:: in a mirror dimly :: A theology and culture blog with the Bible in one tab and a news feed in the other.

I now have 3 little blips on the Amazon.com radar.

First off we have the main book, Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life, my lay-level introduction to contextual theology.

Then we have the Coffeehouse Theology Bible Study Guide that digs into the scripture passages mentioned in the main book, fleshing out biblical guidelines for contextual theology.

Lastly, I push the envelope a little bit with a exploration of select topics in the Contemporary Issues Study Guide. War, race, terrorism, social justice, gender equality, and more show up in this guide that applies theology to a number of pressing issues for today.

By the way, if you swing by Amazon to have a look, check out the graphic in the top right corner of the Contemporary Issues Study Guide. There’s a coffee cup with a halo and wings! Someone on the design team at NavPress should be getting a bonus!

Christians are known for inflicting damage on themselves from time to time, sticking many feet in many mouths, and coming up with some outlandish claims, especially when they try to play “prophet” while reading the newspaper headlines. However, Christianity has come under attack by a group often known as the new atheists through a series of books such as the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and A Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris. Who will stand up for God and the Christian faith?

Reporter, writer, and satirist Becky Garrison who ably wields her MDiv from Yale steps into the ring to take on these atheist crusaders, who have set out to undermine religion, in her book The New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail. Garrison is a Christian writer who contributes to the God’s Politics blog, serves as contributing editor to the Wittenburg Door, among other projects. Though not a scientist, Garrison is an able researcher who carefully steps through the various levels involved in this issue: science, religion, politics, and some pretty flimsy, overblown accusations the new atheists level against Christians.

Keep in mind that while Garrison is fighting the new atheists’ writings toe-to-toe, she’s not setting out to attack them personally. By adopting a kind of zany, light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek tone, Garrison avoids a combative tone, opting instead to kind of playfully slap around the views of the new atheists. She doesn’t deal a knock-out blow, but carefully picks them apart with a wide smile, revealing the foolish bits of their arguments, while never leaving behind a bloody opponent on the mat.

You could call it a humane mercy-killing of the new atheists.

In addition, Garrison uses her journalistic expertise to assemble a carefully chosen group of scientists and religion experts to stand in her corner. She even finds atheists who want nothing to do with the closed-minded new atheists, but rather want a friendly, civil discussion about whether or not God exists (201). With friendly atheists, theologians, God-believing scientists, and Christian activists in her corner, she unleashes round after round of exploration and analysis of the new atheists. While the new atheists may dismiss Garrison because she’s not credentialed into the academic elite, I assure you this book is a knock-out blow to the new atheists brand.

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A group of Evangelicals recently released a manifesto detailing some goals for Evangelicals today that include recommitting our focus on the Gospel, untangling ourselves from partisan politics, and immersing ourselves in social justice–by way of naming a few points from a rather lengthy and complex document. I appreciate what they’re trying to do and I respect those who wrote and signed it. Evangelicals are such a slippery, diverse, and evolving movement that no one document or group could hope to exhaustively catch every nuance (though some have pointed out faults).

The reason for the Manifesto is as follows:

“For those who are Evangelicals, the deepest purpose of the Manifesto is a serious call to reform—an urgent challenge to reaffirm Evangelical identity, to reform Evangelical behavior, to reposition Evangelicals in public life, and so rededicate ourselves to the high calling of being Evangelical followers of Jesus Christ.”

Not a bad goal. Not a bad document from what I’ve read and read about it. Not a bad call for the leaders who wanted to set a new course since leaders are supposed to stick their necks out, take the lead, and let others follow. On the plus side, we now have an official document we can point to if we’re accused of being too political or lacking in compassion. We can now say, “Look, we’ve got people trying to steer us on a new course.” It’s worth a shot!

While we could pick this thing apart all day and snipe at bits and pieces… I have one concern. Do we really think America is the center of Christianity today? Well, it’s the center of the magazine Christianity Today, but I’m wondering if India, South Africa, and heck the whole continent of South America may have something to teach us since there are plenty of Evangelicals there (Mark Knoll says as much in beginning of The Rise of Evangelicalism). The Evangelical movement may have started in Europe and then moved over to America, but we’re not the only ones living this stuff.

