Dear ICA/OE Friends, Today is the last day PROGRESSING SPIRIT will be sent out via the ICA/OE list serves. Dick Kroeger began sending this e-newsletter to the list serves around 2006 or 2007 when it was a John Shelby Spong newsletter entitled "A New Christianity for a New World". Spong was still writing books, doing speaking engagements and sharing his popular thoughts about the Bible, church, theology and critical national/world issues. Dick Kroeger died in 2008. Our church was studying Spong's books, so I decided to pick up the Spong subscription and continued to forward it to the ICA/OE list serves. In 2016, Spong suffered a stroke and was no longer able to write. We heard him speak at Chautauqua a couple of months before his stroke. He died in 2021 at the age of 90. He had been working with a number of progressive leaders who decided to pick up the mantle and continue the newsletter, eventually transitioning in format and title to "Progressing Spirit", highlighting both well-known speakers/authors as well as new ones but also including previous published Spong articles. A lot has changed since 2006, including the amount of email traffic that most folks receive as well as changing interest in Spong, progressive thought, etc. I have also sent this newsletter to other non- ICA/OE folks on another list. In order to simplify this process and to eliminate this email from those who are no longer interested, I am consolidating my lists to one list, beginning June 1. This will also make it easier to be deleted from the email, should you so choose, which was not possible on the list serves. If you would like to continue receiving the Progressing Spirit e-newsletter, please email me DIRECTLY. If you have already contacted me, you don't need to do so again. PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" VIA THE ICA/OE list serves, as that further clogs everyone's inboxes. If, in the future, you wish to be deleted, that can be done. Thanks! Ellie Stockelliestock@aol.com The Lurking Evil of Christian Nationalism#yiv1587536846 p{margin:10px 0;padding:0;}#yiv1587536846 table{border-collapse:collapse;}#yiv1587536846 h1, #yiv1587536846 h2, #yiv1587536846 h3, #yiv1587536846 h4, #yiv1587536846 h5, #yiv1587536846 h6{display:block;margin:0;padding:0;}#yiv1587536846 img, #yiv1587536846 a img{border:0;height:auto;outline:none;text-decoration:none;}#yiv1587536846 body, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846bodyTable, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846bodyCell{min-height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;width:100%;}#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnPreviewText{display:none !important;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846outlook a{padding:0;}#yiv1587536846 img{}#yiv1587536846 table{}#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846ReadMsgBody{width:100%;}#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846ExternalClass{width:100%;}#yiv1587536846 p, #yiv1587536846 a, #yiv1587536846 li, #yiv1587536846 td, #yiv1587536846 blockquote{}#yiv1587536846 a .yiv1587536846filtered99999 , #yiv1587536846 a .yiv1587536846filtered99999 {color:inherit;cursor:default;text-decoration:none;}#yiv1587536846 p, #yiv1587536846 a, #yiv1587536846 li, #yiv1587536846 td, #yiv1587536846 body, #yiv1587536846 table, #yiv1587536846 blockquote{}#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846ExternalClass, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846ExternalClass p, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846ExternalClass td, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846ExternalClass div, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846ExternalClass span, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846ExternalClass font{line-height:100%;}#yiv1587536846 a .yiv1587536846filtered99999 {color:inherit !important;text-decoration:none !important;font-size:inherit !important;font-family:inherit !important;font-weight:inherit !important;line-height:inherit !important;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846bodyCell{padding:10px;}#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846templateContainer{max-width:600px !important;border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv1587536846 a.yiv1587536846mcnButton{display:block;}#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImage, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnRetinaImage{vertical-align:bottom;}#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent{}#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent img{height:auto !important;}#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnDividerBlock{table-layout:fixed !important;}#yiv1587536846 body, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846bodyTable{}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846bodyCell{border-top:0;}#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846templateContainer{border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv1587536846 h1{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:26px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv1587536846 h2{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:22px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv1587536846 h3{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv1587536846 h4{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templatePreheader{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templatePreheader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templatePreheader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templatePreheader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent a, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templatePreheader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateHeader{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:0;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateHeader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateHeader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateHeader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent a, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateHeader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateBody{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:2px solid #EAEAEA;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateBody .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateBody .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateBody .