Foundations of Christianity

p. 4:

     I do not share the view of the German theologian Rudolf Bultmann who said that the historical facts about Jesus do not really matter. Quite the opposite! Christianity will not remain faithful to Jesus if it insists anything that contradicts his living, historical example.

p. 42:

     … It also seems clear that a thorough understanding of the socio-economic and political realities of first-century Palestine, realities which cannot be properly gauged without the essential ingredient of the Jewish religion, will go a long way to help us find the true Jesus of history. If one does not find Jesus the Galilean Jew of the first century, one does not find either the Jesus of the Christian faith and of the historical record.

p. 64:

     The very notion that Jesus taught and lived one way publicly, then taught and behaved different in secrecy, thus contradicting the historical record, is not only ludicrous, but also very much part of the Gnostic penchant for secret revelations and divine knowledge as privilege of loners and hermits.

p. 135:

     The tradition surrounding the celebration of Christmas is one of the fundamental myths of Christianity that no one wants to part with and it carries profound truths about the meaning of Incarnation. They should be interpreted historically, but not literally. These traditions include the “massacre of the Innocent” and the Visit of the Magi.” Such stories contain definite historical contours and facts that should be viewed as normative, that is, they spell out the dreadful reality of first-century Palestine and the hopes of a future anchored on the promises of God to Israel and on the coming of the “New King of Bethlehem.”

p. 169:

    The fact, then, that before his crucifixion, Jesus was not seen as God walking on earth, not even by his closest associates, should give second thought to those who “factualize” or “historicize” much of the New testament by portraying Jesus in full possession of divine powers and, therefore, hardly as a human being. He is an example to us in everything, including our faith which sometimes leave us in the dark night of doubt and temptation, Yet, we believe, with the Christian tradition, that Jesus was sinless. His whole life and death were a demonstration of love and of doing the will of the Father. Since it is sin that keeps us away from God, Jesus’ intimacy with the Father, about which the gospels clearly attest, was an integral part of his life. This does not mean that He was privy to the mysteries and the powers of God before his crucifixion, that He knew everything, or that he could not make a mistake, but rather that He lived in and exemplified the re4ality of God as no human ever did.

p. 177:

     … Thus, despite Jesus’ refusal to resort to violence, He was ultimately led to the cross as the one whose appeal to the crowds was seen as the threat of a popular revolt that might overthrow both the Jewish and the Roman powerbrokers. There can be no doubt that political reasons were the decisive ones (Jn 1: 49; 6: 15; 12: 13). There is a mountain of evidence leading to the conclusion about a direct link between Jesus’ public ministry and his crucifixion. The crime for which He was crucified was insurrection: “He is inflaming the people with his teaching all over Judea; it has come all the way from Galilee, where it started, down to here.”