On Aug 6, 2009, at 5:37 PM, Jeffrey Fisher wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 2:32 PM, Shane Mage <shmage at pipeline.com>
> wrote:
>>>
>>> As I recall, Emerson said that Jesus was the only person in
>>> history to
>>> appreciate humanity fully enough because he thought he was God.
>>>
>> If that were true that's what he would have been charged with--
>> claiming to
>> be a god, not merely a king.
>>
> not if the people charging him didn't get it. this is partly to do
> with the
> "son of god" language, which is the king in the psalms.
Which is why "son of god" is a title, not a genealogy. The gospels provide two Davidic genealogies for Jesus--one to his foster-father and one to his mother--precisely to establish his claim to the royal title "messiah."
> on the other hand, our main sources are the gospels, which are not
> exactly
> reliable historical records.
If there is one thing in the gospels that is certainly a reliable historical record it is the quotation (in John only) of the charge that was the Roman legal basis for his execution as a revolutionary rebel against the Empire--that he "claimed to be messiah, a king."
Shane Mage
> This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it
> always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire,
> kindling in measures and going out in measures."
>
> Herakleitos of Ephesos