Saturday, July 05, 2008

Jesus' Ideas?

In setting out these five themes as foundational or critical to the Jesus Movement, I do not mean to suggest that that they emerged without roots earlier in the Jewish tradition. Nor do I have any interest in denying that they may well have significant points of contact with other spiritual and wisdom traditions.

Rather, I highlight themes that hang together as collectively distinctive, and which emerge not only from the teaching of Jesus and the apostles that we find in the Bible, but more basically from the from the story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the response of those whom the Holy Spirit empowered to begin the new life together that would instantiate the Kingdom of God in the world.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think your five themes serve as an excellent starting point for understanding the Christian faith. The fact that some of these themes may overlap with other spiritual and wisdom tradition I find reaffirming.

Looking at the Jesus Movement holistically, via themes, helps avoid the dangers of strictly literal interpretations of isolated sections of the Bible.