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent a, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateBody .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateFooter{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateFooter .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateFooter .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:center;}#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateFooter .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent a, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateFooter .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}@media only screen and (min-width:768px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846templateContainer{width:600px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 body, #yiv1587536846 table, #yiv1587536846 td, #yiv1587536846 p, #yiv1587536846 a, #yiv1587536846 li, #yiv1587536846 blockquote{}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 body{width:100% !important;min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnRetinaImage{max-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImage{width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnCartContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionTopContent, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnRecContentContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionBottomContent, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnTextContentContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnBoxedTextContentContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageGroupContentContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{max-width:100% !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageGroupContent{padding:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent{padding-top:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageCardTopImageContent, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionBottomImageContent, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionBlockInner .yiv1587536846mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent{padding-top:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageGroupBlockInner{padding-top:0 !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{padding-top:9px !important;padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{padding-right:18px !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageCardLeftImageContent, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnImageCardRightImageContent{padding-right:18px !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcpreview-image-uploader{display:none !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 h1{font-size:22px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 h2{font-size:20px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 h3{font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent, #yiv1587536846 .yiv1587536846mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templatePreheader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templatePreheader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateHeader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateHeader .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateBody .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateBody .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateFooter .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent, #yiv1587536846 #yiv1587536846templateFooter .yiv1587536846mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} By Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Lurking Evil of Christian Nationalism | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz May 25, 2023Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation - and our identity as Americans - is defined by Christianity and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. Christian nationalists insist that America is and must remain a "Christian nation" - not merely as a reflection on what America has been historically, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future. An immediate problem with this is, whose definition of Christianity do we adhere to? Is it the Christianity that supported slavery during the pre-Civil War period and the Jim Crow, reconstruction era that followed? Is it the Christianity that condemns the LGBTQ+ community as being deviant and immoral? Is it the Christianity that would close our borders to immigrants, particularly those of a different religious affiliation? Or, is it the Christianity that welcomes cultural and religious diversity, a Christianity that welcomes all people as Jesus did in his practice of open table commensality? Is it a Christianity that zealously supports social justice for all, particularly for the least of these--the poor and marginalized of the earth? Christian nationalists think they have a privileged status Christian nationalists - who are overwhelmingly white - think they are privileged and that their privileged status comes from God. Historically, they see the United States as the new Israel, a nation designated by God as a shining light on a hill to the rest of the world. Christian nationalism has a long history within white evangelical Christianity. However, since the rise of Trumpism and the "culture wars" it has spawned, white Christian nationalism has spilled over into our politics to where - increasingly - it poses a threat to our democracy. Indeed, right-wing extremist Marjorie Taylor Greene has said, "I am a Christian, and I say it proudly: as Americans, we should be Christian nationalists." Going on, she says, Republican leaders need to be more responsive to the base of the party, which she claims is made up of Christian nationalists (by this, she means white Christian nationalists). According to the PRRI/Brookings study, only 10 % of Americans view themselves as Christian nationalists, while about 19 % say they sympathize with these views. Still, these numbers suggest that tens of millions of Americans are influenced by this insidious ideology. In an effort to explain this, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a history professor at Calvin University, says the resurgence of this movement is largely a reaction to changing demographics and to recent cultural and generational shifts in the United States. As the country has become less white and less Christian, she says these adherents want to hold on to their cultural and political