Work in Progress:

Jesus Mortal

jesusstatue

bishop

Greek orthodox and Roman catholic bishops trace their lines back to bishops purportedly installed by the apostles themselves (apostolic succession). According to Matthew, Jesus conferred heavenly authority on these apostles, and the bishops claim that authority for themselves. Christian bishops are unique among religious leaders for the authority they have wielded, not only over doctrine and morals but in worldly affairs as well. From the mid-100s to the 1500s, the Christian churches were universally led by bishops. A bishop has monarchical authority over his territory, and the bishops of more powerful cities are more powerful themselves. The east-west schism was partly a power struggle between the Latin bishop of old Rome (the pope) and the Greek bishop of new Rome, Constantinople. Bishops, as a group, claim authority over the church, and they wear outlandish outfits to display their status. The church councils of the 300s and 400s, which defined orthodox Christian doctrine, were primarily the work of bishops. In the west from the 1200s to the 1400s, bishops even made a play for authority over the pope, but the pope won out. Some Protestant churches have church leaders called bishops, but they’re not bishops in the traditional sense. Bishops look to scripture to back up their claims to spiritual supremacy, but the “bishops” (superintendents) in the new testament are the same thing as “priests” (presbyters, elders), not the priests’ bosses.

Originally, bishops and priests were two words for the same thing. The words meant “overseers” and “elders,” referring to the senior, leading members of a congregation. They were helped by the deacons (servants). In the 100s, however, bishops and priests split into two levels, with monarchical bishops ruling over numbers of priests. In the heresy wars of the 100s, it was really handy to have a single bishop for an area, someone who could claim apostolic authority and lay down the law.

One might take bishops as the opposite of Jesus. Jesus was poor, autonomous, itinerant, charismatic, and defiant of social expectations. Bishops have been wealthy, hierarchical, territorial, ritualistic, and worldly. Jesus’ authority was his wisdom, but the bishop’s authority is his ecclesiastical status. The bishops enforce doctrinal compliance to creeds that Jesus wouldn’t recognize. He said the last shall be first, whereas the bishops are happy for the first (themselves) to retain that position. Jesus said not to call spiritual authorities “father,” but the bishops decided that they liked the sound of the word. The bishop is a fine symbol for everything un-Jesus-like about Christianity.

 

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table of contents you're already looking at it

introduction for the inquisitive reader

biographical overview who he was and wasn't

 

afterlife not Jesus' concern

animal sacrifice bloodless religion

apocalypse did Jesus preach hellfire?

baptism sin wash for Jesus and others

beatitudes Jesus' words and others' words

beloved disciple witness for the un-gospel

bible scripture old and new

bishop the unjesus

body focus on the physical

Buddha Jesus' close kin

charity key Christian virtue and legacy of Jesus

The Da Vinci Code secret (and false) messages

divorce women's status

dreams convenient literary device

Elijah Jewish prophet with his own second coming

equality ancient source of modern egalitarianism

exorcist Jesus and demons

failure reinterpreting Jesus as a failure

faith from trust to blind belief

father Jesus on titles of honor

Francis of Assisi the most Christlike Christian

Gandhi the 20th century's most Christly holy man

Galilee Jesus' inauspicious homeland

gentiles Jesus' inadvertent audience

god how Jesus became god

golden rule key to Jesus' success

gospels competing accounts

heaven from sky to spiritual home

hell revenge fantasy

humanism Jesus' legacy

inerrant Christian treatment of scripture

Thomas Jefferson ethics of Jesus

Jewish guilt Christian libel

John's gospel the un-gospel

John the baptist, see John the washer

John the washer Jesus' apocalyptic mentor

Judaism libeled religion of Jesus

kingdom of god what Jesus promised

Lao Tzu poet of the cosmic way

logos jesus as the word of god

C. S. Lewis famous, flawed trilemma

little drummer boy Luke beats Matthew

logos Jesus as the divine word

LORD Yahweh transitioning to the one god of all

Luke's gospel the all-around best gospel

Mark's gospel the gospel that lost its point

Mary of Magdala women, visions, and sex

massacre of the innocents bloodshed starts early

Matthew's gospel best gospel for church reading

Mormon, see Joseph Smith

Moses Jewish lawgiver

Muhammad a prophet who got it right

mystery Orpheus and transubstantiation

oppression origin of Jesus' compassion

The Passion of the Christ Luke as buzzkill

Paul revealer of the revealer

private and public public Jesus and secret Christ

relativism the secret power of the golden rule

sacrifice Jesus' death and Christian sacrament

Albert Schweitzer Jesus as a failure

sheol dark pit of death

show Jesus' deeds as put-ons

slavery abolished by Jesus' efforts

Joseph Smith flesh-and-blood Jesus

Socrates secular Jesus

son of god on close terms with the man upstairs

soul, see body

synoptics three gospels that agree

temple center of Jewish religion

trinity unifying and divisive doctrinre

vision, see dreams

Yahweh, see LORD

Zoroaster Persian dualistic holy man