The way of imagination

Last time, we discussed the fact that the Gospel stories of Easter must be considered in light of the fact that the followers of Jesus continued to speak of him as Israel’s Messiah even after his death. The New Testament Gospels are Messiah stories and yet they are a new variant on the genre of Messiah story. That is to say, the Gospel stories are something very different from what was expected about the Messiah – both in terms of what the Messiah would do (and how) as well as what the results of the Messiah's action would be. No one expected the Messiah to die. As I said last time, a dead Messiah was a non-Messiah, a failed Messiah. Then again, speaking of Jesus as Israel's Messiah means that the Gospel writers see Jesus as playing a key role in Israel’s story. The evangelists link the story of Jesus with the ancient (hi)story of Israel as recounted in the Jewish scriptures – what Christians call the Old Testament (of the Bible).   If we wish to understand how the Gosp...

So, how to go about approaching the Easter story on its own terms , and not within the context of a (either believing or skeptical) modern agenda?   Is the Easter story simply an odd tale about a random, freakish “miracle”?   If that was the case, it becomes difficult to see the story as having any lasting significance; what would be the point?   Strange things may happen, but what do they mean and why should anyone care? The clue to the meaning.   The clue as to what the Easter story meant to its authors – those who came to believe the “idle tale” of the women that Sunday morning and record the tale in their Gospels – is the fact that the followers of Jesus continued to refer to him as “Messiah” [1] after he had been crucified .   Before we go any further, it’s important to notice that the word “Messiah” signals our departure from the 21 st -century western world into the world of first-century Judaism in Palestine and the wider Roman world of the Me...

What’s the big deal about Easter?   What difference does it make whether we pay any attention to this story or not?   Well, for starters, the last 2,000 years of world history would be drastically – almost unimaginably – different without the Easter story.   Imagine, if you will, a world without Christianity (for many, this may be a rather pleasant thought) – no Crusades, no Inquisition, no collusion of the Church with colonialism, no European wars of religion [1] , to mention only a few of the “sins of the Church” [2] .   However, a world without Christianity would also be a world without universities, hospitals, innumerable charitable organisations, countless advances in agriculture and technology, and the modern scientific method itself. [3]   Actually, the 18 th -century French revolutionaries discovered that it’s no easy thing to eliminate Christian influence from Western culture – their attempt to change the Gregorian calendar [4] was short-lived ...

It’s that time of (the liturgical) year again…we are two weeks away from Easter.   On April 12 th , the world’s 2.1 billion Christians will commemorate the “resurrection” – whatever that means – of Jesus of Nazareth while the rest of us sit at home and eat chocolate (of course, most Christians will also be at home for Easter this year).   So, what is it about this 2,000 year-old story that still reverberates with so many people?   Then again, perhaps there are many Christians who may be a bit bored with the story – or with the way it is presented in church year after year.   What does the Easter story mean anyway? Google defines “enigma” as “a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand”.   As the New Testament Gospels tell the story, those people who experienced the events of the first Easter morning did indeed find them to be mysterious, puzzling and difficult to understand.   It all began with a bunch of hysterical ...