Two Christian Radicals Compared:
Thomas Muntzer
(1489-1525) and James Cone ( 1938- )
G.
Richard Jansen
Colorado
State University
Fort
Collins, Colorado 80521
Europe in the Late 15th and Early 16th
Centuries
Governments and societies were under considerable
stress and flux in the fifty or so years leading up to the Protestant
Reformation. The medieval period of feudalism and a powerful Catholic
Church were showing signs of stress in response to religious, political
and economic forces. Pre-reformation reformers such as John Wycliffe in
England and Jan Hus in Bohemia had seriously challenged the authority
of the Church in matters of doctrine and practices, and criticized the
corruption of the Church, especially that of the Papacy. The existing
feudal society was characterized by a system of liege lords where each
class looked to its liege lord as its source of authority, but also as
its protector. At the top of this system was the Emperor and at the
bottom the peasants. Costs of warfare and administration were
escalating and the peasants bore the brunt of increased taxation and
work corvees. The Church was under pressure from Rome for more money to
finance the Papacy and build St Peters Basilica and under pressure in
the other direction from Princes, the nobility and Burghers to reduce
the flow of wealth from Germany and other North European states to
Rome.
Towns were governed by wealthy patricians who
obtained their positions and wealth through large landed estates and
heavy taxation of their tenants. A growing merchant class known as
Burghers obtained their wealth through business and trade and who
increasingly threatened the land rich-money poor lords and patricians.
In addition to all this the Islamic Turks threatened Europe from the
East right up to the very gates of Vienna which the Turks besieged
unsuccessfully in 1529.
The Protestant Reformation
Into this religious, political and social powder keg
came a strong minded and determined Augustinian German monk by the name
of Martin Luther. Luther’s theology was influenced heavily by St
Augustine and St Paul. Most importantly he felt most acutely his own
sense of sinfulness and believed he could never merit salvation by his
own efforts. As he read in Paul’’s letters, especially Romans,
salvation came from faith in Christ by the unconditional Grace of God,
not by works “less we boast.” Faith meant a belief in being redeemed or
made righteous by Christ’’s sacrifice on the Cross and his
resurrection. This was a direct challenge to the doctrine and authority
of the Church. In addition, as is well known, Luther became disturbed
by the Church practice of selling indulgences in which reduction of
time in purgatory was promised. He was particularly upset by the saying
attributed to Johan Tetzel, the papal commissioner for indulgences in
Germany; “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from
purgatory springs””. Most of all, however, Luther categorically
rejected papal and ecclesiastical practices not solidly based on
scripture. Scripture holds authority over the church and over the Pope,
to wit; “sola scriptura.” In 1517 Luther nailed 95 theses on the
door of the cathedral in Wittenburg where he had obtained his Doctor of
Divinity degree. These theses dealt largely with indulgences, sin,
salvation and more generally with the scriptural authority for church
practices in these matters. Luther’s challenges to the authority of
the Church and the Pope led to his excommunication in 1521 and the
subsequent burning of his books. In April 1521 Luther appeared before
the Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms. After being granted a
requested day to further consider the matter Luther refused to recant
and famously is reported to have spoken these historic and fateful
Words; “ Unless I shall be convinced by the testimonies of scripture or
by clear reason --I neither can nor will make any retraction since it
is neither safe nor honorable to act against conscience. So help me
God.” In German an abbreviated version was widely circulated by
broadsheet; “Hier stehe ich, ich kann nich ander. Got helf mehr.”
Religious Radicals in the 15th and 16th
Centuries
Religious radicals of the 16th century and earlier
times were important contributing factors to the Peasant’’s rebellion
of 1524-1525. Religious reformers such as John Wycliffe and Jan Hus
predated and laid some of the groundwork for the Reformation when it
came. The words of Luther unleashed political and social forces far
beyond Luther’’s intentions. One of these was in the person of Andreas
Bodenstein von Karlstadt. Karlstadt was senior to Luther at Wittenburg
and was the scholar that conferred the doctoral degree on Luther. An
early supporter of Luther Karlstadt became impatient with what he
perceived as the conservatism of Luther and broke with him. While
Luther had been sequestered to protect him from the Emperor's forces he
translated the bible into German. During this time Karlstadt made
changes in Communion unacceptable to Luther and was part of an
iconoclastic campaign of destroying religious images and symbols.
