ROBIN MEYERS - A GNU CHRISTIAN

They are out there, and I think that Robin Meyers is one of us.  Check out his book Saving Jesus from the Church which is summarized here and below:

Countless thoughtful people are now so disgusted with the marriage of bad theology and hypocritical behavior by the church that a new Reformation is required in which the purpose of religion itself is reimagined.   Meyers takes the best of biblical scholarship and recasts these core Christian concepts to exhort the church to pursue an alternative vision of the Christian life:

* Jesus as Teacher, not Savior
* Christianity as Compassion, not Condemnation
* Prosperity as Dangerous, not Divine
* Discipleship as Obedience, not Control
* Religion as Relationship, not Righteousness

This is not a call to the church to move to the far left or to try something brand new. Rather, it is the recovery of something very old. Saving Jesus from the Church shows us what it means to be a Christian and how to follow Jesus' teachings today.

WHY WE PAY ATTENTION TO JESUS

Professor Ted Grimsrud recently published an article by this title and it is worth reading here.  The following are some of my favorite paragraphs that fit the Gnu Xian perspective:

Certainly, the story of Jesus has been twisted and turned, exploited for evil purposes, at times corrupted almost beyond recognition—but somehow sprouts keep shooting up through the rubble, bringing forth flowers, revealing something of the beauty of the original vision of this person who history can’t let go of.

Jesus has become a metaphor for human aspirations. He symbolizes what people want. Some people want sick things. So we get images of Jesus wielding an assault rifle or a picture called “Undefeated” with Jesus the boxer, muscle-bound, leaning back against the ropes in the corner of the ring, his gloves hanging next to him, a satisfied, victorious, post-fight smirk on his face, and a banner labeled "Savior" hanging next to him.

But even skeptics recognize that this super-macho Jesus isn't right. Comedian Bill Maher, in his movie Religulous goes on a 90-minute rant against religion, especially conservative Christianity. But several times he invokes Jesus as evidence on his side in his critique. You Christians are contradicting what Jesus was about, he says.

Historian Jaroslav Pelikan states: “As respect for the organized church has declined, reverence for Jesus has grown. There is more in him than is dreamt of in the philosophy and Christology of the theologians. Now he belongs to the world.” Jesus has escaped the bounds of formal doctrine and top-down church domination.

But what is meant by "Messiah" (Hebrew) or "Christ" (Greek)? Maybe the story becomes more clear if we say that by "Christ" we mean one who truly shows us the possibilities of living as fully humans, healthy and whole. A model, a guide, an empowerer. So Christ is a character in solidarity with humanity, not one who stands over and against humanity.

We pay attention to Jesus because he embodies a lot of what we want to embody ourselves—to be truthful, kind and courageous, to say no to domination and oppression, to be in solidarity with people in need living simply with generosity sharing our resources.

GIVE THE RABBI SOME PROPS

You probably noted the reference to Yeshua Ben Yosef and may have wondered "what the heck?"  If you clicked on the link, you read that this is the actual name of the person generally referred to as Jesus.  From the Nazarene Way: 

"Yeshua is the original Aramaic proper name for Jesus the Nazarene, who lived from about 6 B.C.E. to 27 C.E. (A.D.)  The word "Jesus" is actually a mis-transliteration of a Greek mis-transliteration. It is most proper to call Him Yeshua. It was indeed his proper name, given to him by his parents, and only in Hebrew does this name have any meaning. In Hebrew Yeshua means both "Salvation," and the concatenated form of Yahoshua, is "Lord who is Salvation." The name Jesus has no intrinsic meaning in English whatsoever.  The first letter in the name Yeshua ("Jesus") is the yod. Yod represents the "Y" sound in Hebrew. Many names in the Bible that begin with yod are mispronounced by English speakers because the yod in these names was transliterated in English Bibles with the letter "J" rather than "Y". This came about because in early English the letter "J" was pronounced the way we pronounce "Y" today. 

Today's tradition of pronouncing His completely hellenized name as "Jesus" has indeed obscured His true name, "Yeshua," and has shifted its perceived meaning much like most of His original teachings.  Even His name, it would seem, became a part of this understanding. The name Jesus or Jesus Christ is often used in everything from idle conversation, to bumper stickers and jewelry, to enforcing false teachings, to justifying wars and political agendas, and is even used as a profanity. The name Yeshua however, has remained pure and holy, known and used only by those who would uphold His name and teachings in the highest regard and thus reserving His holy name for use only in spiritual matters and the most humbled and sincere of prayer and obeisances."

To which this Gnu Christian says "Amen."  So, there will probably be times when the name Jesus will be used and times when Yeshua is used, but it should be understood that his name is Yeshua.