Emerging Church Fundamentalism

I wonder if the way the church is talked about in the emerging missional church (EMC) conversation is related to fundamentalism. Because the emerging church can be complex and multifaceted, I'm not necessarily talking about any one thing. As a matter of fact I'm not talking about a thing or doctrine at all, but rather a way of thinking. Truly that's what fundamentalism is, a way of thinking (as noted by Pete Rollins in How (not) to Speak of God).

Rollins describes fundamentalism as holding a "belief system in such a way that it mutually excludes all other systems, rejecting other views in direct proportion to how much they differ from one's own." From my own experience in the EMC conversation, it seems that many who are going through the deconstruction process or are simply in the conversation can be the most excluding group of people when it comes to ecclesiology, writing off in a reactionary fashion any forms of the modern church.

Could it be possible that we've been so careful to have a generous orthodoxy, that we cannot have a generous ecclesiology toward the churches and institutions that have parented our faith. In a forthcoming post I'm going to bring together the thought of Bonhoeffer who claims the church is revelation and thus Christ and Peter Rollins who claims that Christians must be a/theists and "not master theology but be mastered by it." Or maybe that Christians must not master the church, but be mastered by it.

Graphic Tax Cuts

Proposed tax cuts from blue and red camps. via.

Check the link out to see the graph in more detail. This tool was helpful for me to see the reality, especially that the top richest few will benefit the most from the dem's. Interesting.

Books in the Political Season

Amazon has a really interesting way of tracking the "redness" or "blueness" of book buying. Check it out.

Holistic Christianity: Bonheoffer

Our being Christian today will be limited to two things: prayer and righteous action among humanity.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

via.

Theology, please conversate with Science!

When theology, biblical studies, and science are not in conversation (which they must always be to be a responsible theologian), then sites and folks like this do things like this:

Please take the time and read the material provided on this website. We are here to help. If you or a loved one is suffering from Homosexuality don't hesitate to send them our way. Please Email us with any questions or thoughts.
(from godhatesfags.com, their new site lovegodsway.com)

Check out this article on brain development and homosexuality. I'll declare up front I don't know where I stand on the issue of homosexuality, but I can tell you two things. We Christians MUST address the issue in humility and must change the way we have addressed the issue in the past (or should I say present). Secondly, we in our humility we must listen to other voices on this issue. For me, it is important whether or not homosexuals are born gay or not. If they are or at least some are then this is a classic case of our theology needing to listen to science.

What happens when we ignore science? Well, ask Galileo who was thrown into prison by the church for supporting Copernicus' claim that the planets revolve around the sun, not the earth and the pope.

In their study of 25 straight men, 25 straight women, 20 gay men, and 20 gay women, the neurologists at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, found that

Savic was able to demonstrate highly statistically significant differences between straight and gay brains. Gay and lesbian brains more closely resembled the brains of straight volunteers of the opposite sex than the brains of heterosexual members of the same sex.

and

Although Savic admits that her study cannot distinguish between genetic or prenatal intrauterine environmental changes, such as relative differences in sex hormone levels, her studies do suggest that our sexual preferences are, at least in large part, determined by the time of birth.

Interesting indeed. Read the rest.

Oh SNAP

7 Deadly Sins

For anyone in politics and the church, I bring you Gandhi's 7 deadly sins:

• Wealth without Work
• Pleasure without Conscience
• Science without Humanity
• Knowledge without Character (interesting, one of my favorite quotes from MLK Jr. is "knowledge plus character equals education")
  
• Politics without Principle
• Commerce without Morality
• Worship without Sacrifice

via

Why you should vote republican

Authority in the Church

Following conversation sparked from some thoughts on Bonhoeffer and Adam's thoughts, I've been thinking about authority and pastoral identity. As a postmodern, I'm inclined to distrust and critique the modern creation known as the "pastor." Why? There are many reasons, but here's only a few.

Many pastors hold so much authority that they are held to higher standards than normal people. Catch that, we're even comfortable dislocating the pastor from the congregation, the lay people and the pastor, there again arises the sacred/secular divide. It seems that pastors, because they are given the spotlight can represent all that is bad or wrong with the church or must hold all that is good and right with it. This is simply too much responsibility for an individual, but rather authority must be carried in community.