When the Nicene Creed was written, Christians from all over the known world gathered together. Travel was tough and treacherous in those days. With e-mail it wouldn’t be that hard to include some global voices in the statement. I’m guessing we would have ended up with a better notion of how to mix faith and justice together and a lot more about the role of the Holy Spirit. Just a hunch.

It’s funny, we really want to change the course of Evangelicalism in America, but we’re not seeking help from those who can help us the most. Ah, the American “can-do” spirit!

Americans love to fight a war against something. The war on drugs, the war on underage drinking, the war on terror: all of these describe movements of concerted action against something or someone. War is nasty business really, and I wonder sometimes if we could find a better way to describe our aims, however, if war is what we want…

While washing the dishes from last night’s dinner, I had a thought about all of our war-mongering. I thought that perhaps Isaiah was talking about ending our wars against one another and launching a war against hunger in God’s perfect future.

Have a look at this:

Isaiah 2:3-5

3 Many peoples will come and say,
       “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
       to the house of the God of Jacob.
       He will teach us his ways,
       so that we may walk in his paths.”
       The law will go out from Zion,
       the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4 He will judge between the nations
       and will settle disputes for many peoples.
       They will beat their swords into plowshares
       and their spears into pruning hooks.
       Nation will not take up sword against nation,
       nor will they train for war anymore.

5 Come, O house of Jacob,
       let us walk in the light of the LORD.

So in God’s perfect future there will be justice, so no one will ever want to attack each other. God will settle any pretense we can think of for war. However, I think we can learn something today from the conversion of warfare into farming.

While we never want to ignore the importance of the peace the Christ brings, and hence should never lose the importance of sharing the Gospel, this business of changing from swords to plowshares is captivating. Instead of warring with one another, Isaiah’s vision is one where we fight against hunger. We wage a full-scale war to produce and distribute food.

When I go to the super market I pass the food pantry donation bin. They usually provide a list of what is most needed. At a time with rising fuel and food prices, food pantries are being hit hard with al of those struggling to make ends meet. This business of fighting to make sure those experiencing hunger can be satisfied clicks with my American sensibilities. Perhaps a war on hunger is what we need in place of a war on terror.

Even if I’m mangling the meaning of Isaiah, which I don’t think I’m doing too badly on, we have to admit that Jesus prefers we feed the hungry when we meet them. Remember that bit in Matthew 25:37? If I may be so bold to say it, our salvation depends on it…

While browsing at the Northshire Bookstore I came across The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church by Christine Wicker. If you swing by the book’s Amazon page there is quite a list of endorsers.

I did a pre-read, which means I read the back, inside flap, and table of contents. Hopefully English teachers are still instructing their students in this art. So I can’t say I’ve read the book, but from what I can see at this point, she hits on something that a lot of Evangelicals have probably known: the supposedly strong Evangelical church is rotting a bit on the inside even in the midst of its national profile. Some churches are declining in attendance and numbers appear to be dwindling.

What gives?

If you’re aware of the emerging, house church, Christians-outside-of-church, missional church, and other rumblings on the edges of Evangelicalism and beyond you’re probably aware that dissatisfaction is quite high in some Evangelical circles. For many this branch of the church is still a breath of fresh air. For some who have been breathing it in for a while, we’re sick of some of it. Not all of it, just parts of it.

And that’s the thing about Evangelicalism: it’s been evolving for years. In fact, the attention that Evangelicalism pays to its surrounding culture is perhaps its greatest asset and the reason why its been around since the early 1700’s (set up in the 1600’s by the pietists on the European continent and our other religious thinkers in Great Britain). Evangelicals have some basic tenets in common, but over time we end up looking rather different at times.

Which brings me to my point. I believe that the incarnation of Evangelicals we have known is on its way out. However this movement will keep on in some form because that is what Evangelicalism as a movement has always done. We’ve been adapting, responding, and reimagining. The heros of our past were the dangerous doctrinal radicals of their times, and so we have thinkers today who push the limits, but are actually setting the stage for the next incarnation of Evangelical Christianity.

