Quote from Albert Nolan
Many millions throughout
the ages have venerated the name of Jesus, but few have understood him and
fewer still have tried to put into practice what he wanted to see done. His
words have been twisted and turned to mean everything, anything and nothing. His
name has been used and abused to justify crimes, to frighten children and to
inspire men and women to heroic foolishness. Jesus has been more frequently
honoured and worshipped for what he did not mean that for what he did mean. The
supreme irony is that some of the things he opposed most strongly in the world of
his time were resurrected, preached and spread more widely throughout the
world—in his name. (Albert Nolan, Jesus
Before Christianity: The Gospel of Liberation [London: Darton Longman and
Todd Ltd., 1976], 3)