Tawa Union Church

Crossan emphasised that we need to understand the context (Crossan preferred the term matrix) in which Jesus found himself which would have greatly influenced his life and teaching.  The Romans were very intrusive into ordinary people’s lives from which arose a feeling that they were in an eschatological time frame – ie that things were so bad surely God would intervene to save them from this oppression.  The fact that God had not intervened was causing doubt that God really was ‘in overall control’.  When Herold The Great died the Palestinians revolted and the Romans sacked the town of Sepphoris just a few kms from Nazareth; 2 points – Jesus therefore would have known the viciousness of the Roman soldiers and he never made any recorded reference to it.  When Paul wrote he deliberately used the titles applied to Caesar/Emperor (eg The Lord, Savour) to Jesus as a challenge to the power of Rome (insurrection/treason).

Crossan drew our attention to the differences between Roman practice of ‘Peace through Victory’ to Jesus’s ‘Peace through Justice’.  Our present use of the word ‘justice’ implies punitive justice, retribution, punishment eg Department of Justice.  This is not the meaning of Jesus’s use of the word.

Paul’s vision of Jesus at Damascus framed Paul’s theology.  Note parallel to Luke’s view of people being blind but after baptism can see – just as Paul did as recorded by Luke in Acts.  Paul engaged with God Fearers/God Worshippers – gentiles that worshipped in the Synagogues (but who were not converts to Judaism), in his taking of the message of Jesus to Gentiles.  He didn’t stand on corners trying to engage, but went to where people already knew Judaism but could be open to new ideas.  This proved to be very effective and opened up conflict with the Jewish establishment. [Is there a modern day parallel for us in this?]

Crossan concluded by emphasising that we have to break the fallacy of War=> Victory=>Peace as this only leads to ‘lulls’ in conflicts.  We have to promote the alternative vision of Justice =>Peace to make real change (just like the abolition of slavery).  ‘I believe …’ is not sufficient, we must be committed to the programme by never accepting the illusion of achieving peace through victory.

Father Peter Kennedy is a RC Priest who was removed from St Mary’s in South Brisbane by his archbishop – see here.  Hundreds of members followed him to form “St Mary’s in Exile” which after 3 years was thriving – see also here and still is today.

Peter was called originally as a prison chaplain and as administrator to St Mary’s which was very small at the time.  This work led Peter to develop an affinity for people who are ‘marginalised’ and an increasing sense of the injustices faced by those on the periphery of society.  This lead him to slowly but steady change the liturgies (and furniture) at St Mary’s to reflect this emphasis – on welcoming and encouraging participation and exploration by all.  He noted – as we have previously – that Jesus used open ‘table fellowship’. Increasing, the liturgy contained contemplation, mediation and then mystical elements.  For Peter, mysticism is the future for Christianity – away from doctrines and dogmas, atonement theology and a church hierarchy which claims to be the only channel to connect with God (compared with mystics who claim a direct connection).  Exclusive church hierarchy results in a structure that leaves church members to just “pray, pay and obey”.  Mysticism is a common thread through all religions.

Peter has great affinity with Harvey Cox’s book ‘The Future of Faith’ – (see a review here) – involving small groups meeting together leaving hierarchies behind.  His last point was a discussion on duality – v – oneness.  It took us a while to get a handle on the concept of oneness – basically we as individuals are not separate entities within the living world but integral parts of it.  There is no ‘me’, no small self, but one ‘large self’. Ego gets in the way.  See Eckhart Tolle and here.  We need to surrender to this truth if we are to achieve real inner peace.  The secular is becoming sacred.

The series comprises 5 interviews with ‘Progressive’ Christians, each consisting of 3 approx 10min sessions.

Lloyd started by outlining his interpretation of the first and second Axial Periods (800 – 200 BC & 17th century respectively).  The second was necessitated by a need to transform the religious traditions.  The ‘liberal’ period of the 1880s stalled.  Not easy to separate religion & culture.  Fundamentalism does separate these by living in the past.  The modern secular world has evolved out of the Christian west and has achieved many positive steps for society – abolition of slavery, tackling racism, equal gender rights, democracy, social welfare, (could I add: greater acceptance of LGBT people?).  With weakening numbers of children in churches, where will values be taught? Touches the topical issue of religion (Christianity) in Schools – v – teaching of ‘values’.

