Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Religion's impact on society
Religion's impact on society
Religion's impact on society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Before this semester I had never taken a moment to ask myself - Who is Jesus? It is something that I have never been given the option to question. Being brought up in a strong Christian background, where I went to mass every Sunday, and then following mass, went to bible school for two hours, ingrained a specific image of Jesus into my head. This image portrayed Jesus as a white man who preformed miracles for the poor and oppressed, and also sacrificed himself on the cross for all of humanity’s’ sins. However, after taking this course, I have been able to rethink Jesus in ways that I could have never imagined. It has become evident to me that there are many different ways to see Jesus. And with each of these contrasting views, there comes both biblical and rational evidence supporting each image along with criticism disputing each image.
When Dale C. Allison Jr. says that, “Jesus is not one but many,” it becomes obvious that there are many different ways to picture Jesus. He says that “Jesus seems to be a chameleon; he takes his color from whoever re-creates him,” (Allison, 46). Thus, it is our own experiences and beliefs that create all of these different types of Jesus. Furthermore, J. Deotis Roberts argued “if the universal Christ came to all people in their particular historical context, then all people had a right to define Christ through their particular experience and image Christ in their own likeness” (Douglas, 61). Thus, by using the theories of Allison and Roberts, it makes sense when people can see Jesus in the different ways that they do; black, white, straight, gay, etc.
In Kelly Brown Douglas’ book, The Black Christ, there are a few different Jesus images. Some of these ideas coming from the Slave Era, and othe...
... middle of paper ...
...osexual. Furthermore, the societies were clearly different, thus, it may have been socially acceptable to have a close male friend as Jesus did. On the other hand, when talking about a black Christ, such as James Cone did. One can say that if Christ only identifies with the oppressed, then what happens with the other people that are well off, but still need guidance in their life.
After looking at all of these different models of Jesus, and taking into account, it is my opinion that Jesus is a universal human being. With that said, I most likely agree with Roberts thoughts about Jesus being who you want it to be. It’s not about what he looked like or who he had intimate relationships with, but it’s what he did. It is the messages that he is trying to show us that we all need to understand. He can be whoever you want to be, as long as you follow his teachings.
We can see the birth of Jesus in Matthew (Matt 1:18-25) (Matt 2:1-12), Luke (Luke 2:1-2) and John (John1:1-18). Both Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus’ birth place was in Bethlehem in Judea in the time of King Herod of Judea and Emperor Augustine of the Roman Empire. The gospels tell us that Jesus was born in a stable under an inn (Luke 2:7). This is unlikely because Bethlehem was the birthplace of David, who was Joseph’s ancestor. This means that there may have been a house with his cousins or extended family there. The Hebrew word for inn can also be described as ‘the upper room’ and in traditional Jewish houses, there was an upper room where the family stayed and underneath this was the place where the animals were kept. This could have been seen as the stable under the ‘inn’. Now because of the census performed by Emperor Augustine the Jews had to travel to their ancestral home that meant that the house Mary and Joseph were staying at could have been full, so the upper room was full, making the only available room for the baby to be born in the stable below. Jesus was thought to be traditionally born in 1AD after the Monk Dionysus Exigus tried to calculate the year, from the Birth of Jesus, by taking away the reigns of Kings. Unfortunately Exigus made a few errors and Jesus is now thought to be born a few years BC. We know that in Matt 2:1 and Matt2:16 (Luke 1:55) that King Herod the Great was the ruler of Judea. From Roman records we know that King Herod died in 4BC near the feast of the Passover. This means that the earliest time Jesus could have been born was early 4BC. Herod plays an integral part in determining Jesus birth date because it also could explain the Bethlehem Star, which we...
In The Meaning of Jesus N.T. Wright and Marcus Borg present different views on issues relating to how Jesus is viewed. While Borg and Wright do agree on central ideals of Christianity, Borg tends to have more liberal views, whereas Wright holds more conservative views.
“The other Jesus”; a book that reveals the true meaning of being a Christian and gives another view on the characteristics on Jesus, Garrett shows the beauty of the Gospel and how it differs from other religions views on Jesus. In studying the Christianity of the American society he gives his own personal rendition of how this chase for the true meaning of Jesus started: “When, after twenty-five years of wondering, I came back to church, I finally encountered the Other Jesus. I discovered an authentic message of love and acceptance, the one that the Other Jesus seems to be exemplifying in the Christian Testament….I discovered believers who were trying to live lives that reflected the change this Other Jesus had wrought in them. I discovered people who practiced faith as well as preached it.” (Garrett. 8)
The black slaves in general held to a different form Christianity that was unbeknownst to traditional orthodox Christianity. As discussed in lecture on February 4, 2014, black slaves held to an interpretation of Christianity that placed emphasis on the Old Testament, and all of its hero’s and accomplishments. The slaves also reinterpreted Jesus Christ, figuring Him into the Old Testament context of an Old Testament King like King David, who achieved many victories upon this earth (Lecture 2/4/14). Due to the perversion of Christian teachings from slave master and their erroneous catechisms, the slaves reacted strongly against the New Testament and its teachings. In turn, the slaves would cling to the Old Testament, particularly due to the role that the Jews suffered in the midst of their captivity to the Egyptians in ancient times. (Covered in the Bible under the Old Testament books of Genesis and Exodus) The reality of God coming to the aid of His chosen people the Jews was a theme that encouraged and comforted the slaves, and they gladly adopted this similar idea of being God’s “chosen people.” Also, the slaves held to Old ...
