Marginal Christianity

“Christian hope does not promise successful days to the rich and the strong, but resurrection and life to those who must exist in the shadows of death. Success is no name of God. Righteousness is.” — Jürgen Moltmann Success Here are some quotes from inspirational/success-oriented Americans: “Either you run the day or the day runs you.” –Jim Rohn “Mondays are the start of the work week which offer new beginnings 52 times a year!“ -David Dweck “ You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction.” – George Lorimer “Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice.” –Wayne Dyer “Your Monday morning thoughts set the tone for your whole week. See yourself getting stronger, and living a fulfilling, happier & healthier life.” -Germany Kent “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” –Zig Ziglar “E...

Monika Hilder’s book The Feminine Ethos in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narni a challenges the claim that Lewis presented a traditional, patriarchal view of women in The Chronicles as well as the assumption that a non-patriarchal view of women presents them with more masculine traits and capacities. Instead, she makes a persuasive case that the latter is faulty and that when read properly The Chronicles present a “radical theological feminism” that is genuinely liberating. This reflection is spurred by the wonderful film “Wonder Woman” released last weekend. It is the best superhero film I’ve ever seen. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not but a small step toward the far more profound “radical theological feminism” we find in Lewis’s stories. Monika Hilder claims that we tend to use the same paradigm to develop ideas of female equality that we want to reject. What do we think “successful” women are? In what does such “success” consist? Is it the Type A, charismatic, mag...

Success as we know and are taught it in North America has no place in God's kingdom work. Instead, “conquering” is the appropriate biblical lingo. What's the difference between the two? The short answer is Jesus. But Jesus, the risen One, gives us a more detailed profile in his messages to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. Each of these messages are addressed to those who hope to “conquer” and the gifts such conquerors will receive. Only two of these churches receive no censure from Jesus; the others all have something going on that provokes Jesus' ire. So our profile of conquering will involve extrapolating from the sins of five of the churches to their positive correlates and compare and contrast them with success in our culture. First , conquering is other-directed. Whether the “first love” from which the Ephesian church had fallen was love for God or love for each other, in either case the one who conquers is focused away from him or hers...