Posts

IN SEARCH OF THE TRUE JESUS

Tempo di lettura: 4 minuti

By Francesco Schiano Lomoriello, GBU Staff in Naples.

The expression ‘search for the historical Jesus’ refers to the effort to reconstruct a portrait of Jesus of Nazareth that bypasses that offered by the gospels, in order to come as close as possible to the historical truth.

The starting assumption is that the authors of the Gospels were not motivated by a desire to report objective truth, but by theological and doctrinal intentions. Therefore, they are accused of having included in their accounts facts that did not really happen, or at least not in the manner described, in order to support the positions of the Christian communities of which they were an expression.

Three stages of research

Today, three phases of research can be recognised:

– The first developed between the 18th and the early part of the 20th century. Illuminist-derived Rationalism led scholars such as Hermann Reimarus to suggest the difference between the ‘Christ of Faith’ and the ‘Jesus of History’. Biographies of Jesus were written that were above all an attempt to rationalise and naturalise the gospels, purging them of all supernatural elements. Rudolf Bultmann was the last protagonist of this phase and the one who put an end to it. He suggested that the Jesus of History was inaccessible to research. This conclusion was motivated by the observation that every biography of Jesus published in the previous two centuries had offered a different portrait from the others, fuelled not so much by the desired criteria of objectivity, but by the orientation and prejudices of those who had proposed it.

– It was in fact a disciple of Bultmann, Ernst Kasemann, who was the initiator of the second wave of studies on the historical Jesus. Convinced, unlike his master, of the possibility of bridging the gap between the Christ of Faith and the Jesus of History through the critical study of New Testament texts. It was the middle of the 20th century and this season was short-lived because important archaeological discoveries imposed a new approach to research.

– Studies based on discoveries such as the Nag Hammadi Library and the Qumran Scrolls allowed historians to gain a deeper understanding of the society and culture of the ancient Middle East. This knowledge is the foundation of the third phase approach of research on the historical Jesus. Since the 1960s, more and more scholars have become interested in the possibility of distilling historical truth from the New Testament texts. This is done not only through philological and literary work, but by analysing the biblical accounts in the light of the knowledge gained about the society in which Jesus lived and the gospels were written. An important feature of this third phase is the presence among its initiators of atheist and agnostic scholars, who in some cases are deconverted Christians.

How to address the issue

Confronting the works of scholars, past and present, who strongly question the reliability of the Gospel accounts can be no small challenge for believers. However, we have the tools to meet that challenge and turn it into an evangelistic opportunity.

1. Eyewitnesses and the real Jesus

The starting assumption we have referred to, namely the belief that the canonical Gospels do not represent historical accounts but theological reconstructions of the figure of Jesus, is by no means proven. The internal evidence seems to suggest quite the opposite. If one considers the presence of so many details that are not necessary to the narrative (the number of fish caught at the second miraculous catch, the young man covered by a sheet present at Jesus’ arrest, the fact that John arrived at the tomb before Peter, etc.), the stories that make the Gospels look bad, the stories that make the Gospels look bad, etc., the stories that make the Gospels look bad. ), to the stories that cast the disciples in a bad light, or to the declaration of intent that Luke offers at the beginning of his Gospel (…it seemed good to me too, after having thoroughly informed myself of everything from the beginning, to write about it in order…), it can be reasonably argued that the evangelists reported eyewitness accounts with the aim of presenting us with the real Jesus.

It is precisely the category of testimony that scholar Richard Bauckham suggests in his Jesus and the Eyewitnesses in order to properly understand the literary genre Gospels. Extremely subjective, but not unreliable.

On the other hand, the date of publication of the New Testament writings, which can be placed at the latest between 60 and 95 A.D., makes it rather difficult to argue that they contain myths and legends, since eyewitnesses of the narrated facts were still in circulation at that time.

2. Meet the Christ by researching the historical Jesus

Today, most students are convinced that the Bible is not a reliable text; to speak about Jesus from what the Gospels say often means clashing with this prejudice. In such a context, the search for the historical Jesus represents a meeting point between the believer and the sceptic. In other words, one can approach the New Testament texts as a sceptic and analyse them with the tools of modern historiography. One can try to understand who Jesus of Nazareth was, without first accepting the doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible, and meet the Christ.

