Ron Cole : unplugged, unorthodox, sacrilegious

Being Jesus in Nashville...Jim Palmer

 If we we've hung around " church-ianity " for awhile we've heard the term " born again ". Jesus talked about it to Nicodemus during their roof-top meeting in the dark of night.

Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.

Somehow, this became another commodity of church dispensed only under the right conditions, by the " right " people. Some hands and some God manipulation, Abracadabra! It's interesting think about birth, the 9 months inside the " mother ship " floating around in this deep dark void, our life supported by the umbilical cord. Suddenly the contractions of birth start and we are literally squeezed and pushed out into the world. The doctor grabs the scissors and cuts the cord, and there is that brief anxious moment...when the baby inhales that first breath of the world outside.

I think if anything, I didn't understand " born again " until I left the church. Inside the womb of the church, faith-life is pretty much supported by the nutrients it provides...it can become very comfortable. But when you leave the church, and you grab the scissors and cut the cord yourself it's that same anxiety...can I survive, and breathe...can faith-life survive outside the womb of the church. Many, many people are finding, yes it can...abundantly.

Jim Palmer said this in a recent interview with my good friend Bill Dahl...

Through religion people have absorbed a bunch of ideas and beliefs about themselves, God, others and life that govern their identity, relationships and way of being in the world. It’s as if we’re trapped inside a story that is rigged to never lead to the freedom, fulfillment and abundance that people want and Jesus promised.

 

I devoted a year of my life to being Jesus in Nashville, where I live. What I thought that would mean and what actually happened were two totally different things. That year flipped the religious script in my head, and gave me a new courage to be a fully expressed human being in ways I never imagined possible. I started the year convinced I needed to live the life of Jesus and then discovered that the life I needed to live was my own. Free at last! My story almost never made it to print. Despite two near-death experiences and being branded a heretic by my Christian publisher, the book came to fruition as a result of the encouragement and support of my divine nobody friends. 

You can read the full interview ( here ).

 Diana Butler Bass says this in her new book, " Christianity After Religion: The End Of Church And The Birth Of A New Spiritual Awakening."

" Have we lived the majority of our lives in the context of this awakening, struggling towards a new understanding of God, how we should act ethically and politically, and who we are deep in our souls? What if this awakening is not exclusively a christian affair, but rather a certain form of christianity that is playing a significant role in forming the contours of a new kind of faith beyond conventional religious boundaries? Is America living in the wake of a revival gone awry or a spiritual awakening that is finally taking concrete...albeit...unexpected...shape?

Strange as it may seem in this time of cultural anxiety, economic near collapse, terrorist fear, political violence, environmental crisis, and partisan anger, I believe that the United States ( and not only the United States ) is caught up in the throws of a spiritual wakening, a period of sustained religious and political transformation during which our ways of seeing the world, understanding ourselves, and expressing our faith are being, to borrow the phrase, " born again." Indeed, the shifts around religion contribute to the anxiety, even as the anxiety gives rise to new sorts of understanding of God and spiritual life. Fear and confusion signal change. This transformation is what some hope will be a " Great Turning " toward a global based community on shared human connection, dedicated to the care of our planet, committed to justice and equality, that seeks to raise hundereds of millions from poverty, violence and oppression.

This awakening has been under way for sometime now and has reached a crucial stage, as a new " Age of the Spirit " has dawned. Theologian Harvey Cox points out that this turn toward spirituality as the new form of faith started in the previous century. The 1970's were a significant period in a long process of moving away from old-style religion towards new patterns of faith. In the last decade, this shift has accelerated exponentially, sweeping millions more into both discontent and the longing for change. " ( Chapter One )

Millions of people are leaving the church searching to find real faith, and it is in this sea of discontent and longing for change that Jim Palmer pastors. Through his two previous books, " Wide Open Spaces " and " Divine Nobodies " he has strummed a chord that resonates with many many people. Jim is doing alot of life coaching, counselling, talking...helping people navigate these unchartered waters. Jim commented in a recent e-mail, " I feel like my upcoming book has the kind of message that could effectively be taking a stand on something that really matters. A lot of folks have shared this journey with me the last several years. They are ordinary people, many from a Christian background, who have been shedding religion and no longer support the view of Jesus promoted by the institutional church – one that leads to condemning people of other faiths, forces Christians to adopt beliefs and practices they often cannot live up to or support in good conscience, and requires people to promote a message that divides human beings in the name of Jesus, in the name of God. Jesus stood for the worth and value of every human being. What if this was our starting premise and we  courageously worked towards a world that works for everyone. I started the Occupy Religion effort because I believe that the 99% of those who follow Jesus want to embrace him as central to their relationship with God and spirituality without it creating division and hostility in the world. "

And again, from Bill Dahl's interview with Jim...

What I learned in my year of being Jesus is that Jesus was special, not because he was more divine then the rest of us, but because he was courageously more human than most. I wish I could convince people that they are born into this world as complete and whole human beings with equal worth to God as Jesus of Nazareth. In the eyes of the religious establishment we might be nobodies but we are divine nobodies, as much a child of God as that nobody Nazarene carpenter. This is the message I would like to get through to fellow survivors of childhood abuse. It’s the message I would have wanted to express to the 10-year-old girl sex slaves I encountered in brothels in Southeast Asia in my work as a human rights activist. As an ordained minister, it’s the message I wanted to deliver to a Christian friend who said, “I am a piece of shit to God, which is why I need Jesus.” It is very difficult to convince people that they are good and beautiful human beings when religion has sufficiently convinced them that they are “sinners” and despicable to God. It’s also difficult to deliver this message when institutional Christianity has convinced us that acknowledging the divine in every human is a betrayal of God.

