Theological Fragments

This last full week of Advent has been very busy for me, as I expect it's been for most people. I haven't really had time to write a blog post for this week (in spite of my best intentions). I do, however, have a poem I've been meaning to put up here. Enjoy! "Christmas" By John Betjeman The bells of waiting Advent ring, The Tortoise stove is lit again And lamp-oil light across the night Has caught the streaks of winter rain In many a stained-glass window sheen From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.

The shooting in Connecticut today was a tragedy on a scale few of us can even imagine. The loss of so many people in one instant, most of them young children, shocks and saddens us all. In situations like these it can be difficult for us as Christians to know what to say. How do we confront evil on this kind of scale, and how do we begin to comfort those who were affected by the attack? What comfort can we offer to those who suffer in this world? On the one hand, this task is difficult because the typical answers have become cliche, and we know by now that they simply do not work. We could tell those who suffer that it is all part of God's plan; we can quote the scripture which says that God "works all things together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose." But these answers do not comfort, and they do not suffice. It is not enough to tell a person surrounded by evil and pain that everything that has happened to them is secretly good

The word “advent” means “the arrival of a notable person, thing or event.” In the Christian year, the season of Advent has a double meaning. On the one hand, as the season that precedes Christmas it refers to the first coming of Christ two thousand years ago. Advent is the time in which we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ and God’s gift of himself to his people. In this way Advent helps to emphasize the significance of Christmas—we spend the month of December being reminded that this season is about how God himself came to Earth for us. There is, however, a second meaning to the season of Advent. See, there is a common theological phrase—my favorite theological term, in fact, because it is so simply-put and involves no Greek or Latin. The phrase is “Already and not yet.” This term reminds us that many of the promises of Scripture are fulfilled in two stages. If someone asks when the Kingdom of Heaven is coming, the answer is, “Already, and not yet.” After all, Christ foun

Writing, I have discovered, is one of my more helpful spiritual disciplines. It helps me to think and to meditate on the Word. I have also discovered that it is one of the most difficult disciplines for me to maintain when my schedule is busy (You can pretty well gauge which periods have been the least busy for me by when I have posted on here the most). Today, however, I was struck by inspiration, on which I hope to follow through: this year I would like to do a series of posts following the church calendar. Now, most of you reading this are Evangelicals, which means you probably don’t know much about the church calendar—it’s a tradition followed mostly by Catholics and Mainline Protestants. You’re probably aware of seasons like Advent and Lent, and you’re probably aware that Christmas has twelve days (If only because of the song). I only know of the church calendar because of my time at seminary. While I was there, however, I discovered that this calendar is a powerful devot

I was at work this morning, turning on televisions to start the day, when I noticed that one of the TVs was on the wrong channel. Best Buy has their own internal channel that they pipe through their televisions, but someone had changed the channel on this one so that it was showing one of those extra channels that have cropped up since the switch to digital broadcasting. This is not uncommon, but it caught my attention because the TV in question was showing a news story on a movement called “Charlotte 714,” which is apparently a shindig going on in Charlotte, NC in which a group of area churches have gotten together to call for Christians to look at fixing their own churches before worrying about fixing the government (The article, which is a transcript of the TV segment, can be found here ). I have to say, I am very excited by this movement. Finally, a grassroots movement I can get behind! I’m really excited that people are starting to outgrow the Religious Right’s domination of

Political theology is one of my primary areas of focus. I studied government as an undergrad, and when I went to seminary I became very interested in how theology and politics overlap--and they do quite often, more perhaps than we would like. Today I'm going to show you one of the ways they overlap, and how theology--that is, the logic of the Christian faith--impacts the way we view our government. My focus this time is on an area of political philosophy called "social contract," which tries to answer the question, why do we have governments?

[I know that I promised blog entries that I haven't delivered yet. I've got plenty of ideas in my head, it's just a matter of finding the time and the motivation at the same time. Anyway, I expect that I'll be ready to write relatively soon, but until then I thought I would tide you over with a section from T.S. Eliot's excellent poem, Choruses from "The Rock". Enjoy!] It is hard for those who have never known persecution, And who have never known a Christian, To believe these tales of Christian persecution. It is hard for those who live near a Bank To doubt the security of their money. It is hard for those who live near a Police Station To believe in the triumph of violence. Do you think that the Faith has conquered the World And that lions no longer need keepers? Do you need to be told that whatever has been, can still be? Do you need to be told that even such modest attainments As you boast of in the way of polite society Will hardly surv

In the theater the performance is played before persons present who are called spectators, but at the religious address God himself is present; in the most earnest sense he is the critical spectator who is checking on how it is being spoken and on how it is being heard, and for that very reason there are no spectators. Thus the one speaking is the prompter, and the listener is present and open before God; he is, if I may put it this way, the actor, who in the true sense is acting before God. ~"Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing" From Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits  

