1. In the Bible, Jesus was accepted as the son of god by those with a shallower knowledge and practice of Christianity and was rejected by those who spent their lives educating themselves on how best to serve and worship god.
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
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After reading about the author’s fascination with the situation in which the less religious group accepted Jesus as the son of God willingly whereas the supposed higher tier of society, deeply religious Pharisees were unable to recognize Jesus as the Messiah I can speculate a number of things. One of which is that the author is curious and reads into things in hopes of finding a pattern since they distinguished two different groups of people during the time and searched until they found a similarity. I can also ascertain that whoever wrote this reflection on the bible is a believer in Jesus being the son of God since they reference Jesus in the introduction as “the son of God” and in the closing paragraph indicate that the Pharisees did not recognize the messiah which shows that they believe Jesus was the Messiah. It also appears to me that the author of this passage may have some doubt or at least lacks clarity in the full account of the story on why the Pharisees condemned Jesus. I say this because they talk about how it doesn’t make sense why that group of people would be so quick to rule out the possibility that Jesus was who he claimed to be and that the very idea doesn’t make
Taylor suggests that the Pharisees have defended the sanctity of the Law “according to their standards” and do so to weed out heretics. But, because Jesus and the rest of his followers are Jews, it is clear to Taylor that the Jews and the Pharisees are operating under different binaries of the same Law. One may go so far as to wonder if Taylor is de-Judaizing the Pharisees. I believe Taylor has made this distinction in order to maintain her semblance of not supporting anti-Jewish rhetoric while still opposing the Pharisees. Nevertheless, Taylor unfortunately concludes her sermon by questioning whether the Pharisees are missing the point. Are the Pharisees so caught up in legalizing the Law, they are unable to recognize the Son of Man within their midst? Barbara Brown Taylor inadvertently declares the Pharisees to be blind and the former blind man to be enlightened. The blind man has witnessed the Son of Man and is deemed a heretic, as determined by the Pharisees. Jesus, too, for his declarations about being from God is also a heretic. Is Barbara Brown Taylor suggesting that God is endorsing the heretics and disregarding the Jews? It precariously appears to be this way: “If that made Jesus a heretic, then the blind man hoped he would be allowed to become one
In this first chapter of Jesus and the Disinherited , the author Howard Thurman describes
Gerhard Lohfink, in his book, “Jesus of Nazareth” believes that Jesus’ person and ministry are intertwined, or actually one and of the same. After Lohfink clarifies the difference between the "reign of God" as distinct from the “Kingdom of God,” he asserts that in Jesus, there is this active, ongoing reign which is not only revealed, but is manifested in all He says and does. Lohfink states, that Jesus is “not just preaching about the reign of God, but He is announcing it,” going on to indicating that Jesus is manifesting this reign in His own self disclosure and the actions of His ministry. Jesus ways of teaching and interactions with others, is shown as compassionate, gentle, direct and personal, as well as definitive and bold. As we also find in Ch. 3, “All that is happening before everyone’s eyes. The reign of God is breaking forth in the midst of the world and not only within people.” (51) And for Lohfink, this is taking place in the actual preaching, actions and life of Jesus Christ. Simply, we are personally and collectively and actively a part of establishing this “reign” right here, right now. A “reign” of mercy, compassion, forgiveness, self-giving, sacrificial love, as well as of justice and peace.
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.
What information from this week’s articles might be helpful as you think through this case?
However, someone of any religion could absorb information about Jesus’s existence through The Case for Christ. The audience of this book needs to be capable of comprehending a high intellectual level; therefore, it is projected more towards older individuals.
Luke Timothy Johnson uses Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church in order to make a strong point that when studying both Luke and Acts as a unit, rather than reading the canonical order in the Bible, gives us one of our best prophetic looks at the Church for all ages. By presenting this point Johnson hopes to light a fire in our churches of today by using the prophetic works of Luke, so that we as Christians will attend to the ways that Christ intended the church to be. In Johnson’s introduction he states that it is not wrong to study Luke and Acts separately as there are many ways to study the scripture, nevertheless it is wrong to look at Luke and see the prophetic ways of Jesus, and then looking at Acts as non-prophetic. Through seeing Luke’s
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).
This paper is written to discuss the many different ideas that have been discussed over the first half of Theology 104. This class went over many topics which gave me a much better understanding of Christianity, Jesus, and the Bible. I will be addressing two topics of which I feel are very important to Christianity. First, I will be focusing on the question did Jesus claim to be God? This is one of the biggest challenges of the Bibles that come up quite often. Secondly, I will focus on character development.
"We cannot indeed overestimate the importance of the fact that Jesus' redeeming influence on the world-all that has induced men to call Him Lord and Savior-owes to His humanity at once its individual and its social power, and is complete with the com...
From the excerpt from the novel, “Under the Feet of Jesus” by Helena Maria Viramontes, the main character is Estrella, a young Spanish girl with a powerful desire to learn to read. Although she is persistent, her teachers refuse to educate her because they are more concerned of Estrella’s personal hygiene. This leaves Estrella resentful because of the barrier between herself and knowledge. Estrella remains silent until a man named Perfecto Flores teaches her how to read by using his expertise in hardware and tools to represent the alphabet. Viramontes depicts the heartfelt growth of Estrella through her use of tone, figurative language, and detail.
The book consists of three parts. The first part has five chapters of which focuses on explaining what the key questions are and why we find them difficult to answer. The second part has nine chapters explaining in detail what N.T. Wright considers Jesus’ public career and the approach he had in first century Palestine. The third part of the book, the last chapter, challenges readers to wrestle with the questions of Jesus’ life and ministry.
The book Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes shows you the story of Estrella and her family and the struggles they face as migrant workers. Among all the symbolism in the book the one that stand out the most is Petra’s statue of Christ, which symbolizes the failure of religion and the oppressive nature of the Christian religion especially in minorities. Throughout the book, Estrella’s mother, Petra relies on superstitions and religion to get her through the hardships in life. In tough times, she turns to the statue and prays for guidance. Her thirteen-year-old daughter Estrella is the first of her family to realize that she needs to stop relying on religion and take control of her life. This brings in a wave of self-empowerment, not only for Estrella but eventually for all the characters as well. In the book, you’re able to see how religion exemplifies the failures of religion in minorities and how it hinders the growth of the characters while helping some of them.
In this paper, I will examine Jesus’ resurrection from the dead because, according to many scholars, there is no other event in the life of Jesus that is as significant. In order to better comprehend the magnitude of this event, I will begin by looking at what can be discerned from the Resurrection of Jesus. Then, I will explore the two different kinds of resurrection testimony that there are: the confessional tradition and narrative tradition. For the confessional tradition, I will look at a few examples including St. Paul’s confession in First Corinthians which is composed of four parts: Jesus’ death, the question of the empty tomb, the third day, and the witnesses. For the narrative tradition, I will briefly examine the two sources of information
The greatest communicator I know has overcome the world by communication. a man who communicated love so well that He would rather die than ever be without me. A communicator so great, that he borne my griefs, carried my sorrows and was even pierced for my transgressions. The greatest communicator I know is a man named Jesus.