postmortem: doctors of divinity examine Christ

Friday Nov 9 2007 7:14 AM

I was never a very good student, and college proved it. After three full-time years (including summers) I was still a sophomore, and the prospect of graduation still far off on the horizon. Then one afternoon the Dean called me and my folks in for an informative chat.

The Dean closed the sad folder containing copies of my report cards and told my parents, “I don’t find anything here to indicate that Joseph has the ability to do work at the college level” and then booted me out of school because I was "only there taking up space."

Ouch.

Here we are years later, and I take a mental deep breath every time I log onto Blogger with the optimistic intention of sharing what’s on my mind … because you, Dean Reader, might conclude there’s nothing here to indicate that I have the ability to perform at the web level, either.

Well, I feel better telling myself that I’m not actually dropping the intellectual ball when I blog: I’m just dribbling down court as fast as I can.

-- --

Where is the wind
Have you seen it

Where did it go
And how do you know?

You saw it knock down trees
And make the sky howl in storms
Then afterward
Coax one leaf and a drop of dew
Along their separate paths

You heard the its voice like a whisper
Felt its arm on your back

Its finger brush your face
Like a kiss
The breeze
Lingering over your smile

Have you seen where it comes from
Can you follow along
Or know any of the places
It’s going

Can you? Would you?

The wind carries voices into words at your ears
Cradles birds through the sky

Carries butterflies in its palm and
Casts tides against the shore
Molds rain bracelets from silver clouds

Scatters rose petals at your feet
With a caress then
Wraps itself around you and
Whispers life into your lungs

Have you seen it?

Did the wind ever forget or
Ignore you
Or go out of its way
To step around you?

Can you build a wall
That stands taller than the wind?

Can you hold the wind
When it’s swirling all around you?
You already know
Don’t you

It's before you and after you too

Have you seen it?

Can you tell me why it’s waiting
Where it’s going or
Why it's here?

Can you open your arms wide enough
To hold and
Keep it with you
When you feel
It isn't there?

-- -- --

Watched “The Trial of Jesus” Wednesday night on The History Channel. It was fascinating listening to prominent theologians from the world’s most prestigious universities candidly explain that:

-The gospel accounts of Christ’s life are actually fictions
-The only information regarding Christ found in (non-gospel) sources can be summed up with “A man named Jesus was executed by the Romans in about the year 30”
-Christ was merely one of a small crowd of first-century messiahs, spiritual leaders or “magic men” traveling the Judea countryside preaching or prophesying about God’s pending kingdom on earth
-The gospels are derived from oral traditions, rumors and speculation … and thus have nothing to do with facts or historical evidence
-Each gospel was created as a response to answer new doubts as Christianity’s socio-political climate changed

Hmm, thought mr. mud brick as he scratched his empty head and felt more words fall down the spout ...

Without hard evidence, whether from archaeological discoveries or from secular contemporary accounts, academics must torque up their reason-wrenches and three-handed screwdrivers ... shop-worn paradigms and dull deductive tools with names like Hermeneutics, Homiletics, Soteriology (but precious little Pneumatology) … to loosen up “What’s probable” and “It’s reasonable to assume” or “It’s unlikely that" and pop the hood on the gospels and figure out what's underneath .... then impress each other by explaining in tenure-terms exactly what makes Christianity run.

Me? I'm dumber than a jelly roll.

Because I'm pretty sure academic theologians could use the same methods and reasoning to prove the wind ain't real and isn't there, either.