Reimaging Xianity in the wake of Modernism's passing
Posts tagged Christianity
The Return to a Primitive Christianity is Impossible.
Jul 10th
Having rejected the aid of the community of interpreters throughout the history of Christendom, we have not succeeded in returning to the primitive gospel; we have simply managed to plunge ourselves back to the biases of our own individual situations.
- Lints, Fabric of Theology, 93
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Polygamy amongst Xian Converts in Africa
May 5th
Wonderful write up looking at polygamy among converts in various regions in Africa. These issues are thorny at best. What would you do if your Church converted a polygamist family? What if your church lived in abject poverty? What do you do with God allowing the patriarchs to have multiple wives? What about the damages [...]
Apocalyptic Asceticism – a Means to Resist
May 3rd
In this post, the nature of apocalypticsm in early Christianity is explored.
Marginalized groups are often apocalyptic;[1] they recognize that the present world is radically amiss and construct ways in which this can be fixed.[2] Often, there is a utopia that they look towards for a negation of the current woes.[3] Terms like apocalypticism, eschatology, protology, [...]
Question of the Day: How much leeway should Seminary and Bible College Profs Get?
Apr 17th
Limits. Lines. Boundaries.
We need them. When they aren’t to our liking, we whine, scratch, demolish, prophesize. When they are to our liking, we defend, trumpet, repair, denounce.
The resignation of Walkte at RTS highlights the issue of theological boundaries within Christian Academic Institutions.
On the one hand, I think that Xian theologians and academics should be [...]
On the Essence of Christianity
Apr 9th
These wise words can guide us from the depths of hubris up into the oceans of humility and finally into the active land of creatively morphing our faith forward:
Immersion in the literature of the 5th and 6th centuries has slowly eroded any lingering conviction that I had that throughout these centuries Christianity stood for [...]
Overheard (Christ’s Travels)
Apr 6th
Christianity was born after the Resurrection in Israel, went to Greece and became a Philosophy, went to Rome and became an institution (and a government), went to the rest of Europe and made it into a culture, and went to America and became a business model.
- Tony Campolo, on not judging Christianity on its current [...]
Best Noncanonical Early Christian Readings? (Help Wanted)
Mar 28th
I am in the middle of writing the first week of Christianity for my online Living Religions class. I want the students to have a sampling of extra-canonical Christian literature. I am like a kid in a candy story, bursting from one text to the next, and not able to make a decision. All them [...]
Postmodern Christianity – now with Comics!
Mar 23rd
Among the things I like talking about are the following: postmodernity, post-conservative Christianity, ancient Christian popular history, and comics. This post creates a space for posting concerning comics.
To get us started, a lil diddy about Jack and Diane, ok, Wolverine’s musical tastes gettin’ dissed:
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McKnight Reviews McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity
Mar 18th
I highly suggest heading over to Christianity Today and checking out Scot McKnight’s review of A New Kind of Christianity. It reads as a fair, but critical review[1] of McLaren’s work.
McKnight is critical of McLaren’s attempt to write a myth of Christianity’s Constantinian Fall and the creation of Theos. He does like, for the [...]
Beware of Inverting the Fundamentalist Paradigm
Mar 13th
Lots of my new people are increasingly frustrated with fundamentalist foundationalism. In rejecting what they see as rigid and foolhardy approaches to Christianity, they seek out new ways of looking at the world, new sources of authority, trying as hard as they can to escape the pitfalls of their Spiritual Elders.
However, in running from [...]
The Power of the Poet
Feb 14th
Conan shook his lion head. “No, Prospero, he’s beyond my reach. A great poet is greater than any king. His songs are mightier than my scepter; for he has near ripped the heart from my breast when he chose to sing for me. I shall die and be forgotten, but Rinaldo’s songs will live for [...]
A Reason to Say “God Help Me.”
Feb 12th
I love this quote from Gonzalez:
In burning the papal bull, Luther had challenged Rome. Now, at Worms, he was challenging the Empire. Therefore, he had ample reason to call: “God help me.”[1]
Notes:
Gonzalez, Justo. The Story of Christianity: Volume II. p. 28. [↩]Scridb filter
Readings from This Semester:
Dec 20th
Total Pages: 3834
Total Pages Read: 3047
Total Reading Percentage: 79%
I actually did most of my reading this semester. My TRP is hindered mostly by two source books which contain a great many more pages than were assigned. The only book that I really skimped on was Redeeming the Routines. I just did not have the time/gumption [...]
The Quest for Primitive Christianity – Impossible.
Dec 5th
Many Christian movements have sought to cut ties with perverted and corruptible human traditions and return to that glorious (and Godly) pristine primitive Christianity described in the New Testament. However, we don’t live in first century Rome and we aren’t powerless and poor. The questions we bring to the text are our own and not [...]
Liberal Democracy and the Need For War
Dec 5th
Christians have historically had problems figuring out how they should relate to the political establishments in which they resided. As seen in an earlier post, Christians have been too eager to align themselves with Liberal Democracies, especially the United States. In Resident Aliens, Hauerwas and Willimon critique this notion, saying that instead of being Christianity [...]
My Statement of Faith
Dec 4th
Section I – Preamble
We hold the below to be our best understanding of the reality of God, God’s relation to creation, actions within history, and our relation to both the rest of creation and to God. We draw upon the following for our formulations: the Spirit of God speaking through the Scriptures, the wisdom of [...]
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