Arts, Etc.Fine Art

Religious experiences in excavating Jesus

Al Clark, assistant vice president of academic affairs, studies the illustrations by Balage Balogh in the Harris Gallery. The illustrations are reconstructions of Palestine during the time of Jesus and are based on archeological finds, texts and drawings. The illustrations were made for the recently published book "Excavating Jesus" by John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed, professor of religion. / photo by Juan Garcia
Al Clark, assistant vice president of academic affairs, studies the illustrations by Balage Balogh in the Harris Gallery. The illustrations are reconstructions of Palestine during the time of Jesus and are based on archeological finds, texts and drawings. The illustrations were made for the recently published book “Excavating Jesus” by John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed, professor of religion. / photo by Juan Garcia

by Ryan MacDonald
Sports Editor

On Tuesday, students and faculty met for the first time this year in Founders Hall auditorium to listen to Jesus scholar John Dominic Crossan speak about his experiences with religion and early Christianity.

Faculty and administration are organizing lectures to bring speakers to the campus from around the world to communicate new dimensions in the community.

Professor of Religion Jonathan Reed opened the event by introducing Crossan. The two men recently published a book together titled “Excavating Jesus,” and have collaborated on other projects.

“He has dedicated his career and life to a reexamination of Jesus,” Reed said. “Over the past two years I have had the privilege of working with him, and in the course of our time together, I have found him to be much more than a bold and brilliant scholar. I think, most importantly, he is an honest, a humorous and a very humble man.”

Crossan, whose work includes the publication of more than 20 books, focused his lecture on how Jesus walked in his first century Roman-occupied Jewish homeland. He used archaeology, cross-cultural anthropology, Greco-Roman and Jewish history, and critical readings of the gospel to explain his influences and experiences with religion.

“I am going to focus on one very precise phenomenon – the passion of Jesus; the story of the trial of Jesus,” he said on Tuesday morning.

Crossan, who received his doctorate of divinity from Major College in Ireland and completed post-doctoral research at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, was born in Ireland and raised in a traditional Irish Catholic Church. He was ordained as a priest in 1957, and first realized that something was wrong with the religion during a summer he spent in Rome. He was watching a play based on one of the biblical stories, and he noticed many flaws with the story.

“It is precisely when you begin to see what is not all right that you begin to see that the problem is not in the grammar, but the problem is in the gospel,” he said. “I want to ask is that history, or is that parable?”

After this realization, Crossan devoted his education to a deeper understanding of the gospel. In 1969, he left the monastery and his priesthood because he could no longer subject his historical findings and theological convictions to the restrictions of the church.

In 1969 he joined the faculty of DePaul University in Chicago, and has since has written many other articles devoted to understanding Jesus’ life and teachings.

“History is the past as reactively interpreted by the present,” he said.

Crossan focused the rest of his lecture on the gospels and early Christianity.

“Faith is about life. Lives not ideas,”he said. “Dear lord, Osama bin Laden has more than just an idea. It is a way of life.”

The event was made possible through the memory of past university President Harold Fashnacht.

While serving as president, he influenced those around him to have conversations that opened new doors and allowed people to question the nature of things.

Morgan stated that his legacy is the reason for such events.

“It was out of respect for Harold and his curiosity that a number of people have given generously to fund a chair in religion,” Morgan said. “We bring speakers to our community who ignite the kind of conversations that Harold would always appreciate.”

Even forty years since his departure from the university, Fashnact’s memory remains an influence.

Campus Minister Debbie Roberts opened the morning with prayer.

“In the aftermath of great tragedy and in the midst of our nation’s warring agenda, we are confused between the cause of both to bless and to curse our differences,” Roberts said.

“We must join spirituality and belief with action,” Roberts continued.

Following the lecture, individuals gathered in LaFetra Hall to participate in another event, and illustrator Balage Balogh joined the panel to answer any questions about the material presented.

Students and faculty also were able to partake in a book signing that was followed by an evening presentation at the Harris Art Gallery, where Balogh’s illustrations were on display.

The Harris Art Gallery is located just west of the Wilson Library, an d the exhibit runs until Nov. 16. For more information, contact ext. 4763.

Ryan Mac Donald
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Juan Garcia
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