 

People have Jesus so wrapped up in layers of religion that he and his truth are virtually unrecognizable. The prostitutes and notoriously irreligious people of Jesus’ day got Jesus better than anyone else, and were the people Jesus preferred to associate with. I think I’m going to go into the streets of Nashville today and beg the tattoo artists, single moms, waitresses, artists, and all the nobodies who wouldn’t be caught dead inside a church and beg them to share with the world who they know and have experienced God and Jesus to be.

I have been blogging here for almost ten years now. I think most readers will have seen my journey evolve to exactly where Jim Palmer is. I have written 1,774 posts on this blog, I have had 2,211 comments and 185,947 page views...I have never asked for anything, nor should I expect to get anything. But here's the thing, I really really believe in what Jim Palmer is doing. There are very few pastors that are in Jim's place helping people find faith, retain faith and live faith in the " Wide Open Spaces." Jim also said this to me last night...

Hey; it's Jim. I wanted to touch base with a few folks about, Being Jesus in Nashville. So, suddenly it was up on Amazon! Wasn't expecting that. I haven't broadcasted it publicly that the book is technically available for purchase because I am still working out the details with the International Justice Mission and the Tourette Syndrome Associationabout donating a portion of each book purchase to their efforts. As you might remember, for a season I traveled abroad with the IJM, and I have TS. But in anticipation of the official book release, I wanted to give you a heads up.

You can help me, you help Jim, you can help International Justice Mission and the Tourette Syndrome Association by buying Jim Palmer's " Being Jesus in Nashville "...it will challenge you to live your faith to it's fullest in the midst of your Nashville...your neighborhood.

 

lifting the roof on the proprietors of godly goods and services...

It was about a few days later, and Jesus returned to Capernaum. Word spread like wild fire that he was back home. At first it was a slow trickle, a few people started hanging around outside the house. Then it was as if someone slashed an artery, people were spilling out from everywhere. There was so many people around the house, it was like a plugged sink nothing was getting in or out. Inside the house, Jesus the Kingdom story teller was rebooting the imagination of humanity telling radical, scandalous redemptive parables of an alternative world that turned this one upside down. But there they were four men and a paraplegic weaving through the crowd like a drunken seamstress with a needle. They got as close as they could and couldn't poke their way any further. Sometimes when desperation strikes you have to break something open and create your own window of opportunity.

Walking around the perimeter of the crowd there wasn't even a crack to squeeze through, and that is when up became the only alternative. So scaling the side of the house with their limp, and lifeless friend into the reached the summit. Here, they knocked...punching their way through the roof of the house. They lowered there friend into the midst of Jesus and the front row spectators. Seeing the friends incredible act of faith Jesus said, " Son, your sins are forgiven."

The religious professionals, the proprietors of godly goods and services in their usual front row seats taking notes, squawked among each others like crows, " He can't talk that way! That's blasphemy! God and only God can forgive sins...we manage that business."

Jesus knew right away what they were thinking , and said, "Why are you so skeptical?, you think it can't be done without a middle man. Which is simpler: to say to the paraplegic, 'I forgive your sins,' or say, 'Get up, take your stretcher, and start walking'? Well, just so it's clear that I'm the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both . . ." he looked with compassion, a smile filled with grace at the paraplegic, "Get up. Pick up your stretcher and go home." 

 And the man did it—got up, grabbed his stretcher, and walked out, with everyone there watching him. They rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then it was electrical, the buzz of people talking about God, saying, "We've never seen anything like this!"

At this point, religious professionals, the proprietors of godly goods and services were fuming mad, they glared at Jesus...knowing this was going to have a huge impact on the religious business. ( my paraphrase Mark 2:1-12 )

This is one of my favourite stories in the gospels. It confronts our theology from all sides. It's like when you were a kid, and your friends would grab you and spin you around and around and then let you go. You would take a step or two, dizzy and wobbly you would fall on your face...your world spinning around you. Jesus often has this effect on our theological mindset. We don't know much about these four guys and their paraplegic friend, mysteriously weaving their way into the story, literally falling into center of it through the roof.

Amazingly the forgiveness formula is challenged, the A + B = C, repent + belief = forgiveness. These guys haul their neighbor in and the first thing Jesus says, " Son, your sins are forgiven." The guy didn't even ask to be forgiven, didn't make a confession of faith. If we are only forgiven by belief that Jesus " died " for our sins, what's going here? Was he just being forgiven for the instrusion? Here again, grace, like divine lighting unexpectedly strikes...without the religious professionals, the proprietors of godly goods and services giving directions making sure the guy has obeyed all the road signs. We really don't give Jesus very much credit that he infact can do things without our help.

The most profound reality in this story is this nuclear explosion that releases a cosmic redemptive energy that changes everything. Jesus talks about it constantly in the gospels. When we hold to and live out Jesus great command constantly in our comings and goings, in our daily momentary living...loving God to the max, and loving our neighbor to the max. These four guys showed that, their risky love for their lame neighbor, and unwavering love for God brought them to their roof top experience. The redemptive imagination of Jesus comes to life...Jesus comes to life. It's here Jesus doesn't need the religious professionals, the proprietors of godly goods and services, we just need to live in the moment. So much of faith is about things we don't control, that this thing called " grace " like divine lightning can strike anywhere at anytime...forgiving, and healing.

Risk, just living out loving God with absolutely everything you have, and loving your neighbor with everything you have. You might be surprised. 

transformation...

I do dimly percieve that whilst everything around me is ever changing, ever dying, there is underlying all that change a Living Power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves and re-creates. That informing Power or Spirit of God. and since nothing else I see merely through the senses can or will persist, He is alone.

And is this Power benevolent or malevolent? I see it as purely benevolent, for I can see that in the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists. Hence I gather that God is Life, Truth, Light. He is Love. He is the supreme good.

