The author's prestige makes me shaky a bit! However I have severe problems with his hypothesis.
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Remembering a glorious rebel
V.R. Krishna Iyer
Was not the kingdom of god that Jesus held up but the forerunner to socialism, social justice, secularism and democracy? He was a raging egalitarian, an invisible socialist, and an economic democrat.
This sounds similar to what the Thaparites start off as : raise speculative questions about a particular historical process, use selective narratives that support answering the speculation in the affirmative and ignore those which do not, and then construct a new narrative where the speculation itself is interwoven as truth.
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Jesus, born of humble parents in Bethlehem, rose as a glorious phenomenon. He became a world wonder of spiritual-temporal revolution against an imperial establishment and a corrupt priestly order. Judas Iscariot betrayed his master for a few pieces of silver. Every barbarity from those treacherous days still exists, indeed in magnified malignancy, to victimise the have-not humanity and slay the radical humanist and activist.
Here historical Jesus and literary Jesus appears to be mixed up and the author is not making it clear whether he is referring to one or the other - for each will have to be supported by appropriate reference and arguments. We do not know if the historical Jesus "was a glorious phenomenon" in his day. Whatever became of his teachings as codified finally into the "spiritual-temporal revolution" as textually handed down to us was definitely shaped by an exclusive and ultra conservative religious establishment of "bishops" working under the watchful eyes of an emperor known to history for his ruthlessness and imperial thrust. Judas is claimed to be the betrayer in the gospels selected by this conclave of Bishops, and the other pre Nicaean strands of Christianity declared heretic and ruthlessly exterminated did turn up very alternative and contradictory depictions of Judas.
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Lofty testament
For all of humankind, Jesus’ magnificent, yet militant, teaching was a lofty testament of egalitarian liberation from obscurantist faith, authoritarian politics, theological orthodoxy and big business freebooting. Similarly, the ring of his message constituted a de facto revolt against Roman imperialism, absolutist injustice and priest-proud godism. He stood for a higher culture marked by a sacred, sublime, compassionate ethos, and a divinity of humanity that is free from crass, class-mired materialism and gross, greedy, grabbing riches. This rare man of Nazareth resisted Jewish ecclesiastical domination, opposed discrimination among brothers and demanded, in God’s name, socio-economic justice. This is the essence of the Jesus jurisprudence of human dignity, inner divinity and fraternal obligation to help every brother in distress.
The only contemporary record by Josephus, refers to a "troublemaker" from Nazareth. But even more than that the problem becomes why such a "lofty testament" (if it was really delivered by Jesus at his time in this form) invariably led to its consolidation as the foremost arm of empire building or preserving tottering authoritarian regimes. The two major formative thrusts that have shaped surviving Christianity is the consolidation under Constantine and Carolus Magnus - both had to impose a very very bloody conversion regime to get it accepted "universally" - why did commoner Germans/Saxons resist this lofty egalitarian liberation - as far as we know from Gaius Julius Caesar and Tacitus, they led a far more egalitarian life than those who brought Christianity to them.
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Born into a carpenter’s family, Jesus lived a sage and simple life and chose his disciples from a weaker section of society — indigent fishermen. He symbolised a revolutionary change in the theological-temporal establishment and advocated social justice and divinity, dignity and equity in the social order.
Unfortunately not all seem to be fishermen - if we do not forget Mary Magdalene (Paul was a later convert who was an early persecutor). Sages and simple life do not seem naturally placed with supposed "prostitutes" (as per most major existing Christian sects) as expected in "western spiritualism" - although quite well known and much older in tradition in the East - think someone called the Buddha.
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Such a transformation was the truth of the kingdom of heaven, which was a challenge to the Roman Empire, the Jewish priestocracy and the arbitrary justice system that then prevailed. H.G Wells wrote: “This doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven, which was the main teaching of Jesus, is certainly one of the most revolutionary doctrines that ever stirred and changed human thought. It is small wonder if, the world of that time [and of our time, if this writer may add] failed to grasp its full significance, and recoiled in dismay from even a half apprehension of its tremendous challenges to the established habits and institutions of mankind.”
