I have already mentioned in an earlier blog, one of my past times is rummaging around the bookshelves in our local Charity Shops, especially the Spirituality books. On my last visit, I picked up a copy of Lee Strobel's 'Finding the Real Jesus – A Guide for Curious Christians and Skeptical Seekers'. I was attracted by the words 'Curious' and 'Skeptical Seeker' but should have been warned off by the words 'Real Jesus' because the author was more interested in convincing people that his view of Jesus was correct than any unbiased discussion of the wealth of academic research on the diversity of early Christianity.
During the first 300 years following the death of Jesus, there was great diversity amongst the Christian communities regarding Jesus and his life and teaching. Strobel mentioned gnostic Christianity, and we know from the library uncovered in at Nag Hammadi between the1940's-1970's, that several pictures of Jesus existed in early Christianity, compared to the Pauline Jesus we are familiar with in our New Testament.
I say Pauline because the four Gospels we have in the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were written after St Paul's death and were influenced by Paul's writing and theology. During the great Christian controversies of the early centuries, these four Gospels were selected out of 30 Gospels in circulation. St Irenaeus (130-c202), a missionary bishop from Lyons is said to have commented, Since there were four corners of the earth and four winds of heaven, there had to be only four authorized Gospels'. However, in the third century, there were even attempts to reduce these four gospels into one story. Fortunately, we now have ready access to other Gospels in R.J. Miller's edition of 'The Complete Gospels' (Polebridge Press; Fourth edition, 2010).
What fuels my intrigue in all of this – and no doubt initially attracted me to the title of Strobel's book – is why do people try and 'stuff' God, and Jesus, into a theological box? God's love is bigger than that and like the air that surrounds us, God cannot be boxed in or contained by our definitions or limitations (See 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 6:18; Acts 17:24). I like the analogy of wind or breath. God breathed life into humankind and Jesus breathed new life into his disciples. 'Prayer is God breathing in us' suggests Henri Nouwen and Sri Chinmoy continues this lovely thought:
with infinite qualities of Peace, Light and Bliss,
offering us the very Life-Breath of God.
We have only to allow the flow of Grace
to carry us into the Source,
which is God.
God is everywhere and everything is an incarnation of God. That includes Jesus – and you and me. We are all invited to encounter the deep indwelling mystery of the Divine Presence. It is us who limit God (and Jesus) to our words, our definitions, and our understandings.
Phil
_____________________
Sri Chinmoy, God Is: Selected Writings of Sri Chinmoy, Aum Publications, 2012.
Dyer, Phil, Be Still & Know... Tawera Press. 2020 .p72
See also Scholarly articles for The Diversity of Early Christianity
No comments:
Post a Comment