Two views of Jesus

• N.T. Wright says that to ‘write off’ Christian beliefs in Jesus as irrelevant to modern life is to uncritically accept an enlightenment worldview of life.
• A worldview is a set of assumptions and stories that answer basic questions such as ‘Who are we?’, ‘Why are we here?’ and ‘What’s wrong with the world?’
• There are many reasons to question the enlightenment worldview, including the reaction of phenomenalism; that all that can be known is the knower.
• John Dominic Crossan is also sceptical of taking the Gospels at face value as they reached their final form only after 30 years from the death of Jesus and present a Church structure with an established male hierarchy.
• In constructing an ‘historically accurate’ view of Jesus, Crossan tries to locate early traditions (30-60CE) from within the Gospels, such as ‘Q’, the shared material between Matthew and Luke, the Gospel of Thomas and other non-canonical writings.
• Crossan argues that these sources do not present Jesus as having a miraculous birth or a resurrection, but as a teacher of wisdom with an emphasis on social justice.
• Jesus as a social revolutionary who tried to build a community without gender or class distinctions, including his open table fellowship, women in leadership, and welcoming outcasts.
• The so-called ‘miracles of healing’ were really social healings, including those cast out from the centre of society.
• Jesus should be compared to the Graeco-Roman cynics who were itinerant teachers and rejected social codes and material wealth.
• Jesus was a ‘Mediterranean Jewish Peasant’, each of these words unlocking an aspect of his identity.