Marginal Christianity

In this piece theologian Jürgen Moltmann makes a frontal assault on the heresy of nationalism, a heresy which has distorted and disabled Christianity in the most profound of ways. I add “tribalism” to “Nationalism” because in our day the breakdown of national entities into various “tribes” is a prominent and growing reality. The same dynamics that fuel nationalism also drive this tribalism. I take heresy rather narrowly as any teaching that substantively compromise either one of or both of the two ecumenical creeds definitional of Christianity: the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. The former expounds the mystery of the trinity; the latter the mystery of the incarnation.  Does “nationalism/tribalism,” really qualify as a heresy? How does it compromise these ecumenical creeds? First, what is nationalism”? A dictionary definition will do: -spirit or aspirations common to the whole of a nation. -devotion and loyalty to one's own country; patriotism. -the policy...

The Politics of Fear Brexit: Democracy at Work? Posted by: vinoth-ifes on: June 28, 2016 I arrived in London the day after the results of the British referendum. I found many of my friends in a state of shock and dismay. The Brexit vote has revealed the deep fissures in British society- between London and the rest of the country, between economic classes, between urban and rural populations, between Scots and English, and even between generations (the young voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU). The vast majority of non-Europeans are unaffected by what has happened here. But what has been most troubling- indeed horrifying- was the way the political campaign was fought. It mirrored the vicious obscurantism of the current American presidential campaign. Read more at https://vinothramachandra.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/brexit-democracy-at-work/

A few days ago I received an email from a friend of mine. He was sharing with me his frustration over the apparent blindness that many Christians seem to have when it comes to following Jesus. His experience was that every time he attempted to talk about doing what Jesus commanded us to do – like loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, caring for the poor, etc. – the responses he kept receiving were comments like, “But the Founding Fathers say…”, or “The Constitution says..”, or “Common sense tells you…”,  and so on. This isn’t something new to me. I’ve had – and continue to have – similar conversations with Christians on almost a daily basis. So, what’s going on here? Why is this such an ongoing problem in the American Church today? What can we do about it? I have a few ideas. What’s going on? Most Christians simply do not understand the Gospel, plain and simple. I know this because – only about 10 years ago – I was also unaware of what th...

http://empireremixed.com/2013/07/01/nationalism-remixed/ 1 07 2013 by Brian Walsh “Do you think that there is any biblical warrant for nationalism?” The emphasis was on “any” because the questioner was thinking that maybe I was actually suggesting that there wasn’t any such biblical warrant for nationalism, and that, of course, would be ridiculous.   The context was the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois around ten years ago. I had been leading a series of four workshops on reading the epistle to the Colossians in its ancient and contemporary imperial context. Essentially I was taking material that would be in Colossians Remixed out for a test run. And I guess that all of this anti-imperial talk was starting to get to some of the folks in attendance, and the explicit critique of American empire was starting to make things in that festival tent even hotter than the bright sun above was providing. Hence the question, with jus...