The other day in my New Testament Literature class we were learning about the different paradigms to make sense of Jesus. (New Testament Story: An Introduction, by David L. Barr. 3rd edition. Wadsworth, 2002.)
*my favorite was Wisdom
"Wisdom existed independently and eternally...Jesus became Wisdom, a revelation of the divine"
...but then i got on a rampage/tangent in my mind and wrote this down:
Does it really matter if we get the exact theology right? That Christ is God and God has three parts, the Trinity, yata yata, yata. When I picture us (humanity) before God; I do not see this rule book of boxes to check off and lists but of simply recognition of the Divine, of Wisdom, of Goodness and Evil, of SOMETHING greater, that further outweighs anything and everything.
"When Constantine declared Christianity to be the state religion of the Roman Empire, everyone was hugely involved in figuring out exactly who Jesus was in relation to God and whether he was "of the same substance," etc,etc. Two opposing sides hated each other so much they sometimes behaved like thugs toward each other. They were so concerned to explain the NATURE of Jesus that they never bothered to ACT like Jesus.
ReplyDeleteWhich is more important--that we get the terms exactly right in our heads, or that we obey Philippians 2 and follow Jesus by renouncing privileges in order to identify with him and the less-privileged people in our world?"
I recently wrote an article called "Following the Human Jesus" as a result of teaching the Gospel of John last fall. I'll send when I find it. You'll see how deeply I have been touched by Jesus as the incarnation of Wisdom.
Keep writing and keep thinking!
Reta Finger