There is no shortage of testimonies from ordinary people and scholars who, analysing the Gospels as non-believers, ended up recognising Jesus as their God and Lord, just as happened to the first sceptic, the disciple Thomas.

  1. Bauckham R., Gesù e i testimoni oculari, Ed. GBU, Chieti 2010 ↩︎
  2. Si vedano, ad esempio, i seguenti libri di autori che hanno raccontato la loro esperienza: Chi ha rimosso la pietra?, F. Morison, Più che un falegname, J. MacDowell, Il caso Gesù, L. Strobel ↩︎

Faith is harmful (?)

Tempo di lettura: 4 minuti
by Cristiano Meregaglia, GBU Staff worker

This article is a summary of a workshop that Cristiano himself offered to the students at our event Formazione GBU (ndr)

“Imagine there’s no heaven / It’s easy if you try / No hell below us / Above us only sky / Imagine all the people / Living for today… / Imagine there’s no countries / It isn’t hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion too / Imagine all the people / Living life in peace…”

Lennon, John. Imagine

This is what John Lennon sang in 1971, hoping for a time when people could finally live just for today, without being oppressed by the thought of a heaven or hell awaiting them at the moment of death, and a world where there would be no nations and religions opposing one another, preventing peace that would otherwise be possible.

Of course, even more than 50 years later, these words and these hopes are still present and strong in the society we live in, suggesting that faith is not only rationally unsustainable but also morally harmful, and that, therefore, society would be much more functional if every religious root were to be uprooted from it. This idea has been explicitly supported by the main exponents of t

The “new” ateism

This idea has been explicitly supported by the main exponents of the so-called New Atheism movement, who, without mincing my words, have dedicated long pages to describing the great evils that religion has produced throughout history, from the Crusades to the Jihad, from religious wars to contemporary theocratic regimes, clearly highlighting how the solution for a better world seems to be precisely what the Beatles singer envisioned.

It is interesting to note, however, that although these authors are labeled as new atheists, the ideas they support are anything but new, as they are effectively derived from the reflections of past thinkers. Among these past thinkers, it is impossible to ignore Bertrand Russell, who, with his collection of essays compiled in the text Why I Am Not a Christian, represents, in fact, a normative reference for much of the literature produced within the New Atheism movement.

Religion: a disease to be eradicated

In one of those essays, titled “Has Religion Contributed to Civilization?”, Russell presents precisely those arguments that, decades later, Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, Odifreddi, Augias, and other contemporary intellectuals continue to propose to argue for the damage religion has caused. Specifically, Russell argues that religion is “a kind of disease, born out of fear and a source of unspeakable suffering for humanity,”, his point of  view relating to both the intellectual and moral spheres. On the one hand, the philosopher claims that religion hinders free thought and rational inquiry; on the other, by imposing a morality considered absolute and anchored to archaic concepts, it also creates the conflicts that are at the root of human unhappiness. Thus, he concludes the aforementioned essay writing:

“With the progress of knowledge and technology, universal happiness can be achieved; but the main obstacle to using them for this purpose is the teaching of religion. Religion prevents our children from receiving a rational education; religion prevents us from removing the fundamental causes of wars; religion prevents us from teaching the ethics of scientific cooperation instead of the old, aberrant doctrines of guilt and punishment. Humanity may be on the threshold of a golden age; but to cross it, we must first slay the dragon guarding the door: this dragon is religion.”

Russel, B. “Perché non sono cristiano”, Longanesi & C., Milano, 1960, p.24

Now, as biting as these criticisms may be, it is helpful to point out that it is legitimate, and perhaps even necessary, to agree with some of the claims made in the essay. It is undeniable that many people, claiming to be Christians (or of other religions), have indeed committed reprehensible acts throughout history, often abusing their social position provided to them by religion; and it is equally understandable to agree with the insistence on the need to reject an uncritical faith (one that is not aware of what it believes and why it believes it).

That being said, it is also necessary to point out that such criticisms are, in fact, open to strong counterarguments, which can be articulated along three lines of response.

