Jesuism

Jesuism, also called Jesusism or Jesuanism, is the teachings of Jesus in distinction to the teachings of mainstream Christianity.[1] In
particular, the term is often contrasted withPauline Christianity and mainstream churchdogma.[2][3]

Contents
Etymology
History of usage
Beliefs, practices, and adherents
See also
References

Etymology
The term Jesuism was coined by the late 1800s. It is derived from Jesus (Jesus of Nazareth) + -ism (English suffix, a characteristic or
system of beliefs, from French-isme, Latin -ismus, Greek -ismos).[4][5]

History of usage
In 1878, freethinker and former Shaker D. M. Bennett wrote that "Jesuism", as
distinct from "Paulism", was the gospel taught by Peter, John and James, and
the Messianic doctrine of a new Jewish sect.[6] In 1894, American pathologist
and atheist Frank Seaver Billings defined "Jesusism" as the "Christianity of the
Gospels" and a philosophy which "can be attributed directly to the teachings of
Jesus the Nazarene".[7][8] In 1909, the Seventh-day Adventist newspaper Signs
of the Times, released an issue titled "Modern Christianity Not Jesusism",
wherein the question is posed: "Christianity of today is not the old original
Christianity. It is not Jesusism, for it is not the religion which Jesus preached.
Is it not time to make Christianity the religion which He personally preached
and which He personally practiced?"[9] Harvard theologian Bouck White, in
1911, also defined "Jesusism" as "the religion which Jesus preached".[10] Lord
Ernest Hamilton in 1912 wrote that "Jesuism" was simply to love one another
and love God.[11] The philosophy of Jesusism was described in the book The
Naked Truth of Jesusism from Oriental Manuscripts,[12] penned by theologian Carl Heinrich Bloch's rendition of Jesus'
Lyman Fairbanks George in 1914, as follows: Sermon on the Mount, which is central to
the philosophy of Jesusism.
It is to restore Jesus' sayings to their original purity
.
It is to eradicate from the Gospels the interpolations of the
Middle Ages.
It is to relate the misconceptions revealed by recent
archaeological research.
It is to present Jesus from an economic viewpoint.
It is to break through the spell spectral of Cosmic Credulity
.
It is to toll the knell of schism through Jesusism.[13]
The Orthodox theologian Sergei Bulgakov further noted in 1935 that "the concentration of piety on the Christ alone has become a
deviation already known by a special term as Jesusism".[14] Influential Catholic theologian Karl Rahner referred to "Jesusism" as a
focus on the life of Jesus and attempts to imitate his life, as opposed to a focus on God or the Christian Church.[15] University of
Melbourne professor Lindsay Falvey noted in 2009 that "the gospel story so differs from Church doctrine that it could well be of a
different religion – Jesusism".[16] Jesusism became the subject of increased academic discussion following its reference by Duke
University neurobiologist and philosopher Owen Flanagan in his 2007 book The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material
World.[17] Flanagan defines Jesusism as the "message" of Jesus and notes that he "call[s] it ‘Jesusism’ because most Christian
Churches do not endorse Jesus’ message truthfully".[1] Flanagan characterized Jesuism as a naturalistic and rationalist philosophy,
rejecting the conflict between faith and science.[18] Rodney Stenning Edgecombe, a professor at the University of Cape Town, in a
2009 essay titled Communication Across the Social Divide remarks how Christianity shifted away from Jesuism; the moral tenets
Jesus preached.[19] The terms Jesuism, Jesusism and Jesuanism are also referenced popularly on religious blogs and internet groups.

Beliefs, practices, and adherents

There is no definitive meaning of Jesuism and hence no clear ideology. Various groups use the terms Jesuism, Jesusism and
Jesuanism. These include disenchanted Christians who are critical of institutional religion or Pauline Christianity, people who
identify themselves as disciples of Jesus rather than Christians, Christian atheists who accept Jesus' teachings but do not believe in
[20]
God, and atheists who are critical of all religion including Jesuism. Adherents may be termed Jesuists, Jesusists or Jesuans.