Karlstadt also sought to relieve the economic exploitation of the
peasantry. After Luther returned he reversed these actions of Karlstadt
as a result of which Karlstadt lost much influence. He continued his
radical reforms dressed as a peasant, did his own farming and asked to
be addressed as “Neighbor Andreas.”
Thomas Muntzer
Thomas Munzer posed a much more serious threat to
the viability of the Reformation. He preached social revolution. He and
his followers taught that the godless should be slain, the godless
being the rich and anyone in a position of authority. He also advocated
the abolition of a professional clergy in organized religion. In
Munzer’’s mind the Church had ““fallen”” from its original purity much
as in the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. This view is
expressed clearly in his Prague Manifesto, written in 1521: “This intolerable and
noxious canker from which the Christian people suffers has moved me in
pity to read the history of the early fathers with all diligence. Find
that after the death of the apostles' pupils the immaculate virginal
church became a whore by the adultery of the clergy; it was the fault
of the scholars, who always want to sit up top, as Hegesippus writes
and then, after him, Eusebius in Book 4, chapter xxii. Nor do I find
any council giving a convincing account of its faith in the infallible
word of God in terms of the entire living order; there was nothing but
child's play. All this has been possible because of the loose rein God
has given men, so that all their works might be manifest. But, God be
praised, it can never be the case that the Christian church is made up
of monkeys and monks, for the elect friends of God's word must also
learn to prophesy, as Paul teaches, so that they can really experience
the friendly and oh! so generous-hearted way in which God speaks with
all his elect. In order to bring such teaching to the light I am
willing to sacrifice my life for God's sake. God will do wonderful
things with his elect, especially in this land. For the new church will
begin here, this people will be a mirror for the whole world. Therefore
I summon every single person to help in the defence of God's word.”
Muntzer earned the MA degree completing the
Bacculareus biblicus in 1513, becoming well versed in Greek, Hebrew and
Latin in the process. He was ordained a priest in 1513. With the
beginning of the Reformation in 1517 he became a follower of Luther
who, in 1520 recommended Muntzer to a pastorate in the town of Zwickau
in 1520. He became radicalized shortly thereafter if not before.
Revolutionary forces were at work all over Germany including in Zwickau
and Muntzer was both influenced by these forces and contributed to
them. By 1521 the senior pastor at Zwickau expelled Muntzer from his
pastorate. His theological views and his views about the social and
economic feudal order in Germany at that time diverged greatly from
both the Catholic church, Luther as well as the established order. In
1521 Muntzer wrote his Prague Manisafesto referenced above. This was
and is an angry, anti-clerical and apocalyptic work. His theological
view increasingly could be characterized as anti- intellectual and
anti-biblical. They now reflected spirital illumination where emotion
and feelings triumphed over the Bible. What was important to Muntzer
was “being filled
with the spirit and the cross of Christ in the deepest depths of one’s
soul.” He favored the establishment of an
egalitarian society.
