Invitation to Read Newly Revised Thought-Provoking E-Booklet

I invite you to read my newly revised e-booklet:

A Look at the New Testament through Contemporary Eyes

 

Most Christians refer to the New Testament from time to time but probably do not put much thought into how it was put together.  It is neatly organized and appears as though it was systematically compiled in an orderly fashion and the following concepts are often presumed: 

·         The authors of the Gospels were the apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

·         The Gospels were written shortly after the death of Jesus by eye witnesses.

·         The books contained in the New Testament were written in the order presented: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the Pauline Letters follow.   

It may appear as though the compilation of the New Testament was an orderly process, but it was actually a long and complicated endeavor and all of the above presumptions are misconceptions.

The booklet is a study guide that I will be using to teach my new course: A Contemporary Overview of the New Testament.  It is brief and easy reading, perhaps disturbing for some Christians, but definitely not boring!  There is a deliberate effort to focus on data rather than theological concepts and to present the material as objectively as possible, allowing the reader take in the data and come to one’s own conclusions in regard to its significance.  I would love for you to read it and share your conclusions on this blog. 

Mystical Experiences on Our Journey

This summer provided an opportunity for us to visit Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. We consciously connected with all the people grateful this land had been set aside in its pristine beauty by forward thinking public servants and philanthropists so that we could enjoy it as they had. Words cannot express the depth of life and beauty we saw, so we simply call it mystical, beyond measure, sacred; and raise it up in thanksgiving.

All along the roads in Wyoming, the hills were so green, skies pure deep blue, and wildflowers standing tall outstretched to the sunshine, proudly displaying rich colorful variety. Every turn in the road would bring breath-taking vistas of purple, yellow, pink and green. Every creek was full and splashing downward on its own new journey. As we entered the canyons of the Snake River, the mountain sides steepen dramatically and we twisted along this mighty river, all white with glacial silt and full of uprooted trees that could not stand up to its mighty current. Only a few rafters would risk the rapids in this part of the river’s descent.

Closer to the Snake river’s source at Jackson Lake, Wyoming, we beheld the Grand Tetons, majestically watching the eagles soaring over grassy meadows and wide, flat valleys, glistening with much snow and glaciers still melting in late July. On the wide reaches of this slower, meandering, ever changing Snake we enjoyed a mid-day float trip. We couldn’t help but see the presence of the mystical in the grandeur around us. How joyful we felt to be one with the fullness of life , to witness earth responding to warm sunshine, animals and birds with food aplenty, and to know that we as human beings, members of the animal kingdom, but empowered to know and celebrate in feeling and song the giftedness of this earth, sun and universe. We alone could be conscious of what we are all a part of, and give thanks to the divinity in it all.

Once again in the magical beauty of our National Parks, we were deeply aware that everything that we are, touch, and see came from the unconditional love of stars that bestowed the elements and compounds of Earth during hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary preparation to make the unique beauty of the earth and even more uniquely the one-of-a-kind person we are.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BELIEFS AND FACTS?

You might be thinking “Duh! Who doesn’t know that?” Nevertheless, because Christians recite and read the beliefs of their faith a good part of their lives, it’s easy to perceive them as facts. Following are a few beliefs and facts contrasted in an attempt to demonstrate the difference:

Belief: Jesus died for our sins.
Fact: Jesus was crucified under the rule of Pontius Pilate.

Belief: Jesus is the Son of God.
Fact: Jesus gave his followers a God-like experience.

Belief: The Bible is the Word of God.
Fact: The Bible is filled with wisdom and the writers could have been inspired by God.

Belief: We will one day be with God in heaven.
Fact: We will one day die.

Some individuals would find these comparisons offensive, perhaps even sacrilegious. We might know the difference between beliefs and facts but when it is blatantly illustrated, there is a tendency to become offended, perhaps even angry. This is precisely the point… when we perceive our beliefs as if they are facts and defend them as such, there is the potential for conflict, disharmony, and even war in the name of Lord. Wouldn’t it be much more beneficial to put into perspective those things we cannot know and, instead, channel our passion toward constructive issues in the here and now, such as peace and justice, just as Jesus modeled for us?

