“Any theory which bases itself on a supposed ‘historical Jesus’ to be dug out of the Gospels and then set up in opposition to Christian teaching is suspect. There have been too many historical Jesuses–a liberal Jesus, a pneumatic Jesus, a Barthian Jesus, a Marxist Jesus. They are the cheap crop of each publisher’s list, like the new Napoleons and new Queen Victorias. It is not to such phantoms that I look for my faith and my salvation.”
–C. S. Lewis, “Why I Am Not a Pacifist,” in The Weight of Glory: And Other Addresses (New York: HarperCollins, 1949/2001), 88.
John Fraye (maybe Frye?) writes a blog called Jesus the Radical Pastor. He recently wrote two different versions of the woman at the well story. In one, Jesus is a fundamentalist. In the other, an emerging Jesus. They’re hilarious if you get a chance. The problem is, just like C.S. Lewis points out, none of these were actually Jesus. In reality, Jesus lived a life perfectly according to God’s law, and is the example the rest of us are to immitate. Our goal should be for Christ to be seen in our lives, not to become more fundamental, more emergent, etc. than we were yesterday.