Worldly Wisdom and Foolish Grace. Barbara Carnegie Campbell

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ understanding that belief in Jesus alone grants salvation.

      Millennials hope to be inspired by goodness and love. Some may feel there is still hope for people of faith, but they are looking for something other than hours spent in worship and charitable giving spent mostly on supporting large facilities and organizations. They are only willing to accept a gospel message which teaches compassion, inclusion, and justice for all.

      Many in younger generations are seeking ways to live a life that is loving, kind and just, but are moving away from worshiping deities, especially those who are imagined in human images (theism), and are turning instead toward embracing the teachings of other “light-bearers” so that they can be inspired to act in the world in life-giving ways.

      I recently drove by a neighborhood church reader board that asked, “Have your answers to life brought peace to this world? This comes very close to expressing what many people in younger generations are seeking: spiritual answers that bring peace to the world rather than a set of religious beliefs and rules that judge, condemn, and divide us.

      I still believe in the God of Abraham whom I have heard stories of since I was a child, but I have grown in my faith and understanding. My faith has changed. Today I trust in a divine force of creation that is a force of good, of light and of love; invisible yet at work in the world; mysterious yet as alive and as real to me as every beat of my heart and every breath I take.

I trust that this divine force formed divinity within all creatures and all creation. After all, it is said that “75 percent of our genetic make-up is the same as a pumpkin.”6 I trust that Jesus and other uniquely spiritual people were so in touch with the divinity within themselves that ordinary people sensed that divinity in unique ways.

      How Then Should We Live?

      Most of us want to do the right thing, ethically and morally, but life is complicated and it is often quite difficult to figure out what that right thing is. Human nature often distracts us from making the right decision when we try to balance conflicting options.

      A popular saying could be found, years ago, written on everything from bracelets to bumper stickers—“What Would Jesus Do?”—or the even more irritating acronym,—WWJD? I usually find this catchy question to be about as helpful as lighting a candle in a hurricane when it comes to making faithful, moral decisions. How could anyone ever truly know what someone, who lived 2,000 years ago, would think or do in the twenty–first century? We don’t have a perfectly preserved original document of everything Jesus said, thought or did, regardless of what some people believe the Bible to be!

      And yet, as unrealistic as this question sounds, those who have heard the stories of Jesus sometimes feel as if Jesus has become a present, living reality in their lives. Such a living relationship enables them to feel that they know, sometimes beyond any doubt, what Jesus would do. The memories and stories of beloved friends, teachers, or other great minds might guide us in the same way.

      In the end, to ask ourselves what the persons we respect most would do or say about an issue should help us find answers to the even more important question, “What should I do?” When we seek values that will strengthen our common life, ancient spiritual narratives may be a good place to begin. It is important, however, to study these lessons in their appropriate contexts, cultures, and languages. The purpose of studying these ten lessons from Rabbi Jesus, and similar lessons from Jewish and Islamic holy texts, is to help us understand how to best live in accordance with the radically “foolish” compassion and grace they affirm.

      Studying Ancient Literature

      It is a complicated, often impossible task to understand, with any level of assurance, what ancient writings may have meant to their original authors and audience. Yet, it’s an endeavor and adventure that can lead to treasures beyond measure. A literal treasure hunt usually begins with a map with a spot marked X. We follow the map to that spot where we do lots of digging. In researching ancient texts we must dig through ancient manuscripts written in ancient languages along with endless translations, the perceived historical context in which the text was written, and many other layers of literary and historical information if we hope to find any treasure. We can only hope to get closer to some layer of deeper meaning. The unknown imagination of an often unknown author may prevent us from finding the precious information we seek. Even though we may never discover the entire truth of a particular text, it is worth the digging just to get closer than we once were.

      It is important to study ancient texts by looking at the original languages in which the texts were written. English translations of early Aramaic and Greek biblical texts, for instance, often reveal textual translations and interpretative decisions that may not have been totally objective. It is far too easy to read what we expect to read or hope to read into a text we are translating. The study of original languages looks for the interpretive option which seems most appropriate in the originating context and culture.

      I will do some of my own such dangerous interpretive work in this study. It is my goal to look behind the familiarity of the English translations to hear the original message in its own language. I am not, however, as trained in these ancient languages as are many scholars. I have relied on only a select few translations into English from the original Aramaic or Greek languages and will not attempt to use original languages in looking at translations from the Tanakh or Quran.

      Lacking conclusive evidence about the identity of the author/s of each of the Synoptic Gospels, I will use the name ascribed to the gospel as shorthand for the actual author. For instance, I will use “Matthew”, to refer to the unknown author/s of the Gospel of Matthew. This is for the simplification of reading and not because I am assuming that the author’s name was actually Matthew.

      During my digging for treasures in scripture, I have used many tools of understanding. In terms of Christian scripture, these layers sometimes included:

       an understanding that many texts in the Younger Testament (Gospels and Epistles) are rooted in the Elder Testament (Torah, Prophets, and Wisdom literature),

       an understanding that Jesus and most, but not all, of the other Younger Testament writers were Judeans steeped in Torah, not Jews as we know them today or Christians. (Terms which came into use many centuries later.)

       an understanding that possible evangelistic polemics could have influenced the retelling of the oral stories passed down to the authors and later work by editors and translators, and

       an understanding that Mohammad’s revelation recorded in the Quran is deeply connected with the Abrahamic traditions of both Judaism and Christianity.

      Some Christian texts are distorted by shameful anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic sentiments that arose during the centuries following Jesus’ death (such as those that we changed for our Good Friday/Passover Worship). Though original writers, editors or translators may have had the best of intentions, they may have been heavily influenced by the fears and prejudices of their time.

      It is disturbing, none the less, that some of their words have been used to spread hatred toward our Jewish brothers and sisters since the time of Jesus. It is important to re-translate these texts which misrepresent and misstate the events of Jesus’ life, trial and death and developed into the dangerous Christian doctrines of Super-secession-ism, and Replacement Theology.

      “Supersecessionism” is the understanding that Christianity supersedes Judaism, that Christianity fulfills Biblical Judaism, and that Jews, therefore, who deny that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, fall short in their calling as God’s chosen people. An even more radical form of Super-secession-ism is “Replacement Theology,” which maintains that the Jews are no longer considered God’s chosen people because the Christian gospel has replaced the law and commandments of СКАЧАТЬ