religion, subtoot
Christmas, if you actually read Christian scripture, *absolutely* involves politics.
Child of probably-teenage mum, born in a stable due to overcrowding. Census (i.e. data collection and surveillance) by a foreign occupying power. Shepherds, that is, working class people working nights, the first to find out about it. And, of course, the whole thing about the slaughter of the innocents and the family becoming refugees to Egypt.
religion, subtoot
@artsyhonker The phrase from the Bible that best catches the spirit of Christianity is probably this one:
"There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)
It's all about abandoning tribalism, because we're all essentially the same. Yet tribalism continues to come back like shit stuck to a shoe, be it left vs right, races, classes or whatever divisions people creatively come up with...
religion, subtoot, Christianity
@artsyhonker Couldn't agree more...
re: religion, subtoot, Christianity
@artsyhonker @kravietz I enjoyed the whole thread up to this post but I have to say, "St. John's Blog" is a perfect nickname, I love it
re: religion, subtoot, Christianity
St Paul's Blog!
Paul was writing letters to communities, dealing with stuff as it came up. We don't have the letters he was responding to.
And textual analysis shows there were some, er, guest posts.
re: religion, subtoot, Christianity
@InspectorCaracal @kravietz The four Gospels were written later and are more coherent as texts, though of course they don't all agree on every detail. They were likely written for different audiences.
And of course, there are texts that *didn't* make it into the standard canon,and that gets really interesting, though it isn't an area I know a lot about.
religion, subtoot, Christianity
@kravietz That's one of the better bits of what I think of as "St Paul's Blog", and certainly in the Gospel accounts Jesus opposes hierarchy often.
I might point to the opening of John's Gospel as more central to Christianity, or even John 3:16 -- For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
But the crapitalist caricature of Christianity is just that: a caricature.