185
+ − 1 Woodbrooke on the road:
+ − 2 Tim Ashworth
+ − 3 2020-02-22
+ − 4
183
+ − 5 _Jesus the Jew_ (1977)
+ − 6 A shift in viewpoint motivated in part by the need to acknowledge the
+ − 7 Holocaust
+ − 8
+ − 9 Importance to early Friends of hearing the living Word of God.
+ − 10 The bible is a _witness_ to the Word, not the Word itself.
+ − 11
+ − 12 [Samuel Fisher]
+ − 13
+ − 14 Ordinary people struglling to make sense of and recount something
+ − 15 inspiring, but complicated.
+ − 16
+ − 17 [start with detox, e.g. wrt "God", "Jesus", "sin"]
+ − 18
+ − 19 *Mark*
+ − 20
+ − 21 Passionate, angry, active, _urgent_
+ − 22
+ − 23 Jesus recognised as a prophet
+ − 24
+ − 25 His mother and his brothers come to take him in charge
+ − 26
+ − 27 Not always clear that it's not a _bad_ spirit moving the prophets...
+ − 28
+ − 29 Surrounded by conflict and misunderstanding
+ − 30
+ − 31 Recording the memories of Peter?
+ − 32 (Matthew and Luke tidying up Mark...)
+ − 33
+ − 34 Strong reactions, strong emotions, sometimes even fear and worry
+ − 35
+ − 36 *Matthew*
+ − 37
+ − 38 Sometimes making editorial decisions (redacting the family coming to
+ − 39 take him in charge), but trying to be faithful to [Mark]
+ − 40
+ − 41 Friction emerging between the the Jewish Christians and the wider
+ − 42 Jewish community, which is beleaguered.
+ − 43
+ − 44 After the year 65 rebellion and the destruction of the Temple
+ − 45
+ − 46 How do we live the Law w/o the Temple? When we're scattered?
+ − 47
+ − 48 A King like David, a teacher like Moses.
+ − 49
+ − 50 TA: 5:48 Not 'perfect', but all-embracing [but c.f. Fox]
+ − 51
+ − 52 Not so much _Kingdom_ of God as a place, but the _reign_ of God as a
+ − 53 way of being.
+ − 54
+ − 55 "there in the midst" -- c.f. two or three are gathered _studying the
+ − 56 Torah_ God is there...
184
+ − 57
+ − 58 23:27-28 is a fierce statement from one side of the struggle mentioned
+ − 59 above [TA: Matthew's words, not Jesus's]
+ − 60
+ − 61 28:17 "Some doubted" -- TA: the experience was in some way not
+ − 62 objective---powerful, but not quite unequivocal.
185
+ − 63
+ − 64 *Luke and Acts*
+ − 65
+ − 66 [Luke actually, possibly/probably, travelled with Paul at some point,
+ − 67 his narrative in Acts wrt Paul is thus quite 'true']
+ − 68
+ − 69 A 'good' historian, i.e. tells a story, with a shape. Causal
+ − 70 connections, signalled with delta-epsilon-iota "it is/was necessary".
+ − 71 Jerusalem->Jerusalem;Jerusalem->Rome
+ − 72
+ − 73 List of Jesus's antecedants begins with Adam, this story is for
+ − 74 everyone (c.f. Matthew where it begins with Abraham, a story for the Jews)
+ − 75
+ − 76 He uses 'old' language for the birth narrative, universal, but rooted
+ − 77 in Jerusalem and reaching back into Jewish history.
+ − 78
+ − 79 But not too explicit about Gentile inclusion in the Gospel.
+ − 80
+ − 81 The Spirit plays a central role, of people (in Acts) being guided.
+ − 82
+ − 83 Luke's Jesus has a particular concern for the marginalised,
+ − 84 both in material and other ways (e.g. tax collectors, centurions)
+ − 85 The world turned upside-down, things are not as you think they are.
+ − 86
+ − 87 Home of the parables.
+ − 88
+ − 89 Pentecost: Something really extraordinary happened...
+ − 90
+ − 91 TA: The call to "go out to the whole world" is not [much?] Jesus's
+ − 92 project, starts with 'Saul' in Acts 13:2. The Great Commission is
+ − 93 Matthew (28:16–20) pushing stuff from Acts back into the Gospel
+ − 94 narrative
+ − 95
+ − 96 Working out the relationship, for the early Church, between '[the risen]
+ − 97 Christ' and 'the Holy Spirit' is tricky.
+ − 98
+ − 99 *John*
+ − 100
+ − 101 Not so much a Gentile gospel, but a Jewish Christian one with a
+ − 102 significant well-established graeco-jewish background.
+ − 103
+ − 104 An embattled community, trying to come to terms (temporal and
+ − 105 spiritual) with a surrounding antagonism, trying to define/protect a
+ − 106 boundary. By John's time (year 90) they were, in places, being
+ − 107 excluded from synagogues.
+ − 108
188
+ − 109 In John, Jesus speaks of himself, self-describing as special.
