Can We Prove the Existence of God? [or the Realm of Spirit?]

This is Part 2 of a series in Patheos.com in which Philosopher Ken Wilber tries to answer some "Big Questions" of Life. The annotations are by Julius-Kei Kato 

(The main text is of Ken Wilber. The subheadings, emboldened and underlined parts are added by the annotator. My (jkk) further reflections and observations are in italicized form.)

Source in the public domain (accessed 2020-10-08): https://www.patheos.com/blogs/kenwilberwakeupgrowup/2014/04/can-we-prove-the-existence-of-god-the-big-question-series-question-2/  

It always comes down to that: “How can you prove the existence of Spirit or God if you’re so convinced that it exists?” Part of the problem is that we tend to try to prove Sprit’s existence with tools that can’t actually do the job. And we tend to be unaware of the type of tools that can prove Spirit’s existence. So I’ll run through what some of those are, and give an example of what’s involved.

[jkk] This is especially fascinating for me because it is usually said, “we cannot prove the existence of Spirit (or of God).” I myself also say this and I still maintain that there is no direct, empirical way to “prove God” such as can be done in empirical experiments. However, here Ken Wilber claims that there is a “kind of” scientific way to prove the “greater reality” (the realm that transcends our physical reality). I encourage you to reflect on whether this proposed method is “scientific”for you.  After all, in our secularized age, the “scientific” way of making one’s points is deemed to be the best way.

The Method to Access the Spirit-Dimension

So it’s actually very experimental and very scientific. It rests on the fact that there is a scientific method, and this method can be applied to any number of domains. It can be applied to the eye of flesh, the eye of mind, and the eye of contemplation.

So what is this method? Very briefly, it has three major components. [#1 “Injunction” or “Eperiment”] It has an injunction or experiment or exemplar, which is always in the form of “if you want to know this, do this.” And once you do that, it results in an experience, or what William James called a datum, or an illumination—some sort of [#2 Experience] direct immediate experience. And that’s the second strand. And then that experience or data is [#3 Verification] checked with others to make sure that they get the same results, to make sure that you’re not hallucinating or getting it wrong or somehow confused.

So let’s say, using the eye of flesh, we want to know if it’s raining outside. Very simply, we go to the window and look. That’s the injunction—if you want to know if it’s raining outside, go to the window and look. We look, and yes it does indeed seem to be raining. That’s our experience, our data, our illumination. We do the injunction and we have an experience, we see the data. To make sure that we’re not hallucinating or otherwise mistaken, we ask someone else to take a look as well. They go to the window and yup, they see it raining too. So that’s our confirmation or verification, our third major strand.

[jkk] Remember the three phases: #1 Experiment - #2 Experience - #3 Verification of the Experience (with others who are having the same or similar experiences). That does seem like a “scientific” way to prove something, right?

Further Elaboration

All science has those three strands. When applied to the eye of flesh we get physics, chemistry, biology, and so on. When applied to the eye of mind we get things like logic and mathematics. But what’s not often understood is that it can be applied to the eye of contemplation as well. And here it offers proof of the existence of Spirit, every bit as real as rain or mathematics.

So what we’re talking about is that there’s sensory experience, there’s mental experience, and there’s spiritual experience, and each of these experiences give particular types of data or information or knowledge. Too often we have attempted to try to prove the existence of Spirit by using the eye of flesh and the eye of mind. Aristotle’s proof of God, he gave five proofs, and they were all logical. But that won’t get it—it doesn’t touch Spirit, it doesn’t activate the spiritual dimension in us.

So if we want to see how it can operate in a spiritual practice, we can take Zen as an example. The injunction here, the practice or exemplar, is zazen or meditation or contemplation. You’re taught to sit in a relaxed position, rest the mind, and focus it on one item. It could be following the breath, or it might be an inquiry like “who am I?” And this is the first strand, the injunction or activity or exemplar—if you want to know whether Spirit is real, do this.

After anywhere from several months to a year or two, you will start having a series of experiences, interior data or illuminations. These profound experieces or experieces of a spiritual nature are called kensho, which means “seeing into true nature.” This is strand two, the direct experience Spirit itself—naked, unmediated, real, and direct. This direct religious experience is said to be of Spirit itself. Even in the case of individuals who have a Ph.D in science and who experience kensho, over 95% report that kensho is as real as anything that they study in conventional science. It’s a very powerful, convincing experience.

And just recently someone had an experience that for some reason made all the news, a neuroscientist who had a near death experience, but it was so real to him that he was simply, absolutely, 100% convinced that this was a real experience, as real as anything he had ever experienced. That’s exactly the same kind of feeling that mystics have when they have a kensho, or a mystical experience, or an experience of oneness or unity. And he said he couldn’t find it described anywhere until he was looking through some Christian mysticism books and he found an explanation that spoke of infinite darkness suffused with luminosity. And he said that was it exactly! Anyone who knows the stages of meditation will recognize that as a causal state, it’s described that way in every major meditative tradition the world over. But of course we’ve so forgotten about this in the West that we just don’t know where to look. So he was completely confused until he found that one particular explanation.

