Secular Frontier

I am coming to the end of the anthology on and by Philosopher John Caputo. The key emphasis seems to be beyond substitutionary atonement to focus on loving widow, orphan. stranger and enemy as more important than self, and so in Luke-Acts Jesus and Stephen not only end their wrongful deaths with prayers for themselves ... Religion and Phenomenology with Buckley and Caputo

We often wonder to what extent punishment is vengeance rather than justice.  Glazebrook suggests Yet punishment cannot undo harm. A jail sentence does not unrape the victim. A better world is not one wherein all crimes are paid for, but one in which harm-generating activities like crime are no longer one’s best option. The impossible, ... Caputo and Glazebrook on Trying to Appease God’s Wrath vs Focus on Love of Undesirables

I’m continuing my reading of the Caputo anthology Cross and Khora, which is the first book in the Postmodernism and Ethics series that was left unfinished after David Goicoechea died. The deconstructive reading points to a context without privileging that context vs others.  So, you may read in an “author intention” context, trying to get ... Caputo and Huntington on the Economy of Religion

As I’ve noted previously, traditionally, such as in the Gorgias, the Greeks saw Being as presence, and so we see houseness is “present” with the house.  But Derrida’s point is that presence is not just in itself, but is qualified (e.g., “merely present”).  Moreover, Being is going to presence according to various degrees of Beauty, ... Plato, Aristotle, Heidegger and Derrida with the Postmodernism in Différance

I have been working on this long series of the Caputo postmodern religious anthology Cross and Khora. Today, let’s begin with the holy atheist, Have you ever wondered about all the potential mates you’ve had in your life why they thought you were great but didn’t love you back.  Clearly, you can’t will yourself to ... The Holy Atheist: John Caputo and the Dark Night of the Soul

Kearney notes “The experience of God,” writes Caputo, “is to ‘see’ the hand of God in the course of things . . . to find a loving hand, a providential care where others see chance, so that when things happen they happen as a gift, not fortuitously but gratuitously . . . the gift is ... Caputo with the Experience of God and Science.

Goicoechea (Key passages) The key is to be altruistic toward widow, orphan, stranger, and enemy as more important than yourself. But serving and suffering for each other is fraught with a symmetry that excludes the other: Judas, the Pharisees, and the Romans are not loved until they repent and enter the kingdom of love. But ... (2/2) All Killer No Filler: Caputo Responds to Goicoechea and Hart

Caputo agrees with Sanders that the cross as a message about service no matter what: When Sanders goes on to say so very nicely that “the cross as a sacrifice is Jesus’s determination to live his life in the service of God come hell or high water or, in his case, Roman executioners,” I would ... All Killer No Filler: Caputo Responds to Sanders About the Meaning of Good Friday

The Catholic liturgy held on Good Friday can seem puzzling if not positively repellent. Norms for the liturgy stipulate that during that day’s worship service a cross be displayed and that the priest and congregation “make a simple genuflection or perform some other sign of reverence according to local custom, for example, kissing the cross.” ... (2/2) Analysis of Theresa Sanders’ essay Festivals of Holy Pain: In the Wake of Good Friday

Sanders analyzes Paul’s cross of Christ not as a substitutionary atonement payment but akin to the near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. Paul does indeed use the language of the priestly temple sacrifice to explain the meaning of the death of Jesus. And yet I see no sense in his writings that sacrifice has anything ... Analysis of Theresa Sanders’ essay Festivals of Holy Pain: In the Wake of Good Friday

To end this mini-series, I’d like to talk a bit about Jesus and Philosophy. In the previous posts I looked at atonement vs forgiveness with Plato and Aristotle, and here I will think more generally with Jesus as a Philosopher in Mark. If Walsh’s thesis is correct, then the Gospels arose out of networks of ... APPENDIX: The Weakness of God and the Iconic Logic of the Cross by John Caputo – Jesus as Ancient Philosopher

Last Time: (1/2) Analysis: The Weakness of God and the Iconic Logic of the Cross by John Caputo I practice astrology; voodoo; am a Pentecostal snake handler; an evangelical fundamentalist; Baptist; Catholic; etc.  As baffling as it may seem, many people treat their pet superstitions as a badge of courage and normalcy, just look at ... (2/2) Analysis: The Weakness of God and the Iconic Logic of the Cross by John Caputo

LAST TIME: New Blog Series – Cross and Khôra: Deconstruction and Christianity in the Work of John D. Caputo (Postmodern Ethics Book 1) In looking at the first half of Caputo’s opening essay, we are introduced to the idea of a cross that goes beyond substitutionary atonement.  He writes: But, as E. P. Sanders has ... (1/2) Analysis: The Weakness of God and the Iconic Logic of the Cross by John Caputo

From the Blurb: This volume poses the question of the relationship between the two main influences on the thought of John D. Caputo, one of the most well-known philosophers of religion working in North America today: Jacques Derrida and Jesus Christ. Given the seemingly abstract character of Derrida’s account of the messianic, how can one ... New Blog Series – Cross and Khôra: Deconstruction and Christianity in the Work of John D. Caputo (Postmodern Ethics Book 1)

It’s interesting Paul wants a reconciliation of the various factions in 1 Corinthians, and yet singles out the super apostles in 2 Corinthians as teaching another Christ and another Gospel. One solution may be that the various groups in 1 Corinthians were teaching a post cross-resurrection faith, whereas the super apostles were purists who taught ... Cafeteria Christians (2/2)

As I mentioned with the Ehrman/Goicoechea posts, one of the great problems the apostle Paul had was he was not reconciled to the other Christ factions. Paul appeals for unity and reports what he has heard about the quarrels: “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ... Cafeteria Christians

Do you know what these people have in common: The widow of Zarephath’s son The Shunammite woman’s son An unnamed man — After Elisha’s death and burial, some men burying another body threw the corpse into Elisha’s tomb to escape raiders. When it touched Elisha’s bones, the man came back to life and stood up ... (3/3) My Third and Final Easter Weekend Post.

