Follow Up on the Baylor “Noose” Story

After the election a couple of news outlets carried a story concerning an alleged “noose” found on the Baylor campus.  Those stories included details of other alleged incidents, including an Obama/Biden campaign sign bonfire and a racially charged shouting match between students of differing ethnicities.  I wrote a reflection on those stories here.

A couple of Baylor friends noted on Facebook that a new turn had occurred in this case.  They asserted that the “noose” was actually a tree swing, and the Obama/Biden bonfire was actually the burning of a few computer boxes.  I searched online for these stories when I heard these claims but came up empty.  My dad reminded me of this follow up story last night during a phone conversation so I decided to look again.  I found stories at the Houston Chronicle and at the Waco Tribune-Herald which gave the details of Baylor’s findings.  Baylor’s official report is significantly different from the initial news headlines.  No doubt a number of people were deeply hurt and saddened by the headlines which disgraced the university in the days immediately following the election.

If you read through the reports from the Trib and the Chronicle, you’ll find that the Baylor community did proactively initiate conversations on race.  I’m thankful for this.  Even if the rope “noose” was only a tree swing, and the fire contained only computer boxes, that does not negate the intense, racially charged exchange which occurred between students on election day and the need to continue to work for reconciliation between peoples of different ethnic backgrounds.  These events did expose something which brews beneath the surface in most every community, including my own here in eastern Kansas–racism.  As a nation, we may have taken some steps in the right direction, but we still have not reached the promised land.

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Crossover Mirror

 

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World “Faith” in the United States?

This discussion forum found at BBC.com caught my eye this morning.  The question on the BBC front page leading into this forum asked, “Has the world lost faith in the U.S.?”  Word choice is important, and this particular phrasing piqued my interest.  I live within the borders of a world superpower in the midst of a changing world climate.  My country has been a leader in world affairs for many years, and that power might be waning.  The world has looked to the United States for leadership and placed “faith” in our ideals and certain aspects of our vision.  In global politics this makes some sense as ideological battles have been waged between communism and democracy, World Wars have been fought as a result of the clash between freedom and fascism, and industrialization and technology have changed the world economic climate.  The U.S. has had much to say on each of these matters.

As a Christian, the object of my faith is Jesus Christ.  With that being the case, the formulation of the question above was a bit jarring.  Here’s the information spurring the BBC forum.  Feel free to visit the forum and chime in.

US economic, military and political dominance is likely to decline over the next two decades, according to American intelligence agencies. Who will be the next world leader? 

According to the National Intelligence Council (NIC) China and India will grow more powerful in the coming decades as the US weakens. They also predict that the US dollar will no longer be the world’s major currency and food and water scarcities will fuel conflict.

The NIC prepares a global trends report every four years in time for the next presidential term. This report also claims that a world with more power centres will be less stable than one with one or two superpowers, causing a greater potential for conflict.

The report will make sombre reading for Mr Obama, says the BBC’s Jonathan Beale in Washington, as it paints a bleak picture of the future of US influence and power. 

Do you think the USA is losing its influence in world affairs? Which countries will take on the title of the next ‘superpower’? What can they do to regain their position of dominance in the world order? Do you agree with the NIC that this change could lead to a greater potential for conflict? 

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Book Review :: A Meditation Worthy of Attention :: Timothy Keller’s The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

This week I gladly received The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith through the mail (book website here).  What a blessing.  The book arrived yesterday during the 9:00 o’clock hour and I read through it in one sitting.  Written in a warm and engaging style, Timothy Keller’s reflection on the story traditionally known as “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” contains a challenging message for individuals and the church corporate as followers of Jesus Christ.

Keller’s book opens with a brief word on the popularity of this short parable and a justification for the author’s preference to title this story “The Two Lost Sons.”  Keller explains the power of this narrative as he has experienced it in his own life.  He tells of his hearing Edmund P. Clowney preach this text some thirty years ago and awakening him to a new and deeper understanding of the Christian faith, coming to find that within this short story the abundant grace of God is revealed not just to the younger brother, but to the older brother as well.  This grace did not only come at a cost to the younger brother, who carelessly wasted his inheritance, but cost the father as well.  The older brother was not exempt, either, as humbly welcoming the younger brother back home would have cost him a great deal.  The insight gained by reflecting on this passage has greatly informed Keller’s ministry at Redeemer Church in Manhattan, helping their community better embody the message of grace which is found in this famous utterance of Jesus.

Following a translation of the parable, Keller’s book is divided in to seven parts.  First, Keller explains the biblical and cultural context in which this story takes place, helping the reader to better recognize the finer nuances of Jesus’ storytelling.  Keller points out the type of people who had come near to hear this story, showing that the crowd consisted of religiously devout and religiously marginal persons.  He demonstrates how each segment of the crowd would have identified with a different brother in the story.  Here Keller muses on “why people like Jesus but not the Church,” pointing out that Jesus seemed to draw unto himself all kinds of people–particularly those in his culture of the lowest piety who are depicted as the “younger brother” in Jesus’ story.  Keller muses, “If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did.  If our churches aren’t appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we’d like to think.”

