re Re: re MDDM 35 Christ and History

[Doug Millison]

Nice post, although I think the connection made between Pynchon's wind and
the Holy Ghost may be a bit of a stretch.  But,  Pynchon does circle 'round
and 'round that Historical Jesus and the experience of his earliest
followers, in M&D and in his other writings; I'm not sure that anybody has
shown, convincingly, that P elsewhere undercuts  his affirmation of the
experience of divine mystery that lies at the heart of what attracted
Jesus' earliest disciples and followers and in the mystical practice of
other faith traditions.

Historical Jesus scholarship will appeal to a certain kind of Pynchon
reader, tracing out the various oral, historical, and literary threads that
spin into the New Testament, along with the constant doubt and
contradictions that makes it all rather indeterminate from a certain point
of view (not the POV of faith).  I especially like to recommend _The Birth
of Christianity : Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After
the Execution of Jesus_ by John Dominic Crossan.

For serious consideration of what Christ might mean in History now, you
could do worse than read Marcus Borg (yeah, funny name), who puts Christ in
the context of mainstream, liberal churches in the postmodern era; in
	_The Meaning of Jesus : Two Visions_, Borg debates his postmodern
Christianity with a more traditional theologian, N. T. Wright.  _Why
Christianity Must Change or Die : A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile_ by
John Shelby Spong is also good re gleaning what we can from Jesus and
ditching the unpalatable baggage imposed by organized Christianity.


Terrance:
"Long before Augustine and Faustus. [...] "


That would depend on how long before, of course; it appears to have taken
several centuries to firm up Christian theology in the form through which
it would guide organized and prop up an empire (up to and including the
American empire of the present day) that was built on principles wholly
antithetical to the simple gospel of nonviolence, love, and direct access
to the divine that Jesus taught.