hoping to awake living in the present not in the future..... (ready for some honesty) this semester has been a real struggle for me. Between trying to be patient with the ELCA and my future in the church, and the ever present reality of my phd work looming through the beautiful California days and nights, oh and not to mention the care of 95-6 year old great grand parents, i have now found myself with 4 weeks and 60 pages. Now this isn't the end of the world and works its way out to like 3 pages a day or so. But once again i find myself in a place needing balance and a healthy dose of living in the present moment. All of this came to head tonight as a took a break from my reading of H Richard Niebuhr's responsible self, to check my email. (listen carefully and you will hear my heart break) My favorite professor and mentor at CGU (Ellen Marshall) is leaving to go to Emory. Don't get me wrong... this is absolutely huge for her. she is in her mid thirties and is tenured at CGU and will be tenured at Emory. So what is wrong you might ask? well i have been working with her and saw in my future continued work with her. Fortunately she has decided to stay through 2009. this is great because i will be able to finish all my course work under her. She has also stated that Emory is allowing her to work with former students in what ever way she wishes. This is great for me in the long run yet in the midst of this present moment feels like CRAP!
Ellen, I wish you the Best(not that she reads this LOL) ... Tomorrow i will awake, it will be earth day and hopefully my reality will be based more in the present, and i will honor the opportunity to study under such a young master.
well such is life. God may i learn to live each moment, seize each moment, and feel each moment to its fullest.
Peace, Hope, and good night!
if i dont write much here in the next few weeks it will be due to papers. if i do it will be in spite of my papers. :)
Friday, April 18, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/229
check out this link. I was given this by heather and my aunte Brook. She is passionately interested in eastern faiths and physical expressions of those faiths. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Brain scientist who experienced a stroke. She chronicled the experience as someone who intimately knew and understood the function of the brain. Her challenge is quite profound. She challenges us to live fully connected to our world. in essence to choose to live our right brain. to live nirvana, promoting peace, compassion, and a realized interconnectedness. check it out it is a brilliant awakening.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
pluralism #2. defining options...
I figured i should back up to define what are the historical choices that are available when we talk about religious conversation(specifically in the area of salvation/truth) Aka Religious dialogue.
1) exclusivism- One holds in an exclusive way to an absolute truth. All people must learn this truth to be "saved." this calls for Explicit acceptance. This has been the traditional position of the Christian church for 1000 years.
2) inclusivism- same as exculsivism in so far as Christ is essential for salvation, but it allows for an implicit faith. What Rahner calls "anonymous Christians," people who have faith in God but they don't realize or recognize this god as Jesus. This theory relies on the hypostatic union. Everyone who has faith is still saved by Christ and is moving toward "Christian" ends.
3) Pluralism- recognizes inclusivism as a mode of conquering the "other;" Imperialism (Hans Kuhn). Pluralism comes in many shapes, pluralism itself is plural. What is common in pluralism is a respect and tolerance for the other. Currently all of these modes are Christian modes, instead of religious modes.
There are 5 types of pluralism.
1) phenominalist pluralism- (Hick, Knitter)all religions have the same ultimate reality (noumenal in the terms of Kant) but each religion represents a phenomenal way of responding to the same ultimate. They are different due to their historicity.
2) Universalist Pluralism- We can have a universal theology by using each religions philosophical understanding and finding common threads running throughout each religion.
3) Ethical Soteriological pluralism- Different religions while different maintain a similarity when it comes to morality. Each religion is working toward a liberation and recognition of Justice. This theory recognizes diversity of religion but looks toward moral connectedness.
4) Ontological Pluralism- (Plantikar) Pluralism is not just our own perspective of reality (pluralism of perspective as seen in #1)the reality shows irreducibly different dimensions in every religion (and human). Each is irreducibly different . Plantikar uses the theological idea of trinity to explain this perspective. There is an irreducible difference of religions, including salvations and morality.
