The Brother of Jesus And The Lost Teachings of Christianity - Introduction

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

We are going to have a look at another book, called " The Brother of Jesus and

the Lost Teachings of Christianity " by Jeffrey J. Butz. Here is the

'Introduction: Of Revolutions and Paradigm Shifts' - Part 1.

 

Enjoy!

 

violet

 

 

 

Introduction: Of Revolutions and Paradigm Shifts - Part 1

 

(p.1) As we enter the third millennium, our human community is rent by war,

increasing distrust, and the loss of a sense of our common nature and past. We

seem to be more tempted than ever to define ourselves in opposition to the Other

and more threatened than ever by a paradigm, or worldview, that separates rather

than unites us. Yet things are not as they seem, and James, the brother of

Jesus, is the key to understanding ourselves differently.

 

This book is an examination of an emerging paradigm shift in the field of New

Testament studies, specifically in our understanding of Christian origins and

the nature of the early church. Within these pages we shall uncover the

beginnings of a revolution that has the potential to change our understanding of

Western religion forever. This emerging paradigm shift has yet to be recognized

by the majority of biblical scholars and theologians, even though the evidence

has been plainly staring us in the face from the pages of the Bible for two

millennia. The obvious is not always so easy to see.

 

Three philosophical revolutions in human understanding have taken place since

the rise of modern science. The philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn coined the

term " paradigm shift " to describe the sweeping changes in worldview that

accompany such revolutions. The first of these paradigm shifts was caused by the

implications of the mathematical calculations of the astronomer Nicholas

Copernicus (subsequently confirmed by the telescopic observations of Galileo)

that we live in a heliocentric (sun-centered), not a geocentric (earth-centered)

solar system. (p.2) Such was the enormity of the change in worldview caused by

this discovery that it has rightly come to be called the Copernican Revolution.

As with most scientific revolutions, the Copernican Revolution was vehemently

opposed by the Christian church.

 

The second such revolution was the more recent Darwinian Revolution. If the

paradigm shift that accompanied the Copernican Revolution displaced humanity

from the center of the universe, the Darwinian Revolution and its accompanying

paradigm shift humbled us even further, demoting humans from their status as the

" crown " of God's relatively recent supernatural creation to a modest rank as a

by-product of natural evolution. The third revolution began in the 1920's, and

the full impact of its accompanying paradigm shift has yet to be fully felt.

While not a commonly accepted term, I would dub it the Hubble Revolution, after

the American astronomer Edwin Hubble, who first came to the conclusion that our

Milky Way galaxy - thought at the time to comprise the entire universe - was

merely one single " island universe " in a seemingly infinite sea of hundreds of

billions of other galaxies. The paradigm shift necessitated by the Hubble

revolution makes the downsizing of humanity's significance that followed the

Copernican and Darwinian revolutions pale in comparison.

 

Amid all of the religious and societal upheaval engendered by these three major

paradigm shifts in human awareness, smaller and lesser known paradigm shifts

have more quietly occurred in many fields of human endeavor. A prime example is

the grudging acceptance of the theory of continental drift by geologists in the

1960s. Since the discovery of the Americas, many had taken notice of the curious

fact that the shorelines of the eastern coasts of North and South America, and

the western coasts of Europe and Africa seemed to match up like perfectly

fitting jigsaw-puzzle pieces. The vast majority of scientists shrugged this off

as nothing more than an interesting coincidence. Still, a few people harbored a

suspicion that the almost perfect match of the continental shorelines was more

than coincidence. In 1911, the geologist Alfred Wegener was the first to

seriously propose that the Americas and Europe and Africa really 'were' once

connected. Wegener and the few who agreed with him were widely ridiculed.

Wegener's problem was that he could not provide an explanation of 'how'

continents could drift, but despite the censure of his peers, Wegener, like

Galileo before him, bravely stood by the commonsensical conviction of what his

eyes showed him.

 

It was not until the 1950s that oceanographers mapping the Atlantic Ocean floor

made the startling discovery of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the biggest mountain

chain on earth (located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean). All along this

mountain chain, lava is continuously spewing up from the earth's mantle,

literally pushing the ocean floor apart and slowly but inexorably pushing the

Americas and Europe and Africa away from each other. Sea-floor spreading, as

this process came to be called, was the needed explanation for how continents

could move. Almost overnight the theory of continental drift went from the

category of quack theory to proven fact, and it was quickly christened with the

more academically respectable name of " plate tectonics " . It is enlightening to

note that as late as 1960 geologists or oceanographers who dared to say they

believed in continental drift would pretty much ruin their academic careers.

Less than ten years later, any scientist who 'denied' the new scientific dogma

of plate tectonics had become the pariah. [break Quote]

 

[Note]: Folks, i have to say this makes me laugh, lol! Why do human beings have

minds that shut down on even the 'possibility' of something? They don't even

give something a chance to be proved and already go against it! What is it about

the human mind that does that? Luckily, for human beings there are pioneers who

are willing to risk ridicule, censure, etc. to pursue the possibilities of

knowledge and understanding that are there. Otherwise, what would happen to the

human race? It would remain stuck in a rut and eventually stagnate, except for

these brave people who keep things moving, regardless of the personal cost to

themselves.] [End Note]

 

[Resume Quote]:

 

History has proven, through many such examples, that the human mind is

inherently conservative. The obvious is not always easily seen, and the truth is

often firmly resisted in order to hold onto the " assured results " of

authoritative scholarship. It is not, of course, news that humans have an innate

tendency toward conservatism that impels us to quash contrary opinions, no

matter how self-evident. The great Galileo was placed under house arrest by the

church for going public with the evidence his eyes showed him. But it is not

only scientists who have been forced to pay high prices for redefining the way

we understand our world. Such injustices happen in all fields of research,

perhaps none more so than the field of theology. Theologians who dare to

challenge theological dogma are as ostracized by their peers as scientists who

challenge scientific dogma. Just one of many recent examples is the shameful

treatment of the Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Robert Eisenman, whose peers in an

effort to discredit his theories on James and Christian origins went so far as

to publicly accuse him of plagiarism (unjustly, as it turned out). [1] Paradigm

challenges are never suffered lightly by the orthodox establishment in any

field.

 

The Brother of Jesus (And the Lost Teachings of Christianity)

Introduction, Pg. 1-3

Jeffrey J. Butz

Inner Traditions - Rochester, Vermont

ISBN 1-59477-043-3

 

Notes:

 

[1] For the disturbing details of this modern academic inquisition, see Neil

Asher Silberman's moving account in 'The Hidden Scrolls: Christianity, Judaism,

and the War for the Dead Sea Scrolls' (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1994).