But he is no God who merely satisfies the intellect, if he ever can. God to be God must rule the heart and transform it. This can only be done through a definite realization. more real than the five senses can ever produce. It is not proved by extraneous evidence but in the transformed living and character of those who have felt the presence of God within.

(The Essential Ghandi...pg 18)

Putting Away Childish Things :: Marcus Borg

I received a copy of Marcus Borg's latest book " Putting Away Childish Things " last Thursday from Harper One to read and review. I finished it last evening. This is Marcus Borg's first novel, a work of fiction, but, something he calls  " didactic " novel. I love the subtitle, " A TALE OF MODERN FAITH ", because I think it captures the essence of the book. The story, it's characters are fictional, yet Borg weaves reference material through out its pages.

My sincere hope is that many people will not dismiss this book because of Marcus Borgs controversial background. We was a fellow of the mid-eighties " Jesus Seminar ", and still one of the most influential voices in " Progressive Christianity ", which characterized by willingness to question tradition, acceptance of human diversity with a strong emphasis on social justice or care for the poor and the oppressed and environmental stewardship of the Earth. Progressive Christians have a deep belief in the centrality of the instruction to " love one another" (John 15:17) within the teaching of Jesus . This leads to a focus on compassion, promoting justice and mercy, tolerance, and working towards solving the societal problems of poverty, discrimination, and environmental issues.

So it is important to understand that this novel flows out of Marcus Borg's life engaged in that contest of living out his faith. This book is extremely important because Christianity is becoming more polarized between the voices of conservatism, liberalism and left and right. As numbers, and churches decline in North America a survival mode mentality becomes the driving force where fundamentalism focuses in on belief more than faithful living.

It will take a special voice, and a different way of writing to engage a polarized faith, to provide a space where we can talk. It will take a story teller. This is a story in which I believe we can all see ourselves, and also the sacred cows that we are unwilling to let roam free.

The story's main character Kate Riley is a popular religious studies professor in a small mid-western liberal arts college. Through the story, and its characters Marcus Borg weaves in the important issues that are dividing and polarizing the Christian faith today. The reader becomes engaged in the deep questions of what does the Bible really teach? Who is Jesus, the historical pre-easter version, and the post-easter Christ version? And, what is the nature of faith today?

One of the dominant strands that weaves its way through the story is " truth ", the postmodern view as truth being relative, shifting sand rubbing against the conservative literal view etched in granite. It is the polarization of truth...factuality is the evidence, verifying something as " true." Or, if evidence can not be excavated like an archaeologist, then truth becomes belief...something different than faith.

In a radio interview Kate is questioned around the gospel stories of Jesus birth, where she claims truth and factuality are not the same thing.

The host spoke again. " So, with these differences --- and some sounding like contradictions---are you saying that these stories aren't historically factual? I think most Christians believe they are---that these things did happen. But if they didn't happen this way, why should people take them seriously?"

" Well," Kate answered, " that depends upon how we see these stories. If we see their purpose as historical reporting, to tell us what happened, then the matter of factuality matters a great deal. People often get fixated on factuality: either things happened this way, or these stories aren't true. ( page 25 )

Through Kate, Borg introduces many of the gospel stories are overtures or parables. Like an overture to a symphony typically introduces the central themes of the symphony as a whole, the birth stories in the gospels are an overture to the grand themes of the good news and Kingdom that follow.

" Parables are about meaning, not factuality. And the truth of a parable is its meaning. Parables can be truthful, truth-filled, even while not being historically factual. And I apply this to the birth stories: we best understand them when we see them as parables and overtures, and when we don't argue about whether they're factual." ( page 26 )

Borg through the voice of Kate offers us a middle way, between the the fortified walls of liberalism and conservatism...where profound divine truth might be found between the arguing, and fighting voices for literalism, and that of a pious fable. Where truth is found in meaning, that place where the Psalmist says deep calls to deep...or to Jesus saying the Kingdom can be found in faith as small as a mustard seed.

In Marcus Borg's book he engages us in the current conversation of religion and politics. Kate believes the separation of religion and politics is un biblical. Reading the gospel stories one can not miss the clash of Roman Empire theology, and that of Jesus Kingdom. This is the reality that made the Jesus so subversive. The Kingdom was a threat to the empire. Jesus death was political as much as it was spiritual. The book draws into the conversation where we must honestly face politics and faith together not as separate entities. The faith of Jesus confronted the politics of the day..." Putting Away Childish things " reminds us, we need do the same.

As I found myself coming to the closing pages of the book, something profound percolated to surface of my mind...what makes a Christian. In our current landscape, it is all over the map...everyone fighting for territory. Stake our claim, and then fight to try and dominate and expand our borders.

In the closing chapters is a seminary in a quandary, about to receive a generous endowment for a chair in evangelical thought. The faculty meets but before they can pursue potential applicants there is great discussion on how the label is applied.

“It seems to me that there isn’t a general sense of agreement about what makes an evangelical… Would it be enough if those under consideration identify themselves as evangelicals? Or does it mean that they have to meet certain standards, such as professing a belief in the inerrancy of Scripture, confessing Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation, having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, or counting the Bible as the ultimate basis for their beliefs rather than experience or tradition?” (149)

Some may be mystified by Marcus Borg's change of direction to a fictional novel. But, sometimes you need a story teller to help you see a new way. I highly recommend this book. It is my hope it will draw us all to a place of humble hospitality where grace abounds. To a place where there is always an open table an empty chair to accommodate everyone. We need more than ever to rediscover the faith that Jesus lived and spoke, Putting Away Childish Things brings us to place to talk about what that is.

