The Universal Jesus
Written by Major Tom
Filed under: Religion & Society
April 14, 2006
(First posted on March 25, 2005)
In these days of Lent, I could not help but empathize with the occasion, as I likewise bring myself before the solemnity of faith, in the manner that I see fit. In this connection, let me present to you an article that I have read some years ago in an issue of Newsweek Magazine. It was titled “The Other Jesus” and was written by Kenneth L. Woodward in the March 27, 2000 issue of the said magazine. I have been a voracious reader of many periodicals in the past—both local and international—and of all the articles that I have read, this one turned out to be the most memorable for me and the one that I have especially kept not only because it was about faith and religion (which magazines like Newsweek and Time rarely venture into), but mainly because it was a very informative and insightful piece of writing. There is something about this article that I could not point to, which is the reason why I always go back to it every now and then, every time I go rummaging through old issues of magazines and newspapers. I don’t know why I always do these things. Delving into old papers and documents had become an annual ritual for me that without doing it even for once, my year is not complete. I like the feeling of going through old things that I have piled in boxes and huge envelopes because they almost always remind me of past things that endear to me, that I could go all day excavating through old books and photographs and the dust coming from them gives such a unique and amorous scent. This year, at this particular point in time, when the kids are mostly home for the school break and summer provides a lot of empty hours for empty pleasures, I went backtracking again, through piles of old magazines and found this one magazine that contained the article that became my favorite of all time.
Due to copyright restrictions, I won’t be able to present here the verbatim content of the article “The Other Jesus” but I am giving you the synopsis, as best as I could. The online archives section of the Newsweek Magazine have this article stacked but it isn’t free. If you have online subscription to it, you’ll have free access to past issues.
In Catholicism, our Lord Jesus Christ is revered as the Son of God, the most recognized member of the trinity and He is the Redeemer of Mankind. In Pope John Paul’s own words, “Christ is absolutely original and absolutely unique. If He were only a wise man like Socrates, if He were a prophet like Muhammad, if He were enlightened like Buddha, without doubt He would not be what He is (today).” The Gospel Christ is the most well-known personage of the Messiah and many of us had learn to know Him as the man who was born of a virgin, who healed the sick and made the blind see; One who brought back to life a man who had already gone dead; who once walked on water and calmed the storms in the sea; and who gave His life to humanity in order that the sins of the world may be taken away. This is the Lord Christ, as we know him.
But Jesus Christ is by Himself a universal icon that is also accepted and embraced by many other religions of the world.
For instance, Jesus Christ is one of the most revered prophets in Islam and His name is mentioned in the Quran in the most respectful of manner. Moslems fully believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary through a miraculous birth under a palm tree and that he had already spoken words when he was still an infant to the effect that He was indeed sent by God. What was a little unusual is that when there came a time that many doubted the birth of Jesus by a virgin, many Moslem scholars came to the front in order to defend and affirm this miraculous birth. If in the Gospels Jesus Christ was crucified and died on the cross, to resurrect three days later, the Quran on the one hand declared that He did not die at all and was in fact saved by Allah before He was crucified and was ascended directly to heaven. Moslems of all sects believe that Jesus Christ is the one prophet that will come back when the end of the world becomes near and will defeat the anti-Christ. To them, among all prophets and messengers, only He and Mary were untouched by Satan.
In Bhuddism, many Zen practitioners see both Jesus and Buddha as brethrens in their quest to spread the teaching of “universal love”. Parallels in their lives are reiterated as they were similarly born in a miraculous manner to chaste women, and both left home for the wilderness and were tempted by a Satan figure. Like Jesus, Buddha also work wonders and preached compassion, selflessness and altruism and had challenged the religious establishments pertaining to his time. A Russian anthropologist had once postulated that Jesus had one time in His life paid a visit to a Buddhist seminary in Bhuttan and His short sojourn there was even recorded in one of the documents written by monks there. These “findings” has gone largely unconfirmed of course, but this was clearly an attempt to inculcate the person of Jesus Christ into the context of Buddhism.
