does the tradition miscarry?av.unityonline.org/institute/2010lyceum/veenema.pdfdonald harman...

From Jesus to Paul to the Gospels:

Does the Tradition Miscarry?

SCS502 Bible History: Christian Rev. E.J. Niles March, 2010

Patricia J. Veenema

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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Introduction:

The Christian canon, organized as it is, first presents simple stories about Jesus life: his

teachings, his miracles and his final days; followed by letters which edevelope (?) on Christian

theology. Through parables and precisely meaningful statements in the Jesus narrative, Jesus’

theology appears as a beautifully simplistic, sometimes cynical, upside down worldview. Paul’s

epistles emphasize not the wisdom or miracles of Jesus but his crucifixion and resurrection. Paul

elaborates detail about how to live and what to believe and presents a farreaching, seemingly

absurd creed in comparison to the simplicity of Jesus sayings. Paul’s letters are so different from

the Gospels; one might wonder where he got those ideas from! Taken in this sequence, one

might ask, as did Bart Ehrman, does the tradition miscarry? 1

From the past few hundred years of scholarly review, we now know that Paul’s letters are

among the first Christian documents to be written and the Gospels were written years after Paul’s

letters. If the stories of Jesus were still fresh in people’s conversations during Paul’s ministry,

then why did he preach “Christ crucified,” and not provide details about Jesus’ life and

teachings? Historian Josephus wrote minute details about Judah in the first century CE, then

why did he not provide details about Jesus? Is it possible that Paul and Josephus had little to say

about Jesus life because there were few facts known about him? Perhaps, then, it might be

appropriate to ask, does the tradition miscarry from Paul to the Gospels?

Many scholars agree that the earliest documentation of Jesus, called “Q 1 ,” contain only his

sayings. The Q 1 gospel could possibly be Jesus’ teachings in their purest, most unabridged form.

1 Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) 369.

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The Gospels provide so much more elaboration. Where did the ideas of the early Christians come

from? Did they invent the details provided in the canonical Gospels? Why did they do that? Why

did these ideas arise?

Was Paul’s theology Paul’s invention, or did he convert into a PrePauline cult? How could

a cult have formed so quickly between Jesus’ death and Paul’s conversion? Or was it a group

who understood the good news from a preJesus religious consciousness? In this paper we will

set the scene, by looking at what was happening at the time that Jesus stepped into the world that

created such a welcoming and ready audience for Jesus. We will also explore the development

of early Christian teachings in light of the consciousness of the culture. Finally, we will reflect

on the application of early Christian teachings in light of the evolution of consciousness over the

past 2000 years.

Personal Virtue, Ethics and Politics

At the time of the turn of the first millennium, in the area surrounding Judea, the social,

political and ideological environment was rapidly changing. From the desecration of the Second

Temple in 167 BCE and the subsequent Maccabean revolt, to the final destruction of the Temple

in 70 CE, the period of time known as the Later Second Temple Era, the Near East experienced

political turbulence and social confusion as well as cultural and ideological creativity. Biblical

scholar Donald Akenson has described it as one of the most animated and inventive eras of this

planet’s history. 2 What brought on this richly explosive era?

Since the Fourth Century BCE, Alexander the Great’s conquests had spread a Hellenistic

influence over the region. The Greek culture valued individualistic philosophy, the arts and

2 Donald Harman Akenson, SurpassingWonder: The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds, (Chicago, University of Chicago Press 1998.) 110.

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athletic competition. Their emphasis on aristocracy, citizenship, the individual’s freedom and

accomplishments was poised to influence many changes in Judaism.

In the homeland, Judah’s society had become structured around the idea of the Temple

State, where delineation of power was clearly defined: the king, appointed by the Greeks, had the

political power, and the priests had influence concerning social proprieties and rituals. But

increasing Hellenistic influence questioned priestly authority and created a state of fluid

adaptation in Jewish society, resulting in many new interpretations of wellestablished principles.

Eventually the Temple priests lost all authority beyond the central customs of purity and

sacrifice. 3

Outside of the Jerusalem priesthood, the people adopted the Hellenistic individualistic

approach to virtue, ethics and social responsibility. The Judaic population had dispersed

throughout the Hellenistic world, with many Jews living in areas other than Judah. All areas of

Hellenistic thinking, conduct and philosophy, religion and mythology including their emphasis

on the individual’s freedom, virtue and accomplishments, influenced emergent thinking of the

Jewish peoples from the dispersed to the homeland Jew.

An evolutionary phenomenon was occurring: with a combining of the philosophies of

Greek and Hebrew, the highest Greek virtues were equated with the highest Judaist virtues.

Akenson reflects: “Obedience to Yahweh’s law is a subsuming virtue, encompassing, at least for

the Chosen People, all the Greek virtues, and more.” 4 In other words, the Jews incorporated the

new Hellenistic value of “virtue” into the ethical moral standards of Torah Law structure.

3 Burton L. Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament?: The Making of the Christian Myth. (New York: HarperCollins, 1995.) 21. 4 Ibid., 126.