In 1524 he delivered his Sermon to the Princes on
the apocalyptic book of Daniel to a group of Dukes and nobles of Saxony
refering to Luther as Brother Softlite in the process: "It is true - I know it
for a fact - that the spirit of God is revealing to many elect and
pious men at this time the great need for a full and final reformation
in the near future. This must be carried out. For despite all attempts
to oppose it the prophecy of Daniel retains its full force... This text
of Daniel, then is as clear as the bright sun, and the work of ending
the fifth Empire of the world is now in full swing. The first Empire is
explained by the golden knob - that was the Babylonian - the second by
the silver breastplate and arm-piece - that was the Empire of the Medes
and Persians. The third was the Greek Empire, resonant with human
cleverness, indicated by the bronze; the fourth the Roman Empire, an
Empire won by the sword, an Empire won by force. But the fifth is the
one we see before us, which is also of iron and would like to use
force, but it is patched with dung...that is, with the vain schemings
of hypocrisy, which swarms and slithers over the face of the whole
earth. ...What a pretty spectacle we have before us now - all the eels
and snakes coupling together immorally in one great heap! The priests
and all the evil clerics are the snakes, as John [the baptist]...called
them...and the secular lords and rulers are the eels, symbolised by the
fishes in Leviticus 11.
Therefore, my dearest, most revered rulers, learn true judgment
from the mouth of God himself. Do not let yourself be seduced by your
hypocritical priests into a restraint based on counterfeit clemency and
kindness. ...Only seek without delay the righteousness of God and take
up the cause of the gospel boldly. ...King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to
kill his wise men because they were unable to expound the dream. It was
no more than they deserved. ...Our clergy today are in the same
position. I know this for a fact, that if the plight of the Christian
people really came home to you and you put your mind to it properly
then you would develop the same zeal as King Jehu showed, 2 Kings 9,
10, and as we find throughout the whole book of Revelation. And I know
this for a fact that you would have the very greatest difficulty not to
resort to the power of the sword. For the condition of the holy people
of Christ has become so pitiable, that up to now not even the most
eloquent tongue could do it justice. Therefore a new Daniel must arise
and expound your dreams to you and...he must be in the vanguard,
leading the way. He must bring about a reconciliation between the wrath
of the princes and the rage of the people. For once you really grasp
the plight of the Christian people as a result of the treachery of the
false clergy and the abandoned criminals your rage against them will be
boundless, beyond all imagining. ...For they have made such a fool of
you that everyone swears by the saints that in their official capacity
princes are just pagans, that all they have to do is to maintain civic
order. Alas, my fine fellow, the great stone will come crashing down
soon and smash such rational considerations to the ground, as Christ
says in Matthew 10: 'I am not come to send peace, but he sword.' But
what is one to do with the sword? Exactly this: sweep aside those evil
men who obstruct the gospel! Take them out of circulation! Otherwise
you will be devils,... Have no doubts that God will mash all your
adversaries into little pieces... Now if you are to be true rulers, you
must seize the very roots of government, following the command of
Christ. Drive his enemies away from the elect; you are the instruments
to do this. My friend, don't let us have any of these hackneyed
posturings, about the power of God achieving everything without any
resort to your sword; otherwise it may rust in its scabbard. ...Hence
the sword, too, is necessary to eliminate the godless. To ensure,
however, that this now proceeds in a fair and orderly manner, our
revered fathers, the princes, who with us confess Christ, should carry
it out. But if they do not carry it out the sword will be taken from
them (Daniel 7), for then they would confess him in words but deny him
in deeds. ...The tares have to be torn out of the vineyard of God at
harvest-time.
There is no doubt that many...will be similarly offended by this
little book, because I say with Christ...and with the guidance of the
whole divine law, that one should kill the godless rulers, and
especially the monks and priests who denounce the holy gospel as heresy
and yet count themselves the best Christians. ...For the godless have
no right to live, unless by the sufferance of the elect... So be bold!
He to whom all power is given in heaven and on earth is taking the
government into his own hands.”
Muntzer became the leader on the peasants rebellion
of 1525. The demands of the peasants have been summarized as follows:
1. Gospel shall be preached according to the true faith.
2. No tithes shall be given neither great nor small.
3. There shall be no longer interest and longer dues more than one
gulden in twenty.
4. All waters shall be free.
5. All woods and forests shall be free.
6. All game shall be free.
7. None shall any longer be in a state of villeinage.
8. None shall any longer obey any prince of lord but such as pleaseth
him and that shall be the Emperor.
