LH:

I'm pretty much of a socialist myself, Arne, but I find Rosselson's brand of socialist rhetoric self-righteously naive and embarrassing.

Sounds like me and my brother with his Marxism. ;-) I'm a "non-denominational socialist" myself.

But I will take Rosselson over "Cause The Bible Tells Me So" in warbly treble harmony by little tykes that don't even know what they're singing.

I think my favourite Rosselson is "World Turned Upside Down" (with a nice nod to the 'Cat on the link there). But I think Gaughan does the best rendition.

There may be another reason entirely for why Jesus saw the crucifixion as necessary (I've never bought the thing about him atoning for the sins of others)...and it is this: he may have wished to demonstrate to his disciples in the most dramatic way possible that the death of the body is not the death of the true self, which is spirit. The only way he could do that was to die in front of them and then confront them later AS a living spirit (in a reanimated body or not).

Therefore, the main point of the exercise would not have been the suffering on the cross, or the atonement of sins, but the resurrection...proof positive to those who witnessed it of the eternal life of the soul.

Perhaps. But that ain't the song the churches sing nowadays (certainly not the fundamentalist ones; substitutionary atonement is one of the Five Fundamentals).

Is not the resurrection a far more significant matter than the manner of his death?

Did you misspell "less believable", perchance?   ;-)   Just my take on it....

Cheers,