good discussion, Nicole.

Jesus and pre-existence? Seems to discount his role and the value of his actions, if he was not fully human and if he was a pre-existing being in a way no other human exists ... as a Catholic I was told this was part of the mystery. Jesus was, I was taught - fully human and of course the story only makes sense if he was.

I suspect there really was historical man that the Christian stories call Jesus and that he really was a remarkable human being. The faith he passed on interests me. The religious thought his life inspired, and the religions that grew around them have less interest to me.