THE QUESTION

Was Jesus a social revolutionary? Why or why not? Pope Benedict XVI's trip to Brazil revives worldwide interest in this question.
Posted by Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on May 9, 2007 6:07 AM

FROM THE PANEL

"“On Faith”" panelist John Shelby Spong served as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2000. His books, seeking to make contemporary theology accessible to lay readers, have sold over a million copies. His latest book, The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Discover the God of Love (2005), examines the holy book of the Judeo-Christian tradition. A committed Christian who has spent a lifetime studying the Bible and whose life has been deeply shaped by it, Spong has been a visiting lecturer at universities, Including Harvard, and churches worldwide, delivering more than 200 public lectures each year to standing-room only crowds. His best-selling books include Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, A New Christianity for a New World, Why Christianity Must Change or Die, and Here I Stand.

Jesus Broke Barriers; Pope Builds Them

Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor John Paul II have consistently put themselves on the side of the aristocracy, the landowners and the well-to-do in Latin America.

John Shelby Spong, Former Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Newark | 272 COMMENTS
May 13, 2007 at 4:59 PM
Rabbi David Saperstein is the Washington representative of Judaism's Reform Movement as Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, a position he has held for 30 years. The "On Faith" panelist also co-chairs the Coalition to Preserve Religious Liberty, and serves on the boards of numerous national organizations including the NAACP and People For the American Way. In 1999, Saperstein was elected first chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom created by Congress. The Religious Action Center advocates for a broad range of social justice issues and provides extensive legislative and program materials for synagogues, federations and Jewish community relations councils nationwide. It also coordinates social action education programs that train nearly 3,000 Jewish adults, youth, rabbinic and lay leaders each year. Also an attorney, Saperstein teaches seminars in First Amendment Church-State Law and in Jewish Law at Georgetown University Law School. He co-authored Jewish Dimensions of Social Justice: Tough Moral Choices of Our Time (1998).

President Bush, Jesus and Social Revolution

Jesus’ call to prioritize the poor, the sick, the prisoner, the hungry speaks to a radical alteration of the social order.

David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism | 60 COMMENTS
May 13, 2007 at 1:29 PM
“On Faith” panelist Michael Otterson has served as director of media relations for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1997. As senior spokesman for the church, Otterson has worked with most major publications, TV and radio networks, and other news media in the United States and overseas on issues ranging from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to the Church’s burgeoning international growth and diversity. A convert to the Mormon faith, he worked as a journalist for 11 years before being appointed director of the Church’s public affairs office in London in 1976 – the first such office outside the United States. After opening and managing a new Pacific Area public affairs office in Australia, Otterson moved to the United States in 1991 to help oversee the church’s international public affairs from its Salt Lake City headquarters. In a church that operates worldwide with a lay clergy, Otterson has served twice as a stake president (leader of a group of church congregations), in both England and Australia. He is now a US citizen.

Changing People From the Inside Out

Jesus Christ did not come to the world to forcibly engineer social revolution or foment rebellion, but to effect spiritual regeneration.

Michael Otterson, Media relations director, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | 633 COMMENTS
May 13, 2007 at 11:32 AM
Marcus J. Borg holds the Hundere Chair in Religion and Culture in the Philosophy Department at Oregon State University. A fellow of the Jesus Seminar, he has served as national chair of the Historical Jesus Section of the Society of Biblical Literature and co-chair of its International New Testament Program Committee, and is past president of the Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars. The “On Faith” panelist is the author of 14 books, including Jesus: A New Vision, The God We Never Knew, God at 2000, The Heart of Christianity and the best-selling Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. Borg also is a regular columnist for www.beliefnet.com. His work has been translated into nine languages. His latest book, Jesus: The Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary, was published in November, 2006.

God's Non-Violent Revolutionary

Jesus was not a secular social revolutionary. He was God's revolutionary.

