Books should disturb us ‘like an axe on a frozen lake’. Treat the Bible like a sausage to be taken as a whole – not attempt to unscramble into its component parts. John’s gospel is very different in content and approach to the 3 synopics. The writer was a mystic, he gives a profound portrait of Jesus but does not contain a word he spoke! Very Jewish book eg extensive use of ‘I Am’ as used in OT for God. The gospel was very influential at the Council of Nicea – the mystics won the day. Hence Trinity, Creed etc. Some differences with synoptics identified.
Category: Faith Explorers Recent Topics
Recent topics and materials covered by Faith Explorers
The book aims to debunk the proposition that ‘religions have been the cause of all major wars in history’ and that religion and politics are a dangerous combination. The basis of the rebuttal is that up until the 18th century, religion and politics could not be separated – religion permeated everything. Politics/the state was established and maintained through violence. The new religion is the state/nationalism – people willing to die to protect it. Society stratification which kept 90% of people in low standard of living allowed the development of art and philospohy. Support for Charter for Compassion.
The introduction contrasts traditional theology of substitutionary atonement preached by some churches with the fellowship, humanitarian, social work and profile raising of equality, justice and peace by other churches. Churcher describes himself as a Christian Humanist – does this imply the spiritual dimension is missing? Is it an oxymoron? Churcher defines it as placing less (no?) emphasis on Jesus’ divinity and more on his compassionate forgiveness and concern/interest for people – especially those at the edge of society. This is a role much needed even in our much advanced civilisation and higher living standards – compared with the first century. What we do is more important than what we believe. This prompted a discussion on the role of the church – to save souls or be the social conscience of society or a social club similar to Rotary?
We wondered what was the source of the divinity of Jesus – what he claimed about himself or how the early writers portrayed him which were taken up by the church? Was his divinity a reflection of his sense of spirituality – note how he made time to take himself out of everyday situations to mediate – interpreted in the Bible as prayer?
Greg had a conservative Christian upbringing – buying a Scofield Bible instead of a train set. It was a number of years before he came to realise that the Scofield was not the Bible, but instead gave a particular theological perspective of the Bible, eg that Moses didn’t write the first 5 books. Now an understanding of history and archaeology provides an opportunity to explore the alternative views and interpretations within it’s framework – it’s very human-ness and historical significance has made questioning an imperative. The Bible is not a set of answers, but people’s experiences often in situations of stress or conflict. Hence need to let each of the Gospels stand on their own and not try to reconcile the different views and experiences of the writers.
Greg conjecture’s that no-one thinks everything in the Bible should be taken literally; his starting point is that nothing in it should be taken literally. It’s analogous to a musical score – it’s not the score that is important; it’s the interpretation by the conductor & musicians and then the interpretation of the resulting sound by each listener that is important. One’s interpretation of the Bible says more about you, than about the Bible text! We need to engage with it. It is not a ‘constitution’ used to prove one’s point of view. [Somewhat off topic, Greg notes that a lot of church activity is organisational – not discussion of theology, spirituality or the Bible – how true!]
Technology has and will continue to have a significant impact on the Bible – at the moment not clear where this will end. Paper material is read differently than electronic media. Hyperlinks can be a distraction or assist understanding. Less need to memorise verses – can easily search for them. Books are likely to become less important in Western society where the Bible has been ‘the predominant book’ that everyone for many centuries knew stories from or had read pieces of. There is a lot of ‘Christian’ material on the web at present – of very variable quality. Over time Greg thought this will settle in a similar manner to the 200+years it took to agree on the Cannon for the Bible.
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 20th 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 17th and 18th 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 19/20th 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 (17th 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 20th 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.