Man has often shaped god in his image and likeness. Christ went from being a seen as a rebel leader of the underdog, to being the religious figure supported by the dominant forces of an Empire (the Roman one). From there, it was a short step away to him becoming Christ the King, a term still in use despite the sun actually setting on the monarchy in most parts of the planet.
In Medieval times, he was dressed up in the finery of the feudal order. In colonial times, the powers of that era (Spain, Portugal particularly, but also Britain) were quick to deploy Christian religious imagery to justify their own "civilizing" and economic agendas. More recently, I read somewhere (don't recall the exact citation) references to the management styles of Christ. It was almost as if he was Christ the Managing Director. Even someone like Lal Krishna Advani has been able to deploy Christian imagery, when it suits his purpose, both in Goa late last decade and in Kerala [http://www.samaylive.com/news/bjp-a-party-resurrected-after-crucifixion-advani/617848.html] If you take the sections of the Bible which talk about his search for justice, and against the powers that be, it's not hard to see a Christ the Revolutionary emerge. The Liberation Theology that gained hold in the jungles of Latin America is as close you could come to a revolutionary form of Christianity (though this was also seen as a counterfeit by forces both on the Right and the Left, for differing reasons). Whether Christ might have taken up card-holding membership :-) of the CPI (Maoists) or not is a moot point today. But Marshall has a point when he says he would probably be "branded a Naxalite". Even a Seby Rodrigues in Goa was recently! By none other than the honourable leader of the Opposition, Manohar Parrikar! Here's the New Internationalist, almost tongue-in-cheek, on "Was Christ a Revolutionary?" http://www.newint.org/features/special/2008/05/01/jesus-christ/ FN 2009/10/29 Santosh Helekar <chimbel...@yahoo.com>: > This is an incredible statement! Do mainstream > Goan religious folk subscribe to this belief? > My understanding was that Naxalites were as bad > as religious terrorists and extremists in India. > During 2009 so far they have killed 560 innocent > Indian civilians and security personnel. >> Had Jesus Christ lived today, possibly he too would >> have been branded a ‘naxalite’. There are >> many commonalities between Christianity >> and Marxism. Social justice is an important >> issue in India.
