The problem with Deuteronomy 20 is that the religious requirement for the genocide of the previous inhabitants of Palestine leaves a cultural legacy that continues today with ongoing ethnic cleansing.
I see only two ways around it:
1) the corruption apology: agree that Moses was a prophet who was communicating God's word, but decide that the words we have today are only an unfortunate corruption of the original message, and God would not have called for genocide;
2) the monotheist apology: decide that the polytheism of the original Palestinians was the reason for calling for their slaughter (and a legitimate reason for uprisings against the Roman Empire), and that the Palestinians of today should be treated more equably because they are monotheists who - whether Muslim or Christian - recognize Moses as a prophet.
The first of these is in accord with Islam, but not acceptable to religious Jews. The second one might work for everyone, however. I don't know if anyone is advocating it within Israel, but I assume someone must have thought of it.
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christianity. Show all posts
August 2, 2011
March 29, 2011
New writings from the year dot
So metal books of credit-card-sized lead sheets have turned up in Jordan... If they're genuine, they could be from the years immediately before or after Jesus. "The year 'dot'," some call it. And, written in coded ancient Hebrew, they could be about Judaism or - as some of the patterned drawings hint - they might be about very early Christianity.
How nice to think that there might still be new writing to be found, about those very early years of Christianity - back before Christianity began, back before St. Paul, back when Jesus was a Jewish rabbi.
How nice to think that there might still be new writing to be found, about those very early years of Christianity - back before Christianity began, back before St. Paul, back when Jesus was a Jewish rabbi.
April 30, 2010
The Gospel According to the Romans - ABNA 2010
The Gospel According to the Romans is in this year's ABNA, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, and has now reached the Semifinals on the strength of a review by Publisher's Weekly and others.
The novel will now be read, assessed and reviewed by Penguin... we'll find out what they think at the end of May.
In the meantime, Amazon is offering a free download here.
Please leave a comment there, or here, or on its Facebook page.
The novel will now be read, assessed and reviewed by Penguin... we'll find out what they think at the end of May.
In the meantime, Amazon is offering a free download here.
Please leave a comment there, or here, or on its Facebook page.
November 20, 2007
Jews and Romans: contextualizing Jesus
Let me explain this "contextualizing Jesus" phrase with a story:
My childhood involved 5 years of Church of England boarding school in Jamaica, followed by 5 more years of the same in England. From age 7 to 17, for most of the year, I had 15 minutes of chapel every day, with an hour on Sundays. Scripture classes in Jamaica covered the Old Testament, the New Testament, the description of the Temple, the differences between Sadducees and Pharisees, food, clothing, etc. But no mention of the Romans.
In my last year or so of school I also studied Ancient History, specifically the period in Rome from the Gracchi to Nero, covering the turbulent transition from Republic to Empire and the acquisition of all the provinces around the Mediterranean. But no mention of Jesus.
This is like telling the story of Osama Bin Laden without mentioning the Americans; and then telling the story of the US occupation of Iraq without mentioning Islam or religious insurgents!
Historians are apparently scared of dealing with historical realities that bear upon the creation of religions; the talking snakes and virgin births and going up to heaven in chariots don't mesh coherently with the sociopolitical narrative, so historians ignore them.
Priests and theologians are equally scared of contextualizing their stories, because the stories only make sense if they exist as detached fairytale bubbles, realities that are complete in themselves, self-referential, living in a preliterate world where gods and angels walk the earth and perform magic, where demons are the cause of illness or misfortune, and where life will somehow continue after the body wears out and dies.
The mission of this blog, then, is to explore the context of the life of Jesus:
the attempt by the Romans to subjugate the troublesome Jews in a strategically important part of the world, and bring them the benefits of international law, trade, peace, and education, while extracting wealth from them;
the attempt by the Jews to rid themselves of the ungodly forces of oppression and corruption and establish a theocratic kingdom for God's Chosen People.
This is the world that Jesus was born into. This was the daily reality throughout his life. There was a province-wide uprising shortly after his birth, led by Judas of Galilee, with the Galilean city of Sepphoris (Zippori, 4 miles from Nazareth) captured by the rebels and then burnt down by the Romans. When he was 12, Judas of Galilee led another uprising, as a result of which the Roman Legions crucified 2,000 Galilean insurgents.
This was the Galilee of Jesus' childhood. No responsible historian who discusses early Christianity can ignore the Roman Occupation, the Jewish insurgency, and their formative impact on the character, teachings and actions of Jesus.
My childhood involved 5 years of Church of England boarding school in Jamaica, followed by 5 more years of the same in England. From age 7 to 17, for most of the year, I had 15 minutes of chapel every day, with an hour on Sundays. Scripture classes in Jamaica covered the Old Testament, the New Testament, the description of the Temple, the differences between Sadducees and Pharisees, food, clothing, etc. But no mention of the Romans.
In my last year or so of school I also studied Ancient History, specifically the period in Rome from the Gracchi to Nero, covering the turbulent transition from Republic to Empire and the acquisition of all the provinces around the Mediterranean. But no mention of Jesus.
This is like telling the story of Osama Bin Laden without mentioning the Americans; and then telling the story of the US occupation of Iraq without mentioning Islam or religious insurgents!
Historians are apparently scared of dealing with historical realities that bear upon the creation of religions; the talking snakes and virgin births and going up to heaven in chariots don't mesh coherently with the sociopolitical narrative, so historians ignore them.
Priests and theologians are equally scared of contextualizing their stories, because the stories only make sense if they exist as detached fairytale bubbles, realities that are complete in themselves, self-referential, living in a preliterate world where gods and angels walk the earth and perform magic, where demons are the cause of illness or misfortune, and where life will somehow continue after the body wears out and dies.
The mission of this blog, then, is to explore the context of the life of Jesus:
the attempt by the Romans to subjugate the troublesome Jews in a strategically important part of the world, and bring them the benefits of international law, trade, peace, and education, while extracting wealth from them;
the attempt by the Jews to rid themselves of the ungodly forces of oppression and corruption and establish a theocratic kingdom for God's Chosen People.
This is the world that Jesus was born into. This was the daily reality throughout his life. There was a province-wide uprising shortly after his birth, led by Judas of Galilee, with the Galilean city of Sepphoris (Zippori, 4 miles from Nazareth) captured by the rebels and then burnt down by the Romans. When he was 12, Judas of Galilee led another uprising, as a result of which the Roman Legions crucified 2,000 Galilean insurgents.
This was the Galilee of Jesus' childhood. No responsible historian who discusses early Christianity can ignore the Roman Occupation, the Jewish insurgency, and their formative impact on the character, teachings and actions of Jesus.
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