9. Justice and right shall be as of olden times.10. Should there be one
having authority who displeases us, we would have the power to set up
in his place another as it pleases us.
11. There shall be no more death dues.
12. The common lands that the lords have taken to themselves shall
again become common lands.
The army of peasants, led by Muntzer gathered at a
field in Frankenhausen. They were opposed by an army of the nobility
led bythe Dukes of Brunswick and Saxony, and the Landgrave of Hessia.
The peasants refused to surrender and refused to give up their leader
Muntzer. The peasnt army was utterly destroyed and Muntzer was
captured. Muntzer was imprisoned and tortured where he recanted his
radical views. He accepted a Catholic mass before he was beheaded on
May 27, 1525.
Religious Radicals in the 20th and 21st
Centuries
The word heresy is no longer much in vogue in the
Christian world. However at the periphery of the Christian faith there
are views that are perhaps best described as heterodox, i.e. “contrary
to or different from an acknowledged standard, a traditional form, or
an established religion.” One of the most disturbing of these heterodox
views concerns the very nature of God, and this is the development of
process theology and its panentheistic concept of God. In panentheism
God is not omnipotent. The universe is characterized by process and
change carried out by the agents of free will. Free will characterizes
everything in the universe, not just human beings. God can not force
anything to happen, but rather only influences the exercise of this
universal free will by offering possibilities. God contains the
universe but is not identical with it (panentheism). Because God
contains a changing universe, God is changeable (that is to say, God is
affected by the actions that take place in the universe) over the
course of time. People do not experience a subjective (or personal)
immortality, but they do have an objective immortality in that their
experiences live on forever in God, who contains all that was.
In contrast, Christianity is a monotheistic religion
and thus has a theistic concept of the nature of God. Theism is the
belief in a Supreme Being that highlights divine transcendence, yet
believes in his immanence and his care for those who are in this world.
God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent in theism. He is
perfect, even though evil exists in the world. He is a personal God and
often intervenes in the affairs of men. The life of creation is a gift
from God, but is not a manifestation of God. Process theology and
panentheism cannot be considered to be, indeed are not, Christian views
of God or Christ. Dr. William J. Abraham the Albert Cook Outler
Professor of Wesley Studies at the Perkins School of Theology at
Southern Methodist University described the views of Revisionists
this way: “More
recently, however, a very different attitude to the
Church’s tradition has emerged. There is now abroad in theology a form
of Radical Protestantism which constitutes a whole new vision of
Christian faith and existence. Its proponents claim
that the tradition
is dominated by patriarchy and exclusion, the
product
of oppressive forces linked to geographical location, social class,
race,
and gender. It is not to be tolerated, but stamped out and destroyed.
Nobody,
at least in public, would be prepared to state the matter that bluntly,
but that is the truth of the matter.”
Abraham also quotes an un-named revisionist as follows:
“ Now it is our turn to get honest. Although the creeds
of our denomination pay lip service to the idea that Scripture is
"authoritative"
and "sufficient for faith and practice," many of us have moved far
beyond
that notion in our theological thinking. We are only deceiving
ourselves——and
lying to our evangelical brothers and sisters——when we deny the shift
we
have made. We have moved beyond Luther’’s sola Scriptura for the
same reason the Catholic Church moved beyond the canonized Scriptures
after
the fourth century. We recognize that understandings of situations
change.
"New occasions teach new duties." We have moved far beyond the idea
that
the Bible is exclusively normative and literally authoritative for our
faith. To my thinking, that is good! What is bad is that we have tried
to con ourselves and others by saying "we haven’’t changed our
position.
Furthermore, few of us retain belief in Christ as the sole way of
salvation.
We trust that God can work under many other names and in many other
forms
to save people. Our views have changed over the years.
