Marginal Christianity

“If this life is not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game of private theatricals from which one may withdraw at will.” (William James) Many these days are understandably allergic to using military images and themes in thinking through theology, ministry, and discipleship.   To do so, however, is to forfeit one of the fundamental strands of biblical imagery and thought about these things.   I suspect that many experience the church’s theology and ministry, following James’ citation above, as “private theatricals” divorced from reality, nowhere close to compelling enough to sustain their continued involvement, precisely because we have eschewed military imagery of the conflict we are engaged in as Christians.                  To use such imagery as a Christian is necessarily to “baptize” it with the gospel of Jesus Christ.   T...

33  Some people said to Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and pray frequently. The disciples of the Pharisees do the same, but your disciples are always eating and drinking.” 34  Jesus replied, “You can’t make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you? 35  The days will come when the groom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.” 36  Then he told them a parable. “No one tears a patch from a new garment to patch an old garment. Otherwise, the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t match the old garment. 37  Nobody pours new wine into old wineskins. If they did, the new wine would burst the wineskins, the wine would spill, and the wineskins would be ruined. 38  Instead, new wine must be put into new wineskins. 39  No one who drinks a well-aged wine wants new wine, but says, ‘The well-aged wine is better.’” Having objected to Jesus’ dinner guests (5:27-32), someone next objects ...

June 11, 2013 by Lawrence Garcia http://lawrencegarcia.org/jesus-was-not-a-man-of-steel/ No comments yet Categories: Blogs No doubt as many Christians, and non-Christians for that matter, flood rank and file into movie theaters this week to view Warner Bros.’ Man of Steel that they will pick up on resonances from the story of Jesus as told in the canonical gospels. The “synopsis” from the official site about the movie could be equally at home with a movie about Jesus: A young boy learns he has extraordinary powers and is not of this earth. As a young man, he journey’s to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become a symbol of hope for all mankind. Could we not picture an adolescent Jesus wrestling with his divine mission as he comes to terms with his vocation to rescue mankind from annihilation? Perhaps, Jesus, the Clark Ken...

http://www.christenacleveland.com/2013/06/why-reconciliation-needs-justice/ By christena on June 10, 2013   This past weekend, I attended a fascinating and excellent talk that Andy Crouch gave on art, faith and culture at Art House North . At the start of his presentation, Andy showed two very similar Thomas Kinkade paintings. Even though both paintings depict the water tower in Chicago, they differ in important ways. When Andy asked the audience to comment on the differences, one man responded, “In the painting on the left, it looks like good is obviously winning.”   Indeed, the painting on the left is triumphant in a happy-go-lucky sort of way. It’s clearer, cheerier, brighter – Andy the Art Critic says it’s unrealistically bright – and all in all not very sophisticated. However, the painting on the right shows the contrast of light and dark in a murky, but realistic and dynamic way. While the painting on the right is less happy-g...

http://www.resourcesforchristiantheology.org/naming-the-powers-christians-and-the-challenge-to-our-culture/#more-276 Why is our economy in trouble? Could it be that our economy is in trouble because our culture is in trouble? One reason that our culture might be in trouble because it has adopted a dramatically reduced account of the human person . It has adopted this reduced account of the person because it does not care to hear the Christian gospel which tells us that man is made for love and freedom in relationship with God and his fellow human beings. Because it does not care to hear about this love, or this freedom, our culture is no longer confident of the value and significance of human beings. Our economic crisis reflects a crisis of cultural confidence that reflects a crisis of faith. Man is not convinced that he has a future, and this loss of confidence has eroded his long-term perspective and is stalling our economy. Let us take a look at some of the connect...

http://www.chrismorton.info/2013/05/20/how-churches-became-full-of-gatsbys/?fb_action_ids=10151656308902040%2C10151655029012040%2C10151653539167040&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=.UbNJAsdwUL4.send&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%2210151656308902040%22%3A596083587090501%2C%2210151655029012040%22%3A568230979874929%2C%2210151653539167040%22%3A458616777561094}&action_type_map={%2210151656308902040%22%3A%22og.likes%22%2C%2210151655029012040%22%3A%22og.likes%22%2C%2210151653539167040%22%3A%22og.likes%22}&action_ref_map={%2210151656308902040%22%3A%22.UbNJAsdwUL4.send%22} Chris  —  May 20, 2013 —  3 Comments 1 in Share Email Print Americans love Gatsby. We love the idea of a mystery man from nowhere. We want to believe, like Gatsby, that we can invent a persona to fit into our culture. Gatsby is a story about the lengths we will go to because of shame. Gat...

There are many ways to get at the heart of the biblical message.   One way is by considering the contrasts between i-dolatry (I’ll explain the spelling below) and image.   Created as God’s image-bearers humanity has insistently if inexplicably turned away from God to other supposed deities.   This i-dolatry is the fundamental human problem according to the Bible.   The difference between the 1 st Commandment and Jesus’ 1 st Beatitude makes this clear.   God commands exclusive commitment to him above all and in place of all other deities.   Jesus blesses his followers with “poverty of spirit” – being bankrupt to stand before God and knowing and embracing it.   That Jesus has to gift his followers with such an awareness speaks volumes about how far and how deep we have “fallen.” Created to be God’s glorious image-bearers, that is, his royal representatives reflecting and implementing God’s will and way throughout the creation and oversee...