Text sheds light on early Christianity
Document written 1,500 years ago
Published: Thursday, May 04, 2006
On the heels of all the hoopla about the Gospel of Judas, a Harvard scholar has quietly released one of the first modern studies of a 1,500-year-old document revealing the first comprehensive narrative of Christian theology, cosmology and salvation.
Apocryphon Johannis, ostensibly written by the Apostle John, gives us a glimpse into how early Christians struggled with theories about sin and redemption, the nature of God, and what would happen at the end of the world, says Karen L. King, author of The Secret Revelation of John, published by Harvard University Press.
More importantly, the apocryphon shows us how mankind has struggled for millennia over the meaning of religious truth and scripture, and how changeable our answers have been, says King, professor of ecclesiastical history at Harvard's Divinity School.
A German scholar first found the Johannis papyrus in a Cairo antiquities market in 1896, but it was not translated into English until 1995. Meanwhile, three other copies of the manuscript were found in 1945 at Nag Hammadi in Egypt among a trove of ancient writings later called the gnostic gospels.
Although it is attributed to John, modern scholars doubt he really wrote it.
King says the apocryphon is a "richer, fuller text" than the Judas document. "It is the first piece of literature we have that puts together an entirely comprehensive Christian world view."
Modern Christians would recognize some of its tenets immediately, as it describes a perfect and transcendent God who loves us deeply and will save us from evil.
© The Calgary Herald 2006
Christianity
Modern Bible riddled with errors, add ons
Many newer versions based on wrong originals
Published: Saturday, May 06, 2006
For all those folks following the Good Book, we have some bad news. Turns out a lot of our modern Bible was tacked on, scratched out and just plain garbled from the original Gospels as scribes over the millennia tried to present Christianity in what they thought was its truest light.
In fact, many of our modern Bibles are based on the wrong originals, says Bart Ehrman in his best-selling book Misquoting Jesus: The Story behind who Changed the Bible and Why. Even our beloved King James version has several segments based on a 12th-century manuscript that scholars now say was one of the most error-riddled in the history of the New Testament.
Some of those changes hit sore spots even today. For instance, St. Paul may not have been as critical of women as we have been led to believe. Ehrman, chair of the department of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, says it was not Paul but a second-century follower of his who wrote in 1 Timothy 2:11-15: "let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent . . ."
Similarly, says Ehrman, scholars doubt that Paul wrote a passage in Corinthians saying "let the women keep silent."
It appears these later additions were intended to address a power struggle in the early church. For one thing, why would Paul say women should only speak with their heads covered in 11:2-16 of 1 Corinthians, only to say elsewhere they may not speak at all?
To date, 5,700 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament have been discovered, the earliest a tiny fragment of John 18 written around AD 120. Including the 10,000 Latin Vulgate versions, and the thousands in other languages, we have between 200,000 and 400,000 variants of the New Testament today.
Scholars can compare the scripts to determine which was likely the earliest and had the fewest errors -- whether accidental copying mistakes or intentional changes or additions tacked on by later writers to make a point or "clarify" something.
Ehrman began his academic career as a fundamentalist and evangelical who took the Bible as literal truth. Today, he has a much more nuanced idea of "truth." Now, he says, he sees the Bible as "a very human book with very human points of view, many of which differ from one another, and none of which offers an inerrant guide to how we should live."
© The Calgary Herald 2006
Many newer versions based on wrong originals
Published: Saturday, May 06, 2006
For all those folks following the Good Book, we have some bad news. Turns out a lot of our modern Bible was tacked on, scratched out and just plain garbled from the original Gospels as scribes over the millennia tried to present Christianity in what they thought was its truest light.
In fact, many of our modern Bibles are based on the wrong originals, says Bart Ehrman in his best-selling book Misquoting Jesus: The Story behind who Changed the Bible and Why. Even our beloved King James version has several segments based on a 12th-century manuscript that scholars now say was one of the most error-riddled in the history of the New Testament.
Some of those changes hit sore spots even today. For instance, St. Paul may not have been as critical of women as we have been led to believe. Ehrman, chair of the department of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, says it was not Paul but a second-century follower of his who wrote in 1 Timothy 2:11-15: "let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent . . ."
Similarly, says Ehrman, scholars doubt that Paul wrote a passage in Corinthians saying "let the women keep silent."
It appears these later additions were intended to address a power struggle in the early church. For one thing, why would Paul say women should only speak with their heads covered in 11:2-16 of 1 Corinthians, only to say elsewhere they may not speak at all?
To date, 5,700 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament have been discovered, the earliest a tiny fragment of John 18 written around AD 120. Including the 10,000 Latin Vulgate versions, and the thousands in other languages, we have between 200,000 and 400,000 variants of the New Testament today.
Scholars can compare the scripts to determine which was likely the earliest and had the fewest errors -- whether accidental copying mistakes or intentional changes or additions tacked on by later writers to make a point or "clarify" something.
Ehrman began his academic career as a fundamentalist and evangelical who took the Bible as literal truth. Today, he has a much more nuanced idea of "truth." Now, he says, he sees the Bible as "a very human book with very human points of view, many of which differ from one another, and none of which offers an inerrant guide to how we should live."
© The Calgary Herald 2006
MYSTICAL CHRISTIANITY
AYogicView of Christ
By Quincy Howe, Ph.D.
Quincy Howe, Ph.D., former professor of classics, comparative religion, and Sanskrit at Scripps College, Claremont, California, is author of Reincarnation for the Christian (Quest Books). This article first appeared in the March 2005 issue of Yoga International.
SRF Magazine, Summer 2005.
Yoga went global in the twentieth century. Now it seems likely that the divisive chasm between Christian teaching and India's ancient spiritual science will finally be bridged here in the twenty-first. Paramahansa Yogananda's new book, The Second Coming of Christ, holds out this promise, arguing that the division has always been superficial. The implications for yoga practitioners in the West— and for society at large — are enormous.
THE UNDERGROUND RIVER
The traditional Christian teachings hold that Jesus Christ came to the world in order to reconcile the fallen children of the Lord to their Creator. The means of redemption was for Christians to believe from the depths of their soul that Christ's sacrifice on the cross was full payment for the arrogance and disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
This is the mainstream of Christian belief. Less visible but no less ancient is an underground river—a body of esoteric belief—that depicts Jesus as a mystic, as a yogi teaching in the manner of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. The essence of these esoteric teachings is that if we explore our own soul in the depths of meditation, we will find that we are partners with Christ in our access to cosmic consciousness.
With the publication of The Second Coming of Christ, that underground river has burst through the bedrock of the ages. The argument for mystical Christianity no longer needs to be assembled from isolated fragments spanning the past 2,000 years—the Gospel of Thomas, the musings of the desert fathers, the neo-Platonism of Plotinus, the strangely yogic insights of Meister Eckhart. Now we have a 1,700-page commentary on the Gospel story that finds, in the words of Jesus, a fully developed vision of the path of meditation and the science of God-realization. To read Yogananda's commentary is to discover that Jesus was preaching the same doctrine of spiritual self-discovery that Krishna, the apostle of yoga, preached to his disciple Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita.
This is true not only of the passages that point explicitly to inner spirituality, but also of passages that are oblique or puzzling. To start with a passage that is an obvious summons to meditation, let us consider Luke 17:20—21. "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.'"
For Yogananda this statement is clearly in the tradition of Raja Yoga (meditation as the "royal" or highest path to God-union). He writes in The Second Coming of Christ:
"Jesus addresses man as the perennial seeker of permanent happiness and freedom from all suffering: 'The Kingdom of God—of eternal, immutable, ever-newly blissful cosmic consciousness—is within you. Behold your soul as a reflection of the immortal Spirit, and you will find your Self encompassing the infinite empire of God-love, God-wisdom, God-bliss existing in every particle of vibratory creation and in the vibration-less Transcendental Absolute.'
"The teachings of Jesus about God's kingdom—sometimes in direct language, sometimes in parables pregnant with metaphysical meaning—may be said to be the core of the entirety of his message." (pp. 1177-78)
"Many people think of heaven as a physical location, a point of space far above the atmosphere and beyond the stars....In fact, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven consist, respectively, of the transcendental infinitudes of Cosmic Consciousness and the heavenly causal and astral realms of vibratory creation that are considerably finer and more harmonized with God's will than those physical vibrations clustered together as planets, air, and earthly surroundings." (p. 1179)
The above passages bear no resemblance to conventional biblical exegesis. There is no scholarly examination of the wording. There is no attempt to recreate the intellectual climate of Judaea 2,000 years ago. Here Yogananda is speaking with the voice of the spiritual visionary, the voice of Patanjali, Shankara, and the Old Testament prophets. These are the sages who stand, not on the authority of their learning and intellect, but on their anubhava, their unmediated knowledge of spiritual truth.
Yogananda finds yogic truth in the words, "The kingdom of God is within you," as he does in all of Jesus' sayings. Take, for example. John 14:1-2. a passage whose meaning is anything but clear. Jesus says. "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God. believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you." Yogananda comments as follows:
"When Jesus said, 'Let not your heart be troubled,' he voiced an exact parallel to a profound spiritual aphorism in the Yoga Sutras, the preeminent ancient treatise on Raja Yoga. There the illumined sage Patanjali says that yoga, union with God, is possible only by stilling the restlessness of the heart (chitta, the feeling faculty of consciousness)." (p. 1371)
"Thus when Jesus says, 'In my Father's house are many mansions,' he warns his disciples that unless they attain Cosmic Consciousness, after death they would have to dwell on one of the variously graded planes of existence where unredeemed souls go, according to their merits and demerits. His promise, 'I go to prepare a place for you,' refers to the fact that the blessings of a true guru can help his disciples to gain a better place in the many mansioned vibratory spheres in the after-death state." (p. 1372)
Here. Yogananda leaps headlong into the metaphysics, psychology, and space-time concepts of yoga philosophy and claims that throughout the entire Gospel narrative Jesus speaks to his disciples exactly as a guru speaks to his chelas (disciples). His immediate task is to clear their spiritual path of the delusional debris that stand in the way of deep meditation.
Yogananda also shows that Jesus, like a guru in the yoga tradition, is acquainted with the realms—the lokas—to which the soul may travel. The traditional geography of hell, purgatory, limbo, and heaven is bypassed. (Traditional Christianity envisions each soul as a pilgrim traveler in this dark and troubled world, headed toward some indeterminate rapture where time and space shall cease to be.) Yogananda aligns Jesus with the great mystics of India, finding in his words a full vision of the yogi's emancipation in Spirit. In this view, the soul of man moves from life to life through many layers of spiritual space until the dross of the ages, cleansed by meditation, gives way to the unitive immersion of the individual self in Universal Spirit.
THE SERPENT
Yogananda finds a blueprint of the yogic journey in the precise physiology of yoga practice as well as in Jesus' words. One of the more obscure sayings of Jesus can be found in John 3:14-15. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Anyone acquainted with the subtle energies in yoga practice will recognize an old friend at the mention of the serpent. Yogananda once again seizes upon the yogic essence of these words when he writes:
"The word 'serpent' here refers metaphorically to man's consciousness and life force in the subtle coiled passageway at the base of the spine, the matterward flow of which is to be reversed for man to reascend from body attachment to superconscious freedom.... Throughout the Gospels, he IJesus] spoke of his own physical body as 'the Son of man,' as distinguished from his Christ Consciousness, 'the Son of God.'" (p. 259)
"Jesus said that each son of man, each bodily consciousness, must be lifted from the plane of the senses to the astral kingdom by reversing the matter-bent outflowing of the life force to ascension through the serpent-like coiled passage at the base of the spine—the Son of man is lifted up when this serpentine force is uplifted, 'as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.'" (p. 263) "Such is the 'serpent force' (kundalini) in the microcosm of the human body: the coiled current at the base of the spine, a tremendous dynamo of life that when directed outward sustains the physical body and its sensory consciousness; and when consciously directed upward, opens the wonders of the astral cere-brospinal centers." (p. 264-65)
Once there is talk of the kundalini current and the astral cere-brospinal centers, Yogananda's discussion has gone beyond the mystical Christianity of the desert fathers and Meister Eckhart. We are now deeply immersed in the esoteric language of yoga meditation. Here Jesus is not just a mystic in the sense that he seeks God in the temple of inner silence. He is a yogi in the sense that he is fully cognizant of the flow of energy and the ascent of consciousness as one attains elevated states of consciousness.
For the conventional Christian, steeped in a 2,000-year tradition of Jesus as the savior of all humanity— past, present, and future— by freely giving himself over to crucifixion, this is a reorientation of seismic proportions.
But as Yogananda delves into the life and background of Jesus, it becomes clear that the Gospels contain a universal esoteric message that has been awaiting full and systematic explication since the apostolic age. In Yogananda's commentary, what has been veiled, obscure, and oblique is fully disclosed.
COMING UNTO THE FATHER
The Second Coming of Christ tells the story of Christ's life in chronological order. His birth, his travels, his ministry, his parables, his death, and his resurrection are narrated following the King James Version of the New Testament. This narrative is supported by Yogananda's extensive commentary. The result is a massively annotated presentation of what might be called mystical Christianity or esoteric Christianity. Inherent in Yogananda's view is the demonstrable fact that Jesus himself is a yoga master.
"We must know Jesus as an Oriental [Eastern] Christ, a supreme yogi who manifested full mastery of the universal science of God-
union, and thus could speak and act as a savior with the voice and authority of God. He has been Westernized too much.
"Jesus was an Oriental, by birth and blood and training. To separate a teacher from the background of his nationality is to blur the understanding through which he is perceived. No matter what Jesus the Christ was himself, as regards his own soul, being born and maturing in the Orient [East], he had to use the medium of Oriental civilization, customs, mannerisms, language, parables, in spreading his message....
"Though, esoterically understood, the teachings of Jesus are universal, they are saturated with the essence of Oriental culture— rooted in Oriental influences which have been made adaptable to the Western environment." (pp. 90-91)
When Jesus is seen as an Easterner, mystical Christianity breaks away from many deeply embedded traditions and beliefs. First, mystical Christianity becomes a path of spiritual union rather than a path of salvation. The impediment against which the mystic works is a clouded and obscure vision of the immediacy of God. For the mystic, salvation consists not in a redemptive gesture fromon high, but rather in grasping the reality that the individual self is now and always has been perfect, one with the Universal Self.
Second, mystical Christianity rends the heavy mantle of time that encumbers the believer's journey toward redemption. In the temple of inner silence, God himself is immediately available to the accomplished aspirant. The mystical Christian is not constrained to look ahead to some kind of revelation or last judgment at the end of time. The end of time is literally a heartbeat away, and God's full self-disclosure can happen at any moment.
Third, the physical body is not an impediment to coming face-to-face with God. No longer is the mystical Christian required to walk the path of faith where the best we can expect is to perceive as "through a glass darkly" (1 Cor. 13:12). We have direct access to the fullness of cosmic consciousness in our present frail and mortal condition. The ancient and proven science of yoga can subdue and penetrate the natural turbulence of the body.
Thus, The Second Coming of Christ continues the legacy of the Sanatana Dharma—the perennial philosophy that proclaims the bliss of God as the overarching goal of all religious practice. This consummation is available to one and all, and the apparent exclusivity of Christ's claim, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6), becomes a promise to all humanity, irrespective of creed. Yogananda quotes his own guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, in these words:
"Jesus meant, never that he was the sole Son of God, but that no man can attain the unqualified Absolute, the transcendent Father beyond creation, until he has first manifested the 'Son' or activating Christ Consciousness within creation. Jesus, who had achieved entire oneness with that Christ Consciousness, identified himself with it inasmuch as his own ego had long since been dissolved." (p. 1373)
Yogananda elaborates further in his own words: "The Christ Consciousness present in Jesus, and in all vibratory creation and phenomena, is the noumenon, 'truth,' the primary substance and essence of life of everything in creation. No human being who is a part of vibratory creation can take his consciousness to Cosmic Consciousness, 'the Father'— which lies beyond vibratory creation and the immanent Christ Consciousness—without first experiencing the Christ-imbued Cosmic Vibration, or Holy Ghost, that manifests vibratory creation, then passing through the God-reflection of Christ Conciousness. In other words, to 'come unto the Father' every human consciousness has to expand and attain realization of the Cosmic Vibration first, and then know Christ Consciousness, in order to reach Cosmic Consciousness." (pp. 1373-74)
Here we have an exalted vision of what it means to "come unto the Father." Far from being a guarded privilege available only to those who are Christians, it is the universal embrace of God extended to all His creatures irrespective of culture, ethnicity, or religion. Christ and the Holy Ghost are seen as way stations on the ascent to cosmic consciousness. And cosmic consciousness, or the "Father," is the underlying fundament of every human soul.
For those who may have felt that traditional Christianity is devoid of the face-to-face experience of God, there is great assurance to be gained from The Second Coming of Christ. While commenting on passages built entirely on the conventional vocabulary of Christianity, Yogananda is able to pull to the surface the promise of truly ravishing experiences. Consider Yogananda's words on the ascent of consciousness that is available through the Holy Ghost:
"Desire limits the consciousness to the object of desire. Love for all good things as expressions of God expands man's consciousness. One who bathes his consciousness in the Holy Ghost becomes unattached to personal desires and objects while enjoying everything with the joyousness of God within.
"In deepest meditation, as practiced by those who are advanced in the technique of Kriya Yoga. the devotee experiences not only expansion in the Aum vibration 'Voice from Heaven,' but finds himself able also to follow the microcosmic light of Spirit in the 'straight way' of the spine into the light of the spiritual eye 'dove descending from heaven.'" (p. 125)
COMMUNION
What did Yogananda have to say about the vast body of his writings? Here are his own words:
"In these pages I offer to the world an intuitionally perceived spiritual interpretation of the words spoken by Jesus, truths received through actual communion with Christ Consciousness. They will be found to be universally true if they are studied conscientiously and meditated upon with soul-awakened intuitive perception. They reveal the perfect unity that exists among the revelations of the Christian Bible, the Bhagavad Gita of India, and all other time-tested true scriptures." (p. xxiii)
This is a bold and extraordinary assertion. The measure of its veracity must be taken individually as each new reader reflects on the possibility that Krishna and Jesus, the towering avatars of East and West, were proclaiming the same message of eternal, liberating truth.
AYogicView of Christ
By Quincy Howe, Ph.D.
Quincy Howe, Ph.D., former professor of classics, comparative religion, and Sanskrit at Scripps College, Claremont, California, is author of Reincarnation for the Christian (Quest Books). This article first appeared in the March 2005 issue of Yoga International.
SRF Magazine, Summer 2005.
Yoga went global in the twentieth century. Now it seems likely that the divisive chasm between Christian teaching and India's ancient spiritual science will finally be bridged here in the twenty-first. Paramahansa Yogananda's new book, The Second Coming of Christ, holds out this promise, arguing that the division has always been superficial. The implications for yoga practitioners in the West— and for society at large — are enormous.
THE UNDERGROUND RIVER
The traditional Christian teachings hold that Jesus Christ came to the world in order to reconcile the fallen children of the Lord to their Creator. The means of redemption was for Christians to believe from the depths of their soul that Christ's sacrifice on the cross was full payment for the arrogance and disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
This is the mainstream of Christian belief. Less visible but no less ancient is an underground river—a body of esoteric belief—that depicts Jesus as a mystic, as a yogi teaching in the manner of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. The essence of these esoteric teachings is that if we explore our own soul in the depths of meditation, we will find that we are partners with Christ in our access to cosmic consciousness.
With the publication of The Second Coming of Christ, that underground river has burst through the bedrock of the ages. The argument for mystical Christianity no longer needs to be assembled from isolated fragments spanning the past 2,000 years—the Gospel of Thomas, the musings of the desert fathers, the neo-Platonism of Plotinus, the strangely yogic insights of Meister Eckhart. Now we have a 1,700-page commentary on the Gospel story that finds, in the words of Jesus, a fully developed vision of the path of meditation and the science of God-realization. To read Yogananda's commentary is to discover that Jesus was preaching the same doctrine of spiritual self-discovery that Krishna, the apostle of yoga, preached to his disciple Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita.
This is true not only of the passages that point explicitly to inner spirituality, but also of passages that are oblique or puzzling. To start with a passage that is an obvious summons to meditation, let us consider Luke 17:20—21. "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.'"
For Yogananda this statement is clearly in the tradition of Raja Yoga (meditation as the "royal" or highest path to God-union). He writes in The Second Coming of Christ:
"Jesus addresses man as the perennial seeker of permanent happiness and freedom from all suffering: 'The Kingdom of God—of eternal, immutable, ever-newly blissful cosmic consciousness—is within you. Behold your soul as a reflection of the immortal Spirit, and you will find your Self encompassing the infinite empire of God-love, God-wisdom, God-bliss existing in every particle of vibratory creation and in the vibration-less Transcendental Absolute.'
"The teachings of Jesus about God's kingdom—sometimes in direct language, sometimes in parables pregnant with metaphysical meaning—may be said to be the core of the entirety of his message." (pp. 1177-78)
"Many people think of heaven as a physical location, a point of space far above the atmosphere and beyond the stars....In fact, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven consist, respectively, of the transcendental infinitudes of Cosmic Consciousness and the heavenly causal and astral realms of vibratory creation that are considerably finer and more harmonized with God's will than those physical vibrations clustered together as planets, air, and earthly surroundings." (p. 1179)
The above passages bear no resemblance to conventional biblical exegesis. There is no scholarly examination of the wording. There is no attempt to recreate the intellectual climate of Judaea 2,000 years ago. Here Yogananda is speaking with the voice of the spiritual visionary, the voice of Patanjali, Shankara, and the Old Testament prophets. These are the sages who stand, not on the authority of their learning and intellect, but on their anubhava, their unmediated knowledge of spiritual truth.
Yogananda finds yogic truth in the words, "The kingdom of God is within you," as he does in all of Jesus' sayings. Take, for example. John 14:1-2. a passage whose meaning is anything but clear. Jesus says. "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God. believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you." Yogananda comments as follows:
"When Jesus said, 'Let not your heart be troubled,' he voiced an exact parallel to a profound spiritual aphorism in the Yoga Sutras, the preeminent ancient treatise on Raja Yoga. There the illumined sage Patanjali says that yoga, union with God, is possible only by stilling the restlessness of the heart (chitta, the feeling faculty of consciousness)." (p. 1371)
"Thus when Jesus says, 'In my Father's house are many mansions,' he warns his disciples that unless they attain Cosmic Consciousness, after death they would have to dwell on one of the variously graded planes of existence where unredeemed souls go, according to their merits and demerits. His promise, 'I go to prepare a place for you,' refers to the fact that the blessings of a true guru can help his disciples to gain a better place in the many mansioned vibratory spheres in the after-death state." (p. 1372)
Here. Yogananda leaps headlong into the metaphysics, psychology, and space-time concepts of yoga philosophy and claims that throughout the entire Gospel narrative Jesus speaks to his disciples exactly as a guru speaks to his chelas (disciples). His immediate task is to clear their spiritual path of the delusional debris that stand in the way of deep meditation.
Yogananda also shows that Jesus, like a guru in the yoga tradition, is acquainted with the realms—the lokas—to which the soul may travel. The traditional geography of hell, purgatory, limbo, and heaven is bypassed. (Traditional Christianity envisions each soul as a pilgrim traveler in this dark and troubled world, headed toward some indeterminate rapture where time and space shall cease to be.) Yogananda aligns Jesus with the great mystics of India, finding in his words a full vision of the yogi's emancipation in Spirit. In this view, the soul of man moves from life to life through many layers of spiritual space until the dross of the ages, cleansed by meditation, gives way to the unitive immersion of the individual self in Universal Spirit.
THE SERPENT
Yogananda finds a blueprint of the yogic journey in the precise physiology of yoga practice as well as in Jesus' words. One of the more obscure sayings of Jesus can be found in John 3:14-15. "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Anyone acquainted with the subtle energies in yoga practice will recognize an old friend at the mention of the serpent. Yogananda once again seizes upon the yogic essence of these words when he writes:
"The word 'serpent' here refers metaphorically to man's consciousness and life force in the subtle coiled passageway at the base of the spine, the matterward flow of which is to be reversed for man to reascend from body attachment to superconscious freedom.... Throughout the Gospels, he IJesus] spoke of his own physical body as 'the Son of man,' as distinguished from his Christ Consciousness, 'the Son of God.'" (p. 259)
"Jesus said that each son of man, each bodily consciousness, must be lifted from the plane of the senses to the astral kingdom by reversing the matter-bent outflowing of the life force to ascension through the serpent-like coiled passage at the base of the spine—the Son of man is lifted up when this serpentine force is uplifted, 'as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.'" (p. 263) "Such is the 'serpent force' (kundalini) in the microcosm of the human body: the coiled current at the base of the spine, a tremendous dynamo of life that when directed outward sustains the physical body and its sensory consciousness; and when consciously directed upward, opens the wonders of the astral cere-brospinal centers." (p. 264-65)
Once there is talk of the kundalini current and the astral cere-brospinal centers, Yogananda's discussion has gone beyond the mystical Christianity of the desert fathers and Meister Eckhart. We are now deeply immersed in the esoteric language of yoga meditation. Here Jesus is not just a mystic in the sense that he seeks God in the temple of inner silence. He is a yogi in the sense that he is fully cognizant of the flow of energy and the ascent of consciousness as one attains elevated states of consciousness.
For the conventional Christian, steeped in a 2,000-year tradition of Jesus as the savior of all humanity— past, present, and future— by freely giving himself over to crucifixion, this is a reorientation of seismic proportions.
But as Yogananda delves into the life and background of Jesus, it becomes clear that the Gospels contain a universal esoteric message that has been awaiting full and systematic explication since the apostolic age. In Yogananda's commentary, what has been veiled, obscure, and oblique is fully disclosed.
COMING UNTO THE FATHER
The Second Coming of Christ tells the story of Christ's life in chronological order. His birth, his travels, his ministry, his parables, his death, and his resurrection are narrated following the King James Version of the New Testament. This narrative is supported by Yogananda's extensive commentary. The result is a massively annotated presentation of what might be called mystical Christianity or esoteric Christianity. Inherent in Yogananda's view is the demonstrable fact that Jesus himself is a yoga master.
"We must know Jesus as an Oriental [Eastern] Christ, a supreme yogi who manifested full mastery of the universal science of God-
union, and thus could speak and act as a savior with the voice and authority of God. He has been Westernized too much.
"Jesus was an Oriental, by birth and blood and training. To separate a teacher from the background of his nationality is to blur the understanding through which he is perceived. No matter what Jesus the Christ was himself, as regards his own soul, being born and maturing in the Orient [East], he had to use the medium of Oriental civilization, customs, mannerisms, language, parables, in spreading his message....
"Though, esoterically understood, the teachings of Jesus are universal, they are saturated with the essence of Oriental culture— rooted in Oriental influences which have been made adaptable to the Western environment." (pp. 90-91)
When Jesus is seen as an Easterner, mystical Christianity breaks away from many deeply embedded traditions and beliefs. First, mystical Christianity becomes a path of spiritual union rather than a path of salvation. The impediment against which the mystic works is a clouded and obscure vision of the immediacy of God. For the mystic, salvation consists not in a redemptive gesture fromon high, but rather in grasping the reality that the individual self is now and always has been perfect, one with the Universal Self.
Second, mystical Christianity rends the heavy mantle of time that encumbers the believer's journey toward redemption. In the temple of inner silence, God himself is immediately available to the accomplished aspirant. The mystical Christian is not constrained to look ahead to some kind of revelation or last judgment at the end of time. The end of time is literally a heartbeat away, and God's full self-disclosure can happen at any moment.
Third, the physical body is not an impediment to coming face-to-face with God. No longer is the mystical Christian required to walk the path of faith where the best we can expect is to perceive as "through a glass darkly" (1 Cor. 13:12). We have direct access to the fullness of cosmic consciousness in our present frail and mortal condition. The ancient and proven science of yoga can subdue and penetrate the natural turbulence of the body.
Thus, The Second Coming of Christ continues the legacy of the Sanatana Dharma—the perennial philosophy that proclaims the bliss of God as the overarching goal of all religious practice. This consummation is available to one and all, and the apparent exclusivity of Christ's claim, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6), becomes a promise to all humanity, irrespective of creed. Yogananda quotes his own guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, in these words:
"Jesus meant, never that he was the sole Son of God, but that no man can attain the unqualified Absolute, the transcendent Father beyond creation, until he has first manifested the 'Son' or activating Christ Consciousness within creation. Jesus, who had achieved entire oneness with that Christ Consciousness, identified himself with it inasmuch as his own ego had long since been dissolved." (p. 1373)
Yogananda elaborates further in his own words: "The Christ Consciousness present in Jesus, and in all vibratory creation and phenomena, is the noumenon, 'truth,' the primary substance and essence of life of everything in creation. No human being who is a part of vibratory creation can take his consciousness to Cosmic Consciousness, 'the Father'— which lies beyond vibratory creation and the immanent Christ Consciousness—without first experiencing the Christ-imbued Cosmic Vibration, or Holy Ghost, that manifests vibratory creation, then passing through the God-reflection of Christ Conciousness. In other words, to 'come unto the Father' every human consciousness has to expand and attain realization of the Cosmic Vibration first, and then know Christ Consciousness, in order to reach Cosmic Consciousness." (pp. 1373-74)
Here we have an exalted vision of what it means to "come unto the Father." Far from being a guarded privilege available only to those who are Christians, it is the universal embrace of God extended to all His creatures irrespective of culture, ethnicity, or religion. Christ and the Holy Ghost are seen as way stations on the ascent to cosmic consciousness. And cosmic consciousness, or the "Father," is the underlying fundament of every human soul.
For those who may have felt that traditional Christianity is devoid of the face-to-face experience of God, there is great assurance to be gained from The Second Coming of Christ. While commenting on passages built entirely on the conventional vocabulary of Christianity, Yogananda is able to pull to the surface the promise of truly ravishing experiences. Consider Yogananda's words on the ascent of consciousness that is available through the Holy Ghost:
"Desire limits the consciousness to the object of desire. Love for all good things as expressions of God expands man's consciousness. One who bathes his consciousness in the Holy Ghost becomes unattached to personal desires and objects while enjoying everything with the joyousness of God within.
"In deepest meditation, as practiced by those who are advanced in the technique of Kriya Yoga. the devotee experiences not only expansion in the Aum vibration 'Voice from Heaven,' but finds himself able also to follow the microcosmic light of Spirit in the 'straight way' of the spine into the light of the spiritual eye 'dove descending from heaven.'" (p. 125)
COMMUNION
What did Yogananda have to say about the vast body of his writings? Here are his own words:
"In these pages I offer to the world an intuitionally perceived spiritual interpretation of the words spoken by Jesus, truths received through actual communion with Christ Consciousness. They will be found to be universally true if they are studied conscientiously and meditated upon with soul-awakened intuitive perception. They reveal the perfect unity that exists among the revelations of the Christian Bible, the Bhagavad Gita of India, and all other time-tested true scriptures." (p. xxiii)
This is a bold and extraordinary assertion. The measure of its veracity must be taken individually as each new reader reflects on the possibility that Krishna and Jesus, the towering avatars of East and West, were proclaiming the same message of eternal, liberating truth.
YAM,
In the wake of the current controversy and saga over the film potrayal of Da Vinci Code, the following is the visionary/enlightened view of Christ as projected and experienced through Paramahansa Yogananda excerpted from his book The Second Comiing of Christ.
"The veracity of the Biblical stories of Jesus is regarded skeptically by many in the modern age. Scoffing at supernormal capacities that challenge common prejudices about what is humanly possible, some staunchly deny that the God-man of the Gospels ever lived. Others concede a measure of historicity to Jesus, but depict him only as a charismatic ethical or spiritual teacher. But to the New Testament account of the Christ of Galilee I humbly add my own testimony. From personal experience I know the real ity of his life and miracles, for I have seen him many, many times, and communed with him, and received his direct confirmation about these matters.
He has come to me often as the baby Jesus and as the young Christ. I have seen him as he was before his crucifixion, his face very sad; and I have seen him in the glori ous form in which he appeared after his resurrection.
We think of the baby Jesus as helpless in his crib, dependent on his mother's milk and care; yet within that tiny form was the Infinite Christ, the Light of the universe in which we are all dancing as motion-picture shadows. Dur ing one of our daylong Christmas meditations, when I prayed to see the baby Christ, the light of the spiritual eye in my forehead opened its rays, and I saw Jesus as an in fant. He appeared in such beauty and power of God. All the forces of nature were playing in that baby-face. In the light of those eyes the universe trembled—waiting for the command of those eyes.
Jesus did not have a light complexion with blue eyes and blond hair as many Western painters have depicted him. His eyes were dark brown, and he had the olive-colored skin of his Asiatic heritage. His nose was a little flattened at the tip. His moustache, sparse beard, and long hair were black. His face and body were beautifully formed. Of all the pictures I have seen of him in the West, the rendering by Hof-mann comes closest to showing the accurate features of the incarnate Jesus.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
This veiled promise given by Jesus has created great misunderstanding among many Christian sects. These firmly believe that God will literally produce Jesus out of the clouds in the sky in a glorious display and with His power will destroy the "wicked" (non-conforming) people of the earth and give redemption to selected worshipers. Jesus said, "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." Yet, twenty centuries have passed, and Jesus has not yet come out of the clouds openly before the different nations, "tribes." Many true devotees throughout the ages, however, have in ecstatic states of devout meditation seen Jesus coming out of the clouds of darkness of their closed eyes, resplendent in great power and glory.
He came to Saint Anthony, the desert anchorite in Egypt, centuries ago, when the saint was being severely tried and tormented by the devil and his legions of demons in extraordinary attempts to wrest from him his faith. Saint An lliony cried out defiantly "Satan, do your worst! Nothing w ill ever separate me from Christ!" The demons attacked; the walls of the cave shook with such ferocity that their col lapse and the death of the saint seemed imminent. At the last moment, suddenly the radiant splendor of Christ appeared, and Anthony was safe. He said to the Lord, "Where were you, my Jesus? Why did you not come sooner to assist me?" And the voice out of that Light replied: "Anthony, I was with you all the time."
Christ has lived also in the realization of those of other religious persuasions; Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa of India undertook the sadhana of different religions to prove they all lead to the same realization; he had ecstatic communion with Jesus, whom he saw as "the Christ, who shed His heart's blood for the redemption of the world, who suffered a sea of anguish for love of men....the Master Yogi, who is in eternal union with God....Love Incarnate."
Liberated souls such as Jesus, whose mission continues beyond their incarnation, are able to materialize their bodies at will anywhere in the astral heavens or in the physical world at any time—today or unto thousands of years after their ascension. That is why Jesus could say in truth to his disciples: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." He immortalized his body as well as his spirit. Any true devotee can see him as Jesus Christ or know him as one with the Infinite Christ. Saint Francis, born centuries after Jesus, used to see him every night in Assisi. Saint Teresa of Avila knew him both in form and as the Formless Christ.
Numerous divinely attuned souls have seen him. He has come to me many, many times – whenever I so desire, he appears to me, with his wondrous eyes in which universes revolve, emanating the love of God omnipresent in the Christ Consciousness. Any devotee whose concentration is very deep and whose devotion is pure and persistent can see him by peering through the omniscient spiritual eye at the Christ Consciousness center in the forehead. Intensity and perseverance are necessary; most devotees pray a little while, but soon get discouraged and give up. To such lukewarm effort, Jesus will not respond. Even so, he is listening to every prayer, waiting for the devotee to become receptive and consciously welcome his presence.
It is not a matter of visualizing him or attempting to produce the form of Christ through imagination. That will re sult in an image being projected by the subconscious mind, just as figures are created in nightly dreams—and it will not be the Christ. Rather, one must pray without ceasing, as Je sus taught. By the practice of Kriya Yoga, taking the consciousness into the kingdom of God within, and then praying again and again for Christ's appearance, the devotee can behold the real Christ right in front of him. At first it will be in a vision perceptible to the sense of sight. When the vision can be seen with open as well as with closed eyes, then by even higher development in the intensity of devotion and concentration, the presence of Christ will manifest as a materialized form. That is the ultimate vision, in which one can touch the body of Jesus and talk with him, just as truly as when he walked the earth
In the wake of the current controversy and saga over the film potrayal of Da Vinci Code, the following is the visionary/enlightened view of Christ as projected and experienced through Paramahansa Yogananda excerpted from his book The Second Comiing of Christ.
