Marginal Christianity

John C. Nugent, in The Politics of Yahweh:  John Howard Yoder, the Old Testament, and the People of God, (26-29) summarizes Yoder's fascinating argument for God's maternal ordering of the world at creation and the Fall impacted this ordering.  What do you think?  Adam, Eve, and the Fall of Leadership Yoder's convictions about the social implications of the Fall are illustrated in two works in which he explores the dramatic change it brought in the relationship between men and women. In these essays' Yoder explores the possibility that primeval society was meant to be structured matriarchally.  This means that women were supposed to be in charge and that being in charge entails serving those in your care not lording it over them. Before sin's dominance, as after sins demise, leadership involved looking out for the best interests of others and giving your life for them, like Christ leads the church. Yoder's case for this vision involves innovative exegesis of ...

John 10:11-18 11  “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12  When the hired hand sees the wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away. That’s because he isn’t the shepherd; the sheep aren’t really his. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. 13  He’s only a hired hand and the sheep don’t matter to him. 14  “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me, 15  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I give up my life for the sheep. 16  I have other sheep that don’t belong to this sheep pen. I must lead them too. They will listen to my voice and there will be one flock, with one shepherd. 17  “This is why the Father loves me: I give up my life so that I can take it up again. 18  No one takes it from me, but I give it up because I want to. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it up again. I received this commandment from my Father.” ...

          Every era faces issues and challenges that bring certain biblical themes and books into stark relief.   The early church had to respond the challenge of death as the last great enemy of humanity.   Thus they developed liturgies and theologies responding to this challenge.   The “Christus Victor” theology of atonement is a natural development of this concern.           At the time of the Reformation the rediscovery of grace by Luther galvanized a movement away from the various corruptions of the Late Medieval Catholic Church which highlighted guilt and shame and the church’s indispensable role in mediating absolution.   The discovery of the free grace of God mediated to humanity not by the church and its priests but rather by the sole mediator between humanity and God, Jesus Christ, resulting in a theology centered in the slogan “justification by faith” shoo...

1 John 3:16-24 16  This is how we know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17  But if a person has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need and that person doesn’t care—how can the love of God remain in him? 18  Little children, let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth. 19  This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts in God’s presence. 20  Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. 21  Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence in relationship to God. 22  We receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 23  This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love each other as he commanded us. 24  The person who keeps his commandments remains in God...

christian feminism (http://christianfeminism.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/top-10-reasons-why-men-shouldn%E2%80%99t-be-ordained/) June 26, 2009 (one of our commenters posted this and it’s too funny not to share with all of you. thanks chris. :) 10. A man’s place is in the army. 9. For men who have children, their duties might distract them from the responsibilities of being a parent. 8. Their physical build indicates that men are more suited to tasks such as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do other forms of work. 7. Man was created before woman. It is therefore obvious that man was a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment, rather than the crowning achievement of creation. 6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. This is easily demonstrated by their conduct at football games and watching basketball tournaments. 5. Some men are handsome; they will distract women worshipers. 4. To be ordained pastor is to nu...

Psalm 23 23 The LORD is my shepherd. I lack nothing. 2 He lets me rest in grassy meadows; he leads me to restful waters; 3 he keeps me alive. He guides me in proper paths for the sake of his good name. 4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger because you are with me. Your rod and your staff— they protect me. 5 You set a table for me right in front of my enemies. You bathe my head in oil; my cup is so full it spills over! 6 Yes, goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the LORD’s house as long as I live.

Acts 4:5-12  5 The next day the leaders, elders, and legal experts gathered in Jerusalem, 6 along with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others from the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and asked, “By what power or in what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, answered, “Leaders of the people and elders, 9 are we being examined today because something good was done for a sick person, a good deed that healed him? 10 If so, then you and all the people of Israel need to know that this man stands healthy before you because of the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. 11 This Jesus is the stone you builders rejected; he has become the cornerstone! 12 Salvation can be found in no one else. Throughout the whole world, no other name has been given among humans through which we must be saved.” This episode or sequel to Jesus’ resurrection brings us face to...