Marginal Christianity

The Meaning of Advent Micah 5:2-5a / Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 80:1-7 / Hebrews 10:5-10 / Luke 1:39-45, (46-55) Now we move to the end of Advent, threshold of the arrival of the Christ-child, the God who comes. With him comes the fulfillment of God’s plans and purposes. Source of unending joy and delight. Joy itself is the hallmark of God’s presence and power. Joy attended all Israel’s expectations and anticipations of this fulfillment. Yet when the Christ-child comes history does not end, everything is not brought into alignment with God’s design, sin is not abolished, nor are heaven and earth fully and finally harmoniously reunited. Instead, Jesus engages and defeats the powers of Sin and Evil in a battle climaxing in his resurrection from the dead. His victory accomplished, God’s Israel on this side of the cross lives out that victory going forth to spread and implement its fruits in reconciliation and new life. Christ will return to finally and fully put heaven and...

          We take a break from moving through the series to consider a regular criticism made of Lewis’ Narnian stories. He portrays the characters in stereotypical gender roles that reflect the patriarchal roots of Western culture. And they can cite a number of details from the stories in support of this charge.           But Monika Hilder's has recently offered an acute, perceptive, and, in my judgment, compelling, interpretation that counters this charge. Her book The Feminine Ethos in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia she challenges the terms and assumptions of this criticism itself. Matthew and Joy Steem explain in their article in Christianity Today ( http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2013/june/finding-feminine-theology-in-c-s-lewiss-narnia.html ) from which the rest of this post comes. They write: “. . .by pointing to the disturbing assumptions underlying the tradit...

Insight from The Chronicles of Narnia:                                                                                      The Character of Leadership in Prince Caspian           There much talk today about leadership in the church. Too much talk in my opinion. Emphasis on leadership skills and competencies obscures what is truly crucial and underemphasized about “leadership.” Leonard Sweet [1] hits the nail on the head:                ...

                Talk about Hell is and has been a convoluted topic in the history of Christian thought. Though the view that Hell is a “place” where the unbelieving will spend eternity in conscious torment has been dominant for much of this time that time seems to have come to an end. In this post I want to consider (speculate) on a possible image for Hell that may address the issue of the ultimate fate of those who enact the “impossible possibility” (Barth) of resisting God’s love to the end. I’m not going to try to sort and categorize all the different views around this matter. Instead I want to explore an image that C. S. Lewis provides in his Narnia story The Last Battle (LB).           Now Lewis was a traditionalist in his view of Hell. He believed that if a human being did not do as God willed God would allow them to experience the result of their will...

The Book of the Twelve for Lent 2016 God’s Work in the Book of the Twelve – Hosea (4) Lent 2           Hosea has set up our reading of the Book of the Twelve in Lent so far by setting out two overriding themes pervading the Twelve and foundational for a faithful practice of Lent, -the character of God as love - the One who is utterly faithful to himself and to the good of those to whom he has committed himself; and -humanity’s self-chosen trail of tears known as I-dolatry – placing the I in the driver’s seat, displacing God and presumptively taking his place.           Today the prophet gives us invaluable insight into the kind of process we enter if we “return” to YHWH (8x in Hosea) in repentance and hope. But this “return” is never a matter first, our action seeking to restore and renew our life with God. Instead, even the desire to return and renew life with God is a respon...

by Gina Dalfonzo 1 . 22 . 16 If you ever doubt that C. S. Lewis was gifted with a prophetic voice, you need look no further for correction than Prince Caspian. In the story, you may remember, Narnia is in a desperate situation. The Telmarines have taken over, and the citizens of Narnia have been persecuted, silenced, and driven into hiding. When Prince Caspian—a Telmarine himself, but one who sympathizes with the Narnian cause—joins forces with them, this leads to a fresh round of attacks from the other Telmarines and their king, Miraz. The Narnians try to summon help by using Queen Susan’s horn—and they are successful, though not all of them realize it right away. Drawn to Narnia by the call of the horn, Peter and Edmund and their guide, the dwarf Trumpkin, come upon a handful of Narnians meeting with Prince Caspian. Nikabrik, another dwarf, is angry that apparently no help has come from Aslan or the old kings and queens of Narnia. While others argue that “help will come” if...