power. Worse yet, half of these Christian nationalists, and 40 % of those who sympathize with them, support the idea of an authoritarian leader to maintain a Christian nationalist identity. With this in mind, one of the lofty goals of white Christian nationalism is to eliminate the separation of church and state provision that is inscribed in our Constitution. Separation of church and state The First Amendment to the Constitution, penned by James Madison, often referred to as the father of the Constitution, states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ... " Along with nine other amendments comprising the Bill of Rights, these amendments were ratified in 1791 as part of the Constitution. This amendment combines the Establishment Clause and the Freedom of exercise Clause. Together, these pronouncements have been a guiding light of our democracy. Since 1962, the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that school-mandated prayer in public schools is unconstitutional. Think about the layers of problems and injustices school-mandated prayer can cause! To begin with, whose prayer; and whose theology that speaks through the prayer? And if the prayer uses the language of Christianity, then what about students who are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or perhaps no religion at all? Moreover, if we think about it, the best of Christianity values other religions and supports the separation of church and state provision the First Amendment offers. If Christian nationalists got their way, the Ten Commandments would be prominently displayed on the grounds of state capitols across the country. In this same vein, Christian nationalists are quick to insist the American flag be displayed in the sanctuaries of our churches. However, if church and state are separate, the American flag, as a symbol of the state, has no place in our sanctuaries of worship. We should respect and honor our flag; however, we should never worship it. As Spirit and truth, God, has a claim on our lives. The flag does not. Sometimes the state needs to listen to a fresh word from the church as it seeks to speak truth to power. Christian nationalism and authoritarianism Cultural and religious diversity make Christian nationalists uneasy and anxious. They much prefer everyone else be like them. In this sense, Christian nationalism - particularly white Christian nationalism - is both anti-democratic and authoritarian. Moreover, it is inherently racist. The privileged status white Christian nationalists believe is their birthright is, distinctly, for white people, not people of color or persons of other faith traditions. It is riddled with white supremacist impulses. We can easily see, therefore, how the blending of Christian nationalism with MAGA politics poses a major threat to our democracy. Philip Gorski, a sociologist at Yale University and the author of The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy, says "The United States cannot be both a truly multi-racial democracy - a people of people and a nation of nations - and a white Christian nation at the same time. This is why white Christian nationalism has become a serious threat to American democracy, perhaps the most serious threat it now faces." The authoritarianism that is sweeping across the world and which was on full display at the January 6 insurrection must not be taken lightly. It is a natural reaction for people who feel their identity as "privileged" Americans is being challenged by changing demographics and changing times. Together, as "we the people" Americans, we must rise above the evil of this lurking ideology.~ Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz Read online here About the Author The Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Frantz is a retired United Church of Christ minister. He had long-term pastorates in San Diego County and in Miami Lakes, Florida. His service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama in the late sixties spurred his commitment to social justice ministries and to a spirit of ecumenism as a local church pastor. He holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from the Pacific School of Religion. He is the author of The Bible You Didn’t Know You Could Believe In, The God You Didn’t Know You Could Believe In, and his just-published book: The Jesus You Didn’t Know You Could Believe In. Dr. Frantz and his wife, Yvette, are now retired and living in Florida. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Jean How do Jesus-following Christians fight the evil that the White National Christian organizations create? A friend told me to 'pray.' But I'm feeling we need something a tad more militant... or if not militant, more assertive. I'm concerned that the Germans, Jewish, and European peoples all prayed for safety, but that alone was not enough. A: By Rev. Lauren Van Ham Dear Jean,Thank you for your question. I read it as an invitation, really. And, for Jesus-following Christians, it is the most pressing invitation of our times. Please, Readers, receive my response as but one in a cascade of other Jesus-following responses for meeting the greed, hatred and violence that is White Christian Nationalism. Here goes… Yes, as your friend suggested, let’s definitely all pray. And let’s continue to educate ourselves and one another on the racist, xenophobic history that fueled the founding of United States. There are many forums and instructors who are prioritizing this truth-telling, including the, “Things that Matter,” series hosted by Progressive Christianity and an episode last fall on Confronting White Nationalism with Dr Traci West and Dr Grey Carey. Let’s ask our churches, small groups and spiritual communities to take local action where we can: - Provide background information on political candidates and ballot measures - Participate in local demonstrations that support Jesus-following values, choose BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) owned business - Move your money and purchases into spaces that don’t feed the banks and multi-nationals that are fueled by the systemic violence that is, “take, burn, dump.” Do you remember the musical, “Cabaret”? The Emcee invites Berliners to cast off the “bore” of politics and to escape bigotry’s gloom by coming to the club, No use permitting some prophet of doom, to wipe every smile away; Life is a Cabaret, old chum; Come to the Cabaret! False prophets have always existed and today, they