Spare the Rod or Spare the Child?

"We need to decide now –
person by person, family by family, church by church,
community by community, state by state, nation by nation –
to embrace non-violent methods of discipline
which can begin to reshape our lives, our consciousness, and our world,
and to alter the course of our future
and the future of generations yet to come."

-Philip Greven, 'Spare the Child' Knopf, 1991

In doing some research related to corporal punishment, it turns out that this is quite a controversial issue. There have been studies to show that hitting children for disciplinary purposes does little or no harm and others that reflect permanent damage. However, even though there may not be a clear-cut conclusion, perhaps the bottom line question is why would anyone be so adamant about having the right to hit children? Do they really think that spanking is a necessary form of discipline? Or could it be that it is simply the swiftest.

Alternative methods of punishment, such as time-out or grounding , may be more time-consuming but it seems much more life-giving to calmly explain why a behavior is unacceptable and administer a punishment as a consequence of the action, rather than hitting a child possibly in a fit of anger.

Whether or not there is conclusive proof that corporal punishment is harmful, why risk the possibility of damaging our children and teaching them that physical aggression is the way to take care of unacceptable actions? As Greven suggests in the opening quotation, let us embrace non-violent methods of discipline for the sake of our children and future generations yet to come.

Reading Scripture Western World Style

Are you under the impression that words and actions of Jesus contained in the New Testament are an accurate account of his life and death? Typically, clergy and lay persons alike refer to the New Testament as if it were documented. Yet, in spite of this common assumption, it is highly unlikely that the writers could have had access to the actual dialogue and events related to Jesus’ life. Think about it... No one was walking around with Jesus recording his every comment he uttered and move he made. Furthermore, the writers of the New Testament were not actually the apostles, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, they were not eye witnesses, and the Gospels were not written until several decades after the time of Jesus.

The writers were actually evangelists and their intent was not to give an accurate account of events, but rather, to interpret the Jesus story based on what they considered to be meaningful. As a result, each of the books has a theme which is based on the evangelist’s particular focus. For instance, the Gospel According to Mark calls itself majestically ‘The Gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ (the Son of God).’ Matthew focuses on Jesus as the one who abides with his people until the end of time. Luke highlights Jesus as the one whose words and deeds liberate those who are oppressed in any way. John portrays Jesus as the one who reveals what God is truly like.

Some Christians today may be outraged when reading this theory but the early Christians found this method of writing to be perfectly acceptable. In the Jewish tradition, the writers of scripture did not even attempt to document their stories; rather, their objective was to capture a God experience in sacred events. Since the writers of the Gospels were of the Jewish tradition, it would only stand to reason that they would reflect upon the life and death of Jesus using this same approach. Those who were rooted in the Jewish tradition understood that Scripture contained interpretations and stories to make a theological point. It was only later that non-Jewish, Western readers, who had no idea of how the scriptures were written, began to literalize the texts.

Historical Account of the Crucifixion Story by John Shelby Spong

Examining the Story of the Cross; Part I Analyzing the Details of the Crucifixion

In a few weeks the Christian world will enter the season of Lent that culminates with Holy Week and the liturgical reading of the Passion narrative of Jesus’ crucifixion. The story of the cross is clearly the focal point of the New Testament with the last week of Jesus’ life taking up about a third of the content in each of the four gospels. Next to the birth narratives, which are contained only in Matthew and Luke, the account of the Passion of Jesus is the most familiar part of the New Testament to Christian people. That familiarity is, however, not very well informed. To put new understanding into this well-known narrative is the thing I will seek to do in a series of columns that will carry us up until Easter.

The final week in Jesus’ life begins with what we now call the Palm Sunday procession. It then moves toward the Maundy Thursday “Last Supper,” the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, the trial before the Sanhedrin, the trial before Pilate, the introduction of the character we call Barabbas, the purple robe, the crown of thorns and finally the story of the crucifixion itself. The first observation we need to make when we look at this material, is that what most people think they know is far more a blending and a smoothing over of real differences that mark the original separate biblical accounts. This means that most readers have not yet embraced the fact that the story of Jesus’ passion is not literal history at all, but a pious interpretation in which even the familiar story of the end of Jesus’ life shows evidence of growth and development over the years as each successive writer began to fill in the blanks in imaginative ways and with the judicious use of the Hebrew Scriptures. Today, in the first in this series of columns, I will seek to pull this seemingly foundational story apart and show how it was actually constructed over a period of about half a century in the writings of the New Testament.