Check with the Community of Practitioners

After the individual has had their unity experience, their awakening experience, just to make sure, they check with a spiritual teacher and a community of practitioners. Now this means all those who have completed the first two strands. If you want to vote on whether the Pythagorean theory is real, you have to learn mathematics, and then learn the Pythagorean theorem, and once you have completed the injunction and have had the experience of looking at the triangle and looking at the Pythagorean theorem, then you’re allowed to vote and confirm or not confirm whether it’s real. Most people who do that report that the Pythagorean Theorem is real.

     But the same thing is true in any other scientific experiment, and it’s true for this interior science of contemplation. So you check it with a spiritual teacher and a community of practitioners, all those who have completed the first two strands of injunction and illumination, just to make sure you’re not hallucinating or otherwise confused, just like in all the other sciences. If their illumination, the discovery of their own True Self that is one with Spirit, matches those in a larger community of knowledge-holders, then their kensho (見性 Japanese, “seeing the true nature of things”) is passed and their realization is confirmed.

[jkk] I want to underline the fact that Wilber calls the study of the transcendent realm the “interior science of contemplation.” By that, he implies that there is this realm of Spirit, this transcendent dimension that we can directly know, experience, and validate (the existence of) through methods and a process that are quite scientific. What is “the community of practitioners” anyway? In practically every religious tradition (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, etc.), there are groups of people (both in the past and in the present) who have had direct, religious-spiritual experiences of the Sacred and the Transcendent. These people were/are able to have these spiritual experiences through methods of spiritual practice such as meditation, service, ethical living, training in compassion, etc. that are time-tested and proven in these religious traditions to effectively transform people and lead them to wisdom, peace, compassion and authentic happiness.

Direct Experience – Public Knowledge

So notice this is a real science, a direct and immediate 1^st-person experience. It’s not anything taken on faith or mere belief, but a direct realization. And this is true whether the contemplation is Christian, or Buddhist, or Jewish, or Islamic, or Hindu, and so on. And this realization proves that Spirit is just as real as mathematics, or logic, or rain, or rocks. And those who have had that experience, even if they have Ph.Ds in science, take it as being as real as anything that they know. So it’s as real as “real” has any meaning. It’s a direct injunction, giving immediate data or illumination, and checked with a community of the adequate.

This is why contemplative knowledge is public knowledge, in both the East and the West it has been passed down for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years. That’s not private knowledge. Anything that can be trained and passed down is public, and it all reaches that same conclusion: God is real, and tat tvam asi—you are that.

[jkk] Let me continue to comment on the nature of the time-tested spiritual practices of the world’s religious-spiritual traditions. Studies have been done of these spiritual practices and one can say that across the various religious-spiritual traditions of the world, there are striking commonalities in the spiritual practices that are encouraged and taught in order to be spiritually transformed. One notable study is Roger Walsh, M.D. Ph.D.’s Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind. There Walsh distills many of the practices from various religious-spiritual traditions into seven general principles that spiritual practitioners across the ages have observed to be continually transformed and renewed.

Wilber and Walsh also emphasize that spiritual transformation and direct experience of the Sacred NEED NOT BE just taken on faith or believed in blindly (as is often encouraged by religious institutions) without proof. Wilber and Walsh encourage people to, as it were, “check it out for themselves” by actually engaging in the time-tested spiritual practices because if they do, the practitioners will in time experience for themselves the truth that there is indeed a spiritual realm and that realm will transform the person who wakes up to it and continually grows more fully into it.  

 

---

[2] The Sixth Paradigm [R. Holloway--Different Paradigm Shifts in Christianity] - Part 2

 Source (in the public domain): http://radicalfaith.org/holloway/sixth%20paradigm.htm

From a talk Holloway gave in May 2003

Accessed: 2020-09-03

Go to Part 1 

The Sixth Paradigm  [Different Paradigm Shifts in Christianity] - continued

Richard Holloway (former Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh)

 

PARADIGM #4: The Protestant Reformation Paradigm

Kung's fourth paradigm (P#4) is one we're more immediately familiar with - that of the 16^th century Protestant Reformation. It happened to coincide with the discovery of the Bible by ordinary people. Once the new printing presses had swung into action, many thousands of copies of the Bible became available to the person on the street. It was very soon translated from Latin into the vernaculars.

Just as the Roman institution had provided Christians with a feeling of absolute assurance, so also some people found a similar assurance in the words of Scripture. The absolute institution was replaced by texts which were perceived as the absolute truth straight from the mouth of God. The fourth paradigm promoted the same need for authority as did the third paradigm and pandered to the same fear of freedom.

More profound than such similarities is the way adherence to scriptural inerrancy prevents attempts to do theology differently. In order to preserve its internal consistencies, this paradigm must perforce retain an absolute commitment to a pre-scientific paradigm of how this world works.

In this paradigm the sun must be able to stand still, people must be able to walk on water, and the dead must be able to rise again. In contrast, institutions like the Roman Church can change and yet pretend they haven't. But how can anyone move off a doctrine of scriptural inerrancy without admitting it?

