiciously, depending on the theological perspective of a particular conversation
or audience.
And again, what if one of my favorite biblical stories is
not real? The story of the adulteress, who was being chased out of the city and
about to be stoned to death for her sins, wherein Jesus is reported to have
said "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." It troubles me
to let go of my attachment to this story, yet what this story has meant for me
in the development of my faith still remains, because the productive results of
working with my faith and my personal experience of the changes and transformations
in my life have provided for me substantial evidence of the reality of my Master
Teacher.
Thus, Jesus Christ is still present for me in the New
Testament stories, perhaps now even more deeply, as my faith drawn from these biblical
stories shifts a little more from the external words to the internal experience
of my being.
Really nice metaphor of Abraham Lincoln to Jesus. Existence as the foundation to both was well done! Thank you, I will probably borrow that metaphor from you in the future. It really struck a chord with me.
ReplyDeleteExcellent application of what we believe an accept about literary portraits of other historic figures to the story of Jesus and to the challenge of biblical story veracity. On some level it does matter if an "urban legend" is true or not, but on another level, the discussion it generates can still have value.
ReplyDeleteThe oral tradition regarding Jesus is very likely to have contained some of the words of Jesus which in turn were carried over into the written gospels. Nevertheless, even if the gospels are nothing more than a literary characterization of Jesus, the Spirit of Jesus and his teachings are still there and it speaks clearly to me, enough so that I am still willing to devote my life to him and his teachings. May we continue to change and transform as we reflect and dialogue with scripture.
ReplyDeleteFreeing yourself of the authority of the historical Jesus can also liberate the Christ-within this historic personality to speak through many voices. Abraham Lincoln was a different person in writings by freed slaves and grieving former slave owners, yet the captives were none the less free and the captors had to deal with this new reality. For two thousand years, humanity has looked at Jesus and said, "That's what God looks like upon the earth." Since most Unity people believe everybody has a divine nature--however cleverly disguised--I mjust conclude they were right in finding it in Jesus. He becomes both a source and a blank slate; an interactive character in history and mythology; the best we can be, shaped by the best that we are. Your observations show maturity and courage to wrestle with what Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature."
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