Keller’s discussion then moves to the Two Lost Sons.  He explains the way in which each son had developed a wayward relationship with their father.  Both elder and younger son are fair game for critique.  Keller questions why this passage has not received a more well rounded treatment, noting that many times this story is told in a way that emphasizes how the younger son was welcomed home by the father to the neglect of the father’s appeal to the elder brother.  From here, Keller explores how Jesus’ story redefines both sin and lostness, noting that the text is revolutionary in this regard.  In his discussion of sin, Keller notes how each son had rebelled, “but one did so by being very bad and the other by being extremely good…It’s a shocking message: Careful obedience to God’s law may serve as a strategy for rebelling against God.”  Keller moves us to a deeper understanding.  Rather than regarding sin as a list of wrongs, Keller points out that rebellion takes many forms, including those who in the tradition of the elder brother seek to be obedient for their own gain rather than for the glory of God.  Keller sees the older brother’s obedience in the story as undertaken for the purpose of controlling the father.  How often we also fall in to a similar pattern of behavior.

Keller’s chapter on redefining lostness was perhaps the most poignant, bringing forth a deep sense of emotion in my own soul.  Here he explores the anger and superiority of the elder brother and the “joyless, fear-based” faith which can come to typify religious belief when one seeks to control God rather than express love and devotion for the Divine.  This chapter, which stands at the heart of the book, may be the most important for those of us who stand within the church, and perhaps have obtained the attitudes and posturing of elder brothers.  Keller’s reminder that elder-brother lostness is just as wrong and destructive as younger brother lostness is important.

From this point Keller explores the nature of the gospel. Keller uses this parable to demonstrate God’s relationship to us and how we might repent in a well-rounded way.  In the story we are often reminded of how the younger brother turned from those things that he did wrong, and we feel compelled to do the same.  Keller reminds us of the other extreme, saying, “To truly become Christians we must also repent of the reasons that we ever did anything right.”  The gospel calls us to acknowledge all that God has done for us freely and by grace.  Christ has accomplished all things necessary for our salvation.  Even the faithful need a reminder that our hope ultimately rests in God; we should not seek to become our own Savior and Lord.  According to Keller it is Jesus, our true elder brother, who leaves us in a state of awe and wonder concerning the grace of God.

Keller’s book closes with a two part reflection on the nature of our longing for home and an eschatological vision for the redemption of individuals and for all creation which will be celebrated in a heavenly banquet described in this parable and elsewhere in Scripture.  Keller is very clear in presenting a view of the atonement consistent with his heritage (Presbyterian), and does an excellent job of painting a picture of the experiential nature of salvation in the here and the hereafter.

Keller’s book is a gift for those of us longing for deep reflections on Scripture.  This book is worthwhile reading for those seeking insight in to one of Jesus’ most well known parables, and will serve as a challenge to your faith.  I would recommend this book.

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Kill Your Blog?

Should I follow the advice given in this column?  Paul Boutin argues that the blog is dying, and Twitter (and sites like them) are the future.

Weigh in.  I don’t plan on stopping the blog anytime soon, but I found this column interesting.

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Christian Television Service Provider?

A few weeks ago I received an advertisement in the mail for Sky Angel IPTV–a Christian television service provider promoting their product as “uplifting and entertaining.”  Their service “will reinforce the values you cherish.”  To ensure that you won’t be limited to Christian music stations and the Liberty Channel, you will also receive “Family-friendly secular programming.”  According to Sky Angel, stations falling into this category include Animal Planet, NFL Network, Discovery Channel, FoxNews, QVC, and The Weather Channel.  I did not subscribe.

Thoughts?

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Thank You Stephen Colbert!

Three of my absolute favorite: religion, baseball, and comics.  This is a great clip.

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Thoughts on Phyllis Tickle’s The Great Emergence

Before The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why appeared on the shelves at the local bookstore it was on my radar screen.  I’ve read Phyllis Tickle’s work in the past and have been amazed at her command of the language.  Her ability to translate complex ideas and vivid images into captivating prose is undoubtedly impressive, and her latest work is no exception.  The ideas contained in The Great Emergence cannot be ignored, and will surely be of vast importance for “emergers,” “emergents,” and the “hyphenateds” (Presby-mergents, Metho-mergent, etc.) as the church charges into the future.

After naming the historical reality in which we stand “The Great Emergence,” Tickle states her task as answering three questions, “What is this thing?”, “How did it come to be?”, and “Where is it going?”  The church, according to Tickle, stands in the midst of a giant rummage sale.  This rummage sale is not the first of its kind, as each of the great Abrahamic faiths have been through this before.  These moments have come about in history at approximately five hundred year intervals.  Quoting the Anglican bishop Mark Dyer, Tickle states, “about every five hundred years the empowered structures of institutionalized Christianity, whatever they may be at the time, become an intolerable carapace that must be shattered in order that renewal and new growth may occur.”  Now, Tickle believes, is one of those times.  Tickle generalizes three results each time one of these historic shifts has occurred.  According to her analysis: (1) a more vital form of Christianity emerges, (2) organized expressions are reconstituted into a more purified expression of the former self, and (3) the “the range and depth of Christianity’s reach” expands.