Jesus Manifesto...or ultimatum

This would not be the first time something hasn't lived up to its billing. Two great authors, a very cool title...possibly borrowed, or. So it was with a sense of expectation I waited the arrival of " Jesus Manifesto." If you have been indoctrinated into the Christian culture this book will not reveal anything you don't already know. That's not a bad thing, reminders as to the fundamentals of faith are always worth revisiting. The book reaffirms the centrality of Jesus to the Christian faith. In many cases the church has lost its anchor in that truth and drifts, tossed around by what ever it can attach itself for some kind of relevance. Len Sweet and Frank Viola remind us constantly that Christianity is not a religion lived out by principles, but that it is a " living faith " in which Jesus dwells within us. We live faith out of that mysterious truth, and reality.

My problem is how the Jesus Manifesto is presented. More than a manifesto, it is an ultimatum as to a belief in a theological formulation presented by the authors. All through the book I was challenged by the thought of, " if I don't believe exactly what these guys believe, I'm not in." Does one subscribe to all of their manifesto, or bits and pieces?

And if your really looking at the centrality of Jesus as to faithful living, then your vision of Jesus should be uncompromisingly clear. I am in no way doubting the supremacy of Jesus, but when you pluck him from the messiness of the gospels it creates a sterile one dimensional Jesus.

In there constant reminder of being " In " Christ, the present reality that now Jesus dwells with in you. We live out of that truth, that we can live our lives as Jesus. Am I correct, or am I missing something? If this is the central pinning of faith...how is it " lived out " in the context of the Kingdom now, and God's passion for Justice and Mercy. How is the Manifesto lived out in the radical scandalous redemptive imagination of God's grace as seen in Jesus.

By the time I came to the closing paragraphs of the book I was left with the Manifesto being nothing more than correct belief...that right belief was for important the right living. I read the gospels time and time again, and I am constantly confronted with a Jesus that is far more concerned with a faith lived out. He didn't rent some classroom space in the local temple where he taught doctrine and theology about himself. He immersed them into the brokenness of life where they discovered God's passion for grace, justice and mercy. They discovered that in Jesus is the fullness of God, the redemptive imagination of God come to life...in word, and action. This book seems to minimize this reality, with statements like this;

" the social and political reform of the world through the powers than be has never been the agenda of the body of Christ. Caesar sought to change the hearts of men by laws and institutions. Jesus changes the hearts of men and women and brings them into a new society, the church...pg 111 "

I wonder if Jesus had spent three years  in a classroom of the disciples taking notes, power point presentations, quizzes and final exams if they would have discovered the " real " Jesus. I don't think you can know Jesus unless you jump overboard into the ocean of humanity, and follow him through the ebb and flow of "all " life...not just "in" the church. 

Can there be faith with out living it out. This " Christ with in ", can we know " him " without letting him live our lives. It seems to me, the disciples always seemed to discover their greatest reality of Jesus through the thin broken windows of life...a woman at a well, a prostitute washing his feet with tears, eating with sinners, rubbing spit and mud in a blind mans eyes, washing feet...and listening to wild scandalously beautiful stories about God's Kingdom.

We can only discover the living Christ looking and living through the same broken window. If faith is reduced to mere belief, it will always be reduced to something that needs to be defended instead of lived.

In the end what really bothered me about Jesus Manifesto was the authors insistence that so many theological tensions are not complex relationships between interpretations and implications, there is no living in between...it's all reduced to a zero-sum game. You can teach on how to live by faith, wrestling out the tensions of living out the reality of the parables in everyday life, or you can teach Christ, but not both.( page 13 ) For the authors...it is teach " Christ " only.

You can learn theology, wrestling out its truths in everyday living, or you can worship " Christ ", but not both.( page 19 ) For the authors...it is worship " Christ " only. You can strive to imitate Jesus in living out your faith, or you can invite " Christ " to indwell in you, but not both. ( page 68 ). For the authors...it is the indwelling " Christ ", but it is nothing more than downloading theological truths. You can be interested in " causes ", or the praxis of faith, or worship " Christ ", but not both. For the authors it is the ritual, the act of worship that trumps praxis.

In the end it becomes glaringly clear that excessive focus on any of these things would reduce ones Christianity to a pious veneer, a top coat of exterior paint to one's life.

I'm reminded in the end of the story of the transfiguration, the disciples see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah and the urge to build something static, something they could always come back to and worship. I find in the gospels little evidence of Jesus concern that the disciples should worship him. In the end, after three years with the disciples, time is running out in the upper room. More than anything the Master must make it clear what faith is all about. So he washes there feet, and tells them to do like wise. It really is summed up by loving God with all your heart, soul and strength...and to love your neighbor. There, is the tension of worship and practice. They are inseparable. Sadly this is what Jesus Manifesto has tried to do...taking faith out of the context of life, and removing Jesus from his humanness.

Is the book worth reading, yes. But beware, it presents only one dimension of Jesus, and one dimension of faith.

In the light of my review, a great article in the National Catholic Reporter, Claiborne and Rohr, " Uninformed Future ", In Search of the Emerging Church.

a common ethic of faith-filled conversation...Samir Selmanovic

There are many people within the " emerging conversation " that haven't even heard of Samir Selmanovic Likely because he's seen as even being on the fringe of the emerging church. He's a fresh voice in the midst of the noise of religious bullying to see who controls God in the sandbox of life. His Christian faith grew out of his Islamic culture. He offers not only Christianity, but all religions a way forward if humanity and creation have any hope of a future. Recently, he talks about the emerging church's dogma seen more as conversational.

Those of us in the emerging church have been asked, “What do you stand for, really?” Do we stand on shifting sand, without commitment, without convictions about right and wrong, without truths to defend and lies to attack, without anchors, or foundations, without a rudder or a spine? Without dogmas?

