I've just seen this thread (and recently someone expressed surprise when I said I read lbo-talk for the theology...), but I think you may be being the slightest bit one-sided here, Doug. Jesus/Yeshua/Joshua of Nazareth preached the imminence of the reign/kingdom of God, although of course he didn't invent the latter notion. (The late David Flusser of Hebrew University: "Jesus is the only Jew known to us from ancient times who proclaimed that the new age of salvation had already begun.") His crucifixion (the standard form of execution of political dissidents by the Roman army of occupation) was a fairly serious embarrassment for the "Jesus movement," hardly a matter to be celebrated. All of early christian theology ("the new testament") is an historico-political attempt to explain how such a thing could have happened (the medieval notion of "atonement" was a thousand years in the future), and how the preaching of the kingdom was still reliable. Early christians, people who "are turning the world upside down" (Acts 17:6), are those who think they do not need to stake the meaning of their lives on the present socio-economic arrangement but rather on this world to come. They were rather greedy than sadistic or masochistic: they wanted it all, and forever. --CG Estabrook
On Tue, 22 May 2001, Doug Henwood wrote:
> Hmm, well, let's start with Jesus. Outfitted with a crown of thorns,
> whipped, humiliated, crucified. Offered a vinegared sponge when he
> complained of thirst. Famous for his sacred bleeding heart. The
> faithful are supposed to identify with his suffering - and anticipate
> the eternal suffering of the wicked in Hell.
>
> Doug
>