5) confessional pluralism- (Kuhn, Cobb, et al.) Each religion is a confessional community within a historical understanding. Thus each confession is different. We must recognize the difference between the confessions and recognize them as not reducible. This idea wants to preserve the particularity of each religion and what they mean in the historical context of their confessional identity.
having expressed these, it is important to note that pluralism does not mean we leave our religion. It does not mean loosing our commitment or a watering down of our own confession(although conversion does happen). It does mean we should learn form other religions. "we should live in the permanent light and shadow of the other"(Min). Pluralism is not relativism you must remain in the tension between your commitment to you confession and the truth of the confession of the others. Or said differently the willingness to allow for other possibilities. The Goal of this dialogue is Truth; a deeper, broader, and greater understanding of the Truth and revelation of God. Truth is something that judges us, it calls for our obedience, our testimony, and our affirmation. we are in dialogue to share our truth and to hear the truth of the other. it allows us to recognize the illumination of a common human reality. through religions dialogue we are searching together from our different vantage points. (john cobb)
1) exclusivism- One holds in an exclusive way to an absolute truth. All people must learn this truth to be "saved." this calls for Explicit acceptance. This has been the traditional position of the Christian church for 1000 years.
2) inclusivism- same as exculsivism in so far as Christ is essential for salvation, but it allows for an implicit faith. What Rahner calls "anonymous Christians," people who have faith in God but they don't realize or recognize this god as Jesus. This theory relies on the hypostatic union. Everyone who has faith is still saved by Christ and is moving toward "Christian" ends.
3) Pluralism- recognizes inclusivism as a mode of conquering the "other;" Imperialism (Hans Kuhn). Pluralism comes in many shapes, pluralism itself is plural. What is common in pluralism is a respect and tolerance for the other. Currently all of these modes are Christian modes, instead of religious modes.
There are 5 types of pluralism.
1) phenominalist pluralism- (Hick, Knitter)all religions have the same ultimate reality (noumenal in the terms of Kant) but each religion represents a phenomenal way of responding to the same ultimate. They are different due to their historicity.
2) Universalist Pluralism- We can have a universal theology by using each religions philosophical understanding and finding common threads running throughout each religion.
3) Ethical Soteriological pluralism- Different religions while different maintain a similarity when it comes to morality. Each religion is working toward a liberation and recognition of Justice. This theory recognizes diversity of religion but looks toward moral connectedness.
4) Ontological Pluralism- (Plantikar) Pluralism is not just our own perspective of reality (pluralism of perspective as seen in #1)the reality shows irreducibly different dimensions in every religion (and human). Each is irreducibly different . Plantikar uses the theological idea of trinity to explain this perspective. There is an irreducible difference of religions, including salvations and morality.
5) confessional pluralism- (Kuhn, Cobb, et al.) Each religion is a confessional community within a historical understanding. Thus each confession is different. We must recognize the difference between the confessions and recognize them as not reducible. This idea wants to preserve the particularity of each religion and what they mean in the historical context of their confessional identity.
having expressed these, it is important to note that pluralism does not mean we leave our religion. It does not mean loosing our commitment or a watering down of our own confession(although conversion does happen). It does mean we should learn form other religions. "we should live in the permanent light and shadow of the other"(Min). Pluralism is not relativism you must remain in the tension between your commitment to you confession and the truth of the confession of the others. Or said differently the willingness to allow for other possibilities. The Goal of this dialogue is Truth; a deeper, broader, and greater understanding of the Truth and revelation of God. Truth is something that judges us, it calls for our obedience, our testimony, and our affirmation. we are in dialogue to share our truth and to hear the truth of the other. it allows us to recognize the illumination of a common human reality. through religions dialogue we are searching together from our different vantage points. (john cobb)
Roger Haight- pluralism #1
Haight is a theology professor at union university. He taught at Weston Jesuit my alma mater until being silenced by our (the catholic church's) current Pope for his book Jesus symbol of God.
Below are how he sets up the framework for a postmodern understanding of pluralism.(396)
1) Historical Consciousness-
-all our thoughts, ideas and values have roots in a particular time and space.
-(ie. each religion makes sense in its own time and context)
2) Cosmic Consciousness-
-the size and age of reality enforces relativity
3)Positive appreciation for religious treasures of each tradition
-distinct revelations of reality
4)It is positive that religions deliberately coexist and actively interact with each other.
while this may make many people uncomfortable in reading this text and in understanding the hearts of my friends what we are suggesting is a movement of humility. humbly we recognize that our knowledge is a limited knowledge, including our knowledge of God. We recognize that what we see we are seeing though a limited spectrum.
So you ask what about truth? Truth is absolute. Well yes and no. From a "theology from below" perspective we do not speak of absolutes, to do so would be to reject our own historicity, something a postmodern cannot do this would also make us in my opinion taking on the mind of God (prideful at the least possibly idolatrous). This is not to say that we do not believe in a liberating truth, a truth that changes our lives and draws us to tell others about the truth that we have experienced and been changed by.
this is a different understanding of truth than some sort of psychological truth, where our truth becomes a power by which we control. this is also different from a subjective truth, which says my truth and your truth even though different may both be right. subjective truth is a type of truth, and an important one at that, but it is different from a liberating truth that has altered your humanity and understanding.
more to come...
