Seeking the truth...

This is part two of a paper on the identity of Jesus. For part 1, click here . 9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ (Mark 1:9-11 NRSV) Much ink has been spilled over why Jesus was baptized. For the task at hand, I think that question can be sidestepped. What happened during the baptism is far more important than trying to ascertain why Jesus would have undergone a baptism of repentance. At any rate, Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. During the baptism, Jesus had a remarkable experience, an apocalyptic experience. Marcus does an excellent job of detailing the apocalyptic elements of the text.[1]  Before we get into those elements we need to explore the Old Testament background. There are at least three k...

This blog post is the first part of a paper that is the first major piece in my theological project, “Exploring the Christian Way of Life,” and examines the identity of Jesus. We will begin in this post by briefly providing rationale for our starting point and a discussion of methods. In our following posts, we will move into our main topic, the identity of Jesus. It is my contention that every part of the Christian life is relative. Our experiences are subjective and relative as have been those of all Christians throughout the history of the church. Even our Scriptural witnesses are the products of humans in relation.[1]  Our situation is not hopeless, but we must account for this relativity in our theology. Otherwise it’s misguided, or perhaps, claiming a false objectivity. But, a theology that does properly account for our relativity is not only accurate, but very useful because it will align with actual Christian experience. All of our Christian experience is subjective to th...