From study of the Bible as God's Word to humankind came the great theory that Luther evolved in contradistinction to the fundamentalism if the institution. It's nearly impossible for many Christians today to read Paul's letters to the early Church except through Lutheran eyes, so compelling was Luther's interpretation of the infallible authority of the Bible.

Luther taught that God saves us not through any of our own works or good deeds, be they pilgrimages, or masses or earnest prayer, but only through God's grace by the sacrifice of the Father's son. That really was a paradigm revolution for those times. It blew away the monolithic medieval Christianity of Roman Catholicism.

The Reformation church is today perhaps the most dated in feeling of all the churches.

I don't know if you ever go into a United Reformed Church building or a Presbyterian church. A few have developed new liturgical forms and norms, but on the whole the classic churches of the Reformation are, as we say in Scotland, very dour. They're heavy. You get long sermons. They may be very thoughtful sermons but they're long. It's all minister-dominated. There's no colour or brightness. It's very heavy, it's serious, it's intense.

That is also it's enduring value. It produces very serious people. Presbyterian Scotland was a very serious country which, by dint of focused effort over many years, produced a strongly democratic consciousness.

It also gave birth to the Protestant work-ethic. This was fundamental to Scotland's experience and self understanding. From this paradigm sprang also a well-educated public. John Knox, the Scottish Protestant reformer, wanted a school in every parish and largely succeeded in his ambition.

Despite this enduring value, the Reformation remnant of the fourth paradigm remains depressing and sexless. If you want to have a good time, don't go to one of these places on a Sunday morning. For unless you're solidly masochistic you'll come out feeling pretty rotten about yourself.

I often think that if you want a great exemplar of the virtues and maybe of the downside of the Reformation paradigm, look at Gordon Brown, the United Kingdom's Chancellor of the Exchequer (equivalent to the Minister of Finance in other systems). He is a deeply serious man. There doesn't seem to be any frivolity in him. He's deeply committed to his project - but he's not exactly a laugh a minute (although I'm told that with some decent malt whiskey beside him he can be quite good company). But there's no sense of frivolity of skittishness about him. In many ways he's a brilliant exemplar of the best of the fourth paradigm.

***

PARADIGM #5: The Modern Era Paradigm

The fifth paradigm (P#5) is the modern paradigm, that of the 17^th - 19^thcenturies. It is still powerfully with us, busily influencing and interpreting how we perceive the world and our lives. Nevertheless, we're increasingly able to regard it to some degree dispassionately as we sail into new and unfamiliar seas.

[1] The Sixth Paradigm [R. Holloway--Different Paradigm Shifts in Christianity] - Part 1

Source (in the public domain): http://radicalfaith.org/holloway/sixth%20paradigm.htm

From a talk Holloway gave in May 2003

Accessed: 2020-09-03

 

The Sixth Paradigm  [Different Paradigm Shifts in Christianity]

Richard Holloway (former Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh)

 

I want to take a glance at the whole of Christian history because one of the things I'd like to get at is this widespread notion that Christianity is or ever has been a single thing.

To do this I'll use a large text, but I want to lead into it by addressing first a very slim text.

One of the most important and influential philosophical texts of the twentieth century was a short book called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions written by an historian of science called Thomas Kuhn. Now Kuhn was a student at Harvard in the 1960s. He was a young physicist and was invited by the President of Harvard to teach a course on the history of science to humanities students who knew nothing about science. He said to himself, "You don't refuse the President of Harvard!"

In his researches and preparing the course he surprised himself. He came across something that he had not hitherto realised was the case. He had a notion of science as a kind of linear activity - a bit like those machines in a coal mine which eat into the coal face - which bites its way through the facts of the universe. He thought of science as a cumulative process in which these facts were gradually laid out.

He discovered that it was in fact a more violent, interruptive activity. Hence the title of his essay. He discovered that science operates by what he called "paradigm revolutions" or "paradigm shifts". He didn't actually coin the word "paradigm" but he did give it a new kind of meaning. He said that the scientific community worked within what it called a paradigm, a constellation of views based on experiment, a world view or set of assumptions that it operated within. This was the going, working science of the time.

The paradigm was operated until it stopped working - that is, until new questions or new discoveries began to collide with the given view. Let me give you a fairly obvious example.

Aristotelian astronomy, upon which the worldview of the entire Bible is based, proposed a three-decker universe with the earth at the centre and all the spheres going round it. The whole idea was that the earth is the centre of the system both physically as well as theologically.

That was the going paradigm. And it still works. The Ptolemaic version of Aristotelian astronomy can still operate for a yachtsperson. You can cross the Atlantic using Ptolemaic astronomy, guiding your boat by the stars. So to that extent it can still be a working paradigm.

But it was overtaken by the great Copernican discovery which was revolutionary because it said, "Ah! The earth is not the thing which everything else goes round. In fact, we go round the sun."

You'll recall the great struggle which then took place. This was because the new paradigm appeared to contradict both the biblical account as well as the going scientific paradigm. Interestingly, it was only fairly recently that the Pope gave the sun permission to be the centre of the solar system.

