Glocal Christianity

Should we observe Ramadan?

Brian McLaren has decided to celebrate Ramadan this year:

This year, I, along with a few Christian friends ... will be joining Muslim friends in the fast which begins August 21. We are not doing so in order to become Muslims: we are deeply committed Christians. But as Christians, we want to come close to our Muslim neighbors and to share this important part of life with them.

You can read the rest at Brian McLaren's blog, but I want to ask, could this be a case of offering food to idols (or in this case foodlessness)? Or is it contextual witness?

Before answering, consider the Shahadah, “There is no god but Allah and Muḥammad is the prophet of Allah.” What would contextualisation look like here?

The Ophite Diagrams

Lately I have been exploring connections between the Ophite diagrams and Revelation 4. There seems to be a way in which the vision of Revelation 4 could be interpreted in a mandala-like fashion, of concentric circles radiating out from the throne of God, with revelations within revelations flowing from the initial revelation of the scroll, holding the whole text together. Have any of you ever explored this?

Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review

For those of you interested in the study of new religious movements, there is a new journal on the block, the Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review.

The editor writes "The Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review (ASRR) has been created with the ambitious goal of providing NRM scholars with a vehicle for staying up-to-date with new publications in this expanding body of literature. Modeling itself on successful review journals such as Reviews in Religion and Theology, ASRR will be an online journal that will publish book reviews, review essays, and literature surveys in the NRM field."

They promise upcoming articles on Pagan Studies, Studies of Western Esotericism, New Age Studies, Masonic Studies, and Studies of New Thought, as well as aticles on movements within traditional religions, such as the Charismatic movement in Christianity and Guru movements in Hinduism.

If you want to read more, check out Issue 1

What is faith?

Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church? (John Calvin)

Experiencing God, Experiencing Joy

Experience, experiential, experientialism ... are these words you associate with Christianity? Have you ever encountered people who insist, Christianity is about dogma, not experience? Is that your experience maybe?

Recently I came across a comment from a former Wiccan who said, "I didn't know that real Christianity was experiential, that true Christians have a deeply personal relationship with God." I thought, how unfortunate. I then thought, sadly, how unfortunate most introductory courses on Christianity focus on the essential teachings, without any teaching on experience! No wonder so many people get such jaundiced impressions.

It got me thinking about the range of emotions that people experience, in everyday life and in their encounters with God. What reflections have the apostles and prophets left for us? As it turns out, there's heaps if we care to look. I began ... with joy. 

Deuteronomy 16:14 
Be joyful at your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.

1 Chronicles 29:17 
I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.

Ezra 6:22 
For seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because the LORD had filled them with joy by changing the attitude of the king of Assyria, so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

Nehemiah 12:43 
And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

Esther 8:16 
For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor.

Job 6:10
Then I would still have this consolation— my joy in unrelenting pain— that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.

Psalm 16:11 
You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence

Psalm 21:6 
Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

Psalm 33:3 
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Psalm 45:15 
They are led in with joy and gladness; they enter the palace of the king.

Psalm 51:12 
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Psalm 71:23 
My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you— I, whom you have redeemed.

Psalm 94:19 
When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.

Psalm 100:2 
Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Psalm 126:3 
The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Proverbs 12:20 
There is deceit in the hearts of those who plot evil, but joy for those who promote peace.

Matthew 28:8 
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

Mark 4:16 
Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.

Luke 24:52
Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.

John 15:11 
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Acts 13:52 
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Romans 12:12 
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

2 Corinthians 7:4 
In all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.

Galatians 5:22 
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness

Philippians 1:4 
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy

1 Thessalonians 5:16 
Be joyful always

James 1:2 
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds

1 Peter 1:8 
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy

Much to reflect on ... and much more if we look deeper.

Tracking the News

Wild Hunt Blog inspired me to do some newspaper archieve searches. Here are the results I got for "Anabaptist". Seems that interest has really been high over the last decade. Compare that to "Charismatic" which peaked just prior to the millenium.

And here are results we should all pay attention to:

Enui is evident with "spirituality"

But "Jesus" is as attention grabbing as ever

Jesus All About Life ... and bodily excretions

Just been watching the new kids resources for the upcoming Jesus All About Life campaign in Sydney. Completely irreverant, Aussie style, sorta like a Louie the Fly meets Billy Graham. Not my style but I'm not the demographic. I'll have to test it on my kids and see what they make of it. There's a series of five. Here's the rest:

JAAL Flies 2 - the feeding of the multitudes
JAAL Flies 3 - the healing of the blind man
JAAL Flies 4 - the crucifixion of Jesus
JAAL Flies 5 - the resurrection of Jesus

If you are interested in what's on offer for older age groups, you may want to browse through the youth resources. There's a series of four videos, use the arrows to view all. 

Faith Beyond Church Forum

For those in Sydney, you may be interested to hear that Ryde based group The Harbour is holding a forum called “Faith Beyond Church” next month. The forum is for people "who have been emotionally or spiritually hurt or disillusioned by the institutional church" with the aim of providing opportunities for people to share experiences and find ways to renew their understanding of church. Details:

• Friday 11th September 2009

• Forum starts at 7pm, initially in a coffee shop in Chatswood (further details upon registration)
• Registration by 4th September is essential as places are limited.
• Enquiries and for registration please contact: theharbour.au@gmail.com

To some who were confident of their own righteousness ...

Time for some pot stirring. Here's a reworking of Luke 18:9-14:

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two nations went up to the temple to pray, one a democracy and the other a dictatorship. The democracy stood up and prayed about itself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other nations—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this dictatorship. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

"But the dictatorship stood at a distance. It would not even look up to heaven, but beat its breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

"I tell you that this nation, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For every nation that exalts itself will be humbled, and every nation that humbles itself will be exalted."

Thoughts?

Skeptics on Skeptics

Came across an interesting article by Michael Ruse, philosopher of biology at Florida State University, on why he thinks the New Atheists are a disaster.

Ruse, a committed skeptic, speaks of the slurs he has received from New Atheist authors like Richard Dawkins, who attack him on account of "although I am not a believer, I do not think that all believers are evil or stupid, and because I do not think that science and religion have to clash."

Elaborating on this, Ruse states, "Let me say that I believe the new atheists do the side of science a grave disservice ... Their treatment of the religious viewpoint is pathetic to the point of non-being. Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion would fail any introductory philosophy or religion course. Proudly he criticizes that whereof he knows nothing. As I have said elsewhere, for the first time in my life, I felt sorry for the ontological argument. If we criticized gene theory with as little knowledge as Dawkins has of religion and philosophy, he would be rightly indignant ... Conversely, I am indignant at the poor quality of the argumentation in Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens, and all of the others in that group."

In the process Ruse advances a very interesting argument: "If teaching 'God exists' is teaching religion - and it is - then why is teaching 'God does not exist' not teaching religion? Obviously it is teaching religion. But if science generally and Darwinism specifically imply that God does not exist, then teaching science generally and Darwinism specifically runs smack up against the First Amendment.

And he concludes by saying: "I have written elsewhere that The God Delusion makes me ashamed to be an atheist. Let me say that again. Let me say also that I am proud to be the focus of the invective of the new atheists. They are a disaster and I want to be on the front line of those who say so."

Give me more old atheists is all I can say.