James Cone
It is the intent of this paper to focus on one Christian
radical of our time, James H. Cone, Charles A. Briggs Professor of
Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York. one The
radicalism of Dr. Cone is so far from mainstream Christianity that it
wasn’t even considered by Dr. Abraham. Dr. Cone obtained a M.A.
degree in Divinity from Garett Theological Seminary and M.A. and PhD
degrees from Northwestern University. He is an ordained minister in the
African Methodist Episcopal Church and is generally considered to be
a, if not the,“father” of Black Liberation Theology. Dr. Cone also is a
Mentor
of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Pastor of Trinity United Church of
Christ in Chicago where presidential candidate Barack Obama is a
member. Dr. Cone’s theology can be summed up under three headings:
a theology of liberation, God is black and Christ is black. These
radical views of Christian theology can best be assessed from his own
writing in his book A Black Theology of Liberation (Lippencott,
1970). These views of James Cone are so heterodox they were not
even included in Professor Abraham's critique of radical Christianity.
A Theology of
Liberation
“The
appearance of Black Theology on the American scene then is due
exclusively to the failure of white religionists to relate the gospel
of Jesus to the pain of being black in a white racist society. It
arises from the need of black people to liberate themselves from white
oppressors. Black Theology is a theology of liberation because it is a
theology which arises from an identification with the oppressed blacks
of America, seeking to interpret the gospel of Christ in the light of
the black condition. It believes that the liberation of black people is
God's liberation.
The task of Black Theology then is to analyze the nature of the
gospel of Jesus Christ in the light of oppressed black people so they
will see the gospel as inseparable from their humiliated condition,
bestowing on them the necessary power to break the chains of
oppression. This means that it is a theology of and for the black
community, seeking to interpret the religious dimensions of the forces
of liberation in that community.
There are two
reasons why Black Theology is Christian theology and possibly the only
expression of Christian theology in America. First, there can be no
theology of the gospel which does not arise from an oppressed
community. This is so because God in Christ has revealed himself as a
God whose righteousness is inseparable from the weak and helpless in
human society. The goal of Black Theology is to interpret God's
activity as he is related to the oppressed black community.
Second, Black Theology is Christian theology because it centers
on Jesus Christ. There can be no Christian theology which does not have
Jesus Christ as its point of departure. Though Black Theology affirms
the black condition as the primary datum of reality which must be
reckoned with, this does not mean that it denies the absolute
revelation of God in Jesus Christ. Rather it affirms it. Unlike white
theology which tends to make the Christ-event an abstract, intellectual
idea, Black Theology believes that the black community itself is
precisely where Christ is at work. The Christ event in
twentieth-century America is a black-event, that is, an event of
liberation taking place in the black community in which black people
recognize that it is incumbent upon them to throw off the chains of
white oppression by whatever means they regard as suitable. This is
what God's revelation means to black and white America, and why Black
Theology may be the only possible theology in our time.”
God is Black
According to Professor Cone, God is black. “Because black people
have come to know themselves as black, and because that blackness is
the cause of their own love of themselves and hatred of whiteness, God
himself must be known only as he reveals himself in his blackness. The
blackness of God, and everything implied by it in a racist society, is
the heart of Black Theology's doctrine of God. There is no place in
Black Theology for a colorless God in a society when people suffer
precisely because of their color. The black theologian must reject any
conception of God which stifles black self-determination by picturing
God as a God of all peoples. Either God is identified with the
oppressed to the point that their experience becomes his or he is a God
of racism. Authentic identification, as Camus pointed out, is not "a
question of psychological identification-a mere subterfuge by which the
individual imagines that it is he himself who is being offended." It is
"identification of one's destiny with that of others and a choice of
sides." Because God has made the goal of black people his own goal,
Black Theology believes that it is not only appropriate but necessary
to begin the doctrine of God with an insistence on his blackness.