I think not.

There is a hill on which we are willing to die, and it is called conversation. We don’t think of conversation as a method of communication. Or as an agent of change, or even as a virtue. We see conversation as the teaching, the truth, the doctrine. We confess it. Conversation is deeply biblical, rooted in Christian history and theology, and, importantly, in the life and teachings of Jesus. Conversation involves incarnation, life, death, and resurrection, both God’s and ours. If you think of faith as something that can be lived outside of a continual experience of living and dying through conversation with the divine and human other, we emergents maintain that you are wrong, terribly wrong.

We believe in a conversation with our God, scripture, strangers, friends, enemies, saints, heretics, committee chairpersons, evangelists, our own soul, brother sun and sister moon!

This is the linchpin of the emerging church. We are as diverse as Christianity, but we hold conversation in common. It is how we pursue justice and beauty,  how we hope, where we find comfort. We converse with God and with one another, and our relationships hold us, like prayers.

You can read the rest of Samir's post here, and if you haven't read " It's really all about God "...read it.

"In a conversation, you always expect a reply. And if you honor the other party to the conversation, if you honor the otherness of the other party, you understand that you must not expect always to receive a reply that you foresee or a reply that you will like. A conversation is immitigably two-sided and always to some degree mysterious; it requires faith." ( Wendell Berry )

This is true - conversation is dogma for the emerging church. And in order to have real, meaningful conversations I try to always remember what Dwight Friesen said:

We value humility more than correctness, hospitality more than being set apart, curiosity more than tradition; in fact theological agreement is not a primary goal for us, we expect to disagree and do frequently. Dwight Friesen ( from “Emergent Village and Full Communion” )

It's really all about God...

For years, I've been talking about the three monotheistic religions to nonbelievers. And here is what I here : " At best, Jews, Christians and Muslims look like three religious stooges in a slapstick comedy. At worst, they look like three brothers with hands clasped in prayer and soaked in blood." We have littered history with incredible amounts of stupidity, injustice and suffering.

In every relationship, there comes a threshold when mere apologies will not do anymore. It seems we have crossed that line.

The world has simply had it with us. Nobody is listening anymore. Until we embrace the limitations of our own creaturehood, we have nothing more to say or do to make the difference we were meant to make in the world.

The mission is over. Monotheism will either die or evolve.

If you read one book this year, read Samir Selmanovic's " It's Really All About God " It is a game changer, he raises the stakes of all religion. Finally a voice comes offering hope at the collision of religions in the intersection of life.

re-imagining...a future theology

Reading the end of Harvey Cox's " The Seduction of the Spirit ", in the last chapter he talks about the future of theology. Hard to believe this book was first published in 1973. There are times when I think we need to travel back down the library corridors of history to re-engage certain voices of wisdom...Harvey Cox is one of them.

The lack of theological imagination is a reality. I imagine today our " theology " as sterile garden plots, with well fortified fences. I see them not as being well fertilized, but more " immunized ", sprayed with weed killer, fungicide...any threat, is sprayed, pulled...and killed. It is a garden in which evolution, and creativity have come to a stand still. Our only goal know is to protect... because, maybe the truth is, if our " theology " dies. God is dead. I think we are trapped in the " ology " of theology. It has become the church's science. But even sadly as science, it hasn't lived up to that. For the books are closed, imagination evaporated...there are no more experiments. I envision a " -logos " of theology. It is rationale discourse, a profound emergence between creator and humanity; the animating principle pervading all creation. It is a language, and conversation that does not belong solely to the church. It is a conversation birthed into the embryo of " all " that exists.

Harvey Cox, speaks of 3 things vital to a future theology...a theology we do just for the " hell " of it, because we are human.

( 1 ) As " making fun of ", theology is a satirizing activity which debunks destructive myths. It criticizes the cramping symbols that keep people busy turning the wheels of grandiloquent institutions and bowing down before bloated cultural and political tetrarchs. The theologians job is to be a persistent muckraker of spurious mystiques. He is a " demythologizer ", the exposer of fraudulent meanings and pasted-on values. He is the theologian as jester or holy fool, the one who pricks pretenses and shouts out for everyone to hear that the king has no clothes. I call this " making fun of " because I believe lampoon is one of the most effective forms of cultural demythologizing. Denying the powerful their mystique destroys the fear they must nurture in the souls of the powerless. Dismantling and deflating auras, halos and nimbuses is part of any theology devoted to human liberation.

( 2 )Theology is play not just as making fum of but also as " making believe ", as fantasizing, pretending or imagining. Theologians should be transmuting old symbols, exploring alternative metaphors, juxtaposing unlikely concepts, playing with new and improbable images of man and woman, God and world. earth and sky. Great theologians of the past have not merely examined and systematized existing religious patterns. They have ventured new ones. They have invented new pictures, woven new connections, spun new ideas. Admittedly constructive, imaginative theology has been neglected for a long time. This is due to the century-long reign of critical theology. Consequently theologians today would sometimes prefer to us another word for the fanciful side of their activity---maybe " theo-poetics." Some purists argue that the " ology " part of the word " theology " makes it a science in which imagination and fantasy would naturally be out of place... ... ...

To banish the imaginative side of life to the il-logical in-significant or meaning-less is to accept a crippling restriction on what counts as meaning or on what is " logical ." I believe, on the contrary, that play, pretending and imagining are alive with meaning and significance. Only a prosaic definition of what is " logical " could deny that play is " logical."  Our whole age is bogged down by such restrictive nomenclature. Happily the condition may be temporary. Some of the best thinkers in modern science are beginning to notice again how essential the imaginative component is in any science.

