In a sense, there can be no conclusion to this book for it is (hopefully) going to spark the beginning of something new, something that might build bridges of understanding between two very different worlds. Pagan and Christian readers will have had many surprises. For Pagans, Jesus now no longer needs to be that figure of the past, ignored or avoided. The divine baby thrown out with the dirty bath waters can be retrieved. And Christians can now see the Pagan world in a very different light, a much more positive light. In fact, I suspect many Christians will (like myself) have learned a tremendous amount about Jesus Christ from the Pagan elders who’ve contributed essays and interviews. A conclusion seems somehow strangely wrong.
Yet, on the other hand, there is a way to conclude this book for me. You see, writing this book has been a remarkable journey—a journey into new territories and one which has changed me considerably. It represents an adventure that began back when I was hugely disillusioned with Christianity (not Jesus) and during a point in my life when I was considering giving up the Christian path altogether. I’d lost my job as a priest and along with that my home, income, pension, and so much more. The officialdom of the Church to which I belonged had not helped at all. In fact some from within it went out of their way to cause trouble for me and my family. It was my Druid friends who were the true saviours during that period. However, as things developed, and as I continued to refuse to ditch Jesus, I started to meet a much more open and progressive kind of Christian. I joined the Progressive Christianity Network Britain and then the USA-based Progressive Christian Alliance and made some wonderful friends. On top of this I discovered the Independent Sacramental Movement and found fellow clergy who were also open to what they could learn from the Druidic and Pagan paths. At last I had found fellow Christians among whom I could be myself. Gradually my belief in the priesthood that was first recognised and authorised in me back in 1996 was rekindled and set alight, but in a very different way.
I have now found a home, an open Christian community where I can continue to offer myself as a broad-minded and eclectic priest while also remaining connected and immersed within the nature-based world. It is called the Open Episcopal Church, and I am delighted and proud to be joining them soon within a colourful and sacramental service. Within that service, a priest and a priestess of the Pagan way will also have a role, to give a divine masculine/divine feminine blessing at the end of the ceremony. I imagine that will be the first time in history when Pagan clergy have had such a role within a Christian Ordination.
But what about my conclusions with regard to Jesus and Christ? Well, let me put it this way: I was still a huge admirer of Jesus when I began the research. That’s why I first floated the idea of the book. Now, after nearly three years of work, I can say that I’ve fallen back in love with him in an even deeper way than before. However, I’m going to remain vague with regard to some of the Christological questions this book has brought to the surface.
Yes, I see Jesus as a fully human being, but I also see him (through the historical-metaphorical Jesus Christ) as a gateway to the Divine experience. I believe in the Cosmic Christ, and that he is akin to Buddha nature. In other words, we all have a spark of him within us. I can say the creeds of the Church as long as I am not required to believe them literally, and I see the Church as a dispenser of Grace, but I also see other religions as dispensers of Divine Grace.
My deepest prayer is that this incredible man who lived a humble peasant’s life in a rundown province of the mighty Roman Empire some two thousand years ago—a man of peace who ironically became the object of war and hatred—gradually becomes a symbol of unity. And not just unity within the various sects of Christianity, but unity between Christian and Pagan. I do not wish either path to abandon their own long-cherished beliefs, neither do I want them merge into some putrid ecumenical greyness. No, I want them to do Jesus a favour and place him back within his own first-century Jewish context. Then we can see how his message was adapted, moulded, and mythologized, so that finally his message can become the universal message it deserves. Jesus can be the saviour of Christians, but he can also be a teacher for Pagans and members of non-Christian paths.