In Hinduism, Jesus takes the form of a legendary shaman that once journeyed to India and learned the ways of attaining god-consciousness. Many Hindus are drawn to the figure of Jesus as an image of compassion and non-violence—virtues that are taught in Hinduism. For them, Christ-consciousness, Krishna-consciousness, and God-consciousness are one and the same thing. If Jesus Christ had propagated the singular teaching of “Love thy neighbors”, Hindu philosophy adheres to the notion that says, “You and I are the same things.”
Jesus Christ as a revered icon is a more complicated affair in Judaism because for one, Christ had challenged its very norms and principles when He was here on Earth. For generations, the teachers of Judaism had tried to isolate Jesus Christ as a trivial revolutionary that spoke of heresy and religious rebelliousness and had caution every Jew to distance from Him. But in time, many reformists in Judaism had started to accept Jesus as an “admirable teacher” and one who personifies the sufferings and redemption of the Jewish people, through many struggles like the Holocaust and statelessness. And besides, Jesus Christ was a Jew Himself and that fact is undeniable by itself and therefore, Judaism remain to have a claim on His greatness.
This is the “Universal Jesus”; a figure that transcends not only geographical partitions but also penetrates the restrictions brought about by the differences of faiths in this world. He may not be seen in the same exact breath by every religion in this world, but a closer examination shows that He had become so revered by many that not only Christianity has a claim on Him, but also Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and even Judaism. All great religions of the world embrace Him as a religious icon, one way or another, in their own respective ways.
Many years ago, actually in the early 70’s, there was an article in a magazine (I forgot what publication) titled “Was Jesus the first Hippie?” or something like that. The article discussed his life, views, and teachings which at that particular time was considered radical by the Jewish religious heirarchy. Man! I wish I could recall what else was in that article…
Oh by the way, I like that INQ7 reader on the sidebar. I might out one up myself.
Just a suggestion, you might want to make the post title smaller. Mas malaki yata compared to the blog title on your header.
Have a happy Easter Tom…
Comment by snglguy — April 15, 2006 @ 1:18 am
HAPPY EASTER!!! (I’m looking for my Easter bunny) c”,)
Comment by trickyboy — April 16, 2006 @ 12:35 am
Hi snglguy: Jesus was so radical to the Jewish community then that the very act of eating pork meat (a very taboo thing for Jews upto this time, he had suddenly allowed, saying that whatever comes in and does not kill, is not at all sinful.
He was like a thunderstorm coming from a moody sky, hitting the Pharisees with thunderbolt and lightning. It must have been this particular “rebelliousness” that had played a major factor to His crucifixion.
On the story title, I guess I’d make it a bit smaller as you suggested. I had actually planned it to be so huge, in order that it catches the eye like a banner story or headline. Maybe a little resizing wouldn’t hurt.
Have a nice easter sunday din pare. Me and the kids would do some easter egg hunting tommorow. Mahirap pala mag-paint ng eggs, nakakangawit.
To Trickyboy: Happy Easter too down there in Cebu trickyboy…Hope you’d find that bunny and I hope it ain’t over the ocean…
Comment by Major Tom — April 17, 2006 @ 1:40 am
The fact that the 3 books - the Torah
( Old Testament) revered and believed by Jews, then the New Testament
( Christ’s coming -Christians believe in the Old and New Testament) and the Koran ( Prophet Mohammad’s revelation - Moslems believe in the Torah and the New Testament minus the diety of Jesus) it boils down that the 3 great religions all came from the tribe of Abraham. It is not surprising that most Jews don’t believe in Jesus because they never believed that the messiah ever came.
In the book The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception, historians believe that Jesus’ sect - the Essenes were Jews who practiced an extreme form of Judaism. They lived in communes and did not have lots of posessions, they were humble, celibate and ascetic and for the most part lived to propagate their faith. Historians believe that James, the brother of Jesus who wrote the gospel of James was at odds with Paul the missionary. James clung to traditional Essene Judaism while Paul taught new brand of theology by preaching the diety of Jesus in his missions. Historians believe that it was Paul the apostle who was responsible for making Jesus God. The Christianity we know today is supposedly the work of Paul who made inroads into Europe and ultimately Rome with the conversion of Constantine the Great. It is no wonder why there are not many Christians in Palestine/Israel. Most Christians are thought to be Pauline Christians because we knew Christianity through Rome and the Spanish conquests and missions.
