December 2008 Archives

"Find God in all things"

- Saint Ignatius of Loyola

"the blues is an impulse to keep the painful details and episodes of a brutal experience alive in one's aching consciousness, to finger its jagged grain, and to transcend it, not by the consolation of philosophy but by squeezing from it a near-tragic, near-comic lyricism."

- Ralph Ellison

A sign of emergence is the art of finding God in all things. In such a world there is no impenetrable boundary between the sacred and secular. God's presence is found everywhere.  From the back corner of a tucked away Starbucks to the stained-glass windows of a small parish in the hood. God is present in all things.  Each 'node' or 'place' where God is present is a potential hub for redemptive activity. A place where God makes things alive, redeems, heals, saves, rescues, liberates, and makes whole. Recently I have found God in the recent work of popular hip-hop artist Kanye West. West's latest album 808's and Heartbreaks is an expansion of the genre of hip-hop into what I call blues-hop or as he calls it pop art.  He engages in what I would consider a creative form of personal and social lament. Mr. West's heart is obviously broken. If you have followed his personal story he's experienced alot of loss recently. This is best expressed in the song "Heartless":
 
In the night I hear him talk
The coldest story ever told
Somewhere far along this road, he lost his soul
To a woman so heartless (heartless)
How you be so heartless Oh
How could you be so heartless
 
This is just an example among many in our culture today where personal and social lament have become marketable. Aside from the com-modification of lament in our culture I am left with a deep question: what is God up to? When I dip my little brown toe into the mainstream of Christian culture everyone is happy. When you listen to Christian radio everyone is happy. Confession: I don't like saccharine happiness. But of course I don't want to be a killjoy on the matter. There are alot of joyful people out there. I don't want to begrudge them their joy. But being 'happy' or thinking 'happy thoughts' I find to be annoying amidst a culture of loneliness, death, violence, and despair. Yes, I know, it ain't all bad but for many happy music doesn't capture the loss we experience on a daily basis. Many of us are heartbroken and the last thing we want to see is a bunch of happy people running around telling us to suck it up and smile. I want to cry, cuss, spit, get on my knees in lament. Not just for my own heart-broken-ness but God's as well. The prophets of ancient Israel had this gift of tasting the heart-broken-ness of God whenever humans treated each other and the land like crap.  
 
When we enter into lament we sing the blues with God in Jesus, the ultimate blues-hop artist. Can you be honest with me in this up coming year? Have you recently experienced a broken heart from the state of the world? your own personal life? Sing with God and maybe you'll find a place to find healing and to be a healer.  Just maybe you will begin to dream again and catch a glimpse of God's vision of hope in an oftentimes heartless world.

Anthony Smith lives in Concord, NC, and he is a core member of the Charlotte Emergent cohort.

 

  

 

I'm hoping to get more substantial posts on the pragmatics of hell up soon, but for now, a--somewhat dated, and quite brief--report, based on her pastoral experience, from Marilyn McCord Adams (author of Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God and of Christ and Horrors, both of which should be of great interest to many readers of this blog).  This is from a section of Marilyn's essay, "The Problem of Hell" entitled "The Pragmatics of Universalism," but what she's really up to is comparing the pragmatics of universalism with my current topic, the pragmatics of fairly nasty doctrines of hell:

Surprisingly many religiously serious people reject the doctrine of universal salvation on the pragmatic ground that it leads to moral and religious laxity. Withdraw the threat, and they doubt whether others--perhaps even themselves--would sustain the motivation for moral diligence and religious observance. My pastoral experience suggests, on the contrary, that the disproportionate threat of hell (see sections 2.2 and 2.3) produces despair that masquerades as skepticism, rebellion, and unbelief. If your father threatens to kill you if you disobey him, you may cower in terrorized submission, but may also (reasonably) run away from home. -Marilyn Adams, "The Problem of Hell: A Problem of Evil for Christians," in E. Stump, ed., Reasoned Faith: Essays in Philosophical Theology (Cornell University Press, 1993), p. 325

Filling in for Tony this week means I have to charge up a few parts of my brain that have been in sleep mode for about a decade.

This post will be a quick explanation of what originally got me thinking about the pragmatics of belief in traditional doctrines of hell and also of why I think it's valuable to discuss the issue.

I'm Keith DeRose. I'm a philosopher who blogs a bit on the side. Rather than giving any more introduction to myself here, I'll just send those who are interested in reading about me to my web page, where I have a good deal of information posted, including links to some of my previous blog posts.

Tony thought it would be interesting for me to post some of my thoughts about the pragmatics of believing in what we might as well call traditional Christian doctrines of hell, so that's what I'll be doing in the next few days. I should say right upfront that I have little idea of what Tony thinks about such matters, or even whether he has very specific views here. I'll just be speaking for myself here.

