{"id":41513,"date":"2025-04-07T13:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T20:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=41513"},"modified":"2025-04-07T13:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T20:35:11","slug":"jesus-is-an-anomaly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/jesus-is-an-anomaly\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus is an Anomaly!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last spring we read The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. \u00a0In this book, Campbell presents the idea of the monomyth, when examined the myths of different cultures are all essentially the same including the multi-stage journey that every hero takes.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Another book read was Matthew Petrusek\u2019s Evangelization and Ideology.\u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0Petrusek discusses the conceptual maps of moral reasoning which includes theology, ontology, anthropology, epistemology, morality, applied morality and politics.[2]<\/a> He suggests that a solid foundation for a conceptual map must be established first or the world will tumble down.\u00a0 In doing an inspectional reading of Jordan Peterson\u2019s book The Maps on Meaning,<\/em> it appears that Peterson combines the ideas found in Campbell and Petrusek\u2019s books to describe how to make sense of the world around us.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Peterson begins his book by making the following assertion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe world can be validly construed as a forum for action and a place of things. The former manner of interpretation\u2014more primordial, and less clearly understood\u2014finds its expression in the arts or humanities, in ritual, drama, literature and mythology. The world as forum for action is a place of value, a place where all things have meaning. . . . The latter manner of interpretation\u2014the world as a place of things\u2014finds its formal expression in the methods and theories of science. . . . No complete world-picture can be generated without use of both modes of construal.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For this post, I chose to focus on Chapter 4, \u201cThe Appearance of an Anomaly,\u201d[5]<\/a> Peterson suggests anomalies are essential for the healthy individual and societal adaptation.[6]<\/a> Peterson discusses four forms of anomalies, the strange, the stranger, the strange idea, and the revolutionary hero, I believe we see Jesus as the stranger, sharing the strange idea and being the revolutionary hero.\u00a0 Since the strange<\/em> deals more with environmental changes through natural causes this does not necessarily apply to Jesus.<\/p>\n

Peterson writes, \u201cevery society shares a moral viewpoint, which is essentially an identity composed of unquestioned fidelity to a particular conception of \u201creality\u201d (what is<\/em> and what should be<\/em>), and of agreement upon the nature of those behaviors that may be reasonably manifested.[7]<\/a> What was this identity or kingdom<\/em> into which Jesus was born? The Roman empire ruled what was once the nation of Israel and the surrounding lands. The Romans were ruled by Caesar, who was thought to be the \u201cson of God.\u201d[8]<\/a> Yet the Jews recognized Yahweh as the One God<\/em> who revealed Himself to their ancestors centuries earlier. They still sought to worship him and obey the over 600 commandments that dictated almost every aspect of their behavior. This is the what is<\/em> of their reality. Their what should be<\/em> consisted of looking toward the future to where God himself would come as Messiah and \u201crule and reign as Israel\u2019s king.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The scriptures suggest that when Jesus began his public ministry around the age of thirty, he was relatively unknown.[10]<\/a> While having a Jewish human ancestry, he was a stranger<\/em> <\/strong>to people including the Jewish leaders.[11]<\/a> When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (Palm Sunday) Matthew records \u201cthe whole city was stirred and asks \u2018Who is this?\u2019\u201d[12]<\/a>This made him a threat as his behavior was seen as unpredictable and threatened the existing social hierarchy.[13]<\/a> Not only were his behaviors an issue (i.e. healing on the sabbath, eating with tax collectors and other sinners<\/em>), but he also went about teaching, strange ideas<\/em><\/strong>;<\/em> Peterson suggests \u201ca new idea is an abstract stranger.\u201d[14]<\/a> The New Testament details many of Jesus\u2019s teachings. It is suggested that Matthew recorded a summary of his teachings in what is referred to as \u201cThe Sermon on the Mount.\u201d[15]<\/a> Through the use of parables and metaphors Jesus presented his picture of the coming Kingdom of God.\u00a0 We read in the New Testament that many of Jesus\u2019 teachings upset the religious leaders. Peterson writes \u201c\u201cAn entire behavioral hierarchy can be undermined by a well-chosen creative phrase, because the phrase brings with it, as integral part of an integrated whole, moral presuppositions of entirely different, and perhaps logically (or at least apparently) contrary nature.\u201d[16]<\/a> Through his teaching, Jesus was calling into question the current ideas of what was expected of them, their view of God, and his coming kingdom.<\/p>\n

