Reflecting on Our unBible Study

I spent just a bit of time at our last meeting on an overview of what we had considered this semester, from the scope of apocalyptic literature, with which Jesus would have been intimately familiar, to the gnostic explorations of the meaning of Jesus' life and ministry. We saw the connections these two genres share, as well as much that seperates them.

I don't want to simply recap what I said then. Rather, I would like to underscore what I feel are the two most important aspects about our study, and why I think it was a worthwhile venture.
First as I said from the start, while we don't know exactly what Jesus read, we can confidently say that the writings - particularly the apocalyptic books - are exactly the kinds of things that would have been on the minds of Jesus, his followers, and many of his opponents. An increasing understanding of the cultural context of the Jesus "event" makes us more keenly aware of the possible nuances of the scriptures that we have often just accepted "on faith" in the past. I am guessing that none of us will look at the parable of the good shepherd and the runaway sheep the same way again.

This is not an exercise in esoterica, nor is it an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of canonical scripture. Rather, if we genuinely accept that Jesus is in some mystical way an embodied revelation of the Divine force that animates our universe, we must leave no stone unturned seekingevery possible understanding of that man Jesus and all of his followers. We have precious little information to understand the Infinite Divine; we ought to make THOUGHTFUL and CRITICAL use of all that is available to us.

Second, James Walters, New Testament professor at Boston University, is fond of saying that we are looking at Jesus and the early Jesus movement through "2,000 years of stained glass." It is too easy to assume that the current outcome is the only possible result of the Jesus' revelation. In fact, the earliest church may well have been a minority of believing Jesus followers.

Looking at these texts that surrounded Jesus gives us a clearer view of those years...which is to say, it complicates things infinitely! That's a good thing. New viewpoints challenge us to clarify what we believe and what we think scripture means.

More importantly, we have seen that thoughtful people in the ancient world chose different points of God's reality to focus upon, and these decisions greatly changed the way they told their stories, both of God and of Jesus. For example, the author of Baruch denied that humans couldn't change things by their own efforts, as Baruch and jeremiah were "walls" around Jerusalem that even limited God's actions. Equally, the authors of the Gospels of Mary and Truth seem to reject the body-soul-spirit model of huamnity because of the geneder limitations it imposes. Instead, they seem to be experimenting with a notion of mind as a pivotal force available to both women and men. By recognizing that these are thoughtful - and often thought-provoking - repsonses to their world, we can apreciate the promise of such ideas as well as their impact on the Christian movement we have come to know.

Still more importantly, however, is something I have left unsaid: In spite of the arguments of countless bishops, popes, and heresy hunters, these ideas are still current in the church today. What was often labeled as heresy in many ways simply went underground. Like us, ancient believers were challenged by these alternate explanations and endings. They didn't 'jump ship' and commit themselves to a new church; rather, they incorporated the ideas that seemed most fruitful into their faiths...as we still do to this day.

Turning away for a moment from the small collection of data that modern Christians call dogma, Christianity is still a vibrant response to the ultimate questions of life: What is good? Whence comes evil? Of what are we made? Where are we going? What is our place in this world?

In a changing world, we have come not to ask, Is Christianity still dominant? but, Ought it be dominant? Jesus came to say there is another way, but we seem too often to embrace the way of the Pharisee, Saducee, Zealot, and - more importantly and tragically - Roman.

These writings, from both before and after Jesus' ministry, challenge us to define what we mean by the answers we give to these ultimate questions. They challenge us to be sure where our feet are planted and to reconsider what it means to be faithful to the our rabbi.