"Render Unto Caesar - The Struggle Over Christ and Culture In The New Testament" by John Dominic Crossan, published by Harper One.
Just finished reading "Render Unto Caesar - The Struggle Over Christ and Culture In The New Testament" by John Dominic Crossan, published by Harper One.
"Render Unto Caesar" was actually one of three books I purchased at the Barnes and Noble in Charleston, South Carolina when I rushed up there back in June when Selma Franz, my adorable baby sister, was in the hospital.
How Jesus and his followers interacted and participated in their society during their lifetimes and how Christians have carried on the example set by those who they worshiped right on up to modern times in the 20th and 21st centuries has always intrigued me. Jesus and his apostles admonished their followers to seek converts by their actions, not their words. They also followed the Jewish tradition of not seeking converts. Which has always been an amusing contradiction to me because of the anti-Semitism and Jew-hatred my family and I experienced during the 1960s - on up to present day. Though my parents, especially my Father - experienced it far longer. It was especially harder for Dad because he converted to Judaism prior to marrying Mom and that initially didn't sit well with his family who was and still is, snake handling primitive Southern Baptists. I can still remember being told by angry mothers that I couldn't play with their children because I killed Jesus. So Christians have always amused me with their expressions of hate in a religion that supposedly professes love. Now to be fair, not all Christians are like this, and it's the bad ones who usually make the news.
Crossan examines a rather old notion that has been around for decades, if not longer - that America is going through a similar period of decline like Rome did centuries ago because of a lack of adherence to societal values, and that lead ultimately to the collapse of Rome. Crossan choose to look at this through Jesus' statement of "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" and who it was a trap designed to cause Jesus' arrest and subsequent execution - which ultimately happened anyways. Now Crossan is looking at this through the eyes of a Christian. Nothing wrong with that. Jesus rather expertly threaded the needle and dodged for that particular moment in time, the threat to his ministry and life with his answer, which also provided his apostle Paul with a rather unique loophole on how to get around that - for some Jews - pesky issue about keeping Kosher.
Oh, potential trigger warning for devout Christians, Crossan does correctly point out that various parts of the Acts of the Apostles were written after the original apostles died through martyrdom.
It helps to have a basic knowledge of the New Testament - I had read it when I was in junior high school because I wanted to know why Christians hated Jews and it infuriated my Christian friends at the time that it didn't convert me. Mom, especially Dad, exploded when they found out I had read the New Testament. They weren't comfortable with me learning about other religions - which is odd, considering that they encouraged me reading Japanese fairy tales.
So will America fall? Well, all civilizations have risen, fallen, and risen again. It's a historical fact due to natural and societal causes. Yet modern day faiths have endured for thousands of years. Something naysayers should consider when they pay their taxes and render onto Caesar what is Caesar's.
Crossan has written a rather evocative look at one of Jesus's most grounded statements.
Highly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Render-Unto-Ca...
"Render Unto Caesar" was actually one of three books I purchased at the Barnes and Noble in Charleston, South Carolina when I rushed up there back in June when Selma Franz, my adorable baby sister, was in the hospital.
How Jesus and his followers interacted and participated in their society during their lifetimes and how Christians have carried on the example set by those who they worshiped right on up to modern times in the 20th and 21st centuries has always intrigued me. Jesus and his apostles admonished their followers to seek converts by their actions, not their words. They also followed the Jewish tradition of not seeking converts. Which has always been an amusing contradiction to me because of the anti-Semitism and Jew-hatred my family and I experienced during the 1960s - on up to present day. Though my parents, especially my Father - experienced it far longer. It was especially harder for Dad because he converted to Judaism prior to marrying Mom and that initially didn't sit well with his family who was and still is, snake handling primitive Southern Baptists. I can still remember being told by angry mothers that I couldn't play with their children because I killed Jesus. So Christians have always amused me with their expressions of hate in a religion that supposedly professes love. Now to be fair, not all Christians are like this, and it's the bad ones who usually make the news.
Crossan examines a rather old notion that has been around for decades, if not longer - that America is going through a similar period of decline like Rome did centuries ago because of a lack of adherence to societal values, and that lead ultimately to the collapse of Rome. Crossan choose to look at this through Jesus' statement of "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" and who it was a trap designed to cause Jesus' arrest and subsequent execution - which ultimately happened anyways. Now Crossan is looking at this through the eyes of a Christian. Nothing wrong with that. Jesus rather expertly threaded the needle and dodged for that particular moment in time, the threat to his ministry and life with his answer, which also provided his apostle Paul with a rather unique loophole on how to get around that - for some Jews - pesky issue about keeping Kosher.
Oh, potential trigger warning for devout Christians, Crossan does correctly point out that various parts of the Acts of the Apostles were written after the original apostles died through martyrdom.
It helps to have a basic knowledge of the New Testament - I had read it when I was in junior high school because I wanted to know why Christians hated Jews and it infuriated my Christian friends at the time that it didn't convert me. Mom, especially Dad, exploded when they found out I had read the New Testament. They weren't comfortable with me learning about other religions - which is odd, considering that they encouraged me reading Japanese fairy tales.
So will America fall? Well, all civilizations have risen, fallen, and risen again. It's a historical fact due to natural and societal causes. Yet modern day faiths have endured for thousands of years. Something naysayers should consider when they pay their taxes and render onto Caesar what is Caesar's.
Crossan has written a rather evocative look at one of Jesus's most grounded statements.
Highly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Render-Unto-Ca...
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