Because of a bereavement in the family we took a break from contributing to our blog. The realities of life can be harsh and can hit hard. It are these times which bring people together and put aside differences and views, just memories and emotions remain.

We shall soon continue contributing to Christianatheism.com and we hope you will continue enjoy reading our blog .

Megan & Bruce

The Historical Jesus

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.

The second part of the book deals with the first century Judea and the Jewish-Roman relationship. The Jewish religious traditions of the time and the emergence of first century prophets are described. The book also refers to the Roman-Jewish war to picture the tense and rebellious nature of the region.

The final part of the book describes the life of Jesus himself by studying relationships and descriptions of the people around him (e.g. John the Baptist). Crossan also draws parallels with the canonical New Testament he even details the accounts of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Crossan concludes that Jesus had:

an ecstatic vision and social program sought to rebuild a society upwards from its grass roots but on principles of religious and economic egalitarianism

Jesus opposed contemporary morality and tried to break down the barriers of power structures in society. As opposed to the Christian account, none of his followers witnessed his death and his burial place is unknown. Crossan explains that many miracle stories surrounding Jesus are reproduced accounts pre-dating Jesus’ life and resurrection.

As expected, The Historical Jesus diverges significantly from the viewpoints of later Church history. It is a valuable book for Christian atheists, as it gives a more detailed description of Jesus as a prophet and a philosopher, rather than the Son of God. The book also manages to discard most of the supernatural aspects of Christianity, leaving behind the moral philosophical and humanist side of Jesus. We can also form a picture of why Jesus’ sayings and morals were so successful compared to other philosophies of the time. If the Bible lays the groundwork for Christian belief, this book can do something similar for Christian atheism.

(find the book here)

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.

Russ Belville is a writer for the Oregon Herald. He describes himself to be a Positive Christian Atheist. In his own words he describes:

The “positive” part of Positive Christian Atheism means blending the positive aspects of Christian teaching with the positive reality of atheism. The admonition to treat others well means so much more when you realize this is the only life we’ve got, and the only heaven we’ll experience is the one we strive to create here on earth. A Positive Christian Atheist has to avoid sin not because he fears retribution in an afterlife, but rather because it creates poverty, death, mistrust, and despair in the real life. A Positive Christian Atheist doesn’t do good works to impress God; he does good works because they help people, just as Christ would have done.

This is what Christian atheism is all about: using the moral philosophies of Jesus to live a sinless life.

My family strives for this and many others do too. Although Christian atheists are not (yet) a tight nit community, many atheists do adopt Christian philosophy. Even on atheist forums and blogs, when we look past the raging atheism vs Christianity debate, we find people with similar moral philosophies. From personal to global problems, Christian humanism can sometimes show a solution.

In the US we live in what I see as a period of Christian atheism or agnosticism. In the previous article I described Christian atheists to be Christians who reject the existence of God. Some folks are indeed active, or theoretical, atheists and they can be quite outspoken about their views. However, many of us practice a form of passive atheism, also called apatheism.

Many Christian families have few specific views and opinions on their religion. They do adhere to many of the traditions and moral principles of Christianity such as celebrating Christmas and going to church. My own family participates in similar things and I realize we do this for the same traditional reasons many Americans do and I like it this way.

One can argue that our country has been founded on Judeo-Christian values, with a healthy dose of other influences. Although I believe many of our Founding Fathers were probably secular humanists – despite what some television pundits might tell you, many were agnostic, deists or atheists –, the core moral philosophies of our constitution are based on the principles of Christian humanism.

Centuries of severe religious constriction in Europe subjected people to an induced form of practical religious doctrine. America was founded on a religious freedom that has given us the option of choosing the best aspects of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and all others that fit our societies. Gladly this trend has been continued in much of the world (although some countries have opted out). Christian atheism is more present and influential than you think…

Christian Atheism

The acceptance of the teachings of Jesus in the absence of a belief in God.

We can therefore call Christian atheism a brand of atheism, which lies closer to theism in a more traditional and moral sense than spiritual sense (although there are plenty of Christian atheists who lean more towards agnosticism).

Many Christian atheists hold a contemporary vision of a modern society without God, but include the importance of Judeo-Christian values and the moral philosophies of Jesus. Others (e.g. Megan and me) try to actively bring the teachings of Jesus and those from the Bible into our daily lives. Christian atheists generally support a secular society and don’t often adhere to a particular Christian denomination such as Catholicism. I personally prefer to study the word of Jesus from as many different sources as I can find and try to make up my own mind about which ones I believe are closest to original Christian philosophy.

One can say that Christian atheism is similar to humanism, or more specifically Christian humanism. However, a humanist can also be a deist (one who believes in a supernatural entity). This is generally not the case for Christian atheists, who reject God. Humanists and Christian atheists do believe in an intrinsic human nature from an ethical stance, but the latter is more open to guidance from a Biblical perspective.

I will talk more about the definition of Christian atheism in following posts. I invite you to also contribute to this Christian atheist blog.

I grew up in a Presbyterian family and my parents educated my 3 brothers and 2 sisters with a strict moral code based on the Bible and the Christian belief. I’ll be honest in saying that my parents weren’t very deep about their religion. We were told to believe first, do not ask questions later. These, among other moral philosophies were taught not only by my parents, but also by other members in our community and congregation. My parents are very loving people and I owe the world to them for being raised with a proper set of values which I try every day to pass on to my family.

My conversion to Christian atheism was, looking back, a long time coming. Despite my fundamental upbringing, I realized from an early age that I was repeatedly questioning the contradictions of my faith. When I moved to California (where I met Megan), this doubt ballooned to a larger dispute of the tenets of religion and a higher power. I started reading atheist books and joining discussions on atheist forums. The whole atheism vs Christianity debate I found enthralling. When I started dating Megan I found a person who had a very similar mind.

Both of us, however, had a religious background and felt that this certainly had given us a moral baggage we would like to continue carrying and pass on to our children. I believe that the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, not as the son of God, but as a philosopher are valuable instructions for a happy and fulfilling life. I think much of Christian philosophy stems not from a single religious belief system, but from more intrinsic humanistic needs. Christian atheism has given us a way to still learn and follow that of the Christian faith which is good and to what I believe Jesus intended on teaching.