Jesus Mortal |
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Mary of Magdala Jesus scandalized his conservative critics by, among other things, fraternizing with women. Women followed Jesus and some of them supported his ministry out of their personal funds. Apparently they appreciated his message of spiritual liberty from the bonds of family and domestic duty. All four canonical gospels name Mary of Magdala as one of these women. The gospels say so little about her that early Christian writers were free to make up all manner of outlandish stories about her, a profitable practice that continues to this day. You can’t even be sure that Mary of Magdala existed, per se. Maybe there was a woman a lot like the one described in the Bible but from a different city and the reference to Magdala is an error in transmission. Or maybe there was a Mary of Magdala, a disciple of Jesus, but she was someone else, and her name was accidentally attached to the women who appears in the gospels. Or the stories about Mary might be the conflation to the stories of two different women. Whatever her name, however, there must have been some woman who was closer than any other to the master.
Resurrection appearances One might well identify the beginning of Christianity as the resurrection appearances his followers experienced after he died. Bart Ehrman suggests that Mary may have been the first to have such a vision and that, in this respect, she was virtually the founder of Christianity. Historians don’t take Jesus’ resurrection appearances as history, but they generally accept that some of Jesus followers had a profound sense or vision of their executed lord still alive. The various accounts of Jesus’ empty tomb and his appearances to his followers look like a case of “me, too.” Once Mary (or someone) claimed to have such a vision, the other disciples faced a tough choice regarding how they could retain their authority over the memory and ministry of Jesus: repudiate the claim or embrace it. For Mary to have claimed a special vision of the risen lord would have put her in an exalted position, and the other disciples either had to discount her experience or claim that same experience for themselves. They took the latter course, and the accounts of resurrection appearances multiplied until the first account was just one of many. The Jesus Seminar concluded that Mary, Peter, and Paul experienced Jesus as the risen lord, though the elaborate scenes of Jesus appearing to disciples, phasing through closed doors, and eating food are inventions.
Sex It doesn’t look as though Jesus was married. There are references to his brothers, sisters, mother, and father in the gospels. His brother James was practically the high priest of the Jewish Christians after Jesus’ death. His other kinsman seem to have held positions of authority in the congregations near Jerusalem. In all this, there’s no mention of a wife. Furthermore, there’s no tell-tale denial that he had a wife, something that scholars could take as evidence he’d had one (why else deny it?). Perhaps when Jesus said that some have made themselves eunuchs for God, he was talking about himself giving up sex. Perhaps. Does the young, unmarried, charismatic prophet, healer, and exorcist get laid? Does he end up in bed with a female disciple, maybe the one to whom he is most attached? When he’s off somewhere on his own to pray and he meets a groupie who begs the master to lay on hands and help her with a wicked spirit that makes her have all sorts of unseemly thoughts, does he give her what she is looking for? If this powerful man is ascetic, renouncing the flesh, and denouncing woman as the portal of evil and temptation, then maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he keeps the woman at bay and temptation with her. But what if he’s a notorious glutton and drunk? What if he’s abandoned the ascetic ways of his former mentor, the ascetic holy man of the desert? What if now he lives in town, drinks wine, hangs out with sinners, and accepts women at his table? Jesus sounds like the sort of religious leader that would get some action. That said, neither Mary nor any other woman was likely a close companion on Jesus’ travels. If Jesus had had such a consort, his enemies would have made some sort of scandal of it, like they did with his eating, drinking, and consorting with the wicked. And the idea that Jesus’ left a royal bloodline is too good to be true.
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contents 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
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