Below are how he sets up the framework for a postmodern understanding of pluralism.(396)
1) Historical Consciousness-
-all our thoughts, ideas and values have roots in a particular time and space.
-(ie. each religion makes sense in its own time and context)
2) Cosmic Consciousness-
-the size and age of reality enforces relativity
3)Positive appreciation for religious treasures of each tradition
-distinct revelations of reality
4)It is positive that religions deliberately coexist and actively interact with each other.
while this may make many people uncomfortable in reading this text and in understanding the hearts of my friends what we are suggesting is a movement of humility. humbly we recognize that our knowledge is a limited knowledge, including our knowledge of God. We recognize that what we see we are seeing though a limited spectrum.
So you ask what about truth? Truth is absolute. Well yes and no. From a "theology from below" perspective we do not speak of absolutes, to do so would be to reject our own historicity, something a postmodern cannot do this would also make us in my opinion taking on the mind of God (prideful at the least possibly idolatrous). This is not to say that we do not believe in a liberating truth, a truth that changes our lives and draws us to tell others about the truth that we have experienced and been changed by.
this is a different understanding of truth than some sort of psychological truth, where our truth becomes a power by which we control. this is also different from a subjective truth, which says my truth and your truth even though different may both be right. subjective truth is a type of truth, and an important one at that, but it is different from a liberating truth that has altered your humanity and understanding.
more to come...
Monday, April 7, 2008
a new day...
Waking up late is never fun, but it is even less fun when it is trash day. Usually i take the three rolling trash containers out to the street on sunday night. Last night however our street was like a parking lot due to all the visitors at our house and there was no way to put them out. Thus i rolled them into the driveway and left them there for morning. While this isn't a big deal most days... this morning i woke up late. Jumping out of the shower (great mental picture) i heard the roar of the trash truck coming down our block. So i threw on clothes grabbed my school bag, and ran to finish taking the trash out. Now for each container there is a separate truck (one for trash, one for recyclables, one for yard trimmings),so it is a guessing game as to which truck is now 50 feet from my house. so i grab the regular trash and run it to the street where i tip the 5 foot container and half the trash spills out and dumps old , warm KFC coleslaw all over me. Now for those of you who know me know the trauma of this event. Runny mayonnaise covered my hands and arms as the trash hit the street. At this point i see that i actually grabbed the wrong trash container and this garbage man was the yard clipping man who was laughing at my whole stressing mayonnaise covered event. So i run as fast as possible to grab the yard clippings just in time for the nice garbage man to slowly creep up from the neighbors home to ours and pick up my yard clippings. Thus after washing my hands and arms and any possible space that the contaminated mayonnaise might have touched i jump in my car to head to Claremont to discuss Mircea Eliade's text sacred and profane. All the while, i can only think about what is truly profane: Mayonnaise. Sacred is anything outside the jar. All of earth and cosmos is sacred, yet inside that jar lies the true embodyment of all that is chaos. The giggly mass of white disgusting-ness is profane.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Narrative theology
Narrative means Using the model of the story as apposed to philosophical, abstract-reason etc. The reason for using the story is because human life is a narrative. Narrative means a succession of events. one event leading to another. which is always contextual. It captures human life in all its limitation, in its critical turning points, and it is concrete. narrative seems to be the closest model to human life's concreteness. Abstract reason tends to be abstract and removed from real experience thus not really getting to the heart of an experience.
Christianity as a whole is constituted through the story of its history more than proposition. Communities of the early church were in themselves narrative in nature, sharing and making the creeds.
Since it is contextual you can only understand things when you are in "the shoes' of the one experiencing . Thus One of the weaknesses of narrative theology is that it can create a collective-subjectivism where no one can critique your experience unless they experienced what you experienced.
however by far (up to this point in my study) this is my favorite mode of theology.
Christianity as a whole is constituted through the story of its history more than proposition. Communities of the early church were in themselves narrative in nature, sharing and making the creeds.
Since it is contextual you can only understand things when you are in "the shoes' of the one experiencing . Thus One of the weaknesses of narrative theology is that it can create a collective-subjectivism where no one can critique your experience unless they experienced what you experienced.
however by far (up to this point in my study) this is my favorite mode of theology.
