Brandon's Blog

American Christians & Torture

Tonight, I'm incredibly saddened that American evangelicals can't even represent their God when it comes to a simple doctrine/belief that people are created in His image.  CNN is reporting a Pew Research  Center poll that 6 out of 10 evangelicals say torture is "often" or "sometimes" justified.  My hunch (okay, it's more than a hunch - more along the lines of a personal conviction) is that much of American evangelicalism has subtly shifted to a kind of "civil religion," whereby things such as patriotism/nationalism and conservative politics trump scriptural conviction at best, and actually inform its worldview at worst. 

Hearing The Voice

It was a year and a half ago that I first learned of a new Bible project being undertaken by author and church leader, Chris Seay.  The description of the project’s intent was absolutely thrilling - a holistic approach to translation that would capture the dynamism of scripture through not only the traditional use of scholars, but also of storytellers, poets, artists, and songwriters.  “The team writing The Voice brings unprecedented gifts to this unique project. Award-winning fiction writers, acclaimed poets, pastors renowned for using art and narrative in preaching and teaching, Greek and Hebrew authorities, and biblical scholars are all coming together to capture the beauty and diversity of God's Word.”

I really like the fact that, instead of making Bible translation something that only belongs to academics (whether Greek or Hebrew or theological) and thus making it an almost purely scientific endeavor, the Voice team wanted to bring in artists in order to capture some of the creative dynamic and tone that we find in scripture.  By retaining the academic disciplines of biblical scholarship but also bringing artists into the process, I really believe that a far more meaningful balance can be struck in the work of translation. 

Newbigin's Challenge

Shortly after I blogged last night about the reading I’ve been doing, I picked up The Gospel in a Pluralist Society again and was blown away.  (BTW, GoodReads is a great social networking resource for both “avid readers” as well as “book fans.”)  There’s nothing better than reading something that explains what’s stirring in your mind and heart, but for which your own words haven’t really been able to adequately express.  When you read it, it’s as if the tension drains from your heart and you let out a sigh and whisper to yourself with wide eyes, “That’s it.”  Or maybe it’s just me.

The following is what stopped me in my tracks.  As an Englishman, Newbigin explains from his cross-cultural experience in India how Jesus can fit neatly into a Hindu worldview, and then points out the key parallel that he sees in Western culture : 

Hungarian Get Away

The fam and I have been having an interesting time in Hungary over the last several days.  There've been some unfortunate jabs at the "emerging church" by one of the speakers.  They were quite uninformed and I tend to forget the modern evangelical tendency to be condescending and judgmental about things that haven't been given the time or effort to be understood.  One thing that was repeated 2 or 3 times in a short time span was a commentary on the "humble approach to truth" that the "emerging church" has somehow fallen heretically into.  (See also HERE and HERE.)  Essentially, it was this: "Don't trust yourself.  But trust your convictions!"  (Or, another way it was said, "Doubt yourself, but don't doubt your convictions.")  Which just sounds like an obvious contradiction to me: "Don't trust yourself.  But trust yourself!" . . . Eh?  This kind of thing is always a bit difficult NOT to take personally since you want to have respect for individuals like the one who said this, but they haven't really done an adequate job of understanding before being understood.

On a more positive note, I've been reading through a phenomenal book entitled Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire.  It's coming as a perfect follow up to No Logo, which I just finished up.  Just a quick quote that got my juices going the other night and that has really stuck with me:

"What was true of an ancient community of Christian believers struggling with a powerful and appealing philosophy is also true for Christians in a postmodern context.  Arguments that deconstruct the regimes of truth at work in the late modern culture of global capitalism are indispensable.  So also is a deeper understanding of the counterideological force of the biblical tradition.  But such arguments are no guarantee that the biblical metanarrative will not be co-opted for ideological purposes of violent exclusion, nor do arguments prove the truth of the gospel.  Only the nonideological, embracing, forgiving and shalom-filled life of a dynamic Christian community formed by the story of Jesus will prove the gospel to be true and render the idolatrous alternatives fundamentally implausible."

There's obviously much that has been said in the book up to this point and I hope to unpack some of that in the days ahead as I digest it a bit more. 