( 3 )Theology can become a play in the third sense, namely as non-instrumental, non-productive, " useless " activity. As an enterprise which, like play, serves no goal beyond itself, theology rightly defies the modern prejudice which decrees that only useful things have a right to exist... ... ...

Theology is play in the sense that it is not just useful, relevant or productive in the way those words are understood in societies organized around efficiency and getting results. It represents a stubborn hold out among the " sciences " and when it accepts the industrial-technical closure of the world of human meaning, or tries to blend into the one-dimensional flatland, it betrays itself. As a hold out theology has, paradoxically, something important to say to technopolis. It has an eschatological word, a kind of summons to mankind to decide about its future. The paradox is something which seems so out of date, so strangely held over from such a remote past, may be in the only possible position to postulate a radically alternative future... ... ...

The marvel of play is that it reminds us that productive work is not the ultimate end of man. Man was made not just to shape the world but to delight in it, not just to glorify God but " to enjoy Him forever." Play, among other things, is something we do for its own sake, with no intrinsic goal in mind. It is something we do just for the hell of it, and so is theology. It is not only, as St Thomas said, the intellectual love of God, it is also an intellectual delighting in Him, and His world, forever. My hope is that, in this sense, theology will always be a little useless.

We live lives in a world, a creation of profound mysterious change...and God is apart of it all. Even in modernity we saw the fabric of the universe as absolute, time and space were fixed...unchangeable. Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity changed all that. The universe was elastic, mutable...it curved, it collapsed, and life is lived in the midst of all that. For Einstein, he engaged theology in the midst of that changing reality.

For a doctrine which is able to maintain itself not in clear light but only in the dark, will of necessity lose its effect on mankind, with incalculable harm to human progress.

The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge. ( from an address presented at The Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in 1940 )

The reality is we live in the midst of constant change, and yet we lack the imagination, the language, or the conversation to engage God, or humanity. Yes, we can't forget the past, some of the theological foundations of earlier thinkers...but the conversation, and the imagination must continue in the midst of an evolving, elastic, mutable life.

This quote from my good friend Bill Dahl's site. Imagination is not the poor cousin of reason, trafficking in desire-driven fantasy, dreaming, and delusion, but rather, as Fauconnier and Turner show, the very basis on which intelligent, sense-making thought builds. Independently, the philosopher Colin McGinn has reached a similar conclusion in his recent book Mindsight, arguing that without the faculty of imagination, there could be no thought, rational or otherwise. To think intelligently is to create webs of meaning about how the world might be, and this is the work of imagination. Reason follows, creating the rational links and chains of inference that validate and extend our knowledge of reality. Fundamentally we are, as McGinn asserts, Homo imaginans. P. 72 ( Smart World – Breakthrough Creativity and the new Science of Ideas by Richard Ogle )

But, I see theological imagination as sort of an infinite scrabble game. The pieces of the past already on the board can not be pulled up, or undone. We can play off the pieces on the board, but we can not start or invent a new game. But we live in the constant reality that God who lives in this evolving elastic mutable creation...is always giving us new pieces in hand. Emergence is exploring, expressing and navigating on the board with what is in our hands. This is what I see Brian McLaren doing in a New Kind of Christianity. This is theological imagination that is changing, constantly engaging God and humanity.

The problem is religion always seems to kill theological imagination. I still struggle with Jesus dying for the original sin of humanity. I mean, think...seriously. If this is the reality of the predestined time line of point A to point B. That this is just unfolding script, merely turning the pages. Then God is the premeditated murderer of his own son. Sometimes, I believe religion is our scapegoat...our cop out.

I believe...in Jesus Christ. But reading the gospels I can not deny that Jesus was filled with divine eternal redemptive imagination. He spoke and lived a life of theological imagination. He played with the pieces of the past, playing off the pieces. But he stretched us, because in this elastic mutable creation in which the divine and humanity live in relation...God, through the Spirit constantly gave him new pieces in hand.

But just as the religion of the day killed theological imagination, Jesus. The religion of today kills theological imagination.

Man was made not just to shape the world but to delight in it, not just to glorify God but " to enjoy Him forever." Play, among other things, is something we do for its own sake, with no intrinsic goal in mind. It is something we do just for the hell of it, and so is theology. It is not only, as St Thomas said, the intellectual love of God, it is also an intellectual delighting in Him, and His world, forever. It is time, long over due, to imagine...a new conversation with God and humanity.

Jesus-like living in the midst of other religions...

Many have seen the movie " The Kingdom of Heaven " the fictional drama of the interfaith tension in Jerusalem during the crusades. But, the reality was, there was some real interfaith conversation and radical fellowship happening in the midst of the violence of the crusades. Read the following true story with the reality of war torn places in the world like Iraq, Afghanistan,Gaza and Congo in the back of your mind. One can not wonder what possibilities of redemptive imagination and living we are missing.

In 1219 St. Francis and Brother Illuminato accompanied the armies of western Europe to Damietta, Egypt, during the Fifth Crusade. His desire was to speak peacefully with Muslim people about Christianity, even if it mean dying as a martyr. He tried to stop the Crusaders from attacking the Muslims at the Battle of Damietta, but failed. After the defeat of the western armies, he crossed the battle line with Brother Illuminato, was arrested and beaten by Arab soldiers, and eventually was taken to the sultan, Malek al-Kamil.

Al-Kamil was known as a kind, generous, fair ruler. He was nephew to the great Salah al-Din. At Damietta alone he offered peace to the Crusaders five times, and, according to western accounts, treated defeated Crusaders humanely. His goal was to establish a peaceful coexistence with Christians.