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Cultural historian Frederick Turner said, “The evolutionarily later always subsumes

(incorporates) and includes the evolutionarily earlier.” 5

But before assimilation, there is always a period of chaos and conflict. With a rise of

Roman presence, Greek Polis, Roman Democracy and Judean Templestate collided, 6 bringing

strenuous crosscultural encounters. The political and economic situation in the Jewish

homeland was especially restless and volatile. The Book “4 Maccabees,” tells stories which

introduce into Judaism the idea of martyrdom (Eleaszar’s refusal to eat pork; seven brothers and

their mother tortured by Antiochus; the children of Israel are faithful martyrs.) The Maccabean

texts also introduce into Judaism the immortality of the soul, and the idea that human blood

sacrifice can act as an antidote for sin. The martyrs became “as it were, a ransom for the sin of

our nation.” (4 Macc 17:21) 7 In these martyrdom myths, the Greek values of control of passions

and rejection of the flesh’s weakness are primary, obtained by faithfulness to the Law. By

implication, the Law of Moses is compatible with GrecoRoman Reason and Virtue and the

religion of Yahweh, with the latter being primary. The Jewish religion had assumed such

divergent forms, no single normative form of the faith, that they could no longer hope for

harmony as they had experienced in their past. 8

The exchange of philosophical ideas, myths, customs, attitudes, values, family structures

and taboos encouraged an outpouring of new social information and intellectual energy, birthing

new ideas about community, using mixtures of cultural traditions. 9 As people sought to replace

the ancient roots of their homeland customs they sought out selfhelp fixes such as oracles,

5 The American Heritage Dictionary, s.v. “subsume.” http://www.ask.com/web?q=dictionary%3A+subsume &content=ahdict|55573&o=101881&l=dis, accessed Feb 20, 2010. 6 Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament? 25. 7 Akenson, 127. 8 Ibid., 111. 9 Ibid., 27.

http://www.ask.com/web?q=dictionary%3A+subsume%20&content=ahdict%7C55573&o=101881&l=dis

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magicians, dream interpreters and healing and mystery cults, formulating new cultural traditions

in small groups: in synagogues, schools, libraries, and homes. In these nested communities, the

people tried to make sense of their increasingly changing world, and the value of human was in

question. Sensing a mixture of cultural malaise and creativity, people questioned normative

social boundaries. These minisocieties, replacing ancient homeland social structure, were arenas

for social experimentation. What was taboo for one culture was perfectly acceptable for another.

This was gravely obvious between the GrecoRoman cultures and the Jewish culture. Yes

As Alexander’s Empire weakened and the Roman republic rapidly spread. Rome’s society

gathered strength based on military might. Warring was a constant condition; piracy on the

Mediterranean Sea was a major problem. Genocide was often used to quell uprisings: for

example, when Rome defeated Spartacus’ army in 71 BCE, 6000 people were crucified along the

city streets. 10 Using a great deal of force and threat from military influence and strategic

placement of field commanders in lands around the Mediterranean, Rome quickly infiltrated an

already unstable social environment.

The Maccabean revolt was Judah’s last successful attempt to regain ownership of their

homeland. Eventually, the regional struggle for the homeland between Syria and Egypt

succumbed to the invasion of Rome into the entire territory. Rome invaded Syria, in 51 BCE,

and by 37 BCE, it had conquered Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. Egypt was annexed in 30 BCE,

swiftly securing a strong hold on the area east and south of the Mediterranean Sea. Poverty,

prostitution, taxation and deception were at an alltime high. The people were at a crisis of

10 UNRV History website accessed 2182010... United Nations of Roma Victrix page title: Judaea Palaestina http://www.unrv.com/provinces/judaea.php. Accessed Feb 18, 2010.

http://www.unrv.com/provinces/judaea.php.%20%20accessed%20Feb%2018

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national proportions: the Jewish religious identity was rapidly changing; their economy and their

security were at an all time low. 11

Many prophetic voices emerged in attempts to speak for justice. Pharisees, Sadducees,

Essenes and Zealots were among the political and religious groups of Judeans that arose in the 1 st

Century BCE. There was a great deal of factional activity, headed by prophets, missionaries,

thugs, mystics, assassins, taxevaders, civil revolutionaries, “all expressing themselves within

one of the multiple religious idioms that proliferated within the Jewish world between the

Maccabean revolt and the destruction of the Temple.” 12 Zealots formed groups to engage in acts

of outright defiance of foreign control, and they were often publically put to death. Others

formed guerilla groups and set their focus on making trouble in Jerusalem, especially against the

scribes and Pharisees. The ancient historian Josephus reported that there were many uprisings.

Revealing his opinion of these people, he wrote, “Under the pretense of divine inspiration,

fostering revolutionary changes, they persuaded the multitude to act like madmen.” The people

believed that God would bring deliverance. There were, in fact, many martyrs and mass

crucifixions. 13

By the turn of the millennium, at the dawn of the Common Era, several blended ideas had

emerged in the consciousness of the people, both in Judah and in other areas surrounding of the

Mediterranean: the concepts of martyrdom, resurrection of the dead, the end times, judgment by

11 Deepak Chopra, Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment, HarperCollins, New York 2008. 12 Akenson, 194. 13 Ibid., 177.

