Praying to Jesus
A Metamodern Possibility?
see also Christian Process Theology and Metamodernism
Photo by Ümit Bulut on Unsplash
Bruce Epperly proposes that Jesus is a healer, mystic, and prophet whose energy of love we can feel today. Brendan Graham Dempsey invites us to recognize that this Jesus, important as he is, may differ from the apocalyptic figure expecting the End of times of whom biblical scholars speak. Perhaps there is no conflict. Perhaps Jesus, too, can evolve. Perhaps today we can feel his energy and even pray to him, as millions of people around the world do every day, while acknowledging that the one who hears our prayers is not precisely the same as the one who expected the end of time. Call it metamodern Christianity: combining the devotional and the scholarly. It is also possible that our creative and poetic role in helping Jesus evolve is itself responsive to the Logos, the spirit of creative transformation at work in the world, to which the historical Jesus, too, sought to be responsive. We need not repeat his beliefs, but we can share in his faith, extending his healing ministry. (Jay McDaniel)
Bruce Epperly proposes that Jesus is a healer, mystic, and prophet whose energy of love we can feel today. Brendan Graham Dempsey invites us to recognize that this Jesus, important as he is, may differ from the apocalyptic figure expecting the End of times of whom biblical scholars speak. Perhaps there is no conflict. Perhaps Jesus, too, can evolve. Perhaps today we can feel his energy and even pray to him, as millions of people around the world do every day, while acknowledging that the one who hears our prayers is not precisely the same as the one who expected the end of time. Call it metamodern Christianity: combining the devotional and the scholarly. It is also possible that our creative and poetic role in helping Jesus evolve is itself responsive to the Logos, the spirit of creative transformation at work in the world, to which the historical Jesus, too, sought to be responsive. We need not repeat his beliefs, but we can share in his faith, extending his healing ministry. (Jay McDaniel)