Andrew Sullivan Makes Up Jesus

Last updated on: July 18, 2014 at 11:34 am by David Mills

Andrew Sullivan Makes Up Jesus 2014-07-18T11:34:19-04:00 David Mills

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.

In yesterday’s Love is Not Love, I quoted William Luse’s explanation of why that popular slogan makes no sense. While explaining this he mentions the once widely known as a gay Catholic journalist Andrew Sullivan’s description of a Jesus who hated rules because he was so loving.

The only way to understand the God Who is Love is to set him at odds with the law. As a practitioner of the tactic, Andrew Sullivan was a repeat offender. A case in point was a column he wrote back in 2006, before he was able to publicly admit what anyone with good sense already knew: that he was not really a Catholic. Maybe this lack of self-awareness allowed him to wear two hats at once — Scriptural scholar and theologian:

Rules can only go so far; love does the rest. And the rest is by far the most important part. Jesus of Nazareth constantly tells his fellow human beings to let go of law and let love happen: to let go of the pursuit of certainty, to let go of possessions, to let go of pride, to let go of reputation and ambition, to let go also of obsessing about laws and doctrines. This letting go is what the fundamentalist fears the most. To him, it implies chaos, disorder, anarchy. To Jesus, it is the beginning of wisdom, and the prerequisite of love.

This is such crap. Not, I should say, in what he says taken literally and precisely, but in what he means as suggested by that concluding “obsessing about laws and doctrines,” which means not just letting go an obsession but rejecting a proper submission in favor of “love,” and what he uses this understanding of “love” to argue for, which goes way beyond what Jesus would call love. This is not the Jesus one meets in the gospels. It’s an invention and one Sullivan has to have known was an invention. One throws up one’s hands. Were I a better man I’d feel sorry for him. Appropriating for his causes the person he as a Catholic believed to be the Lord of the universe is not prudent.

Christianity & culture

Liberalism

Previous Post

July 17, 2014

The Wise Masked Chicken Speaks on Francis

Next Post

July 18, 2014 It's a Funny Old World 6

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion & life American Life Anglican Affairs Apologetics Art and artistry Beer Capitalism's downside Catholic converts Catholic issues Catholicism & public life Catholicism in general Christianity & culture Christianity & the Jews Conservatism Conservative problems Death Do unto others Dogs Ecumenical friendship Evangelicalism Evil in the world Family Friendship Heroes How we should live Islam It's a funny old world Jews Judaism Israel Judaism justice Liberalism Life issues Marriage Mary Mass Media Modern culture good & bad Modern life as it is lived Modern Religion Mormonism People Personal reflections Politicians Protestantism Race Rand & Randiansm Secularisms Sexualities Society justice equality freedom The papacy & the pope Uncategorized Worship Writing & Language

Select a Month January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Samuel's mother, who prayed for a child at Shiloh?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Rebekah Peninnah Hannah Leah