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What Would Sappho Say?

Lectori Salutem! or L.S. (Greetings to the Reader!)

As I am sure many of you have heard, there is much thought by historians, theologians, and scholars of biblical and religious studies that have been looking at the works of the New Testament and any other gospels or writings that have been found that come from anywhere near the era of the times it was written. The biggest think tank devoted to the effort is called the “Jesus Seminar” and is one of the most active groups in the world although solely done with a collection of American viewpoints dedicated to the quest for the historical Jesus.

I know that when talking among my own minister and many of my friends, we have often talked of this Jesus and what kind of a man he would be today if he walked among us. I have heard many things – an activist protesting social injustices such as the death penalty, treatment of the poor and ill, and as he would fight for all he believed in against abortion at some stage; a community organizer of a magnitude we have never seem before (step aside with your fancy talk, President Obama, Jesus is here!); an environmentalist on a stage somewhere shaking hands with Al Gore; and someone we could all look up to as a model of how to live our lives honestly and with dignity.

I am being serious here so I mean no disrespect. My belief is that Jesus Christ was as an extraordinary flesh and blood, Jewish human being who transformed that religion not by dying for our sins and rising from the dead but by preaching a “social gospel” of parables and maxims. An idealist, Jesus broke with the established dogma at the time with his teachings and behaviors often by turning what had been seen as common sense for the era upside down. He preached of “Heaven’s imperial rule” (most often translated as the much different meaning in my estimation Kingdom of God) as being already here but unseen, a new concept as well as that God was a LOVING father available to all of them. Jesus also was intent on relating to those on the outside of what was deemed society’s hierarchy while criticizing those who would rule from within. Yes, Jesus was definitely a rebel for his time and a leader among men and women alike.

It is just these ideas that set Jesus apart as a human being that are what led the Jesus Seminar into existence. For more information, go to the Jesus Seminar Forum. The seminar treats the gospels as historical artifacts and treats them as they are in my estimation, books that were written second and sometimes third hand years after the events themselves by rarely one who was actually there. So, the burden of proof that a particular passage actually happened is placed on the advocate for that passage.

As anyone who has read the Bible knows the Gospels of Mark, Mathew and Luke contain much of the same material, in some cases the exact same phrases in the same order so they are called Synoptic Gospels. Roughly 75% of the books are shared material. Then within those books, (and here’s where it gets tricky) there are other unique patterns called Triple and Double Traditions. Basically, Triple Traditions mean that all three books have shared material and Double Traditions mean only two of the books have it. Instead of going into all of that, I think it is more interesting what material they do NOT share. So, what is UNIQUE to each Book of the gospel? Starting with Mark, It has only 3% of its material that is original text and the rest is shared in some way with Matthew and Luke. I will say that Mark is the text most plagiarized. 89% of it is shared with Matthew and 72% is found in Luke. So as I said earlier, since Mark shares so much of its work with both Luke and Matthew when added together the Triple Tradition is 76%.

These three books of the bible represent quite a quandary when trying to study Jesus from a historical standpoint since they represent so much of the same material repeated as if the writer were getting the information from the same source. It is generally believed that Paul wrote a majority of the New Testament (Romans, First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, First Thessalonians, and Philemon) and Mark and Luke wrote their gospels. It seems most believe that it was Mark who first sat down to write his version and when Matthew and Luke began to do the same they borrowed heavily from it.

There is another philosophy that has gotten quite a following over the years that a separate document exists that scholars have called the Q Source describing many of the same events and sayings of Jesus during his lifetime. The synoptic gospels have such a unique interrelationship it is believed that could not have been done simply by borrowing from Mark’s original text. It is believed that all three utilized this separate document, the Q Source, along with their memories and that is how they became the unique but extremely entwined documents they are today. This belief is called the “Two-Source Hypothesis”. It espoused the Q Source to be one single written document with no author that could be drawn from as chronological source as well as a secondary source. Of course there is no way to prove or disprove the existence of such a document either way but it sure is an interesting theory as you read the same stories told in similar if not identical ways in Mark, Matthew, and Luke. It was enough to convince me of the greater than 50% possibility. Not much greater, but greater none-the-less.

The study of Jesus as a historical figure is of great interest around the world and in colleges and universities everywhere. For me, it is much more interesting to think of how he would act if thrown into 21st century America as an adult with no special powers, as an ordinary man. How would he begin his journey to help save humanity from ourselves as I believe the parable of Jesus rising from the dead can be seen very differently than as we see it today. Mary Magdelene comes to the grave and she finds it empty and is full of sorrow. After telling Simon Peter of what happens she returns to the grave and weeps. A man approaches her in the garden and asks her, “Woman, why are you crying?” And THINKING HIM THE GARDENER….. and you all know the rest. Well, here is my ending. He is in gardener’s clothes as he is back in the Garden of Eden where he tends it for all mankind for we are a part of mother earth, the universe and from that where we arisen, we all will return again. Not Heaven and Hell, but the earth, it was the earth all along.

Much Love.

Inspired By Sappho’s Muse

QUOTES OF THE DAY
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mahatma Gandhi

Of all religions, Christianity is without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most, although, up to now, the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.
Voltaire