6000 YEARS OF JEWISH FAITH
FREEDOM  -   EQUALITY   -   FRATERNITY

Results and conclusion

after exegetical and historical research 1978-2023

Wout Mars BEng

This writer was born in 1931 in Heerlen, center of the mining region in South Limburg, the Netherlands; refuge for people from the poorest regions in search of a new society. The vast majority were Catholic. Poor people show the most solidarity; know themselves to be dependent on each other. They are not literate; they communicate better. All this applies even more to people working underground. The Sunday church of my youth was characterized by people for whom 'communion' was visibly important; and where priestly life and lay world remained separate.

Lay people knew the Gospel and were influenced by it. Spiritual life was reserved for priests. Only the reception of 'the bread' as the 'body of Christ' was shared with them. But since the restoration of 'the hierarchy' in the nineteenth century, 'Catholic emancipation' also existed in connection with the church magisterium and all social problems since then.

The crisis and war in my youth meant a lot to us without a church magisterium being discussed. We were taken along by the changes in those days in a completely natural way. The 'Catholic State Party' before the war became the 'Catholic People's Party'; and the 'Social Democratic Workers' Party' changed its name to 'Labour Party'. Both parties found each other and worked together in the post-war reconstruction; towards a better world, focused on the right to exist for everyone. The Netherlands became a welfare state in those years. And for those who didn't know yet: Research had shown that the first Christians were socialists and even communists. Following this, we believers were addressed in a priestly manner with the words 'Improve the world; start with yourself!'

My Christian education was completed in the fourth year of high school, where normal history education about power and wars was interrupted for a whole year. She was dedicated to 'the French Enlightenment'. Afterwards, for me, 'faith' had everything to do with finding a suitable attitude to life. I chose to participate in the reconstruction of the 1950s and received further technical training for this purpose. This was not a personal story. The obligation of two years of military service was self-evident at the time. In military service there was the sound of 'the G3 movement', the three G's of Good-Spirit-Community'. And business operations in those days were all about 'improving the quality of work'. Work had to become meaningful for everyone.

The ecclesiastical renewal that was visible throughout western Europe also fitted into this climate. The high altar was demolished to end the priestly worship; leaving the choir, closed with a cross. The pulpit no longer served as a platform for proclamation and the confessional was decommissioned. The altar was brought to the center of the church; from there the Gospel was discussed. And since then we have been able to believe in what a church should be: 'an alliance of solidarity'.

This ecclesiastical renewal was also reflected in the new church building of those days: a church without a choir and without side chapels for private devotions. It had to be just one large room, furnished for meetings for reflection and motivation. And besides that, only one tower with a clock; no longer referring to upwards, but for the call to meeting and gathering. We met to assess our contribution to society for encouragement and improvement. For we believed that the world was created for good; and that every human contribution is intended for good.

Disillusionment followed as early as the 1960s. The priesthood of Rome no longer participated. During those years, the 'Catholic People's Party' gradually lost its members and ceased to exist. A task-oriented company became a big business with 'marketing', 'profit maximization' and business growth. We continued with 'consumer society'. Development cooperation naturally became neo-colonialism. And we ended up in the 'armament law' and 'cold war' of the seventies. Church conversations served no purpose; showed only division.

At the end of the seventies I was no longer able to convey what still inspired me. I therefore decided to hang up my faith; wanted to do this responsibly through neutral scientific research. The opportunity to do this was offered by a theological faculty affiliated with the economic college in Tilburg, then a university. She offered a course in the weekends for MO-A catechesis training. Its great advantage was that it also offered lessons in religious and developmental psychology. I probably needed that most at the time. But I also met people who were religious like me, still looking forward to a new world. The most important decision made at the end of that course was that we should not burden our children with the faith problems of our day. As adults, we had to solve them ourselves first. An 'adult catechesis' course was already in the making; so I signed up for that. After a year she started. But the 'Christian ethics' teacher was assisted by a delegate from Rome. He soon had the highest say as a proclaimer of the 'God is dead' theology. 'The Church must not turn to the world; the world must turn to God'. He added by way of further explanation. I didn't go along with that. I requested the 'Christology' teacher (research into the first three centuries of Christianity) to allow me to end my studies with a thesis on the similarities of the Gospel with the oldest texts of the Bible; the texts are characterized by the Jewish interpretation of 'YHWH'. My request was considered, provided I first proved with a thesis that I had also thoroughly studied the 'Catechism'. However, after I had complied with this, cooperation with my research had to be rejected, as it was too extensive and could not be accommodated due to available time.

My first report of independent Bible research was entitled 'as a layman I read differently'. I sent it to the faculty. There was no response from the teacher. Over time it became clear to me that the faculty no longer existed.

I then sent my manuscript to the most famous theological publisher in the Netherlands. Her reaction was decidedly positive. It was inevitable that this sound had been heard more than once during 2,000 years of Christianity. Therefore, I was asked to substantiate it with similar statements in the history of Christianity. However, I had never been trained for historical research; I felt overextended. Then came 'the nineties' and I was too late. In the 1990s, publishing houses were also forced to opt for economies of scale with associated financial market policies. There was no longer any 'fund' available for publishing a report of exegetical research. The readers' market chose 'religion'.

In those same years, there was also the understanding that older people had to make way for young people on the labor market. Early retirement gave me the opportunity to devote my time to research that I still considered socially important. And in the meantime, 'the French Enlightenment' had also been scientifically researched from a cultural-historical perspective. It was based on the Biblical 'Creation story' and on that basis the Gallic religious community still experienced a commitment to the earth and fellow human service.