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the almighty. 14 There was a strong emergence of the figure of Satan as almost equal in power to

YHWH, as well as beings of the light and darkness called angels and demons. 15

Jesus of Nazareth:

This was the world situation when Jesus entered the scene. From scholarly deconstruction

of the canonical gospels, we can hear Jesus’ message. The earliest writing, the deconstructed

“Q 1 ” version of the gospels reveals a vague riddle of sorts, easily misunderstood and dismissed

as naïve in such a tough world as the one described above. Jesus taught a turnedupsidedown

worldview: improbabilities within the perception of human limitations. Jesus was remembered to

have said,

o The poor shall have God’s kingdom... o Do not worry about tomorrow, what you shall eat or drink... o Don’t judge and you won’t be judged... o Love your enemies; bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you... o Lend without expecting anything in return... o Do not try to take the splinter out of someone else’s eye before taking the plank

out of your own... o If someone wants your coat, give him your cloak also... o Don’t be afraid of those who can kill the body, but can’t kill the soul.” 16

Burton Mack, a respected Biblical scholar, reflects on these Q sayings: “Life in general is

under review and conventional values are under critique... The vision is that of those who can see

through the emptiness... Implicit in the critique is the assumption that there must be a better way

to live.” 17 Apropos to the Hellenistic influence, Jesus lived the life appropriate of the Greek

14 Ibid., 180. 15 Ibid., 186. 16 Burton L. Mack, The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins. (Harper, San Francisco New York, 1993), 7180. 17 Ibid., 111.

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Cynic and communicated a Cyniclike perspective, and one that was quite popular in the times. 18

The theme of the Cynic: “Virtue is the only good; the essence of virtue is selfcontrol, and

surrender to any external influence is beneath human dignity.” 19

Mack explains: The Q 1 document contains a “stance of social critique that was a call for

individuals to live against the stream, not a program offered for the reform of society’s ills. ...

[This critique] was scatter shot and implicit, not pointed and programmatic as if Judaism, the

priest, the Pharisees, or the Romans were to blame for the sorry state of the world. Specific social

institutions and particular cultural or religious traditions were not under attack. Natural behavior

was what counted, not a system of belief, or a piety. ... The early Jesus movement was apparently

not a reform movement.” 20

The “Q1” document, in its earliest form, provides only sayings and parables of Jesus. It

does not relate any events about Jesus’ life. The earliest documents that are available to us that

contain any information about Jesus’ life are the letters from Paul. Bart Ehrman lists what Paul

knows about Jesus.

“Paul says that Jesus was born of a woman, born a Jew, reputedly from the line of King David. He had brothers, one of whom was named James, He had twelve disciples, and conducted his ministry among Jews. He had a last meal with his disciples on the night on which he was [handed over]. Paul knows what Jesus said at his last meal. Finally, he knows that Jesus died by being crucified. He also knows of Jesus’ resurrection.” 21

Ehrman suggests that this information is so minimal that perhaps Paul didn’t know

anything about Jesus. 22 However, Paul’s letters seem to be the most trustworthy primary source

18 Ibid., 120. 19 Dictionary.com v Cynic. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cynic accessed Feb 20, 2010 20 Mack, The Lost Gospel. 129. 21 Ehrman, The New Testament, 370. 22 Ibid., 372.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cynic%20accessed%20Feb%2020

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available to historians who have searched and searched for the historical Jesus. In fact, among

this list of Paul’s “facts” about Jesus, several items have been put on the “doubtful” list. (I.e. the

“Last Supper”) In other words, by the time Paul wrote his letters, several myths about Jesus had

already become firmly established in the cult’s stories, so that even Paul’s original letters, as

early as they are, contain information that is unlikely to be factual.

Flavius Josephus, who wrote detailed accounts of historical record, provides one paragraph

of information about Jesus’ life. This deconstructed text is considered most likely accurate

historically among most scholars:

“At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of people who receive the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following among many Jews and among many of Gentile origin. And when Pilate, because of an accusation made by the leading men among us, condemned him to the cross, those who had loved him previously did not cease to do so. And up until this very day the tribe of Christians (named after him) had not died out.” 23

Concerning factual details of Jesus’ life, we have very little to rely upon. Why did Paul and

Josephus not write more? Why did the earliest religious writings, namely Q 1 say nothing about

Jesus’ biographical events? Perhaps there was nothing more to tell. Perhaps Jesus lived a very

simple life, without fanfare or huge crowds. Perhaps the scholars who have searched for the

historical Jesus have discovered all that there is to find: almost nothing that the Gospels tell us

about Jesus is historical.

Response to Jesus or Jesus’ Role in the Development of Christianity

23 Christopher Price, A Thorough Review of the Testimonium Flavianum. http://www.bede.org.uk/Josephus.htm. accessed Feb. 20, 2010.

http://www.bede.org.uk/Josephus.htm.%20accessed%20Feb.%2020

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Whatever the details of Jesus’ life, there is no doubt that his presence was powerfully

attractive. His wisdom and demeanor touched the souls of those who interacted with him. To his

followers, Jesus embodied the phenomenon of “God with us.” The experience of Jesus was life

changing and his followers recorded his sayings so that they could ponder them and remember

him. All the early Jesus people were trying “to make sense out of an experience that proclaimed,

in ecstatic language, ‘We have met God in this life of Jesus!’” 24

Anticipation of political “salvation” from Roman occupation was a national fervor and

some believed that Jesus would return to earth to establish a perfect society: the kingdom of God.

