Thanks for this interetesting and provacative thread. I graduated twice from a Baptist Seminary known, at least among Baptists, as what the 19th century would call "freethinking". It is no more so. But my take on the appropriation of Jesus as a figure to whom either the left or the right may lay claim as true descendents is usually flawed. More likely to me is the notion that each generation remakes the image of Jesus in the form and shape of that generation -- sort of a "this is the Lord that the Day hath made," thing -- sometimes it's to look for a hero, sometimes it's to look for a blessing of one's own particular brand of rationalization.

Jim