Compassionate Spirit

Articles About Keith Akers Books, etc. Links What's New
A web site on simple living, nonviolence, vegetarianism, and spiritual concerns

Buddhism and Heifer International 

To the editor:

I was glad to see "Gifts That Keep Giving," encouraging readers to give gifts through compassionate charities, but shocked to see that Heifer International was included in the list.

As Buddhists, a donation through Heifer violates the First Precept about not killing. These animals and their offspring will be killed, and killed specifically at the request of the donor. Do we really want to celebrate the holidays by sending animals to slaughter? 

 

 

How Did Jesus become Christian?

How Jesus Became Christian. Barrie Wilson. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2008.

This is a marvelous and provocative book. The title tells it all: Jesus wasn’t originally Christian at all, but only became Christian over time. Jesus was born a Jew, lived a Jew, and died a Jew: he taught obedience to the Jewish law as a matter of course.  The Jesus movement has today died out, but the Christ movement started by Paul is today the biggest religion in the world. Gradually the religion of Jesus, centering on his distinctive interpretation of Torah, became a religion about Jesus, the dying-and-rising Savior God of a new pagan mystery religion.

The main shortcoming of the book is a relatively minor but critical subtopic, namely his treatment of the Ebionites. In what follows it may seem that I have fundamental problems with the book, because I’m devoting so much space to my criticisms, but that is actually not the case. It may seem a bit sectarian to concentrate just on the 10% of the book I don’t like, but as I explain below, it really is important, because if scholars just follow what Wilson has done to the Ebionites, we really have lost the essence of their message as well as the message of the historical Jesus.

What's New
(lately)

April 28, 2008 -- added a review of Barrie Wilson's book, How Jesus Became a Christian

March 26, 2008 -- added A Hand Made Tale, a review of James Kunstler's novel World Made by Hand

March 12, 2008 -- added The History of Vegetarianism in America: A Work in Progress, a review of the book Vegetarian America

March 2, 2008 -- added Against "War in Any Form"

February 29, 2008 -- added Buddhism and Heifer International

February 17, 2008 -- added Goodbye, Regina

February 8, 2008 -- added Uncommitted for President

January 18, 2008 -- added an Update to the letter to Laurie David about vegetarianism and global warming -- Laurie David now uses the V-word.  

 

 

 

Compassion Encircles the Earth For All Beings Everywhere.

You can listen to a radio interview of Keith Akers by Mike Hudak and Bill Huston here -- Keith talks about vegetarianism, Christianity, the environment.  This is a rather large MP3 file (duration: 42 minutes, 26 seconds, 9.6 MBytes), so it's probably too large to listen to if you have a 56K dial-up modem.  

About this site 

The chief spiritual focus of this web site is Christianity, but Buddhism and other religions are touched on as well.  My hope is to bring together people who are interested in a variety of issues related to urgently needed social and cultural reforms.  

I'm concerned about . . .

Simple Living and Nonviolence
Vegetarianism / Veganism
Jesus and the Ebionites
Social and political implications of environmental destruction and resource depletion

You can --

Read articles on these subjects, including bibliographies of literature not usually referenced on the web (or elsewhere) 
Find out about (and order, if you wish) books by Keith Akers and others on these subjects
Find links to other web sites of interest
Contact Keith Akers

Simple Living and Nonviolence -- why are we interested?

Because we live in a materialistic culture which emphasizes consumption
Because this consumption is rapidly destroying the environment which supports life 
Because our culture makes it difficult to live simply -- because simple living is so "complex"
Because environmental destruction and resource depletion will become a major social issue within the next few decades
Because the twentieth century had more violence between humans than any other century in history 
Because we face a highly divided, heavily armed world with increasingly contentious environmental issues coming to the forefront

Vegetarianism / Veganism -- why are we concerned?

Because a vegetarian or vegan diet is much healthier; vegetarians and especially vegans have dramatically reduced risk for heart disease, cancer and other degenerative diseases -- diseases which have led to medical expenses which are spiraling out of control in the U. S. A.
Because a vegetarian, and especially a vegan diet, requires only a fraction of land resources such as soil, water, forests, and energy, which are now being devastated by the world's meat-eating habits 
Because nine billion animals are needlessly killed each year in the U. S. A. alone
Because these animals, killed for food, do not live easy lives, often cooped up in "factory farms," nor do they die easy deaths

Jesus and the Ebionites -- why are we interested?

Because Jesus preached a message of simple living and nonviolence, a message which the world needs, and which the "Christian" countries which are responsible for most of the cars, consumerism, meat-eating, fossil fuel usage, and environmental devastation in the world need especially urgently  
Because too much of Christianity is silent about, or actually rejects, Jesus' message of simple living and nonviolence
Because the message of simple living and nonviolence was preserved best by those early Christians who were Jewish -- the "Ebionites," or "the poor," who practiced simple living, pacifism, and vegetarianism
Because disillusionment with Christianity is increasing by leaps and bounds

Social and political implications of environmental destruction -- why are we interested?

Because we need a U-turn in environmental policy, including difficult-to-implement and fundamental social changes, which need to happen at the individual, local, national, and international levels 
Because we are within 5 years of the peak of world oil production, if we have not already passed it, and our leaders and most of the public is completely oblivious to the catastrophic economic consequences this will have
Because we are now experiencing the greatest mass extinction of plant and animal species since the mass extinction of the dinosaurs sixty-five million years ago, this time due to human activity
Because deforestation, soil erosion, habitat destruction, pollution, global warming are ripping apart the ecosystem, and this cannot fail to affect human beings at some point 

-- Keith Akers

Most Popular Items in Recent Weeks

The Lost Religion of Jesus -- Jesus’ preaching was first and foremost about simple living and nonviolence; he never intended to create a new religion separate from Judaism.
Selected biblical passages of interest to vegetarians -- A quick list of bible citations of interest on vegetarianism 
Implications of the Jesus Family Tomb at Talpiot -- if it really is the tomb of Jesus, it forces us to look closer at Jesus' family and first followers
Was the Last Supper Vegetarian?
The main issue is Jesus' attitude towards the temple 
Review of "The High Price of Materialism"
More evidence that consumerism does not help consumers
The McDonald's Lawsuit: What's the Story?
A divisive controversy within vegetarianism -- what's at stake? 

Coming Soon

Cell Phones: an Abomination Unto the Lord by Rev. Ima Curmudgeon

Site updated May 7, 2008

All content of this web site is copyright 2001 - 2008 by Keith Akers or the authors of the individual articles, pictures, or other media (unless in the public domain)