What happens then is that you get a working set of systems which operates quite satisfactorily until along comes new knowledge, usually discovered by creatures of genius. They begin to ask questions about the old paradigm. Those who use the old paradigm resist the new - and it is entirely right that they should do so. One doesn't want to keep changing a world view which works. It's a confounded nuisance if you're switching paradigms every few years. You need to get traction, a bit of tradition and leverage on the thing.

So you make it work as long as you possibly can. You use it to try to answer the new information which is coming in. There's also in some people a natural kind of conservatism which doesn't like any kind of change. They prefer the going paradigm to anything which is coming down the road. They do so for purely temperamental reasons - but it's also true that the scientific method itself inherently tests new data until it overturns the old. And then you get a paradigm revolution and you move on.

Kuhn's little book has influenced philosophers, culture critics and theologians since the early 1960s. I want to look now at a great text which has applied Kuhn's conclusions about paradigms to Christianity.

The greatest living theologian is Hans Kung, a Roman Catholic. His is the "large text" to which I referred earlier. He doesn't have the Pope's driving licence because he wrote a book in the seventies attacking the doctrine of infallibility and he had his licence to teach withdrawn.

He still teaches theology at Tübingen University but he teaches it in a secular setting (2020-no longer teaching). Quite movingly, he's an old man now and he would like to get his licence back. He'd like to die, as it were, in peace with the Roman Church. But he has been told that he will only get the licence back if he commits to the doctrine of infallibility.

So he will have to sacrifice his conscience to get back inside the Church (which shows you how corrupt churches are). I doubt if he will do that because his whole being has been one of challenge. He's been a sort of Protestant theologian in the midst of Catholicism.

Kung set himself a few years ago an enormous task. He wanted to describe the religious situation of our day. He conceived three volumes - one on Christianity, one on Judaism and one on Islam (2020-they are all published).

He applies paradigm theory to religion. He says that contrary to what we all think, religion has been a story of shifting paradigms - an essentially dynamic, changing enterprise.

I want to race through his application of paradigm theory to Christianity. He says there have been five Christian paradigms. As we'll see, these paradigms are all still in operation. In science, new paradigms succeed, complete and often oust those that came before. In Christianity, religious paradigms never seem to get discarded or superannuated. They simply get stacked up like trays in the trolleys of self-service restaurants.

[5] A Summary of the History of Christianity: A "Paradigm Shift" Approach (Part 5)

 

A Summary of the History of Christianity (by Hans Küng)

(with annotations and revisions done by Julius-Kei Kato)

Go to Part 4

Part 5 - Paradigm #5 : The Modern Era Paradigm - Challenges to Christianity 

We will refer to sub-divisions of this article by the section numbers within square brackets (e.g. [1]).

Resources:

Original Link to this Summary (in the public domain / accessed 2020-09-20): https://www.global-ethic-now.de/gen-eng/0b_weltethos-und-religionen/0b-01-02-christentum/0b-01-0201-jesus.php

Paradigm Shifts in Christianity (a one-page visual diagram) https://www.global-ethic-now.de/gen-eng/0b_weltethos-und-religionen/0b-pdf/paradigm-shifts-christianity.pdf

 

[17] Revolutions of the Modern Age

René Descartes (1596–1650)

Was the father of modern rationalist philosophy and marked a “Copernican Revolution” in the way of thinking: the whole of reality is constituted by the human subject (“I think therefore I am” Latin, Cogito ergo sum)

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)

Was the protagonist of the new empirical-mathematical natural science which was the basis for the technological and industrial revolution that reached its first climax in the 19^th century

Cardinal Richelieu [Armand Jean du Plessis] (1585–1642)

Was the mastermind and practitioner of a new understanding of the State and of politics: what counts is not the confessional or religious-moral point of view but rather practical politics in pursuit of national interests. The state is the natural product of a contract between the people and their rulers and is thus autonomous in relation to the Church.

The French Revolution

In the wake of runaway inflation and mass misery, the Estates-General convened in May 1789. In
June, the Third Estate, representing 98% of the population over against clergy and nobility, proclaimed itself to be the “National Assembly” and challenged the power of the king. On July 14, 1789, the people of Paris took up arms (“Storm the Bastille”). On Aug. 4, the National Assembly abolished feudalism, putting an end to the “Ancien Régime”, and on Aug. 26, it proclaimed the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.”

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789)

The basic principle of the Declaration was that all “men are born and remain free and equal in rights” (Article 1), which were specified as the rights of liberty, private property, the inviolability of the person, and resistance to oppression (Article 2). All citizens were equal before the law and were to have the right to participate in legislation directly or indirectly (Article 6); no one was to be arrested without a judicial order (Article 7). Freedom of religion (Article 10) and freedom of speech (Article 11) were safeguarded within the bounds of public “order” and “law.” The document reflects the interests of the elites who wrote it: property was given the status of an inviolable right, which could be taken by the state only if an indemnity were given (Article 17); offices and position were opened to all citizens (Article 6).