With all of the flap over Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama in the news lately, we really have a perfect storm of sorts as far as stories go. It’s a mix of politics, race, and religion. I still believe that the media is completely ruining this story in many ways and Obama and Wright are in extremely difficult situations. I’d like to try and cut through some of the hype and misinformation out there.

First of all, it is essential to either read or listen to Rev. Wright himself on Bill Moyers or his speech at the National Press Club. I don’t agree with everything Wright has to say, but I agree with a lot of it. Even if he’s wrong on some points, he presents clear arguments for his views. Like them or not, he’s entitled to them.

Here’s the problem. Obama isn’t really fighting Wright. He’s fighting sound bits and public perception of Wright. Wright isn’t really fighting Obama. He’s fighting a very real hostility toward the black church and the injustices that he sees in the world. He’s fighting the media and the those who twist his words.

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I have spent time over the past two months thinking through the general flow of the Old Testament, trying to make sense of the perspective presented of God and humanity. The Old Testament can be troubling for some to read. From the early Christian heresies that categorized the Old Testament into a completely different religion with a different God from the gracious God of the New Testament, to Thomas Jefferson who clipped together his own version of the Bible, to skeptics today who can’t believe that God would send a flood or order Israel to attack the Canaanites.

I don’t have easy answers, but I think I understand a little bit better what is going on, though I must begin with a rather large disclaimer. No one should ever think he/she has God figured out. Also, scripture repeatedly cautions us from taking the position of interrogator of God. We can try to figure things out provided that we realize we’re trying to understand the infinite God and that we are his creation. God is certainly personal, but we have to remember our place in any kind of theology.

I’d like to begin with some usual lines of thinking about God…

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In digging around the letters by the apostle Peter lately I noticed a rather striking change in his introduction when comparing 1 Peter and 2 Peter.

1 Peter 1:1

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ”

2 Peter 1:1

“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ”

In the NLT,which I happened to be reading, the word “servant” was “slave,” which gives a stronger sense of Peter’s change. So what exactly happened? Was Peter demoted?

In a sense, I wonder if Peter demoted himself, realizing what it meant to be a true apostle. Perhaps I make too much of this, but notice that servant/slave comes before apostle. Something radical has happened to Peter in between the writing of these two letters and he makes a huge change in how he thinks of himself.

These words of Peter embody the message of Jesus that the greatest must be the servant (Matthew 23:11).

All Things Considered yesterday provided a great deal of analysis of the latest remarks by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor of Barack Obama who was at the center of a controversy about his remarks in a sermon that included the phrase, “God damn America.” The report shared the following:

He [Wright] said he was quoting an ambassador to Iraq in that sermon, although he did not give the ambassador’s name.

“Jesus said, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’” Wright added. “You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you. Those are biblical principles, not Jeremiah Wright bombastic, divisive principles.”

Wright said the comment captured on YouTube — in which he says, “Not God bless America, but God damn America” — was taken out of context.

“God doesn’t bless everything,” he said. “God damns some practices, and there’s no excuse for the things that the government — not the American people — have done. That doesn’t make me not like America or unpatriotic.”

Also key to his defense, Wright spoke of black theology and preaching as different, not hostile or bombastic (See Time Magazine as well)

After this report NPR provided some analysis by two senators, one who supported Obama and one who supported Clinton. Curiously they both initially remarked that this controversy has gone on for too long and lamented the way the media has handled it.

I couldn’t agree more. While our candidates should be scrutinized carefully, I think it goes too far to overanalyze a sound byte from a sermon that Obama didn’t even hear. Also, we can’t drop everything Wright says into Obama’s mouth. We can question him about it and be concerned about his beliefs in relation to his pastor, but everything has been blown out of proportion.

There are plenty of things we can scrutinize about Obama without digging into his pastor’s sermons. Let’s look at what he himself has said. I know I don’t agree with every single thing my own pastor has said, and I know that even if I agree with my pastor, there are times when he may say things differently than I would have said them.