Jesus is ultimately what Peterson calls \u201cThe Revolutionary Hero<\/strong>.\u201d[17]<\/a>\u00a0 He is the \u201cagent of change,\u201d yet he is exceedingly threatening to those completely encapsulated by the status quo, and who are unable or unwilling to see where the present state of adaptation is incomplete and where residual danger lies.\u201d[18]<\/a> Jesus \u201cin taking creative action [the culminating action was his death on the cross], he \u201c(re)encounters chaos [death], generates new myth predicated behavioral strategies [i.e. love of enemy, lay down life for a friend], and extends the boundaries of cultural competence\u201d becomes the revolutionary hero.[19]<\/a> \u201cYou do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than the whole nation perish.\u201d[20]<\/a><\/p>\n

When we examine the four anomalies, we begin to understand why the religious leaders of Jesus\u2019 day sought to kill him. The leaders, identified with the devil, rejected the unknown and sought to maintain the status quo that dictated the beliefs and behaviors of the Jewish people.[21]<\/a> In reading Peterson\u2019s book we also begin to understand the importance of exploring the unknown, including anomalies. Having only done an inspectional reading of his book, there are many other concepts he presents that I would love to explore.<\/p>\n

Allow me to conclude with the lyrics of a song titled “The Gentle Healer\u201d by Michael Card.\u00a0 I believe that the word Gentle Healer could be replaced with Stranger.<\/p>\n

The Gentle Healer came into our town today
\nHe touched blind eyes and the darkness left to stay
\nBut more than the blindness, He took their sins away
\nThe Gentle Healer came into our town today<\/p>\n

The Gentle Healer came into our town today
\nHe spoke one word, that was all He had to say
\nAnd the one who had died just rose up straight away
\nThe Gentle Healer came into our town today<\/p>\n

Oh, He seems like just an ordinary man
\nWith dirty feet and rough, but gentle hands
\nBut the words He says are hard to understand
\nAnd yet, He seems like just an ordinary man<\/p>\n

The Gentle Healer, He left our town today
\nI just looked around and found He’d gone away
\nSome folks from town had followed Him, they say
\nThat the Gentle Healer is the Truth, The Life, The Way[22]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces<\/em> 2 ed. (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1973).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Matthew Petrusek, Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture, <\/em>\u00a0(Park Ridge, IL: Word on Fire, 2023.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Jordan B. Peterson, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief<\/em>, (New York, NY: Routledge, 1999).<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Peterson, 1.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Peterson, 233-306.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Peterson, xxi.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Petrson, 256.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> N.T. Wright, Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why It Matters<\/em>, (New York: (Harper One, 2011),29.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Wright, 50.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Luke 3:23 (NIV).<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Jesus\u2019 ancestry is recorded in Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Matthew 21:10 (NIV).<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Peterson, 250.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Peterson, 251; Mark 2:13-17, and Mark 3: 1-6 (NIV)<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> \u201cSermon on the Mount E1: Kicking Off the Year,\u201d hosted by Jon Collins and Michelle Jones, on The Bible Project, January 1, 2024.\u00a0 https:\/\/bibleproject.com\/podcast\/kicking-year-sermon-mount<\/a>.\u00a0 The Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 5-7.<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Peterson, 253.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> Peterson, 271.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> Peterson, 271.<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> Peterson, 278.<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> John 11:50 (NIV).<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> Peterson, xxi.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a> Michael Card, \u201cThe Gentle Healer,\u201d track 3 on The Life, Disc 2, 1988, CD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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