Early Christians & Rome

Borg & Crossan argue the language ("Son of God", "Prince of Peace", etc.) and theology used by Luke & Matthew was used to counter the Roman imperial theology of the time. As an example, in the Genealogy as Destiny chapter, they note that Luke's genealogy of Jesus (which goes back to Adam/God) was likely an attempt to "one-up" the genealogy of Caesar Augustus. On Sunday, a question was raised about why this was necessary...why, if Jesus was a transformative figure, was this elaborate story needed?

We think in words?

Wow, my head is still spinning from the great discussion on Sunday! How about some further discussion on Eric's comment about how we "think in words". Any comment on that? Eric shared that his experiences of God are beyond words, beyond thinking (I hope I've captured this correctly). How about you, are your God "experiences" similar?

Matthew's Story Elements vs Luke's Story Elements

As discussed at the first session, we learned that the two Christmas narratives are very different and that popular/common concepts of story combine these elements without much thought to the original intent. Here is a summary of the story elements that was passed out on 11/23:

Matthew

• 31 verses
• Abraham → Jesus genealogy (1:1-17)
• Angel reveals God’s plan to Joseph, not Mary. Jesus is born. (1:18-25)
• No travel to Bethlehem (already there?), no birth story, no stable.
• Wise Men & Herod. No specific number of wise men, not described as kings (2:1-8)
• Adoration of the Magi. Follow star to “the house”, adoration, three gifts (2:9-12)
• No shepherds
• Herod’s plot to kill Jesus, flight to Egypt. Lives there until Herod dies (2:13-15)
• Slaughter of the infants (2:16-18)
• Return from Egypt, settle in Nazareth (2:19-23)
• No youth story
• NEXT chapter: BANG! Jesus is doing his ministry
  

Luke

• 132 verses
• Conception of John the Baptizer (1:5-25)
• Angel reveals God’s plan to Mary – The Annunciation (1:26-38)
• Mary’s visit to Elizabeth – The Magnificant (1:39-56)
• Birth of John the Baptizer, another miraculous birth – The Benedictus (1:57-80)
• Living in Nazareth (in Galilee), decree from Caesar Augustus, travel to Bethlehem, birth of Jesus in a stable (2:1-7)
• No Magi, no star
• Angelic announcement to shepherds (2:8-20)
• Circumcision & presentation of Jesus in Temple. Simeon and Anna are there. Return to Nazareth. (2:21-39)
• No Herod, no flight
• Jesus as youth, twelve years old at Passover in Jerusalem, gives the parents the slip, then back to Nazareth. (2:40-52)
• NEXT chapter: Baptism of Jesus
• Jesus → Adam Genealogy (3:23-38) – not in the birth narrative

Borg & Crossan stress the importance of viewing each story on its own to get to the heart of their meaning. Many of us on Sunday morning admitted that it is a struggle to keep the elements separated...so many years of melding the stories. We discussed other "traditional" parts of the story that we we taught that are not in Matthew/Luke...the donkey, the notion that there were three "kings" (riding on camels, no less), shepherds, wise guys & holy family all chillin' in the stable together.

The First Christmas (Leaders: Eric Anderson & Jeremy Carroll)

November 30 through January 11

This class will be a book study of The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach about Jesus' Birth by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan along the lines of the study this past Lent of their book The Last Week. From the book flyleaf: "As they did for Easter in their previous book… here they explore the beginning of the life of Christ, peeling away the sentimentalism that has built up over the last two thousand years around this most well-known of all the stories to reveal the truth of what the gospels actually say. Borg and Crossan help us to see this well-known narrative afresh by answering the questions, 'What do these stories mean?' in the context of both the first century and the twenty first century."