Some saw it as a strictly Jewish kingdom; others viewed their ideal kingdom as one which would

include all peoples. 25 Many, including all the Gospel writers, declared that Jesus was indeed the

Son of God. Other groups developed an idea of Jesus as a cosmic God, with a heavenly kingdom.

Considering the diversity of existing Judaic sects, it naturally followed that many sects of Jesus

followers would form over the next 30 years.

Most of these cults were guided by the Judean social vision of themselves being “a people”

with Jesus as the inspirational leader, associated with, compared to and equated with leaders

from their epic heritage. Most of them had no systematic ways to think of Jesus; they simply

were responding to what they perceived to be Jesus’ invitation to experiment with the notion of

the Kingdom of God. Their attempts to do this naturally redefined the myth of their heritage. 26

Stories about Jesus were told in the same style of the stories of the Jewish scriptures. Associating

Jesus to their epic myth enhanced Jesus’ status. Many stories of their history were not considered

to be factual: they were told in order to convey the truth about their God and the people of God.

24 Spong, The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love. (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 281. 25 Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament? 43. 26 Ibid., 73.

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This genre of story telling, called Midrashic, is wellknown in Jewish literary history. We will

return to this idea after our consideration of Paul and the Christ Cult.

Paul of Tarsus

Paul was from a Syrian province, schooled in Greek education as well as Jewish Law. A

contemporary of Jesus and a devout Jew, Paul’s emphasis on the Law of Moses drove every

effort of his life. He wrote, “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more:

circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a

Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to

righteousness under the law, blameless.” 27

The Pharisees were a religious political party, which had developed in the 2 nd Century

BCE. Historians have come to understand this group to be creative, contemporary thinkers who

had accepted some Hellenistic ideas of the Second Temple period, specifically: the resurrection

from the dead and the judgment of individuals, and apocalyptic end of times. They may have

been trying to arrive at a new interpretation of their scriptures, in light of the changing times of

the day, “in a very creative attempt to get at the true spirit of the Torah.” 28 Scholar Donald

Akenson explains that the Pharisees and the Jesus people were not dissimilar: “Both seemed to

have been engaged in an attempt to discover and honour the kernel of the Law and to meld that

discovery with the quickly emerging concepts of the resurrection of the dead and of the future

judgment.” 29 This understanding of the Pharisees brings insights about Paul’s campaign and

conversion.

27 Philippians 3: 4b6 NRSV. 28 Akenson, 197. 29 Ibid.

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Within a few years after Jesus’ death, during the exciting years of growth of the Jesus

movement, Paul joined a campaign against the Jesus people: terrorizing groups of people who

gathered to remember Jesus’ Way. Paul insisted that anyone who tried to deemphasize the

Torah should be stopped, and he engaged in fanatic activity to try to maintain the Jewish status

quo, and his world view. 30 He insisted that if people wanted to follow Jesus, a Jew, they must be

circumcised, for that was the only way God would pardon their inability to keep the Law. 31 It is

likely that the group which Paul was persecuting was the Christ Cult in particular. The Christ

Cult is assumed to have developed without Paul and was the group that attracted and intrigued

him, both fueling his desire to prosecute and at the same time, pulling him into reconsidering his

fanaticism. They were “the people Paul hated, but couldn’t resist.” 32

After a few years of zealous persecution, in as early as 34 CE, Paul had a radical

conversion. Paul said that he had seen and spoken to the resurrected Jesus whom he had

persecuted. He reversed his thinking and believed that God had chosen him to deliver the

message of salvation to the NonJewish population. Mack explains Paul’s conversion as a

logical choice: Paul learned that the Christ cult introduced the idea that it would be acceptable

not to be circumcised because in Christ our inability to follow the Mosaic Law is forgiven. Paul

could see the momentum of growth of the Jesus movement into the Gentile world. This growth

exacerbated the tension concerning circumcision. “Before the Jesus people found themselves in

the midst of a Jewish/Gentile dilemma, the Jesus people had not needed a Christ myth.” 33

Perhaps Paul’s conversion was a spiritual experience of Jesus’ presence as well as a logical

choice. Whether by Pharisaic philosophy, strategic logic or divine intervention, Paul realized that

30 John Shelby Spong, Preface to The Letters of Paul. (New York, Riverhead Books 1998.) xxiii. 31 Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament? 83. 32 Mack. Who Wrote the New Testament? 77. 33 Akenson, 104.

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it would be advantageous to the Gentiles to loosen up on a requirement of pious adherence to the

Law.

Paul’s role in the development of the Christ Cult

Paul’s conversion is reported to have taken place “not before” 34 CE and his “most

fruitful” time of his ministry began in 45 CE. 34 This allows us to assume that Paul spent time in

perhaps a study of the Scriptures, in prayer and meditation, or in dialogue with others for about

eleven years. It is very possible therefore, that the Christ Cult did not develop independent of

Paul nor that Paul developed his message independent of the Christ Cult.

