News: Alternative Stories of Jesus

“People are fascinated with the person and story of Jesus and that fascination sometimes takes strange forms.”

A great deal of media and public attention is focused today on two alternative versions of the stories of Jesus, the Da Vinci Code and the Gospel of Judas. While these two stories are principally an annoyance, they cannot simply be ignored. Sister Sandra Schneider, biblical scholar and member of the faculty of  the Graduate Theological Union in Berkelely, CA, finds some interesting factors underlying them.

She numbers among these factors a general skepticism surrounding “official” accounts, the American public’s scientific naivete, examples of new textual discoveries and now methods of literary analysis, and the lack of credibility in the institutional church following news of the clergy’s sexual abuse scandals and attempts at their cover-up. People are fascinated with the person and story of Jesus and that fascination sometimes takes strange forms.

Responsible scholars and observers easily reject the claims of both stories. Nevertheless, they capture public attention. The reason for that is they are stories of Jesus. No matter how bizarre the stories may be, Jesus continues to attract and challenge. That should not be considered entirely bad.