To support her argument Tickle provides a broad historical sketch.  Her markers in history include the rise of Gregory the Great and the monastic movement in the 500s, the Great Schism which occurred near 1000 AD, the Great Reformation of the 1500s, and, now, the Great Emergence.  During each period she uses a tethered cable as a helpful analogy which consists of four components.  The exterior of the cable is a mesh sleeve, represents the common imagination of the time.  Once punctured, lying beneath that common imagination are three strands representative of the spirituality, corporeality, and morality of the age.  Tickle’s examination of each designated time period show how an individual, a group of individuals, or some historic event punctures the common imagination and brings about the reexamination of each of these three strands, raising new questions pertaining to authority, reality, and meaning in the world.  When challenges arise, a new common imagination must be formulated which will guide existence within reality.  As this occurs, the process can be painful and discomforting.  Yet, purgation leads to purification.

According to Tickle, the two central questions of the Great Emergence are: “(1) What is human consciousness and/or the humanness of the human? and (2) What is the relation of all religions to one another–or, put another way, how can we live responsibly as devout and faithful adherents of one religion in a world of many religions?”  Tickle further asserts, “the other great truth here is that we can not be said to have truly entered into any kind of post-Emergence stability until we have answered both of them.”  Interestingly for Tickle the question is one of plurality, or the truth of plurality.  In order to negotiate this question one must wrestle with the location of authority.  The dilemma of authority today is present not only in Christianity, but in the world at large.  Tickle is right to point us in this direction.

In an attempt to explain how we got here, Tickle traces important philosophical, sociological, theological, scientific, and technological developments including Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, Einstein’s theory of relativity, the advent of the automobile, the shifting relationship of families, the rise of the drug culture in the 1960s, the quest for the historical Jesus, and the rise of Pentecostalism.  All of these factors, in a way, eroded the Reformation foundation of authority, sola Scriptura.

To address her final question, “Where is it going?”, Tickle provides a quadrilateral to serve as a guide.  In each of the four quadrants (moving from upper left, clockwise to lower left) she locates Christians on Liturgical, Social Justice, Renewalist, and Conservative terrain.  The Great Emergence has brought about a stirring in each of these four quadrants, drawing leaders in each area in to a gathering center.  As this gathered center begins to draw more and more people of like mind together the church becomes primed for renewal, though this new reality is turbulent and challenging.  The church together must navigate these new frontiers, with traditionalists, re-tradition-ers, progressives, and hyphenateds engaging in constructive dialogue which paves the way forward.

As this pattern emerges, Tickle turns to the sources of authority in this new environment.  Here she defines and explores two terms, “orthonomy” (correct harmony & beauty) and “theonomy” (only God can be the source of perfection in action or thought).  Under this context she explores how Christians in the Great Emergence will define authority underneath these categories, offering that authority is established in Scripture and Community.  Authority becomes a dynamic conception based on a network theory or crowd sourcing, and levels hierarchical structures which have carried the day in the past.  Christian communities will become a centered set rather than a bounded set, will emphasize narrative, and will return to Hebraic roots of the Christian faith, purging Hellenistic influences which have defined certain aspects of Christian belief and doctrine.  Tickle’s ideas are complex and defy simplification.  I recommend you read them.

Tickle’s book is a good one.  At times I found places where her argument could be strengthened, though not to the detriment of the whole.  This book should be read by practitioners and church leaders seeking a way forward and then discussed with fervor.  There will be moments when one may strongly agree or disagree with her argument, but Tickle must be contended with.  We stand at the precipice of a new age, which in and of itself is not a new dilemma.  Christian people must seek to be faithful in that age.  A debt of gratitude is owed to Tickle for how her ideas might sharpen our thinking, strengthen our practice, and spur us on to greater deeds.

Read this book.

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David Crowder Band at UBC :: Jesus is a Friend of Mine

Thanks Deana.  Sometime back I linked to the original.  Here is the David Crowder Band at University Baptist Church.  If you include the video, I’ve provided five links here.  Bingo.

If you want to see Jesus as a Friend dubbed over some Marilyn Manson video, click here.  Make that six.

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10,000 Hits

Today the blog passed a major milestone.  Thanks to everyone who has stopped in, checked out my musings, and participated in the conversation.  My top views have been on the following topics:

• Robert Schuller vs. Robert Schuller
• Yankee Stadium
• The Ric Flair Beatdown

While I’m glad to know that those reports have generated interest, here’s hoping that the future holds an increase in theological and ethical conversation!

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