"The veracity of the Biblical stories of Jesus is regarded skeptically by many in the modern age. Scoffing at supernormal capacities that challenge common prejudices about what is humanly possible, some staunchly deny that the God-man of the Gospels ever lived. Others concede a measure of historicity to Jesus, but depict him only as a charismatic ethical or spiritual teacher. But to the New Testament account of the Christ of Galilee I humbly add my own testimony. From personal experience I know the real ity of his life and miracles, for I have seen him many, many times, and communed with him, and received his direct confirmation about these matters.
He has come to me often as the baby Jesus and as the young Christ. I have seen him as he was before his crucifixion, his face very sad; and I have seen him in the glori ous form in which he appeared after his resurrection.
We think of the baby Jesus as helpless in his crib, dependent on his mother's milk and care; yet within that tiny form was the Infinite Christ, the Light of the universe in which we are all dancing as motion-picture shadows. Dur ing one of our daylong Christmas meditations, when I prayed to see the baby Christ, the light of the spiritual eye in my forehead opened its rays, and I saw Jesus as an in fant. He appeared in such beauty and power of God. All the forces of nature were playing in that baby-face. In the light of those eyes the universe trembled—waiting for the command of those eyes.
Jesus did not have a light complexion with blue eyes and blond hair as many Western painters have depicted him. His eyes were dark brown, and he had the olive-colored skin of his Asiatic heritage. His nose was a little flattened at the tip. His moustache, sparse beard, and long hair were black. His face and body were beautifully formed. Of all the pictures I have seen of him in the West, the rendering by Hof-mann comes closest to showing the accurate features of the incarnate Jesus.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
This veiled promise given by Jesus has created great misunderstanding among many Christian sects. These firmly believe that God will literally produce Jesus out of the clouds in the sky in a glorious display and with His power will destroy the "wicked" (non-conforming) people of the earth and give redemption to selected worshipers. Jesus said, "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." Yet, twenty centuries have passed, and Jesus has not yet come out of the clouds openly before the different nations, "tribes." Many true devotees throughout the ages, however, have in ecstatic states of devout meditation seen Jesus coming out of the clouds of darkness of their closed eyes, resplendent in great power and glory.
He came to Saint Anthony, the desert anchorite in Egypt, centuries ago, when the saint was being severely tried and tormented by the devil and his legions of demons in extraordinary attempts to wrest from him his faith. Saint An lliony cried out defiantly "Satan, do your worst! Nothing w ill ever separate me from Christ!" The demons attacked; the walls of the cave shook with such ferocity that their col lapse and the death of the saint seemed imminent. At the last moment, suddenly the radiant splendor of Christ appeared, and Anthony was safe. He said to the Lord, "Where were you, my Jesus? Why did you not come sooner to assist me?" And the voice out of that Light replied: "Anthony, I was with you all the time."
Christ has lived also in the realization of those of other religious persuasions; Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa of India undertook the sadhana of different religions to prove they all lead to the same realization; he had ecstatic communion with Jesus, whom he saw as "the Christ, who shed His heart's blood for the redemption of the world, who suffered a sea of anguish for love of men....the Master Yogi, who is in eternal union with God....Love Incarnate."
Liberated souls such as Jesus, whose mission continues beyond their incarnation, are able to materialize their bodies at will anywhere in the astral heavens or in the physical world at any time—today or unto thousands of years after their ascension. That is why Jesus could say in truth to his disciples: "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." He immortalized his body as well as his spirit. Any true devotee can see him as Jesus Christ or know him as one with the Infinite Christ. Saint Francis, born centuries after Jesus, used to see him every night in Assisi. Saint Teresa of Avila knew him both in form and as the Formless Christ.
Numerous divinely attuned souls have seen him. He has come to me many, many times – whenever I so desire, he appears to me, with his wondrous eyes in which universes revolve, emanating the love of God omnipresent in the Christ Consciousness. Any devotee whose concentration is very deep and whose devotion is pure and persistent can see him by peering through the omniscient spiritual eye at the Christ Consciousness center in the forehead. Intensity and perseverance are necessary; most devotees pray a little while, but soon get discouraged and give up. To such lukewarm effort, Jesus will not respond. Even so, he is listening to every prayer, waiting for the devotee to become receptive and consciously welcome his presence.
It is not a matter of visualizing him or attempting to produce the form of Christ through imagination. That will re sult in an image being projected by the subconscious mind, just as figures are created in nightly dreams—and it will not be the Christ. Rather, one must pray without ceasing, as Je sus taught. By the practice of Kriya Yoga, taking the consciousness into the kingdom of God within, and then praying again and again for Christ's appearance, the devotee can behold the real Christ right in front of him. At first it will be in a vision perceptible to the sense of sight. When the vision can be seen with open as well as with closed eyes, then by even higher development in the intensity of devotion and concentration, the presence of Christ will manifest as a materialized form. That is the ultimate vision, in which one can touch the body of Jesus and talk with him, just as truly as when he walked the earth
The following appeared in today's Calgary Herald. It reflects MHI's recent sentiments about the connection between faith and ethics/values stated in his two recent speeches, one at Columbia University and the other at Tutzing, Germany.
Pope blames Canada's low birth rate on godlessness
Bishops urged to be men of hope
Published: Sunday, May 21, 2006
Pope Benedict said Saturday that low birth rates in Canada are the result of the "pervasive effects of secularism" and asked the country's bishops to counter the trend by preaching "with passion" the truth of Christ.
The Pontiff's comments to visiting bishops from Canada echoed his statements last month to members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, when he said that a lack of true love was behind an increase in failed marriages and a decrease in birth rates in much of the developed world.
"Like many countries . . . Canada is today suffering from the pervasive effects of secularism," Benedict said, speaking in English.
"The attempt to promote a vision of humanity apart from God's transcendent order and indifferent to Christ's beckoning light removes from the reach of ordinary men and women the experience of genuine hope," the Pope said. "One of the more dramatic symptoms of this mentality, clearly evident in your own region, is the plummeting birth rate."
Canada's birth rate in 2005 was 10.5 births for every 1,000 people, according to Statistics Canada.
Benedict blamed the low birth rate on social ills and moral ambiguities that result from secular ideology. He added that "Canadians look to you to be men of hope, preaching and teaching with passion the splendour of the truth of Christ who dispels the darkness and illuminates the way to renew ecclesiastical and civic life, educating consciences and teaching the authentic dignity of the person and human society."
Benedict has spoken out several times in favour of large families and called for legislation to help support families with children.
© The Calgary Herald 2006
Pope blames Canada's low birth rate on godlessness
Bishops urged to be men of hope
Published: Sunday, May 21, 2006
Pope Benedict said Saturday that low birth rates in Canada are the result of the "pervasive effects of secularism" and asked the country's bishops to counter the trend by preaching "with passion" the truth of Christ.
The Pontiff's comments to visiting bishops from Canada echoed his statements last month to members of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, when he said that a lack of true love was behind an increase in failed marriages and a decrease in birth rates in much of the developed world.
"Like many countries . . . Canada is today suffering from the pervasive effects of secularism," Benedict said, speaking in English.
"The attempt to promote a vision of humanity apart from God's transcendent order and indifferent to Christ's beckoning light removes from the reach of ordinary men and women the experience of genuine hope," the Pope said. "One of the more dramatic symptoms of this mentality, clearly evident in your own region, is the plummeting birth rate."
Canada's birth rate in 2005 was 10.5 births for every 1,000 people, according to Statistics Canada.
Benedict blamed the low birth rate on social ills and moral ambiguities that result from secular ideology. He added that "Canadians look to you to be men of hope, preaching and teaching with passion the splendour of the truth of Christ who dispels the darkness and illuminates the way to renew ecclesiastical and civic life, educating consciences and teaching the authentic dignity of the person and human society."
Benedict has spoken out several times in favour of large families and called for legislation to help support families with children.
© The Calgary Herald 2006
Pope takes message against gay marriage to Spain
Herald News Services
Published: Friday, July 07, 2006
Pope Benedict travels to Spain this weekend as part of his campaign to defend the traditional family, visiting a predominantly Roman Catholic country that allows gay marriage, divorce and abortion.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are expected when Benedict arrives to address an international meeting on the family organized by the Vatican in the city of Valencia on Spain's Mediterranean coast.
For months Benedict has been denouncing gay marriage and other challenges to church doctrine in Europe and elsewhere -- recently summed up by the Vatican as the "greatest threat ever" to the traditional family based on marriage between a man and a woman.
The meeting in Spain has particular significance because of the Catholic Church's battle with the Socialist government, which took office two years ago with an agenda that included legalizing gay marriage, streamlining procedures for abortion and divorce, and scrapping plans by the previous conservative government to make religion classes obligatory in schools.
Benedict has made combating a Europe of religious apathy a priority of his papacy. Vatican officials have declared that such former Catholic bedrocks as Spain are in need of a "new evangelization."
© The Calgary Herald 2006
Herald News Services
Published: Friday, July 07, 2006
Pope Benedict travels to Spain this weekend as part of his campaign to defend the traditional family, visiting a predominantly Roman Catholic country that allows gay marriage, divorce and abortion.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are expected when Benedict arrives to address an international meeting on the family organized by the Vatican in the city of Valencia on Spain's Mediterranean coast.
For months Benedict has been denouncing gay marriage and other challenges to church doctrine in Europe and elsewhere -- recently summed up by the Vatican as the "greatest threat ever" to the traditional family based on marriage between a man and a woman.
The meeting in Spain has particular significance because of the Catholic Church's battle with the Socialist government, which took office two years ago with an agenda that included legalizing gay marriage, streamlining procedures for abortion and divorce, and scrapping plans by the previous conservative government to make religion classes obligatory in schools.
Benedict has made combating a Europe of religious apathy a priority of his papacy. Vatican officials have declared that such former Catholic bedrocks as Spain are in need of a "new evangelization."
© The Calgary Herald 2006
Words of the Word of God: Jesus Christ ('a) Speaks through Shi'i Narrations
Selected, edited and translated by
Mahdi Muntazir Qa'im and Muhammad Legenhausen
Vol 13. No. 3.- 4
Introduction:
In the Qur'an, in a passage describing the annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus ('a) is described as a Word from God: "O Mary! Verily Allah gives you the glad tidings of a Word from Him; his name is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, eminent in this world, and in the Hereafter of those near [to God]" (3:44)
The context in which this ayah was revealed was one of inter-religious encounter. It is said that the Christians of Najran sent a delegation to the Prophet of Islam (s) at Makkah to question him about the teachings of Islam concerning Jesus ('a), and God revealed the above and other ayat of Surat Al 'Imran in response. The response is not only not a denial of Christian teachings, although the divinity of Christ is clearly rejected, but also an affirmation of much believed by Christians as well, even the designation of Christ as logos: 'O People of the Book! Do not go to extremes in your creed, and do not say of Allah but the Truth. Verily, the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit from Him (Qur'an 4:171) So in addition to being called the Word of God, Jesus ('a) is also called a Spirit of God and in some of the narrations reported in the Shi'i tradition, this title is used.
Of course, the interpretation of the logos in Christian theology differs markedly from the interpretation of the kalimah by Muslim scholars. For the Christian, according to the Gospel of John, the Word was God and the Word became flesh.' For the Muslim, on the other hand, the Word is creature, even while it is the creative principle, for it is in God's utterance of the word 'Be'. That creation takes place. To call Christ the Word of Allah is not to deify him, but to verify his status as prophet. Because of his high status as prophet, Jesus ('a) becomes a complete manifestation of God, one who conveys the message of God, one who can speak on behalf of God, the Word of God Jesus ('a) becomes the Word of God not because of an incarnation whereby his flesh becomes divine, but because his spirit is refined to such an extent that it becomes a mirror whereby divinity comes to be known. The temple is holy not because of any inherent sanctity in the structure, but because it is the place of the worship of God.
The differences between Islamic and Christian thinking about Jesus ('a) are as important as they are subtle. Both accept the virgin birth, although it is ironic that a growing number of liberal Christians have come to have doubts about this miracle while Muslims remain steadfast! Among the other miracles attributed to Jesus ('a) in the Glorious Qur'an are the revival of the dead and the creation of a bird from clay, but all of the miracles performed by Jesus ('a) are expressly by the permission of Allah. Just as in the miracle of his birth, Jesus ('a) came into the world by a human mother and divine spirit, so too, his miracles are performed as human actions with divine permission. In this regard the error of the Christians is explained by Ibn 'Arabi as follows:
"This matter has led certain people to speak of incarnation and to say that, in reviving the dead, he is God. Therefore, since they conceal God, Who in reality revives the dead, in the human form of Jesus, He has said, They are concealers [unbelievers] who say that God is the Messiah, son of Mary. (5:72)" [1]
The point is that one can find God in Jesus ('a) without deifying him, and furthermore that deifying Jesus ('a) is really an obstacle to finding God in Jesus ('a), for in the deification one ceases to look in Jesus ('a) for anything beyond him. It is as if one were to become distracted from a message by focusing one's attention on the words through which it was conveyed.
To the above point it may be added that not only does the doctrine of the incarnation prevent one from finding God in Christ ('a), but it also prevents one from seeing Christ ('a) the man, because his imagined divinity gets in the way.
One of the central questions of Christian theology is: "Who was Jesus Christ?" The formulation of answers to this question is called Christology. In this area of theology, Christians have debated the significance of the historical Jesus as opposed to the picture of Jesus presented in the traditions of the Christian Churches and the Biblical understanding of Jesus. The time has come for Muslims to begin work in this area, as well. Through the development of an Islamic Christology we can come to a better understanding of Islam as contrasted with Christianity, and Islam in consonance with Christianity, too. Indeed, the first steps in this direction are laid out for us in the Qur'an itself, in the verses mentioned above and others. Contemporary work toward an Islamic Christology is scarce. Christian authors have tended to stress the salvific function of Jesus ('a) which seems to have no place in Islam, and given this, the Christians ask one another whether Christ ('a) can be the savior of Muslims and others who are not Christians. Christians should be reminded that Muslims accept Jesus ('a) as savior, along with all the other prophets, for the prophetic function is to save humanity from the scourge of sin by conveying the message of guidance revealed by God. The important difference between Islam and Christianity here is not over the issue of whether Jesus ('a) saves, but how he saves. Islam denies that salvation is through redemption resulting from the crucifixion, and instead turns its attention to the instruction provided in the life of the prophets ('a).
Muslims, on the other hand, have tended to produce polemical works showing how much of what is in the Bible is consistent with the Islamic view of Christ ('a) as prophet rather than as a person of the Trinity. Some interesting work along these lines has been initiated by Ahmad Deedat in South Africa. More profound insights into the differences between Islam and other faiths, including Christianity, may be found in the writings of Frithjof Schuon, Shaykh 'Isa Nur al-Din Ahmad, who presents the beginnings of a genuine Christology from a sufi perspective in his Islam and the Perennial Philosophy.[2] There is also a valuable collection of stories about Jesus ('a) culled from the writings of various Muslim mystics, Jesus in the Eyes of the Sufis. [3] Some of the items reported in this work have their origins in the narrations attributed to the Shi'i Imams ('a) presented below.
These days there is much discussion of dialogue between different faith communities. Conferences have been held for this purpose in the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as in Africa, Europe and the United States. Perhaps one of the best ways Christians can find common ground for discussion with Muslims is to become familiar with the portrait of Jesus ('a) presented in Islamic sources, the most important of which are the Qur'an and hadith, and as for the latter, no matter what one's religious orientation, it must be admitted that the narrations handed down through the Household of the Prophet (s) deserve careful attention. For those of us who have the honor of being counted among the Shi'ah, the importance of what has been related by the Ahl al-Bayt weighs especially heavily, as it should, according to the famous hadith al-thaqalayn", in which the Prophet (s,), in the last year of his life, is reported to have said:
"Verily, I am leaving with you two weighty things (thaqalayn): the Book of Allah and my kindred, my household, for indeed, the two of them will never separate until they return to me by the Pond [of Kawthar on the Last Day]."
Perhaps some Christians will be dismissive of what is said of Jesus ('a) in the Islamic narrations because the main debate about contemporary Christology among Christians is whether research about the historical Jesus ('a) is relevant to religion, or whether knowledge of Jesus ('a) requires attention to the role he plays in the Church and in theology. The Islamic narrations, coming centuries after the life of Christ ('a) (and in some cases more than a century after the life of Muhammad [s] will likely be dismissed by liberal Christians in pursuit of a portrait of Jesus ('a) based on the standards of historical research currently accepted in the West. The neo-orthodox Christian claims that the Savior is not to be found in history, but in the Church, so it will not be surprising if he displays no interest in what Islam has to say about Christ ('a). However, the Christian may find that the Islamic perspective illuminates a middle ground between the historian's emphasis on the natural and the ecclesiastical emphasis on the supernatural. The humanity of Jesus ('a) is evident in the narrations of the Shi'ah, but it is a humanity transformed, a perfected humanity, and as such there is no denying its supernatural dimension.
The Muslim always seems to appear as a stranger to the Christian, but perhaps it is from the stranger that the Christian can best come to know his savior. The crucifix has hung in the Church for so long that it becomes difficult for the Christian to find significance there. The attraction of the quest for the historical Jesus is that it provides a fresh look at the subject, even if that quest is marred by naturalistic presumptions inimical to the religious outlook. By trying to see Jesus ('a) as the Muslim sees him, the Christian may find his savior come to life, lifted up to God in his own inner life rather than crucified. [4]
If we have given reason for Christians to study the narrations of the Shi'ah about Jesus ('a), the question of the value of such study for Muslims remains. Some might wonder why, when we have the Qur'an and Sunnah, we should be especially interested in Jesus ('a). To begin with, Jesus ('a), along with the prophets Noah, Abraham, Moses, Peace be with them, and Muhammad (s) has a special status in Islam as one of the greatest prophets, the ulu al- 'azm, the prophets who brought the divine law. What was revealed to the last of them, (s), is a confirmation of what was revealed to the others. The truth of the revelation is not to be found in its particularity but in its universality, and we come to understand this best when we understand the teachings of all the prophets ('a). Is this not why so much attention is given to the previous prophets in the Qur'an?
All of the prophets ('a) have brought a gospel of love, love of God and love of neighbor and love even for the meanest of His creatures. So, in the reports narrated below we find Jesus ('a) giving some of his food to the creatures of the sea. At the same time, however, this love is not to be confused with a sentimentalism which would prevent the execution of the divine law. Jesus ('a) found fault with the Pharisees not because of their regard for the exterior forms of religion, but because of their disregard for its interior forms, that is, because of their hypocrisy. [5]
The words of the Spirit of Allah reported in the selections that follow are primarily concerned with morals. These are Christian morals and at the same time Islamic morals. Today Christendom is in a state of moral upheaval. Peculiarly modern ideas of what is right and wrong have found their way into the theologians' understandings of ethics. Significant areas of agreement are difficult to find. The simple morality taught by Jesus ('a) and which continues to be emphasized in Islam resonates in the narrations of the Shi'ah. While excessive asceticism is forbidden, we are to turn, like Jesus ('a), away from the world to find refuge in God.
From the following narrations we not only become reacquainted with the moral teachings of Jesus ('a) and with his character, but we also discover what the dear friends of Allah, the Household of the Prophet (s) found it important to transmit about him, and thereby we get a glimpse into their moral teachings and characters, too.
Muhammad Legenhausen
The Words of Jesus ('a)
Divine Omnipotence:
1. It is said that Jesus the son of Mary ('a) was sitting and an old man was working with a small shovel tilling the earth. Jesus ('a) said: "O Allah! Extract his desire from him." The old man put down the small shovel and slept for an hour. Then Jesus ('a) said: "O Allah! Return the desire to him." Then he stood up and began to work. Jesus ('a) asked him about it. He said: "When I was working my soul said to me: 'How long will you work, being that you are an old man?' Then I put down the small shovel and slept.' Then my soul said to me: 'By Allah! You have no alternative but to live as long as you remain.' Then I stood up with my small shovel." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 329)
2. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq] ('a) said: "The Devil [iblis, the devil who tempted Adam and Eve. Cf. Qur'an 2:34; 7:11; 15:31; 38:74] said to Jesus the son of Mary: 'Does your Lord have the power to put the earth into an egg without reducing the size of the earth or enlarging the egg?' Then Jesus ('a) said: 'Woe unto you, for weakness is not attributed to Allah. Who is more powerful than He Who makes the earth subtle and makes the egg great?' (Bihar al-anwar, iv, 142)
3. It is reported that Imam Sadiq ('a) said: "Iblis came to Jesus ('a), then he said: 'Do you not claim that you can revive the dead?' Jesus said: 'Yes.' Iblis said: 'Then throw yourself down from the top of the wall.' Then Jesus said: 'Woe unto you! Verily the servant does not try his Lord.' And Iblis said: 'O Jesus! Can your Lord put the earth in an egg while the egg remains in its form?' Then he said: 'Verily impotence is not attributed to Allah, the Supreme, but what you said cannot be.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 271)
Of Human Poverty:
4. One of the Imams is reported to have said: "It was said to Jesus the son of Mary ('a): 'How did you begin the morning, O Spirit of Allah?' He said: 'I began the morning with my Lord, the Blessed and Supreme, above me and the fire (of hell) before me and death in pursuit of me. I do not possess that which I hope for and I cannot avoid what I hate. So which of the poor is poorer than me?' " (Bihar al-anwar, lxxvi, 17)
The World and the Hereafter:
5. Jesus ('a) said: "O assembly of disciples! I have thrown the world prostrate before you, so do not lift it up after me, for one of the evils of this world is that Allah was disobeyed in it, and one of the evils of this world is that the next world is not attained except by abandoning this one. So pass through this world without making it your home, and know that the root of all wrong is the love of this world. Many a vain desire leaves a legacy of lasting sorrow." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
6. [Jesus ('a)] said: "Blessed is he who abandons the present desire for the absent promise." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
7. Jesus ('a) said: "Who would build a house on the waves of the sea? This world is that house, so you should not take it as a dwelling.'' (Bihar al-anwar," xiv, 326)
8. Jesus ('a) said: "Woe to the companion of the world! How he dies and leaves it and how he relies on it and it deceives him, and how he trusts it and it forsakes him! Woe unto those who are deceived! How that which is repugnant encompasses them and that which is beloved separates from them! And that which is promised will come to them. And woe to those whose endeavors are only for the world and error. How he will be disgraced before Allah tomorrow!"
(Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 328)
9. Jesus, Peace be upon him, is reported to have said: "How can one be of the people of knowledge if the next world is shown to him while he remains involved in this world, and what harms him is more desirable to him than what benefits him?'' (Majmu'at at warram, i, 83)
10. It was said to Jesus ('a): "Teach us a deed for which Allah will love us." He said: "Detest the world and Allah will love you. (Tanbih al-khawatir, i, 134)
11. It has been reported by Mujahid from Ibn 'Abbas from the Apostle of Allah, may the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him and with his folk: "Verily, Jesus. Peace be upon him, passed a city which had come to ruin and whose foundations had collapsed. He said to some of his disciples: 'Do you know what it is saying?' One said: 'No.' Jesus, Peace be upon him, said: 'It says: "Verily, the true promise of my Lord has come. My rivers have dried up, though once they were full; my trees have withered, though once they were in bloom; my castles are in ruins and my residents have died. Then, oh, these are their bones within me, and their property that was gained lawfully along with their ill-gotten gains are in my belly, and the inheritance of the heavens and the earth is only for Allah." '" (Adab al-nafs, I, 122)
12. The Messiah, Peace he upon him, said to the Apostles: "Verily, the eating of barley bread and the drinking of plain water today in this world is for he who would enter heaven tomorrow." (Adab al-nafs, ii, 225)
13. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq], Peace he upon him, said: 'Jesus the son of Mary, may the blessings of Allah be upon him, said: 'You work for the sake of this world while it is not by work that you are provided for in it. And you do not work for the sake of the next world, while it is only by work that you will be provided for in it. Woe be unto you, evil learned ones ('ulama)! You take your wage and neglect works. Soon the worker's work will he accepted, and soon you will be driving forth from the narrowness of this world toward the darkness of the grave. How can one be knowledgeable who is on the way to the next world and yet his face is turned towards this world, and he likes the things that harm him more than the things that benefit him?' ' (Al-Kafi, ii, 319)
14. Jesus ('a) said: "The love of this world and the next cannot come together in the heart of a believer, like water and fire in a single vessel." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
l5 It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq], Peace be upon him, said that Jesus, Peace be upon him, said: ''It is hard to get any good thing whether it is of the world or the hereafter. As to the good things of this world they are hard to get because there' is nothing of it which as soon as you extend your hand to get, some profligate does not grab first, while the good things of the other world are hard to obtain because you do not find any helper who may help
you to obtain it.'' (al-Kafi viii, 144)
16. When Jesus passed by a house whose inmates had died and others had taken their place, he said: " woe to your owners who inherited you! How they have learned no lesson from their late brothers." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 329)
17. Jesus ('a) said: "This world and the next one are rivals. When you please one of them you displease the other." (Bihar al-anwar, lxxiii, 122)
18. It has been reported that Abu 'Abd Allah, Peace he upon him, said: "The world took the form, for Jesus ('a), of a woman whose eyes were blue. Then he said to her: 'How many have you married?' She said: 'Very many.' He said: 'Then did they all divorce you?' She said: 'No, but I killed all of them.' He said: 'Then woe be to the rest of your husbands! How they fail to learn from the example of the predecessors!'
19. It is reported that 'Ali ibn al-Husayn [Imam Sajjad], Peace be upon him, said: "The Messiah, Peace be upon him, said to his Apostles: 'Verily, this world is merely a bridge, so cross over it, and do not make it your abode.' '' (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 319)
20. I heard Imam Rida ('a) say: "Jesus the son of Mary, may Allah bless him, said to the apostles: 'O Children of Israel! Do not grieve over what you lose of this world, just as the people of this world do not grieve over what they lose of their religion, when they gain this world of theirs.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 304; al-Kafi. ii, 127)
21. Jesus ('a) said: "Do not take the world as a master, for it will make you its slave. Keep your treasure with one who will not squander it. The owners of the treasures of this world fear for its ruin, but he who owns the treasure of Allah does not fear for its ruin.'' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
22. Jesus ('a) said: ''In truth I say unto you, just as one who is sick looks at food and finds no pleasure in it due to the severity of the pain, the companions of this world find no pleasure in worship and do not find the sweetness of it, for what they find is the sweetness of this world. In truth I say unto you, just as an animal which is not captured and tamed becomes hardened and its character is changed, so too when hearts are not softened by the remembrance of death and the effort of worship they become hard and coarse, and in truth I say unto you, if a skin is not torn, it may become a vessel for honey, just as hearts, if they are not torn by desires, or fouled by greed, or hardened by pleasures, may become vessels for wisdom.'' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 325)
23. It was said to Jesus ('a): "[Would it not be better] if you got a house?" He said: "The remains which are left from those before us is enough for us.'' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
On Wisdom
24. It is reported that Jesus ( 'a) said: ''O assembly of scholars ( 'ulama)'. Just as the sovereigns have abandoned wisdom, leaving it to you. So you should abandon sovereignty, leaving it for them.'' (Adab al nafs. i, 134)
25. And it was said to him [Jesus ( a)]: "Who trained you?" He said: "No one trained me. I saw the ugliness of ignorance and I avoided it.'' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 326)
26. The apostle of Allah [Muhammad] (s) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) stood up among the Children of Israel and said: 'O Children of Israel! Do not speak with the ignorant of wisdom, for otherwise you do injustice with it, and do not keep it from its folk, for otherwise you do injustice to them, and do not help the unjust with his injustice, for otherwise your virtue becomes void. Affairs are three: the affair whose righteousness is clear to you, so follow it: the affair whose error is clear to you, so avoid it'. and the affair about which there are differences, so return it to Allah, the Almighty and Glorious." (Faqih, iv, 400)
27. Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said: "O assembly of Apostles! I have a request of you. Fulfill it for me." They said: "Your request is fulfilled, O Spirit of Allah!" Then he stood up and washed their feet. They said: "It would have been more proper for us to have done this, O Spirit of Allah!" Then he said: "Verily, it is more fitting for one with knowledge to serve the people. Indeed, I humbled myself only so that you may humble yourselves among the people after me, even as I have humbled myself among you." Then Jesus ('a) said: "Wisdom is developed by humility, not by pride, and likewise plants only grow in soft soil, not in rocks.'' (Bihar al-anwar, ii, 62; Al-Kafi, vi, 37)
28. Al-Sayyid ibn Tawus, may Allah have mercy on him, said: I read in the Gospel that Jesus ('a) said: "I tell you, do not worry about what you will eat or what you will drink or with what you will clothe your bodies. Is not the soul more excellent than food, and the body more excellent than clothes? Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor store away, yet your heavenly Lord provides for them. Are you not more excellent than they'? Who among you by worrying can add a single measure to his stature'? Then why do you worry about your clothes?'' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 317) [6]
Self-knowledge'
29 It is reported by Mufaddal, one of the companions of Imam al-Sadiq ('a), from Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, Peace be upon him, in a long hadith, that he said: "Jesus the son of Mary, Peace be upon our Prophet and upon him, used to spend some time with the disciples and advise them, and he used to say: 'He does not know me who knows not his soul, and he who does not know the soul between his two sides, does not know the soul between my two sides. And he who knows his soul which is between his sides, he knows me. And he who knows me knows He Who sent me.' " (Adab al-nafs, ii, 213)
On Prayer and Worship:
30. Jesus ('a) said to a worshipper, "What do you do?" He answered, "I worship." He ('a) said, "Then who provides for you?" He said, "My brother." He ('a) said, "Your brother is more of a worshipper than you are!" (Adab al-nafs, i, 215)
31. I asked Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq ('a)] about the best thing by which the servant may draw near to his Lord and what is most beloved by Allah, the Almighty and Glorious. He said: "I know of nothing, after knowledge (ma'rifah), better than the ritual prayer (salat). Do you not see that the good servant Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said: 'And He enjoined on me the ritual prayer (salat) and the alms tax (zakat) for as long as I live.'?" (Al-Kafi, iii, 264)
32. It is reported that Imam Sadiq ('a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) passed by a group of people who were crying. He asked why they were crying. It was said to him that they were crying for their sins. He said, they should pray about them and they will be forgiven." (Bihar al-anwar, vi, 20)
Pride of the Sanctimonious:
33. Jesus ('a) said: "O group of Apostles! How many lamps the wind has put out, and how many worshippers pride has corrupted.!" (Bihar al-anwar, lxxii, 322)
On Chastity:
34. Imam Sadiq ('a) said: "The Apostles met with Jesus ('a) and said to him: 'O teacher of the good! Guide us!' He said to them: 'Verily Moses the interlocutor of Allah ('a) commanded you not to swear by Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, falsely, and I command you not to swear by Allah falsely or truly.' They said: 'O Spirit of Allah! Guide us more!' Then he said: 'Verily Moses the prophet of Allah ('a) commanded you not to commit adultery, and I command you not to talk to yourselves about adultery, let alone to commit adultery. Verily one who talks to himself about adultery is like one who sets fire to a house that is decorated so the smoke damages the decor, even though the house is not burnt.' (Al-Kafi, v, 542)
35. Jesus (a) said: "Never stare at that which is not for you. If you restrain your eyes you will never commit adultery; and if you are able to avoid looking at the garments of women who are not permitted for you, then do so." (Majmu'at al-Warram, i, 62)
36. It is reported that Imam Sadiq ('a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said, 'When one of you sits in his house, he should have clothes on. Verily, Allah has allotted modesty for you, just as He has allotted your sustenance."" (Bihar al-anwar, lxxi, 334)
Looking at the Bright Side:
37. It is reported that he [Jesus ('a)] passed by a carcass with his disciples. Then the disciples said: "How putrid the smell of this dog is!" Then Jesus ('a) said: "How intense is the whiteness of his teeth!" (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
Hope and Fear:
38. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq] ('a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) sent two of his companions on an errand. Then one of them returned thin and afflicted and the other fat and chubby. He said to the one who was thin: what did this to you, that I see you this way?' He said: 'The fear of Allah.' And he said to the other who was fat: 'What did this to you, that I see you this way?' He said: 'A good opinion of Allah.' " (Bihar al-anwar, lxx. 400)
Death:
39. It is reported from Imam Sadiq, Peace be upon him, from his father that he said: "Jesus, Peace be upon him, used to say: 'Regarding the terror which you do not know when you will encounter [i.e. death], what prevents you from preparing for it before it comes upon you suddenly?' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 330)
Of Advice and Advisers:
40. And he (Jesus ('a)) said: "How long will you be advised without taking any advice? Certainly you have become a burden to the advisors." (Adab al-nafs, i, 175)
41. [Imam] al-Sadiq, Peace be upon him, said: "Verily, a man came to Jesus the son of Mary, Peace be upon him, and said to him: 'O Spirit of Allah! I have committed fornication [or adultery, sex between a man and woman not married to each other, in Arabic: zina] so purify me.' Then Jesus ordered the people to be called so that none should be left behind for the purification of so-and-so. Then when the people had been gathered together and the man had entered into a hole, so as to be stoned, the man in the hole called out: 'Anyone for whom Allah, the Supreme, has a punishment should not punish me.' Then all the people left except for John and Jesus, Peace be upon them. Then John, Peace be upon him, approached him and said to him: 'O sinner! Advise me!' Then he said to him: 'Do not leave your self alone with its desires or you will perish.' John, Peace be upon him, said: 'Say more.' He said: 'Verily, do not humiliate the wrongdoer for his fault.' John, Peace be upon him, said: 'Say more. He said: 'Do not become angry.' John, Peace be upon him, said: 'That is enough for me.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 188)
Goodness Imperishable:
42. Jesus ('a) said to his companions: "Accord great regard for the thing which is not eaten by the fire." They said: ''What is that?" He said: "That which is good (al-ma'ruf)." (Bihar al-anwar. xiv, 330)
Charity:
43. Imam Sadiq ('a) said: ''Verily, when Jesus the son of Mary ( 'a) passed along the shore of a sea, he threw a piece of his bread into the water, Then some of the disciples said: 'O Spirit of Allah and His Word! Why did you do this when that was your food.' He said: "I did this in order that some animal among the animals of the sea may eat it, and the reward of Allah for this is great.' (Tahdhib, iv, 105)
Moderation in Food and Sleep:
44. Jesus ('a) said: "O Children of Israel! Do not be excessive in eating, for those who are excessive in eating are excessive in sleeping, and those who are excessive in sleeping are deficient in praying, and of those who are deficient in praying, it is written that they are negligent." (Sharh Nahj al-balaghah, xix, 188; Adab al-nafs. i, 189)
45. Jesus the son of Mary ('a) stood up among the Children of Israel to preach. He said. 'O Children of Israel! Do not eat before you become hungry and when you become hungry eat but do not eat your fill, because when you eat your fill your necks become thick and your sides grow fat and you forget your Lord" (Bihar al-anwar lxvi, 337)
The blessed and the wretched:
46 It is reported that [Imam] Ali (a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary (a) said: ''Blessed is he whose silence is contemplation (fikr). whose glance is an admonition, whose house suffices him and who cries over his mistakes and from whose hand and tongue the people are safe.' '' (Bihar a1-anwar xiv, 319)
47 Jesus said: "How can someone benefit himself while he trades himself for all that is in this world, then he abandons that which he has traded as inheritance to others and destroys himself. But blessed is the man who purifies himself and prefers his soul to everything of this world.'' (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 329)
48. I heard Imam Sadiq ( 'a) say: ''Christ ( 'a) said to his disciples: 'If you are not lovers and my brothers, you must accustom yourself to the enmity and hatred of the people, otherwise you will not be my brothers. I teach you this that you may learn it; I do not teach you so that you may become proud. Verily, you will not achieve that which you seek unless you give up that which you desire, and by enduring patiently that which you detest. And guard your gaze for it plants lust in the heart, and it is sufficient to tempt one. Happy are they who see that which they desire with their eyes, but who commit no disobedience in their hearts. How far is that which is in the past, and how near is that which is to come. Woe to those who have been deluded when what they loathe approaches them, and what they love abandons them, and there comes that which they were promised. There is lesson in the creation of these nights and days. Woe to those whose efforts are for the sake of this world, and whose achievements are errors. How he will be disgraced before his Lord! And do not speak much about anything other than the remembrance of God. Those who talk much about things other than God have their hearts hardened, but they do not know it. Do not look at the faults of others as if you have been appointed to spy over them, but attend to the emancipation of your own selves, for you are slaves, possessed. How much water flows in a mountain without its becoming soft, and how much wisdom you are taught without your hearts becoming soft. You are bad slaves, not pious slaves, nor of those who are noble and free. Indeed you are like unto the oleander: all who see it wonder at its flowers, but when they eat from it they die. Peace be unto you.' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 324)
Of wealth and Property:
49. It is reported that Jesus ('a) found fault with property and said: ''It has three characteristics.'' It was said: ''And what are they', O Spirit of Allah.''' He said: ''One acquires it illegitimately, and if it is acquired legitimately, it keeps one from spending it in its right place, and if one spends it in its right place, its management keeps one from worshiping one's Lord." (Bihar al-anwar xiv 329)
50). It is reported that the Commander of the faithful [Imam Ali], peace be upon him, said: "Jesus the son of Mary, Peace he upon him, said: 'The dinar is the illness of religion, and the scholar (al-'alim) is the physician of religion. So if you see that the physician brings illness upon himself, distrust him, and know that he is not to advise others.' " (Bihar al-anwar. xiv, 319)
On Company:
51 Imam Ali ('a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said: 'Verily the evil doer is infectious, and the associate of the wicked is brought down. So beware of those with whom you associate.' " (Al-Kafi, ii, 640)
52. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq], Peace he upon him, said: The Apostle of Allah, may the Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his progeny, said: 'The Apostles said to Jesus, Peace he upon him: "O Spirit of Allah! With whom should we keep company?" He said: "He the sight of whom reminds you of Allah, the speech of whom increases your knowledge, and the works of whom make you desirous of the other world." ' " (Al-Kafi, i, 39)
The Incorrigible Fool:
53. It has been reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq], Peace be upon him, said: 'Verily, Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said: 'I treated the sick, then I healed them by the permission of Allah, and I cured those born blind and the lepers by the permission of Allah, and I treated the dead and revived them by the permission of Allah, and I treated the fool, but I could not correct him' Then it was said: 'O spirit of Allah. What is a fool?' He said 'He is one who is admirable in his own view to himself, He who considers all merit to be for him and not against him, and who finds all rights to be for himself and does not find against himself any right. Such is the fool for whom there is no way to cure him.'" (Bihar al anwar, xiv, 323)
The Heart's Sickness:
54 And Jesus the son of Mary said: "There is no sickness of the heart more severe than callousness, and no soul is more severely affected than the one that goes without hunger, and these two are the halters of expulsion [from divine mercy] and abandonment." (Bihar al-anwar, lxvi, 337)
55. Verily, Jesus ('a) said: "Why do you come to me clothed in the garments of monks while your hearts are those of ferocious wolves? Wear the clothes of kings, but soften your hearts with fear." (Bihar al-anwar, lxxiii, 208)
Anger and Its Source:
56. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq] ('a) said "The disciples said to Jesus the son of Mary ('a): 'O teacher of the good! Teach us what is the most severe of things.' Then he said: the most severe of things is the wrath of Allah.' They said: 'Then what prevents the wrath of Allah?' He said: 'That you not be wrathful.' They said: 'What is the source of wrath?' He said: 'Pride, haughtiness and contempt for the people.' '' (Bihar al-anwar, xvi, 257)
Five Evils:
57. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah, [Imam Sadiq], Peace be upon him, said: "The Messiah, Peace be upon him, used to say: 'He who has many worries, his body becomes sick; he who is ill-tempered, his self becomes his torment; he who often talks, often stumbles; he who often lies, loses his worth; he who quarrels with men, loses his manliness.' (Bihar al-anwar. xiv. 318)
Evil scholars:
58. Imam Sadiq ('a) said: Jesus the son of Mary, Peace be upon our Prophet and his progeny and with him. said: Woe unto the evil scholars! How the fire inflames them!' (Al-Kafi, i, 47)
Satan's Clientele:
59. Jesus ('a) met Iblis who was driving five donkeys. Loads were upon them. Jesus ('a) asked him about the loads. Iblis said, "They are for trade, and I am looking for buyers." Jesus ('a) said, "What is the merchandise?" Iblis said, "One of them is injustice." He ('a) asked, "Who buys it?" He said, "Rulers. And the second is pride." He asked, "Who buys it?" He said, "Village chiefs. And the third is envy." He asked, "Who buys it?" He said, "The learned. And the fourth is treason." He asked, "Who buys it?" He said, "Those who work for merchants. And the fifth is trickery." He said, "Who buys it?" He said, "Women." (Bihar al-anwar, lxiv, 196)
The Richest of All Men:
60. Jesus, Peace be upon him, said: "My hands 'are my servant and my feet are my mount; the earth is my bed, a stone my pillow; my blanket in the winter is the east of the earth and my lamp in the night is the moon; my stew is hunger and my motto is fear; my garment is wool and my fruit and my basil what grows from the earth for wild beasts and cattle. I sleep while I have nothing and I rise while I have nothing, and yet there is no one on earth wealthier than I" (Bihar al-anwar, xvii, 239)
Seeking God's Pleasure:
61. And Jesus ('a) used to say: "O apostles, love God through hatred of the 'disobedient, and approach God by distancing [yourselves] from them, and seek pleasure by their displeasure." (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 330)
Criterion of Mutual Relations:
62. It is reported that Imam Sadiq, Peace be upon him, said: "Jesus the son of Mary, Peace be upon them, said to some of his companions: 'Do not do to others what you do not like others to do to you, and if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him your left cheek too.[7] (Bihar al-anwar, x, 287).