After an initial attempt by Francis and the sultan to convert the other, both quickly realized that the other already knew and loved God. Francis and Illuminato remained with al-Kamil and his Sufi teacher Fakhr ad-din al-Farisi for as many as twenty days, discussing prayer and the mystical life. When Francis left, al-Kamil gave him an ivory trumpet, which is still preserved in the crypt of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi.

This encounter, which occurred between September 1 and 26, is a paradigm for interfaith dialog in our time. Despite differences in religion, people of prayer can find common ground in their experiences of God. Dialog demands that we truly listen to the other; but, before we can listen, we must see the other as a precious human being, loved by God. There is no other path to peace in this bloody 21st century.

Francis and his brothers did not make this trip as part of the battle to regain the Holy Land. Rather, they went in opposition to the mainstream theological and political orthodoxies of the time, to meet the Muslim people, and to live among them as “lesser brothers.”

Francis and his brothers went to be present among this people who were being portrayed as evil enemies of Christ, and, in his evangelism of presence, Francis found the spirit of God to be alive and at work within the Muslim people, then called “the Saracens”. Francis admired their public, repeated acknowledgment of God and call to prayer, and he appreciated the deep reverence they showed to their holy book, the Qur’an.

While the main trend of the time was for Christian preachers to deliver strident, inflammatory sermons against Islam, Francis forbade his brothers to take part in these exercises. He demanded that his brothers be present first and foremost, living with and among the Saracens. They were to preach only if they felt that it would “please the Lord.” Francis worked to prevent the brotherhood from becoming embroiled in the grasp for civil and ecclesiastical offices and power, and kept the community’s focus on serving their neighbors for the glory of God only.

In the midst of Brian McLaren's latest book "A New Kind of Christianity " he addresses the question ( The Pluralism Question: How Should Followers of Jesus Relate to People of Other Religions? ) of interfaith dialog, conversations and relationship with other religions. I posted my reviews of Book One and Book Two. I think we need to revisit stories like the one above, of radical interfaith conversation and fellowship. Maybe acutually living in each others camp for a period of time, as Francis did, in the humble reality of Jesus...living as lesser brothers. Maybe, we too might discover a fresh, that God is alive and at work outside the boundaries of our religion.

In the opening of the John's gospel it says, " Jesus pitched is tent in our neighbourhood, in the midst of humanity." There is something amazingly profound that Jesus pitched his tent out side that camps of " all " religions. Something very outside, and yet...Jesus may be the bridge into which we may cross into all religions.

I am encouraged by places where this is happening, like Samir Selmanovic and his friends at Faith House in Manhattan.

In his address at Guildford Cathedral titled The Finality of Christ in a Pluralist World, the Archbishop Rowan Williams spoke of defending the uniqueness and finality of Christ, and encountering the truth about God and humanity from a moral, political and philosophical perspective.

  The address highlighted the importance of approaching inter faith dialogue with confidence, but also of learning something new: "If our convictions lead us to believe there is no hope for those outside our own faith or with no faith..." there is a danger of "treating others as if they know nothing, and we have nothing to learn". "Belief in the uniqueness and finality of Christ allows us a generous desire to share and a humble desire to learn".

Listen to the address [31Mb]

An ancient recipe, with a new label...A New Kind of Christianity

I've reached the mid point in Brian McLaren's latest musings, " A New Kind of Christianity." So this is likely a good place to pull over to the side of the road and digest, and put some thoughts to paper. My first thought is this book will get a lot of people navigating towards it just because of its title  " A New Kind of." If anything, it was marvelous marketing strategy. To attract the fundamentalist, so they know what there up against; and the emerging conversation so they get a glimpse of what may be on the horizon. But the reality...it may be more old school, than new school.

I think his musings will be shocking for much of Christendom that still lives in the corridor of modernity, and will be seen as heretical by much of the North American Evangelical church. But, I think Brian McLaren draws a lot of his so called newness from an ancient well of wisdom of historic Christianity that the Evangelical church oblivious to. He draws from the apophatic theological influences in Christianity such as Miester Eckart, that drew – not only from Gospel and Pauline narratives, Peter Rollins draws a lot of wisdom from this well in his writings. Also from Neoplatonism, influential thinkers such as Plotinus, Pseudo-Dionysius and John Scotus Eriugena. And also from a writer Percy Walker, his influence and interest in philosophy and semiotics. 

So the fact all may not be " new " is ok, because I think Brian McLaren, in his musings takes us on an important journey to renewed paradox, tension, mystery, non-dualistic thinking...and profound redemptive imagination. In a moment where we find ourselves at the edge of religion, and science, if anything Brian McLaren helps us to re-imagine hope...a way out of the box of religion.

So., lets quickly look at the contents of Book One, " UNLOCKING AND OPENING." It is broken down into 5 questions, The Narrative Question; The Authority Question; The God Question; The Jesus Question; and the Gospel Question.

In the Narrative Question we discover the unspoken story line of the Bible that we explicitly taught- or implicitly taught that could be diagrammed by 6 lines. (1) Eden, (2) Fall, (3) Condemnation, (4) Hell, Damnation, (5) Salvation, (6) Heaven. He also talks about the Greco-Roman Narrative this mindset that gives us a skewed image of God that Brian McLaren says is similar in many ways to the Greek god Zeus. He calls him Theos who loves spirit, state and beings, and hates matter, story and becoming, since once again the latter involves change, and the only way to move from perfection is down ward towards decay. Anything that drops out of state of perfection must be destroyed, or made to suffer. Hence our six line reading of the biblical narrative. Brian, tells us it's time to exit the Greco-Roman narrative to quietly and courageously walk out the door and leave it's six lines behind. Then Brian takes us through setting the stage for Biblical narrative. The protagonist of Genesis bearing with a rebellious and foolish humanity time and time again. It's a stage where humanity seems to rise in steps of worldly influence and power, but with each gain, humanity descends into loss. I think what will upset many is Brian Mclarens musings around Adam, Eve and the apple...