Here's where I take issue with theologians like Moltmann who over emphasize the democratic nature of the church so much that any semblance of an authoritarian figure is bad. In reality our churches are full of busy people, thus there must be room for the church to appoint certain people to take care of ministerial and administrative duties.

Good Reformationists would say that authority lies in the Scripture, but the question is still who has the authority to interpret the Scripture: the pastor or people? I see a need for a healthy interplay between both. All communities will have leaders that hold more authority in the congregation, and it is healthy only when that person or group of persons is given that authority by the community. Authority ultimately lies in Christ working though the Holy Spirit represented by the whole of the church. Thus, not only must there be interplay between leaders and the community, but there must be interplay between communities of different theological, geographical, political, and socio-economic difference.

What are your thoughts on authority in the church, especially in light of "pastoral" identity?

I just had to...

Made me laugh! via

IQ Test

Free-IQTest.net - IQ Test

Change in 2008? Yeah, but No

I've really appreciated some voices I've come across lately that are able to look into what is going on in American politics and speak reality into the mire, thus I'm posting Eliacin Rosario-Cruz's post in full:

"It is not just about the last 8 years.

To assume that change will happen by just focusing on November 4 is a naive view of history and a adolescent understanding of democracy. On Nov. 4 people will elect a new administrator in the same system of power that perpetuates itself. There are bigger systems than the executive and the legislative at play here. On Nov. 4 the imbalanced of structure of representative “democracy” is will not be on the ballot. Nor there will be a vote about the position of hierarchical power of the wealthy elite (individual, coorporations, international trade organizations) whom live and operate outside national politics but benefit economically from it. There will be no option to vote about the myth of the USA as patriarchal leader and police of the world. These and more are some of the structures and foundations that need to be strongly questioned and challenge in order to bring real change.

Don’t get me wrong, I am fortunate to share with my daughter the historic time of having a black man and a woman running for office. Like many others I get excited by many of the statements and political platform from Senator Barack Obama, but that is not enough for me to believe there will be more than aesthetic modifications. While I think there will be certain alterations to the pattern of politics, economics and social services we’ve see in the past 8 years, that will not be enough to call it change.

The following is a brief list of USA military interventions in the Latin America. As you can see the list start way before year 2000. The same myths that fueled these and many other interventions still fueling the national identity of USA to this day.

