The Limits of Wisdom Teaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Another interesting bit from yesterday was Rev. Loehr\u2019s comments on the Jesus Seminar, where he was the only Unitarian fellow. In general he was\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/01\/the-limits-of-wisdom-teaching.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Limits of Wisdom Teaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Another interesting bit from yesterday was Rev. Loehr\u2019s comments on the Jesus Seminar, where he was the only Unitarian fellow. 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{"id":590,"date":"2009-01-26T16:52:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-26T16:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/01\/the-limits-of-wisdom-teaching\/"},"modified":"2009-01-26T16:52:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-26T16:52:00","slug":"the-limits-of-wisdom-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/01\/the-limits-of-wisdom-teaching.html","title":{"rendered":"The Limits of Wisdom Teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Another interesting bit from yesterday was Rev. Loehr\u2019s comments on the Jesus Seminar<\/a>, where he was the only Unitarian fellow. In general he was complimentary toward the goals and the results of the Seminar, but he had a legitimate concern.<\/p>\n

When you strip Jesus of the virgin birth, miracles, and resurrection, what you have left is a Wisdom teacher. And when you focus only on the Wisdom, you lose the distinctive elements of Christianity. To a certain extent, that\u2019s not bad \u2013 think of all the conflict that occurs because of religious arguments (not political arguments disguised as religious conflicts \u2013 that\u2019s another issue for another time). True Wisdom is universal.<\/p>\n

But, as Rev. Loehr said: \u201cIf it\u2019s \u2018the same as\u2019 then it\u2019s lost its soul.\u201d<\/strong> Universal Truth divorced from its cultural context speaks to the head, not the heart.<\/p>\n

By definition, if you de-mythologize a religion, you lose your myths \u2013 your sacred stories. And if Joseph Campbell taught us anything, it\u2019s that humans need myths to live by.<\/p>\n

So, speaking as a Unitarian Universalist, it isn\u2019t enough to form a center around the common teachings of the world\u2019s Great Religions \u2013 though that would be a good start. We also need a common story, a myth that speaks to our souls as well as to our intellect. Can a bunch of overly intellectual UUs compose such a story?<\/p>\n

As Pagans, we have many stories \u2013 the myths and legends of our Celtic, Norse, Greek, Egyptian and other ancestors. But they aren\u2019t necessarily our<\/em> sacred stories. Those stories we\u2019re still adapting, editing, and writing anew. Which isn\u2019t surprising, considering contemporary Paganism is only about a hundred years old, and has only been honest about its origins for perhaps the last 25 or 30.<\/p>\n

Uniting the head and the heart; merging the intellect and the soul. Perhaps, just perhaps, that\u2019s work UU Pagans are uniquely qualified to do.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"