The Godless Gospel

Title: The Godless Gospel – Was Jesus a Great Moral Teacher?
Author: Julian Baggini
Publisher: Granta Publications, 2020 (First)
ISBN: 9781781786695
Pages: 291

The four gospels in the New Testament are the corner stones of Christianity. As per Christian belief, the godhead consists of the trinity of the Father, the Son that is Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Gospels are sacred because they record the life and actions of Jesus. As the modern age dawned, rationalism grew and many Christians lost faith in Jesus as the Son of God. At the same time, they accepted him as a great moral teacher whose teachings forever light mankind’s path to virtue and grace. So it has become opportune to examine Gospel truths in light of the secularist ethic and also to test whether Christ’s teachings retain their relevance to a society not used to worship God much often. Few believe in biblical accounts of miracles, but many do believe in moral values of Christ’s teachings such as loving the neighbour and forgiveness. Faith in Christ may be declining, but belief in the moral teachings of Jesus is as strong as ever. Even some non-Christians think society needs the morality preached by Jesus which is the glue that holds society together. Julian Baggini is a British philosopher, journalist and author of over twenty books about philosophy written for a general audience. The author claims to be a convinced but not dogmatic atheist.

Baggini’s task includes the stripping off of all supernatural elements such as miracles, healings and fulfillment of prophecies. The last is especially noteworthy as it divests Jesus’ teachings of all old baggage of Jewish lore and anchors them on true relevance to a world community. Essential reconciliation of many other elements is accommodated. Kingdom of Heaven is retained as the concept of an ideal society. The kingdom is also interpreted as located in the mind’s domain that will in turn guide the people to be good to each other. Jesus himself claimed that the kingdom he preached was ‘not of this world’. The author finds relevance for this concept even if its supernatural overtones are altogether removed. Baggini has prepared a 22,000-word gospel that distills Jesus’ ethical teachings and is reproduced in full as Part 2 of the book, complete with verse numbering.

The rise of modernity was synchronized with the advent of the ‘self’ in matters of social importance. The individual rose to prominence whereas he was just a cog in the wheel before. The concept of ‘self’ became widespread after Descartes who identified the self with a private, conscious essence. Till then, people had thought of themselves primarily as beings who exist only in relation to others, not as self-contained, atomized units. The seed for this individualism was sown in Jesus’ teachings. His emphasis of self-cultivation as seen in the story of the sisters Martha and Mary contains one of the roots of individualism that gradually took over the west. Judaism was centred on the group, the chosen people. Rules and rituals were part of the fabric that held society together. Jesus focused less on the relationship between God and His people and more on that between God and each individual.

This book never really addresses the issue of whether man needs divinely-ordained rules for staying clear of temptation and evil. The author once remarks that truly good people are not restricted by rules and injunctions when they want to do good. They do not need precepts to stop them murdering, thieving or lying. They don’t do such things simply because they have strong moral characters and do what is right almost automatically. This comment was in the context of religious people often ignoring their faith’s strict commands before doing good. Morality is related to the social inhibitions existing in a society at one time. Marrying one’s own sister was the custom in ancient Egypt and their gods and religion supported the practice. Even in Christianity, marriage was not especially valued in the times of Jesus or early church. It was not until thirteenth century that the Catholic Church made marriage a sacrament and even then it did not enforce strict observance of it. Baggini finds Jesus’ strict teachings on adultery and its dismissal of the importance of the family strange. He treats family bonds as distractions from the nobler goal of making ourselves pure.

Some finer aspects of Jesus’ teachings are examined in detail in the book. At the same time, true to his claim of being a non-dogmatc atheist, Baggini concedes space to religion as an essential constituent of the motive force that drives individuals to follow good moral values. The religious interpretation of Jesus’ teaching of forgiveness offers us a sense of completeness, of ultimate resolution and salvation. No secular ethic can promise this, and we are left instead with the imperfect, the incomplete and the ultimately unresolved (p.119). This argument will be vehemently opposed by atheists and agnostics and it seems that Baggini has no inkling of their common arguments on this point. Why then he claims to be an atheist? Leaving the question at that, the author’s assessment of Jesus’ stern judgement on groups of people such as heathen, scribes, Pharisees and tax collectors may appear to be on target. However, the harsh note is only as groups and he is lenient as usual in the case of individuals. Jesus’ ideology was also apolitical with emphasis on bottom-up social reform rather than top-down political change. This helped him stay clear of the Roman overlords who ruled over Palestine. When the indictment to crucify finally came from Pilate, it was for violating the religious sentiments of the Jewish people rather than on any supposed affront to Roman authority. He shunned wealth and asked for the individuals to transform into good mortals.

Throughout the text, one question continues to rise up in readers’ minds – what is the author’s conclusion on the relevance of Jesus in today’s society after we strip him of supernatural powers and divine authority? The author is supposed to have dedicated an entire chapter to address this issue but he does nothing of the sort. Even his judgement is given in passing that only careful readers can appreciate what he says. Baggini concludes that even when shorn of his divine status, Jesus is still a bona fide moral teacher. He does not ask us to accept his teaching on the basis of mere authority and wants us to think for ourselves by requiring us to work out the meaning of his parables. There is some lack of clarity here, since the author claims in another part of the book that Jesus had made his ideas ambiguous by using parables. He explained its real meaning and significance only to his disciples during rest time or travel.

The book presents before us an atheist author with reverence to Jesus and his ideals. In this aspect, his style is the polar opposite to other well-known atheist critics such as Christopher Hitchens. Don’t read this book if what you expect is something in the Hitchens – Dawkins style. On the other hand, it is a crowning example of the respectful and intelligent dialogue possible across the atheist-believer divide, if only people have the right attitude. Baggini roots his arguments not on Christian concepts alone, but goes after relevant references in other belief systems such as Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism and also with references to the Bhagavad Gita.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star