Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

josh way

Three Glorious Surprises in the Resurrection

by Josh Way in Christian Issues

The resurrection of Jesus is too often either co-opted for conservative Christian triumphalism or reduced to a magic trick that proves Jesus’s divinity. The actual accounts of the resurrection in the synoptic gospels are odd and beautiful and full of unexpected details. Here are three deeply significant aspects of these strange tales that might have been obscured by traditional readings of the Bible.

1. Jesus returns in peace, unexpectedly.

Clearly no one in the gospel stories expected Jesus to be resurrected. Even when Jesus made cryptic predictions about his death and vindication, his followers told him to stop talking crazy and asked when he was going to become king and kill all the bad guys. In its native Jewish context, the designation “messiah” had little to do with dying and coming back to life and everything to do with winning wars. After Jesus was executed, no one was looking at their watch wondering what was taking him so long. They were defeated and dejected. Their candidate was gone. The end.

And so when Jesus is resurrected, according to the synoptic gospels, it’s a surprise that completely blindsides his friends and followers. The shock and terror of the disciples is dramatized in the gospel texts, and we sympathize. Running into someone you watched die would be unsettling, to say the least. But once again, a deeper consideration of the historical and political background amplifies the drama. No one had ever imagined that a messianic… [Read more…] about Three Glorious Surprises in the Resurrection

We Have Met the Beast and It Is Us

by Josh Way in Christian Issues

Somehow this is still a thing. Christian leaders and politicians routinely make fearmongering overtures about “the antichrist,” “the beast,” the cosmic boogeyman who will bring about the End Times™ and coincidentally happens to be their ideological opponent. Just pick a public figure you don’t like, label them “dangerous,” throw in a vague appeal to “biblical prophecy,” and you’re good to go.

Even as we roll our eyes, we think we know exactly which Bible prophecy is being referenced: the book of Revelation and its warning of a coming antichrist. But it’s not simply that the words of Revelation are being misappropriated as contemporary political fodder, they have been completely misread and misunderstood in the first place. If we take an educated and careful look at the relevant passages, a very different picture comes into focus. Spoiler Alert: there is no singular “antichrist” figure in Revelation. There are several metaphorical “monsters” in the text, but the nearest contemporary analog for the beast in question is not a Muslim warrior, a popular Pope, or a socialist President. It’s something far more insidious and familiar.

(Actually) Reading Revelation

First things first, the word “antichrist” never appears in the text of Revelation. Something like it can be found in John’s epistles, but not here. There are “beasts” in Revelation, a few of them, and to put them into proper context we’ll need a quick overview of the whole thing.

The final book in the… [Read more…] about We Have Met the Beast and It Is Us

Your Feelings and Experiences Matter, Young Christian

by Josh Way in Christian Issues

I recently witnessed a Twitter argument about gender inequality in the church. A proud Calvinist fellow informed a young woman she needed to “repent” of the “sin” of putting personal experiences above scripture, because she believed strongly that women shouldn’t be denied opportunities to minister and lead. He was rude and condescending, yet I know many Christians who would agree with his reasoning (if not his attitude).

The idea behind his thinking was this: all of our big questions about religion and life have already been addressed and answered to complete satisfaction by the Bible, which has been correctly transmitted, translated, interpreted, and distilled, leaving us with pure and all-sufficient truth. God has already spoken, and there’s nothing you can feel or experience or discover that will trump what has already been revealed in the Bible.

This principle, an offshoot of the inerrancy doctrine, takes the form of cautionary admonition drilled into the heads and hearts of young people: your feelings, instincts, and experiences will deceive you and lead you astray, so you should actively suppress them and look instead to established dogma. The result is often frustration and emotional distress: why do I feel something so strongly, or why did I have such a powerful experience, if it conflicts with what I’ve already been taught is the truth?

Experience in Christian Tradition

To be fair, some Christian traditions have given credence to the… [Read more…] about Your Feelings and Experiences Matter, Young Christian

Why Two Christmas Stories Are Better Than One

by Josh Way in Christian Issues

As a citizen of America, I’m almost done with Christmas. We’re living in a century where the cultural defense and political exploitation of Christmas as an institution have become even more obscene than the holiday’s ongoing commercialization. But, as a Christian and a big fan of Jesus and hope, I still admire and embrace the season of Advent and the holy day (that’s right, just a day!) of Christmas. There is much to love, from ancient traditions to recent memories.

My falling out with Christian culture and my journey through biblical scholarship over the last several years have complicated and ultimately transformed my relationship with Christmas, particularly with the nativity traditions found in the Bible. The notion of a singular, harmonious, “biblical” Christmas story runs into all sorts of trouble when the texts are read attentively.

I’m not so much concerned with veracity or historicity, since these are stories about revelation and faith. But what comes apart under scrutiny is the idea that the Bible presents us with a single complete and coherent narration of the birth of Jesus. Instead, it offers us two very different ones, and we have smashed them to bits in order to construct a third hypothetical one out of their pieces. This is my brief attempt to outline a case for keeping them separate, allowing them to speak and breathe, and coming to terms with their apparent incompatibility.

Our Nativity Mashup

By “harmonizing” the two gospel accounts of… [Read more…] about Why Two Christmas Stories Are Better Than One