MY RSS Feed

A contemporary opinion about the historical Jesus

fotografica@antenna.nl — 2005-11-29T18:46:14+01:00

“As an historian, I do not know for certain that Jesus really existed, that he is anything more than the figment of some overactive imaginations . . . In my view, there is nothing about Jesus of Nazareth that we can know beyond any possible doubt. In the mortal life we have there are only probabilities. And the Jesus that scholars have isolated in the ancient gospels, gospels that are bloated with the will to believe, may turn out to be only another image that merely reflects our deepest longings.” [Robert W. Funk, Jesus Seminar founder and co-chair]

Author: This statement comes from a Christian scholar who formed a large organization of scholars to vote on the synoptic gospels. They voted that only seventeen percent of the text was most likely what Jesus said or did. Seventeen percent! No wonder this man lives in great doubt that Jesus as a person existed. Living in doubt as he does must be a cruel punishment to him to have spent his adult life trying to find the real Jesus and instead coming up with a voting result that eighty-three percent of what was written of and about Jesus is most likely false.

Oh, you of little faith! as Jesus is reported to have exclaimed. Of course we know that Jesus existed. There is more certainty that Jesus existed than that most of us exist, given a core definition of existence as being recognized for ones life and values. New life is built from the reality of an individual, not from the imagination. Those of us who have practiced the teachings of Jesus in our daily lives understand directly the presence of this amazing wisdom teacher.
Let this be written on all the walls of the temples and churches: SI EGO FUTURUS, SIC OPEROR TOTUS QUI DONATUS MIHI VITA. If I exist, so do those who have given me life.

James, the brother of Jesus

fotografica@antenna.nl — 2005-11-29T18:38:30+01:00

“[The Roman governor] Festus was now dead, and [his successor] Albinus was still upon the road. So [the high priest] Ananus assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of that Jesus who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some of his companions. And when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned.” (62 AJ) [Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 20.200]

Author: Again, is this Josephus, or is this a Christian scribe inserting some Christian history into what is essentially Jewish history written by a Jew? The early Jewish Christians has antagonized the Jewish establishment by seeking to convert Jews to their new form of Judaism based on the assertion that finally the Messiah had come in the form of Jesus, the proof of which is that Jesus was raised from the dead.
Note that these first Christians do not assert that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, because he had great wisdom to teach to the world. This Jewish form of Messiah-ship is based on physical miracles and not values and wisdom. Even here what Jesus wanted is not followed. His challenge not to be identified with material things, but to seek and live spiritual values, has already gone out the window with these first Jewish Christians. Such is life! What you want you do not get. What you do not want takes you over.

The ancient quote is highly interesting in that it shows the Jewish establishment killing James, another member of the Jesus family who is not in any way a Jewish, military revolutionary. James was known as a 'righteous man' who prayed in the temple every day and wore white. Why would he be killed by the High Priest? He must have, like Jesus, his brother, opposed the Temple religion of ritual killing of animals and taking money from the poor and becoming rich. Both James and Jesus were of the movement to make the Temple a temple of God, whereas King Herod who had rebuilt the Temple had made it into a money-making machine to which tourists came from all over the world to worship and donate money. James also was killed by Jews. Just the act of stoning somebody is quite barbaric. When we look at the Jews of Jesus' and James' day, unlike in our day, we can see in them such a high level of violence. There were a number of 'crimes' that Jews could be stoned to death by their fellow Jews for. This is the low level of regard for human life that characterized the Jews and Romans of that day that Jesus was standing up against with a new Higher Standard of behavior towards ones species based on a new religion of love.

The betrayal

fotografica@antenna.nl — 2005-11-26T19:35:50+01:00

The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to the judgment of death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. [Luke 24:19-21]

Author: Note that Luke, a non-Jew, is placing the blame for Jesus' death on the Jewish leaders, but this is partially false. Most possible is that Jesus, as seen in his teachings and actions, opposed the Temple Religion and tried to bring a new version of the Jewish religion to the people, prophet style. Jesus, a popular and non-military leader, became food for slaughter by the Jewish establishment collaborating with the Romans. Jesus lost his backing by the people who popularized him.

Peter and the other male disciples deserted Jesus in Jerusalem at his arrest and after. According to Christian history, Acts, there were around 120 Galileans in Jerusalem following Jesus, and many other people. Where were they when Jesus was arrested and being tried? Jesus had asked to be defended and should have been defended. Was there a large conspiracy among Jesus' own people, led by Peter and even his brother, James, who later headed the early Church? Jesus was essentially killed by his own people.

Jesus alone the Jewish establishment to fundamentally change by living the religion of God and not man. Jesus taught people to love, not hate, and was killed for it by those who hate and resist in life. Even Jesus' own closest followers did not love him or else they would have stood with him, risking their lives as well. These are the facts. Judas was not the sole betrayer. Jesus was betrayed by his own people. Our job as seekers after the truth has been to find out why, and now we know the truth, as much as can be known from this distance.

From a history of the times (93 J.E.)

fotografica@antenna.nl — 2005-11-26T19:29:58+01:00

At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of the people who receive the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following both among many Jews and among many of Greek origin. And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. And up until this very day the tribe of Christians, named after him, has not died out. [Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 18.63-64, John Meier revised translation]

Author: Did Josephus write any of this? Not in his style! His writings were quite pro Jewish and pro Roman. Both the Jews and the Romans opposed the early Christians. Josephus would have known that Nero in 64 J.E. (Jesus Era) had the Christians persecuted and thrown to the lions. Josephus wrote many years after this. Scholars think the passage on Christians was inserted by scribes of the early Church who also copied Josephus' books for the general public. It was in the interest of the early church to seek legitimacy among the people and the elite.

Jesus' life a failure?

fotografica@antenna.nl — 2005-11-26T17:51:58+01:00

The fact that Jesus was a total failure in life, and that his mission, whatever its original purpose may have been, ended on the Cross, leads the evangelists in two contrary directions. On the one hand, with a vividness that makes their Passion narratives unrivaled for their poignancy, they depict Jesus as a figure of vulnerability who is purely the victim of the situation. He is betrayed by his best friend, forsaken by the others. He begs the Almighty to deliver him to deliver him from his fate, and at the end, even his Heavenly Father forsakes him. Only the family remains to take his body down from the Cross. Nor is it ever explained in realistic terms why this had to happen to Jesus. [A.N. Wilson, A Life - page 168]

Author: Since the Jesus Novel takes a realistic point of view, not necessarily Christian, most decidedly not Christian at points, the novel rests on the determinations of Jesus scholars like A.N. Wilson. These are the insights taught to most students of the ministry and priesthood, but which these new students do not pass on to their congregations when they assume them. Talk about the truth (not) getting out! The truth seems too radical to be accepted.

Thus the Jesus Novel reveals the truths determined by modern, scientific scholarship. As such it can be a helpful to educate the public, especially if combined with church discussion groups.