The blackness of God means that God has made the oppressed
condition his own condition. This is the essence of the biblical
revelation. By electing Israelite slaves as his people and by becoming
the Oppressed One in Jesus Christ, God discloses to men that he is
known where men experience humiliation and suffering. It is not that he
feels sorry and takes pity on them (the condescending attitude of those
racists who need their guilt assuaged for getting fat on the starvation
of others); quite the contrary, his election of Israel and incarnation
in Christ reveal that the liberation of the oppressed is a part of the
innermost nature of God himself. This means that liberation is not an
afterthought, but the essence of divine activity.” and “ Black theology
refuses to accept a god who is not identifed totally with the goals of
the black community. If God is not for us and against white people,
then he is a murderer and we had better kill him. The task of black
theology is to kill gods who do not belong to the black community.
Black theology will accept only the love of Gad which participates in
the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as
expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy
their oppressors here and now bt any means at their disposal. Unless
God is participating in this holy activity we must reject his
love.”
Christ is Black
Also according to Professor Cone Christ, of
necessity, must be black.
“The
definition of Christ as black is crucial for Christology if we
truly believe in his continued presence today. Taking our clue from the
historical Jesus who is pictured in the New Testament as the Oppressed
One, what else, except blackness, could adequately tell us the meaning
of his presence today? Any statement about Christ today that fails to
consider blackness as the decisive factor about his Person is a denial
of the New Testament message. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus
reveal that he is the man for others, disclosing to them what is
necessary for their liberation from oppression. If this is true, then
Christ must be black with black people so they can know that their
liberation is his liberation.
The Black Christ
is also an important theological symbol for an analysis of Christ's
presence today because we must make decisions about where he is at work
in the world. Is his presence synonymous with the work of the oppressed
or the oppressors, blacks or whites? Is he to be found among the
wretched or among the rich? Of course our clever white theologians
would say that it is not either/or. Rather he is to be found somewhere
in between, a little black and a little white. Such an analysis is not
only irrelevant for our times but also irrelevant for the time of the
historical Jesus. Jesus was not for and against the poor, for and
against the rich. He was for the poor and against the rich, for the
weak and against the strong.”
Discussion
Thomas Muntzer
Thomas Muntzer in the 16th century was deeply
concerned with injustice, the exploitation of the powerless by the
powerful as is James Cone today. There is scriptural support for such
concerns. The Gospel of Luke 4: 17-21 relates this story about Jesus:
"The scroll of the
prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place
where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has
anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to
release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and
sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,
and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in
your hearing."
In Matthew 19: 16-24 Jesus tells the parable of the
Rich Young Man :
"Now a man came up to Jesus and asked,
"Teacher, what good thing must I
do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me
about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If
you want to enter life, obey the commandments." "Which ones?" the man
inquired.
Jesus replied, "
'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false
testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as
yourself.'"
"All these I have
kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
Jesus answered,
"If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When the young man
heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to
his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God."
The same theme is present in the parable of the
Sheep and the Goats related in Matthew 25: 31-45:
"When the Son of Man
comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his
throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him,
and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right
and the goats on his left.
"Then the King
will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the
creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to
eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger
and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick
and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the
righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed
you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a
stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did
we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will
reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of
these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
"Then he will say
to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry
and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing
to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed
clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did
not look after me.'
"They also will
answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will
reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the
least of these, you did not do for me.'
However, immediately preceding this parable is the
parable of the Talents in Matthew 25: 14-30 :
"Again,
it will be like
a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his
property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two
talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then
he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went
at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the
one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received
the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's
money.
"After a long time
the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.
The man who had received the five talents brought the other five.
'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have
gained five more.' "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful
servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in
charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
"The man with the
two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two
talents; see, I have gained two more.'
"His master
replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful
with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and
share your master's happiness!'
"Then the man who
had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you
are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where
you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your
talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
"His master
replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I
have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then,
you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when
I returned I would have received it back with interest.
" 'Take the talent
from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone
who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does
not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that
worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.' " This parable
makes clear that even the less
fortunate should take the initiative and make the best use of their
opportunities. The command to invest money in a bank (or
exchangers) and thereby gain interest (or usury) is especially
revealing.