Lloyd supports the need for Christianity/religions to change reflecting biological evolution & society changes – only ‘death’ is changeless!  Christians need to participate in a movement rather than join an organisation.  Lloyd has an affinity for Buddhism; their term ‘awaking’ is analogous to Christian resurrection.  Any exclusive claims of Christianity must be rejected. He acknowledged that ministers in training are not taught how to convey modern knowledge of the Bible from research undertaken by such as from the Weststar Institute.  Ministers don’t wish to ‘disturb the peace of the church’ by introducing new knowledge which will challenge old understadings.  Lloyd also made the important point that the sermon is to provide encouragement – not teaching.  The latter is better suited to a midweek group.  Generally the church has been very poor at education

Do we need to re-discover our faith as a motivation for serving/acting in the world; lots of people do ‘good things’ who are not Christians – is their motivation different or not?  For Lloyd, the environmental green movement is the spiritual priority for today.

The series comprises 5 interviews with ‘Progressive’ Christians, each consisting of 3 approx 10 min sessions.

Val outlines some of the steps of her personal faith journey, but started with doubts arising from a literal interpretation of the Biblical text.  She noted we only move forward by exploring and questioning and it is helpful to be able to do this in an environment that is accepting and non-judgemental.  She speculated that in general, clergy are reluctant to share progressive ideas as lay people are not capable of ‘doing’ theology.  In her view it is vital that we each do our own theologising.

The faith journey often starts with the heart (I love Jesus), then for Val moved to the head to de-construct and turnover, consider over time (compost) fresh ideas and concepts and test and challenge these.  Once comfortable with the new understandings, we can re-construct our faith journey which is reflected in how we live ie more heart. (Story of the road-rage driver!) Using our gifts is more important than what we believe.  God is within us and everywhere, so for Val to be fully human is to pray.  All images of God are metaphor and picked up from our environment.  As an example, feminist theology delivered a mortal blow to the patriarchal view of God in the 20^th century.

Everyone (liberal and conservative) is very selective about what is regarded as truth in the Bible. Val urges us to develop our continuing stories of acts in our time and contexts.

The concluding episode covers the development of what is known as ‘the Protestant work ethic’ and its sidekick ‘profit’. Before the Reformation the ideal was to withdraw from the world eg in Monasteries as poverty and godliness went hand-in-hand, work was demeaning, any profits were distributed to the church for the betterment of all.

Calvin’s interpretation was ‘salvation through faith’, but how might one know if one were saved ie one of the Chosen? The answer became that God’s favour was evidenced if the person prospered.  So now work had an intrinsic value and wealth was the best evidence of God’s favour.  So business success with Christian morality/responsibility/spirituality became intertwined.

Faber introduced the importance of the careful use of time as to be saved one had to account that one’s time had been used properly; therefore idleness was not fulfilling this requirement.  Hence ‘busy-ness => business’.  In 17^th and 18^th centuries UK became powerhouse for commerce and industry eg Lloyds, Barclays, Wedgewood, Cadbury.  Puritan Winthrop established very successful Boston which demonstrated God’s favour.  Benjamin Franklin spread the Puritan values with his pithy proverbs eg ‘God helps those that help themselves’.  For Wedgewood the efficient use of time established the concept of the modern factory eg fixed hours, training and use of specialists, worker housing, Unions.

The blight of slavery which benefited the Anglican Church in St Thomas was defended as saving the slaves from idleness!  By over working slaves (to death) the church became very wealthy – it became consumed by an overwhelming profit motive.  The Quakers and Methodists as non-conformists succeed in banning it in 1833 after a 40 year (first) human rights campaign.  This highlighted the ‘slaves’ in the UK – child labour which Saddler’s campaign eventually ended.  Children and women were especially degraded by the profit motive which had regained some balance by turn of 19/20^th century.

In US liberty and prosperity were the twin objectives as typified by Ford production line.  The godly commonwealth was replaced by individual prosperity and the pursuit of profit and pleasure.  Capitalism devoid of Christian ethics has lead to environmental destruction and the rise of the countering (17^th century non-Conformist) challenge of on-site, non-violent protest eg Greenpeace.

So now we have on one hand work, money, profit and on the other protest, highlighting the high cost of capitalism; individualism – v – ethics & conscience.

What started as God everywhere => search for business success => secular world => now God seems nowhere!  The recent observations by Pope Francis on western capitalism seem to pointing to this loss of an ethical keel to keep us upright in the rising storm of ever increasing consumerism and consumption.

The common thread with the previous episodes is the un-anticipated consequences of the freedoms enabled by the concept of the ‘priesthood of all believers’ – the Church no longer had absolute say over people’s lives.  Explored in 3 aspects.

Art: Prior to Reformation there was a large quantity of religious ‘art’ even in parish churches.  The Reformation movement in England lead by Cranmer declared all art forms – stained glass, tapestry, paintings, icons as idolatry and must be destroyed along with the Dissolution of the Monasteries.  The Bible was the only route to salvation – the triumph of word over image.  As art was no long welcomed in churches, this encouraged the development in new directions especially paintings – firstly portraits and then everyday common life.  The establishment of art museums is another consequence.

