Jesus Christ was not God, and Mary was not a virgin, according to a controversial new book written by an Australian Catholic priest…Father Dresser claims Joseph was Jesus’s father, Mary was not a virgin — and actually had six children — and that the story of the resurrection should not be taken literally.

Livenews.com.au

Many non-Christians would have no problem with this interpretation, suggesting as it does that Jesus was just some kind of ordinary bloke, although admittedly one who is supposed to have gone about teaching people how to live their lives.

It is unusual, to say the least, to hear this coming from a Catholic priest, however. Not surprisingly, there is some disagreement:

“What a breathtaking know-all, to claim he knows the mind of Christ contrary to scripture and tradition. His words rob Christianity entirely of its meaning and purpose,” Father Robbie told News Ltd. “The Council of Nicaea settled the question that Christ was God in 325, so he is 1700 years out of date.”Livenews.com.au

I’m not entirely sure which is the more ridiculous: the idea that Father Dresser thinks that millions of religious people should change their beliefs on what amounts to his say-so, or Father Robbie’s notion that because the Council of Nicaea said it, it must be true.

Whether there is, or is not a God, and whether or not a teacher called Jesus did or did not exist, and whether or not he was the son of God are surely things which are either true or not true, irrespective of what Fathers Dresser, Robbie, and the Council of Nicaea have had to say, and irrespective of what is written in the Bible. Simply citing something as an authority does not make it any more likely that said authority was correct.

Although it does strike me as perhaps a little unusual that the Catholic church have priests who don’t actually believe that Jesus was the son of God: I had presumed that this was one of the more important tenets of Christianity…