Considering the practicality of time alone, it seems highly unlikely that this cult could have

developed such an elaborate system of theology, along with mottos and hymns, in such a short

time between Jesus’ death and Paul’s conversion. Rather, the Christ Cult and Paul could very

possibly have collaborated with each other. Those years could have been an apprenticeship of

sorts during which Paul “developed his theological thought, his missionary strategy and his

apostolic selfawareness” within the community of the Christ Cult. 35 Mack describes the group

as having “an exuberant spirit, which was not sustained past Paul’s lifetime.” 36 The Christ Cult,

with Paul’s enthusiasm at the helm, spread outside of the Judean homeland, carried into the west

via the Jews of the Diaspora from Galilee to Syria, Asia Minor and Greece.

How did the theology of the Christ Cult grow out of the Jesus movement? Perhaps it had a

great deal to do with the fact that a leading thinker of the movement had been a Pharisee as well

as a Greekeducated Roman citizen from Syria. Paul’s thinking was influenced not only by

34 Catholic Encyclopedia. Paul of Tarsus http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11567b.htm accessed Feb 21, 2010. 35 Martin Nengel and Anna Maria Schwemer, Paul: Between Damascus and Antioch. (Louisville, KY, Westminster Press 1997,) 12. 36 Mack. Who Wrote the New Testament? 77.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11567b.htm%20accessed%20Feb%2021

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Jewish, but also Hellenistic and Roman thinking. Recall that the focus of the era was an

experimental social environment and an apocalyptic endoftimes attitude mixed in with ideas of

good and evil, sin and salvation, martyrdom and victory. The cult’s major emphasis were two

fold and can be directly associated with contemporary thought of the times: 1) they developed a

shift in attention (compared to other Jesus followers) to bring Jesus’ sacrificial death to the

forefront. This idea incorporated the crosscultural belief in sacrifice as atonement for sin. 2)

They gathered to celebrate Jesus’ spiritual presence, with an orientation toward worship with

poetry, hymns, ritual and shared meals. 37 Their worship focused on Jesus divine presence, his

death and destiny to be savior of the world.

The myth grew from the unique, culturally blended world view of the Diaspora and the

urgent cultural need for radical social transformation. Paul attributed his teachings to the cult and

inserted one of its creeds into a letter to the church in Corinth: “For I handed on to you as of first

importance what I in turn had received: That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the

scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with

the scriptures.” 38 This carefully formulated creed uses the word “Christ” rather than “Jesus, and

is indicates an elaborate preoccupation with martyrdom and resurrection. 39 This pattern of

thinking arose from the mixture of cultures: the Greek honorable death, and the Maccabean

Martyr’s death. The idea that Jesus was a falsely charged, persecuted sage came out of old

Jewish myths such as Joseph, Esther, and Daniel as well as Greek stories from the era of

Socrates’ idea of wisdom’s child being innocent and misunderstood. Into this mix of thought

37 Ibid. 38 I Cor. 15:34 NRSV. 39 Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament? 75.

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came the Greek concepts of hero and divine man as well as Near East myths of the King as

God’s Son. 40

The community adopted mottos such as “All things are lawful.” 41 This release of a strict

adherence to the Old Law was a major evolutionary change in Paul’s consciousness, emerging

from his conversion. Imagine the possibilities: the Israel family opening up to the gentiles. He

saw the hope of prophetic fulfillment in it. By emphasizing faith in Jesus’ sacrificial crucifixion

and subsequent resurrection as a substitute for pious adherence to the Torah, Paul could share the

promise of God’s forgiveness to all people. Paul realized that no one can gain salvation from

“working the Torah,” but what really mattered, during those urgent endtimes, was to bring the

good news of the One God and salvation of Jesus Christ to all people.

Opening the faith to nonJewish people, he declared that all people are equal in the sight of

God. The essence of Paul’s teachings was the unification of all through the saving grace of Jesus

Christ. By declaring everyone equal through the power and wisdom of God, he justified the

actions that people had taken: eating meals and worshipping together and foregoing

circumcision.

The resulting Christ myth was inclusive and incredibly exciting. The myths supported the

emergence of a new, eclectic community founded not on ethnic identity but on philosophical

commonality of hope and new structures of societal living. 42 To the people of that day, these

claims provided an attractive community concept for disenfranchised people, and fueled excited

debates about a newly imagined cosmic kingdom and its implications of spiritual transformation.

40 Ibid 7981. 41 I Cor 10:23 NRSV. 42 Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament? 79.

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43 Paul’s teachings inspired the creation of a new inclusive society, where they were free of the

Law of the Torah. They claimed that the message of Jesus had greater power than the Law of

Moses. Their Kingdom of God was universal and independent of the sociopolitical milieu.

Their newly formed congregation, being part of the Kingdom of God, overrode their citizenship

in the world as an example of the life they would now emulate. This philosophy was a way of

understanding one’s place in but not of the world. 44 .

The Gospels

The Synoptic Gospels uphold many of the teachings of Paul about Jesus. The gospel

writers tried to tell the story of Jesus in the context of Jesus’ identity as a Jew who was chosen by

God as his Son. The stories describe Jesus as the suffering and crucified Son of God. 45

It is possible that the writer of Mark, the first Gospel writer, having written his story within

Paul’s lifetime, heard the messages of Paul and the Christ Cult. Certainly, Mark included

descriptions of Jesus’ life that fit with Paul’s Jesus: one whose death and resurrection are

paramount to the story. He developed Jesus into the “Messiah” who fulfills the scripture of the

Hebrew Bible, and designated Jesus as Divine, as do Paul and the Christ Cult.