Hey. Everybody! I'm back! It turns out that taking 17 credits, working 30 hours a week, writing a thesis, and moving 1200 miles kinda gets in the way of writing a blog. But now that I'm back in Spokane, getting settled into a new routine, and starting to get involved with the church again, I find I have more time and motivation to write. Over the past few months that I haven't been writing, I've thought of a lot of things I want stop write about. Now I'm excited that I have the chance to do all of it. I like the way Kierkegaard described the feeling (Surprise!! A Kierkegaard quote! You're gonna have to get used to that again): "The past months I had in my indolence pumped up a shower-bath and now I have pulled the string and the ideas are cascading down upon me: healthy, happy, thriving, gay, blessed Children, born with ease and yet all of them with the birthmark of my personality." So yeah, I'm excited to get writing again. I have a lot of ide

I write this fully expecting that no one will make it all the way through the post. This is a long post and somewhat technical, and it’s on a controversial topic: Evolution (not, that’s not why I mentioned monkeys in the title). Let me at least say this: what follows is not a stereotypical argument about Evolution. I am not arguing against Evolution, or in favor of Intelligent Design—in fact, I’m not even comparing the two. The reason I bring up Evolution is because I think it provides a great example of a certain tendency in our culture, the way we compare religious knowledge to scientific knowledge. The following discussion focuses on Evolution and probability, so I have taken on the added liability of discussing math in an already-questionable post. As I said, I don’t expect anyone to read this all the way though. I hope someone will, but ultimately I wrote this just to get the idea out of my head so I could focus on homework. If that’s all I’ve accomplished, it was worth it. Now,

The Show Doctor Who  really is a phenomenal show. True, it is a bit Modernist and morally paternalistic, but I love it all the same. One of the principle reasons I like the show (besides my unreasonably-strong affection for David Tennant) is because Steven Moffat, the head writer, has a very intriguing view of time. Now, I don’t agree entirely with Moffat’s view of causality—I am personally of the school of thought that doesn’t believe the past can be changed (although I must concede that Emmett Brown skirts this issue effectively by positing that a change in the timeline results in the creation of a new dimension [Brown,  Back to the Future Part II , 1989]). However, Moffat takes the very unique approach of viewing the entire timeline from above, allowing single events to affect the past, present, and future. Russel T. Davies, the previous head writer, did this a bit in his seasons, but this was limited in scope—more for the purpose of foreshadowing the season finale than

The Bible is not a very politically-correct book. There’s a lot of stuff in there that would get it an R rating, maybe even NC-17. There’s murder, rape, incest, genocide, torture, all kinds of horrible things. And here’s the scary thing: some of those things are done in God’s name. And some of them are done under God’s orders. The story of how the Levites were originally consecrated to the priesthood is a good example. When Moses came down from Sinai and found the Israelites worshiping the golden calf, he called all loyal Hebrews to join him--only the Levites responded. He then ordered them to arm themselves and kill all of the people who were worshiping the calf. When the slaughter was over, Moses told them, "Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of a son or a brother, and so have brought blessing on yourselves this day" (Ex. 32:29 NRSV). So here’s the question: how do we deal with this? Genocide—especially in the name of rel

[I debated whether to provide any context for this post. I've decided that it is important, for understanding the tone in which this fragment is offered, to know that I wrote this, not out of academic interest, but in response to an experience of pain. I am speaking to myself here more than anyone else.] The so-called “New Atheists”—Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, etc.—like to talk about the “Problem of Evil” (Which I think is more properly called the Problem of Pain) as a logical criticism of ethical monotheism (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). They treat it as a logical problem which they, or at least their scientific-minded predecessors, have discovered about the beliefs of those religions. If you’re not sure what the Problem of Pain is, here’s a brief summary: A.       Evil exists in the world, and pain happens. B.       A loving god who is all good would not allow evil or pain to exist if he could prevent it. C.       Therefore, if God exists, then

By now all of you have probably seen this viral video, “ Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus ” by Jefferson Bethke. It’s gotten a lot of views, and consequently a lot of press coverage. I’m not prone to jump into something just because it was in the news (or, at least, I try to suppress that urge) but there are two reasons why I want to talk about this: (1) because the first time I saw it was not in the news, but when people I know posted it online, which makes it personally relevant, and (2) because it touches on some of the things I’ve personally been wrestling with, specifically the concept of “religion” and the role of the church. Now, I call this “a” theological perspective because I don’t want anyone to think I’m saying this is “The” theological perspective; rather, this is how I personally react to this video’s message based on my theological perspective, which has changed considerably when I entered seminary. Before then I would be inclined to agree with this video, though I