21st Century Jesus
If Jesus were to live and minister today, what institutions and ideologies in our culture would he embrace, and what would he oppose? (would he care about oil usage, global warming, deforestation- and if so would he drive an SUV, ride a bike? What about poverty? would he give money to panhandlers or would he direct them toward charitable organizations that can help them?)
It isnt always obvious to me based on the teachings of Jesus recorded in the Gospels how he would react, what he would say and do with contemporary issues. This is evidenced by the emphasis or de-emphasis of certain social issues within the church today- some give alot of attention to the issues from the pulpit and in activism, some withdrawal from social issues altogether, and others meet the issues with the gospel alone. this is not a new division- beginning in the late 19th century with the Social Gospel- the church has had to decide if they are responsible to reform society structurally via institutional change, or to reform society by the spiritual/moral conversion of the individual. so we see two different interpretations of following Christ, but one Christ, with a closed collection of teachings. are we reading our own cause into Jesus' teaching, or is his teaching supportive of both in their extremes and in a synthesis?
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2 Comments:
my professor of OT just offered up a suggestion: while discerning leadership within the Christian expreience, it is important to know that we never will be able to respond the way Christ does. instead, let us look to the models of Jeremiah and Moses as examples of Christian leadership and response.
this is true, and christ was never really in the position of a political leader. but im interested in what teachings he would give in our context - as opposed to appropriating the teachings recorded in the gospels for modern issues. this will of course never happen, but who better to honestly speculate than those in christian leadership? unfortunately an agenda is often read into and serving as a lens through which we read Jesus. (eisigesis for us divinity nerds)
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