Jesus as a Teacher of Wisdom

After nearly ten years of work, the results of their efforts are soon to be published as the Critical Edition of Q. The "recovery" of the Q gospel has stimulated a debate about the nature early Christian communities, and by extension, the origins of Christianity itself. One scholar, Burton Mack, has advanced a radical thesis: that at least some Christian communities did not see Jesus as a Messiah; they saw him as a teacher of wisdom, a man who tried to teach others how to live. For them, Jesus was not divine, but fully human. These first followers of Jesus differed from other Christians whose ritual and practice was centered on the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Their did not emerge as the "winners" of history; perhaps because the maintaining the faith required the existence of a story that included not only the life of Jesus but also his Passion.

More About Q and the Gospel of Thomas

An accidental discovery in Egypt seems to confirm the existence of the 'lost' gospel of Q.

by Marilyn Mellowes, 

Frontline, From Jesus to Christ 

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The Lost Gospel, a collection of sayings known only as Q which stands for "Quelle," the German word for source. Many scholars are convinced that such a document once circulated in early Christian communities. There are about 235 verses in Matthew that are paralleled in Luke but not in Mark or John. The most popular view among biblical scholars is that Matthew and Luke both drew upon two main sources in writing their Gospels—Mark and Q. This is known as the “two-source hypothesis.”

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I find it quite interesting that very early on the sayings of Jesus were considered important enough to collect. We have a sampling in the canonical gospels and other books such as the gospel of Thomas. Further, Peter did not claim that Jesus of Nazareth was God. He "was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you." The belief that Christianity was compatible with what we now call paganism helped Christianity spread through the Roman Empire. Although some Christians argued there was only one god and Christians shouldn’t worship any others, this wasn't how many people in the Roman Empire understood Christianity at the time, says Edward Watts, a history professor at the University of California San Diego and author of The Final Pagan Generation: Rome's Unexpected Path to Christianity. After awhile, the view that Christians ritual and practice should be centered on the death and the resurrection of Jesus won out.

Last Sunday, we ended a prayer with the words "Inspire us to be the kind and compassionate presence needed in this world." It seems that this has not been incorporated into our rituals. It seems almost entirely absent from the creeds and the Lord's prayer. We sing so many hymns with questionable theology. My understanding is that theologians tried to keep the worst of them out of our hymnal. Our pastor was preaching on a particular popular hymn and talked about she struggles with the words of many hymns. Even though she has conflicted feelings, she respects the history of how this was meaningful and came about in the life of that particular person. She went on to say how as a young pastor, she has so many friends that are no longer believers because it's common to talk about how its God's fault, when these terrible things happen in our lives. She said well God doesn't choose who will die but that "God suffered is key to me." She tells them "they should immerse themselves in God and be embraced rather than blaming God." We don't know why the world around us is suffering, but we should "be more gracious and exude kindness. We should lean in rather than run away." This is where God talk really fails me so I would rather just not talk about God. This is also where I find Buddhism to be so practical. Rather than having mysteries as the explanation for what happens in life, Buddhism has "a way of knowledge that leads to liberation from suffering. The awakening in which it culminates is both a wisdom based on an accurate understanding of reality and a freedom from the disturbing emotions and obscurations caused by ignorance."