Others Opinion of Oneself:
63. The Messenger of God (s) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said to John the son of Zachariah, 'If something is said of you which is true, then know that it was a sin that you had committed, so ask God's forgiveness for it, and if something is said of you which is not true, then know that a good deed will be recorded for you for this, for which you did not have to labor.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 287).
On Having a Good Opinion of God:
64. Al-Sayyid ibn Tawus, may God have mercy on him, said: "I read in the Gospel that Jesus ('a) said: 'Who among you gives his son a stone when he asks for bread? Or who hands out a snake when asked for a cloak? If despite the fact that your evil is well-known you give good gifts to your sons, then it is more fitting that your Lord should give good things to one who asks." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 318; Sa'd al-su'ud, 56) [8]
Inner Chastity
65. Jesus ('a) said: "You heard what was said to the people of yore, 'Do not commit adultery,' but I tell you, he who looks at a woman and desires her has committed adultery in his heart. If your right eye betrays you, then take it out and cast it away, for it is better for you that you destroy one of your organs than cast your entire body into the fire of hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it away, for it is better for you to destroy one of your organs than that your entire body should go to hell. (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 3l7) [9]
The Life and Acts of Jesus ('a)
66. It is reported that Imam 'Ali ('a) said in one of his sermons: "If you like, I will tell you about Jesus the son of Mary, Peace he upon him. He used a stone as his pillow, wore course clothing and ate rough food. His stew was hunger and his lamp in the night was the moon. His cover in the winter was the east of the earth and its west. His fruit and his basil is that which grows from the earth for the cattle. He had no wife to try him, and no son to grieve him. He had no wealth to distract him, nor greed to abase him. His mount was his feet and his servant was his hands." (Nahj al-balaghah, Sermon 158)
67. Imam Musa al-Kazim ('a) said: "John the son of Zachariah ('a) cried and did not laugh, and Jesus the son of Mary ('a) laughed and cried; and what Jesus did was more excellent than what John did." (Al-Kafi, ii, 665)
68. Jesus, Peace he upon him, served a meal to the Apostles, and when they had eaten it, he himself washed their hands. They said: "O Spirit of God! It would have been more proper for us to wash yours!" He said: "I did this only that you would do this for those whom you teach." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 326)
69. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq], Peace he upon him, said: "Verily, Jesus the son of Mary, Peace be upon him, came to the tomb of John the son of Zachariah, Peace he upon him, and he asked his Lord to revive him. Then he called him, and he answered him and he came out from the grave and said to him: 'What do you want from me?' And he said to him: 'I want you to be friends with me as you were in this world' Then he said to him: 'O Jesus! The heat of death has not yet subsided, and you want me to return to the world and the heat of death would return to me. So he Jesus left him, and he returned to his grave.' " (Al-Kafi iii, 260)
70. Jesus, Peace he upon him, passed by a grave whose occupant was being chastised. Then he passed it the following year when he was not being chastised. He said: "O Lord! I passed through this town last year and he was being chastised, and I passed through it this year while he is not being chastised." Then God revealed to him: "O Spirit of God! Verily one of his children matured and removed obstacles from a road and sheltered an orphan. Then I forgave him for the deeds of his child." (Al-Kafi. vi, 3)
71. Imam Sadiq ('a) was asked: "Did Jesus the son of Mary raise anyone from the dead, so that he ate and had a livelihood, and continued his life for a term and had off spring?" He said: "Yes, he had a friend who was a brother to him in God. And when Jesus passed by, he would go to visit him. And Jesus ('a) would spend a while with him. Then he would leave with salutations of Peace unto him. Once his mother came out to him [Jesus] and she said to him: 'He died, O Apostle of God!' He said to her: 'Would you like to see him?' She said: 'Yes.' He said to her: 'I will come tomorrow to raise him with the permission of God. The next day he came and said to her: 'Accompany me to his grave.' So they went to his grave. Jesus ('a) stopped and then he called on God. Then the grave opened and her son came out alive. When his mother saw him and he saw her, they cried. Jesus ('a) felt compassion for them and said to him: 'Would you like to remain with your mother in the world?' He said: 'O Apostle of God! With eating and a daily bread and a term, or without a term and a daily bread?' Then Jesus ('a) said to him: 'Of course with daily bread and a term. You will live for twenty years, marry and father a child.' He said: 'Yes, in that case.' " [Imam Sadiq] said: "Then Jesus ('a) returned him to his mother and he lived for twenty years, married and fathered a child." (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 233).
72. Abu al-Layth said in his commentary of the Qur'an: "The people asked Jesus ('a) in ridicule: 'Create a bat for us and put a soul in it, if you are one of the truthful. Then he took some clay and formed a bat and breathed into it. Then it suddenly flew between the sky and the earth. The clay was molded and breathed into by Jesus, but the creation was by God, the Supreme. And it is said that they asked to create a bat because it is more wonderful than other creatures. (Bihar al-anwar, lxiv, 322)
73. Al-Sayyid ibn Tawus, may God have mercy on him, said: "I read in the Gospel that Jesus ('a) boarded a ship and his disciples were with him, when suddenly there was a great confusion in the sea, so that the ship came near to being covered by the waves. And it was as though [Jesus ('a)] was asleep. Then his disciples came to him and awakened him and said: 'O master! Save us so that we do not perish.' He said to them: 'O you of little faith! What has frightened you?' Then he stood up and drove away the winds, and there was a great stillness. The people marveled, and said: 'How is this? Verily the winds and the sea obey him.' " [10] (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 266)
74. It is reported that a woman from Canaan brought her invalid son to Jesus, Peace he upon him. She said: "O Prophet of God! This my son is an invalid. Pray to God for him." He said: "That which I have been commanded is only the healing of the invalids of the Children of Israel." She said: "O Spirit of God! Verily the dogs receive the remnants from the tables of their masters after the meal, so, avail us of that which may benefit us of your wisdom." Then he supplicated God, the Supreme, asking for permission. Then He gave His permission, and he made him well. (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 253)
75. It is reported that Jesus ('a) passed by a man who was blind, leprous and paralytic, and Jesus heard him giving thanks and saying: "Praised be God Who has protected me from the trials with which He afflicts most of men." Jesus ('a) said: "What trial remains which has not visited you?" He said: "He protected me from a trial which is the greatest of trials, and that is unbelief" Then Jesus ('a) touched him, and God cured him from his illnesses and beautified his face. Then he became a companion of Jesus ('a) and worshipped with him. (Bihar al-anwar, lxxi, 33)
God's Words Addressed to Jesus
76. Imam Ja'far Sadiq ('a) said: "Among things with which God, the Blessed and Exalted, exhorted Jesus ('a) was: 'O Jesus! I am your Lord, and the Lord of your fathers. My Name is the One (al-Wahid), and I am one (Ahad) and single (Mutafarrid) in creating all things. All things are My handiwork, and all My creations shall return to Me.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 289)
77. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq] ('a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) ascended [to heaven] clad in garments of wool spun by Mary, woven by Mary, and sewn by Mary. When he was brought up to heaven it was called: 'O Jesus! Cast off from yourself the finery of the world.' "(Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 338)
78. God confided to Jesus the son of Mary ('a): "O Jesus! Cut yourself off from fatal desires and part with every desire that keeps you away from Me, and know that you are near me at the station of a trusted Apostle (rasul), so beware of Me." (Tuhaf al- 'uqul, 375).
79. It is reported that one day Jesus, Peace be upon him, came upon severe rain and thunder, so he sought a place of shelter. He saw a tent at a distance, and came to it. There he saw a woman in it, so he turned away from it. Suddenly, he saw a cave in a mountain, and when he arrived there he saw a lion in it. So he rested his hand against the cave, and said: "My God! Everything has a shelter, but You put no shelter for me." Then God, the Supreme, revealed to him: "Your shelter is in the abode of My Mercy. By My Greatness, on the Resurrection Day, verily, I will marry you to a hundred houris created by My hands, and verily for your wedding I will lay out a feast for four thousand years, each day of which is like the lifetime of the entire world. And I will command a crier to cry out: Where are the ascetics of the world? Be present at the wedding of the ascetic Jesus the son of Mary!" (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 328)
80. One of the Imams [Imam Sadiq or Imam Baqir] said: "Verily, a man of the Children of Israel exerted himself for forty nights. Then he called God, but He did not answer him. Then he came to Jesus complaining to him and asking him to pray. So Jesus purified himself and prayed to God, the Supreme. Then God revealed to him: 'O Jesus! Verily, he came to me by a door other than that by which one should come. Verily, he called Me while there was doubt about you in his heart. So had he called Me until his neck broke or his fingers had fallen off, I would not have answered him.' "(Al-Kafi, ii, 400)
81. God said to Jesus: "O Jesus! Verily I have granted unto you the poor and made you merciful towards them. You love them and they love you. They are pleased with you as a leader and guide, and you are pleased with them as companions and followers. These are two of My qualities. Whoever meets Me with these [qualities] meets Me with the purest of deeds which are dearest to Me." (Bihar al-anwar lxxii 55)
82. God revealed to Jesus ('a): "Be to the people like the ground below in meekness, like the flowing water in generosity, and like the sun and the moon in mercy, which shine on the good and the sinner alike. (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 326)
83. God revealed to Jesus: "Say to the Children of Israel: 'Do not enter any of My houses without lowered eyes and clean hands. And inform them that, verily, I will not answer the prayer of any of them while any of My creation is oppressed by them.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
84. God the Supreme revealed to Jesus: "O Jesus! I have honored nothing in creation like My religion, and I have bestowed nothing on it like My mercy. Wash your exterior by water and cure your interior by good deeds, for verily you shall return to Me. Get ready, for that which is approaching, and let me hear from you the sounds of sorrow." (Al-Kafi)
Of Knowledge and us Seekers:
85. Verily God the Supreme said to Jesus: "Honor those who possess knowledge and know of their excellence, for verily their excellence over that of all My creation - except for the prophets and messengers - is like that of the sun over the stars, and like that of the Hereafter over this world, and like My excellence over all things." (Bihar al-anwar, ii, 25)
86. Verily God revealed to Jesus: "Indeed, you must be receptive to exhortation! Or you will be ashamed before Me to exhort the people." (Irshad al-qulub)
87. God the Supreme said in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel: "Woe unto those who have heard the knowledge but have not sought it. How they will be gathered with the ignorant into the fire! And learn the knowledge and teach it, for even if knowledge does not bring you felicity, it will not bring you wretchedness, and even if it does not raise you, it will not lower you, and even if it does not enrich you, it will not Impoverish you, and even if it does not benefit you, it will not harm you. And do not say, 'We fear lest we should know but not act', but say, 'We hope to know and to act.' And knowledge intercedes on behalf of one who has it, and it is for God not to disgrace him. Indeed, on the Resurrection day God will say: 'O assembly of the learned ('u1ama')! What is your opinion of our Lord?' Then they will say: 'It is our opinion that He will have mercy upon us and forgive us.' Then the Almighty will say: 'Indeed, I have done so. Indeed, I have entrusted you with My wisdom not because I wanted evil for you, but because I wanted good for you. So enter among My good servants into My garden (paradise) by My mercy.' " (Bihar al-anwar, i, 186)
The Remembrance of God:
88. Imam Rida, Peace be upon him, said: "Engraved on the ring of Jesus, Peace be upon him, were two sentences from the Gospel: 'Blessed is the servant who remembers God for His sake, and woe unto the servant who forgets God for his own sake.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 247)
89. God, the Great and Almighty, said to Jesus ('a): "O Jesus! Remember Me within yourself and I will remember you within Myself, and remember Me publicly and I will remember you publicly in a public better than that of men. O Jesus! Soften your heart for Me and remember Me much in solitude, and know that My pleasure is in your fawning over Me, in an animated and not in an impassive manner." (Al-Kafi, ii, 502)
Humility and the Etiquette of Prayer:
90. Among things that were revealed by God to Jesus is: "Do not call upon Me except by praying humbly to Me and with all your heart. Then verily when you call upon Me thus I will answer you." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 290)
91. God revealed to Jesus ('a): O Jesus! "Give Me the tears of your eyes, and the humility of your heart, and stand beside the tombs of the dead, and call to them aloud that you may be advised by them, and say: 'I will join you with those who join you.' (Bihar al-anwar, lxxxii, 178)
92. God the Supreme revealed to Jesus: "When I give you a blessing, receive it with humility, [and] I will complete it for you." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 328)
93. [Imam] Ja'far reported that his father ('a) said: "Najashi the king of Habashah [Ethiopia] sent for Ja'far the son of Abu Talib and his companions. When they arrived before him, he was sitting in the dust in his house with worn garments.... Ja'far ibn Abu Talib said to him: 'O pious king! What is the matter, that I see you sitting in dust in worn garments?' He said: 'O Ja'far! We find in that which was revealed to Jesus ('a): "Verily, it is God's due from His servants that they show humility when they are shown favor." So, when God showed His favor by His prophet, Muhammad (s), I showed this humility to God.' " He [Imam Ja'far] said: "When that news reached the prophet (s), he said to his companions: 'Verily, giving alms brings abundance, so give alms and God will have mercy on you, and humility elevates one's station, so be humble and God will elevate you, and forgiveness increases dignity, so forgive and God will grant you dignity. (Bihar al-anwar, xviii, 417)
An Advice to Rulers:
94. A Christian primate (Jathiliq) visited Mus'ab ibn Zubayr [who was a governor during his brother's caliphate] and spoke words that angered him. He [Mus'ab] raised a cane against him, then left him until his anger subsided. He [the primate] said: "If the emir permits me, I would tell him something revealed by God to Christ ('a)". He (Mus'ab) turned to him, and he (the primate) said: "Verily, God revealed to Christ, 'It is not fitting for a sultan to become angry, for he commands and is obeyed, and it is not fitting for him to be hasty, for nothing eludes him, and it is not fitting for him to be unjust, for injustice is repulsed by him.' " Then Mus'ab became embarrassed and was pleased with him. (Adab al-nafs, ii, 69)
On Lying and Hypocrisy:
95 It is reported from the Gospel: "Beware of liars who come to you in sheep's clothing while in reality they are ravenous wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. It is not possible for a good tree to bear vicious fruit, nor for a vicious tree to bear good fruit." ('Uddat al-da'i, l52). [11]
96. God said to Jesus, Peace be upon him: 'O Jesus! Yours must be a single tongue in secret and in public, and likewise your heart. Verily, I warn you of yourself, and I suffice as the All-aware.[12] It is not proper that there be two tongues in a single mouth, nor two swords in a single scabbard, nor two hearts in a single breast, and likewise two minds." (Al-Kafi. ii, 343)
Notes:
[1] Ibn al 'Arabi, The Bezels of Wisdom (Fusus al-hikam). tr. R. W. J. Austin (Lahore: Suhail, 1988), p.177.
[2] Frithjof Shuon, Islam and the Perennial Philosophy (Lahore: Suhail, 1985).
[3] Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, Jesus in the Eyes of the Sufis (London: Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications, 1983).
[4] We are reminded by the Glorious Qur'an: "O Jesus, I will take you away and lift you up to me..." (3:54)
[5] Cf Matt. 23:25.
[6] Cf Matt 6.25-34:
25.Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
26. look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or Store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feed~ them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28. And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of
30. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31. So do not worry, saying, 'what shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32. For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things ""ill be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (NIV)
[7] This is perhaps one of the most widely misunderstood of the sayings of Jesus ('a). For it does not seem to he intended in the general ascribed to it, for that would amount to encouraging aggression, oppression and wrong doing. Turning the other cheek can however be an effective way of putting to shame the other side. An episode related by Muhammad Husayn Azad about Imam Bakhsh Nasikh, one of the masters of Urdu poetry, suggests how it can be used as an effective deterrent. Once someone had sent as a present some spoons made of crystal glass for the poet. These were considered a novelty in those days, and were quite beautiful. One day a young man belonging to some noble family came to visit Nasikh. Seeing the spoons he asked him about where he had got them and how much they had cost. Then he picked up one of them and held it admiringly. Thereafter as they conversed, to keep his idle hands busy he began to tap the spoon on the ground. The fragile thing that it was broke into two pieces. immediately Nasikh picked up another spoon and placed it in front of the youth with the remark, "Now play with this one!" (Mawlana Muhammad Husayn Azad, Ab-e hayat (Calcutta: 'Uthmaniyyah Book Depot, 1967), p.434)
[8] The corresponding verses of the Bible are Matt 7:9-11, which in the New international Version (NIV) are translated as follows:
9 Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
[9] The corresponding verses of the Bible are Matt. 5:27-30, translated in the King James Version (KJV) as:
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shall not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
[10] Cf. Matt 8:23-27 (KJV):
23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.
24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, inasmuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful', O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
[11] Cf. Matt 7:15-16, 18 (KJV):
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
[12] Cf. Qur'an 17:17; 25:58.
Selected, edited and translated by
Mahdi Muntazir Qa'im and Muhammad Legenhausen
Vol 13. No. 3.- 4
Introduction:
In the Qur'an, in a passage describing the annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus ('a) is described as a Word from God: "O Mary! Verily Allah gives you the glad tidings of a Word from Him; his name is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, eminent in this world, and in the Hereafter of those near [to God]" (3:44)
The context in which this ayah was revealed was one of inter-religious encounter. It is said that the Christians of Najran sent a delegation to the Prophet of Islam (s) at Makkah to question him about the teachings of Islam concerning Jesus ('a), and God revealed the above and other ayat of Surat Al 'Imran in response. The response is not only not a denial of Christian teachings, although the divinity of Christ is clearly rejected, but also an affirmation of much believed by Christians as well, even the designation of Christ as logos: 'O People of the Book! Do not go to extremes in your creed, and do not say of Allah but the Truth. Verily, the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit from Him (Qur'an 4:171) So in addition to being called the Word of God, Jesus ('a) is also called a Spirit of God and in some of the narrations reported in the Shi'i tradition, this title is used.
Of course, the interpretation of the logos in Christian theology differs markedly from the interpretation of the kalimah by Muslim scholars. For the Christian, according to the Gospel of John, the Word was God and the Word became flesh.' For the Muslim, on the other hand, the Word is creature, even while it is the creative principle, for it is in God's utterance of the word 'Be'. That creation takes place. To call Christ the Word of Allah is not to deify him, but to verify his status as prophet. Because of his high status as prophet, Jesus ('a) becomes a complete manifestation of God, one who conveys the message of God, one who can speak on behalf of God, the Word of God Jesus ('a) becomes the Word of God not because of an incarnation whereby his flesh becomes divine, but because his spirit is refined to such an extent that it becomes a mirror whereby divinity comes to be known. The temple is holy not because of any inherent sanctity in the structure, but because it is the place of the worship of God.
The differences between Islamic and Christian thinking about Jesus ('a) are as important as they are subtle. Both accept the virgin birth, although it is ironic that a growing number of liberal Christians have come to have doubts about this miracle while Muslims remain steadfast! Among the other miracles attributed to Jesus ('a) in the Glorious Qur'an are the revival of the dead and the creation of a bird from clay, but all of the miracles performed by Jesus ('a) are expressly by the permission of Allah. Just as in the miracle of his birth, Jesus ('a) came into the world by a human mother and divine spirit, so too, his miracles are performed as human actions with divine permission. In this regard the error of the Christians is explained by Ibn 'Arabi as follows:
"This matter has led certain people to speak of incarnation and to say that, in reviving the dead, he is God. Therefore, since they conceal God, Who in reality revives the dead, in the human form of Jesus, He has said, They are concealers [unbelievers] who say that God is the Messiah, son of Mary. (5:72)" [1]
The point is that one can find God in Jesus ('a) without deifying him, and furthermore that deifying Jesus ('a) is really an obstacle to finding God in Jesus ('a), for in the deification one ceases to look in Jesus ('a) for anything beyond him. It is as if one were to become distracted from a message by focusing one's attention on the words through which it was conveyed.
To the above point it may be added that not only does the doctrine of the incarnation prevent one from finding God in Christ ('a), but it also prevents one from seeing Christ ('a) the man, because his imagined divinity gets in the way.
One of the central questions of Christian theology is: "Who was Jesus Christ?" The formulation of answers to this question is called Christology. In this area of theology, Christians have debated the significance of the historical Jesus as opposed to the picture of Jesus presented in the traditions of the Christian Churches and the Biblical understanding of Jesus. The time has come for Muslims to begin work in this area, as well. Through the development of an Islamic Christology we can come to a better understanding of Islam as contrasted with Christianity, and Islam in consonance with Christianity, too. Indeed, the first steps in this direction are laid out for us in the Qur'an itself, in the verses mentioned above and others. Contemporary work toward an Islamic Christology is scarce. Christian authors have tended to stress the salvific function of Jesus ('a) which seems to have no place in Islam, and given this, the Christians ask one another whether Christ ('a) can be the savior of Muslims and others who are not Christians. Christians should be reminded that Muslims accept Jesus ('a) as savior, along with all the other prophets, for the prophetic function is to save humanity from the scourge of sin by conveying the message of guidance revealed by God. The important difference between Islam and Christianity here is not over the issue of whether Jesus ('a) saves, but how he saves. Islam denies that salvation is through redemption resulting from the crucifixion, and instead turns its attention to the instruction provided in the life of the prophets ('a).
Muslims, on the other hand, have tended to produce polemical works showing how much of what is in the Bible is consistent with the Islamic view of Christ ('a) as prophet rather than as a person of the Trinity. Some interesting work along these lines has been initiated by Ahmad Deedat in South Africa. More profound insights into the differences between Islam and other faiths, including Christianity, may be found in the writings of Frithjof Schuon, Shaykh 'Isa Nur al-Din Ahmad, who presents the beginnings of a genuine Christology from a sufi perspective in his Islam and the Perennial Philosophy.[2] There is also a valuable collection of stories about Jesus ('a) culled from the writings of various Muslim mystics, Jesus in the Eyes of the Sufis. [3] Some of the items reported in this work have their origins in the narrations attributed to the Shi'i Imams ('a) presented below.
These days there is much discussion of dialogue between different faith communities. Conferences have been held for this purpose in the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as in Africa, Europe and the United States. Perhaps one of the best ways Christians can find common ground for discussion with Muslims is to become familiar with the portrait of Jesus ('a) presented in Islamic sources, the most important of which are the Qur'an and hadith, and as for the latter, no matter what one's religious orientation, it must be admitted that the narrations handed down through the Household of the Prophet (s) deserve careful attention. For those of us who have the honor of being counted among the Shi'ah, the importance of what has been related by the Ahl al-Bayt weighs especially heavily, as it should, according to the famous hadith al-thaqalayn", in which the Prophet (s,), in the last year of his life, is reported to have said:
"Verily, I am leaving with you two weighty things (thaqalayn): the Book of Allah and my kindred, my household, for indeed, the two of them will never separate until they return to me by the Pond [of Kawthar on the Last Day]."
Perhaps some Christians will be dismissive of what is said of Jesus ('a) in the Islamic narrations because the main debate about contemporary Christology among Christians is whether research about the historical Jesus ('a) is relevant to religion, or whether knowledge of Jesus ('a) requires attention to the role he plays in the Church and in theology. The Islamic narrations, coming centuries after the life of Christ ('a) (and in some cases more than a century after the life of Muhammad [s] will likely be dismissed by liberal Christians in pursuit of a portrait of Jesus ('a) based on the standards of historical research currently accepted in the West. The neo-orthodox Christian claims that the Savior is not to be found in history, but in the Church, so it will not be surprising if he displays no interest in what Islam has to say about Christ ('a). However, the Christian may find that the Islamic perspective illuminates a middle ground between the historian's emphasis on the natural and the ecclesiastical emphasis on the supernatural. The humanity of Jesus ('a) is evident in the narrations of the Shi'ah, but it is a humanity transformed, a perfected humanity, and as such there is no denying its supernatural dimension.
The Muslim always seems to appear as a stranger to the Christian, but perhaps it is from the stranger that the Christian can best come to know his savior. The crucifix has hung in the Church for so long that it becomes difficult for the Christian to find significance there. The attraction of the quest for the historical Jesus is that it provides a fresh look at the subject, even if that quest is marred by naturalistic presumptions inimical to the religious outlook. By trying to see Jesus ('a) as the Muslim sees him, the Christian may find his savior come to life, lifted up to God in his own inner life rather than crucified. [4]
If we have given reason for Christians to study the narrations of the Shi'ah about Jesus ('a), the question of the value of such study for Muslims remains. Some might wonder why, when we have the Qur'an and Sunnah, we should be especially interested in Jesus ('a). To begin with, Jesus ('a), along with the prophets Noah, Abraham, Moses, Peace be with them, and Muhammad (s) has a special status in Islam as one of the greatest prophets, the ulu al- 'azm, the prophets who brought the divine law. What was revealed to the last of them, (s), is a confirmation of what was revealed to the others. The truth of the revelation is not to be found in its particularity but in its universality, and we come to understand this best when we understand the teachings of all the prophets ('a). Is this not why so much attention is given to the previous prophets in the Qur'an?
All of the prophets ('a) have brought a gospel of love, love of God and love of neighbor and love even for the meanest of His creatures. So, in the reports narrated below we find Jesus ('a) giving some of his food to the creatures of the sea. At the same time, however, this love is not to be confused with a sentimentalism which would prevent the execution of the divine law. Jesus ('a) found fault with the Pharisees not because of their regard for the exterior forms of religion, but because of their disregard for its interior forms, that is, because of their hypocrisy. [5]
The words of the Spirit of Allah reported in the selections that follow are primarily concerned with morals. These are Christian morals and at the same time Islamic morals. Today Christendom is in a state of moral upheaval. Peculiarly modern ideas of what is right and wrong have found their way into the theologians' understandings of ethics. Significant areas of agreement are difficult to find. The simple morality taught by Jesus ('a) and which continues to be emphasized in Islam resonates in the narrations of the Shi'ah. While excessive asceticism is forbidden, we are to turn, like Jesus ('a), away from the world to find refuge in God.
From the following narrations we not only become reacquainted with the moral teachings of Jesus ('a) and with his character, but we also discover what the dear friends of Allah, the Household of the Prophet (s) found it important to transmit about him, and thereby we get a glimpse into their moral teachings and characters, too.
Muhammad Legenhausen
The Words of Jesus ('a)
Divine Omnipotence:
1. It is said that Jesus the son of Mary ('a) was sitting and an old man was working with a small shovel tilling the earth. Jesus ('a) said: "O Allah! Extract his desire from him." The old man put down the small shovel and slept for an hour. Then Jesus ('a) said: "O Allah! Return the desire to him." Then he stood up and began to work. Jesus ('a) asked him about it. He said: "When I was working my soul said to me: 'How long will you work, being that you are an old man?' Then I put down the small shovel and slept.' Then my soul said to me: 'By Allah! You have no alternative but to live as long as you remain.' Then I stood up with my small shovel." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 329)
2. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq] ('a) said: "The Devil [iblis, the devil who tempted Adam and Eve. Cf. Qur'an 2:34; 7:11; 15:31; 38:74] said to Jesus the son of Mary: 'Does your Lord have the power to put the earth into an egg without reducing the size of the earth or enlarging the egg?' Then Jesus ('a) said: 'Woe unto you, for weakness is not attributed to Allah. Who is more powerful than He Who makes the earth subtle and makes the egg great?' (Bihar al-anwar, iv, 142)
3. It is reported that Imam Sadiq ('a) said: "Iblis came to Jesus ('a), then he said: 'Do you not claim that you can revive the dead?' Jesus said: 'Yes.' Iblis said: 'Then throw yourself down from the top of the wall.' Then Jesus said: 'Woe unto you! Verily the servant does not try his Lord.' And Iblis said: 'O Jesus! Can your Lord put the earth in an egg while the egg remains in its form?' Then he said: 'Verily impotence is not attributed to Allah, the Supreme, but what you said cannot be.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 271)
Of Human Poverty:
4. One of the Imams is reported to have said: "It was said to Jesus the son of Mary ('a): 'How did you begin the morning, O Spirit of Allah?' He said: 'I began the morning with my Lord, the Blessed and Supreme, above me and the fire (of hell) before me and death in pursuit of me. I do not possess that which I hope for and I cannot avoid what I hate. So which of the poor is poorer than me?' " (Bihar al-anwar, lxxvi, 17)
The World and the Hereafter:
5. Jesus ('a) said: "O assembly of disciples! I have thrown the world prostrate before you, so do not lift it up after me, for one of the evils of this world is that Allah was disobeyed in it, and one of the evils of this world is that the next world is not attained except by abandoning this one. So pass through this world without making it your home, and know that the root of all wrong is the love of this world. Many a vain desire leaves a legacy of lasting sorrow." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
6. [Jesus ('a)] said: "Blessed is he who abandons the present desire for the absent promise." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
7. Jesus ('a) said: "Who would build a house on the waves of the sea? This world is that house, so you should not take it as a dwelling.'' (Bihar al-anwar," xiv, 326)
8. Jesus ('a) said: "Woe to the companion of the world! How he dies and leaves it and how he relies on it and it deceives him, and how he trusts it and it forsakes him! Woe unto those who are deceived! How that which is repugnant encompasses them and that which is beloved separates from them! And that which is promised will come to them. And woe to those whose endeavors are only for the world and error. How he will be disgraced before Allah tomorrow!"
(Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 328)
9. Jesus, Peace be upon him, is reported to have said: "How can one be of the people of knowledge if the next world is shown to him while he remains involved in this world, and what harms him is more desirable to him than what benefits him?'' (Majmu'at at warram, i, 83)
10. It was said to Jesus ('a): "Teach us a deed for which Allah will love us." He said: "Detest the world and Allah will love you. (Tanbih al-khawatir, i, 134)
11. It has been reported by Mujahid from Ibn 'Abbas from the Apostle of Allah, may the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him and with his folk: "Verily, Jesus. Peace be upon him, passed a city which had come to ruin and whose foundations had collapsed. He said to some of his disciples: 'Do you know what it is saying?' One said: 'No.' Jesus, Peace be upon him, said: 'It says: "Verily, the true promise of my Lord has come. My rivers have dried up, though once they were full; my trees have withered, though once they were in bloom; my castles are in ruins and my residents have died. Then, oh, these are their bones within me, and their property that was gained lawfully along with their ill-gotten gains are in my belly, and the inheritance of the heavens and the earth is only for Allah." '" (Adab al-nafs, I, 122)
12. The Messiah, Peace he upon him, said to the Apostles: "Verily, the eating of barley bread and the drinking of plain water today in this world is for he who would enter heaven tomorrow." (Adab al-nafs, ii, 225)
13. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq], Peace he upon him, said: 'Jesus the son of Mary, may the blessings of Allah be upon him, said: 'You work for the sake of this world while it is not by work that you are provided for in it. And you do not work for the sake of the next world, while it is only by work that you will be provided for in it. Woe be unto you, evil learned ones ('ulama)! You take your wage and neglect works. Soon the worker's work will he accepted, and soon you will be driving forth from the narrowness of this world toward the darkness of the grave. How can one be knowledgeable who is on the way to the next world and yet his face is turned towards this world, and he likes the things that harm him more than the things that benefit him?' ' (Al-Kafi, ii, 319)
14. Jesus ('a) said: "The love of this world and the next cannot come together in the heart of a believer, like water and fire in a single vessel." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
l5 It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq], Peace be upon him, said that Jesus, Peace be upon him, said: ''It is hard to get any good thing whether it is of the world or the hereafter. As to the good things of this world they are hard to get because there' is nothing of it which as soon as you extend your hand to get, some profligate does not grab first, while the good things of the other world are hard to obtain because you do not find any helper who may help
you to obtain it.'' (al-Kafi viii, 144)
16. When Jesus passed by a house whose inmates had died and others had taken their place, he said: " woe to your owners who inherited you! How they have learned no lesson from their late brothers." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 329)
17. Jesus ('a) said: "This world and the next one are rivals. When you please one of them you displease the other." (Bihar al-anwar, lxxiii, 122)
18. It has been reported that Abu 'Abd Allah, Peace he upon him, said: "The world took the form, for Jesus ('a), of a woman whose eyes were blue. Then he said to her: 'How many have you married?' She said: 'Very many.' He said: 'Then did they all divorce you?' She said: 'No, but I killed all of them.' He said: 'Then woe be to the rest of your husbands! How they fail to learn from the example of the predecessors!'
19. It is reported that 'Ali ibn al-Husayn [Imam Sajjad], Peace be upon him, said: "The Messiah, Peace be upon him, said to his Apostles: 'Verily, this world is merely a bridge, so cross over it, and do not make it your abode.' '' (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 319)
20. I heard Imam Rida ('a) say: "Jesus the son of Mary, may Allah bless him, said to the apostles: 'O Children of Israel! Do not grieve over what you lose of this world, just as the people of this world do not grieve over what they lose of their religion, when they gain this world of theirs.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 304; al-Kafi. ii, 127)
21. Jesus ('a) said: "Do not take the world as a master, for it will make you its slave. Keep your treasure with one who will not squander it. The owners of the treasures of this world fear for its ruin, but he who owns the treasure of Allah does not fear for its ruin.'' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
22. Jesus ('a) said: ''In truth I say unto you, just as one who is sick looks at food and finds no pleasure in it due to the severity of the pain, the companions of this world find no pleasure in worship and do not find the sweetness of it, for what they find is the sweetness of this world. In truth I say unto you, just as an animal which is not captured and tamed becomes hardened and its character is changed, so too when hearts are not softened by the remembrance of death and the effort of worship they become hard and coarse, and in truth I say unto you, if a skin is not torn, it may become a vessel for honey, just as hearts, if they are not torn by desires, or fouled by greed, or hardened by pleasures, may become vessels for wisdom.'' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 325)
23. It was said to Jesus ('a): "[Would it not be better] if you got a house?" He said: "The remains which are left from those before us is enough for us.'' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
On Wisdom
24. It is reported that Jesus ( 'a) said: ''O assembly of scholars ( 'ulama)'. Just as the sovereigns have abandoned wisdom, leaving it to you. So you should abandon sovereignty, leaving it for them.'' (Adab al nafs. i, 134)
25. And it was said to him [Jesus ( a)]: "Who trained you?" He said: "No one trained me. I saw the ugliness of ignorance and I avoided it.'' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 326)
26. The apostle of Allah [Muhammad] (s) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) stood up among the Children of Israel and said: 'O Children of Israel! Do not speak with the ignorant of wisdom, for otherwise you do injustice with it, and do not keep it from its folk, for otherwise you do injustice to them, and do not help the unjust with his injustice, for otherwise your virtue becomes void. Affairs are three: the affair whose righteousness is clear to you, so follow it: the affair whose error is clear to you, so avoid it'. and the affair about which there are differences, so return it to Allah, the Almighty and Glorious." (Faqih, iv, 400)
27. Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said: "O assembly of Apostles! I have a request of you. Fulfill it for me." They said: "Your request is fulfilled, O Spirit of Allah!" Then he stood up and washed their feet. They said: "It would have been more proper for us to have done this, O Spirit of Allah!" Then he said: "Verily, it is more fitting for one with knowledge to serve the people. Indeed, I humbled myself only so that you may humble yourselves among the people after me, even as I have humbled myself among you." Then Jesus ('a) said: "Wisdom is developed by humility, not by pride, and likewise plants only grow in soft soil, not in rocks.'' (Bihar al-anwar, ii, 62; Al-Kafi, vi, 37)
28. Al-Sayyid ibn Tawus, may Allah have mercy on him, said: I read in the Gospel that Jesus ('a) said: "I tell you, do not worry about what you will eat or what you will drink or with what you will clothe your bodies. Is not the soul more excellent than food, and the body more excellent than clothes? Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor store away, yet your heavenly Lord provides for them. Are you not more excellent than they'? Who among you by worrying can add a single measure to his stature'? Then why do you worry about your clothes?'' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 317) [6]
Self-knowledge'
29 It is reported by Mufaddal, one of the companions of Imam al-Sadiq ('a), from Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, Peace be upon him, in a long hadith, that he said: "Jesus the son of Mary, Peace be upon our Prophet and upon him, used to spend some time with the disciples and advise them, and he used to say: 'He does not know me who knows not his soul, and he who does not know the soul between his two sides, does not know the soul between my two sides. And he who knows his soul which is between his sides, he knows me. And he who knows me knows He Who sent me.' " (Adab al-nafs, ii, 213)
On Prayer and Worship:
30. Jesus ('a) said to a worshipper, "What do you do?" He answered, "I worship." He ('a) said, "Then who provides for you?" He said, "My brother." He ('a) said, "Your brother is more of a worshipper than you are!" (Adab al-nafs, i, 215)
31. I asked Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq ('a)] about the best thing by which the servant may draw near to his Lord and what is most beloved by Allah, the Almighty and Glorious. He said: "I know of nothing, after knowledge (ma'rifah), better than the ritual prayer (salat). Do you not see that the good servant Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said: 'And He enjoined on me the ritual prayer (salat) and the alms tax (zakat) for as long as I live.'?" (Al-Kafi, iii, 264)
32. It is reported that Imam Sadiq ('a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) passed by a group of people who were crying. He asked why they were crying. It was said to him that they were crying for their sins. He said, they should pray about them and they will be forgiven." (Bihar al-anwar, vi, 20)
Pride of the Sanctimonious:
33. Jesus ('a) said: "O group of Apostles! How many lamps the wind has put out, and how many worshippers pride has corrupted.!" (Bihar al-anwar, lxxii, 322)
On Chastity:
34. Imam Sadiq ('a) said: "The Apostles met with Jesus ('a) and said to him: 'O teacher of the good! Guide us!' He said to them: 'Verily Moses the interlocutor of Allah ('a) commanded you not to swear by Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, falsely, and I command you not to swear by Allah falsely or truly.' They said: 'O Spirit of Allah! Guide us more!' Then he said: 'Verily Moses the prophet of Allah ('a) commanded you not to commit adultery, and I command you not to talk to yourselves about adultery, let alone to commit adultery. Verily one who talks to himself about adultery is like one who sets fire to a house that is decorated so the smoke damages the decor, even though the house is not burnt.' (Al-Kafi, v, 542)
35. Jesus (a) said: "Never stare at that which is not for you. If you restrain your eyes you will never commit adultery; and if you are able to avoid looking at the garments of women who are not permitted for you, then do so." (Majmu'at al-Warram, i, 62)
36. It is reported that Imam Sadiq ('a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said, 'When one of you sits in his house, he should have clothes on. Verily, Allah has allotted modesty for you, just as He has allotted your sustenance."" (Bihar al-anwar, lxxi, 334)
Looking at the Bright Side:
37. It is reported that he [Jesus ('a)] passed by a carcass with his disciples. Then the disciples said: "How putrid the smell of this dog is!" Then Jesus ('a) said: "How intense is the whiteness of his teeth!" (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
Hope and Fear:
38. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq] ('a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) sent two of his companions on an errand. Then one of them returned thin and afflicted and the other fat and chubby. He said to the one who was thin: what did this to you, that I see you this way?' He said: 'The fear of Allah.' And he said to the other who was fat: 'What did this to you, that I see you this way?' He said: 'A good opinion of Allah.' " (Bihar al-anwar, lxx. 400)
Death:
39. It is reported from Imam Sadiq, Peace be upon him, from his father that he said: "Jesus, Peace be upon him, used to say: 'Regarding the terror which you do not know when you will encounter [i.e. death], what prevents you from preparing for it before it comes upon you suddenly?' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 330)
Of Advice and Advisers:
40. And he (Jesus ('a)) said: "How long will you be advised without taking any advice? Certainly you have become a burden to the advisors." (Adab al-nafs, i, 175)
41. [Imam] al-Sadiq, Peace be upon him, said: "Verily, a man came to Jesus the son of Mary, Peace be upon him, and said to him: 'O Spirit of Allah! I have committed fornication [or adultery, sex between a man and woman not married to each other, in Arabic: zina] so purify me.' Then Jesus ordered the people to be called so that none should be left behind for the purification of so-and-so. Then when the people had been gathered together and the man had entered into a hole, so as to be stoned, the man in the hole called out: 'Anyone for whom Allah, the Supreme, has a punishment should not punish me.' Then all the people left except for John and Jesus, Peace be upon them. Then John, Peace be upon him, approached him and said to him: 'O sinner! Advise me!' Then he said to him: 'Do not leave your self alone with its desires or you will perish.' John, Peace be upon him, said: 'Say more.' He said: 'Verily, do not humiliate the wrongdoer for his fault.' John, Peace be upon him, said: 'Say more. He said: 'Do not become angry.' John, Peace be upon him, said: 'That is enough for me.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 188)
Goodness Imperishable:
42. Jesus ('a) said to his companions: "Accord great regard for the thing which is not eaten by the fire." They said: ''What is that?" He said: "That which is good (al-ma'ruf)." (Bihar al-anwar. xiv, 330)
Charity:
43. Imam Sadiq ('a) said: ''Verily, when Jesus the son of Mary ( 'a) passed along the shore of a sea, he threw a piece of his bread into the water, Then some of the disciples said: 'O Spirit of Allah and His Word! Why did you do this when that was your food.' He said: "I did this in order that some animal among the animals of the sea may eat it, and the reward of Allah for this is great.' (Tahdhib, iv, 105)
Moderation in Food and Sleep:
44. Jesus ('a) said: "O Children of Israel! Do not be excessive in eating, for those who are excessive in eating are excessive in sleeping, and those who are excessive in sleeping are deficient in praying, and of those who are deficient in praying, it is written that they are negligent." (Sharh Nahj al-balaghah, xix, 188; Adab al-nafs. i, 189)
45. Jesus the son of Mary ('a) stood up among the Children of Israel to preach. He said. 'O Children of Israel! Do not eat before you become hungry and when you become hungry eat but do not eat your fill, because when you eat your fill your necks become thick and your sides grow fat and you forget your Lord" (Bihar al-anwar lxvi, 337)
The blessed and the wretched:
46 It is reported that [Imam] Ali (a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary (a) said: ''Blessed is he whose silence is contemplation (fikr). whose glance is an admonition, whose house suffices him and who cries over his mistakes and from whose hand and tongue the people are safe.' '' (Bihar a1-anwar xiv, 319)
47 Jesus said: "How can someone benefit himself while he trades himself for all that is in this world, then he abandons that which he has traded as inheritance to others and destroys himself. But blessed is the man who purifies himself and prefers his soul to everything of this world.'' (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 329)
48. I heard Imam Sadiq ( 'a) say: ''Christ ( 'a) said to his disciples: 'If you are not lovers and my brothers, you must accustom yourself to the enmity and hatred of the people, otherwise you will not be my brothers. I teach you this that you may learn it; I do not teach you so that you may become proud. Verily, you will not achieve that which you seek unless you give up that which you desire, and by enduring patiently that which you detest. And guard your gaze for it plants lust in the heart, and it is sufficient to tempt one. Happy are they who see that which they desire with their eyes, but who commit no disobedience in their hearts. How far is that which is in the past, and how near is that which is to come. Woe to those who have been deluded when what they loathe approaches them, and what they love abandons them, and there comes that which they were promised. There is lesson in the creation of these nights and days. Woe to those whose efforts are for the sake of this world, and whose achievements are errors. How he will be disgraced before his Lord! And do not speak much about anything other than the remembrance of God. Those who talk much about things other than God have their hearts hardened, but they do not know it. Do not look at the faults of others as if you have been appointed to spy over them, but attend to the emancipation of your own selves, for you are slaves, possessed. How much water flows in a mountain without its becoming soft, and how much wisdom you are taught without your hearts becoming soft. You are bad slaves, not pious slaves, nor of those who are noble and free. Indeed you are like unto the oleander: all who see it wonder at its flowers, but when they eat from it they die. Peace be unto you.' (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 324)
Of wealth and Property:
49. It is reported that Jesus ('a) found fault with property and said: ''It has three characteristics.'' It was said: ''And what are they', O Spirit of Allah.''' He said: ''One acquires it illegitimately, and if it is acquired legitimately, it keeps one from spending it in its right place, and if one spends it in its right place, its management keeps one from worshiping one's Lord." (Bihar al-anwar xiv 329)
50). It is reported that the Commander of the faithful [Imam Ali], peace be upon him, said: "Jesus the son of Mary, Peace he upon him, said: 'The dinar is the illness of religion, and the scholar (al-'alim) is the physician of religion. So if you see that the physician brings illness upon himself, distrust him, and know that he is not to advise others.' " (Bihar al-anwar. xiv, 319)
On Company:
51 Imam Ali ('a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said: 'Verily the evil doer is infectious, and the associate of the wicked is brought down. So beware of those with whom you associate.' " (Al-Kafi, ii, 640)
52. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq], Peace he upon him, said: The Apostle of Allah, may the Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his progeny, said: 'The Apostles said to Jesus, Peace he upon him: "O Spirit of Allah! With whom should we keep company?" He said: "He the sight of whom reminds you of Allah, the speech of whom increases your knowledge, and the works of whom make you desirous of the other world." ' " (Al-Kafi, i, 39)
The Incorrigible Fool:
53. It has been reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq], Peace be upon him, said: 'Verily, Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said: 'I treated the sick, then I healed them by the permission of Allah, and I cured those born blind and the lepers by the permission of Allah, and I treated the dead and revived them by the permission of Allah, and I treated the fool, but I could not correct him' Then it was said: 'O spirit of Allah. What is a fool?' He said 'He is one who is admirable in his own view to himself, He who considers all merit to be for him and not against him, and who finds all rights to be for himself and does not find against himself any right. Such is the fool for whom there is no way to cure him.'" (Bihar al anwar, xiv, 323)
The Heart's Sickness:
54 And Jesus the son of Mary said: "There is no sickness of the heart more severe than callousness, and no soul is more severely affected than the one that goes without hunger, and these two are the halters of expulsion [from divine mercy] and abandonment." (Bihar al-anwar, lxvi, 337)
55. Verily, Jesus ('a) said: "Why do you come to me clothed in the garments of monks while your hearts are those of ferocious wolves? Wear the clothes of kings, but soften your hearts with fear." (Bihar al-anwar, lxxiii, 208)
Anger and Its Source:
56. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq] ('a) said "The disciples said to Jesus the son of Mary ('a): 'O teacher of the good! Teach us what is the most severe of things.' Then he said: the most severe of things is the wrath of Allah.' They said: 'Then what prevents the wrath of Allah?' He said: 'That you not be wrathful.' They said: 'What is the source of wrath?' He said: 'Pride, haughtiness and contempt for the people.' '' (Bihar al-anwar, xvi, 257)
Five Evils:
57. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah, [Imam Sadiq], Peace be upon him, said: "The Messiah, Peace be upon him, used to say: 'He who has many worries, his body becomes sick; he who is ill-tempered, his self becomes his torment; he who often talks, often stumbles; he who often lies, loses his worth; he who quarrels with men, loses his manliness.' (Bihar al-anwar. xiv. 318)
Evil scholars:
58. Imam Sadiq ('a) said: Jesus the son of Mary, Peace be upon our Prophet and his progeny and with him. said: Woe unto the evil scholars! How the fire inflames them!' (Al-Kafi, i, 47)
Satan's Clientele:
59. Jesus ('a) met Iblis who was driving five donkeys. Loads were upon them. Jesus ('a) asked him about the loads. Iblis said, "They are for trade, and I am looking for buyers." Jesus ('a) said, "What is the merchandise?" Iblis said, "One of them is injustice." He ('a) asked, "Who buys it?" He said, "Rulers. And the second is pride." He asked, "Who buys it?" He said, "Village chiefs. And the third is envy." He asked, "Who buys it?" He said, "The learned. And the fourth is treason." He asked, "Who buys it?" He said, "Those who work for merchants. And the fifth is trickery." He said, "Who buys it?" He said, "Women." (Bihar al-anwar, lxiv, 196)
The Richest of All Men:
60. Jesus, Peace be upon him, said: "My hands 'are my servant and my feet are my mount; the earth is my bed, a stone my pillow; my blanket in the winter is the east of the earth and my lamp in the night is the moon; my stew is hunger and my motto is fear; my garment is wool and my fruit and my basil what grows from the earth for wild beasts and cattle. I sleep while I have nothing and I rise while I have nothing, and yet there is no one on earth wealthier than I" (Bihar al-anwar, xvii, 239)
Seeking God's Pleasure:
61. And Jesus ('a) used to say: "O apostles, love God through hatred of the 'disobedient, and approach God by distancing [yourselves] from them, and seek pleasure by their displeasure." (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 330)
Criterion of Mutual Relations:
62. It is reported that Imam Sadiq, Peace be upon him, said: "Jesus the son of Mary, Peace be upon them, said to some of his companions: 'Do not do to others what you do not like others to do to you, and if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him your left cheek too.[7] (Bihar al-anwar, x, 287).
Others Opinion of Oneself:
63. The Messenger of God (s) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said to John the son of Zachariah, 'If something is said of you which is true, then know that it was a sin that you had committed, so ask God's forgiveness for it, and if something is said of you which is not true, then know that a good deed will be recorded for you for this, for which you did not have to labor.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 287).
On Having a Good Opinion of God:
64. Al-Sayyid ibn Tawus, may God have mercy on him, said: "I read in the Gospel that Jesus ('a) said: 'Who among you gives his son a stone when he asks for bread? Or who hands out a snake when asked for a cloak? If despite the fact that your evil is well-known you give good gifts to your sons, then it is more fitting that your Lord should give good things to one who asks." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 318; Sa'd al-su'ud, 56) [8]
Inner Chastity
65. Jesus ('a) said: "You heard what was said to the people of yore, 'Do not commit adultery,' but I tell you, he who looks at a woman and desires her has committed adultery in his heart. If your right eye betrays you, then take it out and cast it away, for it is better for you that you destroy one of your organs than cast your entire body into the fire of hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it away, for it is better for you to destroy one of your organs than that your entire body should go to hell. (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 3l7) [9]
The Life and Acts of Jesus ('a)
66. It is reported that Imam 'Ali ('a) said in one of his sermons: "If you like, I will tell you about Jesus the son of Mary, Peace he upon him. He used a stone as his pillow, wore course clothing and ate rough food. His stew was hunger and his lamp in the night was the moon. His cover in the winter was the east of the earth and its west. His fruit and his basil is that which grows from the earth for the cattle. He had no wife to try him, and no son to grieve him. He had no wealth to distract him, nor greed to abase him. His mount was his feet and his servant was his hands." (Nahj al-balaghah, Sermon 158)
67. Imam Musa al-Kazim ('a) said: "John the son of Zachariah ('a) cried and did not laugh, and Jesus the son of Mary ('a) laughed and cried; and what Jesus did was more excellent than what John did." (Al-Kafi, ii, 665)
68. Jesus, Peace he upon him, served a meal to the Apostles, and when they had eaten it, he himself washed their hands. They said: "O Spirit of God! It would have been more proper for us to wash yours!" He said: "I did this only that you would do this for those whom you teach." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 326)
69. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq], Peace he upon him, said: "Verily, Jesus the son of Mary, Peace be upon him, came to the tomb of John the son of Zachariah, Peace he upon him, and he asked his Lord to revive him. Then he called him, and he answered him and he came out from the grave and said to him: 'What do you want from me?' And he said to him: 'I want you to be friends with me as you were in this world' Then he said to him: 'O Jesus! The heat of death has not yet subsided, and you want me to return to the world and the heat of death would return to me. So he Jesus left him, and he returned to his grave.' " (Al-Kafi iii, 260)
70. Jesus, Peace he upon him, passed by a grave whose occupant was being chastised. Then he passed it the following year when he was not being chastised. He said: "O Lord! I passed through this town last year and he was being chastised, and I passed through it this year while he is not being chastised." Then God revealed to him: "O Spirit of God! Verily one of his children matured and removed obstacles from a road and sheltered an orphan. Then I forgave him for the deeds of his child." (Al-Kafi. vi, 3)
71. Imam Sadiq ('a) was asked: "Did Jesus the son of Mary raise anyone from the dead, so that he ate and had a livelihood, and continued his life for a term and had off spring?" He said: "Yes, he had a friend who was a brother to him in God. And when Jesus passed by, he would go to visit him. And Jesus ('a) would spend a while with him. Then he would leave with salutations of Peace unto him. Once his mother came out to him [Jesus] and she said to him: 'He died, O Apostle of God!' He said to her: 'Would you like to see him?' She said: 'Yes.' He said to her: 'I will come tomorrow to raise him with the permission of God. The next day he came and said to her: 'Accompany me to his grave.' So they went to his grave. Jesus ('a) stopped and then he called on God. Then the grave opened and her son came out alive. When his mother saw him and he saw her, they cried. Jesus ('a) felt compassion for them and said to him: 'Would you like to remain with your mother in the world?' He said: 'O Apostle of God! With eating and a daily bread and a term, or without a term and a daily bread?' Then Jesus ('a) said to him: 'Of course with daily bread and a term. You will live for twenty years, marry and father a child.' He said: 'Yes, in that case.' " [Imam Sadiq] said: "Then Jesus ('a) returned him to his mother and he lived for twenty years, married and fathered a child." (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 233).
72. Abu al-Layth said in his commentary of the Qur'an: "The people asked Jesus ('a) in ridicule: 'Create a bat for us and put a soul in it, if you are one of the truthful. Then he took some clay and formed a bat and breathed into it. Then it suddenly flew between the sky and the earth. The clay was molded and breathed into by Jesus, but the creation was by God, the Supreme. And it is said that they asked to create a bat because it is more wonderful than other creatures. (Bihar al-anwar, lxiv, 322)
73. Al-Sayyid ibn Tawus, may God have mercy on him, said: "I read in the Gospel that Jesus ('a) boarded a ship and his disciples were with him, when suddenly there was a great confusion in the sea, so that the ship came near to being covered by the waves. And it was as though [Jesus ('a)] was asleep. Then his disciples came to him and awakened him and said: 'O master! Save us so that we do not perish.' He said to them: 'O you of little faith! What has frightened you?' Then he stood up and drove away the winds, and there was a great stillness. The people marveled, and said: 'How is this? Verily the winds and the sea obey him.' " [10] (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 266)
74. It is reported that a woman from Canaan brought her invalid son to Jesus, Peace he upon him. She said: "O Prophet of God! This my son is an invalid. Pray to God for him." He said: "That which I have been commanded is only the healing of the invalids of the Children of Israel." She said: "O Spirit of God! Verily the dogs receive the remnants from the tables of their masters after the meal, so, avail us of that which may benefit us of your wisdom." Then he supplicated God, the Supreme, asking for permission. Then He gave His permission, and he made him well. (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 253)
75. It is reported that Jesus ('a) passed by a man who was blind, leprous and paralytic, and Jesus heard him giving thanks and saying: "Praised be God Who has protected me from the trials with which He afflicts most of men." Jesus ('a) said: "What trial remains which has not visited you?" He said: "He protected me from a trial which is the greatest of trials, and that is unbelief" Then Jesus ('a) touched him, and God cured him from his illnesses and beautified his face. Then he became a companion of Jesus ('a) and worshipped with him. (Bihar al-anwar, lxxi, 33)
God's Words Addressed to Jesus
76. Imam Ja'far Sadiq ('a) said: "Among things with which God, the Blessed and Exalted, exhorted Jesus ('a) was: 'O Jesus! I am your Lord, and the Lord of your fathers. My Name is the One (al-Wahid), and I am one (Ahad) and single (Mutafarrid) in creating all things. All things are My handiwork, and all My creations shall return to Me.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 289)
77. It is reported that Abu 'Abd Allah [Imam Sadiq] ('a) said: "Jesus the son of Mary ('a) ascended [to heaven] clad in garments of wool spun by Mary, woven by Mary, and sewn by Mary. When he was brought up to heaven it was called: 'O Jesus! Cast off from yourself the finery of the world.' "(Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 338)
78. God confided to Jesus the son of Mary ('a): "O Jesus! Cut yourself off from fatal desires and part with every desire that keeps you away from Me, and know that you are near me at the station of a trusted Apostle (rasul), so beware of Me." (Tuhaf al- 'uqul, 375).
79. It is reported that one day Jesus, Peace be upon him, came upon severe rain and thunder, so he sought a place of shelter. He saw a tent at a distance, and came to it. There he saw a woman in it, so he turned away from it. Suddenly, he saw a cave in a mountain, and when he arrived there he saw a lion in it. So he rested his hand against the cave, and said: "My God! Everything has a shelter, but You put no shelter for me." Then God, the Supreme, revealed to him: "Your shelter is in the abode of My Mercy. By My Greatness, on the Resurrection Day, verily, I will marry you to a hundred houris created by My hands, and verily for your wedding I will lay out a feast for four thousand years, each day of which is like the lifetime of the entire world. And I will command a crier to cry out: Where are the ascetics of the world? Be present at the wedding of the ascetic Jesus the son of Mary!" (Bihar al-anwar xiv, 328)
80. One of the Imams [Imam Sadiq or Imam Baqir] said: "Verily, a man of the Children of Israel exerted himself for forty nights. Then he called God, but He did not answer him. Then he came to Jesus complaining to him and asking him to pray. So Jesus purified himself and prayed to God, the Supreme. Then God revealed to him: 'O Jesus! Verily, he came to me by a door other than that by which one should come. Verily, he called Me while there was doubt about you in his heart. So had he called Me until his neck broke or his fingers had fallen off, I would not have answered him.' "(Al-Kafi, ii, 400)
81. God said to Jesus: "O Jesus! Verily I have granted unto you the poor and made you merciful towards them. You love them and they love you. They are pleased with you as a leader and guide, and you are pleased with them as companions and followers. These are two of My qualities. Whoever meets Me with these [qualities] meets Me with the purest of deeds which are dearest to Me." (Bihar al-anwar lxxii 55)
82. God revealed to Jesus ('a): "Be to the people like the ground below in meekness, like the flowing water in generosity, and like the sun and the moon in mercy, which shine on the good and the sinner alike. (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 326)
83. God revealed to Jesus: "Say to the Children of Israel: 'Do not enter any of My houses without lowered eyes and clean hands. And inform them that, verily, I will not answer the prayer of any of them while any of My creation is oppressed by them.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 327)
84. God the Supreme revealed to Jesus: "O Jesus! I have honored nothing in creation like My religion, and I have bestowed nothing on it like My mercy. Wash your exterior by water and cure your interior by good deeds, for verily you shall return to Me. Get ready, for that which is approaching, and let me hear from you the sounds of sorrow." (Al-Kafi)
Of Knowledge and us Seekers:
85. Verily God the Supreme said to Jesus: "Honor those who possess knowledge and know of their excellence, for verily their excellence over that of all My creation - except for the prophets and messengers - is like that of the sun over the stars, and like that of the Hereafter over this world, and like My excellence over all things." (Bihar al-anwar, ii, 25)
86. Verily God revealed to Jesus: "Indeed, you must be receptive to exhortation! Or you will be ashamed before Me to exhort the people." (Irshad al-qulub)
87. God the Supreme said in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel: "Woe unto those who have heard the knowledge but have not sought it. How they will be gathered with the ignorant into the fire! And learn the knowledge and teach it, for even if knowledge does not bring you felicity, it will not bring you wretchedness, and even if it does not raise you, it will not lower you, and even if it does not enrich you, it will not Impoverish you, and even if it does not benefit you, it will not harm you. And do not say, 'We fear lest we should know but not act', but say, 'We hope to know and to act.' And knowledge intercedes on behalf of one who has it, and it is for God not to disgrace him. Indeed, on the Resurrection day God will say: 'O assembly of the learned ('u1ama')! What is your opinion of our Lord?' Then they will say: 'It is our opinion that He will have mercy upon us and forgive us.' Then the Almighty will say: 'Indeed, I have done so. Indeed, I have entrusted you with My wisdom not because I wanted evil for you, but because I wanted good for you. So enter among My good servants into My garden (paradise) by My mercy.' " (Bihar al-anwar, i, 186)
The Remembrance of God:
88. Imam Rida, Peace be upon him, said: "Engraved on the ring of Jesus, Peace be upon him, were two sentences from the Gospel: 'Blessed is the servant who remembers God for His sake, and woe unto the servant who forgets God for his own sake.' " (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 247)
89. God, the Great and Almighty, said to Jesus ('a): "O Jesus! Remember Me within yourself and I will remember you within Myself, and remember Me publicly and I will remember you publicly in a public better than that of men. O Jesus! Soften your heart for Me and remember Me much in solitude, and know that My pleasure is in your fawning over Me, in an animated and not in an impassive manner." (Al-Kafi, ii, 502)
Humility and the Etiquette of Prayer:
90. Among things that were revealed by God to Jesus is: "Do not call upon Me except by praying humbly to Me and with all your heart. Then verily when you call upon Me thus I will answer you." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 290)
91. God revealed to Jesus ('a): O Jesus! "Give Me the tears of your eyes, and the humility of your heart, and stand beside the tombs of the dead, and call to them aloud that you may be advised by them, and say: 'I will join you with those who join you.' (Bihar al-anwar, lxxxii, 178)
92. God the Supreme revealed to Jesus: "When I give you a blessing, receive it with humility, [and] I will complete it for you." (Bihar al-anwar, xiv, 328)
93. [Imam] Ja'far reported that his father ('a) said: "Najashi the king of Habashah [Ethiopia] sent for Ja'far the son of Abu Talib and his companions. When they arrived before him, he was sitting in the dust in his house with worn garments.... Ja'far ibn Abu Talib said to him: 'O pious king! What is the matter, that I see you sitting in dust in worn garments?' He said: 'O Ja'far! We find in that which was revealed to Jesus ('a): "Verily, it is God's due from His servants that they show humility when they are shown favor." So, when God showed His favor by His prophet, Muhammad (s), I showed this humility to God.' " He [Imam Ja'far] said: "When that news reached the prophet (s), he said to his companions: 'Verily, giving alms brings abundance, so give alms and God will have mercy on you, and humility elevates one's station, so be humble and God will elevate you, and forgiveness increases dignity, so forgive and God will grant you dignity. (Bihar al-anwar, xviii, 417)
An Advice to Rulers:
94. A Christian primate (Jathiliq) visited Mus'ab ibn Zubayr [who was a governor during his brother's caliphate] and spoke words that angered him. He [Mus'ab] raised a cane against him, then left him until his anger subsided. He [the primate] said: "If the emir permits me, I would tell him something revealed by God to Christ ('a)". He (Mus'ab) turned to him, and he (the primate) said: "Verily, God revealed to Christ, 'It is not fitting for a sultan to become angry, for he commands and is obeyed, and it is not fitting for him to be hasty, for nothing eludes him, and it is not fitting for him to be unjust, for injustice is repulsed by him.' " Then Mus'ab became embarrassed and was pleased with him. (Adab al-nafs, ii, 69)
On Lying and Hypocrisy:
95 It is reported from the Gospel: "Beware of liars who come to you in sheep's clothing while in reality they are ravenous wolves. You shall know them by their fruits. It is not possible for a good tree to bear vicious fruit, nor for a vicious tree to bear good fruit." ('Uddat al-da'i, l52). [11]
96. God said to Jesus, Peace be upon him: 'O Jesus! Yours must be a single tongue in secret and in public, and likewise your heart. Verily, I warn you of yourself, and I suffice as the All-aware.[12] It is not proper that there be two tongues in a single mouth, nor two swords in a single scabbard, nor two hearts in a single breast, and likewise two minds." (Al-Kafi. ii, 343)
Notes:
[1] Ibn al 'Arabi, The Bezels of Wisdom (Fusus al-hikam). tr. R. W. J. Austin (Lahore: Suhail, 1988), p.177.
[2] Frithjof Shuon, Islam and the Perennial Philosophy (Lahore: Suhail, 1985).
[3] Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, Jesus in the Eyes of the Sufis (London: Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications, 1983).
[4] We are reminded by the Glorious Qur'an: "O Jesus, I will take you away and lift you up to me..." (3:54)
[5] Cf Matt. 23:25.
[6] Cf Matt 6.25-34:
25.Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
26. look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or Store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feed~ them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28. And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of
30. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31. So do not worry, saying, 'what shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
32. For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things ""ill be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (NIV)
[7] This is perhaps one of the most widely misunderstood of the sayings of Jesus ('a). For it does not seem to he intended in the general ascribed to it, for that would amount to encouraging aggression, oppression and wrong doing. Turning the other cheek can however be an effective way of putting to shame the other side. An episode related by Muhammad Husayn Azad about Imam Bakhsh Nasikh, one of the masters of Urdu poetry, suggests how it can be used as an effective deterrent. Once someone had sent as a present some spoons made of crystal glass for the poet. These were considered a novelty in those days, and were quite beautiful. One day a young man belonging to some noble family came to visit Nasikh. Seeing the spoons he asked him about where he had got them and how much they had cost. Then he picked up one of them and held it admiringly. Thereafter as they conversed, to keep his idle hands busy he began to tap the spoon on the ground. The fragile thing that it was broke into two pieces. immediately Nasikh picked up another spoon and placed it in front of the youth with the remark, "Now play with this one!" (Mawlana Muhammad Husayn Azad, Ab-e hayat (Calcutta: 'Uthmaniyyah Book Depot, 1967), p.434)
[8] The corresponding verses of the Bible are Matt 7:9-11, which in the New international Version (NIV) are translated as follows:
9 Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
[9] The corresponding verses of the Bible are Matt. 5:27-30, translated in the King James Version (KJV) as:
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shall not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
[10] Cf. Matt 8:23-27 (KJV):
23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.
24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, inasmuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful', O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
[11] Cf. Matt 7:15-16, 18 (KJV):
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
[12] Cf. Qur'an 17:17; 25:58.
Truth would make a better story
Father Raymond J. de Souza
For The Calgary Herald
Sunday, March 04, 2007
So they have found the ossuary that held the bones of Jesus. And another for Mary Magdalene. There is, of course, a third one for their son. And others for Joseph and Mary. All buried together in the tomb of a reasonably well-off first-century Jewish family in Jerusalem.
Shocking news! Not because Jesus was supposed to have risen from the dead and ascended to heaven. Not because it has long been thought Joseph died in Nazareth long before the Crucifixion in Jerusalem. But because, as everyone knows, Dan Brown cracked the code and told us that Mary Magdalene had run off to France.