Literature: As the Bible replaced images and icons, so reading became centrally important to determine whether one was on the path to salvation.  Hence the rise of the diary to confirm one’s life was on the right track and hence the autobiography – as typified by John Bunyan’s ‘Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners’ and then an allegory of true life ‘Pilgrims Progress’ which become the forerunner of the novel, as in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and the eventually into the religious satire of Dickens.

Science: The Protestant ethos of self questioning, challenging of authority had a huge impact on the progress of science and technology.  Protestantism encouraged a direct approach to God on matters of salvation and so supported a direct investigation of the natural world ie not via the Bible or though religion.  In this sense they were not in conflict and the first industrialists (James Watt and Matthew Bolton) and the first members of The Royal Society (Isaac Newton) were pious, God-fearing people. Non-conformists (rejected the authority of C of E), explored and then commercially exploited the natural laws especially physics, formed the Lunar Society with Watt and Bolton as members.  Darwin’s father was also a member.  Newton’s mathematical description of the movement of the planets, sun, moon, tides etc and Darwin’s theory of evolution, challenged the authority of the Bible and hence God’s role in the physical world, leading to increased secularism.  In the 20^th century and especially in USA, this lead to a backlash by Christian Conservatives, such that it was claimed that nearly 50% of Americans believe the earth is less than 10,000 years old!  On the other hand with rapidly increasing knowledge of the genome, should there be limits on what scientists are allowed to do?  Is it anything goes?  As the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams noted “The Reformation is cultural not just a religious one.” Surely an understatement.

The common thread with part viewed last week is the un-anticipated consequences of the freedoms enabled by the concept of the ‘priesthood of all believers’ – the Church no longer had absolute say over people’s lives.  This episode focused on the personal relationships, that marriage was a goodly (Godly) state; that family life could demonstrate a loving, caring supportive, even worshipful companionship.  An example of living a life of Christian values.  This lead to a gradual recognition of the equality of the sexes.  Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer provided the first formal structure for a marriage ceremony (very informal beforehand with little/no church involvement); recognised that marriage was for fun as well as support for each other and children that was regarded very positively by God.  This was in contrast to the RC elevation of celibacy.

In the home the wife was the heart of domestic spirituality – especially with longer and defined working hours for the (male) earner.  This was elevated a step further by Queen Victoria.  In the late 19^th/early 20^th centuries wealthy women became urban missionaries as they sought to bring order/assistance to less fortunate families; this brought a recognition of the very difficult social circumstances which lead women to recognise that they needed political power to effect significant social change.  20^th century has seen women gaining more freedoms (the pill) and equality in business and politics.  There has been an increasing recognition of need for equality for different races (US Civil Rights Movement headed by Martin Luther King Junior, end of Sth African apartheid) and sexual orientation (gay marriage); the rise from mid 20^th century of conservative Christian right in the US to counter these trends – culminating in election of GW Bush.

This traces the impact on the church with the formation of Protestantism and (via Henry VIII) on politics and the formation of the UK Labour Party and more latterly, the divisive politics of the USA. The most critical concept identified by Luther was the ‘priesthood of all believers’, ie that we are free to determine our own beliefs by studying the bible and other writings.  This had a consequence not only within the church hierarchy itself but also with secular society in that it encouraged  challenge to all hierarchies and authorities.  This resulted in the formation of Protestant church from the Roman Catholic as lead by the authority figure of the Pope, the beheading of Charles the First (for religious not political reasons) and may yet undermine US right wing political conservatives.

Luther and his supporters exploited the use for the new technology of the printing press to communicate their view about how one might save one’s soul (through faith alone).

Luther’s 95 precepts were not in themselves, particularly radical but came at a critical time so they acted as a trigger.  Dissatisfaction with the church was high, sale of indulgencies made many uneasy with the promise of ‘salvation’ unaffordable, the Bible was not available to the common person and was only read ‘unintelligibly to most’ in Latin, Greek or Hebrew which preserved the power structure of the church and priests to interpret. Luther’s revelation of the ‘priesthood of all believers’ and his consequence translation of the Bible into everyday German not only broke the priests grip on power but unleashed a pent-up grab for power by Princelings anxious to replace the church’s influence.  This was not what Luther expected or wanted; he was looking to ‘reform’ the (Catholic) church not replace it nor to turn society upside down in the process.  [There is a modern parallel in the publication of A.T. Robinson’s Honest To God in 1963, and Prof L Geering’s  subsequent articles in NZ, which also acted as a trigger with wide and unexpected consequences.]  Change and the need for reformation is on-going.