got up at 1am to work on various web development projects. this is going to be a looong day.

that sleep-thing always gets in the way, anyway. very annoying.

anyhow, i’m going to take a break right now and tell you all about how i’ve been seeking for jesus.

please keep in mind that i consider myself an atheist, albeit a quirky, inconsistent one. i have the utmost respect for believers of all faiths who strive to practice the core teachings of their religion. but i also have a powerful respect for our individual and collective powers of reasoning and am not willing to suppress sincere questioning and seeking in the name of faith. if you are offended by a protrayal of jesus as much less than divine, i advise you to skip this post.

i’m trying a different approach this time. i’ve been spending less time on my knees and more time with my nose in the books, and i’m having a marvelous time. i’m finding the historical, wholly human jesus a fascinating person.

trying to track down the flesh and blood mortal jesus is like reading a mystery novel–you have to piece together a few vague clues and pierce through the verbal screen the author has created to throw the reader’s suspicions off track. or it’s like trying to study black holes–you can’t study these phenomenon in person and are unable to directly view them, but you must content yourself to look through the mists of space and time through limited instruments which can only reveal how the object being studied affects the material around it.

the only information we have about jesus were from authors who wrote about him decades after he died. the gospel of mark was written 20-30 years after his death, the gospel of john almost 70 years after the crucifixion. luke and matthew were written in between these two. we don’t even know if they were written by matthew, mark, luke and john–the names of the anonymously written gospels were assigned one to two hundred years after they were created (to put this timeframe in perspective, the united states is 225 years old).

almost all that we know of jesus comes from people who had a stake in his mission and proclaimed divinity. the few references to jesus from jewish and roman observers briefly acknowledge his execution but refer primarily to the growth of the band of christians who worship him. the earliest gospels were collections of sayings–the birth and passion narratives were added later and patterned on stories from the old testament.

various pictures are painted by historians, but the one i find most satisfying is created by john dominic crossan, the premier jesus scholar of our day. crossan’s research methods are meticulous, and he has painstakingly pieced together a mosaic of jesus as a itinerant, illiterate (but with powerful powers of oration), healer-preacher and peasant social revolutionary. crossan’s jesus was a powerful advocate of radical egalitarianism who tore down the social stratification and the barriers between men and women and the various classes of jews in his day. he reached out to the leper and brought her back into the fold, and ate with tax-collectors and harlots. he comforted the destitute, saying that theirs was the kingdom of heaven (this was modified by later, well-to-do authors to read “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” and as soon as he left galilee and went to jerusalem and caused a commotion there, he was summarily executed.

the gospels paint a warm, friendly picture of pilate–he appears to be a concerned, if somewhat cowardly, man who tries to rescue jesus but finally gives in to the demands of the people. the historical pilate, however, treated the jews and samaritans with such disrespect for local religious customs and suppressed protests with such brutality that the emperor tiberius had him recalled to rome. odds are that a peasant revolutionary who caused disturbances during passover–a volatile time when the romans were on high alert–would not have been granted a personal audience with the roman procurator but would have been summarily jailed or executed. the gentler, kinder pilate was portrayed by christian authors who were trying to distance themselves from the jews–they were writing at a time when romans had destroyed the temple at jerusalem and were stamping out jewish rebellion.

only one body with evidence of death by crucifixion has been recovered from palestine during the time of jesus, in spite of the thousands who were tortured and killed this way. part of the horror of crucifixion was that the relatives would not be able to retrieve the body and prepare it for proper burial. most bodies were left for the birds and beasts to desecrate and then were cast into limestone pits. extra-canonical accounts of jesus’ death and burial show an evolution of the narrative, from burial by enemies, to simple burial by friends, and finally to a regal embalmment by nicodemous in the gospel of john.

jesus’ followers were devestated and surprised by his death and the literate among them would have searched the hebrew scriptures for comfort and explanation, and latched on to anything that spoke of sacrifice and rebirth. the principle of ressurection was not new to the christians, but was taught by the pharisees he condemned.

in this way, historical truth was replaced with metaphoric truth.

so anyway, this is what i’ve been spending a lot of time on, and i’m thoroughly enjoying myself. but it is now time to get ready for work. ciao::