Marcus Borg, Former president, Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars | 44 COMMENTS
May 11, 2007 at 10:33 AM
Irish-born John Dominic Crossan is a professor emeritus in the religious studies department at DePaul University in Chicago. Between 1950 and 1969, he was a member of a 13th-century Roman Catholic religious order, the Servites, and remained an ordained priest from 1957 to 1969. He has delivered lectures to secular and lay audiences from Scandinavia to Australia to Japan to South Africa. The On Faith panelist has authored 23 books and his writings have been translated into 11 languages. His work focuses on the historical Jesus, earliest Christianity and the historical Paul. Core titles include “The Historical Jesus,” “The Birth of Christianity” and “In Search of Paul,” co-written with archaeologist Jonathan L. Reed. Dr. Crossan’s next book, “God & Empire: Jesus Against Rome Then and Now,” is scheduled for publication in February. The professor earned a doctor of divinity degree at St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Ireland and a humanities doctorate at Stetson University in Florida. The American Academy of Religion and DePaul and Stetson universities have recognized him with awards for scholarly excellence. His Web site is www.johndominiccrossan.com.

Accuracy and Inadequacy

Jesus—at least for myself as a Christian—exemplified the justice of God over against the injustice of imperial power.

John Dominic Crossan, Lecturer and professor emeritus, DePaul University | 43 COMMENTS
May 11, 2007 at 9:33 AM
Charles W. "Chuck" Colson is founder of Prison Fellowship, a Christian outreach ministry to the prison population of this country, as well as to ex-prisoners and crime victims. The "On Faith" panelist's daily radio commentary, BreakPoint, is aired daily on over a 1,000 radio outlets nationwide. Colson also is a syndicated columnist, lawyer, and author of 25 books, most recently The Faith (2008). He served as special counsel to the late President Richard M. Nixon (1969-73). After pleading guilty to a Watergate-related charge of obstruction of justice in 1974, Colson served seven months of a one to three-year federal prison sentence. His 1973 Christian conversion was documented in the internationally best-selling book and film, Born Again. He founded Prison Fellowship in 1976. In 1993, Colson was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion and donated the $1 million prize to Prison Fellowship. In the last 28 years, Colson has visited more than 600 prisons in 40 countries and, with the help of nearly 50,000 volunteers, has built Prison Fellowship into the world's largest prison outreach, serving the spiritual and practical needs of prisoners in 93 countries including the U.S.

A Revolutionary of Revolutionaries

His was a revolution not of principalities, but of the human heart.

Charles "Chuck" Colson, Founder, Prison Fellowship ministry | 53 COMMENTS
May 11, 2007 at 8:09 AM
The Rev. Dr. James Herbert Cooper is the 17th Rector of Trinity Church-St. Paul’s Chapel in the city of New York. Before coming to New York City, the On Faith panelist spent over 30 years as rector of Christ Church in Ponte Vedra, Fla., where he founded $52-million and $82-million nonprofit life-care facilities to assure quality of life and health care for the aging population in the region. Dr. Cooper serves on the Advisory Board for the Anglican Observer to the United Nations, Sailors’ Snug Harbor, Seamen’s Church Institute, St. Margaret’s House and John Heuss House. He has previously led on the board of directors of Florida Association of Homes for the Aging, Christ Church Foundation, Life Care Pastoral Services, FreshMinistries, United Way, Christian Healing Ministries, University of the South and Kanuga. In 2005 Cooper was bestowed an honorary doctorate from the General Theological Seminary in New York City and made Canon of the Cathedral in Jerusalem. He is a graduate of Washington & Lee University, and received his Master of Divinity and his Doctor of Ministry from the Virginia Theological Seminary. He lives in Lower Manhattan with his wife Tay and they have two grown children and two grandsons.

Jesus Taught Revolution in an Evolutionay Way

Jesus was supra-political, beyond our limited conception, and he was also concerned with our internal, personal transformation.