are multiplying worldwide! Hiding out in the Cabaret (or the online shopping cart, etc) is familiar but not skillful. However… bringing the Cabaret into the streets and the marketplace might allow for some insightful and persuasive community theatre, right? Jesus was all about it! It’s nearly impossible to change an entire system at once, but by creating the communities we believe in, and sharing our values visibly, we affirm our beliefs and that’s a joyful thing, no? Let’s keep choosing life, art and playfulness in the ways we can while we confront, resist and persist. And here’s my last one, maybe the hardest. Let’s listen deeply for the fears living behind the words. Behind all of the White Nationalist hate, there is a canyon of fear and ravine of shame. There is a primal desire in all of us to be loved and to belong. As Jesus-followers, we call on Radical Love to create truth-seeing, reparation, forgiveness. In the moments when this becomes possible, may our hearts and words mirror those of Jesus. What more can we add to this list of invitations? Please share!~ Rev. Lauren Van Ham Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Lauren Van Ham, MA, was born and raised beneath the big sky of the Midwest. Lauren holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, Naropa University and The Chaplaincy Institute. Following her ordination in 1999, Lauren served as an interfaith chaplain in both healthcare (adolescent psychiatry and palliative care) and corporate settings (organizational development and employee wellness). Lauren’s passion for spirituality, art and Earth's teachings has supported her specialization in eco-ministry, grief & loss, and sacred activism. Her essay, "Way of the Eco-Chaplain," appears in the collection Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women; and her work with Green Sangha is featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of religious environmental activists from diverse faith traditions across America. Her ideas can be heard on Vennly, an app that shares perspectives from spiritual and community leaders across different backgrounds and traditions. Currently, Lauren tends her private spiritual direction and eco-chaplaincy consulting practice; and serves as Climate Action Coordinator for the United Religions Initiative (URI), and as guest faculty for several schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podbean | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Is the Jesus Story a Myth? Did a Man Named Jesus Ever Live? Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong March 13, 2014Recently in my parish church, St. Peter’s in Morristown, New Jersey, I completed a seven week-lecture series on Matthew’s version of Jesus’ birth. In those lectures I pointed to the elements that demonstrate conclusively to me that Matthew did not intend for this story to be read literally. This was not biology, biography or history. The most cursory reading of this text reveals that he used exaggerated, mythical signs, such as a star to broadcast this event to the entire world and magi who followed that star, which traveled so slowly that they could keep up with it. It included the portrait of Jesus’ earthly father, a man named Joseph, who was patterned after the patriarch Joseph in the book of Genesis. Since this Joseph did not enter the story of Jesus until Matthew wrote in the middle years of the ninth decade it seem probable that Joseph was not a figure of history at all, but a literary character of Matthew’s own creation. When people hear these things for the first time, different as they are from the Sunday school version they learned as children, they begin to question the historical accuracy of the entire gospel record. They wonder if the story of Jesus is itself a literary concoction. Indeed this was the first question asked by a member of the class as soon as the lectures were concluded. Judging by my mail that same question rises frequently in the minds of my readers. Recently, I received a whole packet of material from a man who identified himself as a “religious blogger.” In his letter, he suggested in a rather flattering way, that since I was clearly an “open religious leader,” I would surely be convinced of his thesis that a man named Jesus never lived, if I would just read the five excerpts from books that he had enclosed in his bulky envelope. He was quite sure that Jesus was a hoax. I looked at his excerpts with interest. The fact is I had already read most of the books from which these excerpts had been culled and which, he proclaimed, “proved” his thesis that the Jesus story was made up, presumably by some religious charlatans who were eager to carry out some vast and profitable religious scheme. I found the arguments in these books, however, to be neither feasible nor believable. Since this question seems to be of some interest, however, I thought it wise to devote an entire column to looking at it. So today I want to examine the evidence for the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth. How do we know that he ever lived? Could the entire Christ story simply be a fabrication, a composite of the mythologies of the ages? Serious questions like these, no matter how threatening, need to be seriously engaged. The idea that Jesus might have been created to serve a less than admiral agenda is not new in Christian history. The “form-critical” approach to the Bible has broken open the claims of the literalists, allowing these possibilities to arise. For some the idea that Jesus was a myth is not far removed from the paranoia that so often surrounds startling public events such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 or the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. No matter how much evidence exists to debunk these conspiracy theories, they continue to attract a following of “true believers” in every generation. That in turn always seems to inspire someone either to write a book or to produce a motion picture based on “circumstantial evidence,” which they are convinced lends credibility to their conspiracy theories. These books and movies always purport to have the latest hot news or to be based on “newly-discovered” evidence. Though these books or movies have little intellectual credibility, still they continue to titillate the imaginations of this minority of susceptible people. The most popular of the “Jesus is a myth” theories proposes that Jesus was a literary character, created