By the "pragmatics" of the belief, I mean the effects of holding the belief -- what holding such a belief can do to and through the one who holds it.  So I don't foresee myself discussing whether such a belief is true, or discussing Scriptural grounds for and against such a doctrine in this series of posts. I've engaged in such discussions in the past, and no doubt will again in the future. And I suspect I'll have occasion in this series of posts to refer to some of my past engagements in the debate over the truth of such doctrines, as background for the current discussion, which, again, will be about the pragmatics of the belief.

Why even bother with the pragmatics of hell? I'll take that up in a subsequent post.  (Sorry for the teaser.) But to hopefully forestall certain misguided comments: My current focus on the pragmatics of the belief is not due to any general neglect on my part of the issue of the truth of such a doctrine and the Scriptural case for and against it. In fact, I've engaged in scriptural investigaions/discussions/debates of such issues quite extensively in the past, and this will be one of very few times that I've ever gotten around to writing anything about the pragmatics of the issue. It's just that this seems to be the time to finally write out some of my thoughts about the pragmatics of hell. And, again, I hope to have some things to say about why the pragmatics are important.

For those interested in an on-line discussion of the Scriptural case for and against traditional doctrines of hell: I have a reference for you.  This summer, Real Live Preacher announced that he would be taking careful critical Scriptural look at the traditional doctrine of hell, and asked for e-mail input from readers concerning what the relevant texts were, especially any that support the traditional doctrine. That was in this post, which includes a description of what he meant by the "traditional doctrine" -- which is basically how I use that phrase, too. (I was one of the many who wrote him, suggesting what I took to be by far the strongest text for the support of key elements of the traditional doctrine.) He reported the results of his study in a series of video posts in October here, here, here, and here. I certainly don't endorse everything RLP had to say -- in certain ways, I think the case for the traditional doctrine can be made more convincing than is the way he construes it. But I thought it was a very nice study, and well worth recommending.

I cannot remember the last time that I unplugged completely, but that's just what I'm doing starting today, though next Sunday.  No blogging; no tweeting; turning off my Facebook page, my email, and my phone.When I get back, I'm looking...

"God has no religion."-Mahatma Gandhi...

Of course, it's the time for Top 10 lists.  Here's my contribution, a listing of the best new blogs I discovered (or re-discovered) this year:10. Gmail Blog: Of course you use Gmail, so of course you want the latest news.9....

Well, if Andrew can take a week off, then any of us can.  I'll be blogging lightly through the weekend, focusing instead on time with my kids.  Then, next week, I'll unplug entirely, for the first time since I-can't-remember-when.  I...

By St. John Chrysostom, December 25, 386, in Antioch I behold a new and wondrous mystery! My ears resound to the Shepherd's song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full forth a heavenly hymn. The Angels sing! The Archangels blend...

Panthera, Larry, Celsus, and others continue to have at on yesterday's COTD, but it's Christmas Eve, so I'm going to refrain from re-posting one of theirs here -- they're not particularly gentle.However, here's a comment by Panthera on yesterday's post...

The AP's fine religion reporter, Erik Gorski, this weekend dropped a story about the re-emergence of Ted Haggard, once-powerful president of the National Association of Evangelicals, now struggling insurance salesman.  Much to the chagrin of his former church, Haggard, his...

The Comment of the Weekend, continuing the conversation on homosexuality, has drawn a bit of response.  Larry and Panthera exchanged comments that hovered just on the border of civility and then, I'm afraid, crossed that border.  We join the conversation...

When Justin Vernon's band and love relationship both broke up, he moved from Raleigh, NC, back to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and for three months he took up residence in his father's cabin in the woods -- three cold months: December...

Over the weekend, I wrote a post giving three options as to why the story of Rick Warren's inauguration prayer has hung on so long (and, as far as my blog reading this morning, it's not going away just yet). ...

Steve Waldman asked each of the Bnet bloggers to nominate the best spiritual or religious book we've read this year.  He'll post them all in the next week or so.I confess that I'm ending the year having read much less...

Then do yourself a favor and read the Zen Habits post about Twitter.  Even if you never join, you won't look like such a fool at dinner parties.(BTW, you can see my latest tweet on the right sidebar -----> )...

From the poem, "Advent, 1955" by John Betjamen:The world seems traveling into space, And traveling at a faster pace Than in the leisured summer weather When we and it sit out together, For now we feel the world spin round...

Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. Love, therefore, is its own reward.-Thomas Merton...

