Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Witch Jesus

Published by

Matt Stone

2006-03-09

“I dig Jesus and so do many other witches. It’s not his fault that Christianity is so confused today, and as a person he was a very special guy, wise and generous, selfless and loving. I think he’d be horrified to see what his teachings have come to today. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if he was around today, with his values of tolerance, acceptance, respect for nature and fellow people, he’d be a witch!”

Fiona Horne, Witch – A Personal Journey

Arresting words. What do they evoke for you? I find it interesting, personally, that so many Pagans I come across have positive attitudes towards Christ while simulataneously rejecting Christians.

Here’s a few comments I’ve receieved that are worth musing over.

I used to believe the Jesus-as-revolutionary theory until I thought it through and realized there is no evidence for it. I also used to consider the attitudes of the church to be those of Jesus…it took me a long time to realize that Christians often have little in common with Christ.

and

Jesus. He is probably a prophet, certainly a mystic and by his actions a social activist. But in short he was and is just Jesus.

and

I think he understood alot about social classes, how to be a decent person, and how to speak to people on their own level (hence the impact that he had). I think he probably knew alot about different cultures and was willing (and able) to mix what he thought were the best parts of each. Do I think he was divine? No more than me.

Who do you think he is? Why not meditate on it?

Tags Jesus, Pagan

3 responses to “Witch Jesus”

Alanna_Halfelven

2006-03-10

Well I think that witch misunderstands Christianity. What she said is interesting. But I also know that stereotypes can have a huge effect upon what people think. I myself had a lot of stereotypes and misunderstandings about Catholicism and even paganism but after finding out more, I’ve been realising that much of it wasn’t true.
From what she said, I don’t think she’s met many devoted or proper Christians. Sounds like she’s commenting on the stereotype.

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Geoff Pengilly

2006-09-20

I would add that there seems to be little doubt that the person of Jesus existed in history. There is much material published supporting this fact, the most significant being the bible. I’d be interested to know what people are thinking about what the bible says about who Jesus was.

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Matt Stone

2006-09-20

Actually as far as I can recall Geoff, none of the people quoted above doubt Jesus existed in history.
On the contrary I have been surprised by just how dismissive some of them were when I asked them what they thought about the “Jesus Mysteries” book by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy. For those unaware of it, the Jesus Mysteries is a popular book that advances the theory that Jesus never existed outside of mythology and that Christianity was originally nothing more than a Judaised version of the Pagan mystery religions. They were only too aware of the mythological parallels between Jesus and Osirus, Odin and other gods, but it would seem fewer Pagans than you’d think are willing to write Jesus out of history altogether.
So how do they view him? As they say above. They are generally quite happy to accept him as a wisdom teacher, social critic or mystic who lived and breathed in first century Gallilee. What they doubt is the historicity of the resurrection … and the validity of our claims about his unique status that flow from this. So, rather than seeing the New Testament as an example of mythology historicised, they are instead more inclined to view it as an example of history mythologised. Following that, they tend to give the Gnostic Gospels more credit than you or I would because they are ‘more transparently’ mythologically and mystically influenced than the New Testament material.
Now there are some stereotypes being expressed here I agree but before we jump on the defensive I want to ask: what can WE learn from this? Are we willing to listen and engage in a bit of self examination? Is there not at least some validity to the gap they are observing between Christ and Christians and Christian theology? I think there is. Their observations may incorporate a degree of stereotyping but they are not groundless. Not in my experience and possibly not in yours either if you think really about it. And Jesus may have been more than a social critic but he was certainly not less than that. The capitulation to hate propaganda amongst some Christians is far from Christ-like and I don’t care who says it, it needs to be said. In fact I don’t think it would be invalid to recast the parable of the good Samaritan as the parable of the good Witch under some circumstances. When witches behave more lovingly to their neighbours than Christians – and I have seen this – we should be open to hearing the critique of God in this

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