Argentina	1890	Troops	Buenos Aires interests protected
Chile	1891	Troops	Marines clash with nationalist rebels
Haiti	1891	Troops	Black workers revolt on U.S.-claimed Navassa Island defeated
Nicaragua	1894	Troops	Month-long occupation of Bluefields
Panama	1895	Naval, troops	Marines land in Colombian province
Nicaragua	1896	Troops	Marines land in port of Corinto
Cuba	1898-	Naval, troops	Seized from Spain, U.S. still holds Navy base at Guantanamo
Puerto Rico	1898-	Naval, troops	Seized from Spain, occupation continues
Nicaragua	1898	Troops	Marines land at port of San Juan del Sur
Nicaragua	1899	Troops	Marines land at port of Bluefields
Honduras	1903	Troops	Marines intervene in revolution
Dominican Republic	1903-04	Troops	U.S. interests protected in Revolution
Cuba	1906-09	Troops	Marines land in democratic election
Nicaragua	1907	Troops	“Dollar Diplomacy” protectorate set up
Honduras	1907	Troops	Marines land during war with Nicaragua
Panama	1908	Troops	Marines intervene in election contest
Nicaragua	1910	Troops	Marines land in Bluefields and Corinto
Honduras	1911	Troops	U.S. interests protected in civil war
Cuba	1912	Troops	U.S. interests protected in Havana
Panama	1912	Troops	Marines land during heated election
Honduras	1912	Troops	Marines protect U.S. economic interests
Nicaragua	1912-33	Troops, bombing	20-year occupation, fought guerrillas
Mexico	1913	Naval	Americans evacuated during revolution
Dominican Republic	1914	Naval	Fight with rebels over Santo Domingo
Mexico	1914-18	Naval, troops	Series of interventions against nationalists
Haiti	1914-34	Troops, bombing	19-year occupation after revolts
Dominican Republic	1916-24	Troops	8-year Marine occupation
Cuba	1917-33	Troops	Military occupation, economic protectorate
Panama	1918-20	Troops	“Police duty” during unrest after elections
Honduras	1919	Troops	Marines land during election campaign
Guatemala	1920	Troops	2-week intervention against unionists
Costa Rica	1921	Troops
Panama	1921	Troops
Honduras	1924-25	Troops	Landed twice during election strife
Panama	1925	Troops	Marines suppress general strike
El Salvador	1932	Naval	Warships sent during Faribundo Marti revolt
Uruguay	1947	Nuclear threat	Bombers deployed as show of strength
Puerto Rico	1950	Command operation	Independence rebellion crushed in Ponce
Guatemala	1954-?	Command operation, bombing, nuclear threat	CIA directs exile invasion and coup d’Etat after newly elected government nationalizes unused U.S.’s United Fruit Company lands; bombers based in Nicaragua; long-term result: 200,000 murdered
Panama	1958	Troops	Flag protests erupt into confrontation
Cuba	1961	Command operation	CIA-directed exile invasion fails
Cuba	1962	Nuclear threat, naval	Blockade during missile crisis; near-war with Soviet Union
Panama	1964	Troops	Panamanians shot for urging canal’s return
Dominican Republic	1965-66	Troops, bombing	Marines land during election campaign
Guatemala	1966-67	Command operation	Green Berets intervene against rebels
Chile	1973	Command operation	CIA-backed coup ousts democratically elected Marxist president
El Salvador	1981-92	Command operation, troops	Advisors, overflights aid anti-rebel war, soldiers briefly involved in hostage clash; long-term result: 75,000 murdered and destruction of popular movement
Nicaragua	1981-90	Command operation, naval	CIA directs exile (Contra) invasions, plants harbor mines against revolution; result: 50,000 murdered
Honduras	1982-90	Troops	Maneuvers help build bases near borders
Grenada	1983-84	Troops, bombing	Invasion four years after revolution
Bolivia	1987	Troops	Army assists raids on cocaine region
Panama	1989	Troops, bombing	Nationalist government ousted by 27,000 soldiers, leaders arrested, 2000+ killed
Haiti	1994-95	Troops, naval	Blockade against military government; troops restore President Aristide to office three years after coup
Venezuela	2002	Command operation	Failed coup attempt to remove left-populist president Hugo Chavez
Haiti	2004-	Troops	Removal of democratically elected President Aristide; troops occupy country

Setting Boundaries, the Importance of Heresy

Although I finished this post a few weeks ago, I've had a hard time posting it. I'll give the reason's afterwards, but here's the post in full:

"In discussing the historical Jesus, Bonhoeffer explains why critical christology is important. Not everything about Christ is comprehensible, but the work of critical christology is to limit the incomprehensible, thus it determines the boundaries of "what may not be said about Christ."

It certainly is important to figure out what we should not say about Christ, otherwise our faith truly is nothing. This does not mean of course that we must completely understand the questions of "who" or "how" Jesus, but it does give us categories for comprehending the God-man, incarnate one.

In our pluralistic society one of the dirty words has become heresy, which Bonhoeffer links to critical christology. "If critical christology is concerned with fixing limits, that means it is concerned with the concept of heresy."

Bonhoeffer's notes on heresy are helpful for understanding its role and why there is a need to point it out. I do recognize that heresy often arises from power struggles and can lead to paternalism, but there is still a need to recognize what cannot be said about Christ, the limits. Heresy thus "emerges from the fellowship of the Church and not from an absence of love." To love someone in a brotherly or sisterly way means to speak the truth in love, and "if I do not speak the truth, then I treat him like a heathen."

Here's the reasons I had a hard time posting:
1) Heresy can often and is often what the "winners" say it is, thus the history and theology written by the western church does not mean its the only correct theology. Our own neo-colonial attitude toward theology in the global South and East (read nonWestern) is that we have to guide and protect "them" from heresy. We must speak the truth in love, when in actuality we are speaking are perspective on truth. In actuality, the more loving thing to do is to allow them to have their heresies.
2) We have our own heresies, so we should let others have them too. If I recall, most Christians that I know would be called a heretic by someone (i.e. Joseph Ratzinger).
3) The idea I found most resonating with me from Bonhoeffer's thought is that heresy arises from the fellowship of the church. This is what we need, for the church global and local to be connected and united in its diversity. We must have boundaries, but boundaries do not exist for the sake of judgment but rather for love. Boundaries help us know as much what we are for as what we are against.

