April 10, 2006--JC In DC
Since you may have missed Garry Wills excellent Palm Sunday Op-Ed piece in the NY Times, I thought I would bring it to your attention (linked below). He is the author of numerous books, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Lincoln at Gettysburg, Saint Augustine, and the best-selling Why I Am a Catholic. Wills is also a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books.
At a time when Democrats are worried that they have alienated devout Christians and thus are never going to be able to recapture the White House, we see them scrambling and pandering to them by trying to turn Jesus into a Democrat to counter the success the Republicans have had claiming that God is on their side.
But Wills sites evidence that Jesus “brought no political message or program.” Quite the opposite. He provides a few examples—
Jesus paid his taxes to the Roman authorities (the state), “Render unto Caesar”; but he was a proponent of the separation of church and state, “When you pray, go into your inner chamber and locking the door, pray there in hiding to your Father, and your Father who sees you in hiding will reward you.” Thus, Jesus would not be wanting prayer in schools or even offered by the chaplain in the halls of Congress.
On the Democrat side of the aisle, doesn’t Jesus say care for the poor and doesn’t this then encourage governmental social programs? According to Wills, what Jesus does say about treating the poor is more eschatological than political—it is for moral purposes to be sure, but to care for the homeless and hungry is to do it to Jesus, “Whenever you did these things to the lowest of my brothers, you were doing it to me.” These acts are the one true test that will determine who will “come into his reign.” And is thus about Final, eschatological matters.
In Will’s view, Jesus is not a great ethical teacher like Socrates but rather an apocalyptic figure “Who steps outside the boundaries of normal morality to signal that the Father’s judgment is breaking into history.” Jesus’ miracles then are signs or evidence of this breaking into the world, and are not “mere” acts of charity.
Of course an irony in all of this is that our most apocalyptic citizens, who are presumably most interested in their fate and final rewards, are most actively missing the meaning of Jesus’ life and teachings.
At a time when Democrats are worried that they have alienated devout Christians and thus are never going to be able to recapture the White House, we see them scrambling and pandering to them by trying to turn Jesus into a Democrat to counter the success the Republicans have had claiming that God is on their side.
But Wills sites evidence that Jesus “brought no political message or program.” Quite the opposite. He provides a few examples—
Jesus paid his taxes to the Roman authorities (the state), “Render unto Caesar”; but he was a proponent of the separation of church and state, “When you pray, go into your inner chamber and locking the door, pray there in hiding to your Father, and your Father who sees you in hiding will reward you.” Thus, Jesus would not be wanting prayer in schools or even offered by the chaplain in the halls of Congress.
On the Democrat side of the aisle, doesn’t Jesus say care for the poor and doesn’t this then encourage governmental social programs? According to Wills, what Jesus does say about treating the poor is more eschatological than political—it is for moral purposes to be sure, but to care for the homeless and hungry is to do it to Jesus, “Whenever you did these things to the lowest of my brothers, you were doing it to me.” These acts are the one true test that will determine who will “come into his reign.” And is thus about Final, eschatological matters.
In Will’s view, Jesus is not a great ethical teacher like Socrates but rather an apocalyptic figure “Who steps outside the boundaries of normal morality to signal that the Father’s judgment is breaking into history.” Jesus’ miracles then are signs or evidence of this breaking into the world, and are not “mere” acts of charity.
Of course an irony in all of this is that our most apocalyptic citizens, who are presumably most interested in their fate and final rewards, are most actively missing the meaning of Jesus’ life and teachings.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
12:16 PM
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