But there are numerous details of Jesus’ life in Mark which Paul apparently did not know

and the Q writer did not mention.

Does the Tradition Miscarry?

Once again, we come full circle and ask: does the tradition miscarry? And once again, we

could conceive of the possibility that the biographical details of the Gospels and the cosmic

43 Ibid., 91. 44 Ibid., 96. 45 Ehrman. The New Testament, 75.

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claims of Paul are not historical. From where did Mark receive the story line about Jesus? For

centuries, historians have questioned the source of the gospel writer’s information, with no

conclusions. What gave Paul and the Christ Cult the authority to develop such an elaborate

theology around the simple life of Jesus? For centuries, Christian scholars have debated the

validity of Paul’s teachings. John Shelby Spong suggests: “How was it that people became

convinced that death could not contain Jesus? What was the experience that lay behind the

various biblical explanations of resurrection?... These are mythological details involved in

human attempts to explain an experience [of God].” 46

From the plethora of scholarly writings comes one viewpoint which seems to this writer

as having arrived at the crux of the discussion: rather than try to explain the Gospels from a post

modern viewpoint, always seeking the factual, historical perspective, Western thinkers would be

wise to view these writings from an experientialcultural ancient literary perspective. That is,

from the perspective of the ancient Jewish style of writing called the Midrashic genre.

The Jewish process ofMidrashic expansion creates a new narrative by referring to,

revising and applying old scriptural narrative. The new story becomes, therefore, deeply

entrenched in cultural context. It cannot be fully understood without reference to the underlying

text on which it forms a kind of commentary. This was a completely acceptable form of story

telling in the ancient Jewish culture. It is not a surprise that the earliest Christians, being Jews

“practiced a Misradic expansion of scripture, resulting in new narratives partaking of the

authority of the old.” 47

46 Spong, The Sins of Scripture, 281. 47 Robert M. Price, New Testament Narrative as Old Testament Midrash, http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/art_midrash1.htm Accessed March 1 2010. 1

http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/art_midrash1.htm

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Biblical scholar Robert Price explains the implications and insights gained, “Today’s

Christian reader learns what Jesus did by reading the gospels; his ancient counterpart learned

what Jesus did by reading Joshua and 1 Kings. It was not a question of memory but of creative

exegesis.” In other words, the early Christians did not have detailed information about Jesus’

life. But that didn’t matter to them. They knew the impact that Jesus had on their world, and they

used ancient mythology to help them express their experience of Him. Midrashic explanations of

the Jesus myth expose the story in a whole new light. Rather than assuming that the Gospel

writers went back into ancient scripture to find prophetic verses to justify their view of Jesus,

they used ancient scripture to help them create stories about Jesus. 48 It is entirely practical that

“early Christians began with a more or less vague savior myth and lent it color and detail by

anchoring it in a particular historical period and clothing it in scriptural garb.” 49

As the Jewish culture disintegrated, Jewish Christians built anthologies about Jesus using

references to memorable stories found everywhere in the ancient sacred story of the Jews. They,

of course, had mastered their own Jewish scriptures, and were well acquainted with the

“grammar of invention” of the Midrashic style of writing. 50 But they would also have engaged

images from Greek mystery cult and the Gnostic writers, as well as the vast written works of the

Second Temple period. 51

There are many examples. We will consider one: The story of the Last Supper is a

conglomeration of verses from Psalm 41, (the betrayer eating with his victim), Zechariah 11 (30

shekels of silver later cast out to the potter’s field), and 2 Samuel 17 (King David’s traitor

48 Ibid., 2. 49 Ibid. referencing Earl Doherty, The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? Ottawa: Canadian Humanist Publications, 1999. 50 Akenson, 223. 51 Ibid.

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hanged himself). Later, in the Garden, a story inspired by 2 Samuel 1516, has the disciples

scattering, which is a reference to Zechariah 13. And Peter swears that he will not leave Jesus’

side comes straight out of 2 Kings 2, where Elisha avows not to leave Elisha.

These references are allusions to early mythology: myth created from myth. The

examples continue: The cleansing of the Temple comes out of Malachi, Isaiah, Jeremiah and

Zechariah. Jesus walking on the water is derived not only from Psalms and Job, but also from

Old King Priam in Homer’s Iliad, which Mark had most likely read or heard of. The

multiplication of the loaves and fishes is also inspired by the Odyssey as well as Elisha’s story in

2 Kings. Homer’s stories seem to be the basis for other Christian myths including John the

Baptist’s martyrdom and blind Bartimeaus. Egyptian mythology of Isis and Osiris comes into

Mark’s story of the woman who anointed Jesus with oil. 52

These assertions might be overwhelming to the Western believer who had accepted the

Gospels as Truth, and to the Western historian who has been seeking factual confirmation of

Jesus life. But this Midrashic construction of the stories of Jesus was commonly accepted in the

times in which they were written.

