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A Serious Way of Wondering: The Ethics of Jesus Imagined

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Imagining what God or Jesus might say or do in any given situation is not new. Serious speculation of such is. Our nation's roadways are littered with signs bearing cutesy quotes attributed to "--God." Televangelists continue to tell us what God told them in private. Pop Christianity's commercialized 'What Would Jesus Do' (WWJD) movement conjures a moralistic/legalistic Jesus obsessed with strict application of select aspects of Jewish law (a Jesus who bears little resemblance to the iconoclastic figure captured in the New Testament gospels). In all these forms, however, there is little imaginination and an abundance of agenda. The sponsors of the God billboards want you to go to church. The televangelists want you to send in more money. The WWJD crowd wants to sell a few more wrist bands and t-shirts (and perhaps help you abstain from pre-marital sex too while they're at it). None, however, are serious in their wondering. None are actually grappling with the often difficult application of Jesus' ethic of unconditional love. Reynolds Price shows us a serious way of wondering. His "speculations" are timely, thoughtful, and thoroughly substantiated (Price provides more background than speculation). And his Jesus is just as surprising as the one we witness in the gospel narratives. You might expect Reynolds Price to push his own sexual/political agenda here, but he doesn't. You might expect Reynold's Jesus to bend the old law to bring himself into it. He doesn't. Rather, Price gives us an encounter with a Jesus who explodes our conception of love and confounds our assumptions, our tendencies to judge, and our often desperate defenses of patriarchy and tribal prejudice. What can love mean? Indeed!

This book creates both questions and answers, movingly and beautifully written by one of the finest writers I know. All of Price's thoughtful imagination and intelligence come to bear on three dialogues that one can easily see might have taken place. A profound and exciting read.

Despite describing himself as an "outlaw" Christian, Price makes it clear from the outset that his views are of the conventional variety when he describes the Resurrection as "a firmly attested fact." (p. 28) Miracles are part of the fabric of his beliefs, there being no doubt in his mind that Jesus was the Son of God who had miraculous powers. Many other thinking Christians would consider that fact, whether true or not, irrelevant.

He then goes on to describe, in the WWJD [What Would Jesus Do] mold, how he thinks Jesus would have dealt with three sticky moral and ethical issues -- homosexuality (he would have been tolerant of it, if not a participant), suicide (he would allow it in appropriate circumstances), and the role of women in a male-dominated society (no real answer here). The stories in which he deals with these issues are well-written (Price is a professional writer who teaches English at Duke), but offer little insight into these issues, and little in the way of scriptural or historical support for his views.

The most useful thing in the book is an appendix entitled "Further Reading," but that doesn't justify the cost.

Reynolds Price has been developing a large collection of significant works addressing areas of faith, understanding, interpretation of the Bible, morality in the modern world, and struggles with being a person of faith who has less faith in the traditional institutions that support Christian faith. It would stand to reason that one of the reasons that Price and others have been struggling with faith and understanding outside the traditional church is that there is a forgetfulness of the person of Jesus and his actions beneath platitudes and cliques. The "What Would Jesus Do?" fad, or as other reviews have called it the WWJD fad, ends up to be a shallow exercise if there has not been clearheaded thought and reflection on what he did do in his times and finding modern analogies to those actions. (It also losses focus because the real question is what will we do.) To think that Jesus would never have placed himself in a position to be "tempted" by drugs or the advances of a homosexual displays a forgetfulness that Jesus was open to all who came to him without a morality filter to cut off people that were taboo. It is also naive to think that Israel in the time of Jesus was homosexual free or drug free. Alcohol is a drug and if I'm not mistaken, Jesus made more wine when the guests at a wedding drank their hosts wine too fast. Instead of a sobriety speech, he made MORE wine. Homosexuals are a percentage of every society no matter how backward their morality. So I think it is safe to assume that Jesus did come into contact with homosexuals and that they may possibly have made an advance. Remember Jesus was all about intimacy (what Ivan Klima call the Ultimate Intimacy) and this could have been mistaken for something else. We don't know, but we can find certain analogies in his dealing with others in society who were looked down upon or cast out. As Price tells us, he broke down the barriers (which were built of falsity) and touched people were they stood - open, embracing, defenseless.

"A Serious Way of Wondering" show us why we need writers like Price to bring us back to the reality of Jesus in History with real people doing real things. The beauty of his reflections on the suicide is ample proof that Price is neither writing for the pouch line, nor writing to take people to task for their pain and hurt (ala most evangelicals and even Dante). We on the outside are there because we want to fully engage the texts and the truth of biblical Christianity without buying into a set of presumptions that have nothing to do with the text of Bible or with Jesus' life. Price opens the door to serious wondering / reflection because we really can't be too sure what Jesus would do in all circumstances. In his day, many people thought they knew exactly what the Messiah was going to do and as we now see clearly, they were a bit presumptive. With Price, I hope for a little more wonder and little less rigidity. If this way of wondering seriously means that one is an outlaw Christian, then sign me up.

I highly recommend Reynolds Price "A Serious Way of Wondering" to all readers. If possible see also "Palpable God", "Three Gospels", and his "Collected Poems".

Reynolds Price provides a wealth of imagination and speculation in this physically small but intellectually expansive book. Writing as a self-described "outlaw Christian", he attempts to address Jesus' role or philosophy with regard to topics given relatively short shrift by the Gospels -- homosexuality, suicide and the role of women in the Church.

Taking a thought from the "What Would Jesus Do?" (WWJD)fad, Price speculates on how the ethics of Jesus might have led him to react had he been faced with the romantic affections of another man, or the immiment suicide of a follower. More appealingly, Price never claims to be presenting new theology, only to be offering the basis for continuing consideration of Christ's timeless message.

I'm usually quick to reject much of the WWJD speculation for the simple reason that Jesus would likely never have put himself in the position of flirting with more modern temptations such as drug use or fathering a child out of wedlock, but the three scenarios offered by Price are much more plausible.

People of faith, who welcome theologic speculation and reverent debate will enjoy this work, as Mr. Price never allows doubt on the divinity of Jesus. You might agree with his imaginings, or you might believe that he's off base. But either way, once you've finished this book, you'll be thinking more about Christ and his teachings. It's not meant to be either a repudiation or augmentation of the Gospels, but it does shine a very interesting light on them.

Price dares to wonder, 'What would Jesus think?' and offers the reader some fascinating possibilities. It is impressive and humble all at once; a must read for anybody fascinated by the ongoing evolution of religious thought.