 

[18] Challenges to the Christian Churches in the Future

1. Dialogue with other confessions and, in time, with other religions.

2. Demands of the Enlightenment: freedom of religion and of conscience, freedom of assembly, of speech and of the press.

3. Leading values: “rationality”, “progress”, “nation”.

4. Relativization of Christianity in European guise: instead of a Europe-centered Christian perspective on the world, a multi-centred worldview embracing diverse regions and religions.

 

--END OF SERIES 5/5--

[4] A Summary of the History of Christianity: A "Paradigm Shift" Approach (Part 4)

A Summary of the History of Christianity (by Hans Küng)

(with annotations and revisions done by Julius-Kei Kato)

Go to Part 3

Part 4 - Paradigm #4 : Martin Luther & The Protestant Reformation Paradigm

We will refer to sub-divisions of this article by the section numbers within square brackets (e.g. [1]).

Resources:

Original Link to this Summary (in the public domain / accessed 2020-09-20): https://www.global-ethic-now.de/gen-eng/0b_weltethos-und-religionen/0b-01-02-christentum/0b-01-0201-jesus.php

Paradigm Shifts in Christianity (a one-page visual diagram) https://www.global-ethic-now.de/gen-eng/0b_weltethos-und-religionen/0b-pdf/paradigm-shifts-christianity.pdf

 

[12] Martin Luther - Life

1483  Birth in Eisleben.
1505  Entry into the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt.
1512  Professor in Wittenberg.
1517  Publication of the “Ninety-five Theses” against indulgences.
1520  Papal bull threatening excommunication if he does not retract. Luther publicly burns the papal bull.
1521  Luther is excommunicated. He stands up to his writings at the Diet of Worms, he and his followers are put under the ban (Edict of Worms). Luther is hidden till 1522
in Wartburg Castle, where he begins his translation of the Bible.
1525  The Peasants’ War. Luther got married and broke with Erasmus of Rotterdam.

1529  Marburg Colloquy with Huldrych Zwingli and Martin Bucer.
1541  Jean Calvin established a theocratic republic in Geneva.
1546  Luther dies in Eisleben

 

 

[13] Luther’s Program

Luther’s program: Return to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Bible

In place of innumerable ecclesiastic traditions, laws and authorities, the Holy Scriptures alone serve as the criterion of being Christian – translation of the Bible into the language of the people so that everyone could understand it

Christ

In place of innumerable saints and official mediators, Jesus Christ alone serves as the Mediator of humans before God

Grace

In place of ecclesiastically imposed pious deeds to merit salvation, believers find justification before God not through their works, but through grace alone, which cannot be earned, but is received through faith alone. Grace is unconditional.

Church

In place of the medieval clerical hierarchy, the Church is the community of believers, a congregation that prays and sings together.

 

 

[3] A Summary of the History of Christianity: A "Paradigm Shift" Approach (Part 3)

 A Summary of the History of Christianity (by Hans Küng)

(with annotations and revisions done by Julius-Kei Kato)

Go to Part 2

Part 3 - Paradigm #3 : The Medieval Roman Catholic Paradigm 

We will refer to sub-divisions of this article by the section numbers within square brackets (e.g. [1]).

Resources:

Original Link to this Summary (in the public domain / accessed 2020-09-20): https://www.global-ethic-now.de/gen-eng/0b_weltethos-und-religionen/0b-01-02-christentum/0b-01-0201-jesus.php

Paradigm Shifts in Christianity (a one-page visual diagram) https://www.global-ethic-now.de/gen-eng/0b_weltethos-und-religionen/0b-pdf/paradigm-shifts-christianity.pdf

[8] Rome: Primacy of Honour in the Early Church and the Process of Latinization

•         The Jewish roots of Christianity were forgotten by a church characterized first by Greek then by Latin culture.

•         In Rome, between 360 and 382, Latin replaced Greek as the language of the liturgy.

•         The basilica, originally a large hall for secular affairs, became the model of church architecture.

•         The thanksgiving meal (Eucharist) was gradually transformed into
a sacrificial offering: the table became an altar.

 

 

[9] The Pope – Successor of St Peter? – “No”, “Yes”, or “It’s Complicated”?

•         No evidence in the New Testament that Peter was in Rome.

•         No evidence for an immediate “successor” to Peter, not even in Rome.

•         No mention of a bishop of Rome in the New Testament or in the earliest Christian sources …

•         not in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and not in the Letter of the Romans to the Corinthians.

 

•         Nevertheless, early evidence for the graves of the apostles Peter and Paul in Rome.

•         Around the middle of the 3rd Century, Bishop Stephen of Rome viewed himself as the successor of Peter and claimed a primacy over all other bishops.

