In 1993, I was in a Barnes and Noble Book Store in St Louis
MO. At that time, I was heavily invested in my return to evangelical Christianity
of sorts. I write of sorts because, I was not at all invested in hell and
eternal punishment, nor was I invested in the party-line definition of sin. I saw
sin and still do to a degree as human pathology. I am moving toward embracing the
Jungian concept of the shadow self. During this trip to Barnes and Noble,
before one could surf the internet, bookstores and libraries were my main
pastime. Of course, having recently returned to evangelical Christianity I was
looking in the Christian book section. I ran across a paperback that had a new
age looking cover entitled “The Unvarnished New Testament.” While I was afraid
that it may make me a heretic, I was inextricably drawn to it and in the end
bought it against all fears.
This is one of many moments that shaped my theology and
while it was purely serendipitous, it was very truly a “happy accident!” I have
three copies now, two paperbacks and a Kindle addition. While so many of my
theology books are boxed an in my garage, awaiting giving them away, these
remain important to me in my efforts to follow Jesus as a metaphysical Christian
who is venturing into eclectic spirituality. Yes, the goal of my eclectic
spirituality is syncretism.
So back to the Unvarnished New Testament. Andy Gaus is a
Greek scholar but not of the religious kind. He simply translates Greek into
English. He was given as a present a Greek copy of the gospel of John and was surprised
how it read so simply beautiful. He then set out to translate the gospels, and
after that in 1991 he translated the Unvarnished New Testament. It is not lost
on me that he wrote it in 1991 and I discovered it in 1993. I find that an
interesting synchronicity.
As I read it, I was struck by chapter five of Matthew’s
gospel and the beatitudes. He begins, “The poor in spirit are in luck, theirs
is the kingdom of the skies.” That sentence resonated deeply in my spirit, and
I then wanted to read on. I became aware of the fact that orthodoxy had given names
to words that mystified them. Father in heaven was really “father in the skies.”
Of course, that is a metaphor for an unreachable realm, but it makes it far
less religious and much more like what a native American shaman would say.
The point of this trip down memory lane is to show that Christian
religion has mystified and offered a super spiritual connotation to many words.
One such set of words is disciple and master. In the Greek disciple is simply
student, and master is simply teacher. This simply means that among other things
these days, I am a student of Jesus teaching. I choose to demystify these words
that were in my view stolen by orthodoxy.
I am not certain that these terms can be taken back and
reinstated with their actual meaning. But I choose to try. I would be
interested in knowing what you think. Can the jargon of orthodoxy be repurposed
to its original meaning or is it simply a lost cause and the terms are too
toxic for healthy consumption? I’m not giving up on the fact that they can be
reclaimed.
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