Journeys In Between

Simm's Incarnational Theology

This is a note to myself more than anything. Read "Simms's incarnational theology and the emerging American religion" which notes "Simms's religious insight, his theological method, is decidedly incarnational, and it is emphatically so in an era when two theological notes prevailed. In nineteenth century America these dominant notes were: (1) the disembodied remnants of Puritanism in the form of moral ideologies, and (2) the denatured nature of the Transcendentalists." Could be interesting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did I co-create South Park with Trey Parker?

No, but I do find your fan mails amusing.

Can you purchase any art from me?

No, you should see the artist who created it. Check the commentary under each picture for artist and source website information. I generally put it there if I have it. If it's not there I am probably trying to track it down myself.

Can you copy and republish any art you find here?

As I didn't create it I am hardly in a position to say what you can and can't do with it now am I? But, as a word of advice, if you do copy it, republish the artist info and give them link love where possible just as I have.

Can you copy and quote any of my writings?

Yes, anything, I just ask that you give me some link love too.

Why "Journeys in Between"?

"In Celtic mythology, the in-between places were those places of transition, neither one thing, nor the other. Doorways, shorelines, the forest's edge, dusk and dawn are a few examples. These were the places of power, where the extra-ordinary was possible, and where the bonds of reality and the every-day were shed."

Journeys In Between is a journal of my own experiences between different worlds, as an evangelical Christian asking what I can learn from esoteric movements like Wicca, NeoGnosticism, Yoga and Zen - and what spirited wisdom Jesus may have to offer in response.

 

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Emerging Missional Church Conversation in Sydney
Pendle Hill Baptist Church
Thin Places
Interfaith Sydney
Pagan and Christian Moot

Local Gatherings

If would like to meet up with me or Christians like me in and around Sydney, that's fine, just send me an email as above. Note that I do sometimes blog about upcoming festivals, missional leadership events and alternative worship gatherings for locals who'd like to come.

Religion in the news

Americans shift religious loyalties "A groundbreaking survey about religion in the United States shows Protestants are on the verge of becoming a minority in the country they helped to found." For more see the Pew Research Centre and this vid featuring Jim Wallis.

Sikhs in spin over turban bans "The Sikh community is outraged at what it says is a lack of cultural awareness after two incidents involving the wearing of turbans."

Airline gets rid of 'devilish' numbers "Lithuania's main airline is to change the code number under which its shares are listed to get rid of sixes at the end -- giving way to a Christian tradition identifying the number 666 as a cipher for the Antichrist."

Pat Rafter turns to Buddhism and Hinduism "Tennis great Pat Rafter has turned to Buddhism and Hinduism as his spiritual outlet - a big move from his Catholic upbringing."

Research Tools

Sacred Texts

NIV Online

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Internet Sacred Texts Archive

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Truth Laid Bear

Christian Environmental Theology

What do you think are some of the challenges that remain for Christian environmental theology? I am presuming here that, if you're the sort of Christian that likes a blog like mine, you're not the sort of Christian who needs to have the dots joined between Christian ethics, creation care and environmental theology. But where do we go beyond the basic joining of the dots? How much more remains to be done.

So, with those questions in mind I was running some searches on Christian environmental theology and came across a few links which may interest some of you.
 

Celebrating Christ with Creation - A Theology of Worship for The Season of Creation "We often do theology in a vacuum, detached from the context of daily life, personal experience or common worship. The theological outline in this work arises from two specific living contexts: the environmental crisis facing our planet and our regular worship life in community.  More specifically, this outline also provides a theological basis for a new season of the church year, namely, The Season of Creation."

What Are They Saying About Environmental Theology? "In this timely and important work, John Hart offers an in-depth analysis of Catholic Church teachings on the environment and environmental themes."

This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment "From Christian ecotheology and Buddhist critiques of economic globalization to religious environmental activism and spiritual practices to celebrate the sacredness of nature, the book includes careful scholarship, groundbreaking theology, historical analysis, and accounts of real world struggles. Fully engaged with both the world's religious traditions and the worldwide environmental crisis, This Sacred Earth is an invaluable teaching resource and inspiring introduction to religion's complex relationship to the environment."

The Place of Environmental Theology: A guide for seminaries, colleges and universities "The Conference brought together participants from various parts of Europe to explore the theology of creation care and how seminaries, theological colleges and faculties, and Christian training courses across Europe could be encouraged to build a concern for the environment into every aspect of the life of Christian communities – in learning and living as the people of Christ."

Personally I think much work needs to be done with worship, with leadership training, with apologetics, and of course, with practice. Where do you see blind spots and opportunities for growth?

Jesus was a Buddha?

Since I have been speaking on sacred art and the difference between syncretism and contextualization I thought I would draw everyone's attention to this picture, "Jesus was a Buddha", by J R Compton, as an example of the former.

Now, if there was ever any doubt as to the intention of the artist, he has helpfully made this explicit this on his own site where he writes:

"Jesus was a Buddha is my stab at Tibetan tangka painting (pronounced ìthanka), an image painted on a rectangular cloth, framed by a narrow cloth border. I show Jesus as an enlightened human, the embodiment of divine wisdom and virtue, an awakened being, a buddha."

Take note, "a buddha", one of many. Though the artist incorporates a number of symbolic references from the gospel narratives, the emphasis here is clearly on showing how the Christian search is fulfilled in the Buddhist path, not the other way around.

Now, this is no way to be taken as a comment on the artistic merit of the painting, for as a fan of Asian art I find it appealing in many ways. But given the subject matter I must also consider, how this might have turned out differently if contextualization had been the intent behind it?

Contextualization in a Pluralistic Context

What does it mean to “contextualize Christianity” in contexts like ours where pluralism is the order of the day? What does it mean to be “culturally incarnational” in societies like ours which are multi-cultural? What does that mean for Christian leaders?

Incarnational Mission - The Foundations

I have been wading through various articles on incarnational mission over the last few weeks. In "Exhibition Evangelism & the Local Church", my friend and collegue Philip Johnson explained it this way:

Incarnational mission is grounded in the very notion of God becoming incarnate in Jesus. Jesus commissioned his disciples saying, ‘As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you’ (John 20:21). Just as God became flesh – incarnated as a human and taught within a particular culture – so too we must incarnate the gospel by living and sharing inside other cultures. An incarnational approach does two main things. First, the message of the gospel is translated into words and symbols that the receptor culture will best understand. Second, the messengers of the gospel join that culture and live out the Christian faith in that context. One of the best illustrations of this is Paul’s ministry in Athens as he shared about the ‘unknown god’ (Acts 17:16-34).

What I like about this brief introduction is that, not only are linguistic incarnation and lifestyle incarnation both identified as aspects of incarnational mission, but that symbolic incarnation is identified as well. In fact, in so far as our words and actions are all signs and symbols of a sort, I would go so far as to say that symbolic incarnation is the broadest dimension of all.

African Christian Prayers

Some time ago I came across an interesting article entitled "A Collection of African Prayers: African Prayers of Blessing, Sending Forth and Healing" which I thought were quite thought provoking. For me it raised some interesting questions about the differences between contextualization and syncretism, and the extent to which cultural outsiders are qualified to tell the difference.

• Do any of these prayers make you feel uncomfortable?
• How do you feel about their use of props?
• What makes a Christian prayer Christian?