by Joshua Malkin
There is a story that rings true. One might call it a lost parable – that should perhaps have been in the bible but is not. It tells the story of Jesus’s visit to the Essene community at Qumran. Despite their religious piety, Christ admonishes them saying they had left the ordinary people to the mercy of Lucifer and Ahriman – the exemplars of temptation and conquest – implying that despite their good intentions, the Essene’s had put their identity and righteousness above their obligations to their fellow man.
Christian Universalism in contrast believes that love is a central tenet in Christian life. The concept of ‘Imago Dei’ implies significant obligations to each other. Esoteric Christians have argued that by living through Christ’s gesture of Love – considered as the third way – is to follow Christ [i]. Such a narrative is very different from living through a frame either of identity or rights. And it is one that many non-Christians not only agree with, but are actively drawn to. However there is no parallel path in which those outside the Church can walk alongside the main orthodox Christian denominations, even as a preliminary step towards conversion before committing fully to a process leading to baptism.
How such an inclusive and boundaried narrative might become an attractor for Christian revival without diluting Christian orthodoxy and tradition, is surely not an insignificant question.