More Missional Emerging Discussion

Following up from last week's post, Alan Hirsch has a rather aggressive (not to mention a bit defensive) post on why "missional" is better than "emerging." Interestingly enough, he gives some credit to the "emerging church" movement, but only seems to value that particular stream where it intersects with his beloved "missional" stream of discussion. (For those of you who may not be familiar with Alan and his Australian colleagues, Mike Frost, the two of them are usually credited with doing the most to champion and flesh out the ideas behind "missional church," despite the fact that they came along a bit late in the "missional" discussion.) It's clear that he's very intent on distinguishing "missional" from "emerging," but doesn't want to alienate his "missional" friends who are also engaged in the "emerging" dialogue.

Harps with Whammy Bars

Very cool interaction between Catholic funny man, Stephen Colbert, and Anglican theologian, N.T. Wright.  I just ordered a few of Wright's books (but not the one on his theology of heaven) and I'm really looking forward to jumping in.  (Never thought I'd put up a blog post that could fall in both the "theology" category AND the "funny" category.)

Church for the World vs. Church for Christians: Thoughts Inspired by a Book with a Trendy Title

I'm just finishing up a book entitled An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches, written by Fuller Seminary scholar Ray S. Anderson.  It's a horrible title that probably made the publisher see dollar signs, but Anderson is much more interested in drawing parallels between the church that emerged in the first century and the church that is emerging in the twenty-first century than he is in jumping on the novelty of contemporary trendiness. 

I've been particularly struck by Anderson's thoughts on the Apostle Paul and how he lead the church outside of Jerusalem.  While the church in Jerusalem (under Peter and other disciples who actually spent time with Jesus before his death and resurrection) allowed the Gospel of Jesus to be compromised by requiring adherence to Jewish custom, God raised up Paul to lead the church that emerged necessarily away from Judaism.

Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?

I’m really enjoying this book that I’m reading at the moment entitled “Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism?  Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church.”  The three names in the subtitle are French philosophers who began promoting the more abstract ideas of postmodernism in the 60’s and 70’s.  The book’s author, James K.A. Smith, looks to these philosophers not as enemies of Christian faith, but as brilliant minds who actually undermined the grand confidence found in the Enlightenment and exposed the elevation of reason and science as ultimately grounded in faith (i.e., faith in science - a phrase that I’m sure would make someone like Richard Dawkins see red). 

Transforming Mission & the Numbers Game

(Apologies to those readers who don't find themselves in the "Evangelical Christian" tribe that I happen to have my roots in.  This is, more or less, a post for that group.  Feel free to read on, but it may bore you.)

I'm following Mark's suggestion to read the 12th chapter of Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (a 139 page 12th chapter, mind you).  David Bosch's magnum opus is a must-read in the missional emerging conversation and has served as a primary source material.  I've found myself highlighting and underlining and writing notes in the margin on just about every page.  This passage in particular got me jumping up and down the other night.  So simple, yet so heavy with implications:

"Still, as a measure of how effectively and how responsibly a church has evangelized, membership statistics are less helpful.  As a matter of fact, authentic and costly evangelism may cause a church's membership to decline rather than increase.  Numerical growth is, therefore, in a sense nothing more than a byproduct when the church is true to its deepest calling.  Of greater importance is organic and incarnational growth."  (p. 416)

This is probably most difficult for the American church to swallow, where "bigger is better" seems to be such a fundamental cultural value.  In recent days, even America's largest church empire, Willow Creek, have recognize that the programmes that they've poured time and resources into to draw the masses have not resulted in the transformation of lives.  (See Mr. Berry's post on this.) 

Translation Silliness, Prayer Meditation, and Hearing the Voice

Let’s face it.  When it comes to Bible translations, evangelicals can just get silly.  From the “King James only” fundies to the more moderate “translation vs. paraphrase” debate , we really just want something to point to and say, “This translation is God’s BEST!”  Usually, in the U.S., I’ve heard that from the NAS fans who think that the Bible can be translated word-for-word.  Anyone who knows anything about how linguistics work knows this is impossible.

After my “respectable” evangelical education at a Bible college (which sounds ever so intimidating), I began to realize what actually goes into translation.  I know now that there’s no such thing as “God’s best” English translation.