Jim Cooper, Rector, Trinity Church, New York City | 41 COMMENTS
May 11, 2007 at 7:36 AM
The Reverend William J. Byron, S.J., a former president of Catholic University, is on leave this year from his position as research professor at the Sellinger School of Business and Management, Loyola College in Maryland to serve as president of St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia. The “On Faith” panelist served as interim president of Loyola University , New Orleans in 2003-04 and for three years prior to that, was pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington , D.C. From 1992 to 2000, he taught "Social Responsibilities of Business" at Georgetown University , where he was Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Ethics and served as rector of the Georgetown Jesuit Community. He was president of Catholic University for a decade (1982-92). Byron writes a syndicated bi-weekly column, Looking Around , for Catholic News Service, and is the author of a dozen books, including A Book of Quiet Prayer (2006); The Power of Principles: Ethics in the New Corporate Culture (2006) and Answers from Within: Spiritual Guidelines for Managing Setbacks in Work and Life (1998) . A founding director and past chairman of Bread for the World , Byron was also named the 1999 recipient of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities' Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for his contributions to the advancement of Catholic higher education. In that same year, he received the Council of Independent Colleges' Academic Leadership Award. Byron, who holds a doctorate in economics as well as theology degrees, served in the U.S. Army's 508 th Parachute Infantry Regiment before entering the Jesuit order in 1950. He was ordained a priest in 1961.

Revolution of the Heart

In advancing this revolutionary objective, therefore, Jesus began with a call to personal conversion.

William J. Byron, Columnist and former president, Catholic University | 24 COMMENTS
May 10, 2007 at 9:18 AM
Martin E. Marty is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he taught religious history, chiefly in the Divinity School, for 35 years, and where the Martin Marty Center has been founded to promote “public religion” endeavors. For a decade prior to entering academia, the “On Faith” panelist served parishes in the west and northwest suburbs of Chicago as an ordained Lutheran pastor. Marty is the author of more than 50 books including Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America (1970), for which he won the National Book Award. His additional honors include the National Humanities Medal, the Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the University of Chicago Alumni Medal, the Distinguished Service Medal of the Association of Theological Schools, and the Order of Lincoln Medallion (Illinois’ top honor). Marty has served as president of the American Academy of Religion, the American Society of Church History, and the American Catholic Historical Association. He also has served on two U.S. Presidential Commissions and was director of the Fundamentalism Project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Public Religion Project at the University of Chicago. He is Senior Regent of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.

Social and Non-Violent

What the gospel portraits of Jesus show is that he "non-violently" was an upsetter for the sake of justice and love.

Martin Marty, Award-winning author and professor emeritus, University of Chicago | 31 COMMENTS
May 10, 2007 at 8:40 AM
Richard J. Mouw has served as president of Fuller Theological Seminary since 1993, after four years as provost and senior vice president. A philosopher, scholar, and author, the “On Faith” panelist has been recognized as an important voice among reform-oriented evangelicals. Mouw, who earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago, has a broad record of publication with 16 books, including Consulting the Faithful, and Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport and his articles have appeared in more than 50 journals and magazines. Currently he serves on the editorial board of Books and Culture as is a regular columnist on “Beliefnet.” Mouw has served on many councils and boards, including the Commission on Accreditation for the Association of Theological Schools (as chair) and the Council on Civil Society. He currently serves on advisory boards for Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, the International Justice Mission, and the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy.

Thinking Critically About Politics and Justice

Jesus wants us to think critically about accepted political and economic policies, as well as about widespread social practices.

Richard Mouw, President, Fuller Theological Seminary | 10 COMMENTS
May 10, 2007 at 7:06 AM
As editor of the Catholic weekly magazine "America" (americamagazine.org), Rev. Thomas J. Reese promoted discussion on current issues facing the Catholic Church and the world. The "On Faith" panelist is author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church. Father Reese is frequently quoted as an expert on Catholic issues. He is a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, where he is working on religion and politics. Besides his theological training as a Jesuit priest, he has a doctorate in political science from the University of California Berkeley. He once worked as a lobbyist for tax reform.

Revolutionary Love

The Jesus revolution was powered by love not by force.

Thomas J. Reese, S.J., Senior fellow Woodstock Theological Center, Jesuit priest | 44 COMMENTS
May 10, 2007 at 6:36 AM
Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite is president of Chicago Theological Seminary and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. She has been a professor of theology at the seminary for 20 years and director of its graduate degree center for five years. Her area of expertise is contextual theologies of liberation, specializing in issues of violence and violation. An ordained minister of the United Church of Christ since 1974, the “On Faith” panelist is the author or editor of thirteen books and has been a translator for two translations of the Bible. Her works include Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States (1996) and The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Translation (1995). Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Thistlethwaite has been working diligently to promote peace, including a presentation at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which appears in one of their special reports. Most recently she edited and contributed to Adam, Eve and the Genome: Theology in Dialogue with the Human Genome Project (2003).

