Jesus and the Disinherited - Jesus: An Interpretation

Thurman's 1st chapter in Jesus and the Disinherited rocked my world, after the first 2 pages I was hooked. From what I've read of the other posts it seems that the story of the Hindu man hit us hard and I felt the same way. This man called Thurman a traitor because he was black and a Christian, totally nuts! It is sad that a religion that began with very humble origins has become quite the opposite, really it is now the religion of the oppressors. Jesus was a middle eastern revolutionary in a state occupied by a western imperial power. Thinking about that and how it is eerily similar to america today really is crazy.

I've also seen in other posts that liberation theology has been mentioned in connection with Thurman and I wonder what sort of connotations our class has about liberation theology. Personally I found Thurman's insight of the character of Jesus to be right on and something that some of the prosperity gospel people should hear about. I would have loved to see him delve into the fact that he was a refugee, criminal, and possibly illiterate. With where the whole body of the Church seems to be headed (South America, Africa, China) I think that much can be learned by the way African Americans have read the bible and hopefully other Christians would catch on because it is truthful and could really speak to these populations. I also think that this sort of understanding is huge even for the prosperous american Christians because it provides more of a context to what Jesus was acting in and could teach us a few lessons.

Thurman's writing could probably get quite a bit of criticism because it does seem like the typical North Park/social gospel/justice overload. I don't think that what Thurman has been writing is not an empty call to social justice activities without any focus on the rest of Christianity but really a refocusing on Jesus understanding the context he was in. The implications of this view of Jesus just happens to call for more action but this is certainly not throwing out faith or grace. Also being only a chapter into the book I'm sure there is much more to come, so I'll have to wait until the end of the book before I could firmly state if I feel he is missing anything.

In conclusion this book kicks butt so far and I am looking forward to finishing it.