Starting A Book Study ?

[Kenneth Riviere]

 

What bible version do people find the most enjoyable?

 

steve

I've been having some fun with the Inclusive Bible, published by Sheed & Ward a few years ago. The copyright on it is held by Priests for Equality. I've found some passages a bit awkward, but have also enjoyed their take on some things as well. I especially like the Genesis creation story where the first human is simply described as a nameless earth creature and it is only after it is split into two creatures that gender is assigned.

[rivanna]

A few responses to Meyers’ Saving Jesus from the Church. I found it a remarkable and comprehensive expression of the PC movement. His writing is clear and persuasive, memorable. The main difference between his position and other PC authors, as I see it, is more emphasis on Jesus as only mortal, and on social activism rather than individual transformation.

 

I like how Meyers focuses on original blessing, not original sin--creation centered spirituality – a return to our religious roots without sacrificing reason and science.

 

He echoes Marcus Borg on rejecting the politics of purity for the politics of compassion. Meyers calls for recovery of the gospel – not a belief system, not an exclusive salvation club, but a journey toward wisdom and compassion. He defines faith as praxis –responsibility rather than entitlement; grounded in trust, not fear. Christianity was once and needs to be about following Jesus, not worshipping Christ.

 

I have only a few quibbles – one is saying “the claim that someone had been resurrected was made all the time, but only about those of noble birth or institutional power--the real scandal was that the person was Jesus.” This may be accurate, have never seen it anywhere else.

 

Meyers seems a bit too dismissive about resurrection--a literalist like Spong. There is a middle ground between the extremes of a bodily resurrection, and Jesus’ never being buried at all. I like this though -- “When Jesus ceases to be human and becomes God masquerading as man, we can admire, but we cannot emulate.”

 

Meyers’ approach to Paul doesn’t take into account the different purpose of the letters --not trying to reiterate or alter Jesus’ teachings, but to address the problems of a diverse and conflicted church.

 

The heart of the message here - Meyers asks us to see Jesus not as the Answer, but as the Assignment. I feel the truth of this, yet I sense it has to work on both a personal and collective level – unless we receive the comfort, understanding and courage Jesus came to offer, we can’t genuinely share them with others.

[Neon Genesis]

 

 

Meyers seems a bit too dismissive about resurrection--a literalist like Spong. There is a middle ground between the extremes of a bodily resurrection, and Jesus’ never being buried at all. I like this though -- “When Jesus ceases to be human and becomes God masquerading as man, we can admire, but we cannot emulate.”

 

I like the way Borg and Crossan see the resurrection in their book The Last Week. They see the resurrection as being more than just a historical event that may or may not have happened in the past but the resurrection is a spiritual transformation you have to undergo in your daily life.

[rivanna]

Yes, thats a good way of looking at it.

 

Also liked this point from Meyers book --Easter was not about the start of a new faith but the continuation of an old one. Jesus passion for justice, healing, inclusiveness, was present through all the old testament prophets, turning from an image of a God who is remote, angry, unapproachable and judgmental, to a God with earthy and distinctly feminine characteristics, nurturing and protective.

 

I cant think of a single PC author who affirms a bodily resurrection of Christ-- I'm open to Meyers non-miraculous view. And have to wonder about passages like Matthew 10 where Jesus tells the twelve to go forth and cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons,-- it seems very likely that the phrase raise the dead is being used metaphorically, by Jesus himself. What we have is mystery, not certainty.

 

Yet I sometimes ask, hypothetically if Jesus really did rise from the grave, how would the new testament be any different?

[Guest billmc]

Thanks for the critique, Karen. Sounds like a "must-read" for me.