Jesus was a doubter (“My God, why have you forsaken me?”) who seemed to have been “expecting something that did not seem to be happening.” JMH
Hence the crucial role, that fell to Paul, of turning the story in a different direction. “In Paul’s hands, Jesus’ death and resurrection became the center of a new religion.” Faith triumphed over reason, belief became the currency of individual salvation.
What was God doing, for all eternity, before these storied events in the desert two millennia ago? Preparing hell? Really?
That’s not the best, most comforting or “Christian” answer, as Augustine– influenced by Plotinus, fearful of a punitive afterlife (and thus unable to become an Epicure), famously reluctant to embrace the chastity of his Christian re-birth, but all too eager to believe– knew perfectly well.
Augustine gave Christians the stock “free will” solution to the problem of evil they’ve rested in ever since, and their dependence on undeserved divine grace that made the world safe for Calvinist predestination: more “difficult” doctrines to complement Paul’s on the redemptive resurrection.
His contemporary Hypatia would have found it difficult, indeed, to accept the Augustinian denial of evil as something no more substantively pernicious than mere “privation.”
[Sagan’s Hypatia]
A couple centuries on, Muhammad arrived with his own personal transformative vision. Again, a new religion was born.
Isn’t it remarkable, how frequently history finds individuals– Jesus, Paul, Augustine, Muhammad, Joe Smith…– whose improbable visions become the blind destiny of generations to come?
NOTES TO STUDENTS:
1. I’ll need your midterm project summaries a week from today.
2. If you wish to suggest quiz questions for possible inclusion on future exams, post them in the comments space.
3. Daily questioners are also encouraged to post their questions each day, and everyone else is encouraged to share your responses in the comments space as well.
Up@dawn 
October 8, 2010 at 2:00 am |
You may have seen this before, but I thought you’d enjoy it.
http://www.infiltec.com/j-chick2.htm
October 11, 2010 at 8:39 pm |
Just a side note…
I do not feel it is my duty to defend every doctrine of Christianity that is challenged in a philosophy class, but I did feel it necessary to clear something up, and it will not take very long.
Jesus was not a doubter, nor was he hopelessly looking for something when he uttered those words. If miss hecht were a bit more familiar with scripture, she would have known that Jesus was referencing a very old psalm and making yet another subtle (but profound) affirmation that He was the prophesied messiah.
Psalm 22 begins with the same words, with david exclaiming, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? ” The psalm goes on to to seemingly describe Jesus’ crucifixion, right down to the casting of lots for his priests robe :
“I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me [b] in the dust of death.
16 Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced [c] my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing. ”
What’s also interesting to note, is that David wrote that psalm hundreds of years before crucifixion was even invented as a means of death.
Just a slightly relevant and interesting bit of history and theology.
Peace.
October 12, 2010 at 6:11 am |
You’ve read your psalms, Matthew. Thanks for the note. The post is admittedly fairly glib in borrowing Jennifer Hecht’s line about Jesus being a doubter, but she makes a better case in “Doubt: A History” with an extended discussion focusing on at least three episodes of doubt (concluding on the cross). But of course the wider story, capped by Paul’s canonic gospel, is that Jesus comes to represent the suppression of doubt. (“O ye of little faith, why did you doubt?” etc.)
Still, there’s a tradition that contends Jesus expected “the 2d coming” in his lifetime. His followers certainly did. So, something still isn’t happening.
October 13, 2010 at 2:47 pm |
Yes indeed. MANY Christians in the early church misinterpreted Jesus’ and Paul’s words and expected His second coming to happen within their lifetime. Entire groups of men and congregations were putting aside their work and waiting idly for the Lord’s return.
It became such a problem, in fact, that Paul himself wrote to the church in Thessalonica. The the second chapter of 2 Thessalonians, Paul outlines some very clear indications of the time of Christ’s return. He also rebukes those that have become a burden in their idleness.
There’s no doubt that Paul was perhaps the most important missionary that Christianity has ever known, but I think it somewhat unfair to suggest that the faith began with him and his vision of Christ. The only reason Paul was on that Damascus road in the first place was because the Christian church was rapidly growing, much to his disgust. The church was already thriving privately in the homes of believers and even within Paul’s lifetime a handful of books we now have in our New Testament were widely accepted as divinely inspired scripture.
PS – I’m more than certain that you know this already, but I am not here to argue. It can be hard to discern one’s tone through text. I enjoy these kinds of conversations very much and my hands, in the privacy of my home, can more often than not express what nerves will prevent my voice from expressing in a classroom.
Peace.
October 14, 2010 at 12:44 pm |
It was pointed out in class that Paul came up with the idea that Jesus was the Son of God, but that’s totally not true. In fact, it was Jesus himself that proclaimed that he was the Son of God in the book of John (3:16-17; 10:36). There’s probably other places, but the internet failed me in coming up with anything else.
The whole thing about religion is God (whoever or whatever you take It to be) hates religion. And Christianity never meant to be a religion.
Let’s get technical for a second, the word religion comes from the Latin word “religio” which means to “bind up”. If you try to live in a religion, instead of in Christ/God/Goodness/whatever, then you’re bound in the rules and regulations and don’t ever get to experience love like it should be experienced. There is a very dangerous form of idolatry in religion that should be avoided at all costs. Religion tries to bind up that which is boundless, tries to define that which is undefinable, and takes away all the fun of finding what God is to us as individuals.
Is there a way to build a bridge between the understanding of God in different cultures, localities, and individuals?
Take it as what you will, but there are no prerequisites to God’s love. That in itself would contradict the very thing that is presented to us through the life of Christ. It’s all a matter of your heart in the end.
Can you accept as a person interested in the pursuit/love of wisdom that there is a thing out there, an Idea if you will, that will always take you by surprise? Words fail me at this point to express that which I’m trying to express….it’s just one of those things that may only be expressed in point of view, or expressed in saying that it cannot be expressed. Or rather, that the individual understands it in their very own unique way…or something like that ^_^
October 14, 2010 at 6:26 pm |
I’m no student of theology, but Bart Ehrman is. In “Misquoting Jesus” he writes: “Evidently Paul correlated the events of Christ’s death and resurrection with his interpretation of key passages of the Jewish Bible, which… he interpreted for his hearers in an often successful attempt to convert them.” Ehrman will visit our department in February, let’s ask him to elaborate.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his Divinity School Address, insisted that Jesus’ message was always about the inner spark in everyone – not just in himself.
More on this soon in a new post. Thanks for the comment.