The novelist's version was challenged in New York this past week by the Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron, best known for his love story set upon the doomed cruise ship Titanic.
Cameron is floating his credibility on his new television documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, and presented the ossuaries at a news conference full of credulous latter-day scribes who have hours of time for writers and filmers of fiction when it comes to the things of religion, but rather less time for actual theologians and biblical scholars.
Cameron spun some tales about what all this means, suggesting that Jesus was married and had a son with Mary Magdalene. How's that? Well, the bones in the "Jesus" ossuary were found by DNA tests not to be related to the ossuary assigned to Mary Magdalene.
Ergo, they must be married, and the parents of the child in the "son of Jesus" ossuary. But, of course, we don't know whom the names refer to, some of which were common in Palestine at the time, and some beginning with very loose threads, out of which Cameron spins a tale of whole cloth. It is more reasonable, in fact, just to hold to the biblical account.
Will this challenge the very basis of Christianity and set off a worldwide debate? That's what the Times of London asked 11 years ago when it ran this story about the tomb, itself discovered in 1980. The debate is not quite getting off the ground, but perhaps this time Cameron will lay on a Celine Dion soundtrack and the foundations of the faith will start shaking.
Yet the Cameron project is touchingly familiar -- we see it every year, usually around Easter time. An obscure bit of archeology somewhere in the Holy Land is trumpeted to prove that some major event of biblical history never happened, cooked up by fraudulent religious hucksters years later.
There is a certain, ahem, selectivity when it comes to biblical-era archeology. Findings that support the biblical texts don't quite get the same prominence as findings that question them. All of the scientific rigour which is insisted upon otherwise is abandoned in favour of conjecture and speculation -- often the best that can be done at a remove of some two millennia.
One of the stories being told is that the famous "James" ossuary displayed at the Royal Ontario Museum with great fanfare a few years back actually is the lost ossuary from the Jesus-Mary-Magdalene set. The James ossuary was supposed to belong to the brother of Jesus, and was supposed to set off another great debate, which rather fizzled when the ossuary was declared to be a forgery.
Yet the search for the bones of Jesus or the descendants of Mary Magdalene continues apace, whether under the guise of fiction novels or documentaries. The search goes on because Christianity itself is a relentlessly historical religion, as is the Judaism from which it emerged.
The faith depends upon real historical events -- the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus primary among them. Christianity is not a religion of the abstract, of fanciful tales told to illustrate some larger truth. It is instead a religion of the particular, of stories told about real events which testify to the apparently fantastic news that God become man in Jesus Christ. The Christian claim is that the stories are better than fantastic tales -- they are true events.
If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain -- so wrote Saint Paul to the Corinthians at the beginning, making a claim of history and faith at the same time.
So it is true that if the bones of Jesus were found, the Christian faith would be in vain. Perhaps that is why such energy is spent on the search for them, and why in the absence of evidence, fantastic tales are indeed told. The shame of it is that the original truth is more marvellous than any latter-day fiction.
© The Calgary Herald 2007
Father Raymond J. de Souza
For The Calgary Herald
Sunday, March 04, 2007
So they have found the ossuary that held the bones of Jesus. And another for Mary Magdalene. There is, of course, a third one for their son. And others for Joseph and Mary. All buried together in the tomb of a reasonably well-off first-century Jewish family in Jerusalem.
Shocking news! Not because Jesus was supposed to have risen from the dead and ascended to heaven. Not because it has long been thought Joseph died in Nazareth long before the Crucifixion in Jerusalem. But because, as everyone knows, Dan Brown cracked the code and told us that Mary Magdalene had run off to France.
The novelist's version was challenged in New York this past week by the Hollywood filmmaker James Cameron, best known for his love story set upon the doomed cruise ship Titanic.
Cameron is floating his credibility on his new television documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, and presented the ossuaries at a news conference full of credulous latter-day scribes who have hours of time for writers and filmers of fiction when it comes to the things of religion, but rather less time for actual theologians and biblical scholars.
Cameron spun some tales about what all this means, suggesting that Jesus was married and had a son with Mary Magdalene. How's that? Well, the bones in the "Jesus" ossuary were found by DNA tests not to be related to the ossuary assigned to Mary Magdalene.
Ergo, they must be married, and the parents of the child in the "son of Jesus" ossuary. But, of course, we don't know whom the names refer to, some of which were common in Palestine at the time, and some beginning with very loose threads, out of which Cameron spins a tale of whole cloth. It is more reasonable, in fact, just to hold to the biblical account.
Will this challenge the very basis of Christianity and set off a worldwide debate? That's what the Times of London asked 11 years ago when it ran this story about the tomb, itself discovered in 1980. The debate is not quite getting off the ground, but perhaps this time Cameron will lay on a Celine Dion soundtrack and the foundations of the faith will start shaking.
Yet the Cameron project is touchingly familiar -- we see it every year, usually around Easter time. An obscure bit of archeology somewhere in the Holy Land is trumpeted to prove that some major event of biblical history never happened, cooked up by fraudulent religious hucksters years later.
There is a certain, ahem, selectivity when it comes to biblical-era archeology. Findings that support the biblical texts don't quite get the same prominence as findings that question them. All of the scientific rigour which is insisted upon otherwise is abandoned in favour of conjecture and speculation -- often the best that can be done at a remove of some two millennia.
One of the stories being told is that the famous "James" ossuary displayed at the Royal Ontario Museum with great fanfare a few years back actually is the lost ossuary from the Jesus-Mary-Magdalene set. The James ossuary was supposed to belong to the brother of Jesus, and was supposed to set off another great debate, which rather fizzled when the ossuary was declared to be a forgery.
Yet the search for the bones of Jesus or the descendants of Mary Magdalene continues apace, whether under the guise of fiction novels or documentaries. The search goes on because Christianity itself is a relentlessly historical religion, as is the Judaism from which it emerged.
The faith depends upon real historical events -- the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus primary among them. Christianity is not a religion of the abstract, of fanciful tales told to illustrate some larger truth. It is instead a religion of the particular, of stories told about real events which testify to the apparently fantastic news that God become man in Jesus Christ. The Christian claim is that the stories are better than fantastic tales -- they are true events.
If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain -- so wrote Saint Paul to the Corinthians at the beginning, making a claim of history and faith at the same time.
So it is true that if the bones of Jesus were found, the Christian faith would be in vain. Perhaps that is why such energy is spent on the search for them, and why in the absence of evidence, fantastic tales are indeed told. The shame of it is that the original truth is more marvellous than any latter-day fiction.
© The Calgary Herald 2007
-
salimmeghani
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:30 pm
Christianity
About Jesus being crucified at the cross. If you read the modern bible, a verse in it implies that he knew about being crucified long before it happened to him, yet he still persisted in this path. In any case Jesus was a good man (whether just prophet or not) and Ishu-bai is also in our ginans.
Ismailism is very diverse, because it incorporates a bit of most religions (like hinduism, christianity, islam, etc). We musn't forget that many Ismailis were Hindus, or whatever before they converted to the Ismaili religion.
In my viewpoint, as long as religion is progressive and not stagnant then it is a good thing. Ismailis are very modern and progressive. Look at how we dress in Europe for example, or the fact that we allow women in our Jamatkhanas. Also, we have some very good modern beliefs, (given to us by firmans from mawla bapa) such as the importance of education for all.
Ismailism is very diverse, because it incorporates a bit of most religions (like hinduism, christianity, islam, etc). We musn't forget that many Ismailis were Hindus, or whatever before they converted to the Ismaili religion.
In my viewpoint, as long as religion is progressive and not stagnant then it is a good thing. Ismailis are very modern and progressive. Look at how we dress in Europe for example, or the fact that we allow women in our Jamatkhanas. Also, we have some very good modern beliefs, (given to us by firmans from mawla bapa) such as the importance of education for all.
Re: Christianity
As muslims we are taught in the Quran that Jesus was not crucified. It was made to appear to the people that Jesus was crucified.salimmeghani wrote:About Jesus being crucified at the cross. If you read the modern bible, a verse in it implies that he knew about being crucified long before it happened to him, yet he still persisted in this path. In any case Jesus was a good man (whether just prophet or not) and Ishu-bai is also in our ginans.
.
Shams
-
salimmeghani
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 6:30 pm
Chrisitianity
Sorry, didn't mean to cause any offence. I don't follow the koran. Du'a (I suppose it is a sort of extract from the koran), is good enough for me. I did read the Koran ages ago but found the many verses on hell and fire very disturbing. You see I don't believe in a hell (just a 'is') as I don't think Allah is cruel enough to create one. What do you think?
Handwritten, illustrated Bible revisits ancient tradition
1 day ago Handwritten, illustrated Bible revisits ancient tradition
Mar 24, 2007 1:00 AM (1 day ago)
By MATT SEDENSKY, AP
NAPLES, Fla. (Map, News) - The pages are made of calfskin, the ink is 500 years old, the letters each perfectly inscribed with quills. And yet for all the antiquity the St. John's Bible embraces, there are decidedly modern signs too - images of terrorist targets, urban apartment buildings, even cheering football fans.
This Bible is more than a massive sacred text being painstakingly handwritten and illustrated at a master calligrapher's studio at a converted shed in Wales - the first effort of its size in five centuries. The text is a remarkable convergence of past and present that has created a timeless art piece, a spiritual inspiration and an idealistic reflection of the universality of faith, including everything from prehistoric cave paintings to satellite images from space.
In a sense, it seeks to be all things to all people.
"This is the yearning," explained Donald Jackson, who is the lead scribe on the project, "the voices of people in different cultures and religions, voicing their yearning for closeness to God."
Portions of the massive seven-volume Bible - expected to cost its sponsors about $7.8 million when it's done - are on display through next month at the Naples Museum of Art. Visitors see not only the remarkable calligraphy that seems too perfect to have come from the human hand, but the artistic interpretations of passages. They are on pages nearly 2 feet high and 16 inches wide.
They vary widely, from simple illustrations of butterflies, to one-of-a-kind portrayals, such as that of the creation story, which is represented in a panel of seven side-by-side strips depicting the initial chaos of the world's birth, the emergence of human life and the divine day of rest.
Jackson did most of the illustrations - or illuminations - himself, but five others are helping with much of the lettering and nine guest artists have also contributed. The images chosen to illustrate the text represent a remarkable variety.
In Luke, the parable of the prodigal son includes the simple rectangular towers a reader would identify as the obliterated World Trade Center to represent the need for forgiveness and to seek alternatives to revenge. The story of Adam and Eve features an African man and woman, whose likenesses were influenced by photographs of Ethiopian tribes; they are surrounded by designs taken from objects as varied as Peruvian feather capes and Middle Eastern textiles. In a depiction of the Pentecost, there is a gold column of fire, but also simple black outlines of spectators at a college football game.
"If these words have any importance it isn't an importance that belongs in the past," Jackson said. "If there is any importance at all, they're going to always be important - now, in the past and in the future."
The Bible also aims at religious unity. In Psalms, for example, one large image is superimposed with digital voice prints - electronic images of sounds. They include not only St. John's monks' chants, but a sacred song of Native Americans, the sound of a Jewish men's chorus, Buddhist tantric harmonics, the Islamic call to prayer, Taoist temple music, a popular Hindu devotional and an Indian chant.
"We wanted a sense of ecumenism and sort of all of humanity seeking God as an underlying characteristic, even though it's in a Bible that is specifically Christian," said the Rev. Eric Hollas, a Benedictine monk at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., which commissioned the Bible.
The New Revised Standard Version translation is used because most major Christian denominations approve of it.
The undertaking is a historic one. While other religious traditions have maintained a custom of hand-penning their sacred texts, it has fallen out of favor in Christianity since the Middle Ages. The St. John's Bible is considered the most ambitious undertaking of its kind in 500 years. Christopher de Hamel, a medieval manuscript scholar at Cambridge University in England, said the project is so monumental that it defies religion.
"The Bible is probably the most important text, the most widely circulated text, the most central text in Western civilization," de Hamel said. "Whether it's true or not true is irrelevant. And to take that great book, which has been copied by hand for two-thirds of its history, and to recreate it by hand as it was in the Middle Ages, is as thrilling as rebuilding the Parthenon using the same kind of marble or the same kind of carving, or building a new Stonehenge by dragging giant stones across the country."
Jackson - who received a scholarship to art school at the age of 13 and taught college himself at 20 - had dreamed of creating a handwritten Bible for decades before he began the project. He pitched the idea to the Rev. Eric Hollas, a Benedictine monk at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., 12 years ago, and three years later found himself signing a contract commissioning the project on behalf of the Catholic order.
"We wanted to do something that, in a sense, would be a gift to the world," Hollas said.
Aside from his responsibilities penning royal documents for the House of Lords, 69-year-old Jackson has refused other work since beginning the Bible. The project was to be finished this year, but has fallen behind schedule and likely won't be complete until Fall 2009.
Jackson, raised a Methodist, said he has grown more spiritual as the project progressed. He first saw it as an artistic challenge; now, he feels more deeply about the book's content, precisely how he said he hopes others will react too.
"It seems that the words have value when you go through the trouble to do it in this way," he said.
1 day ago Handwritten, illustrated Bible revisits ancient tradition
Mar 24, 2007 1:00 AM (1 day ago)
By MATT SEDENSKY, AP
NAPLES, Fla. (Map, News) - The pages are made of calfskin, the ink is 500 years old, the letters each perfectly inscribed with quills. And yet for all the antiquity the St. John's Bible embraces, there are decidedly modern signs too - images of terrorist targets, urban apartment buildings, even cheering football fans.
This Bible is more than a massive sacred text being painstakingly handwritten and illustrated at a master calligrapher's studio at a converted shed in Wales - the first effort of its size in five centuries. The text is a remarkable convergence of past and present that has created a timeless art piece, a spiritual inspiration and an idealistic reflection of the universality of faith, including everything from prehistoric cave paintings to satellite images from space.
In a sense, it seeks to be all things to all people.
"This is the yearning," explained Donald Jackson, who is the lead scribe on the project, "the voices of people in different cultures and religions, voicing their yearning for closeness to God."
Portions of the massive seven-volume Bible - expected to cost its sponsors about $7.8 million when it's done - are on display through next month at the Naples Museum of Art. Visitors see not only the remarkable calligraphy that seems too perfect to have come from the human hand, but the artistic interpretations of passages. They are on pages nearly 2 feet high and 16 inches wide.
They vary widely, from simple illustrations of butterflies, to one-of-a-kind portrayals, such as that of the creation story, which is represented in a panel of seven side-by-side strips depicting the initial chaos of the world's birth, the emergence of human life and the divine day of rest.
Jackson did most of the illustrations - or illuminations - himself, but five others are helping with much of the lettering and nine guest artists have also contributed. The images chosen to illustrate the text represent a remarkable variety.
In Luke, the parable of the prodigal son includes the simple rectangular towers a reader would identify as the obliterated World Trade Center to represent the need for forgiveness and to seek alternatives to revenge. The story of Adam and Eve features an African man and woman, whose likenesses were influenced by photographs of Ethiopian tribes; they are surrounded by designs taken from objects as varied as Peruvian feather capes and Middle Eastern textiles. In a depiction of the Pentecost, there is a gold column of fire, but also simple black outlines of spectators at a college football game.
"If these words have any importance it isn't an importance that belongs in the past," Jackson said. "If there is any importance at all, they're going to always be important - now, in the past and in the future."
The Bible also aims at religious unity. In Psalms, for example, one large image is superimposed with digital voice prints - electronic images of sounds. They include not only St. John's monks' chants, but a sacred song of Native Americans, the sound of a Jewish men's chorus, Buddhist tantric harmonics, the Islamic call to prayer, Taoist temple music, a popular Hindu devotional and an Indian chant.
"We wanted a sense of ecumenism and sort of all of humanity seeking God as an underlying characteristic, even though it's in a Bible that is specifically Christian," said the Rev. Eric Hollas, a Benedictine monk at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., which commissioned the Bible.
The New Revised Standard Version translation is used because most major Christian denominations approve of it.
The undertaking is a historic one. While other religious traditions have maintained a custom of hand-penning their sacred texts, it has fallen out of favor in Christianity since the Middle Ages. The St. John's Bible is considered the most ambitious undertaking of its kind in 500 years. Christopher de Hamel, a medieval manuscript scholar at Cambridge University in England, said the project is so monumental that it defies religion.
"The Bible is probably the most important text, the most widely circulated text, the most central text in Western civilization," de Hamel said. "Whether it's true or not true is irrelevant. And to take that great book, which has been copied by hand for two-thirds of its history, and to recreate it by hand as it was in the Middle Ages, is as thrilling as rebuilding the Parthenon using the same kind of marble or the same kind of carving, or building a new Stonehenge by dragging giant stones across the country."
Jackson - who received a scholarship to art school at the age of 13 and taught college himself at 20 - had dreamed of creating a handwritten Bible for decades before he began the project. He pitched the idea to the Rev. Eric Hollas, a Benedictine monk at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minn., 12 years ago, and three years later found himself signing a contract commissioning the project on behalf of the Catholic order.
"We wanted to do something that, in a sense, would be a gift to the world," Hollas said.
Aside from his responsibilities penning royal documents for the House of Lords, 69-year-old Jackson has refused other work since beginning the Bible. The project was to be finished this year, but has fallen behind schedule and likely won't be complete until Fall 2009.
Jackson, raised a Methodist, said he has grown more spiritual as the project progressed. He first saw it as an artistic challenge; now, he feels more deeply about the book's content, precisely how he said he hopes others will react too.
"It seems that the words have value when you go through the trouble to do it in this way," he said.
http://www.canada.com/components/print. ... d448a2cae5
Pope approves limbo report
Unbaptized children may be admitted to heaven
Nicole Winfield
The Associated Press
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Pope Benedict has reversed centuries of traditional Roman Catholic teaching on limbo, approving a Vatican report released Friday that says there were "serious" grounds to hope that children who die without being baptized can go to heaven.
Theologians said the move was highly significant, both for what it says about Benedict's willingness to buck a long-standing tenet of Catholic belief and for what it means theologically about the Church's views on heaven, hell and original sin: the sin that the faithful believe all children are born with.
Although Catholics have long believed that children who die without being baptized are with original sin and thus excluded from heaven, the Church has no formal doctrine on the matter.
Theologians, however, have long taught that such children enjoy an eternal state of perfect natural happiness, a state commonly called limbo, but without being in communion with God.
"If there's no limbo and we're not going to revert to St. Augustine's teaching that unbaptized infants go to hell, we're left with only one option, namely, that everyone is born in the state of grace," said the Rev. Richard McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame.
"Baptism does not exist to wipe away the 'stain' of original sin, but to initiate one into the Church," he said in an e-mailed response.
Benedict approved the findings of the International Theological Commission, a Vatican advisory panel, which said it was reassessing traditional teaching on limbo in light of "pressing" pastoral needs, primarily the growing number of abortions and infants born to non-believers who die without being baptized.
While the report does not carry the authority of a papal encyclical or even the weight of a formal document from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, it was approved by the Pope on Jan. 19 and was published on the Internet, an indication that it was intended to be widely read by the faithful.
© The Calgary Herald 2007
Pope approves limbo report
Unbaptized children may be admitted to heaven
Nicole Winfield
The Associated Press
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Pope Benedict has reversed centuries of traditional Roman Catholic teaching on limbo, approving a Vatican report released Friday that says there were "serious" grounds to hope that children who die without being baptized can go to heaven.
Theologians said the move was highly significant, both for what it says about Benedict's willingness to buck a long-standing tenet of Catholic belief and for what it means theologically about the Church's views on heaven, hell and original sin: the sin that the faithful believe all children are born with.
Although Catholics have long believed that children who die without being baptized are with original sin and thus excluded from heaven, the Church has no formal doctrine on the matter.
Theologians, however, have long taught that such children enjoy an eternal state of perfect natural happiness, a state commonly called limbo, but without being in communion with God.
"If there's no limbo and we're not going to revert to St. Augustine's teaching that unbaptized infants go to hell, we're left with only one option, namely, that everyone is born in the state of grace," said the Rev. Richard McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame.
"Baptism does not exist to wipe away the 'stain' of original sin, but to initiate one into the Church," he said in an e-mailed response.
Benedict approved the findings of the International Theological Commission, a Vatican advisory panel, which said it was reassessing traditional teaching on limbo in light of "pressing" pastoral needs, primarily the growing number of abortions and infants born to non-believers who die without being baptized.
While the report does not carry the authority of a papal encyclical or even the weight of a formal document from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, it was approved by the Pope on Jan. 19 and was published on the Internet, an indication that it was intended to be widely read by the faithful.
© The Calgary Herald 2007
We hear a great deal about the diversity of interpretation and pluralism within Islam and the need to build bridges across interpretations. The same is also true about Christianity as alluded to in the following article. The definition of the dialogue in the context of faiths at the end is particularly noteworthy.
Let's begin the dialogue
Bishop Fred Henry
For The Calgary Herald
Sunday, July 29, 2007
The recent publication of a three-page document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith entitled "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church" has created quite a pastoral and theological brouhaha.
I am disappointed in the overheated and under-nuanced media coverage that has fuelled unnecessary tears, anger and ecumenical upset.
I am equally disappointed with the Vatican's lack of pastoral sensitivity, as it should have been better prepared to handle the predictable pastoral confusion the document's release created.
In combating the phenomenon of modern-day relativism, attention must not only be focused on abstract truth, but on controlling the spin, as the teaching touches minds, hearts, souls and relationships.
The reaction of one commentator is significant: "As one who has tried to build bridges between Protestants and Roman Catholics, I cringed last week when Pope Benedict XVI released his shocking statement on 'Catholic identity.' In clear, non-negotiable and jaw-dropping terms, the pontiff stated that (1) only Catholics are true Christians; (2) other Christian denominations are 'not true church,' and (3) all non-Catholics lack the 'means of salvation.' Boom! Just like that, Benedict blew up every ecumenical bridge that has been built since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s."
I can only conclude that either the author didn't read the document or failed to appreciate the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the Decree on Ecumenism.
I encourage all Christians to read the brief document from the Congregation (www.vatican.va).
It addresses five questions about the nature of the Church, and all five are a commentary on Vatican II documents.
Vatican II didn't say the church of Christ "is" the Catholic Church. The council document (Lumen Gentium) said the church of Christ "subsists in" the Catholic Church.
The Congregation points out that the latter phrase of subsistence brings out more clearly the fact there are numerous elements of sanctification and truth outside her structure.
It is true that the document points out there are "defects" in the other Christian communities, but hastens to add "these are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church."
According to Catholic doctrine, these communities do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church.
These communities, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery. Therefore, they cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called "churches" in the proper sense.
The congregation also points out that the Catholic Church falls short of what it should be. "Because of the division between Christians," it says, "the fullness of universality is not fully realized in history."
There are some who think ecumenical or religious dialogues are like other dialogues -- negotiations between countries, bargaining between labour and management, or any attempts to find middle ground between disputing parties. This is not the case. Dialogue in society involves compromise; that's how we get things done, and that is good.
But when people of faith talk to one another, they are not attempting compromise. Our goal in dialogue is not to pretend that our differences don't exist and seek to construct one religion, but to share and learn from one another.
Religious dialogue is both a process of spiritual growth and a set of experiences that can have a transforming effect on those engaged in it. This kind of dialogue is the art of spiritual communication. The participants maintain their religious practice, they invite their partners to be present when they pray and they seek to understand how each understands what one must do to be holy.
In religious dialogue, we are also compelled to make our language understandable, acceptable and well-chosen, so that we can be both truthful and charitable to one another.
Our recent forays indicate that this is not an easy task.
Fred Henry is bishop of the Calgary diocese.
© The Calgary Herald 2007
Let's begin the dialogue
Bishop Fred Henry
For The Calgary Herald
Sunday, July 29, 2007
The recent publication of a three-page document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith entitled "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church" has created quite a pastoral and theological brouhaha.
I am disappointed in the overheated and under-nuanced media coverage that has fuelled unnecessary tears, anger and ecumenical upset.
I am equally disappointed with the Vatican's lack of pastoral sensitivity, as it should have been better prepared to handle the predictable pastoral confusion the document's release created.
In combating the phenomenon of modern-day relativism, attention must not only be focused on abstract truth, but on controlling the spin, as the teaching touches minds, hearts, souls and relationships.
The reaction of one commentator is significant: "As one who has tried to build bridges between Protestants and Roman Catholics, I cringed last week when Pope Benedict XVI released his shocking statement on 'Catholic identity.' In clear, non-negotiable and jaw-dropping terms, the pontiff stated that (1) only Catholics are true Christians; (2) other Christian denominations are 'not true church,' and (3) all non-Catholics lack the 'means of salvation.' Boom! Just like that, Benedict blew up every ecumenical bridge that has been built since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s."
I can only conclude that either the author didn't read the document or failed to appreciate the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the Decree on Ecumenism.
I encourage all Christians to read the brief document from the Congregation (www.vatican.va).
It addresses five questions about the nature of the Church, and all five are a commentary on Vatican II documents.
Vatican II didn't say the church of Christ "is" the Catholic Church. The council document (Lumen Gentium) said the church of Christ "subsists in" the Catholic Church.
The Congregation points out that the latter phrase of subsistence brings out more clearly the fact there are numerous elements of sanctification and truth outside her structure.
It is true that the document points out there are "defects" in the other Christian communities, but hastens to add "these are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church."
According to Catholic doctrine, these communities do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church.
These communities, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery. Therefore, they cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called "churches" in the proper sense.
The congregation also points out that the Catholic Church falls short of what it should be. "Because of the division between Christians," it says, "the fullness of universality is not fully realized in history."
There are some who think ecumenical or religious dialogues are like other dialogues -- negotiations between countries, bargaining between labour and management, or any attempts to find middle ground between disputing parties. This is not the case. Dialogue in society involves compromise; that's how we get things done, and that is good.
But when people of faith talk to one another, they are not attempting compromise. Our goal in dialogue is not to pretend that our differences don't exist and seek to construct one religion, but to share and learn from one another.
Religious dialogue is both a process of spiritual growth and a set of experiences that can have a transforming effect on those engaged in it. This kind of dialogue is the art of spiritual communication. The participants maintain their religious practice, they invite their partners to be present when they pray and they seek to understand how each understands what one must do to be holy.
In religious dialogue, we are also compelled to make our language understandable, acceptable and well-chosen, so that we can be both truthful and charitable to one another.
Our recent forays indicate that this is not an easy task.
Fred Henry is bishop of the Calgary diocese.
© The Calgary Herald 2007
Wealth chasm widening: Carter
Christians urged to offer more help to world's poor
Graeme Morton
Calgary Herald
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has challenged the North American Christian church to bridge the growing chasm between the world's wealthy and the teeming masses of poor.
In a wide-ranging, keynote interview with host Bill Hybels during the recent Leadership Summit, Carter said Christians need to offer both their time and money to demonstrate God's love for mankind in practical terms.
"In countries like Liberia, the right to have a little food, clothing and some rudimentary shelter is the best they can hope for in terms of human rights," Carter told Hybels, founding pastor of the giant Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago.
The Leadership Summit was simulcast to hundreds of worship centres, including First Alliance Church, where about 800 Calgarians took part.
"In North America, we tend to build cocoons around ourselves," Carter said. "We wipe poor people out of our minds. For us, it's hard to imagine how a person in Africa can survive on a dollar a day."
Carter has been publicly critical, and in turn taken considerable flak, for attacking the Bush administration's combative foreign policy. The former president says his opposition comes from his deep-held faith.
"As Christians, we worship the Prince of Peace, and the noblest thing we can do is promote peace around the world," said Carter.
"As a superpower, the U.S. should be a beacon of peace and the champion of human rights for the rest of the world," Carter added.
"It's an extension of what every human being should aspire to."
Carter, who at 82 still teaches Sunday school in his small Baptist church in Plains, Ga., urged conference attendees to "not be timid" in trying to live out Christ's teachings.
"We can accommodate changing times without altering the unchanging principles of Jesus," Carter added.
Hybels lauded Carter's ongoing push for peace.
"I can probably count on two hands the number of times I've led prayers for peace here at Willow Creek," Hybels said after the interview.
"But he's (Carter) right. War begets war. We need to teach non-retaliatory responses in our homes, in the marketplace and around the world."
Often labelled the "best ex-president" in American history, Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 and has been tireless in his efforts for Habitat for Humanity and the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which conducts humanitarian work in dozens of countries.
"We (Carter Center) don't try to duplicate anyone else's efforts. We go to places and tackle situations which nobody else is dealing with," said Carter, who describes health care in much of the world as being at "primitive levels."
Carter, who led the U.S. from 1976 to 1980, called the Camp David peace accord he helped broker between Israel and Egypt his proudest political feat, while saying the Iran hostage crisis, which dragged on for the final year of his presidency, was his darkest hour.
Carter said his humiliating election loss to Ronald Reagan in November 1980 felt like "a punch in the stomach" at the time, but that he and his wife Roslyn have tried to use their retirement years productively.
"The last 25 years have given us a life as challenging and rewarding as we could have ever hoped for," Carter said.
He urged leaders in both religious and business sectors to surround themselves with bright, provocative minds.
"It's okay for your subordinates to disagree vigorously," Carter said. "It's healthier for your organization than having sycophants who only say what they think you want to hear."
[email protected]
****
Santa: kindly saint or secular pitchman?
'How we view Santa is . . . how we view our own lives
Graeme Morton
Calgary Herald
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Is Santa Claus the enduring embodiment of everything a saint should be -- kind, generous and forgiving of human foibles?
Or is he merely the ultimate secular pitchman, dragged out of retirement each winter to endorse corporate good cheer, Coca-Cola and a sleigh full of other products?
Perhaps a little of both?
Meagan Kelln, 25, who'll enter her fourth year of religious studies at the University of Calgary next month, has spent the summer probing the Santa saga and how it has evolved from both sacred and secular sources. She has pored over scores of books, sermons, academic papers, pamphlets, lyrics to Christmas carols, films . . . you name it.
"What intrigues me is the different agendas that people bring to the myth of Santa," says Kelln, a native Calgarian. "I'm not sure I'll shed any particularly blinding new light on the subject."
In a western culture so deeply saturated by the rituals of shopping, buying and ownership, Kelln says Santa can be described as the God of the growing religion of consumerism.
"We use Santa to feel warm and fuzzy about Christmas. You get this gift from him that's anonymous, mysterious and you don't really have to do anything to deserve it," says Kelln. She notes Santa is employed by some parents for, "you better be good, or . . ." discipline.
The religious link to Santa Claus traditionally dates back to Nicholas, who was orphaned as a child in present-day Turkey in the fourth century AD. He became a bishop in the early Christian church and was known for his boundless generosity and devotion to children, obvious parallels to the red-clad philanthropist.
Nicholas is venerated in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches, Kelln notes . He is also the patron saint of sailors, eligible maidens and -- somewhat appropriately for modern Christmas -- merchants.
St. Nicholas' feast day, Dec. 6, is widely celebrated in some European countries, which frees up the Dec. 25 period for a more spiritual focus on Christ's birth.
Kelln says the North American vision of Santa was largely shaped by the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, attributed to either Washington Irving or Clement Moore. Drawings of Santa by popular artists like Thomas Nast, who leaned more toward the "twinkle in the eye" figure than a serene saint, cemented the image in the public's mind.
"What's intriguing about Santa is that as myths go, he's a pretty recent phenomenon," Kelln says.
"How we view Santa is really how we view our own lives, the values we hold as individuals."
Kelln, who says she wasn't raised in a churchgoing home, remains a Santa fan in adulthood.
"Christmas remains my favourite time of the year," she says. "It's all about family, of love and pure giving, of a renewal at the end of the year," she says.
"Scholars can tend to be a pretty cynical bunch. But it's still nice to give people a gift."
Kelln says one of the quirkiest takes she's found on poor ol' Santa emerged from a 1960s-era psychoanalytical study of the myth.
"They were talking in terms of Santa as a remnant of a pagan fertility god, of his bag as representing the womb, and Santa coming down the chimney as symbolizing the birth canal," Kelln says.
Kelln, who plans to move on to the master's level in religious studies, will present her findings to her U of C
advisers and peers this fall and at a
Student Religious Studies conference in Lethbridge next year.
[email protected]
© The Calgary Herald 2007
Christians urged to offer more help to world's poor
Graeme Morton
Calgary Herald
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has challenged the North American Christian church to bridge the growing chasm between the world's wealthy and the teeming masses of poor.
In a wide-ranging, keynote interview with host Bill Hybels during the recent Leadership Summit, Carter said Christians need to offer both their time and money to demonstrate God's love for mankind in practical terms.
"In countries like Liberia, the right to have a little food, clothing and some rudimentary shelter is the best they can hope for in terms of human rights," Carter told Hybels, founding pastor of the giant Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago.
The Leadership Summit was simulcast to hundreds of worship centres, including First Alliance Church, where about 800 Calgarians took part.
"In North America, we tend to build cocoons around ourselves," Carter said. "We wipe poor people out of our minds. For us, it's hard to imagine how a person in Africa can survive on a dollar a day."
Carter has been publicly critical, and in turn taken considerable flak, for attacking the Bush administration's combative foreign policy. The former president says his opposition comes from his deep-held faith.
"As Christians, we worship the Prince of Peace, and the noblest thing we can do is promote peace around the world," said Carter.
"As a superpower, the U.S. should be a beacon of peace and the champion of human rights for the rest of the world," Carter added.
"It's an extension of what every human being should aspire to."
Carter, who at 82 still teaches Sunday school in his small Baptist church in Plains, Ga., urged conference attendees to "not be timid" in trying to live out Christ's teachings.
"We can accommodate changing times without altering the unchanging principles of Jesus," Carter added.
Hybels lauded Carter's ongoing push for peace.
"I can probably count on two hands the number of times I've led prayers for peace here at Willow Creek," Hybels said after the interview.
"But he's (Carter) right. War begets war. We need to teach non-retaliatory responses in our homes, in the marketplace and around the world."
Often labelled the "best ex-president" in American history, Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 and has been tireless in his efforts for Habitat for Humanity and the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which conducts humanitarian work in dozens of countries.
"We (Carter Center) don't try to duplicate anyone else's efforts. We go to places and tackle situations which nobody else is dealing with," said Carter, who describes health care in much of the world as being at "primitive levels."
Carter, who led the U.S. from 1976 to 1980, called the Camp David peace accord he helped broker between Israel and Egypt his proudest political feat, while saying the Iran hostage crisis, which dragged on for the final year of his presidency, was his darkest hour.
Carter said his humiliating election loss to Ronald Reagan in November 1980 felt like "a punch in the stomach" at the time, but that he and his wife Roslyn have tried to use their retirement years productively.
"The last 25 years have given us a life as challenging and rewarding as we could have ever hoped for," Carter said.
He urged leaders in both religious and business sectors to surround themselves with bright, provocative minds.
"It's okay for your subordinates to disagree vigorously," Carter said. "It's healthier for your organization than having sycophants who only say what they think you want to hear."
[email protected]
****
Santa: kindly saint or secular pitchman?
'How we view Santa is . . . how we view our own lives
Graeme Morton
Calgary Herald
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Is Santa Claus the enduring embodiment of everything a saint should be -- kind, generous and forgiving of human foibles?
Or is he merely the ultimate secular pitchman, dragged out of retirement each winter to endorse corporate good cheer, Coca-Cola and a sleigh full of other products?
Perhaps a little of both?
Meagan Kelln, 25, who'll enter her fourth year of religious studies at the University of Calgary next month, has spent the summer probing the Santa saga and how it has evolved from both sacred and secular sources. She has pored over scores of books, sermons, academic papers, pamphlets, lyrics to Christmas carols, films . . . you name it.
"What intrigues me is the different agendas that people bring to the myth of Santa," says Kelln, a native Calgarian. "I'm not sure I'll shed any particularly blinding new light on the subject."
In a western culture so deeply saturated by the rituals of shopping, buying and ownership, Kelln says Santa can be described as the God of the growing religion of consumerism.
