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