Jesus: History, Mystery and Doubt II

In speaking of what has been called "modernity," Marcus Borg describes two central features both closely connected with each other:

"First, modernity is characterized by scientific ways of knowing......unlike people of earlier eras, we know something to be true today through experimentation and verification.

"Second, modernity is marked by what is sometimes called 'the modern worldview' or 'Newtonian worldview.' ... The modern worldview is based on scientific ways of knowing what is real is that which can be known through the methods of science."

Further in his writings, Borg mentions what he considers two deeply destructive effects upon religion in general and Christianity and the Bible in particular: "Modernity has made us skeptical about spiritual reality.....It is the logical outcome of absolutizing the modern worldview.

Second, modernity has led us to be preoccupied with factuality - with scientifically verifiable and historically reliable facts. ...... Indeed, modern Western culture is the only culture in human history that has identified truth with factuality. We are 'fact fundamentalists'."

Our fact-fundamentalist society has discovered an almost insatiable appetite for identified truths based on factuality. As a result, using scientific methods, scholars and researchers have aggressively gone off in pursuit of the historical Jesus with surprising results.

These results have not, as one might expect, brought Jesus into a clearer and more specific focus. Rather, a plethora of verifiable biographic details has engendered an even wider focus and venue of speculation. In addition to the long-time scholarship around Jesus based on assumptions very much in harmony with traditional Christianity's theology and doctrine typified by the description found in the Nicene Creed, we can easily encounter research that has resulted in a myriad of other perceptions including:

Jesus as a 2000-year-old mythical creation originally intended to compete with and override existing pagan mystery religions of that era,

Jesus as a cynical creation of Roman political officials as a means of competing with and altering Judaism into something less radically opposed to Roman rule,

Jesus as a fictional elaboration of the Apostle Paul who constructed a new religion using Christ concepts as his basis (much is made of the almost total lack of biographical and life-incident references to Jesus in Paul's writings),

Jesus as a mortal heir to the throne of David who married, fathered children and lived to an older age. This includes a sub-perception of Mary Magdalene as Jesus' wife and the disciple who most clearly understood Jesus' teachings. Magdalene is believed to have migrated to Southern France and a popular speculation links Magdalene to the Knights Templar, hidden riches and Roman Catholic conspiracy to suppress the truth.

Go To Page: 1 2