"We use Santa to feel warm and fuzzy about Christmas. You get this gift from him that's anonymous, mysterious and you don't really have to do anything to deserve it," says Kelln. She notes Santa is employed by some parents for, "you better be good, or . . ." discipline.
The religious link to Santa Claus traditionally dates back to Nicholas, who was orphaned as a child in present-day Turkey in the fourth century AD. He became a bishop in the early Christian church and was known for his boundless generosity and devotion to children, obvious parallels to the red-clad philanthropist.
Nicholas is venerated in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches, Kelln notes . He is also the patron saint of sailors, eligible maidens and -- somewhat appropriately for modern Christmas -- merchants.
St. Nicholas' feast day, Dec. 6, is widely celebrated in some European countries, which frees up the Dec. 25 period for a more spiritual focus on Christ's birth.
Kelln says the North American vision of Santa was largely shaped by the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, attributed to either Washington Irving or Clement Moore. Drawings of Santa by popular artists like Thomas Nast, who leaned more toward the "twinkle in the eye" figure than a serene saint, cemented the image in the public's mind.
"What's intriguing about Santa is that as myths go, he's a pretty recent phenomenon," Kelln says.
"How we view Santa is really how we view our own lives, the values we hold as individuals."
Kelln, who says she wasn't raised in a churchgoing home, remains a Santa fan in adulthood.
"Christmas remains my favourite time of the year," she says. "It's all about family, of love and pure giving, of a renewal at the end of the year," she says.
"Scholars can tend to be a pretty cynical bunch. But it's still nice to give people a gift."
Kelln says one of the quirkiest takes she's found on poor ol' Santa emerged from a 1960s-era psychoanalytical study of the myth.
"They were talking in terms of Santa as a remnant of a pagan fertility god, of his bag as representing the womb, and Santa coming down the chimney as symbolizing the birth canal," Kelln says.
Kelln, who plans to move on to the master's level in religious studies, will present her findings to her U of C
advisers and peers this fall and at a
Student Religious Studies conference in Lethbridge next year.
[email protected]
© The Calgary Herald 2007
Will Graham lives a legacy
Evangelist's grandson has 'pastor's heart'
Graeme Morton
Calgary Herald
Sunday, September 30, 2007
He possesses the distinctive family profile, the names of his famous grandfather and father and that soft, southern accent that you just naturally assume an evangelist should come with.
But William Franklin Graham IV, better known as Will, is quietly making his own mark as a Christian leader after growing up in the substantial spiritual shadows of his grandpa Billy and dad Franklin.
Will Graham, 32, was in Red Deer this weekend leading the three-day Central Alberta Celebration crusade. It's part of his outreach preaching role as the assistant director of the Billy Graham Training Centre in Asheville, N.C.
Despite his distinguished religious lineage, Will said there was no pressure on him to follow in the footsteps of Franklin or Billy.
"If anything, my dad cautioned me from going into ministry just because of who I was," said Will, the eldest of Franklin and Jane Graham's four children.
"He left the decision up to me, only to do it if and when I felt called by God. We don't look at our ministry as a family business, where the oldest son is logically expected to take over from the father," Graham said.
Graham says he never went through a rebellious phase like his dad, who now oversees operations of the international Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
"I was a good kid and a good student. God really protected me from the negative aspects of youth," says Will, who took theological training before becoming a pastor at a Baptist church near Raleigh, N.C. for almost eight years.
Will says his ministerial strengths tend to complement those of his father.
"My dad's a very good speaker, but he's also one of the best administrators I've ever seen, either in the secular or spiritual world," says Will.
"But I think God blessed me with a pastor's heart. Serving in an individual church like I did for years, you need a heart and compassion to work with people and help them out on a one-on-one basis."
Much of Will Graham's work these days is with youth ministry, preaching to a generation he says is rediscovering its relationship with God.
He sees the societal pendulum swinging back to a more conservative lifestyle for today's 20- and 30-somethings -- away from the sometimes extreme liberalism of young adults in his father's baby-boomer generation.
"I'm no expert, but I sense that Canada is more secular than the U.S., particularly the (U.S.) South. Evangelical Christianity is just woven into society's fabric back home. Canada is more like California in its attitudes. But when you see people up here commit their lives to Christ at the rallies, they embrace it with such enthusiasm," says Graham.
The death of his grandmother Ruth at age 87 on June 14th has left a hole in the family's collective heart.
"She had been suffering for a number of years. Her mind was still sharp to the end, but her body was slowly giving out," Graham recalls.
Ruth Graham died with her husband of 64 years and children by her side in the rustic log cabin she helped build.
"We tried to sing a hymn, but we just couldn't do it because we were all crying too hard," Graham says.
"Grandma loved watching a fire in her fireplace, but for the last couple of years she couldn't have one because she was on oxygen. After she died, we removed the oxygen equipment and lit a fire in her honour that night."
Will says his iconic, 88-year-old grandfather, simply called 'Daddy Bill' by his large clan, is bouncing back despite his own health issues.
"He misses her dearly, but he's doing really well these days," says Will.
"He's getting his chuckle back, which is really good to hear. He felt he had to be strong for Grandma, so it's something of a relief. And if you're a Christian like him, he knows he's going to see her again in Heaven."
Graham says his grandfather, spiritual counsellor to a generation of American presidents and one of the most recognizable people on the planet, is an intensely modest family man away from the public limelight.
"He never dominates a conversation. He always does much more listening than he does talking, which is a sign of wisdom in my books," says Will, who's always been close to Billy.
"I hope I have one-tenth of his humility."
Husband, father of three young children and third-generation preacher, Will Graham is a man who seems eminently comfortable in his own skin.
"I know I can't personally convert anyone to Christ; that's up to God," he says.
"All I can do is tell people about the message and the hope that Jesus brings to us all . . . that we're just pilgrims passing through this world -- that we're made for eternity."
[email protected]
© The Calgary Herald 2007
Evangelist's grandson has 'pastor's heart'
Graeme Morton
Calgary Herald
Sunday, September 30, 2007
He possesses the distinctive family profile, the names of his famous grandfather and father and that soft, southern accent that you just naturally assume an evangelist should come with.
But William Franklin Graham IV, better known as Will, is quietly making his own mark as a Christian leader after growing up in the substantial spiritual shadows of his grandpa Billy and dad Franklin.
Will Graham, 32, was in Red Deer this weekend leading the three-day Central Alberta Celebration crusade. It's part of his outreach preaching role as the assistant director of the Billy Graham Training Centre in Asheville, N.C.
Despite his distinguished religious lineage, Will said there was no pressure on him to follow in the footsteps of Franklin or Billy.
"If anything, my dad cautioned me from going into ministry just because of who I was," said Will, the eldest of Franklin and Jane Graham's four children.
"He left the decision up to me, only to do it if and when I felt called by God. We don't look at our ministry as a family business, where the oldest son is logically expected to take over from the father," Graham said.
Graham says he never went through a rebellious phase like his dad, who now oversees operations of the international Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
"I was a good kid and a good student. God really protected me from the negative aspects of youth," says Will, who took theological training before becoming a pastor at a Baptist church near Raleigh, N.C. for almost eight years.
Will says his ministerial strengths tend to complement those of his father.
"My dad's a very good speaker, but he's also one of the best administrators I've ever seen, either in the secular or spiritual world," says Will.
"But I think God blessed me with a pastor's heart. Serving in an individual church like I did for years, you need a heart and compassion to work with people and help them out on a one-on-one basis."
Much of Will Graham's work these days is with youth ministry, preaching to a generation he says is rediscovering its relationship with God.
He sees the societal pendulum swinging back to a more conservative lifestyle for today's 20- and 30-somethings -- away from the sometimes extreme liberalism of young adults in his father's baby-boomer generation.
"I'm no expert, but I sense that Canada is more secular than the U.S., particularly the (U.S.) South. Evangelical Christianity is just woven into society's fabric back home. Canada is more like California in its attitudes. But when you see people up here commit their lives to Christ at the rallies, they embrace it with such enthusiasm," says Graham.
The death of his grandmother Ruth at age 87 on June 14th has left a hole in the family's collective heart.
"She had been suffering for a number of years. Her mind was still sharp to the end, but her body was slowly giving out," Graham recalls.
Ruth Graham died with her husband of 64 years and children by her side in the rustic log cabin she helped build.
"We tried to sing a hymn, but we just couldn't do it because we were all crying too hard," Graham says.
"Grandma loved watching a fire in her fireplace, but for the last couple of years she couldn't have one because she was on oxygen. After she died, we removed the oxygen equipment and lit a fire in her honour that night."
Will says his iconic, 88-year-old grandfather, simply called 'Daddy Bill' by his large clan, is bouncing back despite his own health issues.
"He misses her dearly, but he's doing really well these days," says Will.
"He's getting his chuckle back, which is really good to hear. He felt he had to be strong for Grandma, so it's something of a relief. And if you're a Christian like him, he knows he's going to see her again in Heaven."
Graham says his grandfather, spiritual counsellor to a generation of American presidents and one of the most recognizable people on the planet, is an intensely modest family man away from the public limelight.
"He never dominates a conversation. He always does much more listening than he does talking, which is a sign of wisdom in my books," says Will, who's always been close to Billy.
"I hope I have one-tenth of his humility."
Husband, father of three young children and third-generation preacher, Will Graham is a man who seems eminently comfortable in his own skin.
"I know I can't personally convert anyone to Christ; that's up to God," he says.
"All I can do is tell people about the message and the hope that Jesus brings to us all . . . that we're just pilgrims passing through this world -- that we're made for eternity."
[email protected]
© The Calgary Herald 2007
Priest bridges gap between East and West
Graeme Morton
Calgary Herald
Saturday, October 06, 2007
When Father Joe Pereira hears about the flap the western media made of the new book Come Be My Light, chronicling the private letters and thoughts of Mother Teresa, he simply shakes his head.
Newspaper pundits made front-page news out of the revelations that the beloved nun of Calcutta experienced deep moments of doubt about her faith during her long life of selfless service to the world's poor.
"Faith has always been a gift from God," says the Indian Roman Catholic priest and senior yoga practitioner during a recent visit to Calgary.
"People get pure faith mixed up with the rituals of the church. Faith is a lifelong journey and it's perfectly normal to go through moments of personal darkness. Anyone who says they have never questioned their faith . . . well, I have some serious doubts about that," says Pereira.
A longtime associate and friend of Mother Teresa, whom he simply, reverently calls "Mother," Pereira conducted yoga sessions during retreats held for her Missionaries of Charity sisters.
Pereira says he, too, experienced his own "dark night of the soul," when he seriously questioned whether he should remain a Catholic priest.
"But Mother had this unique energy which wiped out your doubt and negativity," Pereira recalled.
"She sat and prayed with me when I was in this turmoil and said to me, 'Don't quit. Jesus needs you. It may take some time to determine what you are called to do . . . but don't quit.' "
Since then, Pereira has become the managing trustee of the Kripa Foundation, where those with alcohol and chemical addictions and HIV/AIDS are being treated with a combination of techniques, including yoga, at more than 30 centres in 11 Indian cities.
While such a calling, like that of Mother Teresa, would seem to drain the batteries of caregivers' souls, Pereira says just the opposite plays out in daily life.
"The joy and the healing that one sees coming around helps to energize both the receiver and the giver," he notes.
Pereira says the western world and its collective Christian church needs to once again acknowledge that the physical human body is "a channel of grace and a pathway to our wholeness and holiness.
"We have an infinite potential to love our bodies back to health and life," he adds.
As someone who comfortably bridges the western and eastern worlds, Pereira believes spiritual life in the prosperous West is in dire need of revitalization.
"The Christian faith seems perfectly at home in an Indian ethos," Pereira says. "There are so many beautiful pathways to God. We need to keep looking at elements of faith in other religions, not just blindly think that ours in the only path."
Pereira says the Christian church in the West made a serious blunder when it pushed spiritual meditation and contemplation behind the walls of monasteries and away from the easy reach of the common man.
"I think there was a suspicion that experiential spirituality for the masses would be a threat to church dogma and its inner structures," says Pereira.
"But if the church is to become relevant again to people, to avoid dying, there is no hope until we revitalize the spirit of all religions."
gmorton@...
© The Calgary Herald 2007
Graeme Morton
Calgary Herald
Saturday, October 06, 2007
When Father Joe Pereira hears about the flap the western media made of the new book Come Be My Light, chronicling the private letters and thoughts of Mother Teresa, he simply shakes his head.
Newspaper pundits made front-page news out of the revelations that the beloved nun of Calcutta experienced deep moments of doubt about her faith during her long life of selfless service to the world's poor.
"Faith has always been a gift from God," says the Indian Roman Catholic priest and senior yoga practitioner during a recent visit to Calgary.
"People get pure faith mixed up with the rituals of the church. Faith is a lifelong journey and it's perfectly normal to go through moments of personal darkness. Anyone who says they have never questioned their faith . . . well, I have some serious doubts about that," says Pereira.
A longtime associate and friend of Mother Teresa, whom he simply, reverently calls "Mother," Pereira conducted yoga sessions during retreats held for her Missionaries of Charity sisters.
Pereira says he, too, experienced his own "dark night of the soul," when he seriously questioned whether he should remain a Catholic priest.
"But Mother had this unique energy which wiped out your doubt and negativity," Pereira recalled.
"She sat and prayed with me when I was in this turmoil and said to me, 'Don't quit. Jesus needs you. It may take some time to determine what you are called to do . . . but don't quit.' "
Since then, Pereira has become the managing trustee of the Kripa Foundation, where those with alcohol and chemical addictions and HIV/AIDS are being treated with a combination of techniques, including yoga, at more than 30 centres in 11 Indian cities.
While such a calling, like that of Mother Teresa, would seem to drain the batteries of caregivers' souls, Pereira says just the opposite plays out in daily life.
"The joy and the healing that one sees coming around helps to energize both the receiver and the giver," he notes.
Pereira says the western world and its collective Christian church needs to once again acknowledge that the physical human body is "a channel of grace and a pathway to our wholeness and holiness.
"We have an infinite potential to love our bodies back to health and life," he adds.
As someone who comfortably bridges the western and eastern worlds, Pereira believes spiritual life in the prosperous West is in dire need of revitalization.
"The Christian faith seems perfectly at home in an Indian ethos," Pereira says. "There are so many beautiful pathways to God. We need to keep looking at elements of faith in other religions, not just blindly think that ours in the only path."
Pereira says the Christian church in the West made a serious blunder when it pushed spiritual meditation and contemplation behind the walls of monasteries and away from the easy reach of the common man.
"I think there was a suspicion that experiential spirituality for the masses would be a threat to church dogma and its inner structures," says Pereira.
"But if the church is to become relevant again to people, to avoid dying, there is no hope until we revitalize the spirit of all religions."
gmorton@...
© The Calgary Herald 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/opini ... nted=print
October 7, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation
By JON MEACHAM
JOHN McCAIN was not on the campus of Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University last year for very long — the senator, who once referred to Mr. Falwell and Pat Robertson as “agents of intolerance,” was there to receive an honorary degree — but he seems to have picked up some theology along with his academic hood. In an interview with Beliefnet.com last weekend, Mr. McCain repeated what is an article of faith among many American evangelicals: “the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.”
According to Scripture, however, believers are to be wary of all mortal powers. Their home is the kingdom of God, which transcends all earthly things, not any particular nation-state. The Psalmist advises believers to “put not your trust in princes.” The author of Job says that the Lord “shows no partiality to princes nor regards the rich above the poor, for they are all the work of his hands.” Before Pilate, Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world.” And if, as Paul writes in Galatians, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” then it is difficult to see how there could be a distinction in God’s eyes between, say, an American and an Australian. In fact, there is no distinction if you believe Peter’s words in the Acts of the Apostles: “I most certainly believe now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to him.”
The kingdom Jesus preached was radical. Not only are nations irrelevant, but families are, too: he instructs those who would be his disciples to give up all they have and all those they know to follow him.
The only acknowledgment of religion in the original Constitution is a utilitarian one: the document is dated “in the year of our Lord 1787.” Even the religion clause of the First Amendment is framed dryly and without reference to any particular faith. The Connecticut ratifying convention debated rewriting the preamble to take note of God’s authority, but the effort failed.
A pseudonymous opponent of the Connecticut proposal had some fun with the notion of a deity who would, in a sense, be checking the index for his name: “A low mind may imagine that God, like a foolish old man, will think himself slighted and dishonored if he is not complimented with a seat or a prologue of recognition in the Constitution.” Instead, the framers, the opponent wrote in The American Mercury, “come to us in the plain language of common sense and propose to our understanding a system of government as the invention of mere human wisdom; no deity comes down to dictate it, not a God appears in a dream to propose any part of it.”
While many states maintained established churches and religious tests for office — Massachusetts was the last to disestablish, in 1833 — the federal framers, in their refusal to link civil rights to religious observance or adherence, helped create a culture of religious liberty that ultimately carried the day.
Thomas Jefferson said that his bill for religious liberty in Virginia was “meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the Hindu, and infidel of every denomination.” When George Washington was inaugurated in New York in April 1789, Gershom Seixas, the hazan of Shearith Israel, was listed among the city’s clergymen (there were 14 in New York at the time) — a sign of acceptance and respect. The next year, Washington wrote the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I., saying, “happily the government of the United States ... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. ... Everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
Andrew Jackson resisted bids in the 1820s to form a “Christian party in politics.” Abraham Lincoln buried a proposed “Christian amendment” to the Constitution to declare the nation’s fealty to Jesus. Theodore Roosevelt defended William Howard Taft, a Unitarian, from religious attacks by supporters of William Jennings Bryan.
The founders were not anti-religion. Many of them were faithful in their personal lives, and in their public language they evoked God. They grounded the founding principle of the nation — that all men are created equal — in the divine. But they wanted faith to be one thread in the country’s tapestry, not the whole tapestry.
In the 1790s, in the waters off Tripoli, pirates were making sport of American shipping near the Barbary Coast. Toward the end of his second term, Washington sent Joel Barlow, the diplomat-poet, to Tripoli to settle matters, and the resulting treaty, finished after Washington left office, bought a few years of peace. Article 11 of this long-ago document says that “as the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,” there should be no cause for conflict over differences of “religious opinion” between countries.
The treaty passed the Senate unanimously. Mr. McCain is not the only American who would find it useful reading.
Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, is the author of “American Gospel” and “Franklin and Winston.”
October 7, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation
By JON MEACHAM
JOHN McCAIN was not on the campus of Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University last year for very long — the senator, who once referred to Mr. Falwell and Pat Robertson as “agents of intolerance,” was there to receive an honorary degree — but he seems to have picked up some theology along with his academic hood. In an interview with Beliefnet.com last weekend, Mr. McCain repeated what is an article of faith among many American evangelicals: “the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.”
According to Scripture, however, believers are to be wary of all mortal powers. Their home is the kingdom of God, which transcends all earthly things, not any particular nation-state. The Psalmist advises believers to “put not your trust in princes.” The author of Job says that the Lord “shows no partiality to princes nor regards the rich above the poor, for they are all the work of his hands.” Before Pilate, Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world.” And if, as Paul writes in Galatians, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” then it is difficult to see how there could be a distinction in God’s eyes between, say, an American and an Australian. In fact, there is no distinction if you believe Peter’s words in the Acts of the Apostles: “I most certainly believe now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to him.”
The kingdom Jesus preached was radical. Not only are nations irrelevant, but families are, too: he instructs those who would be his disciples to give up all they have and all those they know to follow him.
The only acknowledgment of religion in the original Constitution is a utilitarian one: the document is dated “in the year of our Lord 1787.” Even the religion clause of the First Amendment is framed dryly and without reference to any particular faith. The Connecticut ratifying convention debated rewriting the preamble to take note of God’s authority, but the effort failed.
A pseudonymous opponent of the Connecticut proposal had some fun with the notion of a deity who would, in a sense, be checking the index for his name: “A low mind may imagine that God, like a foolish old man, will think himself slighted and dishonored if he is not complimented with a seat or a prologue of recognition in the Constitution.” Instead, the framers, the opponent wrote in The American Mercury, “come to us in the plain language of common sense and propose to our understanding a system of government as the invention of mere human wisdom; no deity comes down to dictate it, not a God appears in a dream to propose any part of it.”
While many states maintained established churches and religious tests for office — Massachusetts was the last to disestablish, in 1833 — the federal framers, in their refusal to link civil rights to religious observance or adherence, helped create a culture of religious liberty that ultimately carried the day.
Thomas Jefferson said that his bill for religious liberty in Virginia was “meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the Hindu, and infidel of every denomination.” When George Washington was inaugurated in New York in April 1789, Gershom Seixas, the hazan of Shearith Israel, was listed among the city’s clergymen (there were 14 in New York at the time) — a sign of acceptance and respect. The next year, Washington wrote the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I., saying, “happily the government of the United States ... gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. ... Everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
Andrew Jackson resisted bids in the 1820s to form a “Christian party in politics.” Abraham Lincoln buried a proposed “Christian amendment” to the Constitution to declare the nation’s fealty to Jesus. Theodore Roosevelt defended William Howard Taft, a Unitarian, from religious attacks by supporters of William Jennings Bryan.
The founders were not anti-religion. Many of them were faithful in their personal lives, and in their public language they evoked God. They grounded the founding principle of the nation — that all men are created equal — in the divine. But they wanted faith to be one thread in the country’s tapestry, not the whole tapestry.
In the 1790s, in the waters off Tripoli, pirates were making sport of American shipping near the Barbary Coast. Toward the end of his second term, Washington sent Joel Barlow, the diplomat-poet, to Tripoli to settle matters, and the resulting treaty, finished after Washington left office, bought a few years of peace. Article 11 of this long-ago document says that “as the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,” there should be no cause for conflict over differences of “religious opinion” between countries.
The treaty passed the Senate unanimously. Mr. McCain is not the only American who would find it useful reading.
Jon Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, is the author of “American Gospel” and “Franklin and Winston.”
November 23, 2007
In God's Name
Megachurches Add Local Economy to Their Mission
By DIANA B. HENRIQUES and ANDREW W. LEHREN
In Anchorage early in October, the doors opened onto a soaring white canvas dome with room for a soccer field and a 400-meter track. Its prime-time hours are already rented well into 2011.
Nearby is a cold-storage facility leased to Sysco, a giant food-distribution corporation, and beside it is a warehouse serving a local contractor and another food service company.
The entrepreneur behind these businesses is the ChangePoint ministry, a 4,000-member nondenominational Christian congregation that helped develop and finance the sports dome. It has a partnership with Sysco’s landlord and owns the warehouse.
The church’s leaders say they hope to draw people to faith by publicly demonstrating their commitment to meeting their community’s economic needs.
“We want to turn people on to Jesus Christ through this process,” said Karl Clauson, who has led the church for more than eight years.
Among the nation’s so-called megachurches — those usually Protestant congregations with average weekly attendance of 2,000 or more — ChangePoint’s appetite for expansion into many kinds of businesses is hardly unique. An analysis by The New York Times of the online public records of just over 1,300 of these giant churches shows that their business interests are as varied as basketball schools, aviation subsidiaries, investment partnerships and a limousine service.
At least 10 own and operate shopping centers, and some financially formidable congregations are adding residential developments to their holdings. In one such elaborate project, LifeBridge Christian Church, near Longmont, Colo., plans a 313-acre development of upscale homes, retail and office space, a sports arena, housing for the elderly and church buildings.
Indeed, some huge churches, already politically influential, are becoming catalysts for local economic development, challenging a conventional view that churches drain a town financially by generating lower-paid jobs, taking land off the property-tax rolls and increasing traffic.
But the entrepreneurial activities of churches pose questions for their communities that do not arise with secular development.
These enterprises, whose sponsoring churches benefit from a variety of tax breaks and regulatory exemptions given to religious organizations in this country, sometimes provoke complaints from for-profit businesses with which they compete — as ChangePoint’s new sports center has in Anchorage.
Mixed-use projects, like shopping centers that also include church buildings, can make it difficult to determine what constitutes tax-exempt ministry work, which is granted exemptions from property and unemployment taxes, and what is taxable commerce.
And when these ventures succeed — when local amenities like shops, sports centers, theaters and clinics are all provided in church-run settings and employ mostly church members — people of other faiths may feel shut out of a significant part of a town’s life, some religion scholars said.
Precedents in History
Churches have long played an economic role. Medieval monasteries in Europe and Japan were typically hubs of commerce. In the United States, many wealthy denominations have long had passive investments in real estate. And churches, like labor unions and other nonprofit groups, have been involved in serving immigrants, the elderly and the poor.
But the expanding economic life of today’s giant churches is distinctive. First, they are active in less expected places: in largely flourishing suburbs and barely developed acreage far beyond cities’ beltways and in communities far from the Southern Bible Belt with which they are traditionally associated. And in most cases — as at ChangePoint in Anchorage — these churches say their economic activities are not just an expression of community service but, more important, an opportunity to evangelize. The sports dome, for example, is a way to draw the attention of young families to the church’s religious programs.
“We don’t look at this as economics; we look at it as our mission,” Pastor Clauson said.
Scott L. Thumma, a pioneer in the study of megachurches at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, whose roster of churches was the basis for the Times analysis, said he has noticed churches that sponsor credit unions, issue credit cards and lend to small businesses.
Although community outreach is almost always cited as the primary motive, these economic initiatives may also indicate that giant churches are seeking sources of revenue beyond the collection plate to support their increasingly elaborate programs, suggested Mark A. Chaves, a religious sociologist at Duke University.
Investing Capital Assets
Also feeding this wave of economic activity is the growing supply of capital available to religious congregations.
The Evangelical Christian Credit Union in Brea, Calif., a pioneer in lending to churches and a proxy for this market shift, has seen its loan portfolio grow to $2.7 billion, from just $60 million in the early 1990s, said Mark A. Johnson, its executive vice president. Where bankers were once reluctant to lend to churches, the credit union now shares a market with some of the nation’s largest banks.
ChangePoint paid $1 million upfront and borrowed $23.5 million from a state economic development agency to buy a defunct seafood-packaging plant and warehouse out of foreclosure in July 2005. To do so, it formed a partnership with the for-profit owner of the cold-storage unit surrounded by the seafood plant’s land. An affiliated nonprofit is developing the sports dome with a gift of $4 million worth of church land. The church controls these entities directly or through board appointments, said Scott Merriner, executive pastor and a former McKinsey consultant.
Pastor Clauson acknowledged that a few local businessmen who own sports facilities have complained about the subsidized competition they face from The Dome, a nonprofit organization. It is an issue the church takes seriously, he said.
“We don’t want to be taking bread off of people’s tables,” the pastor said.
But the sports dome “is scratching such an enormous proverbial itch, there is no way we’re harming anyone,” he said, adding, “There is more than enough need to go around.”
Martin McGee, the Anchorage municipal assessor, acknowledged that the property poses an assessment challenge. Land and floor space used only by the church are exempt, he said, but the rest of the seafood plant site is taxable, and the tax treatment of the sports dome site is still under review.
The tax issues will be even more complex for a megachurch project in Charlotte, N.C. There, the University Park Baptist Church paid $11.5 million late last year to buy the Merchandise Mart, a half-million-square-foot office and exhibition space.
Some 57 percent of the space will ultimately be remodeled for church use, but the rest will bring new business activity to the neighborhood, said Claude R. Alexander Jr., the church’s lead pastor who also serves on the board of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.
His church has left its economic mark on the neighborhood it will leave behind when it moves to the mart. With its traffic added to that of another megachurch a few miles away, a once-quiet intersection between the two churches has recently seen the construction of fast-food outlets and other businesses.
The traffic is unlikely to ease when University Park moves. The other nearby megachurch, the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, already has zoning approval for Friendship Village, a complex of shops, apartments, homes, offices and housing for the elderly on 108 acres off Charlotte’s beltway.
According to Tom Flynn, the economic development officer for Charlotte, University Park’s purchase of the Merchandise Mart already has prompted interest in older properties nearby.
A Complex Tax Challenge
The church, which formed a for-profit property management unit that also includes a small limousine service, envisions a mixture of commercial and religious uses at its new site — with its own share of the space beginning around 38 percent and rising over time.
What’s a poor tax assessor to do?
The entire site is currently taxable, said Alonzo Woods, the church’s director of operations. But when the church moves in, it will seek exemptions for areas used “strictly for church purposes.”
Churches are moving into residential development, as well. Windsor Village United Methodist Church, one of two churches that own shopping centers in Houston, is teaming up with a national home builder to develop more than 460 homes in the southwestern section of the city.
And in Dallas, The Potter’s House, a 30,000-member church established by Bishop T.D. Jakes, is the linchpin in an economic empire that includes Capella Park, a community of 266 homes.
Just how far-reaching the megachurch economy can become is clear at the First Assembly of God Church in Concord, a small community northeast of Charlotte. Under the umbrella of First Assembly Ministries are the church, with 2,500 in weekly attendance; a 180-bed assisted-living center; a private school for more than 800 students; a day-care center for 115 children; a 22-acre retreat center; and a food service — all nonprofit. In addition, there is WC Properties, a for-profit unit that manages the church’s shopping center, called Community at the Village, where a Subway outlet, an eye-care shop and other businesses share space with church programs that draw traffic to the mall.
Doug Rieder, the church business administrator, said WC Properties files a federal tax return and pays property taxes on the commercial space at the mall.
But Mr. Rieder acknowledged the difficulty of allocating space, staff time and expenses to the appropriate tax category. “We’re very intertwined — it gets tough day to day,” he said adding, “I have to constantly ask myself whether I am accurately allocating our costs.”
Concord was delighted to have First Assembly as the new landlord at the mall once anchored by Wal-Mart.
“That’s a very crucial crossroads for the city,” said W. Brian Hiatt, the city manager. “And the church has been a great partner.”
Another contribution the church makes to the city is a free daylong celebration it holds on Independence Day, complete with fireworks.
Mr. Hiatt said no one seemed to find it awkward for a church to conduct the community’s celebration marking the birth of a country committed to separation of church and state.
“It was a very positive event,” he said.
Mr. Rieder, the church business manager, paused when asked whether people of other faiths would have felt comfortable at the event.
“We try not to discriminate in doing community service,” he said. “There are Muslims and other non-Christians here, of course. And we do want to convert them, no doubt about it — that’s our mission. We don’t discriminate, but we do evangelize.”
The same quandary confronts Pastor Clauson in Anchorage. “There is nothing inherently alienating about what we’re doing economically,” he said. “An Orthodox Jewish youngster or a conservative Muslim child encountering our programs would find zero intimidation.”
Nor does he want his community to become divided along religious lines, he said. But at the same time, “we definitely want to use these efforts as an open door to the entity that we feel is the author and creator of abundant life — Jesus.”
He added, “It’s a tough balancing act.”
There is a related multimedia linked at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/busin ... ?th&emc=th
In God's Name
Megachurches Add Local Economy to Their Mission
By DIANA B. HENRIQUES and ANDREW W. LEHREN
In Anchorage early in October, the doors opened onto a soaring white canvas dome with room for a soccer field and a 400-meter track. Its prime-time hours are already rented well into 2011.
Nearby is a cold-storage facility leased to Sysco, a giant food-distribution corporation, and beside it is a warehouse serving a local contractor and another food service company.
The entrepreneur behind these businesses is the ChangePoint ministry, a 4,000-member nondenominational Christian congregation that helped develop and finance the sports dome. It has a partnership with Sysco’s landlord and owns the warehouse.
The church’s leaders say they hope to draw people to faith by publicly demonstrating their commitment to meeting their community’s economic needs.
“We want to turn people on to Jesus Christ through this process,” said Karl Clauson, who has led the church for more than eight years.
Among the nation’s so-called megachurches — those usually Protestant congregations with average weekly attendance of 2,000 or more — ChangePoint’s appetite for expansion into many kinds of businesses is hardly unique. An analysis by The New York Times of the online public records of just over 1,300 of these giant churches shows that their business interests are as varied as basketball schools, aviation subsidiaries, investment partnerships and a limousine service.
At least 10 own and operate shopping centers, and some financially formidable congregations are adding residential developments to their holdings. In one such elaborate project, LifeBridge Christian Church, near Longmont, Colo., plans a 313-acre development of upscale homes, retail and office space, a sports arena, housing for the elderly and church buildings.
Indeed, some huge churches, already politically influential, are becoming catalysts for local economic development, challenging a conventional view that churches drain a town financially by generating lower-paid jobs, taking land off the property-tax rolls and increasing traffic.
But the entrepreneurial activities of churches pose questions for their communities that do not arise with secular development.
These enterprises, whose sponsoring churches benefit from a variety of tax breaks and regulatory exemptions given to religious organizations in this country, sometimes provoke complaints from for-profit businesses with which they compete — as ChangePoint’s new sports center has in Anchorage.
Mixed-use projects, like shopping centers that also include church buildings, can make it difficult to determine what constitutes tax-exempt ministry work, which is granted exemptions from property and unemployment taxes, and what is taxable commerce.
And when these ventures succeed — when local amenities like shops, sports centers, theaters and clinics are all provided in church-run settings and employ mostly church members — people of other faiths may feel shut out of a significant part of a town’s life, some religion scholars said.
Precedents in History
Churches have long played an economic role. Medieval monasteries in Europe and Japan were typically hubs of commerce. In the United States, many wealthy denominations have long had passive investments in real estate. And churches, like labor unions and other nonprofit groups, have been involved in serving immigrants, the elderly and the poor.
But the expanding economic life of today’s giant churches is distinctive. First, they are active in less expected places: in largely flourishing suburbs and barely developed acreage far beyond cities’ beltways and in communities far from the Southern Bible Belt with which they are traditionally associated. And in most cases — as at ChangePoint in Anchorage — these churches say their economic activities are not just an expression of community service but, more important, an opportunity to evangelize. The sports dome, for example, is a way to draw the attention of young families to the church’s religious programs.
“We don’t look at this as economics; we look at it as our mission,” Pastor Clauson said.
Scott L. Thumma, a pioneer in the study of megachurches at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, whose roster of churches was the basis for the Times analysis, said he has noticed churches that sponsor credit unions, issue credit cards and lend to small businesses.
Although community outreach is almost always cited as the primary motive, these economic initiatives may also indicate that giant churches are seeking sources of revenue beyond the collection plate to support their increasingly elaborate programs, suggested Mark A. Chaves, a religious sociologist at Duke University.
Investing Capital Assets
Also feeding this wave of economic activity is the growing supply of capital available to religious congregations.
The Evangelical Christian Credit Union in Brea, Calif., a pioneer in lending to churches and a proxy for this market shift, has seen its loan portfolio grow to $2.7 billion, from just $60 million in the early 1990s, said Mark A. Johnson, its executive vice president. Where bankers were once reluctant to lend to churches, the credit union now shares a market with some of the nation’s largest banks.
ChangePoint paid $1 million upfront and borrowed $23.5 million from a state economic development agency to buy a defunct seafood-packaging plant and warehouse out of foreclosure in July 2005. To do so, it formed a partnership with the for-profit owner of the cold-storage unit surrounded by the seafood plant’s land. An affiliated nonprofit is developing the sports dome with a gift of $4 million worth of church land. The church controls these entities directly or through board appointments, said Scott Merriner, executive pastor and a former McKinsey consultant.
Pastor Clauson acknowledged that a few local businessmen who own sports facilities have complained about the subsidized competition they face from The Dome, a nonprofit organization. It is an issue the church takes seriously, he said.
“We don’t want to be taking bread off of people’s tables,” the pastor said.
But the sports dome “is scratching such an enormous proverbial itch, there is no way we’re harming anyone,” he said, adding, “There is more than enough need to go around.”
Martin McGee, the Anchorage municipal assessor, acknowledged that the property poses an assessment challenge. Land and floor space used only by the church are exempt, he said, but the rest of the seafood plant site is taxable, and the tax treatment of the sports dome site is still under review.
The tax issues will be even more complex for a megachurch project in Charlotte, N.C. There, the University Park Baptist Church paid $11.5 million late last year to buy the Merchandise Mart, a half-million-square-foot office and exhibition space.