Methinks the biggest story this week is not BO's choice of Papa Rick to give the inaugural invocation.  The biggest story this week is how big this story is.  It won't go away.  I'm sure BO's people thought it might...

To my post, Penn Gillette Loves Him Some Gideons, PerpetualDreamer replies,Even though I'm no longer a Christian, I find the Gideon bibles very useful - they're free and very effective getting missionaries off my property when I threaten to burn...

Christianity Today, never a great fan of the emergent movement, seems to think that said movement is in need of revitalization, at least according to the subhead of their article on my exit as national coordinator of Emergent Village.  Final...

The first time I saw the little green version of the Gideon's Bible was in college.  (Not a Bible really.  More like 1/3 of a Bible.  It's got the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs.)  I was driving my car along...

This morning, on NPR, Michael Pollan expressed his deep ambivalence about Obama's Ag Sec pick, Tom Vilsack.  Contrary to what one commenter expressed on my earlier post about this, I have and will continue to criticize BO when I disagree...

Well, color me astonished.  Mega-commenter A Walker shows us all that he's not just a one-trick (SSM) pony.  He's not only familiar with Walter Rauschenbush, but he favorably quotes the social gospeler in response to my Rick Warren post of...

There's a bit of an in-house dust-up here at Bnet over Steve Waldman's extensive interview with Rick Warren (VIDEO / TRANSCRIPT). Steve's posted on it a few times, as have others around the blogosphere.But here in the friendly confines of...

Let me agree with Rod, Ezra, and Matt that Tom Vilsack is a very disappointing pick by Obama for Secretary of Agriculture.  As someone who lives in corn-producing state, I've seen my otherwise level-headed governor pander time and time again...

Some of you have asked what happened to the Same Sex Marriage Blogalogue between me and Rod Dreher.  Well, between Thanksgiving, an email snafu, Rod's vacation and lingering stomach flu, then my stomach bug, we've taken a month hiatus.I'm currently...

From Basil, responding to Quote of the Weekend:I appreciate the civil tenor of all of these comments. I am a gay man, who is exploring my own religious beliefs, via Quakerism, and enjoy my worship greatly. I am very interested...

I was emailed this beautiful YouTube last week, and I only just watched it today:A note about the creator of this short music video: Filmmaker Mark Johnson traveled around the globe getting street musicians and others to record part of...

I'm calling in sick this morning to the blogosphere.  I'll try to rally by this afternoon......

File this in the "could've seen this coming" file.I remember watching the Hour of Power on TV in January, 2006, and seeing, amid great pomp and ceremony, Robert Schuller pass on the gold medal (?!?) that signifies leadership of the...

As someone who travels to speak 2-3 times per month, I have a simple memorandum-of-understanding that I ask my hosts to sign.  It covers things like travel and reimbursements.When I was a youth pastor, I also booked a couple Christian...

To the post, The Newsweek Same Sex Marriage Kerfuffle, Dr. O'Hanlan writes, Galileo (science) was right and the Catholic Church was wrong and we finally had to admit it 500 years later. Science has some weighty evidence for us and...

HT: Mike Morrell...

Rowan Willams has the honor of leading us in an Advent meditation:...

According to Men's Health Magazine, men from Minnesota rank highly in the 25 Meanest Things Ever Said by Men and the 11 Smartest Things Ever Said about Fatherhood.  Included in the lists, Minnesotans Prince, Hubert Humphrey, Harmon Killebrew, and Garrison...

We're starting a new weekly feature here at The New Christians.  It's the Quote of the Week.  Nominations are always welcome -- just post them in the comment section.Our inaugural quote:"God is both the shit and the fan."-Phyllis Tickle...

Newsweek editor Jon Meacham gambled this week, and he gambled big.  In what is, by any measure and extraordinary piece of journalism, Newsweek religion editor Lisa Miller wrote a cover story that basically says, the Bible does not define marriage...

Sam comments on my Rich Cizik post:I thank God for Rich Cizik's courage. He was just out here at Azusa Pacific University where I now work and spoke some good words. I am like him, for civil unions for homosexual...

On Fresh Air with Terry Gross, National Association of Evangelicals vice president of governmental affairs Rich Cizik admitted that his views on same sex unions are shifting.  While he made it clear that he does not favor same sex marriage,...

When I was a youth pastor, my church occasionally hosted an "ecumenical" worship service that moved around the Twin Cities in an attempt to unite Christians in worship.  (Truth be told, the monthly service was dominated by Pentecostals who danced,...

From Harpers Magazine, 2005:...

Last summer, Marcus Goodyear interviewed me for The High Calling, an online magazine of Laity Lodge in Texas.  (In fact, I can remember exactly where I was: sitting next to Michael Toy's pool during a day off from the Church...