Let me begin by stating clearly that, while I am convinced that there is literal historical memory at the core of this story, the details are not history at all, but legendary and interpretive accretions. I will seek in this and subsequent columns to demonstrate both of these observations.

The central historical fact, which I find indisputable, is that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified during the reign and by the action of the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate, who served in this office by appointment of the Caesar from 26-36 CE. Beyond that central fact, however, all eye witness details seem to disappear to be replaced by the strategy of forcing the story of the crucifixion into the mold of messianic expectations through a study of the Hebrew Scriptures. Let me now lay out the various details found in the story of the Passion of Jesus in the order that each was developed from the Jewish biblical sources available to the followers of Jesus.

Paul is the first writer of any part of the New Testament. He wrote all of his authentic epistles within a span of years between 51 CE at the earliest and 64 CE at the latest. The initial fact that we need to embrace in this study is that the work of Paul is as close to the events of Holy Week as we can get in written materials. If Jesus was crucified around 30 CE, as most New Testament scholars now agree, then it was twenty-one years, or a full generation, before any words about the crucifixion that we still possess were written down. Twenty-one years is a long time to pass down any recollection by word of mouth and have it be rendered accurately.

Paul refers to the cross of Jesus on seven occasions in his epistles and he uses the word “crucified” in reference to Jesus on ten other occasions. In none of these accounts, however, does he give any narrative details. In I Corinthians: 11, for the first time Paul makes a reference to the institution of the last supper and to Jesus being “handed over,” a word that later was translated “betrayed.” That is the entire origin of the traitor story. He does not, however, suggest either that the last supper was identical or even associated with the Passover or that the betrayal was at the hands of one of the twelve. The name Judas, for example, never appears in the Pauline corpus.

About the crucifixion Paul says only that “he died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.” No other details are mentioned: no Garden of Gethsemane, no apostolic desertion, no arrest; no Pilate, no trial, no torture, no denial by Peter, no thieves, no words from the Cross and no darkness. About the burial Paul says only, “He was buried.” There is no mention in the writings of Paul of a tomb, no Joseph of Arimathea and no preparation of the body for burial. About the Easter event, Paul says only this: “On the third day he was raised in accordance with the scriptures.” There is no account in Paul of angels, no stone to roll back, no women carrying spices and no story of a dawn visit. Paul does go on then to list those to whom Jesus was said to have “appeared.” Cephas (Peter) was first, next the Twelve (note Judas is still included) and then he mentions an appearance to 500 brethren at once, about which we know nothing. Paul continues this list by saying that Jesus next appeared to James, but he does not say which James and there are three in the New Testament story: James, the son of Zebedee, James, the son of Alphaeus and James, the brother of the Lord. The consensus among scholars today is that it is the last mentioned James to whom Paul is making reference. Then, continues Paul, Jesus appeared to the Apostles. Who are they? He has already mentioned the Twelve. This seems like another group. Paul ends his list by saying that “last of all he appeared to me,” that is, to Paul, and this appearance, he argues, was in no way different from the others except that he was last. Paul’s conversion is set between one year after the crucifixion at the earliest and six years at the latest, so this appearance could hardly have been that of a physically-resuscitated body that walked out of the grave, making it a safe assumption that however Paul had conceived of the resurrection, it was not the resuscitation of a physically-deceased body. Finally, we need to embrace the fact that these scant details are all the Christian community possessed about this climactic story of the end of Jesus’ life until the 8^th decade of the Christian era.

