(January 11, 2016 at 12:00 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Here's a fun exercize, to elaborate upon my previous post. Try to find some example of a biographical detail in the NT concerning jesus that is -not- a vehicle for theology.
Even seemingly simple things...such as his (hilariously convoluted) ancestry, exist within the narrative merely to establish some religious proposition. In this example.. that he is rightful heir to the davidic kingdom promised to the chosen people.
There's a youtube series, I think by Sargon of Assad, that goes into this in depth. Basically the idea is that the Jesus story in Mark was a cheap ripoff of Homer's Odyssey, cashing in on that epic's success for a contemporary audience. Not sure how much to take at face value, but interesting viewing.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