Mark’s gospel might also be structured not on the timeframe of Jesus’ life, but rather on

the Jewish liturgical calendar. John Spong writes: “...the Jewish liturgical calendar, far more

than history or the memory of eyewitnesses, had determined both the shape and much of the

content of the Gospels.” 53

The Midrashic principle allows stories to be retold because “the reality of God revealed

in those moments was like the reality of God known in the past... Jews filtered every new

52 Robert M. Price, New Testament Narrative as Old Testament Midrash. 1 53 John Shelby Spong, Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes. (New York: Harper San Fransisco 1996), Preface p. x.

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experience through the corporate remembered history of their people, as ... recorded in the

Hebrew scriptures of the past.” 54

As we know, the Christian history has torn itself away from Jewish identity and over the

past two thousand years has read these documents solely through nonJewish eyes. “We will

never understand the Gospels until we learn how to read them as Jewish books. They are written

in a style that most of us do not begin even now to comprehend. This style is not concerned with

historic accuracy. It is concerned with meaning and understanding.” 55

Considering the extravagant claims of the Christ Cult, 56 one can also recognize the

literary license inspired byMidrashic writing. From Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we see an

extravagant claim, illogical and unfounded, to the Western thinker, but acceptable to the writing

style of the period:

“who though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, begin born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 57

This passage points out the cult’s belief that Jesus was humble, then exalted by God, introducing

the notion of the servant leader, using the Midrashic tradition of applying the scriptures by

calling up concepts found in Isaiah 53, which any good Jew would know: “Surely he has bourne

our grief’s ... wounded for our transgressions... yet he did not open his mouth, like a lamb that is

taken to the slaughter...” Jesus is portrayed as the faithful martyr and is also portrayed as

54 Ibid., 37. 55 Spong, Liberating the Gospels, 36. 56 Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament? 77 57 Philippians 2:611

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Wisdom’s child rescued from powers that imprisoned it. It shows the romanticism of the ideal

king as well as a Gnostic belief of the cosmic god. 58 This picture of Jesus appealed to all

cultures of the times of the early church. It provided a dynamic symbol of hope for the people in

a time of uncertainty.

Evolution of Consciousness:

In this focus on the evolution of consciousness reflected in the Bible, we will use the tool

of Spiral Dynamics to refer to levels of consciousness. The levels are labeled in colors, for

convenience, which will be described within the following paragraphs.

Whenever we study the Bible, it is is imperative that we consider it in light of the

consciousness of the times during which it was written. It is also helpful for us to apply the same

lens when looking at the development of Christianity over the centuries. We can better

understand the stories and theology of the Christian Bible by being aware of the style of writing

and the consciousness of the creative and evolving culture in which it was written. In that

context, the writings of the Christian Bible were hopeful, comforting and exciting. They spoke to

the issues of that day and served to explain the experience of God at that level of consciousness.

The later Hebrew writings and Christian Bibles were written at a period of time when

human consciousness focused on loyalty, virtue and social norms. Spiral Dynamics calls it the

Blue Meme. When their world was in chaos, Jesus’ words were extremely inspiring and very

enlightening, far more transcendent than the prevalent consciousness of the time, thus difficult to

58 Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament? 91.

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understand and assimilate into their thinking. The people were able to make abstractions, but

they tended to attach them to a cause. 59

Seeking to settle into a more stable pattern of living, (typical of Spiral Dynamics’ Blue

Consciousness) 60 they felt a sense of security in anchoring themselves into a dogmatic, creed

driven theology, rather than Jesus’ idiomatic openended suggestions. Consequently, they

constructed theories and images through the myth of the Christ Cult and the stories of the

Gospels to remind them of their experience of Jesus, while providing a concrete “do the right

thing” philosophy of living. Within a couple of centuries, the scriptures of this consciousness

were adopted by the Orthodox Church and dominated Christian thinking for centuries to come.

Biblical historians and archeologists arose in the 18 th Century, the Age of Enlightenment

(Spiral Dynamics “Orange consciousness”), 61 raising questions about the historical Jesus. Did

Jesus really exist? People of this consciousness are driven to grow through strategy. 62 What’s

important is the “bottom line.”’ They naturally engaged in research and forums to discuss the

historical validity of Jesus and Christianity. This era also produced many Christian sects,

including New Thought, which were unwilling to accept a literal interpretation of the Bible, yet

unwilling to disassociate from the Bible. They chose to interpret it metaphysically, thus

satisfying their lingering desire for prescriptive formality while engaging their more evolved

desires for individuality, advancement, improvement and progress. 63 The very question: “Does

the tradition miscarry?” is a consequence of the consciousness of the Age of Enlightenment.

59 Jessica Roermischer, “The NeverEnding Upward Quest: an interview with Don Beck” What is Enlightenment? Fall/Winter 2002. 13. 60 Ibid. 61 Ibid. 62 Spiritual Self. http://www.spiritualself.com/spiritualintelligence.html. accessed Feb. 23, 2010 63 Jessica Roermischer, “The NeverEnding Upward Quest,” 14.

http://www.spiritual-self.com/spiritual-intelligence.html.%20accessed%20Feb.%2023

23

Centuries since Jesus, the western world has exhausted a religion based on treatment of the

ancient scriptures as static documents. Our refusal to remember the Jewish, Hellenistic and

Roman thinking and mythic style of expression has caused our struggle with them. We moved

into a quest for an historical Jesus which yielded volumes of information, but little satisfaction

and few kernels of evidence. Benefitting from clarity of documentation resulting from historians

and archaeologists, we can now return to Jesus’ teachings before they were modified.

