Marginal Christianity

 Exposition Luke’s elegantly written preface expresses his intent in writing this gospel. Luke is traditionally thought to be a Gentile doctor and cohort of Paul (though the gospel itself is anonymous and Luke is a common Greco-Roman name). Aware that “many” have already set down accounts about the events “that have been fulfilled” in their midst, that is, God’s promises to his people in Jesus, he decides to draw up his own to add to their number. Luke believes he has something to say about these things that will aid the story of Jesus having its full effect. One scholar notes that such an addition to a tradition of writings about a similar subject strives not “to strike out boldly in a radical departure from one’s predecessors, but rather to be incrementally innovative within a tradition, by embracing the best in previous performers and adding something of one’s own marked with an individual stamp” (cited in Garland, David E.; Clinton E. Arnold. Luke (Zondervan Exegetical Com...

The Color of Truth – Brad Jersak (with Eric Allaby) Brad Jersak 09/27/2017 No comments Sea Anemones – Grand Manan Island, NB – Depth: 85 feet On my first visit to Grand Manan Island, I met a new friend. Eric Allaby is a kind and fascinating soul who was born on this lobster paradise off the coast of New Brunswick. In the 1950s, he was first to introduce scuba diving to the herring fishery ( cf. weir fishing ) and to personally  survey the dozens of shipwrecks around the island. Eric was mapping and salvaging the wrecks when others were still wearing metal diving helmets. Mr. Allaby would go on to become a map-maker, museum curator and minister of the New Brunswick provincial legislature, where he served for 19 productive years. As I said, fascinating! During our time together, he shared the featured photos of sea anemones, along with this explanation, to create an illustration regarding “truth”: Read more at https://www.ptm.org/8673-2

From An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land The Powers main goal is to sustain themselves (survival). And yet, that brute fact is rarely discussed candidly and in the open. Still, the state functions as the preeminent principality and power. The Denial of Truth/ lying Doublespeak and Overtalk/ euphemism or jargon Secrecy and Boast of Expertise/ hiding the truth Surveillance and Harassment/ intimidating those who seek truth Exaggeration and Deception/ absorbing the truth Cursing and Conjuring/ banishing, smearing, locking up dissidents Usurpation and Absorption/ co-opting the truth Diversion and Demoralization/ diverting, distracting These (assaults on truth) Stringfellow calls Babel. It overwhelms and dumbfounds the faculties of comprehension: conscience and sanity: Babel means the inversion of language, verbal inflation, libel, rumor, euphemism and coded phrases, rhetorical wantonness, redundancy, hyperbole, such profusion ...

November 4, 2014 | By: A.J. Swoboda 0 Comments     What do you think? Read Part 1 . +   Christianity and postmodernism both hold dearly to absolute truth, yet, I would argue, only one of us is gutsy enough to admit it. How refreshing it would be to come to terms with it and talk honestly about our competing ideas of absolute truth? Like a good many Christians, every postmodern believes in a tightly protected circle of absolute truths. Now, it is a very tightly protected circle, a proverbial club, of issues and ideas that are absolutely truthful. My curiosity still remains: who is it that determines what and what does not makes it into the circle of postmodern absolute truth? Who comprises the committee to determine which truths are let in? I’m sure I won’t be let in; I just want to know the process. +   As has been said, “we are entitled to our own opinions, but not our own facts.” So true. But I want to know how the committee deems a fact...

November 3, 2014 | By: A.J. Swoboda 0 Comments       Recently, I had the opportunity to teach a seminar at the Christ and Cascadia Conference in Seattle, Washington, entitled, “Ghost Town: Spirit and Church in an Individualistic World.” I was delighted to find a seminar room packed with eager scholars, pastors, and Christians desiring to think through what living the gospel in the city entails. +   I feel I have something to say about this. Not a final word, but something . As a pastor in the urban core of Portland, I’ve been given a privileged place to creepily watch my neighborhood for trends and insights as to emerging beliefs and faith. In my seminar, I decided to share a few of these insights. To do so, I needed a fictional character. Years ago, I’d heard that Rick Warren created a fictional character named “Saddleback Sam” who epitomized the kind of individual Saddleback Church sought to engage in Southern California. I, on the other han...

http://sloganwrfblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/how-to-tell-the-truth/ Posted on  May 8, 2014  by  samloganje •  Tagged  truth neighbor good name Westminster Larger Catechism John Piper Jonathan Edwards Religious Affections •  Leave a comment Let this be clearly heard and understood: Speaking the truth as we perceive the truth is not an option. It is a requirement. Returning to the document I quoted at length in my previous blog, here is part of the admonition from the Westminster Larger Catechism, answer #144: The duties required in the ninth commandment are, appearing and standing for the truth; and from the heart, sincerely, freely, clearly, and fully, speaking the truth . . . Further, many  Christian leaders  have emphasized that keeping silent in the face of sin (or even perceived sin) actually is a form of complicity in that sin. For an especially powerful expression of this principle, see the argument of Dr. Diane Langberg, a ...

http://intotheexpectation.blogspot.com/2013/07/only-what-is-said-kindly-is-true.html Here are some evocative observations from Karl Barth in a letter to a man in Switzerland shortly before Barth’s death: Basel, 26 November 1968 You very kindly sent me your writing along with an accompanying letter. I thank you for this but also have to admit quite openly that I took no pleasure in reading it. As opposed to what you learned from the other side, I have to say that precisely “in essentials” I am not at one with you and that I do not expect this publication of yours to have any salutary effect. Why not? Because I do not detect in your work the slightest trace of what is called in holy scripture the peace of God that passes all understanding. You say many correct things. But what is correct is not always true. Only what is said kindly is true. You do not speak kindly in a single line. You utter a powerful No on all sides. It is indeed necessary to say No too. B...

“The truth will make you free,” Jesus tells us. Yet it is a peculiar freedom, if Jesus is to be believed. It is, in the words of the preface to his most famous sermon, the freedom to -to confess that we can do nothing to help ourselves in a society hell-bent on self-help and self-assertion -to be broken-hearted in an officially optimistic society that does its best to repress pain and death -to live by and for the will of Another in a society in which freedom has come to mean we’ve got nothing left to lose -to refuse to ever accept the status quo till Kingdom comes -to eschew the power of grudge and revenge in a world where such is the stuff of life in ways large and small -to see what’s real and important amid the superficial and the spectacle -to refuse to allow difference and disagreement to hold us at arm’s length from each other in fear -to absorb the hurts and fear of others who strike out at us in fear, rejection, and ignorance “The truth will make you free.” Yes, ...