Marginal Christianity

More Ways the Beast Seduces us Dr. Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Seminary, lays out four ways in which the Babylonian empire sought to bring the Jewish exiles in line with their pagan ways. These strategies show us how the world, in every era, can pressure Christians to conform. [1] #1. Isolation Akin writes: “The first step in making Babylonians out of the four Hebrew teenagers was isolation from their homeland, family, and friends. The Babylonian strategy was to seize upon their vulnerability once they were separated from all that was familiar. Over time, they would be more likely to abandon their faith and become like the Babylonians.” Being in exile doesn’t harm the Christian. Not being with God’s people does. Isolation from other believers and immersion into a world of false assumptions make it difficult to maintain your Christian convictions. #2. Indoctrination Akin writes: “The second step was to take these sharp and impressive young men and...

Trump’s success shows many Americans believe only in America Giles Fraser   The US became its own church and eventually its own god. Which is why its only real atheism is to call into question the American dream – a dream often indistinguishable from capitalism and the celebration of winners.   I t has long been presumed that America is more Christian than Europe. But it’s a myth. Of course, way more people go to church in America. And you can’t become president without holding up your floppy Bible and attending prayer breakfasts. But what the Donald Trump phenomenon reveals is what several intelligent Christian observers have been saying for some time: that a great many Americans don’t really believe in God. They just believe in America – which they often take to be the same thing. God was hacked by the American dream some time ago. “The evangelical church in America has, to a large extent, been co-opted by an American, religious version of...

In Uncategorized on November 17, 2015 at 12:43 pm Today in Sydney the Daily Telegraph reported that the ‘merciless’ response promised by President Francois Hollande of France had begun with revenge bombings of cities in Syria. There should be no doubt that non-combatants will suffer in these attacks. I write this with a profound sense of anxiety and personal misgiving. But I feel like I cannot not write when, as I’ll explain below, it looks to some observers as if  the church I love has publicly merged its identity with that of Western capitalist democracy. Almost overnight, we have shucked off the theological practice of over a 1000 years.* At its best, the church has kept a clear distinction between itself and the state; suddenly, we have begun using words like solidarity and phrases ‘standing with Paris’. And I think that somewhere in our Spirit-led rush to the kind of compassion that has marked the church through the ages, we have forgotten that to be pastora...

This post first appeared on Brian Zahnd’s excellent blog , and is republished with permission. What is the church? Is the church a religious building with stained-glass and a steeple? Is the church a religious gathering that meets on Sunday mornings? Is the church a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit religious organization? I don’t want to give a quick and jaded “of course not.” There are reasons why stained-glass and steeples, Sunday gatherings and not-for-profit status have become associated with the church. But… In the end this is not what the church  is . Maybe the church is something like this: The other way of being human (together). The way given to us by and built around Jesus Christ. The church is a distinct way of being human. As the most social of beings we are constantly trying to figure out how to be human together. This is the human project. (War, hunger, and poverty are our most conspicuous failures.) There are many ways to be human. For example… The ...