Dear Folks -
Some people confuse Jesus and the Christ. Why not? The title most of us
in this culture have heard the most is "Jesus Christ." When one goes from
talking about the Jesus of history to making a statement of faith about the
Christ of faith it can be confusing. Given the complexities of the English
language it is amazing we don't have more misunderstanding than we do! I
illustrate that in this talk by referring to the words "fast" and "up." Then
I make a statement about what current scholarship says we can "know" about
the Jesus of history. What does it mean then to build from this a religious
affirmation of faith? Borrowing from the work of Marcus Borg, I describe how
a "sacramental understanding of religion" makes sense to me and allows me,
for example, to fully enter the Christmas story.
Much love,
Bill Kerley