1. The preaching of Christ and its impact on society

First of all, it is easy to demonstrate how the true Christianity, as embodied and preached by Jesus Christ himself, is radically different from other religions and, in many cases, from how Christians have portrayed it. True Christianity, in fact, far from being a source of violence, has at its root the persuasion through inner contrition rather than external coercion through the use of force. It is of no coincidence, therefore, that when Jesus, just hours before his death sentence, was in Gethsemane and Peter tried to defend him with weapons from his enemies, not only did he order his disciple to put away his sword, but he also healed the servant of the high priest who had been injured by that sword (Mt 26:51-52; Lk 22:51).

Furthermore, it is easy to show that true Christianity is not only not a cause of harm to society but that society as a whole has benefited from the influence of Christianity, which has created hospitals, the Red Cross, orphanages, universities… to the point that an atheist journalist wrote in The Times that in Africa, the contribution of evangelism to the progress of society has far exceeded that provided by any other organization, governmental or otherwise (M. Parris, The Times, 27.12.2008).

2. A society that wants to get rid of God

Secondly, it can just as easily be shown that a society in which God is removed opens the door to any violation and abuse by the powerful, precisely because it removes the premise that one must be accountable for his own actions before a just God. The 20th century is full of such examples, from Stalin’s Russia to Mao’s China, to Pol Pot’s Cambodia. Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, in this regard, stated that “if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to say: men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened” (A. Solzhenitsyn, Templeton Prize Address, 1983).

3. Flawed argument

Finally, it can be pointed out that the very principles by which religion is criticized today are Christian principles, principles that would not exist without the cultural revolution brought about by Jesus and the subsequent Christianity. The freedom, equality, progress, and peace that seem to be questioned in society by religion are, in fact, nothing more than the product of Christianity, and we are so immersed in them that they are like the air we breathe (cf. G. Scrivener, The Air We Breathe, Introduction).

True greatness!

Tempo di lettura: 3 minuti
by Sharon Fichera, student leader GBU Bologna

Hello everyone! My name is Sharon, I am 20 years old and Sicilian. I am also Bolognese by adoption, since I moved to the capital of tortellini to study Classical Literature. I love Jesus and I love talking about Him and, because of this, when I got to know the GBU, I fell in love with it and joined the group of students in Bologna.

This year I took part in the Formazione conference for Coordinators (GBU student leaders), which was held in Rimini at the beginning of October. In short, Formazione prepares young leaders to be a support to the GBU at local level. Needless to say, God worked in me more than I could have expected, which is why I want to tell you about my experience.

The Formazione programme consists of training in three different tracks:

Bible and Prayer

We deepened our knowledge of the Scriptures and our relationship with God through inductive Bible studies (SBI), prayer, praise and sermons. In this track we studied Mark chapters 8-10. What struck me most was seeing the continuous power play that is inherent in the human soul. Jesus was trying to teach the disciples that they should sacrifice themselves daily, love and serve others selflessly, stop trying to earn eternal life by their own efforts, and accept God’s love. Instead, they behaved arrogantly, did not understand the teachings of Jesus and believed they were superior to others, as well as competing among themselves as to who was the greatest. Jesus tried to teach them what true greatness was, but they (and often we) had hard hearts.

Coordinators

This track was designed to teach us who a coordinator should be and what he or she should do to make the right contribution to the local GBU and the mission in the university. It was also good to focus on our own potential as well as the potential of our GBU groups. What impressed me most was learning what it means to be mature coordinators. The definition we gave of spiritual maturity is ‘Constant, consistent and conscious growth in Christ’. To walk in this growth it is necessary to die to oneself, accept suffering, embrace sacrifice and the cross, knowing that all this is done for a greater joy and glory, namely the proclamation of the gospel and the advancement of the Kingdom of God.

Evangelism

With this track we focused on sharing Jesus from student to student, both individually and as a local group. I really enjoyed a seminar entitled ‘Damaging Faith (?)’, in which we read some of the criticisms made of Christianity throughout History and Philosophy. I found it useful and inspiring to be given tools to counter these criticisms. Furthermore, it was very interesting to note that many people are not indignant or angry because of God, but because of what the Church has done in the name of God. This challenged me to be a good example to those around me and to honour Christ in everything I do.

But on a practical level, what has this training done?

