I spent Sunday morning at The Forum in Gresham Hall, Grace Cathedral (1100 California Street, San Francisco Nob Hill (415) 749-6300: 9:30 a.m. The Forum is free and open to the public and webcast live and archived at www.gracecathedral.org/forum. Civil Conversation on Critical Issues. The credo: We believe in one God, known to us in Jesus Christ, also known by different names in different traditions. We seek to transform the world, beginning with ourselves, celebrating the image of God in every person. We are a house of prayer, worship, and service for everyone, welcoming all who seek an inclusive community of love.
Reading Judas with Elaine Pagel and Karen King, of Harvard and Princeton, respectively. When the Gospel of Judas was published by National Geographic Society in 2006, it received extraordinary media attention and was immediately heralded a major biblical discovery that rocked the world of scholars and laypeople alike.
Elaine Pagels and Karen King are the first to reflect on this newly found text and its ramifications for telling the story of early Christianity. In Reading Judas, the two celebrated scholars illustrate how the newly discovered text provides a window into understanding how Jesus' followers understood his death, why Judas betrayed Jesus, and why God allowed it.
Alan Jones, Dean (the top banana) presided over the Forum exchange. During the question and answer I directed by question to Elaine Pagels:
Q: The first thing I look for in a person is a sense of humor, and obviously Jesus had a lively sense of humor. Is there anything in the text of the Gospel of Judas that connects his sense of humor with anger? What is the nature of his anger? The one time I recollect that he got angry, according to what you call "Bible lite" childhood reading, was when he was in the temple and overturned the money-changers' tables. Maybe it's an off-the-wall question, but that's my question!
A: Have you read the text?
Q: No, I haven't.
A: Excuse me, but it's an absolute right-on question! (Is it?) Yes, because here in the opening of the Gospel of Judas, there is a scene in which the disciples are celebrating the Eucharist, and Jesus laughs. (Right!) And the laughter isn't just funny - it's a kind of challenge, and this author, a Christian, or whoever wrote it, is saying. "If Jesus could look at what you're doing, what would he think? He would laugh at you!" It's similar to the way Dostoevsky brought Jesus into the Grand Inquisitor , Jesus would look at you, and say: WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY NAME? So the author of the gospel of Judas is bringing Jesus in, laughing at the way Christians are claiming to worship...when Jesus laughs, he's about to correct something someone is thinking or doing!
Alan Jones mentions Novelist Martin Amis in "Grace Notes" "Today, in the West, there are no good excuses for religious belief -unless we think of ignorance, reaction and sentimentality as good excuses." While I think this is a silly remark by a man seduced by his own cleverness (and he is clever), it, nevertheless, points to something deeply disturbing going on in our culture. We live in a "post-secular" time, defined as "a call to move beyond the ideological assumption that a purely rationalistic account of the world will be sufficient."
Presumably, the Christians believe that Lent is a time for us to aim at a certain end -- the love of God -- as Mr. Top Banana (Dean) asserts. Is it also not the time to aim at love for our fellow humans? After all, did Jesus not say God is Love!
Downstairs, at the Peets coffee kiosk, I noticed Elaine Pagels was talking/pacing on her cellphone. She approached me at my table. I was having an animated fun exchange with the artist, Morris Taylor, who has an exhibition of his remarkable watercolors in the lobby: morris@morristaylor.net. Website: Http://www.morristaylor.net.
Elaine: I loved your question because I thought it made me think that, you know, Jesus got angry about the priests in Jerusalem, and in this text he gets angry at the disciples' worship saying it's like those priests in Jeruselam.
Me: Jesus was brilliant, an angry man but outrageously funny, right? If he came back today Elaine, would he be in Grace Cathedral with the "pillars" of the church or hanging out with the outcasts in the streets of San Francisco?
Elaine: That's a great question but my son is in trouble back East and I have to race to the airport, and fly back to New York.
Me: Bon Voyage!
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