Archive for December, 2009
The Historical Jesus – John Crossan
December 20th, 2009 | 
Author: 
The Historical Jesus by John Crossan (find it here) is a remarkably good read and much more academic than many other atheist books on the history of Jesus of Nazareth. The Historical Jesus is an attempt to reconstruct the life of Jesus using all the evidence and all the available tools.
Crossan uses three types of study to reconstruct who Jesus probably was, what he did and what he said. He uses a social anthropological approach, a historical approach and textual research. He uses these approaches to visualize a world and the time in which Jesus lived and narrows the story down to the person himself. The final chapter contains “stratum sources”, being events and sayings which have multiple direct references.
The book starts with a reconstruction of first century Mediterranean life to give the reader a backdrop in which the events around Jesus can be contextually placed. Crossan also details the society and traditions of the Roman Empire, specifically that of slavery. He covers the Cynical movement, a philosophical group advocating withdrawal from the world.
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The Darwinian Success of Christianity
Ok, now for a more theological post.
Many have either read or at least heard of The Selfish Gene by the famously vocal atheist, Richard Dawkins (if you have not, you can find it here. I really recommend it!). This hugely popular book stipulated genes to be the central players in evolution and that any entity beyond the level of genes (such as insects or humans). Organisms are merely evolving tools to ensure the success of these genes in terms of global copy number. In other words: to maximise the inclusive fitness of genes globally.
This elegant theory has been studied and continued since The Selfish Gene was published more than thirty years ago. However, besides the biological side of gene-centred inclusive fitness, Dawkins made a very important anthropological contribution by applying this theory to so-called ‘cultural evolution’.
In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins uses the concept of a ‘meme’ (the cultural version of a gene) to explain that cultural ideas such as melodies, catch-phrases or beliefs can be transferred to or imitated by a larger population. More popular (more fit) ideas propagate successfully. The less culturally fit ideas lose the Darwinian race and cease to exist. ‘Memetics’ is now a widely studied theory and can be applied not only to human culture, but also to e.g. tool-making by great apes.
We’re Not The Only Christian Atheists
In a previous post I argued that many Americans have a Christian atheist (or atheist Christian) mentality. Nonetheless, you might be wondering: Is Christian Atheism actually a wide spread phenomenon?
Although not as wide spread as many other forms of atheism or indeed Christianity, Christian atheists are in numbers. They often identify themselves as Christian atheist in one way or another and some are quite open about their lifestyle and their views on society. I’ll give a few examples:
Atheists For Jesus are a noble organization who are trying to ‘save’ Jesus from the Religious Right in America. Ken Schei, the group’s founder and president, has been reinterpreting the New Testament without its references to the supernatural. Just like I do, he refers to the Jefferson Bible as a source of inspiration. Schei believes that the (self-appointed) Apostle, Paul and his followers have polluted the word of Jesus for their own motives. For years he has been on a venerable quest to clarify Jesus’ true word from the distortions of the Religious Right. Schei has even published a book on the topic.