The teachings of Jesus are well expressed in the
Beatitudes found in the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5:1-10
"Now when he saw
the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples
came to him, and he began to teach them saying: "Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who
mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will
inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for
they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will
see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of
God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven," and in his admonishment
to the rich young man and all others to keep the commandments.
Muntzer’s extreme statements on killing the rulers
and the Godless have no support in the teachings of Jesus or in any
part of Christianity. Jesus was not a revolutionary in any sense
against the authority and power of Rome. On this subject Jesus
was explicit: Matthew 22:15-21
"Then the Pharisees
went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their
disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we
know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in
accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no
attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it
right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" But Jesus, knowing their evil
intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me
the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, and he
asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"
"Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is
Caesar's, and to God what is God's.""
Neither did Jesus challenge the authority of
the Jewish religious authorities. On this subject his views were
expressed even more explicitly: Matthew 23:1-22
“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:
“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you
must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they
do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads
and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to
lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see:
They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments
long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important
seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces
and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'
But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have
only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on
earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are
you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The
greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself
will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Woe to
you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the
kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will
you let those enter who are trying to.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You
travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes
one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.
Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears
by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of
the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! Which is
greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also
say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone
swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men!
Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on
it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who
dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by
the one who sits on it.
Thomas Muntzer was not executed for being a
Christian dissenter. He was executed for leading a violent
rebellion
against the State.
James Cone
There is no support in the teachings of Jesus or in
2000 years of Christian theology for the Black Liberation Theology of
James Cone. Jesus only used the words oppressed and liberty once and
that was when
he quoted the words of the prophet Isaiah as mentioned above.. The word
liberate or
liberation is not to be found in the New Testament except in
connection with the liberation of the creation from the bondage
of
decay (Romans
8:21).
Jesus at no time spoke of liberating anyone from
oppression. Christ’s message was love, not revolution. His
message was one of compassion and comfort for the afflicted. He did not
speak out about the oppression of Roman authorities. He spoke against
the hypocrisy and unrighteousness of Jewish authorities, not their
power. Jesus spoke of the coming Kingdom of God, not of a coming
kingdom of man: Matthew 23:23-24
"Woe to you, teachers
of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your
spices——mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more
important matters of the law——justice, mercy and faithfulness. You
should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You
blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."
Core asserts “The Christ event in
twentieth-century America is a black-event, that is, an event of
liberation taking place in the black community in which black people
recognize that it is incumbent upon them to throw off the chains of
white oppression by whatever means they regard as suitable.” He
equates being black with being oppressed and being white with being the
oppressor. Christ must be black because, in Cone’s theology he
was the oppressed one.
God must be black “Because black people
have come to know themselves as black, and because that blackness is
the cause of their own love of themselves and hatred of whiteness, God
himself must be known only as he reveals himself in his blackness. The
blackness of God, and everything implied by it in a racist society, is
the heart of Black Theology's doctrine of God.”
From either a biblical or a historical standpoint
this is all nonsense. In the world more black people by far are
oppressed by black authorities than by white authorities. There is no
place in the world where black people are better off in any sense of
the word, than in the predominately white and predominately Christian
United States. Slavery has existed from the beginning of time and
members of all races have been slaves and slave owners. It was
predominately black Africans that enslaved black Africans and sold
thenm to white slave traders. It was white
Christians who led the way to abolishing of the Atlantic slave trade
and emancipation of black slaves. President Lincoln said this in his
2nd Inaugural Address:
“Fondly do we hope,
fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass
away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by
the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be
sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid
by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago,
so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and
righteous altogether." The evil of slavery in the United States
was paid for in blood, 360,000 war dead in the North and 260,000 war
dead
in the South.
Meanings of the teachings of Jesus were well
expressed in the Gospel of John 3:16-18:
"For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe
stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of
God's one and only Son.”
The teachings of Jesus and the message of
Christianity have always been color blind.
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