Personally, the training encouraged and challenged me to be aware of my role as coordinator, to serve others, to sacrifice myself for Christ, to live a life of prayer, to seek the face of God, and to spread the gospel without shame. I am sure that all of us there received a great boost to work in our GBUs, for our GBUs and with our GBUs, to share Jesus from student to student.

At this point only one question remains, implicitly, to be answered: ‘What is true greatness?’  

To find out, we need only look to Jesus, the greatest King who trod the earth, the servant who washed the feet of his disciples.

And in the beginning God created a perfect plan for us today

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti

by Simona Squitieri, GBU Parma

In the beginning God created. If I had to sum up this GBU training weekend (Formazione), it would be like this. 

But let’s start from the beginning. About sixty people from Trentino to Sicily, after overcoming long journeys, trains, buses, cars, arrived in Umbria, in a little house with a view of Lake Trasimeno, to participate in GBU Coordinator Training 2023. 

In the beginning

As the acronym GBU (University Bible Groups) suggests, we looked to the Bible again this year to address the challenges we should face. Organizational challenges, practical and theoretical, intellectual and social challenges, for which we prepared ourselves by looking at, interpreting and applying the first three chapters of God’s Word. Starting, therefore, right “from the beginning”!

Moments of praise to the Lord and prayer refreshed and accompanied us during the intense daily program of seminars, reading and study of the Word. The Staff worked hard to provide us with the tools to better serve the students of our local groups, but especially the yet unreached students within our universities. Through Bible studies, then, we noticed how in the beginning God had thought of everything, neglecting no detail, planning and arranging everything perfectly, including us, descendants of Adam and princesses from the beginning. 

God created

These two words highlight the relationship that we are called to have with God, even before we make any commitment to Him and to others: the relationship of Creator and creature. It is essential to recognize God the Lord as the creator of the universe and of our lives; and that before everything was, He already was. 

But the words “God created” also highlight God’s creativity. Everything we study, from physics to art, from literature to medicine, have the same creative origin here in these two little words.

After creating, in the beginning all things, light, waters, bright stars, animals and plants, after the creation of man in his image, God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

A perfect plan for us today

So, was I able to understand what place I have in all this? In all this “good”? Coordinators from all over Italy, did we understand what place we have, together with the students and our local groups?

Adam and Eve lived in God’s presence and had a purpose, stolen and ruined by sin.

But in the beginning God created a perfect plan for us today: to save us through his son Jesus and ask us to share with others this Great Creator, who wants to come back to reconcile with us through Jesus. To share him from student to student. 

Ready, set, go!

,

Faithfully fulfill your service

Tempo di lettura: 3 minuti

By Giovanni Donato, Staff GBU Siena

A new academic year has begun and, like every year, the GBU has organized  Formazione (Student Leaders Training Conference) –  which is attended by all those who will be student leaders for GBU. This year, I was asked to preach from the book of 2 Timothy, which I was honored and pleased to do!

2 Timothy is probably one of the most suitable texts for such a retreat, the purpose of which is to exhort, train, and challenge the GBU coordinators (student leaders). I say this because that is precisely what Paul wishes to do with Timothy in writing of this letter, and every exhortation, every rebuke, every challenge that Paul issues to the young leader Timothy is easily applicable to young student leaders who are about to begin a new academic year with enthusiasm, but not without concerns.

In our four days together we were able to consider and meditate on the entire letter, however below I would just like to highlight two main lessons from 2 Timothy:

The call to Christian leadership is a call to suffering

Several times in the four chapters that make up 2 Timothy, Paul mentions the word suffering; he encourages the young leader to be ready to suffer for the sake of the gospel (1:8) and to patiently endure the suffering he will encounter in ministry (2:3, 4:5). Paul reminds Timothy that he too is suffering unashamedly for the sake of the gospel (1:12, 2:9), that he is also patiently enduring suffering for the sake of the elect (2:10), that his entire ministry has been marked by suffering (3:11); he informs him of the fact that he has been abandoned by all those who had been close to him up to that point (1:15, 4:9-10, 4:16) and how he had been violently attacked by someone whom he had until recently considered his friend (4:14-15). He makes it clear to Timothy that all who choose to be serious about God (“living piously”) will necessarily face persecution (3:12). Wow, put like that the call to leadership does not sound very inviting… However, Paul in this letter is not only saying that the call to leadership is only a call to suffering (thank God!), but it is also a glorious call!

