As long as our American experiment in representative democracy as our form of government continues, we will probably continue to have social and political movements emerge in American culture.
There may be no serious harm involved in envisioning and advocating social and political reforms.
For a radically different view of the historical Jesus -- than the view advanced by Borg and from the views of the historical Jesus advanced by orthodox Christian traditions -- see the posthumously published scriptural meditations by Anthony de Mello, S.J. (1931-1987) titled THE WAY TO LOVE: MEDITATIONS FOR LIFE (reissued 2012).
Once we have liberated the historical Jesus and his message from the prison of orthodox Christian thought, then we can step back from the Christ myth (i.e., the resurrection, the Ascension, the Second Coming) and see it as outlining the course of the human journey toward psychological and spiritual growth and development.
Question: In what ways, if any, is the view of the historical Jesus advanced by Anthony de Mello different from the views advanced by Borg?
Anthony de Mello focuses on personal psychological and spiritual growth and development -- in short, personal transformation, to use one of Borg's favorite terms.
Anthony de Mello suggests that the historical Jesus was basically calling for his fellow Jews to experience a personal transformation.
In their historical context of living under the Roman Empire, it would arguably be kind of revolutionary for individual Jews to undergo the kind of personal transformation that the historical Jesus himself had experienced. But he was not proclaiming a political revolution against the Roman Empire. Instead, he was advancing a kind of revolution in the spirit of his fellow Jews as they lived under the Roman Empire.
But if enough of his fellow Jews had experienced such a revolution in spirit, wouldn't they have risen up in armed revolution against the Roman Empire?
Perhaps they would have.
Then again, maybe they wouldn't have.
After all, one can experience the kind of personal transformation that the historical Jesus experienced without feeling moved to engage in an armed revolution against the dominant cultural and social and political forces wherever one happens to live.
(Article changed on June 4, 2014 at 07:21)
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