Theology Bites 3 - Jesus thinkings

 Theology around Jesus is a whole discipline in itself, in fact called "Christology" - I can only dip into the ocean of words and thoughts on the subject, but even then (at about 8 minutes a video) I will have to divide these thoughts up into about three or four parts. So here's the first one relating to Christology - particularly to the ideas around what we call 'Incarnational Theology'



Comments

Bob MacDonald said…
Thank you for your ramblings so far. Lots of helpful thoughts. One aspect that is a challenge to think about is the massive foundation of the Hebrew Scriptures that the story of Jesus sits on. Equally huge is the literature leading up to the writing of the New Testament. I find most Christian scholars concentrate on Greek and the ideas that were emerging in Jewish apocalyptic reflections in the centuries surrounding the life of Jesus. This has not been my study. In true fundamentalist fashion I decided to study the Hebrew background - running the risk of using words too rigidly. I wonder if you have thought about the relationship between Jesus and the name that comes first after the expulsion from the garden from the mouth of Eve. I referenced a Torah commentary on this in my last post.

The great background question for me as for many growing up in the shadow of the Shoa is - what do we make of this vast tradition of writing that we used against the community that has been dedicated to copying it? How in other words, to return to the theology question, does the 'Christian' Jesus relate to the Hebrew Yeshua reflecting the name of 'the LORD'? So much confusion. I read a Jewish commentary on this years ago Jesus and Yahweh, by Harold Bloom - perhaps more of a literary critic than a theologian. I am unconvinced by his portrait.

This longer podcast on the book of Jonah (I confess I only read the transcript) suggests a use of the names of God in this little book that I find convincing. But I must make the connection between Jesus and Jonah (the only sign...) on the way to connecting Yahweh, the means of salvation, with the one we follow. Yes - in spite of my now 16 year intensive study and translation of Tanakh for its word recurrence patterns and its embedded music, I am still a follower of Jesus. If he had let me go my own ways I would not be here to follow.
8:12 pm
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