"I Saw What I Saw"- Sara Groves

Rizone Communities, Theological Education for Postmoderns

I really enjoyed this article by Carl Raschke (author of the forthcoming book GloboChrist and The Next Reformation), where he unpacks what theological education means in our "post-churched" culture. Here's a few quotes, but go and read the article in its entirety.

The crisis of theological education ultimately stems from Christians who aim to become professional leaders in a world where Christianity itself is increasingly deinstitutionalized, and its leaders are rapidly becoming deprofessionalized.

A postmodern theological education is both relevant and irrelevant in the same breath. Or to put the matter more mischievously, it has to steep itself in its own irrelevant classical particularities in such a strategic manner that it is able to engage, critique, and transform the culture in a way that is genuinely relevant.

Theological education is comparable to what in the computer business is known as network engineering. A network engineer needs to understand how the guts of a computer work, but even more importantly, she or he is required to design and implement novel, creative architectures for sharing and processing complex configurations of information with different spatial distributions and topographies. Similarly, someone with a seminary degree needs to know how to read and interpret the Bible (even in its original languages), to be familiar with the history of Christianity, and to have facility in the kind of faith-based intellectual reflection we know as theology. But more importantly, they should understand how to begin to deploy those base competencies in a multitude of interpenetrable contexts.

Jesus said “go and make disciples of all nations,” not “go find a good location to start churches.” The difference is not all that subtle. As disciple-making disciples we need to be gearing our theological studies toward becoming makeover artists in redesigning our Father’s house, not plodding toward one day becoming junior partners in the management of his firm.

Brilliant Quotes or What a Genius Says, vol. v

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

I almost gave this quote its own post. I think it belongs on every church door.

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

Apologetics Denied

“The philosopher is not an apologist; apologetic concern, as Karl Barth (the one living theologian of unquestionable genius) has rightly insisted, is the death of serious theologizing, and I would add, equally of serious work in the philosophy of religion.”

—Donald M. MacKinnon, The Borderlands of Theology: An Inaugural Lecture (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1961), 28.

via.

We tell stories.

6 penguin classics, retold in 6 short digitals. This is a pretty cool artistic expression and collaborative that's worth your time. I enjoyed this one, The 39 Steps retold as the 21 Steps using google maps.

Brilliant Quotes or What a Genius Says, vol. iv.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."

"If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut."

"In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."

The Shack, William Young

I recently finished reading what has become a sort of Christian pop culture phenomenon, the Shack.
I'd rather not give a lengthy review of my own since reviews are numerous and widespread on this internet thing. Actually, Andy Rowell has compiled a good list of reviews if you're interested.

A few things that I would say:

• Those who've denounced this novel have really missed the point. It's quite obvious as in any fiction that this book is not meant to be a theological treatise. The book has a good storyline about healing and the power of relationship with God. I'm not as huge a fan of the book as some who have praised it highly (E. Peterson claims this book to be the next Pilgrim's Progress. I highly doubt it). I enjoyed the imaginative writing and dialog with God. Overrall I thought the book was worth the read, but I would not say I loved it.

• There were some places I felt like it lacked:
  
• Young is creative in his approach to the Trinity (which some have claimed to be modalistic, which is a case in missing the point), but often the dialog is uncreative, slow, and full of cheesy Christian quotes.
  
• Also, I think Young stepped out in allowing Papa, the "head" of the Trinity to actually be God the mother, a large African American woman. I appreciated that he first tried to defy the male-centered lens of the church, but in the end he fails by allowing God to resemble the form that the main character presumed God would be in the first place, a Gandalf-like old man.
  
• I do like that Jesus resembles a middle eastern man, but Young fails in his presentation of Jesus. There are two things that I didn't like. One was that Jesus seemed to be against the institutional church or religion in any sense. Not that I don't think the institutional church or religion doesn't need critiquing, but Jesus came across more as the "my buddy" or "homeboy" Jesus who has been created by our consumer culture. Jesus as anti-religion and best buddy were weak representations.

• Other then these critiques, Young delivers a book that I would recommend to anyone that has suffered lost and is struggling with questions of faith, doubt, love, life, and God. Furthermore, Trinitarian theology has become quite popular as of late and this work witnesses to the beauty, complexity, and creativity bound up with this important doctrine. Check it out, read it, mull it over.