The book, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions, by Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright is a conversation of sorts between, “The Leading Liberal and Conservative Jesus Scholars” as they “Present the Heart of the Historical Jesus Debate.” In the introduction, the scholars note that the inspiration and writing of the book grew out of friendship. The book is evidence of the public and private conversations between these scholars and friends, sharing in Christian faith and practice as they work through these complex issues in hopes of understanding each other better. Both, “…acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as Lord, and [we] regard the no-holds-barred study of his actual history as a vital part of what we mean by that” (viii).
...e to the audience that the Bible adheres to the deserved emancipation and support of African-Americans, rather than enslavement and oppression. For example, Douglass preaches, “ A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. The Bible addresses all such persons as ‘scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe of mint, anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.” By using Matthew 23:23 to assert American Christians as righteously indignant, Douglass infers that if the White American people are truly Christian, they will obey the doctrines of The Bible and negate their duplicity by showing love and mercy to black people.
Imagine a world with a modern prophet roaming around the United States proclaim his or her stance as the second coming of the Christian Jesus. In reference to the short film called The Second Coming, an African American man goes around the town and city describing how he is the Second Coming of Jesus. As this second edition of Jesus, he/she faces, especially in the United States, ridicule and a large amount of judgement. By looking at the philosophies of Martin Delany and W. E. B. Du Bois, it is quite clear that a separatist society would result from the second coming of an African American, or even female version of Jesus.
The presentation of Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson’ The Passion of the Christ, while certainly dramatized, largely stays faithful to the presentation of Jesus in the canonical Gospels. The majority of the differences between this film and the Gospels can be considered creative choices that do not substantially change the narrative, making this film by and large an accurate representation of the scenes in the Bible. However, its near-exclusive focus on Jesus’ trial and death omits much of the context and significance of this event in the life and teachings of Jesus and his greater mission of the salvation of humanity.
Slave-owners forced a perverse form of Christianity, one that condoned slavery, upon slaves. According to this false Christianity the enslavement of “black Africans is justified because they are the descendants of Ham, one of Noah's sons; in one Biblical story, Noah cursed Ham's descendants to be slaves” (Tolson 272). Slavery was further validated by the numerous examples of it within the bible. It was reasoned that these examples were confirmation that God condoned slavery. Douglass’s master...
The author of this book, Lee Strobel, struggled for almost two years, sometimes jumping from one issue or topic to another and then back again, investigating the facts of Jesus for himself. He traces his journey from skepticism to faith.
2. So far from my readings in the New Testament, it seems as if Jesus the Messiah has a sort of presence about him that causes people to follow and believe in him despite having never met him before. However, he does not seem to have this effect on everyone he comes in contact with and there seems to be a similarity between those who are affected and those that are not. The interesting part of this is that this common trait between those that are allured to Jesus is something I would have believed would have been the very reason as to why they
In his book Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, Christopher J. H. Wright sets out to introduce the importance of understanding Jesus and how Jesus found his identity, the goal of his own mission, and interpreted the Old Testament. The author’s intent is to show Christians who Jesus really was, by shedding some light on the father from early Hebrew scripture. Wright argues that Jesus is the fulfillment through the Old Testament. And gave validity to the events leading to the New Testament. Chris Wright was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1947, the son of missionary parents, and nurtured as an Irish Presbyterian. After university in Cambridge, he started his career as a schoolteacher in Grosvenor High School, Belfast. Today he is the International Director of the Langham Partnership International. Dr. Wright is also the author of other books such as Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament (IVP Academic, 2007), Knowing the Holy Spirit Through the Old Testament (IVP Academic, 2006).
This woman, like lepers and tax collectors, was also considered an outcast. However, because Jesus came to save all people, we she touched him and was healed, he was not angry at her. He simply said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace” (Luke 8:48).
How Jesus is viewed to people has varied depending on experiences and rearing on the individual and lessons received. With uplifting support and affirmative direction towards eternal salvation, one seeks further understanding of the Kingdom of God. Stories were used by Jesus to instill a touch of interest to those who followed, which invited many to learn more about the Promised Land. Utopic theme centered parables were taught metaphorically based on cultural significance, religious intent, and the kind of impression left on the first followers of Christ.
was a faithful Jew and followed all the Jewish customs. Jesus was a human being.