Both campaigns recognize this has been blown out of proportion, when will the media catch on?

Technorati Tags: Obama - Wright - religion - America

The Bible repeatedly tells followers of Jesus to expect suffering, to endure patiently, and to never be ashamed of Jesus of the good news of his salvation (see Romans 1:16). This obviously means different things depending on where you live. In some countries you may be in danger of imprisonment and death, however in America much more a matter of social and cultural dismissal.

On one hand, I have no issue with people writing me off as a Christian. I live to please God. That’s just how it is.

But there’s something that really does bother me, that I even fear, and that is being dismissed for the wrong reasons. This usually happens when people associate all Christians with a  particular Christian leader or someone they know personally who has failed to model the love of Christ, lived  as a hypocrite or worse. While suffering as a Christian is a very good thing, I’m a bit concerned about being dismissed because of the failings of other Christians or misunderstandings of what it means to  be a Christian. Perhaps some people have a false impression of Christ by observing me…

Like any other group, Christians want to be understood and represented fairly. I recognize that I can’t control this, that sometimes I just need to take it on the chin. However, I do believe it is very important for Christians to clearly distinguish themselves from the negative associations that detract  from the core Gospel message, and to then let that message be the source of offense. In other words, we need to work on undoing some of the damage we ourselves have caused in order to clear the air and let the gospel do its work.

For example, I find it very important in conversations with people I don’t know and in public settings to quickly follow up an ID of myself as a Christian with a denunciation of the Iraq War (specifically Bush’s reasons for attacking). For the record, I never thought it was a good idea–I remember listening to the radio in 2003 and dreading what our president had just unleashed, but more importantly I want to make sure people know that even if Christians did vote for George Bush, that does not constitute a rubber stamp on all of his policies. In other words, I don’t want people to write me off  because they think all Christians support the Iraq war. There are Christians who  supported it and those who did not.

Maybe I’m overreacting here, but it really chews me up sometimes to hear the negative associations people have with Christians that really have little to do with the message the God has come to free us from sin and to give us new life, life the way it was meant to be. If you hear me out and understand what I’m saying and then write me off as a deluded, religious nut, that works for me. So long as you heard what I had to say.

Technorati Tags: Christian - suffering - persecution - Romans - gospel - Jesus - religion

I’m sure I’m not the first one to think of this metaphor, and it happens to be curiously similar to Jesus’ parable of the sower, but here you have it…

The fields in my valley are still damp from a lot of April rain and the March snow melt. Streams running down the sides of mountains remain swollen, and the Battenkill River licks over its banks as it rushes toward New York state. Still, with a steady week of sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures the farmers have been able to plow their fields.

It’s a lovely site to see freshly turned soil where yellow, barren stalks once stood from the previous year’s harvest. Soon they will be sowing seeds, waiting for the corn and soy beans to emerge.

And that brings me to the role of reading scripture. I think we sometimes set ourselves up for disappointment by expecting miracles to happen, angels to descend, or the Holy Spirit to drop in as we read these sacred words. It’s not unreasonable to expect God to use scripture in powerful ways, and there are times when words jump off the page and into our lives, bringing renewal and the life of God.

However, in the grand scheme of things, I think that reading scripture is a way that God tills the stiff, barren soil of our lives, sows his word of life, and then, whether immediately or later, those words will sprout with life. In other words, we read scripture to get the life of God within us so that the Holy Spirit can water them and bring about new life.

Just as a farmer must always till, plant, and harvest every year, we have the same responsibility to continue reading scripture, sowing new seeds and allowing God to raise up new life. When we least expect it the seeds of scripture sown into our lives will be brought to life by the Holy Spirit.

I know, I know, I’m not exactly breaking new ground here. I think it’s been on my mind lately because I’ve found that I am using a lot more scripture in my prayers. God seems to be bringing up stories, verses, and words as I pray and man, it’s a really powerful thing. It feels like the Bible is so alive at those moments.