Meeks#2 Narrative hermenutic
Aren't you glad that you get to read all my interesting quotes from the books i read.(written with a mischievous smile) Jesus is the question, really is looking to replace the historical hermeneutic with that of narrative.
Jesus is the Persona he becomes in interaction with others. (58) Jesus identity then becomes an identity of interpretation. We become who we are through the stories others tell of us and we tell of ourselves. (60)
For Meeks, the historical Jesus is the Jesus who "makes history" as he has been understood by his followers over the centuries.
in chapter 4 of his book Meeks looks at Paul's texts and the use of Metaphor. (which i am writing my final on for Christology of Globalization). he argues that Paul is not a systematic theologian and to look at him as one only confuses the reading. Paul uses the Metaphor of the Paschal Mystery to reread all of scripture. Early follower of jesus found in their scriptures images, patterns and stories (narrative) which they could use to make sense of Jesus and their interaction with him. they used Scripture-informed description of Jesus to interpret their own experiences and the reality they encountered.
For Paul the cross and the atonement are used to interpret life and the world. "Paul's most profound bequest to subsequent Christian discourse was his transformation of that reported event into a multipurpose metaphor with vast generative and trans- formative power... As a multifaceted metaphor rich in meaning the cross becomes simultaneously the wellspring of endless new narratives and a safeguard for those narratives. " (99-100)
Jesus is the Persona he becomes in interaction with others. (58) Jesus identity then becomes an identity of interpretation. We become who we are through the stories others tell of us and we tell of ourselves. (60)
For Meeks, the historical Jesus is the Jesus who "makes history" as he has been understood by his followers over the centuries.
in chapter 4 of his book Meeks looks at Paul's texts and the use of Metaphor. (which i am writing my final on for Christology of Globalization). he argues that Paul is not a systematic theologian and to look at him as one only confuses the reading. Paul uses the Metaphor of the Paschal Mystery to reread all of scripture. Early follower of jesus found in their scriptures images, patterns and stories (narrative) which they could use to make sense of Jesus and their interaction with him. they used Scripture-informed description of Jesus to interpret their own experiences and the reality they encountered.
For Paul the cross and the atonement are used to interpret life and the world. "Paul's most profound bequest to subsequent Christian discourse was his transformation of that reported event into a multipurpose metaphor with vast generative and trans- formative power... As a multifaceted metaphor rich in meaning the cross becomes simultaneously the wellspring of endless new narratives and a safeguard for those narratives. " (99-100)
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
organic community
Organic community is a new book by joseph r. Myers. He also wrote one of my favorite other books titled the "Search to Belong." (thanks Laci for giving me that one)
Both books have been revolutionary for me when it comes to the way i do and think about church, community, small groups, and life. Anyone doing any study on community (tim) should pick these books up as primary reads.
today i am going to give you the basic synopsis of Myer's new book Organic Community: creating a place where people naturally connect. Myers is comparing two different paradigms. The first is that of Master plan community ie. purpose driven... the second is Organic community.
there are 10 chapters in the book:
organic order: moving from master plan to organic order
Patterns: moving form prescriptive to descriptive
Participation: moving from representative to individual
measurement: moving from bottom line to story
growth: moving from bankrupt to sustainable
power: moving form positional to revolving
Coordination: moving from cooperation to collaboration
partners: moving from accountability to edit-ability
language: moving from noun-centric to verb-centric
resources: Moving from scarcity to abundancy
i have much more on this but i am trying to figure out how to upload a chart i did on the book.
Both books have been revolutionary for me when it comes to the way i do and think about church, community, small groups, and life. Anyone doing any study on community (tim) should pick these books up as primary reads.
today i am going to give you the basic synopsis of Myer's new book Organic Community: creating a place where people naturally connect. Myers is comparing two different paradigms. The first is that of Master plan community ie. purpose driven... the second is Organic community.
there are 10 chapters in the book:
organic order: moving from master plan to organic order
Patterns: moving form prescriptive to descriptive
Participation: moving from representative to individual
measurement: moving from bottom line to story
growth: moving from bankrupt to sustainable
power: moving form positional to revolving
Coordination: moving from cooperation to collaboration
partners: moving from accountability to edit-ability
language: moving from noun-centric to verb-centric
resources: Moving from scarcity to abundancy
i have much more on this but i am trying to figure out how to upload a chart i did on the book.
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