Some 57 percent of the space will ultimately be remodeled for church use, but the rest will bring new business activity to the neighborhood, said Claude R. Alexander Jr., the church’s lead pastor who also serves on the board of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.
His church has left its economic mark on the neighborhood it will leave behind when it moves to the mart. With its traffic added to that of another megachurch a few miles away, a once-quiet intersection between the two churches has recently seen the construction of fast-food outlets and other businesses.
The traffic is unlikely to ease when University Park moves. The other nearby megachurch, the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, already has zoning approval for Friendship Village, a complex of shops, apartments, homes, offices and housing for the elderly on 108 acres off Charlotte’s beltway.
According to Tom Flynn, the economic development officer for Charlotte, University Park’s purchase of the Merchandise Mart already has prompted interest in older properties nearby.
A Complex Tax Challenge
The church, which formed a for-profit property management unit that also includes a small limousine service, envisions a mixture of commercial and religious uses at its new site — with its own share of the space beginning around 38 percent and rising over time.
What’s a poor tax assessor to do?
The entire site is currently taxable, said Alonzo Woods, the church’s director of operations. But when the church moves in, it will seek exemptions for areas used “strictly for church purposes.”
Churches are moving into residential development, as well. Windsor Village United Methodist Church, one of two churches that own shopping centers in Houston, is teaming up with a national home builder to develop more than 460 homes in the southwestern section of the city.
And in Dallas, The Potter’s House, a 30,000-member church established by Bishop T.D. Jakes, is the linchpin in an economic empire that includes Capella Park, a community of 266 homes.
Just how far-reaching the megachurch economy can become is clear at the First Assembly of God Church in Concord, a small community northeast of Charlotte. Under the umbrella of First Assembly Ministries are the church, with 2,500 in weekly attendance; a 180-bed assisted-living center; a private school for more than 800 students; a day-care center for 115 children; a 22-acre retreat center; and a food service — all nonprofit. In addition, there is WC Properties, a for-profit unit that manages the church’s shopping center, called Community at the Village, where a Subway outlet, an eye-care shop and other businesses share space with church programs that draw traffic to the mall.
Doug Rieder, the church business administrator, said WC Properties files a federal tax return and pays property taxes on the commercial space at the mall.
But Mr. Rieder acknowledged the difficulty of allocating space, staff time and expenses to the appropriate tax category. “We’re very intertwined — it gets tough day to day,” he said adding, “I have to constantly ask myself whether I am accurately allocating our costs.”
Concord was delighted to have First Assembly as the new landlord at the mall once anchored by Wal-Mart.
“That’s a very crucial crossroads for the city,” said W. Brian Hiatt, the city manager. “And the church has been a great partner.”
Another contribution the church makes to the city is a free daylong celebration it holds on Independence Day, complete with fireworks.
Mr. Hiatt said no one seemed to find it awkward for a church to conduct the community’s celebration marking the birth of a country committed to separation of church and state.
“It was a very positive event,” he said.
Mr. Rieder, the church business manager, paused when asked whether people of other faiths would have felt comfortable at the event.
“We try not to discriminate in doing community service,” he said. “There are Muslims and other non-Christians here, of course. And we do want to convert them, no doubt about it — that’s our mission. We don’t discriminate, but we do evangelize.”
The same quandary confronts Pastor Clauson in Anchorage. “There is nothing inherently alienating about what we’re doing economically,” he said. “An Orthodox Jewish youngster or a conservative Muslim child encountering our programs would find zero intimidation.”
Nor does he want his community to become divided along religious lines, he said. But at the same time, “we definitely want to use these efforts as an open door to the entity that we feel is the author and creator of abundant life — Jesus.”
He added, “It’s a tough balancing act.”
There is a related multimedia linked at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/busin ... ?th&emc=th
A movie won't destroy church beliefs
Naomi Lakritz
Calgary Herald
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Three cheers for Calgary's Bishop Fred Henry for refusing to get fussed enough to join the protests against The Golden Compass. The movie, which opens Dec. 7, allegedly carries an anti-Christian, atheistic, New Age theme.
Henry says he has bigger fish to fry, like helping the homeless. He's right. Catholicism survived the Reformation -- it will certainly be able to survive an over-hyped post-millennium movie.
I have no plans to see this movie, not because I'm afraid it will drive me into that atheistic camp whose gates are guarded by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens, but because it doesn't interest me.
It's the story of a 12-year-old who has to rescue a friend from the clutches of a kidnapper. Someone, possibly a publicist who got paid big bucks to create a gimmicky slogan, has called the film's pubescent heroine a New Age Eve.
Sounds too tiresome for me to waste my time on. That recycled plot of young kids foiling kidnappers to save their friends was old back in the '60s when it formed the core of practically every other Jonny Quest cartoon episode.
If the Christian groups who are upset about the film and are calling for a boycott don't want their children to see it, then they don't have to go to the movie theatre. Who's forcing them?
And if other people want to take their kids to see this film, why is it any of the protesters' business?
These folks are getting their knickers in a proverbial knot for nothing. The reality is that any subtle anti-biblical nuances in the movie will go right over a kid's head; he or she will see the movie literally as an adventure story.
Children do not have the sophistication to read all this other stuff into a movie; they haven't lived long enough to develop those kinds of thought processes. That's the realm of adults.
It's the bigger picture -- no pun intended -- that's disturbing. It's this notion that children must be shielded from dissenting ideas rather than exposed to them so that they can learn to use their critical faculties and think for themselves.
The mania about children's physical safety that sees toddlers on tricycles decked out in full combat gear of helmet, knee and elbow pads -- in case they topple from a height of scarcely more than six inches onto the sidewalk -- extends to the mind. It isn't enough to zealously pad the corners of the physical world; the world in which the developing mind dwells must be equally padded.
Do these protesters think children will go through life and never hear of atheism? Will they forbid their kids to study Greek and Roman mythology with its pantheon of gods? Plato was from the pre-Christian era; should kids never hear about him?
Christianity is hardly on such shaky ground that a movie will cause the collapse of the tenets of this 2,000 year-old faith. Get a grip, parents. As Henry says: "There are much more important issues than some silly little movie."
Amen, Bishop.
nlakritz@...
Naomi Lakritz
Calgary Herald
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Three cheers for Calgary's Bishop Fred Henry for refusing to get fussed enough to join the protests against The Golden Compass. The movie, which opens Dec. 7, allegedly carries an anti-Christian, atheistic, New Age theme.
Henry says he has bigger fish to fry, like helping the homeless. He's right. Catholicism survived the Reformation -- it will certainly be able to survive an over-hyped post-millennium movie.
I have no plans to see this movie, not because I'm afraid it will drive me into that atheistic camp whose gates are guarded by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens, but because it doesn't interest me.
It's the story of a 12-year-old who has to rescue a friend from the clutches of a kidnapper. Someone, possibly a publicist who got paid big bucks to create a gimmicky slogan, has called the film's pubescent heroine a New Age Eve.
Sounds too tiresome for me to waste my time on. That recycled plot of young kids foiling kidnappers to save their friends was old back in the '60s when it formed the core of practically every other Jonny Quest cartoon episode.
If the Christian groups who are upset about the film and are calling for a boycott don't want their children to see it, then they don't have to go to the movie theatre. Who's forcing them?
And if other people want to take their kids to see this film, why is it any of the protesters' business?
These folks are getting their knickers in a proverbial knot for nothing. The reality is that any subtle anti-biblical nuances in the movie will go right over a kid's head; he or she will see the movie literally as an adventure story.
Children do not have the sophistication to read all this other stuff into a movie; they haven't lived long enough to develop those kinds of thought processes. That's the realm of adults.
It's the bigger picture -- no pun intended -- that's disturbing. It's this notion that children must be shielded from dissenting ideas rather than exposed to them so that they can learn to use their critical faculties and think for themselves.
The mania about children's physical safety that sees toddlers on tricycles decked out in full combat gear of helmet, knee and elbow pads -- in case they topple from a height of scarcely more than six inches onto the sidewalk -- extends to the mind. It isn't enough to zealously pad the corners of the physical world; the world in which the developing mind dwells must be equally padded.
Do these protesters think children will go through life and never hear of atheism? Will they forbid their kids to study Greek and Roman mythology with its pantheon of gods? Plato was from the pre-Christian era; should kids never hear about him?
Christianity is hardly on such shaky ground that a movie will cause the collapse of the tenets of this 2,000 year-old faith. Get a grip, parents. As Henry says: "There are much more important issues than some silly little movie."
Amen, Bishop.
nlakritz@...
Give without gospel lesson
Darren Lund
For the Calgary Herald
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Giving gifts during the Christmas season is an important act of generosity and kindness that cuts across every faith community. As a parent of two school-aged children, I'm always looking for meaningful ways to foster empathy and kindness in our kids, so it's no surprise that so many people find the Operation Christmas Child shoebox campaign so appealing.
Those shoeboxes that so many Canadians -- including thousands of Calgarians -- stuff with small gifts (and the suggested $7 donation) for underprivileged children overseas offer us an easy way to feel good for the holidays.
A question, however, is how the Samaritan's Purse ministry -- whose primary goal is religious conversion -- uses their gifts. Just as importantly, what do these programs reveal about our view of international development?
Our local Calgary Catholic School District has rejected the shoebox program outright, and a number of our local EMS workers have raised objections about their organization's use of public ambulances and helicopters to support this massive annual fundraiser. What concerns could they have with this program? How suitable is this program for our public schools and other agencies?
A quick visit to the Samaritan's Purse website -- www.samaritanspurse.org -- offers some answers: Recipients of the shoeboxes in more than 100 developing nations -- most of them non-Christian -- must register to receive them, Christian literature is distributed with each box, and followup ministry and "discipleship" programs take place wherever allowable. Their website reports, "Local believers follow up with evangelistic programs, and many precious boys and girls later receive Jesus as their Saviour."
It may strike some of the program's strongest supporters that genuine generosity is not the purpose for the shoebox. A Samaritan's Purse video explains: "It's not just a big gift. It's not just humanitarian aid. It is a tool for evangelism."
A volunteer in Liberia, where most people follow traditional African faiths, reports, "The children took their gift boxes home to their parents . . . this was the first time their children had received such items. Upon hearing the Christmas message, the children received Christ immediately, hence turning their backs on idol worship."
"Our outreach to these children and their families may begin with a shoebox gift," says Samaritan's Purse CEO Franklin Graham, "but our ultimate goal is to open doors to world evangelization."
Graham, son of famous minister Billy Graham, has referred to Islam as "a very evil and wicked religion," and describes "India, with its hundreds of millions of people locked in the darkness of Hinduism . . . bound by Satan's power."
More recently, Graham announced a plan to convert all children to his version of Christianity, and it all starts at our local public schools: "I want to see at least one child in every public school in America trained as a witness for Jesus Christ . . . ."
Local media and enthusiastic sponsors typically ignore the proselytizing purpose of Samaritan's Purse and their shoeboxes, focusing instead on how good it feels to pack them.
Many also avoid tougher questions about larger social issues that the campaign ignores: How can sending a box of plastic goods to the children in impoverished communities help the local businesses and tradespeople? How would this combat poverty and hunger? How does it honour local cultures and faiths? As foreign aid, it lacks meaningful, long-term development impact.
As Rev. Giles Fraser writes: "Schools and churches that are getting their children involved in Operation Christmas Child need to be aware of the agenda their participation is helping to promote.
"There is, of course, a huge emotional hit in wrapping up a shoebox for a Christmas child. But if we are to teach our children properly about giving, we must wean them off the feel-good factor . . . We will need to have some rather grown-up conversations with our children if we are to explain some of these things.
But that would be time better spent than wrapping up a shoebox. We must get over our fondness for charity and develop a thirst for justice."
Public schools must remain neutral on religious propagation, while continuing to offer ample opportunity for sharing and learning about the wide range of religious traditions and celebrations.
I encourage parents to explain to their children what's wrong with Graham's use of their shoeboxes. Please consider sending your collected supplies and toys to local relief agencies, and your cash donations to reputable aid projects that do not include religious conversion. Showing respect for the views of others may be our best hope for peace and justice in the world.
Darren Lund is an associate professor in the faculty of education at the University of Calgary.
© The Calgary Herald 2007
Darren Lund
For the Calgary Herald
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Giving gifts during the Christmas season is an important act of generosity and kindness that cuts across every faith community. As a parent of two school-aged children, I'm always looking for meaningful ways to foster empathy and kindness in our kids, so it's no surprise that so many people find the Operation Christmas Child shoebox campaign so appealing.
Those shoeboxes that so many Canadians -- including thousands of Calgarians -- stuff with small gifts (and the suggested $7 donation) for underprivileged children overseas offer us an easy way to feel good for the holidays.
A question, however, is how the Samaritan's Purse ministry -- whose primary goal is religious conversion -- uses their gifts. Just as importantly, what do these programs reveal about our view of international development?
Our local Calgary Catholic School District has rejected the shoebox program outright, and a number of our local EMS workers have raised objections about their organization's use of public ambulances and helicopters to support this massive annual fundraiser. What concerns could they have with this program? How suitable is this program for our public schools and other agencies?
A quick visit to the Samaritan's Purse website -- www.samaritanspurse.org -- offers some answers: Recipients of the shoeboxes in more than 100 developing nations -- most of them non-Christian -- must register to receive them, Christian literature is distributed with each box, and followup ministry and "discipleship" programs take place wherever allowable. Their website reports, "Local believers follow up with evangelistic programs, and many precious boys and girls later receive Jesus as their Saviour."
It may strike some of the program's strongest supporters that genuine generosity is not the purpose for the shoebox. A Samaritan's Purse video explains: "It's not just a big gift. It's not just humanitarian aid. It is a tool for evangelism."
A volunteer in Liberia, where most people follow traditional African faiths, reports, "The children took their gift boxes home to their parents . . . this was the first time their children had received such items. Upon hearing the Christmas message, the children received Christ immediately, hence turning their backs on idol worship."
"Our outreach to these children and their families may begin with a shoebox gift," says Samaritan's Purse CEO Franklin Graham, "but our ultimate goal is to open doors to world evangelization."
Graham, son of famous minister Billy Graham, has referred to Islam as "a very evil and wicked religion," and describes "India, with its hundreds of millions of people locked in the darkness of Hinduism . . . bound by Satan's power."
More recently, Graham announced a plan to convert all children to his version of Christianity, and it all starts at our local public schools: "I want to see at least one child in every public school in America trained as a witness for Jesus Christ . . . ."
Local media and enthusiastic sponsors typically ignore the proselytizing purpose of Samaritan's Purse and their shoeboxes, focusing instead on how good it feels to pack them.
Many also avoid tougher questions about larger social issues that the campaign ignores: How can sending a box of plastic goods to the children in impoverished communities help the local businesses and tradespeople? How would this combat poverty and hunger? How does it honour local cultures and faiths? As foreign aid, it lacks meaningful, long-term development impact.
As Rev. Giles Fraser writes: "Schools and churches that are getting their children involved in Operation Christmas Child need to be aware of the agenda their participation is helping to promote.
"There is, of course, a huge emotional hit in wrapping up a shoebox for a Christmas child. But if we are to teach our children properly about giving, we must wean them off the feel-good factor . . . We will need to have some rather grown-up conversations with our children if we are to explain some of these things.
But that would be time better spent than wrapping up a shoebox. We must get over our fondness for charity and develop a thirst for justice."
Public schools must remain neutral on religious propagation, while continuing to offer ample opportunity for sharing and learning about the wide range of religious traditions and celebrations.
I encourage parents to explain to their children what's wrong with Graham's use of their shoeboxes. Please consider sending your collected supplies and toys to local relief agencies, and your cash donations to reputable aid projects that do not include religious conversion. Showing respect for the views of others may be our best hope for peace and justice in the world.
Darren Lund is an associate professor in the faculty of education at the University of Calgary.
© The Calgary Herald 2007
US Church splits over gay rights
The ordination of gay Bishop Gene Robinson divided Anglicans
A Californian diocese has voted to become the first to break away from the US Episcopal Church in protest at its support for gays in the Church.
Delegates of the San Joaquin diocese in Fresno voted 173-22 to secede.
It follows years of disagreement with Church authorities triggered by the consecration of a gay bishop in 2003.
The Episcopal Church is the US wing of the 77m-member Anglican Communion, which is threatened by a deep split between conservatives and liberals.
The Episcopal Church says that in recent years 32 of its 7,600 congregations had left, with another 23 voting to leave but not taking the final step.
San Joaquin is the first of the Church's 110 dioceses to complete the split.
In a later vote, the diocese accepted an invitation to join a conservative South American Anglican congregation.
'Contrary to teachings'
"This is the first time, I believe, that a diocese has finally said 'enough' in terms of the liberal theology of the Episcopal Church," said Bishop John-David Schofield of the San Joaquin diocese ahead of the vote.
Anglican leaders in many parts of the world were angered by the consecration of openly-gay Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.
Conservative churchgoers believe active homosexuality is contrary to the Anglican Communion's teachings, which are rooted in the bible.
However, liberal Anglicans have argued that biblical teachings on justice and inclusion should take precedence.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7134835.stm
The ordination of gay Bishop Gene Robinson divided Anglicans
A Californian diocese has voted to become the first to break away from the US Episcopal Church in protest at its support for gays in the Church.
Delegates of the San Joaquin diocese in Fresno voted 173-22 to secede.
It follows years of disagreement with Church authorities triggered by the consecration of a gay bishop in 2003.
The Episcopal Church is the US wing of the 77m-member Anglican Communion, which is threatened by a deep split between conservatives and liberals.
The Episcopal Church says that in recent years 32 of its 7,600 congregations had left, with another 23 voting to leave but not taking the final step.
San Joaquin is the first of the Church's 110 dioceses to complete the split.
In a later vote, the diocese accepted an invitation to join a conservative South American Anglican congregation.
'Contrary to teachings'
"This is the first time, I believe, that a diocese has finally said 'enough' in terms of the liberal theology of the Episcopal Church," said Bishop John-David Schofield of the San Joaquin diocese ahead of the vote.
Anglican leaders in many parts of the world were angered by the consecration of openly-gay Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.
Conservative churchgoers believe active homosexuality is contrary to the Anglican Communion's teachings, which are rooted in the bible.
However, liberal Anglicans have argued that biblical teachings on justice and inclusion should take precedence.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7134835.stm
December 19, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
The Vatican’s Relative Truth
By JOHN L. ALLEN Jr.
POPE BENEDICT XVI has offered a couple of recent previews of what’s likely to be his core message to the United Nations next April, the projected highlight of his first visit to the United States. Last Tuesday, the pontiff released the text of his annual statement for the Vatican’s World Day of Peace, raising typical papal concerns like poverty and disarmament, but also a defense of the family based on heterosexual marriage and, in the section reflecting Benedict’s budding environmentalism, a reminder of human supremacy over the animal kingdom.
Ten days earlier in Rome, Pope Benedict offered a more targeted message in a meeting with Catholic nongovernmental groups that work with the United Nations, delivering a stern warning against the “bitter fruits” of “relativistic logic” and a “refusal to admit the truth about man and his dignity.” Given the titanic battles the Vatican has waged against certain United Nations agencies over abortion and birth control, his comments were quickly spun by the Italian press as a major papal “attack” ahead of next year’s General Assembly address.
But if the pope’s words have fed expectations of a “High Noon”-style showdown, they are likely to be dashed. Benedict had no intention of making an anti-United Nations jeremiad. Like every pope since the birth of the United Nations in 1945, Benedict supports robust global governance, in a fashion that has long bewildered neoconservative critics of the United Nations in the United States and elsewhere. If there was anything remarkable in what he said, it’s only that the Vatican’s public-relations crew still hasn’t found a way to keep the pope from making cosmetic missteps that distract attention from his message.
While the Vatican may have its differences with United Nations agencies over sex, it also sees the organization as the lone realistic possibility for putting a human face on international politics and economics — what Pope John Paul II called a “globalization of solidarity.”
Moreover, Benedict undeniably has a point about relativism. From China to Iran to Zimbabwe, it’s common for authoritarian regimes to argue that rights like freedom of the press, religion and dissent represent Western — or even Anglo-American — traditions. If human rights are to be protected in a 21st century increasingly shaped by non-Western actors like China and the so-called Shiite axis from Lebanon to Central Asia, then a belief in objective truth grounded in universal human nature is critical. That’s hardly just a Catholic concern, but no one on the global scene is making the argument with the clarity of Benedict XVI.
Part of the problem is that so far, this cerebral pope has a track record of blurring such compelling arguments during his biggest turns on stage. When he visited Auschwitz in May 2006, for example, he offended some Jews by asserting that the Nazis tried to destroy Christianity too. Four months later, he set off a firestorm among Muslims with a lecture at the University of Regensburg by quoting a 14th-century Byzantine emperor to the effect that Muhammad brought “things only evil and inhuman,” such as “his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” And in Brazil last May, the pope incensed indigenous people in Latin America by suggesting that Christianity was not imposed on them.
In each case, Benedict was actually trying to make a deeper point worth hearing. In Auschwitz, his contention was that objective truth grounded in God is the only bulwark against the blind will to power; his Regensburg address was devoted to reason and faith, arguing that reason shorn of faith becomes nihilism, while faith without reason ends in fanaticism and violence; and in Brazil, he argued that since Christ embraces all humanity, he cannot be foreign to anyone’s spiritual experience.
Those ideas, however, were overshadowed by a few throwaway phrases that betray a worrying insensitivity to how unfamiliar audiences are likely to hear what he says. One would think that by now the lesson would have been learned, but all evidence is to the contrary. While it was intended to strike a tone of sympathy and common human concern, the speech to the nongovernmental groups instead came off as a screed.
Benedict’s trip to the United Nations in April will be his most important voyage to date, and his best opportunity to address the community of nations. He clearly has something valuable to say, a message that focuses on what he has termed a “dictatorship of relativism” menacing not just the Catholic Church or institutional religion, but everyone, especially the most vulnerable. The question is whether he’ll be able to find a language to ensure that what he pitches is also what people catch.
At this stage, the odds that he’ll succeed seem, well, only relatively good.
John L. Allen Jr. is the senior correspondent for The National Catholic Reporter and author of “The Rise of Benedict XVI.”
Op-Ed Contributor
The Vatican’s Relative Truth
By JOHN L. ALLEN Jr.
POPE BENEDICT XVI has offered a couple of recent previews of what’s likely to be his core message to the United Nations next April, the projected highlight of his first visit to the United States. Last Tuesday, the pontiff released the text of his annual statement for the Vatican’s World Day of Peace, raising typical papal concerns like poverty and disarmament, but also a defense of the family based on heterosexual marriage and, in the section reflecting Benedict’s budding environmentalism, a reminder of human supremacy over the animal kingdom.
Ten days earlier in Rome, Pope Benedict offered a more targeted message in a meeting with Catholic nongovernmental groups that work with the United Nations, delivering a stern warning against the “bitter fruits” of “relativistic logic” and a “refusal to admit the truth about man and his dignity.” Given the titanic battles the Vatican has waged against certain United Nations agencies over abortion and birth control, his comments were quickly spun by the Italian press as a major papal “attack” ahead of next year’s General Assembly address.
But if the pope’s words have fed expectations of a “High Noon”-style showdown, they are likely to be dashed. Benedict had no intention of making an anti-United Nations jeremiad. Like every pope since the birth of the United Nations in 1945, Benedict supports robust global governance, in a fashion that has long bewildered neoconservative critics of the United Nations in the United States and elsewhere. If there was anything remarkable in what he said, it’s only that the Vatican’s public-relations crew still hasn’t found a way to keep the pope from making cosmetic missteps that distract attention from his message.
While the Vatican may have its differences with United Nations agencies over sex, it also sees the organization as the lone realistic possibility for putting a human face on international politics and economics — what Pope John Paul II called a “globalization of solidarity.”
Moreover, Benedict undeniably has a point about relativism. From China to Iran to Zimbabwe, it’s common for authoritarian regimes to argue that rights like freedom of the press, religion and dissent represent Western — or even Anglo-American — traditions. If human rights are to be protected in a 21st century increasingly shaped by non-Western actors like China and the so-called Shiite axis from Lebanon to Central Asia, then a belief in objective truth grounded in universal human nature is critical. That’s hardly just a Catholic concern, but no one on the global scene is making the argument with the clarity of Benedict XVI.
Part of the problem is that so far, this cerebral pope has a track record of blurring such compelling arguments during his biggest turns on stage. When he visited Auschwitz in May 2006, for example, he offended some Jews by asserting that the Nazis tried to destroy Christianity too. Four months later, he set off a firestorm among Muslims with a lecture at the University of Regensburg by quoting a 14th-century Byzantine emperor to the effect that Muhammad brought “things only evil and inhuman,” such as “his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” And in Brazil last May, the pope incensed indigenous people in Latin America by suggesting that Christianity was not imposed on them.
In each case, Benedict was actually trying to make a deeper point worth hearing. In Auschwitz, his contention was that objective truth grounded in God is the only bulwark against the blind will to power; his Regensburg address was devoted to reason and faith, arguing that reason shorn of faith becomes nihilism, while faith without reason ends in fanaticism and violence; and in Brazil, he argued that since Christ embraces all humanity, he cannot be foreign to anyone’s spiritual experience.
Those ideas, however, were overshadowed by a few throwaway phrases that betray a worrying insensitivity to how unfamiliar audiences are likely to hear what he says. One would think that by now the lesson would have been learned, but all evidence is to the contrary. While it was intended to strike a tone of sympathy and common human concern, the speech to the nongovernmental groups instead came off as a screed.
Benedict’s trip to the United Nations in April will be his most important voyage to date, and his best opportunity to address the community of nations. He clearly has something valuable to say, a message that focuses on what he has termed a “dictatorship of relativism” menacing not just the Catholic Church or institutional religion, but everyone, especially the most vulnerable. The question is whether he’ll be able to find a language to ensure that what he pitches is also what people catch.
At this stage, the odds that he’ll succeed seem, well, only relatively good.
John L. Allen Jr. is the senior correspondent for The National Catholic Reporter and author of “The Rise of Benedict XVI.”
Pope prays to rid church of pedophiles
Herald News Services
Monday, January 07, 2008
Pope Benedict has instructed Roman Catholics to pray "in perpetuity" to cleanse the Church of pedophile clergy. All dioceses, parishes, monasteries, convents and seminaries will be expected to organize continuous daily prayers to express penitence and to purify the clergy.
Vatican officials said that every day each parish or institution should designate a person or group to pray that the Church rids itself of the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy. Alternatively, churches within the same diocese could share the duty. Prayer would take place in one parish for 24 hours, then move to another parish.
Vatican watchers said that there was no known precedent for global prayer on a specific issue of this kind. There are about one billion Roman Catholics worldwide.
© The Calgary Herald 2008
Herald News Services
Monday, January 07, 2008
Pope Benedict has instructed Roman Catholics to pray "in perpetuity" to cleanse the Church of pedophile clergy. All dioceses, parishes, monasteries, convents and seminaries will be expected to organize continuous daily prayers to express penitence and to purify the clergy.
Vatican officials said that every day each parish or institution should designate a person or group to pray that the Church rids itself of the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy. Alternatively, churches within the same diocese could share the duty. Prayer would take place in one parish for 24 hours, then move to another parish.
Vatican watchers said that there was no known precedent for global prayer on a specific issue of this kind. There are about one billion Roman Catholics worldwide.
© The Calgary Herald 2008
Protestants gain ground in Brazil
Traditional Catholicism eroding
Graeme Morton
Calgary Herald
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The tropical winds of spiritual change continue to blow through Brazil, says a Mount Royal College religious studies instructor just back from spending more than two years in the giant South American nation.
Steven Engler says the continued rise of evangelical, Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches is eroding the dominant position the Roman Catholic Church has held for centuries.
While Brazil remains the world's largest Catholic community, census figures show those identifying themselves as Catholics fell from 83 to 74 per cent between 1991 and 2000.
In that same decade, the Pentecostal sector of Brazil's population of 184-million jumped from six to 10.6 per cent.
"A lot of Brazilians, in many cases the poor in the favelas (shanty towns), are finding the Pentecostal message, the infusion of the spirit in worship, to be a very powerful experience," says Engler, who served as visiting professor at the Pontificia Universidade Catolicu de Sao Paulo while conducting his own research.
"The rise of Pentecostalism is a global phenomenon. It'll be interesting to watch in the coming years if it continues to grow at a rapid pace or eventually plateaus in countries like Brazil."
Engler, whose Brazilian-born wife and daughter will join him in Calgary later this year, says a charismatic wing is growing within the Brazilian Catholic church as a response to the surge in other denominations.
"The charismatic services are more upbeat, less structured than the traditional Catholic liturgy, and there's an emphasis on elements such as exorcism," notes Engler.
Engler says another characteristic of Brazilian faith life is syncretism, a philosophy where people take elements from a number of different religions to create what's essentially a personal belief system.
"A Brazilian who's recorded as Catholic on the census may often also adopt elements of, for example, Buddhism, spiritualism or one of the Afro-Brazilian religions like Umbanda or Candomble into their daily spiritual life," says Engler.
"It seems to be a 'whatever works' philosophy, an openness to other religious concepts that you don't find as frequently in other parts of the world."
While many North Americans have a stereotypical image of Brazil as an exotic culture of soccer wizards, sun-drenched girls from Ipanema and sexually charged dances, Engler says the culture is actually more conservative than Canada's.
The percentage of Brazilians reporting "no religion" on their census form has climbed to 7.5 per cent, but that's still less than half of Canada's 2001 census rate of 16 per cent.
"Traditional gender roles are also more entrenched than in North America and there's a fair level of homophobia," Engler says.
And while there are not the same close links between faith and politics in Brazil as there are in recent American elections, Engler says, "You're not going to get elected down there if you're not religious."
Engler split his time between Sao Paulo, the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere at more than 15 million, and Sao Joao da Boa Vista, a modest-sized town by Brazilian standards, with about 90,000 residents.
"In Sao Paulo, I've never seen so many rich people and so many desperately poor people in the same place," Engler says.
An indelible trademark of the Brazilian national character, he adds, is the depth and importance of personal relationships and family ties.
"Social networks and extended families, which can include friends and neighbours, are highly prized.
"From the outside, it can look like corruption and nepotism when it's applied to sectors like business or politics, but it makes sense from a grassroots level," Engler notes.
"Especially in the favelas, everything is fluid, everything is negotiable."
Since returning to Calgary on Jan. 2, Engler says this boom town of one million looks relatively deserted compared to his home for the last two-plus years.
"The streets (here) are so wide, there's so much open space and Calgarians are quite reserved," says Engler, who plans to publish more academic papers and continue his research on spirituality within the Americas in the future.
"You're much more likely to strike up a conversation with a stranger in Brazil."
[email protected]
© The Calgary Herald 2008
Traditional Catholicism eroding
Graeme Morton
Calgary Herald
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The tropical winds of spiritual change continue to blow through Brazil, says a Mount Royal College religious studies instructor just back from spending more than two years in the giant South American nation.
Steven Engler says the continued rise of evangelical, Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches is eroding the dominant position the Roman Catholic Church has held for centuries.
While Brazil remains the world's largest Catholic community, census figures show those identifying themselves as Catholics fell from 83 to 74 per cent between 1991 and 2000.
In that same decade, the Pentecostal sector of Brazil's population of 184-million jumped from six to 10.6 per cent.
"A lot of Brazilians, in many cases the poor in the favelas (shanty towns), are finding the Pentecostal message, the infusion of the spirit in worship, to be a very powerful experience," says Engler, who served as visiting professor at the Pontificia Universidade Catolicu de Sao Paulo while conducting his own research.
"The rise of Pentecostalism is a global phenomenon. It'll be interesting to watch in the coming years if it continues to grow at a rapid pace or eventually plateaus in countries like Brazil."
Engler, whose Brazilian-born wife and daughter will join him in Calgary later this year, says a charismatic wing is growing within the Brazilian Catholic church as a response to the surge in other denominations.
"The charismatic services are more upbeat, less structured than the traditional Catholic liturgy, and there's an emphasis on elements such as exorcism," notes Engler.
Engler says another characteristic of Brazilian faith life is syncretism, a philosophy where people take elements from a number of different religions to create what's essentially a personal belief system.
"A Brazilian who's recorded as Catholic on the census may often also adopt elements of, for example, Buddhism, spiritualism or one of the Afro-Brazilian religions like Umbanda or Candomble into their daily spiritual life," says Engler.
"It seems to be a 'whatever works' philosophy, an openness to other religious concepts that you don't find as frequently in other parts of the world."
While many North Americans have a stereotypical image of Brazil as an exotic culture of soccer wizards, sun-drenched girls from Ipanema and sexually charged dances, Engler says the culture is actually more conservative than Canada's.
The percentage of Brazilians reporting "no religion" on their census form has climbed to 7.5 per cent, but that's still less than half of Canada's 2001 census rate of 16 per cent.
"Traditional gender roles are also more entrenched than in North America and there's a fair level of homophobia," Engler says.
And while there are not the same close links between faith and politics in Brazil as there are in recent American elections, Engler says, "You're not going to get elected down there if you're not religious."
Engler split his time between Sao Paulo, the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere at more than 15 million, and Sao Joao da Boa Vista, a modest-sized town by Brazilian standards, with about 90,000 residents.
"In Sao Paulo, I've never seen so many rich people and so many desperately poor people in the same place," Engler says.
An indelible trademark of the Brazilian national character, he adds, is the depth and importance of personal relationships and family ties.
"Social networks and extended families, which can include friends and neighbours, are highly prized.
"From the outside, it can look like corruption and nepotism when it's applied to sectors like business or politics, but it makes sense from a grassroots level," Engler notes.
"Especially in the favelas, everything is fluid, everything is negotiable."
Since returning to Calgary on Jan. 2, Engler says this boom town of one million looks relatively deserted compared to his home for the last two-plus years.
"The streets (here) are so wide, there's so much open space and Calgarians are quite reserved," says Engler, who plans to publish more academic papers and continue his research on spirituality within the Americas in the future.
"You're much more likely to strike up a conversation with a stranger in Brazil."
[email protected]
© The Calgary Herald 2008
February 3, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Evangelicals a Liberal Can Love
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
At a New York or Los Angeles cocktail party, few would dare make a pejorative comment about Barack Obama’s race or Hillary Clinton’s sex. Yet it would be easy to get away with deriding Mike Huckabee’s religious faith.
Liberals believe deeply in tolerance and over the last century have led the battles against prejudices of all kinds, but we have a blind spot about Christian evangelicals. They constitute one of the few minorities that, on the American coasts or university campuses, it remains fashionable to mock.
Scorning people for their faith is intrinsically repugnant, and in this case it also betrays a profound misunderstanding of how far evangelicals have moved over the last decade. Today, conservative Christian churches do superb work on poverty, AIDS, sex trafficking, climate change, prison abuses, malaria and genocide in Darfur.
Bleeding-heart liberals could accomplish far more if they reached out to build common cause with bleeding-heart conservatives. And the Democratic presidential candidate (particularly if it’s Mr. Obama, to whom evangelicals have been startlingly receptive) has a real chance this year of winning large numbers of evangelical voters.
“Evangelicals are going to vote this year in part on climate change, on Darfur, on poverty,” said Jim Wallis, the author of a new book, “The Great Awakening,” which argues that the age of the religious right has passed and that issues of social justice are rising to the top of the agenda. Mr. Wallis says that about half of white evangelical votes will be in play this year.
A recent CBS News poll found that the single issue that white evangelicals most believed they should be involved in was fighting poverty. The traditional issue of abortion was a distant second, and genocide was third.
Look, I don’t agree with evangelicals on theology or on their typically conservative views on taxes, health care or Iraq. Self-righteous zealots like Pat Robertson have been a plague upon our country, and their initial smugness about AIDS (which Jerry Falwell described as “God’s judgment against promiscuity”) constituted far grosser immorality than anything that ever happened in a bathhouse. Moralizing blowhards showed more compassion for embryonic stem cells than for the poor or the sick, and as recently as the 1990s, evangelicals were mostly a constituency against foreign aid.