Historical records reveal that there was another apostle - Thomas who went to the east, as far as India. He wrote the gospel of Thomas which is not part of the (Pauline) bible we know. Many Christians in the middle east - from Iraq all the way to India call themselves Christians of St. Thomas. They focus mainly on the gospels of St Thomas.
Historians spend their lifetime reconciling the biblical and the historical Jesus and they have failed so far. Jesus for them still remains a mystery.
Comment by bw — April 17, 2006 @ 1:56 pm
just taking the time to comment. i like this entry.
Comment by the caterpillar — April 17, 2006 @ 2:57 pm
To BW: Nice and very elaborative info BW. Actually I have read some of the apochrypychal gospels and for certain, they contain many surprising elements, like Jesus having intimate relations with Mary Magdalene. In my mind, there might be a lot of interpretations on the life and works of Jesus Christ but what is important is His singular teaching of love and charity, as well as brotherhood amongst all men.
To Caterpillar: Thanks for the kind note…Have a nice week ahead..
Comment by Major Tom — April 17, 2006 @ 7:53 pm
You may want to look into the gospel of St. Thomas. Historians consider it a great historical account of Jesus apart from the bible. There are similarities with the gospels of Matthew and John but historians are quick to conclude that Thomas never spoke about Jesus as God.
Comment by bw — April 17, 2006 @ 10:25 pm
Universal Jesus! Perhaps its because He created the universe after all…hehe
Kidding aside I like your post explaining the differences of how other religions perceived Jesus. ‘So informative and balance.
Being a bible believing Christian and a learning one, It’s great thing to know that the Jesus of Chrisianism I met died but did not remain dead! He’s risen unlike the other persons who founded different “isms” scattered today.
My Jesus lives….
Hey! am not religious, ‘just love the Lord!
God Bless….
Comment by Flex J! — April 18, 2006 @ 5:24 am
Is it me or the fonts gotten bigger????
Comment by an2net — April 18, 2006 @ 3:25 pm
Gandang Araw!
Just informing you that I already moved in to a new domain name: www.bangketarepublique.com and hope you can update your link.
Thanks.
Comment by gari ng bangketa republique — April 19, 2006 @ 1:42 am
very informative post. we’ll never know eveything about Jesus and God. some mystery always remain. but with faith, it doesn’t matter. cheers
Comment by ka uro — April 19, 2006 @ 11:45 pm
To BW: Actually,Ive read about it alreaday sometime ago but not thoroughly. It was very interesting and very dissimilar to the other known gospels. If I am not mistaken, it is the Gospel of John that had really made some declaration that Jesus is God, like that line that starts “In the beginning was the Word..and then the word became….”
I’ll try rereading the writings of St. Thomas as you suggested BW,..I’ve got a soft copy in my hard drive…
To Flex J: Jesus is well alive and that’s according to the belief of every major religion…And maybe this will reassure us somehow about the ressurection of the soul…
To An2net: It has gotten bigger An2net, just some design thing. Maybe I’ll try resizing it a bit later.
To Gari: Thanks for informing me and congrats on your new site.
To Ka Uro: Indeed Ka Uro, faith is hugely mysterious and what’s more mysterious is how many of us still believes despite this mystery…It’s the greatest mystery I dare say…
Comment by Major Tom — April 20, 2006 @ 4:29 am
Major Tom - it is always a challenge to see the other side of the coin. This will test the person how unshakeable his faith is. I have always been wary of people or friends of mine who think I am denigrating the faith by entertaining suggestions from historians. I don’t think historians are evil - that’s their preoccupation, what they do for a living. There is nothing wrong with Christianity. and it is often the people who call themslves Christians who misrepresent Christianity. Thanks for your post - it allowed people to express themselves.
Comment by bw — April 23, 2006 @ 10:19 pm
Good design!
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