Was Jesus an Evangelical?

Art Credit: Friar Robert Lentz, OFM

David Brooks recently wrote a New York Times opinion piece on the current struggles that Evangelicalism, particularly white evangelicalism, is facing. You can read Mr. Books’ column here. My thoughts follow.

Regarding evangelicalism or any type of religion that might find roots in fundamental (literal) interpretations of scripture: It might be helpful to remember that all religions rely on human interpretation, and we humans are subject to making mistakes or incomplete assessments.

It's helpful and humbling to realize that much of what we call God exists outside of our understanding. And God probably does not exist in a closed system. As we learn more about ourselves and the earth, we learn more about God. Regarding Jesus Christ, it's helpful to remember that there is Jesus the historical figure, and Jesus who has been interpreted as God's son.

Relying on what's written in the four gospels in the New Testament, it doesn't seem as if Jesus was all that interested in starting a new religion. Jesus was Jewish. The first followers of Jesus went to the temple to pray, not to a church.

Jesus seemed to love everyone but found himself at odds with the religious leaders of his day. The only group that consistently got Jesus angry were the traditionalists, the fundamentalists. It was this group who saw Jesus as a threat, aligned themselves with the political power of their day, and ultimately had Jesus killed.

This side of heaven, it’s anyone’s guess as to what the historical Jesus meant by asking his followers to get disciples. We don’t find many verses in the gospels quoting Jesus, offering detailed instructions about what constitutes membership in his branch of the Jewish faith. What he does say is very basic, like “all of scripture can be summed up in one sentence, “love God and treat others like you would like to be treated.” (Matt. 22:37-40).

In Biblical times, it was common for rabbis (teachers) who were good at teaching to attract a following. It’s clear Jesus was a gifted teacher. It was probably customary for good teachers to ask their followers to go and spread their teaching.

And Jesus did tell his apostles to spread his word. But I’m not sure that Jesus was primarily asking his disciples to establish a church. Paul, who is traditionally viewed as writing most of the New Testament, was primarily responsible for spreading Jesus’ teachings (via the epistles) after Jesus died and left this earth.

It was Paul who established churches outside of the Jewish community, outside of Jewish practices of faith. Paul lived about four to seven years after Jesus’ death. Paul wrote a lot about Jesus, but he didn’t know him personally on earth. The Book of Acts describes Paul’s dramatic conversion – from Saul, a Pharisee and persecutor of followers of Jesus, to Paul, a person ultimately responsible for establishing most of the initial churches outside of Jewish practice.

Jesus as Middle Easterner/Bas Uterwijk

What’s the significance of all this?

In terms of the growth of the early Christian church, Paul’s influence may have been much greater than that of Jesus in regards to the traditions and dogma of much of North American Christianity – most especially white evangelicalism.

Given recent developments in the United States since the establishment of the “Moral Majority,” in 1979, I wonder if Jesus would recognize much of his teachings in the white evangelical brand of Christianity. Although the Moral Majority officially disbanded in 1989, it was influential in the welding of right-of-center fundamentalist religion with a political party (Republican) 

Over the course of two thousand years, differences in dogma and tradition have resulted in many splits within the Christian religion. There are approximately 25 different brands of Christianity, but each of these has sub-branches with doctrinal differences.

Catholics, Protestants, Pentecostals, Anabaptists, and other groups each have their differences.

Another cultural point to consider is that Jesus was born and lived in the Middle East (near present-day Israel). Practically speaking, that means that Jesus didn't look like a descendant from Western Europe or think like one. He used references that his Middle Eastern listeners could readily understand.

To start from a position that any one group, or individual, has the corner on truth seems counterproductive and useless to any meaningful dialogue.

To admit that we’re human, and that humans make errors might be a great starting point upon which we can agree to disagree.