The call to Christian leadership is a glorious call

In his letter, Paul repeatedly emphasizes the importance, honor, and even beauty of serving God. He reminds Timothy that the holy call to serve the King of kings is not received because of good conduct, but solely because of the glorious grace of God (1:9) that has been manifested to the world through the appearance of our Savior Jesus Christ (1:10). He explains to him that such a glorious calling is worth suffering (1:12) and that God is the one who will uphold us by his power (1:8) and guard us carefully until the day when we can lay down our arms (1:12). He exhorts young Timothy to invest time and energy into people who would one day take his place so that the flame of the gospel could continue to stay burning and be passed on throughout the unfolding of history (2:2); he urges him to watch over, care for and protect the body of Christ (2:14, 3:1-9), watching over it with love, humility, patience and consistency (2:15-16, 2:22-25). He called on him to preach God’s inspired Word faithfully and passionately (4:2), to use the gifts God had given him (1:6), and to faithfully fulfill the service the Lord had entrusted to him (4:5) because at the end of this great adventure, entry into God’s heavenly kingdom (4:18a) and the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous judge, would award to all those who joyfully awaited Jesus’ return (4:8)

Through the study of this letter we were able to do what Paul desired to do with Timothy through the writing of this letter: to exhort young Christian leaders to faithfully serve the Lord, not to be surprised or upset when they encounter suffering in their journey, and to always remember that the holy call to serve King Jesus is a glorious call that has been given to us by the grace of God and for which it is worth even suffering and dying, waiting for the day when we will meet him in glory.

Happy New Year and happy service to all GBU coordinators and to all those in the body of Christ who hold leadership and responsibility!

,

A JOY THAT SPRINGS FORTH EVEN IN SUFFERING

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti
Elena Montaldo, coordinator of GBU Torino 

As someone who studies Primary Education (ed: education = training), the word “training,” has a special value.

Its meaning is not summed up in the systematic transmission of knowledge, but indicates a desire to render someone competent. In other words, they are able to rework and apply that same knowledge that they learnt in the context of reality. This is possible only if there is a social network that provides those being trained, stimuli to which they can respond.

Student Leaders Training

This year’s Student Leaders Training meant all of the above to me and even more. It was  more than a context where students from all over Italy gathered for three days in Florence to listen to teaching, study the Bible together and participate in various  seminars. Here I even had the opportunity to lead an inductive Bible study, a prayer meeting, as well as planninng events and meetings for the new GBU students and to share GBU with university students in Florence itself.   

For the first time as a coordinator, after years of participation in the GBU, I felt that I was an irreplaceable part of a project that has Love as its engine and People’s Lives as its goal.

The theme

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul speaks as a father who, shortly before his death, addresses his son. The very one who had been the author of massacres, violence and persecution of Christians, after meeting Jesus, finds himself writing in prison, abandoned by all and condemned to death because of his faith in Him. 

An absurd decision in the eyes of many, but not to his own who saw joy flowing from his suffering. With his life, until his last breath, Paul had in fact led many souls to receive the salvation that comes from faith in the One who first gave His life and rose again to give them Life forever.

Reading and studying his words together with other students who, like me, received that same news and chose to believe and live for this same reality – I felt like the recipient,  together with Timothy, of that same letter. 

Let’s start again

During our Student Leaders Training we coordinators were confronted with an example of faith that laid bare our fears, insecurities and worries that anyone, in living to the fullest an ideal that goes against the grain, faces sooner or later, and then removed them. Together we understood the deep meaning of the ministry we believe has been entrusted to each of us Christian students within the GBU.

I realized how much courage and strength it can take to consistently maintain this life choice. At the same time, I realized even more deeply how worthwhile it is to live it out fully so that more and more people will know the Love and grace that the God of the Bible has shown, through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus, in order to have a personal relationship with each of them.

Now we are ready to begin again, each where he or she lives in Italy. This time, however, with the knowledge that everything we do in our own small way has a common goal and a joy that springs even in suffering.

Events

Nothing Found

Sorry, no posts matched your criteria