11/28/04

"The Everlasting Breath of Jesus" 

 John Killinger

 

John Killinger's lecture on the Breath of Jesus parallels his recent presentation at the inaugural Clark Thompson lecture series held at Home Moravian Church in October entitled: " The Religion of Jesus In An Age of Global Perspective". see killinger lecture

Killinger is a dynamic speaker whose theology drew approval from many in attendance. Notice how Killinger draws from the Fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John to explain where the "Inspiration" for the disciples as well as all other inspiration comes from.

The only credit Killinger gives to  the "Word" or Holy Scripture as an  "inspiration" is that portion of  the Gospel of John that speaks of  "the Breath of Jesus". Killinger actually avoids any claim that Scripture is or should be studied for inspiration or  guidance.  He claims that he as well as other authors or even organizations like the UN can gain their Christian inspiration independent of the Holy Scripture.

Killinger believes that Christianity should change and evolve to adapt and accommodate new cultures and other religions without Christians  depending on Scripture for it's inspiration.

A Moravian minister attending the lecture pointed out that  Killinger's  lecture content did not agree with either scripture or the liturgies of the Moravian Church when it came to compromise on our faith and beliefs while exersising love to bring unity to all world religions. Killinger responded:  There is never any "right" in love unless all agree, even if we think we are right..  I think Christianity has gotten some things wrong. Killinger goes on to say: he is not one who subscribes to the idea that Scripture is the inspired word of God.

Maybe it all goes back to something the Fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John, says occurred in the upper room in Jerusalem. The disciples gathered there after the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst, even though the doors were locked. He greeted them with the customary greeting “Shalom” and showed them the wounds in his hands and side. He told them he was sending them out just as his Father had sent him. And then he did a very odd thing. The Bible says “he breathed on them.”

What was that about? Our word “inspiration,” you know, comes from the old Latin words in spirare, “to breathe into.” Jesus was inspiring the disciples by breathing his own breath into them. It's a wonder this didn't become a sacrament of the church, because it set into motion one of the most powerful forces the human spirit has ever known. Jesus breathed on the disciples and started a revolution of creativity that has never stopped.

It formed the early church, which by the fourth century became the most powerful influence in the world. It shaped the art and thought of the Middle Ages. It led to the founding of the great universities. Our culture in America grew out of the Christian Reformation. Even when the world began to look more secular, the basic impetuses of art and education and medicine and philanthropy all came from Christianity. The creativity Jesus released in that little room in Jerusalem when he breathed on his disciples shaped and reshaped the world for centuries.

We can't imagine our culture without it. The great cathedrals, our legal and judicial systems, our whole understanding of morality, our arts, Dante, Shakespeare, Bach, Mozart, the modern university system, the healing professions, social services, the idea of a United Nations, world service organizations – none of them would have happened without the enduring breath of Christ.

And that heritage keeps being renewed. This is why there's a resurgence of religious interest in our own time. The creative power is still there. It's still at work in our lives and culture.

You've probably heard the phrase “Caesar's breath.” It is science's way of reminding us that energy never dies or disappears. The molecules of Caesar's breath, 2,000 years ago, are still in our atmosphere today. They have scattered around the globe and we are breathing them with every breath we take. Christ's breath is still alive too. The breath he breathed into the disciples that day in the upper room – the spirit and power of God – is still circulating. And it is far more powerful than Caesar's breath. It's the reminder that God, whose spirit hovered over the face of the deep at creation, was still making the world through Christ and is still working on it today.

Where is that spirit operating now? What will its new manifestations be? That's the trick, isn't it, to try to see it, to anticipate it, before it happens. To guess which way the power of God is going.

I will tell you one thing. If the past is any guide, the Spirit of God will manifest itself in such creative ways that we'll be totally surprised. It will be something we probably never guessed or expected. I've been studying it for a long time, and I will tell you what I think. I can't be sure. Nobody can. But I will tell you what I think.

I think, with the new globalism produced by electronic communications and modern travel and the erosion of old economic and political barriers, that a hundred years from now we shall see a Christianity vastly transformed by its openness to other religions and its desire to relate to them in the quest for a new and higher form of spirituality.

I know that idea is threatening to a lot of people. That's why fundamentalism is so strong in our country. People are scared of the unknown. They cling desperately to what they regard as the great pillars of their own faith and believe the world will come to an end if those pillars are threatened in any way. That's why the Left Behind books are so popular. They convince frightened believers that the world is about to come to an end because their old religious culture is under siege.

And it isn't just in our country. There's a brand of fundamentalism in almost every religion in the world right now. That's why Islamic fundamentalists have been so successful in rallying Muslim fanatics against America. They too are afraid of the collapse of the only culture they have known.

But this frightening time we are in is a great creative opportunity, and the inspiration breathed into the apostles all those centuries ago is still alive today, and it will respond to the opportunity by forging a new Christianity for a new age. It will produce new understandings of the world, and new theologies and ethics, and new forms of worship and devotion, and new societies for advancing all of these.
John Killinger

Interview with John Killinger


 How does that breath of Christ inspire you personally these days?

John Killinger: Well, I don’t know. Maybe sometimes, I think, too much. I feel, as I get older, released to do so many things that I didn’t have time to do before. I spend a lot of time writing, as you said earlier. In fact I hate to admit it, but in the last year I’ve written five books. That’s too many! I admire people who take ten years on one book. I feel a little suspicious of anyone who writes that quickly. Maybe that’s the breath of Christ to some extent. He may be responsible for the good things and I’ll take the credit for the bad things.



Does Christianity, have the capacity to be ever evolving?

Killinger: Yes. Christianity is so big and so flexible and is so capable of adapting. This is why I think it’s unfortunate that some people feel that they have to defend it and keep it just the way it was, who are unwilling for it to change and adapt. It betrays a kind of deep inner fear about life itself. Christianity didn’t teach us that. Christianity teaches us to trust.