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Can
Jesus Survive the New Millenium? Christianity, as we all know and love-or-hate it, may be pretty much doomed. Church attendance within most denominations is at an all-time low. Among Catholics, so few novitiates are stepping up to take the vows that the church is suffering a severe shortage of priests and nuns. The calm logic of Science has cast clear doubt on the fairy-tale myths of 7-day creation and virgin births. Many active practitioners openly admit they no longer believe half the stuff they read in their scriptures or recited in their liturgies. There are even a growing number of Christian priests and ministers who preach that Jesus, while still ranking as an undeniably good soul and a damn fine speaker, may not technically have been God after all. The question then is this: Will anyone still be practicing Christianity a thousand years from now, or even a hundred? And if anyone does, will it look anything like the Christianity being practiced today? Among other thins, this article discusses the Jesus Seminar's goal to determine through debate and discussion whether or not Jesus can be saved, and to develop an agenda for a full-scale, back-to-the-blueprints reinvention of Christianity. Days
of the Martyrs An overview of the development of Christianity from the early days of Jesus when Christians were few in numbers to the ultimate triumph of Christianity under the Roman emperor Constantine who converted to Christianity as a result of a stunning military victory that he attributed to a miraculous vision from the Christian God. Among other things, the article discusses the two hubs of early Christian power: Rome and Jerusalem; the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the persecution of Christians for hundreds of years, the various controversies and challenges to erupted within Christianity over the years, and how the fledging faith eventually became the dominant religious force in the Roman empire -- and beyond. The
Search for the Real Jesus Christianity
is the largest religious movement ever known, claiming at least 1.7
billion followers around the globe. In hundreds of languages around
the world, believers proclaim their faith in the man known to history
as Jesus of Nazareth and to the church as Jesus Christ (Greek for Jesus
the Anointed One). But just who was he? This article traces the many
different ideas concerning who Jesus was (and is) from early Chrisitianity
through the Gnostics, Arius of Alexandria, Nestorius, the Council of
Chalcedon, Martin Luther and the 16th-century Protestant Reformation,
Hermann Samuel Reimarus, several 19th century German Protestant and
French Catholic writers, Friedrich Schleiermacher, David Friedrich Strauss,
Joseph Ernst Renan, Albert Schweitzer, Rudolf Bultmann, to the Jesus
Seminar and today's well-known scholars, including Robert W. Funk (the
Seminar's founder), John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, Jams R. Edwards,
Luke Timothy Johnson, John Shelby Spong, and John P. Meier. The article
also summarizes the Jesus Seminar's current views concerning Jesus and
presents the counter-viewpoints of theologically conservative, or traditional
critics of the Jesus Seminar who dismiss the group's conclusions "as
the misguided rantings of secular humanists." Jerusalem
At the Time of Jesus An overview of what scholars presently believe Jersualem was like during the time of Jesus. Includes a descriptions of Jerusalem as "a great, great metropolitan area" and home to the lavishly restored Jewish Temple, a world-renowned wonder; estimates that during the great festivals (Passover, Succoth and Shavuoth), during which Jews were obligated to make sacrifices at the Temple, between 100,000 and 250,000 visitors would stream down the long city thoroughfare; describes Herod the Great Herod as one of ancient history's extraordinary figures: married ten times, Herod was a serious drinker and a half-Jew who was half-trusted by his subjects, he played the superpower politics of his day consummately, he killed thousands of Jerusalemites in the streets while taking power, he ordered up huge forts, palaces and indeed whole cities throughout Judea, he created an artificial harbor at Caesarea Maritima that lasted 600 years, and the jewel in his crown, the spiritual, economic and social center of Judea and an icon to Jews throughout the region, was the Temple. It was his bid to rival Solomon, biblical builder of the Jews' first great house of worship, which had been razed by the Babylonians some 570 years earlier. The article also discusses the many Jewish rebellions that occurred in Jeruselam and describes