The Politics of Christianity: A Talk With Elaine Pagels

[OneBlueSky]

interesting discussion by the author of The Gnostic Gospels and one of the first three McArthur Award recipients . . .

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pagels03/pagels_index.html

(snip)

The kind of Christianity that pervades the religious right in this country divides the world between the saved and the damned, between God's people and Satan's people, between good and evil. We have all seen how this is played out in our politics. I used to think that President Bush was using this language as a political ploy. I still think he is, but I also think—to my disappointment—that he also believes it. His conviction that he is God's chosen one to "rid the world of evildoers" blinds him to the evil that he—and we, as Americans—are capable of doing. The conviction that we are on the side of good—of God—is, however, an ancient one—enormously powerful.

Christians invoking terms such as "evil-doers" read the bible, as anyone does, selectively. They choose the parts they like and they leave out the parts they don't. In this case the parts they like are the parts about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, that is—and a life for a life. If someone's taken a life, then their life is required. And that's certainly a biblical tenet. Of course, it's from the Old Testament. You don't hear much about forgiveness and turning the other cheek from our President and his administration. The Old Testament is what they choose for this occasion because it suits their purpose.

(snip)

I'm concerned about our country, because one can see how appeals to religion, like those that are currently being made by the religious right, can work in a democracy to subvert all of the values to which they give lip service. It worked brilliantly with the Roman Empire. Beliefs are overrated in Christianity. Religious traditions have to do with a lot more than beliefs.

While the Constitution does protect religious freedom of worship, it's supposed to protect secularism.

- more . . .

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pagels03/pagels_index.html

[glitch]

1. Excellent! Thanks for posting. nt

[enough]

2. He'd rather be Messiah.

from the article:

snip>

The end result, she notes, is that "one can see how appeals to religion, like those that are currently being made by the religious right, can work in a democracy to subvert all of the values to which they give lip service. It worked brilliantly with the Roman Empire. Beliefs are overrated in Christianity. Religious traditions have to do with a lot more than beliefs."

As far as Bush's war to save the world from evil, she points out that as "president, not Messiah, he has a humbler, more human-sized task—and a great one: to uphold the Constitution and to serve and protect our people. The founding fathers of this nation, most of them Christians who were painfully aware of the horrors enflamed by religious wars, wrote into our Constitution a clear separation of the federal government from religion—including their own."

snip>




Unfortunately, Bush has no interest in nor ability to perform that "great" task of upholding the constitution and protecting the people. He much prefers the role of god's representative, where he doesn't have to think, since whatever he does is God's will.

Thanks for posting, very interesting.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

3. Excellent interview - thanks for posting

I'm no longer a Christian but I remain a big fan of Elaine Pagels.

[H2O Man]

4. Her newest book "Beyond Belief:

the Secret Gospel of Thomas" is a fascinating read. I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in her earlier works.

[bobbieinok]

5. also at this site

....

But the discoveries show very different versions of Jesus' message—some coming from our earliest sources. Now we can see that the author of the Gospel of John was writing to refute other, earlier teachings that he regarded as threatening—and wrong—like the teaching found in the Gospel of Thomas. For this gospel, which John discredits by labeling the disciple Thomas as "doubting Thomas," declares that just as Jesus comes from God, so does every person—since everyone is created "in the image of God." Instead of saying that one must believe in Jesus and be saved, Thomas has Jesus urge his disciples to seek for God within themselves—and assures them that everyone can find the divine source from which all beings, and, indeed, everything that exists, comes forth.

This gospel, then, and many others in the same find, suggest a kind of egalitarian, "do it yourself" Christianity, which bishops like Irenaeus decided was antithetical to his project of building a single, authoritative, "catholic church," outside of which, he insisted, "there is no salvation." And after Christianity became the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire, the emperor endorsed the bishops' authority, along with the first official creed—the "Nicene creed," hammered out at a meeting of bishops convened by Constantine—and the books in the New Testament canon as the sole authority for divine truth.

You can see why conservative Christians, to this day, always go back to John's gospel to "prove" that only their religion—and only their version of it—is valid. The Rev. Weldon Gaddy, who heads a coalition of religious groups on Capitol Hill in Washington, told me that conservative Christians, whatever their denomination, from Baptists to Catholics—are always quoting to him from John's Gospel. For example, they love a saying from the fourteenth chapter:"Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, except through me:" this "proves" that every other religion—and every other form of Christianity—is worthless.

Even today, then, conservative Christians base their convictions on the belief that the Bible is God's word; it is immutable; it is actually what God himself said and what God meant to say. And of course they know exactly what it means. For many of them, there's no need to think about it—much less allow for interpretation—since its meaning is obvious and simple.

That kind of belief rests on the conviction that Christianity has never changed—it is the same simple message that Jesus and all his disciples taught. Anyone who asks them about the other gospels—like the Gospel of Thomas—is likely to be told that these other "so called gospels" (in the words of one conservative New Testament scholar) are simply rubbish: "These were rubbish in the first century; and they are still rubbish" because they are not the "real" gospels—the New Testament gospel. That attitude, of course, begs the question of why certain gospels are in the New Testament and others were declared "heresy" ( the word means "choice"—something that most bishops did not think that members of "their flock" should have).What they endorse is a simple version of Christian truth: Jesus died for your sins; believe in him, and be saved.

more....

[Malva Zebrina]

6. I read Pagels a time ago

Ithink it is time to dig out those books agains as I have forgotten.

She is a woman with an inquisitive and brilliant mind.

But, I fear, so academic and so complicated , that these writings will never be recognized as inmportant in today's superficial and shallow politics.

Thanks for posting this article. I enjoyed it and I applaud Pagels and her intricate , provactive work.

I also enjoy Karen Anderson.