What the Church in China Teaches Us About the Ancient Jesus Movement
Release Date: 06/17/2023
Gospel of Thomas--Jesus said what, now?
Cocktails with Beers
We chat about the Gospel of Thomas, and whether or not it can tell us anything about Jesus. This is an ancient gospel that didn't make it into the Bible, but may have been a contemporary to the gospels that did. That is, it likely existed side by side Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Even more, it likely competed with them to become the dominant view of Christianity. Here's the thing, though. While it shares many sayings and parables with the Bible, there are many sayings that are very peculiar. We take a look at both the familiar and strange, and consider...
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Palestine and Israel; A Complicated History
Cocktails with Beers
We chat about the history between Palestine and Israel. Israel and Palestine are in another war...or rather, continue the war that began over 70 years ago. The history of between these two peoples is complicated. You wouldn't think that looking at the black and white versions of reality plastered all over social media. Merry and I explore the gray zone, the no man's land of the conflict. We sit within the tension. And we ponder what everyday-folk can do, if we can, indeed, do anything.
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The Gospel of Mary (Magdalene?), and a religion of secrets
Cocktails with Beers
We chat about the Gospel of Mary, another book that didn't make it into the Bible. The book is a wee bit weird. It has language and symbols that are hard to understand. And then pages are missing, so we are left to fill in a lot of blans. But, it gives us a peak at the interesting, early centuries, religious movement we now know as Gnosticism. More importantly, this book tells us how important Mary (Magdalene?) was to the early Christian movements.
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Jesus, Joseph, and Mary! Facts, Fictions, and Bible Commentary
Cocktails with Beers
We chat about the Infancy Gospel of James. What do we know about Joseph and Mary? We know they are the parets of Jesus? But what about their lives before all that Jesus stuff started happening? What was Mary like as a child? How and when did she meet Joseph? What was Joseph like? What's this I hear about an Immaculate Conception? The Infancy Gospel of James tackles alot of these questions, and tries to provide us with answers. But did the authors of this gospel really think people would take their stories as facts? Or did they, and...
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Why Jesus Killed?! A look at the Infancy Gospel of Thomas
Cocktails with Beers
We chat about a gospel account that didn't make it into the Bible, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. This book tells us about Jesus' childhood. What was it like to be a God-Man discovering one's own power? What was it like to know more than all your teachers? What happens if you accidentally bump into the shoulder of a young Jesus? Well...you die, that's what happens. So what can we learn from this interesting book? Do we take it seriously? Was it ancient commentary on more authoritative gospel account? Perhaps it was just fireside...
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Peter tries to keep Jesus from dying. Why was this story told?
Cocktails with Beers
We chat about the story of Peter trying to keep Jesus from going to Jerusalem. Everyone knows what will happen to him if he goes there. Even Jesus knows what will happen to him. He will be arrested, tried, and executed. Naturally, Peter tries to stop him from going. Jesus calls him a stumbling block, and tells him that he is thinking about human things and not divine things. We chat about why this story was told among early Jesus followers, and why Matthew may have included it in his Gospel account.
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Peter, Jesus, Golf, and Kindergarten
Cocktails with Beers
We cover a lot in this episode. First we chat about our fall plans to participate in a charity golf tournament-- last place wins a canister of tennis balls. By the end of September, we will be richer by one canister of tennis balls. We then, unplanned, process the trauma of sending our eldest daughter to kindergarten. We then get to our subject at hand--Peter confesses to Jesus that he is the king, the savior of ancient Israel that they have been waiting for. But then Jesus orders his disciples not to tell anyone what Peter just said. We ask the question,...
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Throwing food to dogs? The strange case of Jesus healing in a foreign city.
Cocktails with Beers
We chat about the story of Jesus healing a Canaanite woman's daughter. This is one of those tought stories. Why? She asks Jesus for a favor, and he ignores her. The disciples ask Jesus to address her. She keeps bugging them. But instead of advocating for the healing she is asking for, they ask Jesus to send her away. Then Jesus tells the disciples that he won't throw food intended for children to the dogs. Ouch! But she persists. She runs up to Jesus and says that even the dogs get the scraps. Picture the dogs eating from the...
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Jesus saves us...from what, exactly? Peter and Jesus walk on water
Cocktails with Beers
The gospel of Matthew has a lot to say about Jesus. And each thing we learn about him is even better than the last. You could say that Matthew is the Ron Popeil of the New Testament. We learn that Jesus is teacher. But wait, there's more. Jesus is a king. But wait, there's more. Jesus is a savior. But wait.....! This week, we talk about Jesus as our savior. But what is Jesus saving us from? The answer will surprise you.
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Feeding the 5000. It isn't what you think it is.
Cocktails with Beers
Jesus feeds over 5000 people at once. We chat about what this story meant back then, that it was a way of saying "Jesus is our king, not you!" without really saying it. Merry also talks about her book, . We then apply her thesis theologically to the the Biblical story to see how we can apply these lessons today in our lives and in our world.
info_outlineWe sit with our own co-host, scholar in Chinese-American diplomatic history, and author of The Diplomacy of Migration, Dr. Meredith Oyen, to chat about the different contemporary expressions of the Church in China. We then, well Pr. Matt, consider how the Church in China can inform how we read the Bible. We look at Matthew 10, and we consider why the ancient Jesus movement was being persecuted by the powers-that-be. The point here isn't to draw a parallel between the contempoary Church in China and the ancient Jesus movement, but to give us one more skill in our hermeneutical toolbox as we both interpret and apply ancient scriptures to our modern lives.