Technorati Tags: Bible - scripture - holy+spirit - life - farmer - sowing - battenkill - vermont - God

I’ve been busy revamping things at my writing blog over the past few days. While I still have a ways to go as far as personalizing the design and graphics as my very own, I did manage to make a nifty little pencil graphic. However, with me it’s always about the writing.

Since I’m moving towards the publication of my first book (there’s a link to it on Amazon now, but that’s it) and have now entered the marketing phase, I thought it may be fun to revisit some of the steps I have taken over the past 3.5 years to arrive at this point. I created a category called “publishing” and will be posting a few times each week on some practical things you can do to get published. Though my ultimate goal will be publishing a book, publishing magazine articles are all part of the process, and so I’ll be able to address a variety formats.

Of course there is no sure-fire way to get published, but I have found some great ideas in reading the stories of other published authors and even managed to rule out a few things that would not have worked for me. Even if you’re not looking to get published, I find that many people are interested in knowing what goes into publishing.

I’ve actually reduced it to a simple formula:

hard work + lots of rejection + late nights + small victories + resilience + help from published authors = published book

Well, that’s a bit simplified and, if I may say so, formulaic, but you get the picture!

Find out some answers to this question and a whole lot more at my friend Adam’s new web site for his community that is committed to Christian peacemaking: Shalom House. He wrote the following:

Our blog is basically the story of Shalom House as we try and work out what it means to be Christian peacemakers in this violent world.  It is a work in progress, we intend to keep it simple, but also hope to make it a useful resource for peacemaking information and maybe even a little inspiration.

As if this Democratic primary season isn’t weird enough, Hillary Clinton’s latest ad makes the strangest of all statements. Essentially, she tells Obama to get out of the kitchen and to leave it up to her.

With an all-star fear-mongering cast that includes Osama–not to be confused with Obama–bin Ladin, Clinton pulls all of the boogie men from under the bed, waves them in our faces, and then offers her assessment that Obama can’t take the heat. The commercial ends with a tribute to perhaps one of the greatest Democrats of all time, “Harry Truman said it best –- if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

To be quite frank, I’m quite relieved by this.

If Barack has been kicked out of the kitchen, perhaps Hillary has finally realized that politics just isn’t her thing and that she’d like to take a whirl at being a homemaker. With Barack out of the race to see who gets control of the kitchen, he is now free to campaign for president of the United States.

Phew, I’m glad that’s all settled now. And we thought this primary was going to drag out all summer and Howard Dean was going to have to scream or something! No, it was really control of the kitchen that got everyone so worked up. I suppose the folks in Pennsylvania planning on voting for Hillary can just stay home and not bother voting. I heard a rumor that she’s teaming up with Rachel Ray for a special episode… but wait, wasn’t Obama interviewed by her today? Oh, that Barack, always meddling in the kitchen! When will he ever learn!

Now Barack, listen to Hillary and leave the heat of the kitchen to her. You have a campaign to run!

Julie and I needed a getaway and we also needed to connect with my family in the Philadelphia area, so we stole away for a few days into my former home town. We spent the first couple days in center city at the Sheraton Hotel at City Center, formerly the Wyndham at Franklin Plaza (or something like that). We buzzed about the city in the midst of the Obama/Clinton campaigning with women brandishing Hillary signs on street corners and a few well-dressed young people parading about China town with Obama fliers.

My internet access has been limited because the Sheraton still charges their guests to use their internet. I find that so hard to believe since just about any dumpy motel off the interstate has free wifi these days. In fact, it seems that “free” is a very necessary prefix for wifi. So I’ve been unable to post on a few things I noticed during our time in Philly:

Of course the best part of our visit was hearing the crowd at the debate actually booed the moderators. If you know anything about Philly sports, you know that anyone and everyone is fair game for a round of boos. Some of our more shameful boo recipients include Santa Claus, Hall of Fame baseball player Mike Schmidt, and (if memory serves correctly) his young son. Oh, and just about every professional sports team in this town has been booed pretty viciously on a fairly regular basis. So if there was any town able to spot a lousy couple of moderators, it had to be Philly. They heckled and booed just like at any sports event. Take that ABC.

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