Among the progressive community, there are many who now believe that Jesus was just an ordinary human who went on to achieve theosis, which in Eastern Christian theology means to ‘be made divine’. In other words, Jesus was one of many human beings who have been deified.
Sometimes I perceive a pressure from progressives to ‘progress’ in all the ways that they have, but that doesn’t work for me. We shouldn’t step away from one set of dogma (Evangelicalism) only to enforce another. I disagree with Richard Rohr and other progressive figures on this crucial point – I do not see Jesus as embodying a universal Christ consciousness; I see him as the Christ. I worship Jesus as the Name Above all Names, and moving away from that is not something the Holy Spirit will endorse, at least for me. I wouldn’t expect anyone who follows another faith to reject its most central beliefs in order to become ‘interfaith’ – we should hold onto that which is most precious and learn from each other without watering down the divine elixir.
I’m onboard with many emerging progressive views and am proud to be part of the growing worldwide movement of people looking to free Christianity from its self-imposed shackles. As an ex-Evangelical, I’ve unpicked many poor ideas sewn into the package of beliefs presented to me in my youth, including Biblical inerrancy, the hideous doctrine of eternal conscious torment (Hell), and the Church’s cruel exclusion of the LGBTQIA+ community, but I’m not okay with accepting a new package of unquestionable beliefs. Above all, I can’t accept the diminishing of Jesus, as it would mean casting away my greatest treasure.
Note from the author: Once a month, Patheos features one of my articles in a way that bypasses my usual blog-spot, so I write a short intro (as above) and link the full article so that it’s available to all readers.
How to support me: Readers who want to help ensure that what I write continues to get ‘out there’ are invited to make a monthly pledge or a one-off gift through Patreon. I will soon be writing a book on this topic and releasing patron-only content in the form of short video talks.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In