What do you think of this? What would you add? Subtract? Do you track with this? With something else?
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Continental Philosophy, or What I Understood Of It
Just recently returned from the fourth Postmodernism, Culture and Religion Conference entitled: The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion. The conference was at Syracuse University and included some of the best thinkers in Continental Philosophy, especially concerning religion and theology. "What is continental philosophy?", some of you might ask. Good question.
Saving Institutions 2
Recently Andrew Sullivan noted that "Christianity is in crisis" and encouraged readers to simply follow Jesus and leave church, institution, and organized religion behind. Forget the church. Follow Jesus. Many sympathize with this impulse, as noted in my most recent post. What, after all, do institutions have to offer us other than a slow process, outdated organization, and mired traditionalism? Diana Butler Bass, despite her critiques of the institutional church, notes that perhaps things are not as dire as Sullivan imagines.
Every Bush is Burning
We recently spent some time looking at Moses’ experience at the burning bush at Roots DC, the faith community I’m a part of here in DC. In the text, Moses is told to take off his sandals, for “the place where you are standing is holy ground.” This led to some discussion: what made that ground special? What was the significance of taking off his shoes? At what point in this experience did Moses realize that it was more than just an oddity of nature, that God was meeting him there?
The Sweet Kingdom of Jesus
I had the delightful experience of attending a middle school play recently: Cinderella and the Candy Kingdom. It’s the usual Cinderella story, but set in a world of chocolate, sugar and sweets. Plenty of puns made it a very fun show: the wicked stepsisters of Cinderella were named Kit and Kat. The prince of the kingdom was named Reese, who rarely appeared without his squire, Hershey. While Hershey won the audience with his consistent jokes and eager banter, it was Prince Reese who brought home the underlying meaning of the play. In the world of the Candy Kingdom, everyone loves sweets: first dessert, second dessert, third dessert. Whip cream and chocolate syrup on everything. You get the idea. Yet the young prince has a secret: he doesn’t like sweets. In other words, he’s not like everyone else. He doesn’t belong. Not only that, he’s in line for the throne, but isn’t the “right kind of prince.”
Worship as the Ultimate Act?
THE WESTMINSTER SHORTER CONFESSION famously says that the “chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” This classic theological assertion is held with conviction by many in the Reformed tradition and beyond. God created us to give him glory. It is often assumed that the way we glorify God is through worship. And worship is often understood as: singing songs on a Sunday morning, hearing a sermon, and drinking some stale coffee afterward.
I would add a commitment to Jesuslike peacemaking–practicing nonviolence, addressing injustices with nonviolent resistance, and working for reconciliation.
I agree, Josh! Thanks for adding that in.
The Dali Lama said, “If science demonstrated Buddism is wrong, then Buddism needs to change.”
I think Christianity needs to consider the truth of this statement and re-think some of it’s theology. Process Theism is one example of a theology that is in line with science.
What is progressive Christianity?
Of course, I had to Google “progressive Christianity” and I found this: “Seek community that is inclusive of ALL people.” This goes along with affirmation of human diversity. Does this include reaching out to help human diversity (community) or does it only speak about acceptance?