Post by Jeff on May 1, 2005 1:23:09 GMT -5
Some comments on lecture #1
JB: “There is only one savior, Jesus Christ... There is no other one.” JB thinks this is good news. But he says it to emphasize a claim of authority, of power. Would Jesus be concerned with this?
Here is a quote from an article that Tina sent me today (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-hitt26apr26,0,1240928.story):
“It's not simply the law in the Ten Commandments that attracts fundamentalists. Rather, it's the syntax. The authoritarianism of so many ‘Thou Shalt Nots.’…The syntax of Jesus' Eight Beatitudes is not so easy (Blessed are the poor in spirit…. Blessed are the peacemakers). These words invite the kind of hard questions that Jesus loved to tweak his followers with.”
I promise not to simply harp on JB’s disagreement with my own understanding of the Bible. I am actually excited about seeing how he massages the problems that arise on his kind of reading. He does seem to have a good knowledge of the passages from the Bible and the stories. But it is the assembled picture, where all the pieces fit or the flaw(s) are glaringly exposed, which chiefly interests me.
JB: “There is only one savior, Jesus Christ... There is no other one.” JB thinks this is good news. But he says it to emphasize a claim of authority, of power. Would Jesus be concerned with this?
Here is a quote from an article that Tina sent me today (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-hitt26apr26,0,1240928.story):
“It's not simply the law in the Ten Commandments that attracts fundamentalists. Rather, it's the syntax. The authoritarianism of so many ‘Thou Shalt Nots.’…The syntax of Jesus' Eight Beatitudes is not so easy (Blessed are the poor in spirit…. Blessed are the peacemakers). These words invite the kind of hard questions that Jesus loved to tweak his followers with.”
I promise not to simply harp on JB’s disagreement with my own understanding of the Bible. I am actually excited about seeing how he massages the problems that arise on his kind of reading. He does seem to have a good knowledge of the passages from the Bible and the stories. But it is the assembled picture, where all the pieces fit or the flaw(s) are glaringly exposed, which chiefly interests me.