A Fresh Perspective

A number of interpreters believe that a disciple of Paul or someone in the Pauline tradition wrote Ephesians and Colossians. This is primarily due to Greek stylistic and language differences, as well as shifts in theological emphases from what is found in Paul’s undisputed letters. When I taught a class on Paul a few years ago I basically held to this position, but have now changed my mind. The language differences are not all that significant and the shifts in theological perspective can be attributed to Paul’s theological development; after all, he was working out his theology on the road. In both Ephesians and Colossians a dominant theme is reconciliation, and Paul’s teaching on the subject is drawn from the perspective of the cosmic Christ and God’s overarching plan to reconcile all things to God’s self. In Ephesians he says, “With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the ...

One of the indisputable findings of Jesus scholarship is that Jesus was planted deeply in the soil of first century Judaism; in other words, Jesus was a good Jew. The New Testament as a whole and the Synoptic Gospels, in particular, show the emergence of the Jesus movement within the milieu of Jesus’ Jewish heritage and the connection between Israel’s story and Jesus’ first followers. But Jesus did not adopt hook, line, and sinker every aspect of his Jewish faith and culture. In many ways Jesus was a deconstructionist, but not simply for the sake of deconstruction. Jesus’ critique of his own religion was motivated by a passion for God (who, he believed, had entered into covenant with the Jewish people for the sake of humanity) and for the good of Israel and all humankind. Jesus deconstructed the faith for the purpose of reconstruction. Jesus offered new readings and fresh interpretations of the Torah, particularly in regard to divorce, Sabbath law, and the nature of holiness. Jes...

The life of Jesus, as presented in the Gospels, demonstrates a rhythm of prayer/spiritual retreat and worldly engagement that, I think, is a key to a healthy, holistic, transformational spiritual life. The pattern of discipleship that Jesus modeled was a pattern of solitude and service. Throughout his ministry Jesus moves back and forth between spiritual retreat and active ministry. All the Gospels call attention to this movement, but Luke’s Gospel, in particular, places special emphasis on this pattern. It seems that Jesus regularly withdrew from an active, full ministry of healing and teaching to be alone with God. There are a number of personal, inner disciplines that nurture the spiritual life and many of these overlap: study, spiritual reading, theological reflection, confession, self-examination, silence, solitude, meditation, and of course, the many forms and expressions of prayer. It is largely through these personal, spiritual disciplines that we find strength t...

Just today I received an email from Paula (not really her name; I want to protect the guilty) with SONday Distributors. They had a special deal “for churches only” on “a great Bible.” For just ten dollars each (regular $40 value) we could get a shipment of ANSWER Bibles. That’s right—the ANSWER Bible. Their goal, she said, was “to plant a Bible (I presume she meant an ANSWER Bible) in 10,000 homes, organizations, and establishments in communities across America.” She wanted churches to make a commitment to give them away to “lost” people. Isn’t this typical of dualistic Christianity; it’s always the other who is “lost.” I’m the answer man or woman. I’ve got the truth, brother. Isn’t that what the Southern Baptist Convention is promoting right now with: Find it here! Find what? The ANSWERS, of course. We have the answers, glory be! That implies that we have the questions too. We have the questions and we have the answers. Amen! Normally I click “delete” not giving this sort of thi...

Samir Selmanovic, in his book, It’s Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Athiest Jewish Christian , tells about an experience he had on the morning of September 11, 2002. One of the Christian family radio networks had lined him up for an interview. He was mentally prepared to tell about the many ways they had learned to love the city and its people in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks over the previous twelve months. But while he was waiting to go on the air, he heard the two co-hosts boasting about Christianity, literally patronizing the world. A bit disoriented by what he heard, he realized that he was not ready for the interview at all. He had to quickly rethink what he was going to say; because he knew what they were going to ask. And it came right on schedule: “Pastor, tell us, don’t you find people in New York more ready to receive the gospel after the tragedy? Aren’t they more receptive than ever to the message? Can we take this city for Jesus?” Selmanovic paus...

Jesus became a scapegoat to put an end to all scapegoating; he became a sacrifice to put an end to that whole system of offering up the innocent victim. Spiritually, socially, and psychologically humans have always needed to find some way to deal with sin and guilt. Historically, humanity has employed sacrificial systems to that end. In ancient systems of religion human sacrifices were offered to placate the deity (such as the firstborn, the virgin, the only child, etc., but never the adult man; these were mostly, if not all, patriarchal cultures). In the evolution of religious consciousness animals took the place of humans. It doesn’t seem that our spiritual consciousness has evolved a great deal over the last several millenniums. In this past century the educationally advanced Germans made scapegoats of the Jews and consider all the horrendous scapegoating that took place in the genocides of the past several decades. We have incorporated the scapegoat mechanism into Christian...

Walter Wink, in The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium writes: “American culture is presently in the first stages of a spiritual renaissance. To the degree that this renaissance is Christian at all, it will be the human figure of Jesus that galvanizes hearts to belief and action, not the Christ of the creeds . . . An in the teaching of Jesus, the sayings on nonviolence and love of enemies will hold a central place. Not because they are more true than any others, but because they are crucial in the struggle to overcome domination without creating new forms of domination.” It’s interesting how Wink frames his hope in a spiritual renaissance: “to the degree that this renaissance is Christian at all . . .” He doesn’t seem very optimistic that Christians will be leading the way in helping to create God’s beloved community on earth; to help bring in God’s peaceable kingdom. The teachings of Jesus on non-violence and love of enemies will surely serve as a divine lure, a catalyst...