Friday, 22 June 2007

Was Jesus divine, or a human being with a powerful message?

One of the Channel Four microsites has a set of

Was Jesus divine, or a human being with a powerful message?

And there you have it, a simplistic question that I certainly could not
answer. I'd prefer to say, how did Jesus see himself, and what does that
tell us about redifining our idea of God. In this context, "divinity" means
something like "Superman", i.e., Jesus as Clarke Kent, concealing under his
Galilean garments the all powerful superhero. The early church called that
"docetism" and rejected that idea. Why give such a simplistic either/or
style of question? If it was broken down, I would answer as follows:

Was Jesus divine? No
Was Jesus a human being with a powerful message? No

There is also a link to a bookship on :"The Jesus Dynasty: Stunning New
Evidence About the Hidden History of Jesus by James D Tabor"; This asks:
"Was Jesus far more human than the Church has led us to believe?"

As the gospels present us with a Jesus who could be tired and weary, sweat,
be hungry, exasperated and angry, and despairing and doubtful, I really
wonder what this "far more human" can mean, expect that he had a
relationship, a child etc etc, and all the stuff about "secret evidence"
which really exists about as much as the Atlantis myth, Von Daniken's
ancient astronauts and the usual conspiracy stuff.

Why can't they link to something by Ed Sanders ("The Historical Figure of
Jesus"), or if they want something more critical of the gospels, at least
Dominic Crossan engages with the evidence; even the Jesus Seminar wouldn't
propogate tripe like this.

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