See also
Bibliolatry
Christian agnosticism
Christian atheism
Christian deism
Historical Jesus
Jefferson Bible
Jesus movement
Jewish Christian
Ministry of Jesus
New Monasticism
Sermon on the Mount
The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ
Tolstoyan movement

References
1. Owen J. Flanagan. The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World.Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007. p.36
2. Edgar Dewitt Jones. Paul the Stranger. (https://www.scribd.com/doc/6360262/Paul-the-Stranger-by-Edgar-Jones-Ba
ptist-priest-) Abilene: Voice of Jesus, 2003 (online transcription).
3. Douglas J. Del Tondo. Jesus' Words Only (http://www.jesuswordsonly.com/JWO/freechaptersonline.html). San
Diego: Infinity Publishing, 2006. p.19
4. D. M. Bennett (1878). "Champions of the Church: Their crimes and persecutions"(https://archive.org/stream/champi
onsofchurc00benn#page/119/mode/2up). pp. 119–124. "Paulinism versus Jesuism"
5. Frank S. Billings (1894). "How shall the rich escape?". Arena Publishing. pp. 42 and 43.
"Jesusism, which is
Communism, and not Christianity at all as the world accepts it...Jesusism is unadulterated communism, with a most
destructive anarchistic tendency" Missing or empty |url= (help)
6. D. M. Bennett. The Champions of the Church: Their crimes and persecutions(https://archive.org/stream/championso
fchurc00benn#page/84/mode/2up). p. 84. "The Progress of Jesuism"
7. Frank S. Billings (1894). "How shall the rich escape?". Arena Publishing. p. 231.
"Emphatically I affirm, not my belief,
but my certain knowledge. There is no God" Missing or empty |url= (help)
 8. Frank S. Billings (1894). "How shall the rich escape?". Arena Publishing. p. 42. "Jesusism, or the Christianity of the
Gospels, which we think can be attributed directly to the teachings of Jesus the Nazarene...There is but one
standard to follow; that is, the utterances directly attributed to Jesus, particularly the celebrated Sermon on the
Mount." Missing or empty |url= (help)
9. "Modern Christianity Not Jesusism."Signs of the Times Vol. 24 No. 25. Melbourne: Signs PublishingCompany
Limited, June 21, 1909.
10. Bouck White. The Call of the Carpenter. USA: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1911. p.314.
11. Lord Ernest Hamilton (1912). Involution (https://archive.org/stream/involution00hami#page/168/mode/2up)
. pp. 169
and 180. "Jeusism"
12. https://archive.org/details/nakedtruthofjesu00geor
13. Lyman F. George. The Naked Truth of Jesusism from Oriental Manuscripts. George Company, Pittsburg, 1914. p. 31
14. Sergius Bulgakov. The Orthodox Church. London: Centenary Press, 1935. p.102
15. Declan Marmion, Mary E. Hines.The Cambridge companion to Karl Rahner
. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2005. p.166
16. John L. Falvey. Buddhist-Christian dialogue: Four Papers from the Parliament of the World's Religions.
Melbourne,
2009. pp.10-12
17. Mark R. Alfino. "Spring 2010 Senior Seminar Note 7.3.1. Jesusism?(http://wiki.gonzaga.edu/alfino/index.php/Spring
_2010_Senior_Seminar_Course_Notes#Jesusism.3F) " Spokane: Gonzaga University, 2010.
18. Owen J. Flanagan. The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World.Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007. p.263
19. Rodney Stenning Edgecombe (2009)."Communication Across the Social Divide"(https://web.archive.org/web/20120
320202711/http://escholarship.library.usyd.edu.au/journals/index.php/SSE/article/viewFile/2117/2404) . p. 33.
Archived from the original (http://escholarship.library.usyd.edu.au/journals/index.php/SSE/article/viewFile/2117/2404)
on 2012-03-20. "Christianity derives from the Greek adjective "christos" ("anointed")…This shifted focus from what
he preached (moral tenets that ought properly to be called "Jesuism") to what subsequent commentators, Paul of
Tarsus among them, made of his violent death"
20. The YWCA magazine, Volumes 66-67. 1972. p. 46.

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