PULPIT: A Christian liberal scholar with some big (conventional) ideas

The Rev. Robin Meyers yearns for a return to early Christianity and predicts a revival of the faith.

Both are conventions in Christianity, as many pastors say their ministry is based on a return to Christian roots, and others speak of a coming religious revival.

But that’s where similarities between Meyers’ ideas and those in mainstream Christianity end.

Meyers, senior pastor of Mayflower Congregation in Oklahoma City will be at First Congregational Church downtown today to give a free lecture during services and lead a workshop.

The lecture is titled “Jesus: Galilean Sage or Supernatural Savior?”

It’s the “or,” rather than an “and,” that causes some fuss.

Most Christians believe Jesus was both human and divine. But Meyers told me, “We have to demote Jesus, strip away the supernatural that got layered on by the church and culminated in the creeds.”

Meyers, 58, is a professor of philosophy at Oklahoma City University, and author of six books, most recently “Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus.”

He is held in esteem by ministers within the United Church of Christ, to which Meyers was ordained in 1979.

“Robin Meyers is among the best scholars, pastors, and preachers that the liberal Christian tradition has to offer,” the Rev. Benjamin Broadbent of First Congregational wrote in a newsletter.

Since the 19th century, scholars have discovered that other gospels existed in first-century Palestine besides the canonized books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Meyers says that era was a combustible time in which competing groups formed allegiances around their favorite gospel.

But Meyers goes further than most scholars by drawing similarities between then and now. The period of the “early church was just as fragmented and contentious as today,” Meyers said. “Our theological debates haven’t brought the kingdom any closer.”

But there is a silver lining.

The early Christians overcame their divisions to embrace what they held in common, such as love of Jesus and helping the poor, Meyers said. “They had not commonality of beliefs but commonality of spirit.”

He says this is what Christianity can become.

Meyers may be a liberal Christian, but his prediction of a new religious age sounds a lot like the pastors of old who foresaw a great awakening or revival. 

“Christianity is headed for a big change,” Meyers said, “a reformation.”

Meyers will lecture during 9 and 11 a.m. services at First Congregational, 20 E. St. Vrain St., and his workshop is at 2 p.m. All are invited.
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For more of my interview with Meyers, go to my blog, The Pulpit, at www.thepulpit.freedomblogging.com.