What the Gospels say

Christopher Webber ’53 criticizes Robert Wright ’79 (letters, Nov. 4) for not understanding a passage from the Bible that proves Jesus preached love for everyone. If Mr. Webber believes, as some do, that God had a hand in writing the Bible through his revelations to mankind and therefore the Bible is not to be questioned, then there is little room for argument.

I would point out, however, that there are others of us who think that it is presumptuous for anyone to claim that they knew the mind of Jesus so well that they actually could quote him. As there were no stenographers following Jesus around, these so-called quotations are only the personal opinions and prejudices of various historians written years after Jesus’ death. Mr. Wright could be correct in his opinion that Jesus could have agreed with his fellow Jews in their distrust of their neighbors. On the other hand, it may be as Luke stated it: Jesus preached love of all mankind. However, if Mr. Wright is closer to the truth, it would not have been in the interest of those who later were promoting Jesus as the son of God to admit that Jesus was human, with likes and dislikes.

Who knows for sure? I certainly do not, but, in my opinion, neither does Mr. Webber.