Rare daring
Jesus, the glorious rebel, proclaimed the reality of a universal moral order. He called it the kingdom of heaven and told the people that the kingdom of god was indeed within them. He outraged the hypocrites who did their commerce inside the temples and the shrines. He drove them out with rare daring. Now, right before our eyes, our temples and churches are again centres of big business.
It would be revolutionary if it had never been discussed before. Even forgetting Buddha's "universal moral order" the practical implication as the Buddha supposedly saw of the "Mahadhamma", a host of Jewish "prophets" had been prophesying about the "Kingdom of Heaven" on "earth" long before the arrival of Jesus.
The next few paragraphs appear to be talking about the literary Jesus, and there is no way of establishing whether this was definitely not part of a general or prevalent lore of spiritual ideals followed by various contemporary Jewish sects.
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Barabbas jurisprudence
The abolition of poverty is a socialist feature of the societal structure. In order to wipe every tear of grief from every eye, you need a social transformation and an economic regeneration, a special concern for women and children, and a rage against those who rob the people’s resources. This is the majesty and humanity of true spirituality that was absent during the era of Emperor Tiberius. It was his administration and justice delivery system, presided over in the region by Pontius Pilate, which decreed, with perverse judicial power and under pressure from the priestly class and in exercise of state authority that Jesus, who argued for the kingdom of heaven, be put to the cross. When treason was the charge and the priestly order was exposed by the accused, there was terrific pressure on the Governor-judge to sentence him. The same judge set free Barabbas. Even today innocence suffers state punishment and robbery rides state power. Barabbas jurisprudence is in currency even today.
This is frankly "b*******". I am really sorry to say, the learned author has not kept up on his historical studies. The Roman governor at this upswinging phase of Roman empire, under pressure of the locals? He does not show any weakness in dealing with locals and faced definitely with much larger "rebellions". Many scholars think that it was the Romans who insisted on getting rid of Jesus - and that the populace demanded Jesus's release. Does the author know the full name of Barabbas?
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Jesus advocated the unity and fraternity of humanity, like the doctrine of Advaita that Adi Sankara propagated as an upanishadic fundamental. Not only did he strike at patriotism and the bonds of family loyalty in the name of God’s universal fatherhood and the brotherhood of all mankind, his teaching condemned all the gradations of the economic system, all private wealth, and personal advantage. He said: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”
Unity and fraternity of humanity as propounded in the surviving doctrines of Christianity is completely diffferent from "Advaita of Adi Shankara". However what is the interpretation of "give Caesar his due, give God, his"?
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Yet, Jesus if born today will meet Pilate’s justice yet again. Barabbas is in power everywhere again. Judas the pretentious disciple and arch-betrayer is a subtle and slight presence practising diplomacy — the Cross in one hand and nuke bomb in the other. The terrorist incarnation today masquerades as the ruler of the earth.
For some Barabbas might have actually played a role in making "resurrection" possible. According to the Nag Hammadi library of papyri - the so-called Gospel of Judas indicates that Judas could have been the most favourite disciple who alone understood the "gnostic" teaching of Jesus and was instructed by Jesus to carry out the whole "betrayal" so that Jesus's "undying spirit" could be "released" from the prsion of his "physical body". He could have committed suicide to "join" his "friend/guide" or been "despatched" by other jealous/irate "disciples".
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Resurrection, not in the lexical or biblical sense, but in the grand moral dimension of the term conveying the spirit of trans-material mutation, is the structural splendour of the world order. Peace, not war; stability, not subservience; high morality, not any grab-based acquisitive success, is the new ethic.
Does the author reject the apocrypha?
Sorry! I do not think this article should at all have been quoted here! Its simply not worth it.
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