On politics and theology. Part 9: Jesus was political, so should be his followers.

What is your understanding of the Bible?  Is it the inerrant word of  God to be applied literally or is your thinking along the lines of the quotations below?

The Christian story does not drop from heaven fully written. It grew and developed over a period of forty-two to seventy years. This is not what most Christians have been taught to think, but it is factual. Christianity has always been an evolving story. It was never, even in the New Testament, a finished story. JOHN SHELBY SPONG 

I let go of the notion that the Bible is a divine product. I learned that it is a human cultural product, the product of two ancient communities, biblical Israel and early Christianity. As such, it contained their understandings and affirmations, statements not coming directly or somewhat directly from God.....I realised that whatever "divine revelation" and the "inspiration of the Bible" meant (if they meant anything), they did not mean that the Bible was a divine product with divine authority. MARCUS J BORG 

Properly understood the Bible is a potential ally to the progressive Christian passion for transformation of ourselves and the world. It is our great heritage. Along with Jesus, to whom it is subordinate, it is our greatest treasure .MARCUS J BORG

My blog readers understand that I consider my theological opinions to be a mixture, mozaic, melange of liberal, progressive, deconstructive, liberation, postmodern and radical ideas.  My approach is a questioning one:  what is the role of scripture, is it stuck in a dead end or is it evolving and relevant in today's society?  Is it a museum exhibit or a dynamic source for good? 

The concepts attributed to Jesus by the authors of the synoptic gospels draw on a rich vein of social concern to be discerned in Jewish scripture appropriated to Christianity as the Old Testament.  It is concern for the poor, the marginalised, the discriminated against, the excluded.  It is a call not only to help at point of need but also to change societal structures to overcome the issues.  The teaching of Jesus is not a manual for applying a set of rules: it is a collection of broad principles capable of evolving and developing to meet the challenges of today's society.

To challenge the status quo, to demand change is to challenge  society's priorities, prejudices, allocation of resources.  It is a challenge to the political process, to economic and social structures.  The Jesus of the synoptic gospels delivered a radical political message, as his followers so should we.