Miracles and Metaphors

A number of people seem to be reading Erik Reece's recent essay in the December Harper's "Jesus Without The Miracles: Thomas Jefferson's Bible and the Gospel of Thomas" and writing about the essay. The two best that I've seen so far are

"Thomas, Jefferson, and Stewardship", posted November 24, 2005 at The Daily Blague

and

"The gospels of Thomas", posted November 23, 2005 at Philocrites

Particularly interesting from Philocrites was the link to R. W. Emerson's 1838 Address to the Divinity School. These three pieces have reminded me once again how small, how absolutely petty, and contentious the legalists can be and they, the rabbis dancing on the head of a pin as I like to call them, can absolutely suck the life out life itself leaving a hollow tasteless husk that they will claim to be the essence of life when in fact it is nothing more than the wrapper. And, before the metaphorical apologists get started on wrapper, let's set that straight, I said wrapper, not peel or skin. Wrappers are external to a product and of no substance, peels and skins are integral to a fruit, vegetable or animal and do contain nutrients. But, we said wrapper didn't we, so don't start with the wrapper having the life in it, eh? The richness of Emerson's language and the depth of his thought along with the interesting takes on Christianity by the blog authors and Reece which again have a good deal of depth and richness stand in stark contrast to the tedious legalism of the Fundamentalist Christians and their tag alongs who have recently been seen featured in the national news magazines and other venues cheerfully wanting to explore the arguments about the origins of life from a point of view they want to term "intelligent design" so as to some how separate it from the arguments of "creationism". The "intelligent design" arguments real flavor can best be tasted in the near charlatanism of the Discovery Institute's Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture and its director, Dr. Stephen Meyer, in the position paper THE WEDGE STRATEGY the opening introductory paragraphs of which would be nearly laughable if only they weren't presented seriously, and especially if they didn't have the ear of a number of members of the current administration in Washington. We have been down these roads before with the conservatives so perhaps there is hope in this instance, but the road was last time a bit of a rough ride down to the intersections where reason was available and there is no guarantee that this time we will not be swallowed by one of the potholes the conservatives have created like the War in Iraq.

The only unforgivable sin Jesus spoke of

Matthew 12:31,32 And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

was to deny the presence or power of the Holy Spirit. So it would seem to me that the only dispute would be the manner in which I choose to see that power and presence expressed and the mode of my connection to it. But, then what do I know, the RC excommunicated the likes of me a long time ago.

Jesus, the best kept secret of the Gospels and the least known figure of Christianity.

I am rambling again. In any event read R. W. Emerson's 1838 Address to the Divinity School and the other items I've cited above and then compare them to what passes for thought with the creationists. Consider the broadness of Emerson's view and the narrowness of the current administration's view of life in general and then perhaps you can wonder as I do if the root causes of the conservative malfeasance in thought and policy like we've seen from the Bushies are not really spiritual in nature. Miracles and metaphors are in many ways the same and as I recall the mircales were not for those who had eyes to see and ears to hear, but for those to whom the Gospels would appear as foolishness.