185
+ − 110
+ − 111 John puts words in Jesus's mouth, truly because the Spirit (of Truth)
+ − 112 has spoken them to/through the community.
+ − 113
+ − 114 Incarnation is everywhere in John. And conflict with Christians who
+ − 115 didn't go that far [like many of us today].
+ − 116
+ − 117 20:26-29 "not seen and yet ... believe" is about John's own community.
+ − 118 C.f. "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone".
+ − 119
+ − 120 Passion here is coming out of powerful (shared?) spiritual experience.
186
+ − 121
+ − 122 Conflict starts over the Eucharist (John 6:40--60), if we understand
+ − 123 this as a back-projection of a conflict in the early church.
187
+ − 124 -----
+ − 125 [Question session]
+ − 126 Eyewitness perhaps? "John the Elder"? Responsibility [very unmodern]
+ − 127 is to elaborate, to draw out the significance, would lie heavily on
+ − 128 John by year 90--100 as others die.
+ − 129
+ − 130 Covenent sacrifice is not the same as atoning sacrifice [David Mealand].
+ − 131
+ − 132 The Jewish context is absolutely critical. Distinctiveness of its
+ − 133 ability to shape/give structure to experience of the Spirit made the
+ − 134 success of Christianity and Islam possible.
+ − 135
+ − 136 "There was something dangerous about how the Spirit found expression
+ − 137 in John's church."
188
+ − 138
+ − 139 Early Friends more about "coming in to the Life [that the Risen Christ made
+ − 140 possible]" than worship or sacrifice...
+ − 141
+ − 142 "A place above Adam and beyond falling" [G. Fox]
+ − 143
+ − 144 TA: Lack of focus on [biblical Christianity] has led to a lack of depth
+ − 145
190
+ − 146 =========
+ − 147 Webinar 2020-03-09
+ − 148
+ − 149 Challenge is to try to "see Jesus afresh"
+ − 150
+ − 151 Quaker approach scripture has _always_ been distinctive
+ − 152
+ − 153 Pennington: "And the end of words is to bring [people] to the
+ − 154 knowledge of things that go beyond what words can tell"
+ − 155
+ − 156 A witness to something greater.
+ − 157
+ − 158 Need a confidence in the Meeting for Worship as being open to
+ − 159 guidance [sc. from the Living Word]
+ − 160
+ − 161 [HST: How does Jesus's view of himself differ across the Gospels]
+ − 162
+ − 163 TA: Across them all: A great confidence in his own authority, acting
+ − 164 under divine inspiration.
+ − 165
+ − 166 Mark particularly as a prophet speaking prophetic words.
+ − 167
+ − 168 But, in Mark, response to others, don't say anything, don't call me the Messiah.
+ − 169 Not wanting to create a major movement?
+ − 170 Mark seems to have him predicting it, but, ?, a bit too neat, added
+ − 171 later?
+ − 172 But surely expectation of conflict, and knew that prophets didn't
+ − 173 fare very well in Jewish history.
+ − 174
+ − 175 Luke not so much of concealing his nature as Mark, he's not the
+ − 176 centre of his own teaching, _manifesting_ his nature, but not
+ − 177 self-identifying. The journey to Jerusalem is the as-it-were
+ − 178 literary crux of Luke's story...
+ − 179
+ − 180 Matthew: Emphasis on [lost it]
+ − 181
+ − 182 John very different, Jesus is at the centre of his own teaching.
+ − 183 This is happening in the communities, putting him at the centre.
+ − 184
+ − 185 [David: Where does this leave us in relation to other Christian
+ − 186 denominations]
+ − 187
+ − 188 Paul in Corinthians describing a MfW -- let the spirit of prophecy be
+ − 189 the source of your discernment [ref?]
+ − 190
+ − 191 "We hold these things in trust for the wider church?"
+ − 192
+ − 193 TA: Serious discernment needed wrt this question of the place of
+ − 194 Christianity in BYM: Do we need to teach our Christian basis, given
+ − 195 that many people come to us now with little or no prior understanding
+ − 196 of it.
+ − 197
+ − 198 [John Phillips: Why were early Friends so receptive to Fox's message,
+ − 199 [and then the Valiant 60], when the firm structure of [feudal] life
+ − 200 didn't leave much time for that sort of thing?]
+ − 201
+ − 202 Context of the time -- by the time GF is preaching, we're into the
+ − 203 World Turned Upside Down -- Bible in English, and feudal society not
+ − 204 stable any more, in fact.
+ − 205
+ − 206 But, also, their impact can't be explained purely from the content of
+ − 207 their preaching. Ref. Margaret Fell in tears in the church in
+ − 208 Ulverston. _And_, violent negative reactions.
+ − 209 Visceral impact, not explained by the words alone.
+ − 210
+ − 211 We, now, _recognise_ it when ministry comes from true depth.
+ − 212
+ − 213 [TA: I take communion, but don't say the Creed]