•        (this part by jkk) Historically speaking then, it seems that the following idea: <the Pope is the literal successor of Peter who holds full authority [over all bishops in the Christian world], received in an unbroken chain of tradition going from the present pope all the way up to Peter himself who, in turn, received his authority as pope from Jesus himself> has to be re-evaluated very critically. It is not true in the literal sense. It can be considered an anachronism because the popes increasingly claimed this only later in history. The Eastern Orthodox churches (some of which are even older than Rome itself) have not accepted this. It remains the main block to unity among Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. However, it is true that the pope as bishop of Rome has had a unique place of honour (a “primacy of honour” and primus inter pares “first among equals”) in the history of Christianity from ancient times.  (jkk)

 

 

[2] A Summary of the History of Christianity: A "Paradigm Shift" Approach (Part 2)

 A Summary of the History of Christianity (by Hans Küng)

(with annotations and revisions done by Julius-Kei Kato)

Go to Part 1

Part 2 - Paradigm #2 : Constantinople - Moscow - the Orthodox Churches 

We will refer to sub-divisions of this article by the section numbers within square brackets (e.g. [1]).

Resources:

Original Link to this Summary (in the public domain / accessed 2020-09-20): https://www.global-ethic-now.de/gen-eng/0b_weltethos-und-religionen/0b-01-02-christentum/0b-01-0201-jesus.php

Paradigm Shifts in Christianity (a one-page visual diagram) https://www.global-ethic-now.de/gen-eng/0b_weltethos-und-religionen/0b-pdf/paradigm-shifts-christianity.pdf

[5] Constantinople – The Second Rome

Emperor Constantine (306–337)

·         Christianity became, first, the favoured religion of the empire (under Constantine). Later, it became the state religion under the emperor Theodosius (380 CE).

·         Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) became the centre of Christianity (the “Second Rome”).

·         Ecumenical councils were convened to lay down rules for orthodoxy and to formulate dogmas about God and Christ and other matters.
   – Nicaea (325),
   – Constantinople (381),
   – Ephesus (433/449),
   – Chalcedon (451)

·         The Eastern Church centred in Constantinople and the Western Church centred in Rome became increasingly alienated from each other: different languages and cultures, different ways of thinking and doing things

·         Controversies about questions of faith and discipline and about primacy (of the pope) led to the separation (“The Great Schism”) between the Eastern and Western Churches in 1054. This created two separate great bodies of Christians, the “Roman Catholic Church” under the Pope in Rome and the “Eastern Orthodox Churches” under the Patriarch of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul).

 

[6] Moscow – Becomes the “Third” Rome

•         988–1448  Russia formed an ecclesiastical province under the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

•         15th Century  Moscow emerged as the centre of the growing Russian Empire.

•         1453  After the fall of Constantinople, the Russian Church claimed autonomy with its own ecclesiastical head.

•         1472  Grand Duke Ivan III married the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor and laid claim to the legacy of Constantinople.

•         1510  Moscow was called the “Third Rome” for the first time.

•         1589  Moscow was made a patriarchate.

 

[7] The Orthodox Churches

The Orthodox Churches today can be considered as heirs to the Early Eastern Church (Early Church Hellenistic Paradigm-Paradigm 2):

·         “Orthodox” identity means fidelity to tradition, especially the tradition of a rich sacramental and liturgical life fostering personal religious experience.

·         Impressive artistic traditions in church architecture, icon-painting and liturgical music.

·         Devotion to Mary and the saints as symbols of participation in the heavenly Church.

·         Mystical spirituality practiced by monks and nuns but also by many laypersons.

·         An ethic of personal asceticism, prayer and care for the poor.

·         Close association with national identity resulting in a plurality of jurisdictions in communion with each other but without a common voice.

 Go to Part 3

[1] A Summary of the History of Christianity: A Paradigm Shift Approach (Part 1)

A Summary of the History of Christianity (by Hans Küng)

(with annotations and revisions done by Julius-Kei Kato)

Part I - the Original Paradigm (#1) : Jesus Christ - Earliest Christianity - the Christian Scriptures 

We will refer to sub-divisions of this article by the section numbers within square brackets (e.g. [1]).

Resources:

Original Link to this Summary (in the public domain / accessed 2020-09-20): https://www.global-ethic-now.de/gen-eng/0b_weltethos-und-religionen/0b-01-02-christentum/0b-01-0201-jesus.php

Paradigm Shifts in Christianity (a one-page visual diagram) https://www.global-ethic-now.de/gen-eng/0b_weltethos-und-religionen/0b-pdf/paradigm-shifts-christianity.pdf

(HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!) Excellent survey by Bishop Richard Holloway of the six major paradigms in Christian history He also has a section at the beginning explaining paradigms and "paradigm shifts." HERE

[1]  Jesus of Nazareth--considered by his disciples as “the Christ” (the Chosen Messiah)

•         Place of birth: Bethlehem or Nazareth in Galilee. He grew up in Nazareth. (Historically speaking, ‘grew up in Nazareth’ is a more secure piece of data)

•         Year of birth: not after 4 BC, if Jesus was born under King Herod (27–4 BC).

•         First public appearance: around the 15th year of Emperor Tiberius (27/28 or 28/29 AD), when he was baptized by John the Baptist.

•         Public Life: as a wandering preacher and teacher in the region between Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem – for a short time (some months?), at best not more than three years, during which time he gathered around himself a circle of disciples.

