Jeesus oli lempeä kyynikko, joka uskoi sekä
maailmaloppuun että Jumalaan.
.
Mikä on minun maailmankatsomuksellinen
‘sijaintini’? Vastaan: jossain antiikin kyynisen
koulukunnan ja eskatologisen alkukristillisyyden välimaastossa.
Tosin sillä ehdolla, että ihan oikeasti eläisin mahdollisimman riippumattomana
yhteiskunnallisista arvoista, luonnollisia tarpeitani ja halujani joka tilanteessa täysin
luonnollisesti[?] toteuttaen ja samalla kuitenkin Jumalaan uskoen. Ei ihan
helppo juttu. Maailmanloppuun sen sijaan uskon vilpittömästi ja vakaasti.
Milloin maailmanloppu tulee, siitä ei minulla ole aavistustakaan. Mutta se tulee
aivan varmasti.
*
*
Cynicism and
Christianity
.
Jesus as a Jewish Cynic
.
Some historians have noted the similarities between the
life and teachings of Jesus and those of the Cynics. Some
scholars have argued that the Q
document, a hypothetical common source for the
gospels of Matthew and Luke, has strong similarities with
the teachings of the Cynics. Scholars on the quest for the historical Jesus, such
as Burton L.
Mack and John
Dominic Crossan of the Jesus Seminar, have argued that 1st
century AD Galilee was a world in which
Hellenistic ideas collided with
Jewish thought and traditions. The city of Gadara, only a day's walk from
Nazareth, was particularly notable as
a centre of Cynic philosophy, and Mack has described Jesus as a "rather normal
Cynic-type figure." For Crossan, Jesus was more like a Cynic sage from an
Hellenistic Jewish tradition than
either a Christ who would die as a substitute for sinners or a Messiah who wanted to establish an
independent Jewish state of Israel. Other scholars doubt that Jesus was deeply
influenced by the Cynics, and see the Jewish prophetic tradition as of much
greater importance..
.
Cynic influences on early Christianity
.
Many of the ascetic practices of Cynicism may have been adopted by early Christians, and Christians often employed the same rhetorical methods as the Cynics. Some Cynics were actually martyred for speaking out against the authorities. One Cynic, Peregrinus Proteus, lived for a time as a Christian before converting to Cynicism, whereas in the 4th century, Maximus of Alexandria, although a Christian, was also called a Cynic because of his ascetic lifestyle. Christian writers would often praise Cynic poverty, although they scorned Cynic shamelessness: Augustine stating that they had, "in violation of the modest instincts of men, boastfully proclaimed their unclean and shameless opinion, worthy indeed of dogs." The ascetic orders of Christianity also had direct connection with the Cynics, as can be seen in the wandering mendicant monks of the early church who in outward appearance, and in many of their practices were little different from the Cynics of an earlier age.
*
