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Apologia Report 19:4 (1,187)
February 21, 2014
Subject: Ethics, Messianic Judaism, and 'Jesus Mosques'
In this issue:
EHRMAN, BART - attacking the deity of Christ with his latest book
EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH - "seeker-converts typically 'read' their way in"
ETHICS - missions and "the Bible's ambiguity regarding ethics"
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EHRMAN, BART
Continuing his relentless (and profitable) effort to stoke the fires of sensationalism and doubt, Ehrman now offers the world How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee [1], due out March 25. Publishers Weekly (Feb '14, #2) informs us that "Challenging traditional notions about Jesus and the New Testament with biblical scholarship is something that Ehrman, professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and prolific author has been doing for years. This book will likely ruffle the same feathers with its discussion of how the man from Galilee came to be seen as God. Appealing to nonexperts interested in historical questions about the development of Christianity's central and most basic tenets, Ehrman traces ancient ideas about divinity that likely informed Jesus and his followers, through the biblical record, and into early Christianity. In the process, he shows how claims about Jesus' divinity as it was understood by Jesus and his followers demand nuance. The material leads to some arguments from silence, but Ehrman is careful to note what we can and cannot know, especially where history leaves off and faith begins. As it makes strong scholarship on fundamental issues available to general readers, this is an important addition to the corpus of books about the historical Jesus."
Nevertheless, an evangelical reply is scheduled for release on the same day Ehrman's book is due out: How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus' Divine Nature - A Response to Bart D. Ehrman [2]. The Zondervan product description reads, in part: "While subjecting his claims to critical scrutiny, [the authors] offer a better, historically informed account of why the Galilean preacher from Nazareth came to be hailed as 'the Lord Jesus Christ.' Namely, they contend, the exalted place of Jesus in belief and worship is clearly evident in the earliest Christian sources, shortly following his death, and was not simply the invention of the church centuries later."
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EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH
The Eastern Church in the Spiritual Marketplace: American Conversions to Orthodox Christianity, by Amy Slagle [3] -- in his review, Scott M. Kenworthy (Miami University) observes that this is "the first substantial ethnographic study of Eastern Orthodox Christians in America. She focuses on converts to Orthodoxy, presenting a compelling argument that far from rejecting modernity and the spiritual marketplace in favor of tradition, converts operate precisely within the 'culture of choice' environment. At the same time, there are certainly distinctive features of Orthodoxy that set it apart from other religious options in the American landscape. ...
"Most [converts] found Orthodoxy after a process of 'church shopping,' trying and ultimately rejecting other religious options.
... Seeker converts typically 'read' their way into Orthodoxy. ...
"In order to become an Orthodox Christian, a prospective convert must undergo catechesis, and is received only when the clergy decide the convert is ready. ... Slagle found that catechism is tailored for each prospective convert; it is a long process that involves study and participation in ritual life, socializing the converts into their new community. [Converts] say their journeys led them to conclude that Orthodoxy is the true Church, an objective truth and not one that simply 'fits' one's personal tastes. ... The attraction to Orthodoxy lies precisely in the fact that, unlike other competitors in the spiritual marketplace,' Orthodoxy does not adapt its worship, morality, or teachings in order to make itself more appealing. ...
"Orthodoxy is not experienced as rigid but rather becomes a source for intellectual and spiritual freedom. Feeling secure in Orthodoxy's doctrine freed [converts] to focus their energies on personal and spiritual growth. ...
"Immigrants established the majority of Orthodox parishes in the United States, causing the Church to become a center for preserving not only faith but also ethnic identity, and most orthodox parishes remain fairly 'ethnic' even today. ... As Slagle argues, ethnicity in an American context is frequently malleable, and people often choose among multiple identities in their heritage. ...
"Slagle concludes this engaging study by suggesting that the trend away from organized religion (the 'spiritual but not religious') is not the only one happening in America, as her informants found their spirituality precisely in a church with an elaborate structure." Church History, 82:4 - 2013, pp1031-1033.
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ETHICS
"'Shrewd as a Snake, Innocent as a Dove:' The Ethics of Missionary Dissimulation and Subterfuge" by Larry Poston -- a brief review of "the Bible's ambiguity regarding ethics" in evangelism and missions. After noting examples in the Old and New Testament, Poston explains that "God sometimes allows, and even honors, certain forms of what many would consider subterfuge and dissimulation. Contexts considered as examples of this include: "tentmaking - performing a non-ministerial type of work as a means of establishing residency in a 'limited-access' country, with the ultimate goal of communicating the gospel message;" "contextualization - adapting one's lifestyle, the gospel, discipling techniques, aspects of theology and ecclesiastical structures to a foreign context in order to better establish Christianity;" and "contextual movements such as Messianic Judaism and Messianic Muslims - involving retention of a national or religious identity to avoid the negative consequences of openly declaring oneself to be Christian."
The last of these is given the greatest attention. "Problematic is the fact that the 'portable Judaism' developed by Johanan ben Zakkai [AD 30-90] and his successors represents a humanistic religious development that retains certain elements of Old Testament Judaism but which also goes beyond these and, in many cases, reinterprets them.
... A case in point: Rabbinic Judaism requires Jewish males to wear a skullcap when participating in synagogue rituals. Conversely, the New Testament forbids a male to wear any kind of head covering while performing religious functions (1 Cor. 11:4). When forced to choose, Messianic Jews generally follow the rabbinical practice instead of the New Testament requirement - a highly troublesome decision. ...
"More disturbing than Messianic Judaism is what is often called the 'Jesus mosque' phenomenon. New believers in certain contexts are not called Christians; they remain Muslims, claiming that the word simply means 'persons who are submitted to God.' They often choose not to associate with historic Christian churches where such communities exist. Baptisms are performed clandestinely or dispensed with altogether. Worship takes place in so-called mosques. The daily prayers are prayed at times that Muslims pray, and the main worship service is held on Friday rather than Sunday. Muslim leaders are outraged by such deception, considering it unworthy of spiritually-minded persons; from a Christian perspective, it is difficult to see how such believers could acquire any sense of being 'called out of darkness into light' as the New Testament so clearly directs (2 Cor. 6:14-18)." Evangelical Missions Quarterly, Oct '13, pp412-419.
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee, by Bart D. Ehrman (HarperOne, March 2014, hardcover: 416 pages) <www.ow.ly/tGmuW>
2 - How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus' Divine Nature - A Response to Bart D. Ehrman, edited by Michael F. Bird, Craig A. Evans, Simon Gathercole and Charles E. Hill (Zondervan, March 2014, paperback, 240 pages) <www.ow.ly/tNSKa>
3 - The Eastern Church in the Spiritual Marketplace: American Conversions to Orthodox Christianity, by Amy Slagle (Northern Ill Univ Prs, 2011, paperback, 215 pages) <www.ow.ly/tGoKc>
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