Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
New Testament Notes 112-116

New Testament Notes 112-116

Last updated on: March 19, 2019 at 11:00 pm by Dan Peterson

New Testament Notes 112-116 2019-03-19T23:00:33-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Byzantine mosaic showing the healing of a man with a paralyzed hand
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Matthew 12:9-14

Mark 3:1-6

Luke 6:6-11

I really should have connected this entry with the previous one, “New Testament 111,” because it concerns the same fundamental issue.

The Pharisees overlook the miracle of the divine healing in their zeal to find an accusation against Jesus.

It would be rather like criticizing the swimming technique of a lifeguard who had just pulled a drowning man from the ocean, or faulting the grammar of a note of comfort sent to a grieving family, or declining to eat nutritious food when one is hungry because the presentation of the meal is inartistic, or refusing a life preserver because you don’t like its color.

Silliness, and spectacular loss of focus on what really matters.

A rough map of the Levant in Old Testament times (Wikimedia Commons)

Matthew 12:15-21

Mark 3:7-12

Luke 6:17-19

There’s a clear foreshadowing here of the eventual expansion of Christianity beyond Jewry. People come to Jesus not only from Galilee, Jerusalem, and Judea generally, but from Idumea (Old Testament Edom, roughly today’s Petra in Jordan, which was also the home territory of Herod), and from the formerly Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon (still flourishing under those names today, up on what is now the coast of Lebanon). And he heals all those among them who require healing.

A woman anoints Christ’s feet (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

This marvelous story seems to be mentioned in all four gospels. It also seems to take place in Bethany, just over the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem.

Once again, the contrast is drawn between deep love and the cold following of rules.

And, of course, there’s a foreshadowing of Judas’s betrayal. John is especially harsh on Judas, suggesting that he was an embezzler long before he was a traitor.

James Tissot, “Une femme crie dans en foule” (“A Woman Cries Out in a Crowd”), in the Brooklyn Museum

Luke 8:1-3

Compare Matthew 9:35; Mark 6:6; 16:9

One of the very striking things about the ministry of Jesus is the prominence of women among his disciples.

Don’t fail to notice this as you read the four gospels. It’s important.

The 1928 cover of Freud’s “The Future of an Illusion,” one of his more significant treatments of religious belief

Mark 3:19-21

The notion, common among some adherents of the “New Atheism,” that religion is a mental illness or a product of emotional dysfunction, is commonly traced back to the late Dr. Sigmund Freud. (It rests on roughly the same rigorous analysis of empirical data that’s used to support much of Freudianism.)

This passage, however, shows quite clearly that ancient unbelievers already knew how to play the madness card two thousand years ago. It’s nothing new.

Freud regarded God as an illusion growing out of an infantile need for a powerful father figure. Religion, he acknowledged, had perhaps been necessary to help us restrain violent impulses earlier in human history, when civilization was still evolving , but, he argued, it can now be discarded and replaced by reason and science.

Paul Vitz, an emeritus professor of psychology at New York University, turned Freud’s notion on its head in his book Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism by analyzing the relationships of several historically influential atheists — including Dr. Freud himself — with their fathers. He sees atheism as arising, in many of these cases, from problematic relationships with fathers.

Armand Nicholi, clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard and editor and co-author of The Harvard Guide to Psychiatry, published The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life a number of years ago. It’s based on a course that Dr. Nicholi had taught for roughly decades at Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. In my judgment, Freud doesn’t fare well in the comparison.

expansion of Christianity

Freud

New Atheism

New Testament

New Testament Commentary

psychology of religion

religion

woman

Previous Post

March 15, 2019

The Grand Canyon's natural "temples"

Next Post

March 15, 2019 On "Spooky action at a distance"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to Paul, nothing in all creation can separate you from me—not death, not life, not angels or demons. What am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

God's grace The love of God God's mercy Salvation