As Western society continues to evolve, it subsumes the earlier values and expands its

thinking into a more egalitarian social consciousness. (Spiral Dynamics’ Green, which currently

represents perhaps 40% of the American population.) Green consciousness, which emerged to

prominent visibility in the 1980’s, is highly motivated to accomplish community and

participation through sharing. There is an emphasis on quest for emotional wellbeing. For some

at this level of consciousness, political and social action is the motivator, and since the Bible is

not politically correct, they want nothing to do with it. Others focus on processing feelings, and

use the Bible to process and express emotions: What does this passage mean to my life? How

does it make me feel? Some students, having discovered that the Bible is not historical and it is

most likely myth, a natural reaction is disillusionment, skepticism or agnosticism. “Does the

tradition miscarry?” is answered with “Who cares.” Instead of trying to answer it, Bible students

put the book on the shelf.

Human consciousness is now evolving beyond “green,” taking a leap into a second tier of

consciousness. At this point in human development, we it might want to reconsider Jesus’

teachings, since Jesus viewed the world from atop this second tier: through highly enlightened

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transcendent lenses. His ideas will be better understood by those whose desire is to integrate

awareness (Yellow) and contribute to the collective wisdom. (Turquoise) 64

Reviewing Jesus words, it is clear that they were deeply spiritual reflections on the

situation of all human levels of being; that they answer the paradox of any culture with wise,

ageless statements that inspire all levels of consciousness, engaging the human mind with new,

always fresh paradoxes. They are transcendent, inclusive and holistic. Evolutionary Theologian

John Haught asks, “In those biblical days, a wave of hope just swept over the ancient world, and

if we are going to take the New Testament seriously, why shouldn’t we transplant that renewal

mentality into our own age?” 65

In today’s Unity movement, we are calling people to stretch into a holistic “Yellow”

consciousness of tolerance, to integrate the flow of information, to see the big picture, to accept

chaos and change as indicators of healthy planetary and spiritual growth. We are beginning to

tolerate all past interpretations of God as “right” to the people of that time, while realizing that

efforts to conform to past structures of theology are futile today. Our focus now is to see Jesus in

terms of what he can teach us for today’s issues, regardless of whether or not he lived or what

happened during his life. With today’s understandings and deeper spiritual viewpoint, we can see

the Christian story as “ultimately a story of the future, a subtle spiritual whisper that calls out to

us from both the depth of biblical revelation and the heart of the cosmos itself, suggesting that

what goes on in this world may be connected in some small way to the evolutionary destiny of

the universe.” 66

64 Spiritual Self. http://www.spiritualself.com/spiritualintelligence.html. Accessed March 1, 2010. 65 Carter Phipps, “A Theologian of Renewal.” EnlightenNext, December 2008 http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j42/haught.asp?page=2. Accessed March 2, 2010 66 Carter Phipps, “A Theologian of Renewal.” EnlightenNext, December 2008

http://www.spiritual-self.com/spiritual-intelligence.html.%20Accessed%20March%201http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j42/haught.asp?page=2

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Knowing we are interconnected and knowing that we can affect our destiny through our

deliberate choices, we can embrace Jesus call to live with beauty and love: “Don’t judge and

you won’t be judged. For the standard you use (for judging) will be the standard used against

you.... Love your enemies; bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you... Lend

without expecting anything in return...”We can understand that he was describing a vision that

affirms oneness: unity of the Divine and all of creation.

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Bibliography

Akenson, Donald Harman. Surpassing Wonder: The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Borg, Marcus J. Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously but not Literally. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.

Chopra, Deepak. Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment. New York: HarperCollins, 2008

—.The Third Jesus: The Christ We Connot Ignore. New York: Random House, 2008.

Ehrman, Bart D. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.

—. The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Funk, Robert W. and Roy W. Hoover. The Five Gospels: the Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993.

Mack, Burton L. The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins. New York: Harper San Francisco, 1993.

—. Who Wrote the New Testament?: The Making of the Christian Myth. New York: HarperCollins, 1995.

Phipps,Carter. “A Theologian of Renewal.” EnlightenNext, December 2008. http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j42/haught.asp?page=3. Accessed March 2, 2010.

Price, Robert M. “New Testament Narrative as Old Testament Midrash” http://www.robertmprice.mindvendor.com/art_midrash1.htm Accessed March 1 2010. 1

Roermischer, Jessica, “The NeverEnding Upward Quest: an interview with Dr. Don Beck,” What is Enlightenment? Fall/Winter 2002.

Sanders, E.P. Paul: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Spiritual Self. http://www.spiritualself.com/spiritualintelligence.html.

http://www.enlightennext.org/magazine/j42/haught.asp?page=3

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Spong, John Shelby. Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes. New York: Harper San Fransisco, 1996.

—. Preface to The Letters of Paul. New York: Riverhead Books, 1998.

—. The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love. New York: HarperCoillins, 2005.

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