out of Egyptian mythology. This theory has been abroad for at least a generation. It was given a boost by a book written by two Englishmen, namely, Timothy Frete and Peter Gandy, entitled The Jesus Mysteries. It was widely advertised with such “hot” headlines as: “Jesus Never Lived!” This argument was then taken over and repackaged by an Anglican priest in Canada named Tom Harpur and published under the title: The Pagan Christ. Both books clearly had their runs, but then faded when the hype died down. I have read both books. They are exciting and well written narratives, but the evidence on which they make their cases was and is scanty and fragile. I do not believe that these arguments can be sustained, but both of these books do point to a truth that Christianity has been slow to admit, namely that a great deal of mythology does surround the church’s traditional portrait of Jesus. Angels breaking through the midnight sky to sing to shepherds is clearly a myth, so is his having been born without a human father. Jesus the miracle worker or Jesus being transfigured on a mountaintop while he speaks with the long dead Moses and Elijah are surely non-literal narratives. Earthquakes that occur both at the moment of his death and at his rising from the dead are obviously embellishments added to the story. There is much mythological content in the gospels that has been wrapped around the Jesus of history. By pretending though the centuries that these things are literal, supernatural events occurring within time and space, the Christian Church has opened itself to the challenge that Jesus himself might also have been a mythological creation. Historical evidence, however, argues strongly that there was something about this Jesus that was so powerful that it caused mythology to be developed around his life and then added to his memory. One obvious indicator of the presence of historical truth is found in the counter-intuitive nature of parts of the Jesus story. Look first at the name by which Jesus was known in the gospels – “Jesus of Nazareth.” Mythological heroes would not have had their roots in a dirty, insignificant little village in rural Galilee. “Nothing good can come out of Nazareth,” it was said, but Jesus did. The Bethlehem birth story of Jesus was a later 9th decade attempt to give Jesus a more prominent place of origin! Nazareth thus has about it a historical ring of authenticity. If one is going to create a hero out of whole cloth one would not have him hail from Nazareth. Second, the biblical record says that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. That fact clearly bothered the early Christians because it appeared to compromise Jesus’ priority over John and thus his claim to divinity. That is why there is such a deliberate effort in the gospels to downgrade John, reaching its crescendo in Luke’s gospel when the fetus of John the Baptist is made to salute the fetus of Jesus. Third, the crucifixion story is told in every gospel. An executed Jew for whom messianic claims were being made was not part of Jewish expectations. This violation of the expected norm witnesses to the historicity of the crucifixion. Myths are not built on negative data. Beyond these counter-intuitive pointers to historical reality, we next look at the time dimensions in the Christian story. The crucifixion is generally dated around the year 30 CE. The conversion of Paul is dated no earlier than one year and no later that six years after the crucifixion, which would mean that Paul’s conversion occurred between the years 31 and 36 CE. We have an authentic letter from Paul (Galatians) in which he describes autobiographically exactly what he did following his conversion. He tells us that first he went to Arabia for three years. When we add those years into our chronology, we arrive at somewhere between 34 to 39 CE. Then Paul says he went to Jerusalem where he visited “with Peter and James, the Lord’s brother.” So, four years at the earliest and nine years at the latest after his conversion, Paul is in touch with those who were intimately involved with the Jesus of history. Galatians was probably written in 51 CE or 21 years after the crucifixion. Four times in that epistle, Paul refers to Jesus as one who had been “crucified.” I submit to you that this is a time span far too short for a full blown conspiracy mythology to be developed. There, I believe, is a better way than invented mythology for us to understand the claims that are made for Jesus by his disciples in the gospels. Those claims were the products of the interpretation of Jesus in the synagogues using their scriptures, their liturgical practices and their messianic images. This processing work is what appears in the gospels when they are written 40-70 years after his crucifixion. While Paul’s authentic epistles are the work of a first generation Christian, the gospels are the products of the second and third generations of Christians, which is still too short a period of time for a full scale mythological, conspiratorial view of Jesus to have been developed. Memory is not detached from reality that quickly. I outlined in far greater detail than I can convey here the nature and content of the synagogue process that interpreted Jesus of Nazareth in what is still my favorite book: Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes. So my conclusion is clear. Jesus was a figure of history, who lived between the years ca. 4 BCE and 30 CE. He was in fact crucified by the Romans under the rule of Pontius Pilate, who served as Procurator of Judea between 26 CE and 36 CE. Jesus was first interpreted in the synagogue by his followers, who wrapped the Jewish scriptures around him. As the years passed and Christianity began its journey out of its Jewish womb and into the Gentile-thinking world, other mythological images began to be applied to him. By 150 CE there were almost no Jews left in the Christian movement and so the followers of Jesus no longer recognized the Jewish background of the stories of Jesus because they were simply unaware of it. At that time Egyptian, Greek and Roman elements were added to the story. Those who suggest that there is no historical substance to the Jesus story simply do not understand the impact that this life had on the Jewish population. It is simply naïve to suggest that there is no person of history behind the images of the ages that we still tend to literalize.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |