{"id":1291,"date":"2013-07-31T10:56:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T10:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/on-christian-fundamentalisms-ongoing-effort-to-win-custody-of-jesus.html"},"modified":"2013-07-31T10:56:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T10:56:00","slug":"on-christian-fundamentalisms-ongoing-effort-to-win-custody-of-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/on-christian-fundamentalisms-ongoing-effort-to-win-custody-of-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"On #Christian #Fundamentalism’s Ongoing Effort to Win Custody of #Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Crystal St. Marie Lewis<\/a><\/span>
R3\u00a0Contributor<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span>
*This first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis<\/a> blog<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>I\u2019ve been watching the controversy surrounding Reza Aslan\u2019s new bestseller fairly closely. The book is called\u00a0<\/span>Zealot\u00a0<\/span>and it\u2019s the latest of many titles to argue that Jesus was a revolutionary teacher, a man of prophetic vision, a political rabble-rouser and a devoutly religious Jew whose only real claim to divinity is found in the identity imposed upon him after his death. The author of this book has done what a variety of scholars have attempted to do: Separate for us the historical Jesus (the pre-myth person who lived a natural life in a real time and place) from the Jesus of doctrine\u2014the eternalized celestial figure identified for generations all over the world as the Son of God.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>I was first introduced to Dr. Aslan\u2019s book one Friday morning while getting ready for work with the television within earshot. I was distracted by the protest of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>MSNBC host Joe Scarborough<\/a>, who strongly opposed the author\u2019s depiction of the New Testament gospels as works of historical \u201cfiction\u201d written to promote an agenda. The exchange ended with Scarborough aggressively telling Dr. Aslan: \u201cIt sounds like a fascinating argument, [however] I am a believer, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s myth.\u201d<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>A week later, Dr. Aslan recorded the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>now-viral Fox News interview<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>during which anchor Laura Green badgered him about his credentials\u2014arguing that he doesn\u2019t have the expertise to write a book about Jesus because he\u2019s a Muslim. He remained gracious, but was clearly confused by her behavior as he repeatedly attempted to explain his responsibility as a historian of religions.<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>And then this afternoon, an Evangelical pastor by the name of John S. Dickerson wrote<\/span>a Fox News article<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>arguing that while Aslan \u201chas been formally educated in theology and New Testament Greek,\u201d his \u201cMuslim beliefs affect his entire life, including his conclusions about Jesus.\u201d Dickerson opined that the author of<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Zealot<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>experiences a \u201cconflict of interest\u201d that is no doubt rooted in his adherence to a \u201creligion that has been in violent opposition to Christ for 1,400 years.\u201d Therefore, according to Dickerson, neither Aslan, nor his book, offer credible depictions of the historical Jesus.<\/span><\/span>

<\/span><\/span>As I\u2019ve observed the reactions to Aslan\u2019s work by Christians in the media, I\u2019ve thought quite a bit about the three behaviors displayed. First, I thought of the effort to demonize the author despite his credentials and exhaustive research. (He claims to have read 1,000 books while preparing to write his work.) The second behavior\u2014the blind rejection of information\u2014was, seemingly an effort to discredit and silence the author. (<\/span>Cognitive dissonance<\/a>, anyone?)<\/span><\/span>

<\/span>But the third behavior is more peculiar. I\u2019m speaking of the attempt to hoard the person of Jesus, his memory, any scholarship associated with him, the endeavor to write about him and the privilege of speaking about him, for those within the religious in-group. This behavior\u2014the act of declaring one\u2019s own group the only qualified custodian of the faith\u2014 seems to speak to the ongoing desire to insulate traditional Christianity against some presumed threat. This insulation reduces the chorus of voices in the discussion so that the only ones who can be heard are those who agree to reach an approved set of conclusions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who attempt to declare themselves the custodians of the faith will tell you that they only wish to protect Jesus from the theological banditry known as intellectual pursuit. There is some belief within Christendom that it\u2019s the true Christian\u2019s job to reject ev
\nery unapproved conclusion\u2014no matter how accurate, logical or well-sourced that finding may be\u2014in the interest of preserving the religion.<\/span><\/div>\n
I wonder when people will realize that Jesus doesn\u2019t need our protection. Jesus doesn\u2019t need to be protected from archaeological evidence. Jesus doesn\u2019t need to be protected from his own contextual history and he doesn\u2019t need to be protected from scientific inquiry. Jesus doesn\u2019t need to be protected from \u201cliberal\u201d theology, and he doesn\u2019t need to be protected from the questions we may have about the birth of the religion we\u2019ve named after him.<\/span><\/div>\n
Jesus doesn\u2019t need to be protected from anything you or I can write\u2014no matter how critical it is. The only thing in need of protection is the collective ego belonging to this generation\u2019s very fearful Christian fundamentalists\u2014an ego which cannot bear the prospect of being wrong.<\/span><\/div>\n
When a god begins to require the custodial protection of those who worship him, he is no longer a god. He becomes an idol. May we all find the courage and wisdom to never make ignorance the aim of religion, nor idolatry the replacement for faith.<\/span><\/div>\n
Follow Crystal on Twitter @crystallewis<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3\u00a0Contributor*This first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis blogI\u2019ve been watching the controversy surrounding Reza Aslan\u2019s new bestseller fairly closely. The book is called\u00a0Zealot\u00a0and it\u2019s the latest of many titles to argue that Jesus was a revolutionary teacher, a man of prophetic vision, a political rabble-rouser and a devoutly religious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOn #Christian #Fundamentalism's Ongoing Effort to Win Custody of #Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor*This first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis blogI\u2019ve been watching the controversy surrounding Reza\" \/>\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\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/on-christian-fundamentalisms-ongoing-effort-to-win-custody-of-jesus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On #Christian #Fundamentalism's Ongoing Effort to Win Custody of #Jesus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor*This first appeared in the Crystal St. Marie Lewis blogI\u2019ve been watching the controversy surrounding Reza\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/07\/on-christian-fundamentalisms-ongoing-effort-to-win-custody-of-jesus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-31T10:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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