Do You Believe In Magic? Or, More Sign Than Miracle

What would a mashup of The Lovin’ Spoonful’s Do You Believe In Magic and the Gospel of Mark proceed? Find out in this weeks’ podcast.

lovinspoonfulThat’s right, a 1965 hit single combined with the first “miracle” story in the Gospel of Mark provides the intersection for Thoughts On the Edge. Here are some thing to think about as you listen. If John represents the prophetic voice on the edge, what does it mean that Jesus left the edge, the Jordan, and went to Capernaum’s synagogue? Why not Jerusalem? Who controlled the structure of the synagogues or at least held authority? What was a demon possessed man doing in the synagogue on the Sabbath?

Too often the debate over Jesus has centered on how modern minds could imagine a world like that of antiquity where healing were a normal course of life. Our progress has surely led to more peaceful times and a better understanding of the material world around us such that we need not consider such things as “true.” Those who fear wha this might mean double down by utilizing the same criterion to make their case. Both sides, like Ched Myers notes, miss the event as a sign.

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