The Dark Side of Scholarship

[dogsgod]

Believe or be excommunicated



Uta Ranke-Heinemann

After nearly seven years' study of Protestant theology in Bonn, Basel, Oxford, and Montpellier, she converted to Catholicism in 1953 and was promoted to doctor in 1954 in Munich. Before 1954 no doctorate in catholic theology for women was possible. In 1970, she became the first woman in the world to hold a chair of Catholic theology at the University of Essen. She lost her chair in 1987 after denying the virgin birth. She considered herself "excommunicated" for refusing an article of Catholic faith, but no explicit excommunication was pronounced against her. Since then she has held a chair of the history of religion until her retirement.

Her sevenfold negative creed is the following:

1. The Bible is not the word of God but the word of men.
2. That God does exist in three persons is imagination of men.
3. Jesus is man and not God.
4. Mary is the mother of Jesus and not the mother of God.
5. God created heaven and earth, hell is a product of human fantasy.
6. The devil and original sin do not exist.
7. A bloody redemption at the Cross is a pagan sacrificial slaughtering of a human being, based on a model from the religious Stone Age.

wikipedia

 

[dogsgod]

Gerd Lüdemann (born 5 July 1946 in Visselhövede), is a German New Testament scholar. He taught this subject from 1983 to 1999 at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Göttingen. Since 1999 he has taught there with a special status as Chair of History and Literature of Early Christianity. He is married with four children and seven grandchildren.


After periods of teaching and research at McMaster University (1977–79) and Vanderbilt University (1979–82), he was appointed in 1983 to the Chair in New Testament Studies in the Theological Faculty of the University of Göttingen. Following a series of historically critical publications culminating in the publication of his book Der große Betrug: Und was Jesus wirklich sagte und tat (The Great Deception: And What Jesus Really Said and Did) in 1999, in which he argued that only about five per cent of the sayings attributed to Jesus are genuine and the historical evidence does not support the claims of traditional Christianity, the Confederation of Protestant Churches in Lower Saxony called for his dismissal from the Chair of New Testament Studies. Lüdemann stated that his studies convinced him that his previous Christian faith, based as it was on Biblical Studies, had become impossible: 'the person of Jesus himself becomes insufficient as a foundation of faith once most of the New Testament statements about him have proved to be later interpretations by the community'.


Although the call for his dimissal was rejected by the state government of Lower Saxony, the members of the faculty, under pressure from the Church, complained to the University President that Professor Lüdemann had "fundamentally put in question the intrinsic soundness of Protestant theology at the University". As a result the Chair of New Testament was renamed the Chair of History and Literature of Early Christianity, his research funding was cut and his teaching was no longer part of the curriculum. Ludemann complained that 'most of my colleagues have long since left the principles of the Church behind them yet still seek to attach themselves to this tradition by symbolic interpretation and by other interpretative skills'. wiki


Believe or be excommunicated.

Any thoughts?

 

[JustWondering]

The Bible is not the word of God but the word of men.

1. That God does exist in three persons is imagination of men.
2. Jesus is man and not God.
3. Mary is the mother of Jesus and not the mother of God.
4. God created heaven and earth, hell is a product of human fantasy.
5. The devil and original sin do not exist.
6. A bloody redemption at the Cross is a pagan sacrificial slaughtering of a human being, based on a model from the religious Stone Age.

wikipedia

This version of Christianity makes a lot more sense.

 

[thedope]

I don't know about 5%, but I don't think christian theology has a lot to do with the practical teaching of christ.

 

[LuisDantas]

Why is the thread named the way it is?

 

[dogsgod]

Why is the thread named the way it is?

Believe or be excommunicated isn't a bright side of scholarship.

 

[waitasec]

there is nothing wrong with changing and or opening your mind.
it's a sign of curiosity and the search for knowledge.

 

[Copernicus]

Her sevenfold negative creed is the following:

1. The Bible is not the word of God but the word of men.
2. That God does exist in three persons is imagination of men.
3. Jesus is man and not God.
4. Mary is the mother of Jesus and not the mother of God.
5. God created heaven and earth, hell is a product of human fantasy.
6. The devil and original sin do not exist.
7. A bloody redemption at the Cross is a pagan sacrificial slaughtering of a human being, based on a model from the religious Stone Age.

I propose a new 7-fold creed that modifies her 5th fold:

1. The Bible is not the word of God but the word of men.
2. That God does exist in three persons is imagination of men.
3. Jesus is man and not God.
4. Mary is the mother of Jesus and not the mother of God.
5. The God creator of heaven and earth, as well as hell, is a product of human fantasy.
6. The devil and original sin do not exist.
7. A bloody redemption at the Cross is a pagan sacrificial slaughtering of a human being, based on a model from the religious Stone Age.

My new creed is based on even greater scholarship than the original.

 

[dogsgod]

I propose a new 7-fold creed that modifies her 5th fold:

1. The Bible is not the word of God but the word of men.
2. That God does exist in three persons is imagination of men.
3. Jesus is man and not God.
4. Mary is the mother of Jesus and not the mother of God.
5. The God creator of heaven and earth, as well as hell, is a product of human fantasy.
6. The devil and original sin do not exist.
7. A bloody redemption at the Cross is a pagan sacrificial slaughtering of a human being, based on a model from the religious Stone Age.

My new creed is based on even greater scholarship than the original.

You too would be rewarded with an excommunication.

 

[Copernicus]

You too would be rewarded with an excommunication.

You can't excommunicate me! I abjure!

 

[Tarheeler]

This version of Christianity makes a lot more sense.

It sounds a bit like Judaism.

 

[Oberon]

Any thoughts?

When you take a position at a university with a stated religious and/or political bent, be aware that just because you change your mind doesn't mean your university will.

 

[dogsgod]

Perhaps the churches apply pressure on any given university that has a freethinker in their flock. The church no doubt sees biblical scholarship as a means of support for Christianity.

 

[Oberon]

Perhaps the churches apply pressure on any given university that has a freethinker in their flock.

Speaking as one who studied and worked at a university in this specific area, I can tell you they don't. Which is why so many scholars have been able to write things contrary to fundamental christian beliefs (like the resurrection) for over a century and not only keep their jobs, but be promoted.

 

[stlekee]

There is a huge gulf between biblcal scholarship and the public view of religion. The 7 points mentioned are nothing new, what is new is another scholar realizing it. The main problem is that this type of info doesn't get into the hands of day to day christians, its on some book shelf and ocasionally a book at Barnes and Noble. The average christian has no idea of the changes taking place within the structure of the church.

And therein lies rthe problem, an educated group of religious leadersscholars and a congregation stuck in 4th century theology.

Perhaps these new theologians will gradually introduce the future of christianity to the lay.

 

[dogsgod]

I wonder how many scholars are simply afraid to express what they really think about what they are reading and studying.

 

[Requia]

You too would be rewarded with an excommunication.

You said she was never excommunicated.

 

[Oberon]

I wonder how many scholars are simply afraid to express what they really think about what they are reading and studying.

Then take a look at the research and see how many papers are published that run anywhere from just against the grain of mainstream christianity to what most christians would call anti-christian views. Most universities do NOT require faculty to adhere to any particular religious views. For example, the Jesus seminar is composed of scholars from many, many different universities, and many of them are prominent scholars who have been promoted, hold various chairs, etc. Yet most argue against mainstream christian views. It's been a century since Schweitzer first called Jesus a failed apocalyptic prophet and you think that the majority of scholars are more reactionary or conservative in a society that is far more secular? Guys like Mack, Funk, Crossan, Koester, etc, all are big names and are or were supported by the colleges they work(ed) for.