how the Temple was a formidable economic engine; how there were stark boundaries between the rich and the poor; how although only 2 million of the ancient world's 5 million Jews lived in Judea, all were expected to pay a yearly half-shekel Temple tax; what may have motivated Caiaphas, the high priest from A.D. 18 to A.D. 36, to have Jesus killed; and what the languages, culture, and day-to-day lifestyles were like at this time period in Jerusalem's history. The article also discusses how the path of the Via Dolorosa, the Stations of the Cross, through the Old City of Jerusalem is almost certainly inaccurate -- it follows a 14th century grid of the city rather than a 1st century plan, and probably reflects the desire of 14th century merchants along the way to get pilgrims' business. But the hill of Golgotha (a.k.a. Calvary) and Jesus' burial cave, both located by tradition in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher, are a different matter. The
Days of Jesus During the past four decades, spectacular discoveries have produced a wealth of data illuminating the story of Jesus and the birth of Christianity. The picture that has emerged overall closely matches the historical backdrop of the Gospels. Included in the article:The skeletal remains of a crucified man in a burial cave at Giva'at ha-Mitvar, near the Nablus road outside of Jerusalem; a hidden burial chamber dating to the first century A.D. that experts believe contains the remains of Caiaphas, the high priest of Jerusalem, who according to the Gospels ordered the arrest of Jesus, interrogated him, and handed him over to Pontius Pilate for execution; and a first-century inscription that indicates Pilate had been the Roman ruler of the region at the time of Jesus's crucifixion. The
Year One A sweeping overview of life in the Roman empire during the time of Jesus. Writes Lewis Lord, the author, "The people of the Year One shared concerns that exist today -- child rearing, social behavior, faith -- but did so in ways now impossible to understand. Historian John Evans tells his first-year students at the University of Minnesota they would find it easier to 'deal with a star-faring race that showed up from Betelgeuse than to cross the divides of time and space and deal with the Romans on their own terms.'" Among other things, the article discusses the god-like influence the emperor Augustus exerted; how beneath the grandeur of empire lay a decaying social system peopled overwhelmingly by the poor and the left out which was how Christianity, offering hope in a hopeless world, would take root, grow, and eventually flower; how the Roman empire was dominated by extraordinary brutality, which included men and women being fed to beasts as people of all classes shrilled their delight and infants being tossed into the village dung heap for being female, sick, or a surplus mouth to feed; the gulf between the rich and the poor; the day-to-day lifestyles, struggles and controversies of Roman citizens; how Romans viewed love and romance and how Augustus encouraged family values while he, and his family, lived scandalous lives; how the Roman Games influenced and dominated Roman society; and how all these forces contributed to the collapse of Rome some five centuries later. Interview
With Peter Jennings Is
The Tomb Of Jesus Really The Tomb Of Jesus? For
more than 1,600 years, a site in the Old City of Jerusalem has been
venerated as the tomb of Christ. But scholars have had their doubts.
Now, a British archaeologist has completed a 10-year survey of the site
-- and concluded that it probably is what pilgrims have long believed.
"There is no other place which has as good a claim. Indeed, there
is no other place which has a good claim," argues Martin Biddle
of Oxford University. "Whom
Do Men Say That I Am?" This article, originally published in Atlantic Monthly, is long but well-worth reading. The author is a Christian layman who acquired a passion for Jesus scholarship. He says, "Whether I have been reading a book by Bornkamm, Hans Conzelmann, or Joachim Jeremias...I have had the sense of being hot on the trail of a profoundly important historical person." He provides a history of this scholarship, beginning with Reimarus in 1774 and extending up to the time of the article, 1986. He also includess some nice interviews, with German scholar Hans Kung, Dutch scholar Edward Schillebeeckx, and American philosopher Thomas Sheehan. The article focuses heavily on the Catholic contribution to Jesus scholarship, which has been comparatively small and recent, but this is understandable since the author is Catholic himself.
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