Notice the text does not say they will be condemned to hell, be " spiritually separated from God," be pronounced " fallen " or " condemned ", or be tainted with something called the " original sin " that will be passed on to their children. There is only one consequence indicated in the text: they will die - not spiritually die, not relationally die, not ontologically die, but simply die.

For Brian McLaren, the Biblical narrative, God's unfolding drama is nota narrative shaped by the 6 lines of the Greco-Roman scheme of perfection, fall, condemnation, salvation and heavenly perfection or eternal perdition. It is a narrative about the downside of " progress "- a story of human foolishness and God's faithfulness, the human turn toward rebellion, and God's turn towards reconciliation, the human intention towards evil and God;s intention to overcome evil with good. We might say it's a story of goodness being created and re-created.Is this Pelagianism, shadows of Charles Finney, Asa Mahan, or Winkie Pratney. I applaud this bold, imaginative reading of the narrative. For some it will be a huge leap,a non-duality interpretation might be too much paradox, to much mystery. But, in it there is a redemptive imagination that will attract the mind of all humanity, not just the religious.

Brian McLaren then asks the Jesus Question. I think a lot of people are going to find his image of Jesus is too toned down. Not being as powerfully portrayed in the creeds, and as in some of the Pauline narrative, people may be confused by where Brian is going. It is all narrative, Brian attempts to sew the eternal mystery, that incarnational thread that is Jesus from beginning to end. Jesus is the center, or backbone of the story. Jesus holds the story, and all creation together. Brian McLaren's Jesus is seen in the Genesis story of creation and reconciliation; the Exodus story of liberation and formation; and the Isaiah story of new creation and a peace-making Kingdom...and as NT Wright says, the inauguration as seen in the gospels. Is Brian McLaren's Jesus too small...

In this light, Jesus' offers of " life of the ages " and " life abundant " sparkle with new significance. When Jesus promises " life of the ages " ( a better translation of the Greek zoein aionian, I believe, than, " eternal life ", the meaning of which is poorly framed in many minds be the 6 line narrative ), he's not promising " life after death ", or " life in eternal heaven instead of eternal hell." Instead Jesus is promising a life that transcends " life in the present age " an age that is soon going to end in tumult. Being " born of God " and " born again " or " born from above " would in this light mean being born into this new creation. So again, Jesus is offering life in the new Genesis, the new creation that is " of the ages "...meaning it is part of God's original creation...( page 130 )

But even these few examples, selected from so many more, make it clear that Jesus, contrary to my dear loyal critic's assertion, did not come to save souls from hell. No, he came to launch a new Genesis, to lead a new Exodus, and to announce, embody, and inaugurate a new Kingdom as the Prince of Peace. ( page 135 )

So is Brian McLaren's vision of the Kingdom verses heaven drastically different from Bishop NT Wright's in Surprised by Hope,... christians wrong about heaven, says bishop.

For Brian McLaren, it is absolutely clear, the gospels, the good news is about " the Kingdom." But readers will be challenged by the openness of the " New Kind of Christianity " Kingdom message, for many it may be to pluralistic, almost bordering " universalism." 

Beyond that, I always assumed that " kingdom of God " meant " kingdom of heaven ", which meant " going to heaven after you die ", which required believing the message of Paul's letter to the Romans, which I understood to teach the theory of atonement called " penal substitution ", which was the basis for a formula of forgiveness of original sin called, " justification by grace through faith." ( page 138 )

An increasing number of us, when freed from the constraints of the 6 line Greco-Roman narrative and associated constitutional reading of the Bible, gain courage to speak what has become joyfully clear to us in this fresh reading of the gospels: Jesus did not come to start a new religion to replace first Judaism and then all other religions, whether by pen, the pulpit, the sword, or the apocalypse. ...

Instead, he came to announce a new kingdom, a new way of life, a new way of peace that carried the good news to all people of every religion. A new kingdom is much bigger than a new religion, and in fact it has room for many religious traditions with in it. ( page 139 )

Even with in the context of the 6 line Greco-Roman narrative, I've always been mystified that the redemptive story seems to go back as far the Exodus story, where God liberates his people. But in the context of the Genesis story, to the original sin which initiates the first line, this is the embryonic origin of humanity void of any religious label. So even in a narrative reading as Brian lays out, and even in the 6 lines...Jesus should be seen as liberator, reconciler for all humanity...outside the context, and inside the context of all religions. So Brian McLaren's offers a hope for all humanity, a redemptive imagination that should rekindle hope, and a way forward beyond religious exclusiveness. 

Christian universalism musings are not new, there have been many passionate followers of Jesus that have explored this theological understanding. Brian McLaren just awakens us again to it's redemptive imagination. 

So I know pull back out onto the road and read Part Two, and I look in the rear view mirror and exhale. Many in the church will be repulsed by " A New Kind of Christianity ", but I wonder how many who have left the church in the last 10-15 years will be attracted by this message. I think Brian has given us nothing new, it comes from depth of ancient wisdom... he gives us a breath taking image of an ongoing relationship between God and humanity.

My friend Al and I have been getting together every week at Spiral Cafe in Vic West, I managed to get a couple of copies of the book to review together. It was decided we would read the book in 2 chunks, Book One and Book 2, in 2 weeks. We would post our thoughts reviewing the book and then get together for coffee, that way we wouldn't be influencing each others thoughts. You can check out Al's review of Book One...here.

I also encourage you to follow the video conversations with Spencer Burke and Brian McLaren over at Ooze TV. Over ten weeks they will be engaging in the 10 Questions found in " A New Kind of Christianity."