Yet that has turned almost 180 degrees. Today, many evangelicals are powerful internationalists and humanitarians — and liberals haven’t awakened to the transformation. The new face of evangelicals is somebody like the Rev. Rick Warren, the California pastor who wrote “The Purpose Driven Life.”
Mr. Warren acknowledges that for most of his life he wasn’t much concerned with issues of poverty or disease. But on a visit to South Africa in 2003, he came across a tiny church operating from a dilapidated tent — yet sheltering 25 children orphaned by AIDS.
“I realized they were doing more for the poor than my entire megachurch,” Mr. Warren said, with cheerful exaggeration. “It was like a knife in the heart.” So Mr. Warren mobilized his vast Saddleback Church to fight AIDS, malaria and poverty in 68 countries. Since then, more than 7,500 members of his church have paid their own way to volunteer in poor countries — and once they see the poverty, they immediately want to do more.
“Almost all of my work is in the third world,” Mr. Warren said. “I couldn’t care less about politics, the culture wars. My only interest is to get people to care about Darfurs and Rwandas.”
Helene Gayle, the head of CARE, said evangelicals “have made some incredible contributions” in the struggle against global poverty. “We don’t give them credit for the changes they’ve made,” she added. Fred Krupp, the president of Environmental Defense, said, “Many evangelical leaders have been key to taking the climate issue across the cultural divide.”
It’s certainly fair to criticize Catholic leaders and other conservative Christians for their hostility toward condoms, a policy that has gravely undermined the fight against AIDS in Africa. But while robust criticism is fair, scorn is not.
In parts of Africa where bandits and warlords shoot or rape anything that moves, you often find that the only groups still operating are Doctors Without Borders and religious aid workers: crazy doctors and crazy Christians. In the town of Rutshuru in war-ravaged Congo, I found starving children, raped widows and shellshocked survivors. And there was a determined Catholic nun from Poland, serenely running a church clinic.
Unlike the religious right windbags, she was passionately “pro-life” even for those already born — and brave souls like her are increasingly representative of religious conservatives. We can disagree sharply with their politics, but to mock them underscores our own ignorance and prejudice.
I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground. On the blog, you can also see readers setting me straight about previous columns and read posts from guest bloggers, including a Chicago teacher, Will Okun, and an aid worker in Bangladesh, Nicki Bennett.
Op-Ed Columnist
Evangelicals a Liberal Can Love
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
At a New York or Los Angeles cocktail party, few would dare make a pejorative comment about Barack Obama’s race or Hillary Clinton’s sex. Yet it would be easy to get away with deriding Mike Huckabee’s religious faith.
Liberals believe deeply in tolerance and over the last century have led the battles against prejudices of all kinds, but we have a blind spot about Christian evangelicals. They constitute one of the few minorities that, on the American coasts or university campuses, it remains fashionable to mock.
Scorning people for their faith is intrinsically repugnant, and in this case it also betrays a profound misunderstanding of how far evangelicals have moved over the last decade. Today, conservative Christian churches do superb work on poverty, AIDS, sex trafficking, climate change, prison abuses, malaria and genocide in Darfur.
Bleeding-heart liberals could accomplish far more if they reached out to build common cause with bleeding-heart conservatives. And the Democratic presidential candidate (particularly if it’s Mr. Obama, to whom evangelicals have been startlingly receptive) has a real chance this year of winning large numbers of evangelical voters.
“Evangelicals are going to vote this year in part on climate change, on Darfur, on poverty,” said Jim Wallis, the author of a new book, “The Great Awakening,” which argues that the age of the religious right has passed and that issues of social justice are rising to the top of the agenda. Mr. Wallis says that about half of white evangelical votes will be in play this year.
A recent CBS News poll found that the single issue that white evangelicals most believed they should be involved in was fighting poverty. The traditional issue of abortion was a distant second, and genocide was third.
Look, I don’t agree with evangelicals on theology or on their typically conservative views on taxes, health care or Iraq. Self-righteous zealots like Pat Robertson have been a plague upon our country, and their initial smugness about AIDS (which Jerry Falwell described as “God’s judgment against promiscuity”) constituted far grosser immorality than anything that ever happened in a bathhouse. Moralizing blowhards showed more compassion for embryonic stem cells than for the poor or the sick, and as recently as the 1990s, evangelicals were mostly a constituency against foreign aid.
Yet that has turned almost 180 degrees. Today, many evangelicals are powerful internationalists and humanitarians — and liberals haven’t awakened to the transformation. The new face of evangelicals is somebody like the Rev. Rick Warren, the California pastor who wrote “The Purpose Driven Life.”
Mr. Warren acknowledges that for most of his life he wasn’t much concerned with issues of poverty or disease. But on a visit to South Africa in 2003, he came across a tiny church operating from a dilapidated tent — yet sheltering 25 children orphaned by AIDS.
“I realized they were doing more for the poor than my entire megachurch,” Mr. Warren said, with cheerful exaggeration. “It was like a knife in the heart.” So Mr. Warren mobilized his vast Saddleback Church to fight AIDS, malaria and poverty in 68 countries. Since then, more than 7,500 members of his church have paid their own way to volunteer in poor countries — and once they see the poverty, they immediately want to do more.
“Almost all of my work is in the third world,” Mr. Warren said. “I couldn’t care less about politics, the culture wars. My only interest is to get people to care about Darfurs and Rwandas.”
Helene Gayle, the head of CARE, said evangelicals “have made some incredible contributions” in the struggle against global poverty. “We don’t give them credit for the changes they’ve made,” she added. Fred Krupp, the president of Environmental Defense, said, “Many evangelical leaders have been key to taking the climate issue across the cultural divide.”
It’s certainly fair to criticize Catholic leaders and other conservative Christians for their hostility toward condoms, a policy that has gravely undermined the fight against AIDS in Africa. But while robust criticism is fair, scorn is not.
In parts of Africa where bandits and warlords shoot or rape anything that moves, you often find that the only groups still operating are Doctors Without Borders and religious aid workers: crazy doctors and crazy Christians. In the town of Rutshuru in war-ravaged Congo, I found starving children, raped widows and shellshocked survivors. And there was a determined Catholic nun from Poland, serenely running a church clinic.
Unlike the religious right windbags, she was passionately “pro-life” even for those already born — and brave souls like her are increasingly representative of religious conservatives. We can disagree sharply with their politics, but to mock them underscores our own ignorance and prejudice.
I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground. On the blog, you can also see readers setting me straight about previous columns and read posts from guest bloggers, including a Chicago teacher, Will Okun, and an aid worker in Bangladesh, Nicki Bennett.
March 3, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
Trials of the Saints
By JAMES MARTIN
LAST month, while Americans celebrated the feast days of two secular saints, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the Vatican issued a surprising new directive calling for greater rigor in its own saint-making process. Published by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the 45-page document called for “strict adherence” to existing rules, in response to some concerns that the canonization procedures had been watered down over the last two decades.
Such criticisms are only half correct: the Vatican’s rules are actually far more rigorous than many may suspect. Still, the church could increase its credibility even further in this department with a few additional benchmarks.
During his long pontificate, Pope John Paul II beatified 1,340 people and canonized almost 500 — more than all his predecessors combined since the current procedures were introduced in 1588. John Paul also waived the traditional five-year waiting period required before the process, or “cause,” could begin for Mother Teresa, who died in 1997.
The Vatican’s new document says that some procedures had become “problematic.” As a result, local bishops are now instructed to exercise “greater sobriety and rigor” in determining which saints-to-be they send for approval to Rome. Candidates should not be promoted by small interest groups; rather, their reputation for holiness must be “spontaneous and not artificially procured.” Officials vetting the cases must be impartial, and not omit negative aspects of a person’s life. And the examination of the miracles required for canonization must make use of “all clinical and technical means.”
While Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul may already be saints in the public mind, for example, the Vatican takes a longer view. Canonization has long been an arduous procedure, which includes gathering evidence for a life of heroic sanctity, interviewing contemporaries and examining a person’s writings for any hint of unorthodoxy. One medically certifiable miracle is required for beatification (when the person is declared “blessed”), and one more for canonization. Only then will the pope declare a person a saint and worthy of “public veneration.”
Even the standard for verifying miracles, arguably the aspect of the process that causes the most eye-rolling among agnostics and atheists, is famously strict. The Congregation draws on teams of doctors (not all of them Catholic) who assiduously rule out any other cause for a healing. Typically, the person cured will have prayed for the saint’s intercession. Any miracle must be instantaneous, permanent and medically verifiable. Those “cured” cannot simply have improved, cannot relapse and cannot have sought medical care (or at least must have given it up well before the miracle). Consequently, the verification process can take decades, as doctors monitor the stricken person’s progress.
Vatican standards for miracles are high not simply because the church is seeking irrefutable evidence of divine intervention, but because the church has much to lose if a miracle is later debunked. The Oxford historian Ruth Harris, for example, uncovered evidence of several early “healings” at the French shrine of Lourdes that were widely held to be miracles by the local populace, but which were rejected by exacting church officials worried about a rush to judgment.
The Vatican understands that any canonization procedures that seem rushed, biased or faulty would invite not only public derision, but also the suspicion of the faithful today and in centuries to come. Any whiff of fast-tracking could decrease respect for a new saint. That may be one reason Pope Benedict XVI did not accede to the wishes of the crowds at John Paul’s funeral in April 2005, who loudly called for “Santo subito!” — “Sainthood now!” Benedict’s implicit response was, “Not yet.”
But to combat ingrained and increasing skepticism, the church could go even further. First, officials could resolve that they will continue to adhere to the five-year waiting period, no matter how popular the candidate might be at death. Second, while the desire to recognize sanctity across the globe is laudable and serves as a reminder that holiness knows no boundaries, the church could avoid bumping up someone in line because the person hails from a country with relatively few saints.
Finally, the church could avoid favoring (or disfavoring) candidates out of any political implications. Archbishop Óscar Romero of San Salvador, who was murdered while celebrating mass in 1980 and who spoke out in defense of the embattled poor, seems to fit the classic definition of a martyr. Yet for many years his cause seemed to have stalled, probably because of his affinity for left-leaning “liberation theology,” which is highly unpopular in Rome.
Catholics should welcome the Vatican’s insistence on increased rigor in its saint-making guidelines. The redoubled commitment to an impartial judging of a saint’s life demonstrates that the church does not “create” saints as much as it simply recognizes them. Likewise, its renewed reminders that, for the church, miracles are serious scientific business, may make it more difficult for agnostics and atheists to disbelieve.
And easier for believers to believe.
James Martin is a Jesuit priest and the author of “My Life With the Saints.”
Op-Ed Contributor
Trials of the Saints
By JAMES MARTIN
LAST month, while Americans celebrated the feast days of two secular saints, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the Vatican issued a surprising new directive calling for greater rigor in its own saint-making process. Published by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the 45-page document called for “strict adherence” to existing rules, in response to some concerns that the canonization procedures had been watered down over the last two decades.
Such criticisms are only half correct: the Vatican’s rules are actually far more rigorous than many may suspect. Still, the church could increase its credibility even further in this department with a few additional benchmarks.
During his long pontificate, Pope John Paul II beatified 1,340 people and canonized almost 500 — more than all his predecessors combined since the current procedures were introduced in 1588. John Paul also waived the traditional five-year waiting period required before the process, or “cause,” could begin for Mother Teresa, who died in 1997.
The Vatican’s new document says that some procedures had become “problematic.” As a result, local bishops are now instructed to exercise “greater sobriety and rigor” in determining which saints-to-be they send for approval to Rome. Candidates should not be promoted by small interest groups; rather, their reputation for holiness must be “spontaneous and not artificially procured.” Officials vetting the cases must be impartial, and not omit negative aspects of a person’s life. And the examination of the miracles required for canonization must make use of “all clinical and technical means.”
While Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul may already be saints in the public mind, for example, the Vatican takes a longer view. Canonization has long been an arduous procedure, which includes gathering evidence for a life of heroic sanctity, interviewing contemporaries and examining a person’s writings for any hint of unorthodoxy. One medically certifiable miracle is required for beatification (when the person is declared “blessed”), and one more for canonization. Only then will the pope declare a person a saint and worthy of “public veneration.”
Even the standard for verifying miracles, arguably the aspect of the process that causes the most eye-rolling among agnostics and atheists, is famously strict. The Congregation draws on teams of doctors (not all of them Catholic) who assiduously rule out any other cause for a healing. Typically, the person cured will have prayed for the saint’s intercession. Any miracle must be instantaneous, permanent and medically verifiable. Those “cured” cannot simply have improved, cannot relapse and cannot have sought medical care (or at least must have given it up well before the miracle). Consequently, the verification process can take decades, as doctors monitor the stricken person’s progress.
Vatican standards for miracles are high not simply because the church is seeking irrefutable evidence of divine intervention, but because the church has much to lose if a miracle is later debunked. The Oxford historian Ruth Harris, for example, uncovered evidence of several early “healings” at the French shrine of Lourdes that were widely held to be miracles by the local populace, but which were rejected by exacting church officials worried about a rush to judgment.
The Vatican understands that any canonization procedures that seem rushed, biased or faulty would invite not only public derision, but also the suspicion of the faithful today and in centuries to come. Any whiff of fast-tracking could decrease respect for a new saint. That may be one reason Pope Benedict XVI did not accede to the wishes of the crowds at John Paul’s funeral in April 2005, who loudly called for “Santo subito!” — “Sainthood now!” Benedict’s implicit response was, “Not yet.”
But to combat ingrained and increasing skepticism, the church could go even further. First, officials could resolve that they will continue to adhere to the five-year waiting period, no matter how popular the candidate might be at death. Second, while the desire to recognize sanctity across the globe is laudable and serves as a reminder that holiness knows no boundaries, the church could avoid bumping up someone in line because the person hails from a country with relatively few saints.
Finally, the church could avoid favoring (or disfavoring) candidates out of any political implications. Archbishop Óscar Romero of San Salvador, who was murdered while celebrating mass in 1980 and who spoke out in defense of the embattled poor, seems to fit the classic definition of a martyr. Yet for many years his cause seemed to have stalled, probably because of his affinity for left-leaning “liberation theology,” which is highly unpopular in Rome.
Catholics should welcome the Vatican’s insistence on increased rigor in its saint-making guidelines. The redoubled commitment to an impartial judging of a saint’s life demonstrates that the church does not “create” saints as much as it simply recognizes them. Likewise, its renewed reminders that, for the church, miracles are serious scientific business, may make it more difficult for agnostics and atheists to disbelieve.
And easier for believers to believe.
James Martin is a Jesuit priest and the author of “My Life With the Saints.”
Evangelicals shift toward mainstream concerns
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, March 08, 2008
It may be time for liberals to take an evangelical to lunch.
There are signs the table talk would no longer be dominated by clashes over abortion, homosexuality and the leadership of Stephen Harper and George W. Bush.
Recent trends suggest evangelicals -- who are key to the U.S. presidential race and influential in Canadian politics -- are becoming less single-minded and more drawn to issues once pressed by liberals.
In the U.S., polls show many white evangelicals are growing almost as disillusioned with Bush as other Americans, feeling he has embarrassed them on politlcal ethics and the environment.
A 2008 lunchtime chat with American evangelicals would now find many more interested in the economy, the environment and poverty than the perennial wedge issues of abortion and same-sex marriage.
White evangelicals, who make up one out of four Americans and once steadfastly supported the Republicans, have always been more aggressive than Canadian evangelicals, who comprise less than 10 per cent of the Great White North.
But one of the signs of changing winds came last fall when a CBS News poll found U.S. white evangelicals were starting to rank poverty and health care as the nation's most important issues.
A Beliefnet poll followed, with 85 per cent of white evangelicals naming the economy and "cleaning up government" as very important issues. That compared to just 61 per cent who highlighted ending abortion and 49 per cent who felt it most crucial to "stop gay marriage."
In his new book, The Great Awakening, progressive evangelical Jim Wallis maintains the age of the Religious Right has passed and social justice issues now top the evangelical agenda.
For instance, big-name evangelical leader Rick Warren, author of the multimillion-selling A Purpose Driven Life, is these days devoting his considerable power to helping the poor of Africa.
Warren is also one of many young evangelical leaders who have clashed with hard-liners such as James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, choosing to emphasize protecting the environment over abortion.
At the same time, polls suggest evangelical support for the Republicans has waned. Forty-one per cent of white evangelicals, according to Beliefnet, continue to declare themselves Republican -- but 30 per cent now say they're Democrats.
And the respected Pew Research Center found, even though in 2002 almost nine out of 10 white evangelicals under age 30 supported Bush, their approval rate has plummeted to 42 per cent (though it's still above Bush's poor overall approval rating of 33 per cent).
Why are many evangelicals shifting?
Part of it has to do with the Bush legacy, which has Americans facing a recession, high gas prices, a quagmire in Iraq and sex and ethics scandals involving prominent Republican politicians and top evangelical leaders.
There are also larger global trends at work -- including religious pluralism.
Even though many old-line U.S. evangelicals still foster the delusion that their country can and must become a "Christian" country, more evangelicals are accepting that people of different worldviews have to learn to live side by side.
A February Pew poll showed white evangelicals are not growing in the U.S., while the non-religious are. Meanwhile, liberal white mainline Protestants, liberal black Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Muslims remain significant in size.
The most intriguing Pew poll finding was that 44 per cent of Americans have changed their religion; suggesting Americans may be enthusiastic about faith, but not that loyal to any leader.
Lest, however, any bleeding-hearts become overly optimistic about the changing face of evangelicalism, there are cautions. Even though stalwarts like Dobson have previously denounced Republican presidential candidate John McCain, the Arizona senator this week was endorsed by a more militant evangelical, John Hagee.
Hagee is an anti-Catholic televangelist who refers to the Vatican as "the Great Whore." He welcomes a Christian war with Islam that will usher in the cataclysmic Last Judgment.
Hagee also has a Canadian connection: He works with Charles McVety, head of Canada's Family Action Coalition, who last week claimed to be the one who convinced Harper's Conservative government to stop funding films that had too much sex and violence.
And just in case liberals begin thinking their lunches with evangelicals will be utterly devoid of controversy, they might also remember that before the 2000 U.S. election most American evangelicals did not much like Bush.
But Bush groomed himself as the born-again candidate by appearing on numerous stages with evangelical leaders (as McCain has started to do) -- thus winning enough evangelicals to snag that contentious election from Al Gore.
The rest is history. Bon appetit.
To reach Douglas Todd, go to: www.vancouversun.com/thesearch
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, March 08, 2008
It may be time for liberals to take an evangelical to lunch.
There are signs the table talk would no longer be dominated by clashes over abortion, homosexuality and the leadership of Stephen Harper and George W. Bush.
Recent trends suggest evangelicals -- who are key to the U.S. presidential race and influential in Canadian politics -- are becoming less single-minded and more drawn to issues once pressed by liberals.
In the U.S., polls show many white evangelicals are growing almost as disillusioned with Bush as other Americans, feeling he has embarrassed them on politlcal ethics and the environment.
A 2008 lunchtime chat with American evangelicals would now find many more interested in the economy, the environment and poverty than the perennial wedge issues of abortion and same-sex marriage.
White evangelicals, who make up one out of four Americans and once steadfastly supported the Republicans, have always been more aggressive than Canadian evangelicals, who comprise less than 10 per cent of the Great White North.
But one of the signs of changing winds came last fall when a CBS News poll found U.S. white evangelicals were starting to rank poverty and health care as the nation's most important issues.
A Beliefnet poll followed, with 85 per cent of white evangelicals naming the economy and "cleaning up government" as very important issues. That compared to just 61 per cent who highlighted ending abortion and 49 per cent who felt it most crucial to "stop gay marriage."
In his new book, The Great Awakening, progressive evangelical Jim Wallis maintains the age of the Religious Right has passed and social justice issues now top the evangelical agenda.
For instance, big-name evangelical leader Rick Warren, author of the multimillion-selling A Purpose Driven Life, is these days devoting his considerable power to helping the poor of Africa.
Warren is also one of many young evangelical leaders who have clashed with hard-liners such as James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, choosing to emphasize protecting the environment over abortion.
At the same time, polls suggest evangelical support for the Republicans has waned. Forty-one per cent of white evangelicals, according to Beliefnet, continue to declare themselves Republican -- but 30 per cent now say they're Democrats.
And the respected Pew Research Center found, even though in 2002 almost nine out of 10 white evangelicals under age 30 supported Bush, their approval rate has plummeted to 42 per cent (though it's still above Bush's poor overall approval rating of 33 per cent).
Why are many evangelicals shifting?
Part of it has to do with the Bush legacy, which has Americans facing a recession, high gas prices, a quagmire in Iraq and sex and ethics scandals involving prominent Republican politicians and top evangelical leaders.
There are also larger global trends at work -- including religious pluralism.
Even though many old-line U.S. evangelicals still foster the delusion that their country can and must become a "Christian" country, more evangelicals are accepting that people of different worldviews have to learn to live side by side.
A February Pew poll showed white evangelicals are not growing in the U.S., while the non-religious are. Meanwhile, liberal white mainline Protestants, liberal black Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Muslims remain significant in size.
The most intriguing Pew poll finding was that 44 per cent of Americans have changed their religion; suggesting Americans may be enthusiastic about faith, but not that loyal to any leader.
Lest, however, any bleeding-hearts become overly optimistic about the changing face of evangelicalism, there are cautions. Even though stalwarts like Dobson have previously denounced Republican presidential candidate John McCain, the Arizona senator this week was endorsed by a more militant evangelical, John Hagee.
Hagee is an anti-Catholic televangelist who refers to the Vatican as "the Great Whore." He welcomes a Christian war with Islam that will usher in the cataclysmic Last Judgment.
Hagee also has a Canadian connection: He works with Charles McVety, head of Canada's Family Action Coalition, who last week claimed to be the one who convinced Harper's Conservative government to stop funding films that had too much sex and violence.
And just in case liberals begin thinking their lunches with evangelicals will be utterly devoid of controversy, they might also remember that before the 2000 U.S. election most American evangelicals did not much like Bush.
But Bush groomed himself as the born-again candidate by appearing on numerous stages with evangelical leaders (as McCain has started to do) -- thus winning enough evangelicals to snag that contentious election from Al Gore.
The rest is history. Bon appetit.
To reach Douglas Todd, go to: www.vancouversun.com/thesearch
QATAR: A church cross rises in the Persian Gulf
Muslims in the Middle East have been criticized for insisting on religious freedom in the West while refusing to grant it in their own countries. But a reform-minded leader of the kingdom of Qatar is trying to change that perception.
Thanks to a 2005 decision by Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Catholics recently completed construction of a church in Doha, Qatar’s capital. It's the first church in the Persian Gulf state since the 7th century arrival of Islam.
This is controversial. The majority of Qatar’s citizens belong to the puritanical Wahhabi school of Islam that inspires Osama bin Laden and is prevalent in Saudi Arabia as well.
And, of course, the construction of St. Mary’s Church has stirred up debate among the peninsula’s Muslims.
On the one hand, conservatives cite a saying attributed to the prophet Mohammed that reads: "There shall be no two religions in the Arabian Peninsula."
Indeed, some made harsh comments about the church, which is set to be inaugurated this weekend. "The cross should not be raised in the sky of Qatar, nor should bells toll in Doha,” wrote columnist Lahdan Bin Eisa Al Muhanadi in the Doha-based daily Al Arab.
But the church is not without its supporters, even among Qatar’s religious experts. "Places of worship for various religions are a fundamental human right guaranteed by Islam," Abdul Hamid Ansari, the former dean of the Islamic law college at Qatar University, told Agence France-Presse.
The church has also sparked hot debates on blogs. On the blog of Radio Netherlands, one commentator, who said he was from the U.S., praised the decision:
This makes me feel proud to be a Muslim. Freedom of religion. This is what Islam is about.
The $7-million church will provide a place of worship for those who have been practicing their faith mostly at home. The complex will include conference facilities, living accommodations, a library and a cafe.
As in other oil-rich Gulf States, migrants and guest workers make up most of Qatar’s population. According to the U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report of 2006, the majority of these workers are Christians coming from different parts of the world.
Its population is an estimated 900,000, of whom approximately 200,000 are believed to be citizens.... The Christian community is composed of Indians, Sri Lankans, Filipinos, Africans, Europeans, Arabs and Americans. It includes Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, Anglican and other Protestant denominations.
The church will welcome worshipers in time for Easter Sunday services March 23.
— Davigh Karamanoukian in Beirut
Photo: The first church in Doha, Qatar, has sparked a debate in the tiny, oil-rich gulf state. It's set to open in time for Easter. Credit: AFP / STR
Muslims in the Middle East have been criticized for insisting on religious freedom in the West while refusing to grant it in their own countries. But a reform-minded leader of the kingdom of Qatar is trying to change that perception.
Thanks to a 2005 decision by Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Catholics recently completed construction of a church in Doha, Qatar’s capital. It's the first church in the Persian Gulf state since the 7th century arrival of Islam.
This is controversial. The majority of Qatar’s citizens belong to the puritanical Wahhabi school of Islam that inspires Osama bin Laden and is prevalent in Saudi Arabia as well.
And, of course, the construction of St. Mary’s Church has stirred up debate among the peninsula’s Muslims.
On the one hand, conservatives cite a saying attributed to the prophet Mohammed that reads: "There shall be no two religions in the Arabian Peninsula."
Indeed, some made harsh comments about the church, which is set to be inaugurated this weekend. "The cross should not be raised in the sky of Qatar, nor should bells toll in Doha,” wrote columnist Lahdan Bin Eisa Al Muhanadi in the Doha-based daily Al Arab.
But the church is not without its supporters, even among Qatar’s religious experts. "Places of worship for various religions are a fundamental human right guaranteed by Islam," Abdul Hamid Ansari, the former dean of the Islamic law college at Qatar University, told Agence France-Presse.
The church has also sparked hot debates on blogs. On the blog of Radio Netherlands, one commentator, who said he was from the U.S., praised the decision:
This makes me feel proud to be a Muslim. Freedom of religion. This is what Islam is about.
The $7-million church will provide a place of worship for those who have been practicing their faith mostly at home. The complex will include conference facilities, living accommodations, a library and a cafe.
As in other oil-rich Gulf States, migrants and guest workers make up most of Qatar’s population. According to the U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report of 2006, the majority of these workers are Christians coming from different parts of the world.
Its population is an estimated 900,000, of whom approximately 200,000 are believed to be citizens.... The Christian community is composed of Indians, Sri Lankans, Filipinos, Africans, Europeans, Arabs and Americans. It includes Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, Anglican and other Protestant denominations.
The church will welcome worshipers in time for Easter Sunday services March 23.
— Davigh Karamanoukian in Beirut
Photo: The first church in Doha, Qatar, has sparked a debate in the tiny, oil-rich gulf state. It's set to open in time for Easter. Credit: AFP / STR
A poignant and striking reflection of the Easter occasion! One can find many parallels in our history.
Easter's spark of hope shines brightest in abject darkness
Nigel Hannaford
Calgary Herald
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Light seems to shine brighter as the darkness gathers. Perhaps it's not so surprising, then, that the horror of Auschwitz is here and there illuminated by a brilliance of human goodness that continues to astonish, 63 years after the concentration camp was evacuated and abandoned to advancing Soviet forces.
But where could such a spark come from, as the tale of camp inmate Father Maximilian Kolbe? It is worth retelling not only to celebrate his courage, but at this time of the year for the sake of the parallels it supplies to what Christ accomplished through His Easter death and resurrection.
It was 1941, less than a year after the Nazi forces occupying Poland had established the Auschwitz camp to hold political prisoners,(and before it achieved lasting infamy as a death camp). Kolbe, then 47, was an overachiever, and passionately committed to the work of the Roman Catholic Church. He had already accomplished more in 20 years than most people could in three lifetimes, having founded a friary near Warsaw, another in Japan and a radio station. He started a periodical in which he inveighed mightily against Communism, Zionism, capitalism and the Freemasons, and promoted the Virgin Mary.
And he was also a keen ham radio operator.
The friary near Warsaw was a large affair, and by the time the war broke out in 1939 was home to more than 700 friars. It was here that Kolbe's defiance of the Nazis led to his arrest, and ultimately his death.
As the Gestapo, the much feared German secret police, widened its dragnet for Poles likely to resist the occupation, Kolbe began hiding those who sought sanctuary there. Ultimately, he gave shelter to more than 3,000 people, including 2,000 Jews. Meanwhile, he used his radio to get word of conditions under the occupation to the outside world.
Not surprisingly, he was arrested and in May 1941 arrived at Auschwitz. Now, he had just weeks to live.
Like other inmates, he was put to work. But he also began a priestly ministry to those around him, hearing confession and doing what he could to console them, urging them to pray for those who ill-used them, and preaching -- even in these grim surroundings -- the gospel of love, forgiveness and reconciliation.
Doubtless, the words sounded as empty to some, as had the same message centuries before to those who would send Christ to the cross.
However, just as Christ's willingness to die to give the humanity He loved a way to reconcile with God, so Kolbe's words would be forever vindicated when he, too, laid down his life.
In July 1941, a prisoner escaped from the barracks where Kolbe slept. To deter other attempts, the camp deputy commandant -- Karl Fritsch --
ordered 10 randomly chosen men to be locked in a room and starved to death.
In the course of this ghastly lottery, a former Polish officer, Franciszek Gajowniczek, was chosen for death. Hearing him cry out in anguish over the prospects for his wife and children, Kolbe stepped forward and volunteered to take his place. Apparently to the surprise of those in the room, Fritsch accepted his offer, and spared Gajowniczek.
All 10 died, Kolbe lasting three weeks before being killed by lethal injection.
It would be pleasing to record an immense flowering of good from all this, but rather as nature abhors a straight line, so it also avoids cliches.
Gajowniczek did survive the war, but his children did not, killed in the Soviet sweep west. (He also endured much calumny from other prisoners at Auschwitz who held him
responsible for Kolbe's death.) The man whose escape attempt precipitated all this
didn't make it, drowning inside the wire in a latrine. Fritsch was posted east and is presumed to have died in action against the Soviets in 1945.
Kolbe was declared a saint, in 1982.
Most of us could imagine a better end to this story, perhaps one where Fritsch was denied an honourable death and Kolbe, by some ingenious Hollywood scripting, lived to baptize the first of Gajowniczek's herd of great-grandchildren. But we live in a real world where sometimes evil triumphs -- for a while -- and in any case, makes trouble our companion for life.
More than anything, we treasure that which gives us hope.
Let us speak, then, of Christ, Kolbe and Easter.
Christ said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Kolbe demonstrated this greater love, dying horribly, and a man's mortal life was saved.
Not long after the God-Man Christ uttered those words however, He, too, showed this greater love by letting His enemies kill Him, horribly. Thus, in a mystery that draws heavily on the old Jewish practice of sacrificing animals to symbolize blood cleansing repentant man of the burden of his wrongdoing, He became the means through which spiritual lives have been saved.
Life is eternal. The only question is where we will spend it.
Billions of people, having renounced their rebellion against God, affirmed Christ
is His son, and believing God literally raised Him from the dead, believe God will also gather them to Himself for an eternity of joyful fellowship. It is their hope. (And mine.)
It was Kolbe's hope also. And that, I believe, is the spark that gave him the confidence to emulate Christ in one of death's darkest vales, by giving his life for that of another and thus illustrating the message of love inherent in Good Friday. That Kolbe received his eternal reward and conquered death -- as Christ did when He was resurrected three days after his crucifixion -- is the message of joy inherent in Easter.
[email protected]
© The Calgary Herald 2008
Easter's spark of hope shines brightest in abject darkness
Nigel Hannaford
Calgary Herald
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Light seems to shine brighter as the darkness gathers. Perhaps it's not so surprising, then, that the horror of Auschwitz is here and there illuminated by a brilliance of human goodness that continues to astonish, 63 years after the concentration camp was evacuated and abandoned to advancing Soviet forces.
But where could such a spark come from, as the tale of camp inmate Father Maximilian Kolbe? It is worth retelling not only to celebrate his courage, but at this time of the year for the sake of the parallels it supplies to what Christ accomplished through His Easter death and resurrection.
It was 1941, less than a year after the Nazi forces occupying Poland had established the Auschwitz camp to hold political prisoners,(and before it achieved lasting infamy as a death camp). Kolbe, then 47, was an overachiever, and passionately committed to the work of the Roman Catholic Church. He had already accomplished more in 20 years than most people could in three lifetimes, having founded a friary near Warsaw, another in Japan and a radio station. He started a periodical in which he inveighed mightily against Communism, Zionism, capitalism and the Freemasons, and promoted the Virgin Mary.
And he was also a keen ham radio operator.
The friary near Warsaw was a large affair, and by the time the war broke out in 1939 was home to more than 700 friars. It was here that Kolbe's defiance of the Nazis led to his arrest, and ultimately his death.
As the Gestapo, the much feared German secret police, widened its dragnet for Poles likely to resist the occupation, Kolbe began hiding those who sought sanctuary there. Ultimately, he gave shelter to more than 3,000 people, including 2,000 Jews. Meanwhile, he used his radio to get word of conditions under the occupation to the outside world.
Not surprisingly, he was arrested and in May 1941 arrived at Auschwitz. Now, he had just weeks to live.
Like other inmates, he was put to work. But he also began a priestly ministry to those around him, hearing confession and doing what he could to console them, urging them to pray for those who ill-used them, and preaching -- even in these grim surroundings -- the gospel of love, forgiveness and reconciliation.
Doubtless, the words sounded as empty to some, as had the same message centuries before to those who would send Christ to the cross.
However, just as Christ's willingness to die to give the humanity He loved a way to reconcile with God, so Kolbe's words would be forever vindicated when he, too, laid down his life.
In July 1941, a prisoner escaped from the barracks where Kolbe slept. To deter other attempts, the camp deputy commandant -- Karl Fritsch --
ordered 10 randomly chosen men to be locked in a room and starved to death.
In the course of this ghastly lottery, a former Polish officer, Franciszek Gajowniczek, was chosen for death. Hearing him cry out in anguish over the prospects for his wife and children, Kolbe stepped forward and volunteered to take his place. Apparently to the surprise of those in the room, Fritsch accepted his offer, and spared Gajowniczek.
All 10 died, Kolbe lasting three weeks before being killed by lethal injection.
It would be pleasing to record an immense flowering of good from all this, but rather as nature abhors a straight line, so it also avoids cliches.
Gajowniczek did survive the war, but his children did not, killed in the Soviet sweep west. (He also endured much calumny from other prisoners at Auschwitz who held him
responsible for Kolbe's death.) The man whose escape attempt precipitated all this
didn't make it, drowning inside the wire in a latrine. Fritsch was posted east and is presumed to have died in action against the Soviets in 1945.
Kolbe was declared a saint, in 1982.
Most of us could imagine a better end to this story, perhaps one where Fritsch was denied an honourable death and Kolbe, by some ingenious Hollywood scripting, lived to baptize the first of Gajowniczek's herd of great-grandchildren. But we live in a real world where sometimes evil triumphs -- for a while -- and in any case, makes trouble our companion for life.
More than anything, we treasure that which gives us hope.
Let us speak, then, of Christ, Kolbe and Easter.
Christ said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Kolbe demonstrated this greater love, dying horribly, and a man's mortal life was saved.
Not long after the God-Man Christ uttered those words however, He, too, showed this greater love by letting His enemies kill Him, horribly. Thus, in a mystery that draws heavily on the old Jewish practice of sacrificing animals to symbolize blood cleansing repentant man of the burden of his wrongdoing, He became the means through which spiritual lives have been saved.
Life is eternal. The only question is where we will spend it.
Billions of people, having renounced their rebellion against God, affirmed Christ
is His son, and believing God literally raised Him from the dead, believe God will also gather them to Himself for an eternity of joyful fellowship. It is their hope. (And mine.)
It was Kolbe's hope also. And that, I believe, is the spark that gave him the confidence to emulate Christ in one of death's darkest vales, by giving his life for that of another and thus illustrating the message of love inherent in Good Friday. That Kolbe received his eternal reward and conquered death -- as Christ did when He was resurrected three days after his crucifixion -- is the message of joy inherent in Easter.
[email protected]
© The Calgary Herald 2008