Elaine Pagels (remember her) is out with another book Miracles and Wonders which purports to answer the question of who Jesus was (note the past tense here for someone she is sure is no longer alive). Imagine my surprise when her answer is we may never know. Of course, the reason we may never know is that Pagels does not grant much credibility or truth to the Scriptures which claim to have been written by those who knew Jesus best and who insist He is still alive. Read this snippet from Amazon trying to sell you the book:
The book reads like a historical mystery, with each chapter
addressing a fascinating question and answering it based on the gospels
Jesus's followers left behind. Why is Jesus said to have had a virgin
birth? Why do we say he rose from the dead? Did his miracles really
happen and what did they mean?
The story Pagels tells is
thrilling and tense. Not just does Jesus comes to life but his
desperate, hunted followers do as well. We realize that some of the most
compelling details of Jesus's life are the explanations his disciples
created to paper over inconvenient facts. So Jesus wasn't illegitimate,
his mother conceived by God; Jesus's body wasn't humiliatingly left to
rot and tossed into a common grave—no, he rose from the dead and was
seen whole by his followers; Jesus isn't a failed messiah, his kingdom
is a metaphor: he lives in us. These necessary fabrications were the
very details and promises that electrified their listeners and helped
his followers' numbers grow.
In Miracles and Wonder, Pagels does more than solve a historical mystery. She sheds light on Jesus's enduring power to inspire and attract.
She insists that inconvenient facts papered over the well-meaning by lying disciples are the problem to knowing Jesus. Surely the problem is just the opposite. An 80 something year old woman who has spent a career doubting every word of Scripture and casting aspersions on the integrity of the authors of the New Testament makes Jesus into a novelty but a sham as well. She well represents others who have likewise spent their lives trying to impugn the Bible, cast doubt upon its facts, and then insist that none of it really matters to who Jesus was or why people are still interested in Him. Like I said, how can you claim to keep the faith when you dismantle the very foundation on which that faith is built? Do us all a favor. Don't buy the book and add to her income. Don't be a part of her scam.
1 comment:
May the Lord have mercy on her.
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