Adam Walker-Cleaveland's posts have lessened in both frequency and profundity since he graduated from Princeton Seminary and entered the workaday world of church ministry.  But occasionally he drops a gem that reminds us of why Pomomusings charted the course for...

Thanks to David Crumm for the heads-up that most PBS stations will this weekend show Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton.  Today, Crumm interviews the filmmaker, Morgan Atkinson at Read the Spirit.  Money Q&A:DAVID: People talk about The Seven...

"Duh-sciple" has quickly become one of my favorite commenters.  under the post, Is Rick Warren a Centrist, s/he writes,Remember that when we draw the line between "us" and "them" between the "pure" and the "depraved" between the "saved" and the...

Christine Sine, medical doctor, futurist, new monastic, mustard seeder, has produced a little Advent meditation that's worth three minutes of your time: HT: Bob Robinson...

From Darin Peterson this morning: Call for visions and voices in our premier issue. DATE:  Spring 2009 (March) GENERAL THEME:  Resurrection Stories WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR: At the core of all Christian belief is this bizarre, astonishing, and absurd claim: ...

Church of the Beloved is an Anglimergent church in North Seattle and a daughter church of Church of the Apostles.  They've produced a wonderful album called Hope for a Tree Cut Down, and it's available for free on their website. ...

Two in a row for Dr. Science!Wow, I just checked back to see if the old thread had died, and what do I find! Thank you, Tony. BTW, the pronoun used for me is "she", not "he"."A Walker" -- Who...

Friday and Saturday of last week marked the inaugural event of JoPa Productions, a partnership between Doug Pagitt and me.  Doug and I are involved in the publishing industry both as authors and as editors/consultants/gadflies.  And just when it seems...

To my post regarding Zach Lind's support of SSM, over against the arguments Dan Kimball noted that it may lead to the legalization of polygamy, Dr. Science writes,Civil marriage is a legal contract between two persons. Same-sex marriage acknowledges that...

Many seem to think so, especially in light of works of compassion in Africa, but Andrew is not falling for it.  It seems that Rick went on Fox News and agreed with Sean Hannity that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should...

Here are the assembled Tweets from The Great Emergence National Event:...

My editor extraordinaire at Jossey-Bass, Sheryl Fullerton, pointed me to a depressing post from Chip McGregor (a well-known literary agent) on the Black Friday (December 3) in the publishing industry.Some of the lowlights:Simon & Schuster cut 35 people (2% of...

The conversation continues my most-read Beliefnet post to date: Same Sex Marriage Blogalogue: How I Went from There to Here.  Ben contributed this:Yes, The Holy Bible is very clear on a lot of things. Circumcision, for instance. And what about...

On the eve of our Great Emergence National Event in Memphis comes news of a new denomination of breakaway Episcopal dioceses.  While this is no surprise, it is unfortunate, methinks.  It's also a sign of the death of denominations, which...

The next thing I hope tackle with Rod in our Same Sex Blogalogue is the "slippery slope," which keeps coming up in the comments.  The argument usually goes like this: if we allow gay marriage, the next thing we know,...

As I wrote this summer on the Church Basement Roadshow, every place south of the Mason-Dixon line seems to think that they have the best BBQ.  IMHO, Kansas City and Memphis lead the pack (although Texas Brisket deserves a spot...

There's a really fascinating string of comments under Tuesday's post, Are You an MIE (Multi-Issue Evangelical)? regarding abortion.  It's hard to pick just one comment, but RJohnson's stood out to me as particularly thoughtful:"A fetus should not legally be considered...

I've never claimed to be an evangelical, which will make many evangelicals happy.  However,  others do pin that term on me, including my friend, Keith DeRose.  Keith is a philosopher at Yale and a Class-A blog lurker and commenter (he...

I leave Minneapolis today for Memphis, Tennessee, in advance of The Great Emergence National Event with Phyllis Tickle.  My posts in the next few days will likely be focused on bar-b-que.  And, I suppose, on the content of the event...

Dr. Science weighs in on the question, Is There a Religious Left?As "Your name" demonstrates, the answer to Tony's question is "Yes".Back in November 2004, Jeff Sharlet confessed it quite clearly, talking about questions he and Peter Manseau were asked...

Not yet, according to Jeff Sharlet.  Sharlet was recently asked to contribute to a book on the supposed Religious Left, and he has posted the draft of his chapter at The Revealer (to which you all should subscribe).This is a...

Over at Presbymergent, Leon Bloder has posted an open letter to his congregation, First Presbyterian of Eustis, Florida.  In it, he urges calm among congregants who are either ecstatic or in despair over BO's election victory.  Money quote:As the Church,...