Tip from Jesus: Watch the Money

Just watch what people do with their money and then go to the Bible and underline all the texts about wealth and poverty.

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, President, Chicago Theological Seminary | 105 COMMENTS
May 9, 2007 at 10:21 AM
Syndicated political columnist and “On Faith” panelist Cal Thomas has a twice-weekly column that appears in over 500 newspapers around the world. A graduate of American University, Thomas is a veteran of broadcast and print journalism. He has worked for NBC, CNBC, PBS television, and the Fox News Channel where he currently appears on the weekly media critique show, “Fox News Watch.” Thomas has authored ten books, including Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America?, A Freedom Dream, Public Persons and Private Lives, Book Burning, Liberals for Lunch, Occupied Territory, The Death of Ethics in America, Uncommon Sense and Things That Matter Most. His latest was The Wit and Wisdom of Cal Thomas. In 1995, Thomas was honored with a Cable Ace Award nomination for Best Interview Program. Other awards include a George Foster Peabody team reporting award, and awards from both the Associated Press and United Press International. Common Ground, which Thomas writes for USA Today, offers insightful discussion of contentious social issues with his friend and political counterpart, Bob Beckel. The two are working together on a book to be published in 2007.

Salvation the True Liberation

A person who engages in political revolution, but dies unredeemed, spends eternity apart from God.

Cal Thomas, Syndicated political columnist | 129 COMMENTS
May 9, 2007 at 9:48 AM
Susan Jacoby is the author of "The Age of American Unreason," to be published in February by Pantheon. She began her writing career as a reporter for The Washington Post, and has been a contributor to a wide range of periodicals and newspapers for more than 25 years on topics including law, religion, medicine, aging, women's rights, political dissent in the Soviet Union and Russian literature. Jacoby has been the recipient of grants from the Guggenheim, Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2001-2002, she was named a fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Jacoby’s other books include Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (2004); Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1984, and Half-Jew: A Daughter's Search for Her Family's Buried Past. She is working on a book about the relationship between American anti-intellectualism and political polarization, to be published by Pantheon in 2008. Her photo is by Chris Ramir.

The Man Nobody Knows

Jesus, it seems, is just about anyone any Christian wants him to be. Poor man.

Susan Jacoby, Author and reporter | 157 COMMENTS
May 9, 2007 at 8:09 AM
Nicholas Thomas Wright is Anglican Bishop of Durham, England. The "On Faith" panelist taught New Testament studies for 20 years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities before becoming Dean of Lichfeld in 1994. He was named Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey in 2000, and consecrated bishop in 2003. He has written hundreds of articles and more than 40 books, including Judas and the Gospel of Jesus (2006) and Evil and the Justice of God (2006). He has served as Visiting Professor at numerous institutions including Harvard Divinity School, Gregorian University in Rome and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dr Wright holds four degrees, including a divinity doctorate from Oxford University, and honorary degrees from several universities and colleges.

Don't Limit Jesus to This World

Jesus was a social revolutionary in the same way that Mozart was brilliant at counterpoint.

Nicholas T. Wright, Anglican Bishop of Durham, England | 47 COMMENTS
May 9, 2007 at 7:52 AM

READER RESPONSE

» Thinking out Loud | Jesus - Social revolutionary? Not even close. Didn't his followers try to crown him as king, and he rejected it? Didn't he say his kingdom was ...
» temple dimkpa Ineh | I am a Nigerian living in São Paulo Brazil. Yesterday as I was driving home from my office, I drove past the visiting Pope Benedict XVI's convoy as he...
» candide | Jesus was no social revolutionary but allowed himself to be part of a political movement against Rome. His death was the result. There is evidence t...
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On Faith is an interactive conversation on religion moderated by Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn of The Washington Post. It is produced jointly by Newsweek and washingtonpost.com, as is PostGlobal, a conversation on international affairs. Please send your comments, questions and suggestions for On Faith to editor and producer David Waters.