What must they be thinking?
I do not , of course, wish to bring back the imperialism of Rome which dominated the Holy Land when Jesus' fame was no bigger than a beached guppy. But it is quite possible that without the Roman Empire Jesus would have gone on to a boring life as a goat herder and Christianity would never have come into being.
Then where would we be? For one thing, we'd have been without Jimmy
Swaggart on TV when I was a kid.
What, you ask, was so wonderful and influential about the Roman Empire?
Well, a funny thing happened to Jesus on his way to a boring life as a
goat herder. He got all mixed up with a bunch of malcontented long-hair
radicals who hung out in Judea. Roman Imperialism had stimulated a growth
industry for prophets, Baptists, and other rabble-rousers.
So Jesus packed up his skins of wine and hit the road and preached the idea of conscientious objection to the laws of the land. When he had completed his confrontation of the authorities, he had set the world on the path to Christianity. Which is a mixed blessing, but on the whole a small plus.
So we can be grateful for Roman Imperialism, as long as we hold our noses plugged shut. See how messy life is? Especially when we wander into religious thickets?
No Doubt if Jesus had grown up in the 1960s and faced American Imperialism in Cambodia, he'd have joined the Khymer Rouge and worked in the rice paddies treating napalm-burned children. After the end of the war he'd have opened a tea shop in Phnom Phen. Christianity, as a result would have had to wait until the Mahareshi Yogi discovered how to get tax exempt status.
The theologians who are to gather in Rome to explore the foundations of Christianity will give talks whose titles never use the words "Thanks for the Roman Empire" or some such.
Instead, they offer up: "The prophetic anti-astrological Magi", "Advice from Jesus on how to raise obedient children who will not question the Authority of the Church", and "Over-coming a world of sins: its as simple as being born again". I suppose it is possible that one of the speakers will tip his hat to Roman Imperialism, but, if so, you'd think it would show up in the title of one of the talks. Still, maybe these titles are supposed to not let you know what the talk is really about.
Notre Dame University, one of the sponsors of the upcoming meeting, explained in a press release that even though the great man's work- described in stories from John, Luke, Mark, etc. (the early Christians couldn't agree on what the real story was)- was described hundreds of years ago, "scholars are finding that there is still much to learn from them."
So folks are studying the various versions of the life of Jesus and going back over the scant historical evidence for his existence to try to figure out how Jesus became so popular.
Well, how he did it seems clear to me. He thumbed his nose at the leaders of his country. You confront the evils of established authority and heaven knows what kind of human freedom might result. Probably all sorts of crazy stuff like separation of church and state.
Go to John's Book Page.
Go to John's
Home Page.