"Do you think one has to choose between the Jewishness of Christianity and the writings of Paul?"
I think institutional Christianity made that choice a long time ago. There isn't much Jewishness of Christianity at this point and there hasn't been for a long time. And the centuries of Christian antisemitism makes this plain.
"Do you think one has to choose between the Jewishness of Christianity and the writings of Paul?"
I think institutional Christianity made that choice a long time ago. There isn't much Jewishness of Christianity at this point and there hasn't been for a long time. And the centuries of Christian antisemitism makes this plain.
"And what is your take on the rise of more Christian groups of late (I.e. The Bible Project) that are doing a good job raising awareness to the interlinking of Old and New Testaments without throwing shade at Paul?"
I have no opinion.
"Or do you feel Paul is just misunderstood, or understood correctly but just wrong?"
I feel that Evangelicals and other Biblical literalists take Paul too literally and value his writings above other Biblical books.
"So idk, do you think there could be some holistic balance between these different emphasises?"
Sure, there can be. But most Christians aren't interested in thinking that deeply about these things.
"but as you said, that can be for another time. ;)"
Yeah man, I guess all I have to say is it's a big world out there, keep digging into it... I've seen the best and the worst from US to Europe.. There's a lot of people not thinking deeply, there's a lot who are.
A lot hyper focusing on Paul (especially those dispensationalists at horse camp), a lot thinking about the Jewish traditions (our Bible school hosted, I think a Messianic Christian, who walked us through how they mix passover and Easter traditions together to enrich the symbolism of their rituals.).
There are a lot of super literalists who don't understand genre or metaphor or hermeneutics, and a lot of "read it in context"-ists who see how Gen 1-3 infiltrates sooo much of the entire Bible.
There are folks like John Mark Comer trying to put a renewed emphasis on spiritual disciplines. There's N.T Wright and the new perspective of Paul (which is reacting to the more Catholic/Protestant debate lenses that have tended to shape the view of Paul, but idk how that interacts with your views). There's also a lot of YouTube end times prophets, which is why we cannot have nice things... or stable democracies.
So there's so much "Evangelical " or "institutional" can mean those words are almost as good as meaningless at this point... especially when I've lived through first hand a pastor saying all the right things then blowing up their relationships with lies and evil behind the scenes.
It makes you dig into the complexity and makes mysticism tempting for sure haha! Because of my own church hurt, I do probably hold some things a bit more cautiously looser than the average Evangelical while still somehow remaining one for lack of a better term now living in Catholic Chrtian nationalistic Poland - and attempting to explain and discover my faith anew against that backdrop, and going to an international Evangelical church (on weeks when my preschoolers aren't constantly sick).
I'm still pretty cycnical towards my own tradition so don't blame others for feeling the same but for me I've found with more perspectives have come more glimmers of hope and some awesome people a lot better at being like Jesus than I am. Hope we all find more of them. Peace.
Thank you very much for your thoughtful perspective. I look forward to more of your comments and future engagements on these and other subjects. Hit me up any time.
"Do you think one has to choose between the Jewishness of Christianity and the writings of Paul?"
I think institutional Christianity made that choice a long time ago. There isn't much Jewishness of Christianity at this point and there hasn't been for a long time. And the centuries of Christian antisemitism makes this plain.
"And what is your take on the rise of more Christian groups of late (I.e. The Bible Project) that are doing a good job raising awareness to the interlinking of Old and New Testaments without throwing shade at Paul?"
I have no opinion.
"Or do you feel Paul is just misunderstood, or understood correctly but just wrong?"
I feel that Evangelicals and other Biblical literalists take Paul too literally and value his writings above other Biblical books.
"So idk, do you think there could be some holistic balance between these different emphasises?"
Sure, there can be. But most Christians aren't interested in thinking that deeply about these things.
"but as you said, that can be for another time. ;)"
https://www.godofthedesert.org/p/the-absurd-way-i-accidentally-cured
Yeah man, I guess all I have to say is it's a big world out there, keep digging into it... I've seen the best and the worst from US to Europe.. There's a lot of people not thinking deeply, there's a lot who are.
A lot hyper focusing on Paul (especially those dispensationalists at horse camp), a lot thinking about the Jewish traditions (our Bible school hosted, I think a Messianic Christian, who walked us through how they mix passover and Easter traditions together to enrich the symbolism of their rituals.).
There are a lot of super literalists who don't understand genre or metaphor or hermeneutics, and a lot of "read it in context"-ists who see how Gen 1-3 infiltrates sooo much of the entire Bible.
There are folks like John Mark Comer trying to put a renewed emphasis on spiritual disciplines. There's N.T Wright and the new perspective of Paul (which is reacting to the more Catholic/Protestant debate lenses that have tended to shape the view of Paul, but idk how that interacts with your views). There's also a lot of YouTube end times prophets, which is why we cannot have nice things... or stable democracies.
So there's so much "Evangelical " or "institutional" can mean those words are almost as good as meaningless at this point... especially when I've lived through first hand a pastor saying all the right things then blowing up their relationships with lies and evil behind the scenes.
It makes you dig into the complexity and makes mysticism tempting for sure haha! Because of my own church hurt, I do probably hold some things a bit more cautiously looser than the average Evangelical while still somehow remaining one for lack of a better term now living in Catholic Chrtian nationalistic Poland - and attempting to explain and discover my faith anew against that backdrop, and going to an international Evangelical church (on weeks when my preschoolers aren't constantly sick).
I'm still pretty cycnical towards my own tradition so don't blame others for feeling the same but for me I've found with more perspectives have come more glimmers of hope and some awesome people a lot better at being like Jesus than I am. Hope we all find more of them. Peace.
Thank you very much for your thoughtful perspective. I look forward to more of your comments and future engagements on these and other subjects. Hit me up any time.