•         Year of Death: He was crucified when he was perhaps in his early 30s, most probably around 30 AD, under Pontius Pilatus (26–30). The exact date cannot be determined.

Christianity takes its name from Jesus of Nazareth who was called by his followers “(the) Christ” (Heb. Moshiach / Gk. christos) meaning “the anointed one.”

Jesus is not a mythical person. His history is situated in Palestine, a province of the Roman empire at the time. He had a short public ministry and then crucified under Rome for political provocation and alleged blasphemy.

 

[2.1] The Historical Life and Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew from the peasant class who proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God. 

He lived at a time when many people believed that God was going to let his “kingdom” come.

·         God’s will—he proclaimed—is for people to love God and their neighbour (indeed even their enemies! Matthew 5:44) as they love themselves.

·         Jesus practiced solidarity with everyone who cared to listen and come to his gatherings. He prioritized the disadvantaged, e.g., the poor and the marginalized.

·         The gospels record that he performed many healing actions on behalf of the sick.

·         He sometimes relativized certain Jewish religious laws when he thought that some greater value was at stake, emphasizing that the Law was for the sake of the person and not vice versa.

·         He prophetically provoked the Temple-establishment (the priests, the Sadducee party) and their business interests in the Temple (seen in the ‘purging of the Temple’ incident)

·         He publicly confronted the religious leadership (who were Jews) and the political authorities (who were Romans).

·         For this he was tried and sentenced to death on the cross.

After his death, his disciples had encounters with him that convinced them that he had been raised by God from the dead. This easter faith and proclamation that “Christ has been risen” became the foundation of Christian faith.

 

[2.2] Jesus Christ – Human and Divine  (this part by JK Kato)

One official doctrine (teaching) regarding Jesus in Christianity is that He is both human and divine. This is the result of decisions made in several important early church councils (particularly, Nicea, Constantinople, and Chalcedon [see below]) in which it was decided that, at the official level, Jesus Christ is to be believed by Christians as “one in essence with the Father” (hence, divine), and “one person having two natures—human and divine.”

It is important though to see how the thinking about Jesus evolved over time as a historical process. We can identify several stages:

1. ENCOUNTER: When Jesus began his public life, people perceived him first and foremost as some sort of charismatic “Rabbi” (teacher) who taught, healed, and shared fellowship with people, especially the disadvantaged.
2. MESSIAH? As time went on, some of his followers began to believe that this charismatic rabbi was the MESSIAH who many Jews at the time were waiting for—the one who was going to realize the reign of God in their midst. Jesus also probably thought so about himself. (Note that “Messiah” was NOT EQUAL to “God” in Jesus’ historical context)
3. POST-RESURRECTION: After Jesus’ death, the resurrection experience made the disciples identify Jesus more and more closely with YHWH, giving him exalted titles: Lord, Son of God, Saviour, Lamb of God, Prince of Peace, etc.
4. JESUS’ DIVINITY - This process of Jesus becoming more exalted in the thinking of Christians ultimately led (300+ years later) to a radically close identification between God ("YHWH" in the Old Testament) and Jesus as expressed in the faith-statement: Jesus is also divine  (i.e., that Jesus is “God the Son,” “God incarnate,” “the Second Person of the Holy Trinity,” etc. / aka the "deification" of Jesus). This identification happened over a period of time and was made correct and required (“orthodox”) belief only in the 300s of the Common Era or AD. Note that this deification of Jesus Christ is the unique characteristic of Christianity. It is what divides it from Judaism and Islam although the three religions are monotheistic. Christianity claims that it worships ONE God in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).
5. The roots of this belief in Jesus having some sort of divinity are already found in the New Testament – most notably, in the gospel of John.

For a more detailed presentation of related points, see my article “Did Jesus Claim that He Was God?” in: http://www.catholica.com.au/gc4/jkk/016_jkk_240419.php

The Old Testament Plot (“for Dummies”): An Essential Key to Understanding Our New Testament Spiritual Ancestors

Do you want to understand the life and times of Jesus and his followers but realize that you don't know a lot or have forgotten a lot about the Old Testament (the Hebrew Scriptures)? Here's a summary that will be very useful for you as you begin your study of the New Testament (a quick 20-25 minute read!)

Understanding Our Jewish Spiritual Ancestors

     I sometimes refer to the New Testament as a kind of “village” in which some of our "spiritual ancestors" (such as Jesus, Peter, Paul, Matthew, John, etc.) continue to live. When we read, study and reflect on different New Testament texts, we can actually encounter the spiritual ancestors who were responsible for starting the beginnings of the Christian tradition—a tradition that became the foundation of civilizations, cultures, and societies in history, among which is the Western civilization in which we are living today.

     These spiritual ancestors were all first century common era (CE) Jews (with the exception perhaps of “grand-uncle” Luke). As Jews who were born and lived during the time period that historians call “Second Temple Judaism” (from around 515 BCE to 70 CE. Let us also include the immediate aftermath of the Jerusalem temple’s destruction in the years after 70 CE up to the turn of the century), they themselves were heirs of a long and venerable tradition that was already considered “ancient” at the time and therefore even begrudgingly respected in some way by their Roman conquerors. (The Romans had a deep esteem for “antiquity,” that is, traditions that had a long, venerable history.)

