As with the first class, here are some teaser questions we can discuss on the second Advent Sunday. After that class, as with the first class, I'll include in the comment part of the blog, the other questions we used, as well as some discussion highlights.
We agreed to cover two chapters a week, which means 3 & 4 next Sunday. However on the last Sunday of Advent we'll finish the book with 7-9.
Does Jesus' nativity context help you with your appreciation of the miracle of the incarnation?
What elements do you classify as nativity background? As context?
What are some of the nativity story changes that Christians made after the Holocaust?
Does the book's definition (page 58) of “kingdom” help you with other parts of the Gospels?
Have you ever used geology to discuss the Gospels before?
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Below are the additional questions from the 12/7 class and comments from the discussion.
Chapter 3 – Context of the Christmas Stories (cont.)
Do you like the significance of the number '5' from the Roman history or Hebrew Bible?
Can you see the threads of contrast in the nativity story set against the four Roman bases for power: military, economic, political & ideological/theological?
Is it helpful to have the Roman context to see how striking a contrast that the Gospels' “peace through justice” is compared to “peace through victory?”
Had you ever thought of eschatology as comparing God's fifth or final kingdom with that of Rome as the fifth in a series of 5 kingdoms, using the book of Daniel?
What do you think of the overrun of Sepphoris?
You may have noted the generous Roman/Greek background. Crossan in his other books mentions how he treasured his study of the classics. I always wondered how I might utilize this branch of study. Now I know.
Chapter 4 – Genealogy as Destiny
Have you ever noticed that Matthew's genealogy goes from Abraham to Jesus, while Luke's traces Jesus to Adam?
What do you think of the possibility that Matthew names women to emphasize the Gentiles in Jesus' genealogy?
What do you think of Fr. Brown's theory that these women were included to show God's grace, in spite of scandalous or irregular union?
Do you see how Luke describes Jesus with his genealogy as the new Adam?
Do you see how early Christians could use genealogies in Matthew and Luke to counter that of Caesar Augustus?
The discussion started with the book's definition of context and background. The authors use a slightly different theological set of meanings for these two words. Context could be seen where there is an interaction with the setting, while background has no such relation. Also, in the event we sense the Holy Spirit in action, we have context, but otherwise, we have background.
We then talked about the Romans' affecting the kingdom into which the Incarnation occurred. The Sepphoris overrun seems to be a context of the nativity. Given this Roman definition of peace through violence, the two Gospels suggesting a different way, peace through social justice, helps us consider the nativity's message as from a parable.
We took the suggestion that kingdom has non-Roman definition in this story, that is developed later in the Gospels, like a theme in a musical overture. We proceeded to list other similar uses of kingdom in these Gospels and in other parts of the New Testament. Jesus says the “Kingdom is...” in his several parables and sayings, which obviously did not mean Roman. The oft mentioned synonym is heaven, but given it's use in parables, we can look to more possibilities. We also mentioned Kingdom as being a synonym for the “city on the hill” in Revelation.
Mary asked the purpose of the book. We suggested that the book lets us step back from the debunkers and the fact fundamentalists, who might use these two nativities to argue, for example, the divinity of Jesus. Borg & Crossan propose stepping back from that debate and ask what types of benefits do we derive if we take the start of these Gospels as parables? I like to think this may be analogous to the NASA redundancy policy for spacecraft. They have backup systems to increase chances of success. If the virgin birth doesn't provide help for our theology, then maybe using this as a parable will.
Todd asked why it took until late in the century to write these two Gospels. Dick helped explain the time it took the two respective communities to use Mark, Q, and other sources to commit their oral tradition into writing. As Jesus was crucified around 30 CE, Paul' Epistles starting around 50 CE, and Mark around 70 CE, we can more easily explain the Gospels' documentation time.
We discussed that the book's description of the number “5” might be helped by noting the numerous Biblical references to numerology. Even to this day, books are sold proposing claims around 666, etc.
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