Mark, writing somewhere between 70-73, is the creator of most of what has become the familiar story that surround the crucifixion. Judas Iscariot, for example, makes his first appearance in Mark. Mark is also the first New Testament source to identify the Last Supper with the Passover, the first to introduce the Garden of Gethsemane, to give us details of the trial, to relate the account of Peter’s denial, to mention Barabbas and the first to record the story of the torture. He is the first to put words into the mouth of the dying Jesus, suggesting that he said only one thing from the cross and that was what we now call the cry of dereliction, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark was also the first to suggest that on the day of the crucifixion darkness covered the land from noon to three p.m., and the first to give content to the burial story, including the introduction of Joseph of Arimathea.

Matthew writing in the 9^th decade, somewhere between 83-85, essentially copied Mark’s story, but then added some other fascinating details. It is from Matthew alone that we are told that the price Judas received for his act of betrayal was thirty pieces of silver, or that Judas repented, hurled the silver back into the Temple and went and hanged himself. Matthew is also the first to suggest that an earthquake accompanied the death of Jesus or to tell us that a Temple guard was placed around the tomb of Jesus by the high priest.

Luke, writing near the end of the 9^th decade or perhaps even in the first years of the 10^th decade (89-93), expands the story in a still further direction. For example, only in Luke is Jesus portrayed as praying for his tormentors, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Only in Luke does one of the thieves become penitent and asks Jesus to remember him. Only in Luke does Jesus tell Peter that he will pray for him since Satan has desired him. Only in Luke is Jesus tried separately before Herod. In Luke Pilate becomes more and more a sympathetic figure and Judas a more sinister one. Finally, Luke dismisses the cry from the cross, “My God, why have you forsaken me” and has Jesus say at the moment of his death, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” That is, I submit, a very different “final word.” Despair has been vanquished in victory.

When we come to John, written in the final years of the 10^th decade (95-100), new details are added. Only in John does the mother of Jesus appear at the foot of the cross. That fact should surprise both Mel Gibson and the creators of what are called “the Stations of the Cross.” John’s Jesus says three things from the cross, none of which have we ever heard of before in the earlier gospels. They are, “I thirst,” “Woman behold your son, son behold your mother” and, as Jesus’ final word, John has him say: “It is finished.” John alone tells the story of the breaking of the legs of the thieves to hasten their deaths, a procedure which, he says, Jesus was spared since he was already dead. John alone then adds the story of the spear being hurled into Jesus’ side, which makes this detail a 10^th decade addition. Its details are drawn from II Zechariah. John concludes this episode by noting that from that wound flowed both water and blood. Finally, John mentions a character called Nicodemus, who appears in no other gospel. In John Nicodemus is first introduced in chapter three and then re-introduced in the burial story, joining Joseph of Arimathea and together, we are told, they used 75 pounds of myrrh and aloes to prepare Jesus’ body for burial.

That is, in the briefest possible form, the way the story of the cross grew in detail from Paul in the 50’s to John in the late 90’s. In future columns I will seek to put these changing and sometimes conflicting details into an interpretive framework. I trust it will be a worthy and provocative study as the season of Lent unfolds.

~John Shelby Spong

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BELIEFS VS. FACTS

Certainly we all have our beliefs -- it’s in our nature to want some kind of explanation related to the mysteries of life and ultimately the mysteries of death. In the Christian tradition, it is typically believed that those who live a good life will go to heaven and be ecstatically happy forever and ever. Granted, this is a valid belief but it is, after all, a belief and not a fact. The bottom line is that no one -- none of us – knows what happens to us after we die.

There is a tendency to treat our belief in the afterlife as fact, even to the point of thinking it is perfectly fine – even an honorable resolve -- to accept suffering and misery as our ‘lot in life.' Yet when we bank on being happy in the afterlife, it can -- and often does – rob us of our motivation to make the most of the life we have in the here and now. Is it worth staking our lives on what might be true? Really???

Each of us is free to believe whatever we choose but it is in our very best interest to put our beliefs in perspective. There is far too much emphasis, debate, conflict, emotion over things that we cannot know and too little investment in what we do know. Our existence is a fact. Instead of 'hoping' that we will receive our just reward in heaven, it would be a much wiser approach to do everything in our power to live life fully, love wastefully and be all we can be in the present sacred moment.