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Topics: Jesus
Summary: Boldly stating that historians can construct a sketch of Jesus that makes sense both historically and subsequently serves as the beginning point of Christian theology, N.T. Wright shapes this talk around 7 points of discussion about Jesus.
Wight asserts that Jesus claimed to be a prophet and a messiah, was a teacher of subversive wisdom, and attempted to reconstitute Israel around himself believing that his death would usher in the kingdom of God. From these discussion points and others taken up in the talk, Wright makes a case that those who come to the historical sources about Jesus in a responsible manner will find a clear trajectory between the Jesus of the gospels and the theology of the apostle Paul.
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After listing to the lector by N.T. Wright; I find his view of Jesus, not misleading, but rather mistaken. Wright portrays Jesus as a man with a messiah complex; using words such as: believes, attempts, etc. The epistemology of Jesus was not of faith (in the hope sense), but of fact. Jesus was in incarnation of God in the flesh. Wright also claimed that Jesus didn’t make any claims to his deity. But when we look at the word of God we will see a different picture. The New Testament tells us that Jesus and God shared the same nature and substance, that they BOTH used the “I AM” title. A title with both declares deity and his eternal nature. The Father is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and the Son is God. Never in the Bible does it say the Son is the Father….. Jesus is God! Jesus is the Messiah! And Wright is asleep at the wheels of his studies!
soonandverysoon, May 3, 2006
Wright is battling the Jesus question in the right spot (academia) and in the right way ( not simply repeating accepted dogma or accepted interpretation of the Gospels). Followers of Borg or Crossan are unlikely to be convinced, but I think its great. Jesus' self understanding as conveyed by the earliest strata of tradition (the parables) is high, and, historically speaking, Wright at least offers an explanation of the rise of the Christian movement. The Jesus Seminar may enlighten us on "accepted" sayings, but it has not offered a believable explanation of the rise of faith in Jesus as Lord (or Son of God or Christ/Messiah). At least a kernal of these ideas MUST go back to Jesus (eliminating Jesus sayings that point in that direction a priori, as the Jesus Seminar do, is a preupposition of unfaith) or we are left without any (reasonable) hypothesis for the rise of belief in Jesus. Certainly, seeing Jesus as a Seeker of Justice for the Underdog does go partway to explain Jesus in history, but it is not (in my view) an adequate explanation for the rise in faith in Jesus as the Lord, Saviour, Son of God, Messiah.
rocket, Jun 28, 2006