The Book
Project
I started off with some presentations on major
themes in the Bible and got to thinking that these essays would make
good chapters for a book that extracts the universal and
still-applicable messages out of the mythological narratives in this
fascinating history of the Jewish people and the melding of those
themes with the Greco-Roman world in the form of Christianity.
Following are abstracts of the chapters I've worked on so far.
In the Beginning
What are the lessons to be learned about humans and their relationship to
both the earth and the divine from the biblical stories of creation? I
don't take any kind of literal meaning from these ancient mythological stories
(there are at least two separate creation stories in the Bible), but in this
essay, I look at what cosmic message may be hidden in the symbolism of things
like, "Let there be light." For a poetic version of my conclusions, check out
In the Beginning, my poem on the same
subject.
The Ten Commandments in a Postmodern World
Are there universal messages in the ten
commandments of the Old Testament/Torah that are relevant in today's so-called
rational and definitely skeptical world of cultural relativity? I've taken another look at the original texts on this subject (the commandments
appear in more than one place in the Old Testament) and have found continued
wisdom in a broader interpretation of their underlying meaning for the
relationship between humans and the divine, as well as among humans themselves.
The world really would be a better place if the underlying messages of these
commandments were followed. Go to my own "ten
guidelines" for an idea of what I took from this lesson.
Job: A Conversation With God
I created a poetic dialogue
to form the basis for an emotional and
rational exploration of the timeless human questions raised by
this most ancient of biblical stories. I
reflect on
why the innocent suffer, whether Job was, in fact, as innocent
as he claims, and how God as creator of all that is remains the
master of both good and evil. Go to the introductory poem
for this essay to get an idea of the
themes.
A Christ for the Third
Millennium
Jesus: God or man? At the start of this third millennium, we would do
well to reflect on the role of Christianity in our increasingly diverse
spiritual world. In this essay, I return to the ancient debate on the nature of Jesus, comparing the
traditional Christian mystery of the god-man with both the Gnostic Christ consciousness
and the Unitarian view of Jesus as human teacher. I favor a new synthesis of
the human and divine that we can all use for both intellectual and emotional inspiration.
Grace: A New Role for the
Greatest Gift of All
Christians claim that good works are not enough, that we can't earn our way into
heaven, and many liberal religionists, as well as some non-liberal ones, would disagree
with this. In this essay, I explore the debate between grace and good works in
relating to God, and propose a more down-to-earth, human role for the work of grace that
will empower us all.
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