     Ancient Jews as a group had several common characteristics that we will have to keep in mind if we are to understand—what can be considered—a common Jewish worldview at the time. How do we do this? By familiarizing ourselves better with some key areas of life as expressed by the following questions:

• What were the stories, laws, poems, and other oral and written traditions that lay at the foundation of their worldview?
• What were the dominant religious-cultural symbols and practices that they valued?
• What were their most cherished hopes and dreams?

Components of the Worldview of Our (New Testament) Spiritual Ancestors

     We will be able to answer these questions by studying what Jews call “TaNaK” or “the Hebrew Bible/Scriptures” or what is widely known among Christians as “The Old Testament” (OT). What this means in practice is that, for Christians and Westerners in general, some knowledge of the OT is necessary in order to get to know their spiritual ancestry. That is why the OT is an essential part of the Christian Bible which, as a whole, is composed of two parts: The Old Testament (which is like a Part 1); and the New Testament (which is tantamount to a Part 2).

     So here are some of the key points (key words will be in bold letters or italics) to keep in mind regarding this Jewish background for us to understand our New Testament village ancestors which, it should be remembered, even include Jesus (as a historical person).

     First of all, ancient Jews were proud that they were part of “Israel” (taken here primarily as a people-nation) which, they believed, had been chosen in a special way by God to be the Creator’s own special people and nation. (Technically, this idea of being chosen is sometimes called divine election.) The people of Israel were bound to God by a special “Covenant,” the primary component of which was the “Law” (Torah) that God had given them through Moses and was, in turn, elaborated upon by the many prophets, sages, and various other teachers throughout Israel’s history. In the Jewish Tradition, it is often said that there are 613 commandments of this “Law” (That number includes the Ten Commandments that are more familiar to Christians).

     Ancient Jews also valued immensely the geographical “Land” (also referred to as “Israel”) which, they believed, God had given to them as Abraham’s descendants. The Land (of Israel) was holy but its cultic center, Jerusalem, was especially so because on it stood the Temple where God—they believed—was present in a special way.

     Moreover, it is also necessary to know the general plot of an extended “sacred story” that—we can say—was the foundation of how our first century Jewish spiritual ancestors understood history or the story of the world. I often refer to it as the “story-plot” or simply “the story” that was told by parents to their children as an essential part of raising them as Jewish and, hence, every Jewish boy or girl at the time would have learned the gist and main lessons of this storyline as they grew up. This was in turn the basis of the worldview by which ancient Jews viewed, understood, and mentally organized everything: God, the world, life itself and all the other details in their world. Having a grasp of the basic flow of this story found in the OT is, therefore, essential for us to understand the common mindset of our spiritual ancestors whose voices are preserved in the New Testament village.

     I divide this extended storyline into several sub-headings using the following key themes. They are: Creation, Nation, Flight, Fight-Settlement, Kingdom(s) and Exile, Return-Rebuilding, Further Struggles with Empires, and Hope. These notions, I think, can summarize well the spirit of the story that parents told their children at the time. This is the same narrative plot that the wider culture expected everyone to know well during what is called Second Temple Judaism.

    This then is the main outline of the extended story that all our spiritual ancestors in the New Testament village were familiar with. (Let me use the “historical present” to narrate the extended plot for vividness.)

The Extended Story-Plot from the Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament

[Creation] God creates the world and everything in it, culminating in the fashioning of the first humans—male and female— who bear God’s very “image” (Western Christians refer to this as Imago Dei  "God’s image"). The seventh day is special because God rested after all the work of creation. That—it is pointed out—is the origin of the all-important Sabbath practice. The humans are entrusted with the care and stewardship of creation. They are put in an idyllic world described as a garden with the proscription, however, that they should not eat of a forbidden “fruit” (Gen 1-2). The first male and female fail in this, giving in to the prodding of a serpent in the garden, and end up partaking of the forbidden fruit. This event has often been described in Christianity as “the Fall.” This act damages the once perfect relationship between God and humans and, thus, the first ancestors (commonly called “Adam” and “Eve”) are driven away from the garden (Gen 3). They and all their descendants after them are burdened with suffering and eventual death as a result of this disobedience. The point of this story for ancient Jews (as well as those who continue to read this story) is arguably to explain the origin of the many unfortunate things that assail humanity and why evil and suffering are so pervasive in human life. The entry of evil into the human story is portrayed eloquently in the stories that follow in quick succession: Cain (Adam and Eve’s son) murders his brother Abel (Gen 4); in time, the world becomes so evil that God decides to destroy everything and, as it were, restart creation with a clean slate through a flood. God spares a limited number of beings from the flood’s destruction. Thus, Noah and his family and a limited number of species of animals survive the destructive waters by riding out the storm in an ark (Gen 6-9); humans build a tower aiming to “reach the sky” but God confounds their plan by mixing up their languages at Babel (Gen 11), and so forth.