The Seven Jesuses I Have Known
(Excerpts from an article about a lecture
given by Brian McLaren, author. 10/2006)
The Seven Jesuses I Have Known" was included in on e
of McLaren's books entitled, "A Generous Orthodoxy." In his seminar,
McLaren described the seven different images and representation of Jesus he ahs
encountered throughout his studies and life, each promoted by a different
Christian group.
Beginning with his roots, the first Jesus was
evangelical. This Jesus was, according to McLaren, “the Jesus that was
born to die…the Jesus who saves us by dying.” Using personal anecdotes,
McLaren illustrated how, to him, the evangelical church was represented by a
cross. The cross represents how God accepts all people’s sins because
Jesus bore humanity’s burden.
The second Jesus McLaren described was the Pentecostal Jesus, who saves by
sending the Holy Spirit. “The idea with the Pentecostal Jesus is that his
spirit is active in our own lives and world. The Holy Spirit is present
doing the kinds of things that Jesus did when he walked on this earth,” said
McLaren.
The Catholic Jesus followed, saving humanity through death. McLaren
discussed how people are held captive by the fear of death. “By raising
Jesus from the dead, all of those oppressive systems are neutralized and we are
liberated from the fear,” he said. According to McLaren, the Catholic
Jesus, also know as Christus Victor, represents victory over death, which means
liberty for humanity.
McLaren introduced the Eastern Orthodox Jesus with an icon of Mary holding a
baby Jesus, who more resembled a man than infant. Jesus, said McLaren,
the second person in the trinity, born through Mary’s womb, represents God
coming into humanity, creation, matter, energy and culture. The fourth
Jesus saves through incarnation.
In describing the fifth Jesus, McLaren discussed his encounter with a liberal
protestant who was able to understand McLaren’s evangelical perception of
Jesus. McLaren, however, was unable to understand the liberal
protestant’s views.
“An evangelical will say Jesus was born and then fast-forward to his death,”
said McLaren. “The life and the teachings of Jesus get overlooked.”
Protestants, however, believe that the world is suffering from ignorance and
lack of enlightenment. “What Jesus says becomes knowledge and insight and
wisdom,” said McLaren. “This has been minimized.” Therefore, the
liberal protestant Jesus saves by teaching.
The sixth Jesus is the Anabaptist Jesus who saves through community building.
He saves by calling together disciples in order to carry out his teachings.
“It is important that there be a community that embodies the teachings of
Jesus,” said McLaren. Using the recent school shootings in the Amish community
as an example, McLaren discussed the importance of absorbing violence and
forgiving as a community.
The final Jesus is that of liberation theology, which was previously depicted
as a dangerous mixture of Christian faith with Marxist theology. However,
McLaren mentioned, this viewpoint comes from Christians who mix religion with
capitalism and are also willing to kill people in the name of their religion.
This Jesus saves by siding with the poor and oppressed. During this part
of his seminar, McLaren also discussed biases saying, “The perspective that we
have colors the way we read the Bible…God didn’t work with empirical
powers. God worked with oppressed people in order to get liberation.”
According to McLaren, many people grow up feeling cramped because of their
acceptance of only one image of Jesus. However, he noted, it is important
to be surrounded by and accepting of all these images of Jesus because they can
help people to love Jesus in different ways. “The deepest part of our
identity is becoming followers of Jesus,” said McLaren.