Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Angry history lesson
My University lecture yesterday morning reminded me of how annoyed I can get. Our class exercise was to compare the same parable in a couple of different gospels. Once again I was struck by the importance of the Jewish Wars and the fall of Jerusalem in our understanding of the New Testament.
Even though the New Testament contains so many references to this important first century event, most Christians I know or ask about this don't have a clue. And isn't it Christians who claim to care about what the bible says?
Why doesn't anyone know that Jerusalem was totally destroyed by Roman soldiers in 70CE?
Why doesn't anyone know that this is the "great tribulation" and "end of days" that Jesus and John's revelation were describing?
This really frustrates me!!! ARRRGH!
99% of the church don't have the first idea about what the NT authors were talking about...and the gospels are the foundational documents of Christianity. Doh.
Of course, the texts need to brought into a modern understanding and I really appreciate the people that are good at it...but that should follow understanding of what the original author was communicating lest we completely and utterly miss the point. This article gives one person's ideas about what can be done when starting there and pursuing a historical-narrative reading.
Even though the New Testament contains so many references to this important first century event, most Christians I know or ask about this don't have a clue. And isn't it Christians who claim to care about what the bible says?
Why doesn't anyone know that Jerusalem was totally destroyed by Roman soldiers in 70CE?
Why doesn't anyone know that this is the "great tribulation" and "end of days" that Jesus and John's revelation were describing?
This really frustrates me!!! ARRRGH!
99% of the church don't have the first idea about what the NT authors were talking about...and the gospels are the foundational documents of Christianity. Doh.
Of course, the texts need to brought into a modern understanding and I really appreciate the people that are good at it...but that should follow understanding of what the original author was communicating lest we completely and utterly miss the point. This article gives one person's ideas about what can be done when starting there and pursuing a historical-narrative reading.
Craig (mars-hill) Tuesday, August 16, 2005
