Dear Tom: Yesterday a friend asked me why I thought God chose Jews, not another group, to manifest Jesus. Having never thought about it before, I was at a loss for words. Does Unity address why God chose Jesus' lineage as Jewish? Please direct me to some readings to help my understanding.

—S.H.B., Wilmington, NC

Dear S.H.B.: Jesus was Jewish, but Im not sure I would frame the question the way you did. Its not that some Supernatural Being out there picked a religio-ethnic group to bear the Christ. Its more like Jesus grew up in a rich culture of spirituality and learned about the Christ within everyone. So did other insightful spiritual leaders, from Buddha to Bahaullah, although they usually didnt label their indwelling divinity with the Greek term Christos, meaning anointed one. Jesus was a child of his culture, an orthodox Jew all the days of his life. His followers would find the constraints of rabbinic Judaism too limiting and would push for a cross-cultural religion, moving humanity forward toward a true universalism. However, even universality has its limitations. Read on.

—Thomas Shepherd