...a starkly apocalyptic interpretation of the New Testament is always near at hand. The Epistle to the Hebrews, for instance, makes Christianity’s blood logic unsettlingly plain: with animal sacrifices at the Temple ended, only a greater sacrifice—God’s son—can suffice. This doctrine is embedded in the Catholic Mass, where the Lamb of God represents not gentleness but a creature slaughtered for the good of the world. This concept horrified critics like William Empson, who saw it as depicting a cosmos ruled by an irrational deity whose rage toward humanity can be placated only by his son’s torture and death. That logic, however buried beneath more palatable readings, runs like a dark current through the text.

"Do You Know Jesus?"

Adam Gopnik

The New Yorker

March 31, 2025