Jesus said to sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you would be judged by how you treat the destitute. We are pretty confident he said this because it goes against the bias of the gospels to promote salvation through the cross/resurrection. He said to love your enemies, and he ... Secularism and the Meaning of Easter

Some time ago in my Nina Livesey essays I wrote about Detering and Price placing the abomination of desolation reference to the time of Bar Kokhba in the second century (a pagan statue erected in a Jewish holy site) – providing a late date for the Gospels.  Vridar has extended the commenter list who make ... The High Holy Days: Have a Happy Secular Good Friday and Easter!

PREVIOUSLY: EHRMAN / GOICOECHEA BLOG SERIES LANDING PAGE For the most part, in this series I have left alone the second half of Ehrman’s book and Goicoechea’s last chapter on Paul, so if the reader is interested those are the places to go next. Here is Jacon Berman of History Valley Podcast interviewing Ehrman on ... APPENDIX: Ehrman / Goicoechea Series: Jacob Berman Interviews Ehrman on “Love Thy Stranger”

This blog series looks at Bart Ehrman and David Goicoechea on the central concept of Agape (love/self-sacrifice/altruism), typified by Jesus dying to save his enemies. The Posts: Bart Ehrman on the Absence of Atonement in Luke-Acts Ehrman on Jesus’ Revolutionary Ethics Bart Ehrman and did Jesus Found Modern Morality? New Blog Series: A New Christian ... (BLOG SERIES INDEX) Agape: Bart Ehrman and David Goicoechea in Conversation

Ehrman notes the peculiarity of Luke-Acts is that it does not have the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, but rather repentance and forgiveness (e.g., the soldier at the cross declares Jesus innocent; The destruction of the temple is seen as God’s punishment for the Jewish elite orchestrating Jesus’ death; etc.).  Ehrman figures Mark has substitutionary atonement ... (Blog Series Conclusion) The Servant Model: A Contrite Heart Pays What a Sacrifice Cannot with Ehrman and Goicoechea

In Galatians 5:13–15 Paul writes: My brothers, you were called, as you know, to liberty, but be careful, or this liberty will provide an opening for self indulgence. Serve one another, rather, in works of love, since the whole of the Law is summarized in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself. So, the ... Goicoechea (Paul) and Ehrman (Gospels) on the path to the Kingdom of God

Goicoechea introduces the concept of reconciliation as one of Paul’s key concept that is worked out also in his own life with the other competing Christ factions of his day, So Paul’s task is to love his enemies, Cephas and Apollos, and yet to contest them at the same time in the spirit of love.  ... Goicoechea on Reconciliation and Ehrman’s Egoistic Jesus

Goicoechea’s Lukan Jesus and his Universalism will frustrate substitutionary atonement and should, as such philosophy entails the absurdity that if Hitler converted on his deathbed he gains paradise, whereas if a good and noble atheist is unable to find faith after a lifetime of trying (you can’t force yourself to believe any more than you ... Goicoechea and Ehrman on Jesus and the Kingdom

Ehrman draws a helpful distinction between the traditional view of Jesus dying on the cross as atonement vs the forgiving dying Jesus and Stephen of Luke-Acts where no payment to God is needed or implied. The argument is the historical Jesus taught forgiveness, and his disciples changed the message to atonement when they thought they ... Ehrman on Atonement vs Forgiveness

(An AI representation of the donkey-carrot idiom) As I noted, Ehrman argues that much of what we understand as an altruistic society reflects Jesus’ ethical innovations and how his followers spread a watered-down version of them throughout the Roman empire: Prior to the spread of Christianity, there were no public hospitals in the Roman world; ... Ehrman and Goicoechea on Love and Feeling

Ehrman argues love in the Greco-Roman world was directed at those who were close to you either socially or biologically.  In the Hebrew bible it is commanded toward one’s fellow Israelite, even if they are strangers to you.  This need not include an emotional component, though it could, and refers to an action of treating ... Ehrman on the Historical Consequences of Jesus’ Radical Innovations in Ethics

Scholars tend to think Jesus’ saying to the rich young man to sell his possessions and give them to the poor goes back to the historical Jesus because it is an impediment to evangelizing for obvious reasons (who would want to follow it?) and it contradicts the evangelists’ message that getting right with God comes ... Ehrman and Goicoechea on the Christian Ethical Innovation of Dying to Save One’s Enemy

The Stoic and Epicurean thinker inherited the notion of Eudaimonia from Aristotle, that we should pursue that which will result in happiness/contentment/satisfaction in life. Ehrman argues The Epicurean Solution: Go Wholesome, not Wild▪Friends▪Good food and drink▪Reading and thoughtful contemplation▪Meaningful conversation▪Avoidance of stress▪Small community▪Apart from the world outside On the other hand, Ehrman says Stoics said: ... Ehrman on Ethics before Jesus