Some of the most important aspects of Jesus teachings were repressed from the beginning. The Hebrews started the repression. The Roman Catholic Church expanded it. And by and large the Protestants followed.
One of the things I’ve gathered from reading scholarship about the historical Jesus is very little about him can be said with certainty. Historians generally agree he existed and was crucified, but, beyond that, almost everything is debated.
So it was a great irony that some of the most homeful people in Palo Alto were the houseless. And some of the most homeless people in Silicon Valley were the housed.
My hope is that you are interested in changing and evolving in your life. In order to change, we need to know where we came from, what we were originally taught (in religious school or by our parents and teachers), whether it is still applicable today, and what new directions we might want to follow.
And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved,[e] with whom I am well pleased.”
Part Two
The four searchers now realized that there were two Jesus stories, one pervasive across the Christian churches, the other hidden in the background.
If I had to summarize my religious journey with one Bible verse, I would choose Matthew 28:17, “When they (the early disciples) saw him (the risen Christ), they worshiped him; but some doubted” (NIV).
Part One
How did the wealthy accrue the power to change the thinking of the church about who Jesus was and what he did? That, our four researchers discovered, is -up to now- a mystery hidden in history.
Unlike many would-be messiahs who took up arms to evict the Romans, only to be crucified for their efforts, Jesus proposed and lived a path of peace and love.
I believe neither that Hades exists nor that anyone would be sent there even if it did. But as a critique of the manner in which wealth neglects the poor, this is pretty powerful.
Following his life in Nazareth that possibly included day trips to Sepphoris looking for work, the next training ground for Jesus was a brief time with this same John the Baptist in the wilderness, hearing again that injustice is not the way of the Lord.
A recent essay by a contemporary theologian I respect, David Galston, recently began with this observation: “One of the struggles that defines our humanity is the struggle over facts and opinions.”
Money, wealth, financial power, economic power, call it what you will, extreme wealth disparity destroys societies from within, eating away at the bond between people and the fabric of society.
but, like in a good way
The one thing that enraged most people about Jesus of Nazareth was that he had the gall to tell people that their sins were forgiven when clearly there were systems of civic and religious power that were set up to make sure people got what they deserved.
The Easter experience is about the birth of a new consciousness. It is a consciousness that burst upon the followers of Jesus
When, if ever, is anger appropriate? If we want to be good actors in the world, and become the peace we’d like to see in the world, can we allow anger to exist? How do we know when anger is ok and how much anger is ok?
Throughout my ministerial service, numerous people have expressed to me their discomfort and disagreement with the language of the "Lord's Prayer." For years I didn't 'get it,' and I used the "traditional" version (which, of course, is not Jesus' words as he did not speak English).
When all is said and done, what then are we to make of the mythic tale of Jesus’ death and resurrection, metaphorically told to convey what all of us might like to assert to be the “gospel truth?”
When I look at the writers who examine the relation between religion and politics, most take their cues from the Bible. There are two problems with this approach.
It is stories like this one that reminds me that a living Jesus — Jesus the optimistic contrarian — still walks among us in many guises; to tell and retell those human tales of how to truly live, with hope for this world.
The four gospels all tell a different story with regard to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The facts are all different, but the essence is the same: something divine was present in Jesus. The values he taught and lived were sacred.
Jesus did die on a cross, but not to save us from our sins. He did rise from the dead, but not by walking out of an empty tomb. He did not perform miracles, but he did heal peoples’ psychological wounds inflicted by massive oppression. His story got twisted.
The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers
I'm inviting folks to engage with 14 of the questions that Jesus asked his followers during his ministry. From Ash Wednesday, 2/22, through Easter
For believers, understanding our relationship with God is essential.
Today there are Bethlehems all over the world as families are forced to leave home environments, travel to places unprepared for them, and find a way to survive on their own.
This week’s reading is a Sunday school children’s favorite — the story of Zacchaeus, a tax collector who climbs a tree to see Jesus.
A Challenge for Progressive Christian Religious Education
Bishop John Shelby Spong did an invaluable service to the advancement of a progressive Christian movement by demonstrating, in numerous popular books, that a literal interpretation of the Bible is not tenable.
Jesus was out to reform society—to change the way humans treat one another during their earthly journey.
The ills of society. One might argue that both Christianity and politics confront the ills of society head on. Then why is there such a rift between them?