Great piece, very informative. The vision of the vitality of Greek philosophical society is especially interesting.
As far as Jesus as teacher, and his opposition to the Pharisees and other Torah adherent groups, the one thing that stands out for me is his impatience with the artifice of ritual. Which is not to say that ritual couldn't have spiritual content, it's just that Jesus rarely sees any in the Gospels. In Sarah Ruden's recent translation of The Gospels, she renders the 'holy spirit' as the 'life breath.' To me, this is central to understanding Jesus and his early followers. When Jesus says to the man who would follow him, but for his father's funeral, "Let the dead bury the dead," this is biting sarcasm. There is no respect for your elders here. There is no understanding for the man's situation, and the love he perhaps had for his father, which might be expressed in the funeral ritual. Jesus' words here, (which nearly all scholars deem authentic, because of their originality and jarring effect on the reader) are the words of a snotty hippie. I find them quite interesting, in that they might have come out of the mouth of John Lennon, for instance. But why, why such a caustic reaction? Certainly Jesus could have said, "Go do what you have to do and come follow us tomorrow." But living in the God Infused Now, in the Life Breath, which he says he and his followers do, demands a greater immediacy and present action. Being in the Life Breath is a mystical state of being, analogous to a psychedelic experience, perhaps, seen by all the saints, from Moses' description of the burning bush to Ezekial's flying wheels to St John of the Cross' Dark Night of the Soul to Hildegard Von Bingham's visions to all the rest of the saints' epiphanies, this is what had to be the most compelling aspect of Jesus' teaching. How he could see into the hearts of people so readily? He lived in the Life Breath. In this regard, the stately and mannered rituals of the Pharisees seem ridiculous to Jesus, and he mocks them constantly. This is different than mocking the law, which he doesn't do. He mocks the empty ceremony. Sarah Ruden translates the common Gospel calumny 'hypocrites' as, instead, 'play actors,' which captures the sharp sarcasm, the biting humor of Jesus again. Unfortunately, without the charismatic leader showing them the Life Breath on a daily basis, and with him giving them no method (we know of) of accessing it, it eventually disappeared from Christian communities, leaving then just the ethical teachings. Leaving a void which Johannine and Pauline Christianity filled.
What a series! Nice work David.
Great piece, very informative. The vision of the vitality of Greek philosophical society is especially interesting.
As far as Jesus as teacher, and his opposition to the Pharisees and other Torah adherent groups, the one thing that stands out for me is his impatience with the artifice of ritual. Which is not to say that ritual couldn't have spiritual content, it's just that Jesus rarely sees any in the Gospels. In Sarah Ruden's recent translation of The Gospels, she renders the 'holy spirit' as the 'life breath.' To me, this is central to understanding Jesus and his early followers. When Jesus says to the man who would follow him, but for his father's funeral, "Let the dead bury the dead," this is biting sarcasm. There is no respect for your elders here. There is no understanding for the man's situation, and the love he perhaps had for his father, which might be expressed in the funeral ritual. Jesus' words here, (which nearly all scholars deem authentic, because of their originality and jarring effect on the reader) are the words of a snotty hippie. I find them quite interesting, in that they might have come out of the mouth of John Lennon, for instance. But why, why such a caustic reaction? Certainly Jesus could have said, "Go do what you have to do and come follow us tomorrow." But living in the God Infused Now, in the Life Breath, which he says he and his followers do, demands a greater immediacy and present action. Being in the Life Breath is a mystical state of being, analogous to a psychedelic experience, perhaps, seen by all the saints, from Moses' description of the burning bush to Ezekial's flying wheels to St John of the Cross' Dark Night of the Soul to Hildegard Von Bingham's visions to all the rest of the saints' epiphanies, this is what had to be the most compelling aspect of Jesus' teaching. How he could see into the hearts of people so readily? He lived in the Life Breath. In this regard, the stately and mannered rituals of the Pharisees seem ridiculous to Jesus, and he mocks them constantly. This is different than mocking the law, which he doesn't do. He mocks the empty ceremony. Sarah Ruden translates the common Gospel calumny 'hypocrites' as, instead, 'play actors,' which captures the sharp sarcasm, the biting humor of Jesus again. Unfortunately, without the charismatic leader showing them the Life Breath on a daily basis, and with him giving them no method (we know of) of accessing it, it eventually disappeared from Christian communities, leaving then just the ethical teachings. Leaving a void which Johannine and Pauline Christianity filled.
Very enjoyable piece. While a good bit of the subject matter is over my head, I still get a lot out of
taking the tour even so. You write well.
Any resources you can recommend for a deeper look on how the Stoics influenced Philo or Paul?