Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

It's the Gospel Truth! The atonement remixed by Ron Roper

IT’S THE GOSPEL TRUTH!
—the atonement remixed—

April 20 (Passover/Orthodox Palm Sunday)—April 27 (Pascha/Easter), 2008.
Meditation on the Columbine (‘dovelike’) bloodshed of innocents.
In remembrance of Cassie René Bernall and Rachel Joy Scott.

 

The proclamation of God’s Kingdom is communicated in the historical narratives about Jesus of Nazareth—his conception, birth, baptism, temptation, teaching, deeds, trial, death, resurrection, ascension, sending of Holy Spirit, and promised return to earth in judgment—in accord with a host of ancient prophecies, fulfilled as noted by his disciples in the written testimonies of the New Testament, and further validated by the ensuing course of performance recorded without collusion by a host of leaders and varied witnesses from the early churches scattered across the far-flung Roman Empire for the next few centuries. 
 

Joshua 1: I will be with you by Adria V. Holub

Introduction

In Joshua 1, Moses has just passed away and Joshua is commissioned to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. Joshua hears God promise to be with him personally, and to grant him success.[1] Throughout Scripture God is said to be with certain people at specific times. Indeed, God's presence is reported in a variety of ways in the biblical witness. The question is, "what does it mean to say God is with someone?" One's answer depends on one's paradigm for who God is and how God will choose to act. Joshua believed in and testified to a God who was so righteous that his presence would cause the death of unrighteous people, be they the inhabitants of Canaan who worshiped idols and practiced destructive rituals, or members of Israel who disregarded the perceived commands of YHWH. This understanding of what it means for God to be present "with" his people is not universally held in the Old Testament witness, though it is the dominant theology, and is explicitly contradicted in the life and teaching of Jesus.

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[1] The pronoun "you" is in the singular, not plural. Robert G. Boling and Wright, G. Ernest, Joshua: A New Translation with Notes and Commentary. Vol. 6, The Anchor Bible (Garden City: Doubleday, 1982), 115.

"The Time of Abel" - excerpt from RAISING ABEL by James Alison

James Alison, Raising Abel: The Recovery of the Eschatalogical Imagination.

Let us imagine Cain, sentenced to wander forever over the face of the earth, unable to find a lasting home, always with fear of some vengeance for his brother's murder, and only half-protected by the laws which God gave after that incident, laws whose purpose was to contain the violence of reciprocal vengeance. Cain is getting on now and feels that death draws close. Wherever he goes he hears rumors that something terrible will happen, some fearful end will befall him, with a judgment in which he will be declared guilty.

Understanding Orthodoxy: How we think and talk about God by Archbishop Lazar

THINKING THEOLOGICALLY
    INTENT

    We are not going to re-examine the already familiar list of conflicting beliefs that separate the Western creeds from the Orthodox Christian Church, but rather speak of the way so many people think and talk about God — the way they "theologize" about Him. Roman Catholicism and Protestantism have essentially the same mind — the same culture and history — and, in the final analysis, the same religion; hence, it is not difficult to delineate both together as "Western" in their theological approach and trace this fact to the idea and method of law or what we would call the "juridical concept" of religion, begun in the universities of the Latin Middle Ages.
    The theology, or rather the approach to theologizing, in the Orthodox Christian Church, is sharply different from the Western approach. Her theologizing is different because her Christianity is different — and it is this, more than any other factor, which accounts for the so-called "separation of the Churches" — or, more precisely, the schism of the old Roman patriarchate from the Eastern patriarchates of the Christian Church, and ultimately the creation of the Roman Catholic Church by Charlemagne.

Theology, Culture and M.E. by Brian Schmidt

Theology, Culture & M.E. Brian Schmidt, BGS, M.Ed. [& M.E.]

The following is an excerpt from my All Saints’ Day, 2007 reflections on living with M.E. after having the illness for 17 years, and a month after a dear person who had M.E. took her life after living with it for 28 years—mostly on her own, without much help, and not believed most of the time.

M.E. is a poorly understood chronic illness affecting thousands of people worldwide. It’s closely related to Fibromyalgia [FM], a disease that also involves neurocognitive symptoms, pain and chronic fatigue.

On the Nature of Sin by Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

Preface:

    Faith is an orientation of the soul, not an accord with a collection of facts .  Faith is not only the fact that we believe, but what we believe.  God calls us to the former, and has given us the latter. Not all faith is good, not all religion is good. The truth in anything comes by the actions of the Word, Jesus Christ.  He "enlightens every man that comes into the world." Mere faith is not true and living faith.  Mere faith does not "orient" us to God, because mere faith has not the true God and His Revelation as its raison d'etre. Mere faith is not "an orientation of the soul."

St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily 60

If a man readily and joyfully accepts a loss for the sake of God, he is inwardly pure. And if he does not look down upon any man because of his defects, in very truth he is free. If a man is not pleased with someone who honors him, nor displeased with someone who dishonors him, he is dead to the world and to this life. The watchfulness of discernment is superior to every discipline of men accomplished in any way to any degree.

Do not hate the sinner. For we are all laden with guilt. If for the sake of God you are moved to oppose him, weep over him. Why do you hate him? Hate his sins and pray for him, that you may imitate Christ Who was not wroth with sinners, but interceded for them. Do you not see how He wept over Jerusalem? We are mocked by the devil in many instances, so why should we hate the man who is mocked by him who mocks us also? Why, O man, do you hate the sinner? Could it be because he is not so righteous as you? But where is your righteousness when you have no love? Why do you not shed tears over him? But you persecute him. In ignorance some are moved with anger, presuming themselves to be discerners of the works of sinners.

Stricken by God? Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ - edited by Brad Jersak and Michael Hardin

"We considered him stricken by God. But..."

Did God pour out his wrath on his own Son to satisfy his own need for justice?
Or did God-in-Christ forgive the world even as it unleashed its wrath on him?
Was Christ's sacrifice the ultimate fulfilment of God's demand for redemptive bloodshed? Or was the cross God's great "No" to that whole system? The church is asking these questions afresh. And from every stream of Christianity, answers are coming.

Stricken by God combines twenty essays (over 500 pages) from such authors as N.T. Wright, Rowan Williams, Richard Rohr, Miroslav Volf and Marcus Borg. Other contributers include Tony Bartlett, J. Denny Weaver, Sharon Baker, James Alison and Mark Baker. Anglican, Catholic, Anabaptist, Evangelical and Orthodox writers come together to revisit the question of the atonement. Together, they share and develop perspectives of the cross with implications for restorative justice, nonviolence and redemptive suffering. The following is an excerpt from Brad Jersak's chapter, "Nonviolent Identification and the Victory of Christ":

Holy Books: Is Religion the Problem? by David Goa

The philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002), in his last essays when he was close to 100 years old, said that what will save us is a conversation between religions and that it will focus on transcendence, on the ineffable. That is the only way of peace. Being part of a tradition we are both circumscribed and open at the same time. Religious tradition brings finitude and the eternal together. Tradition is reiterative. It is not repeated, but the very event again, and again, the inaction again. 

The organizers of “Building World Peace: The Role of Religions and Human Rights” have suggested that the theme “Holy Books: Is Religion the Problem?” “serves to highlight the differences between sacred religious texts and the political practice of their teaching. Since September 11^th, 2001, especially, there has been great debate about the role of religious texts in acts of social and political violence. In order to preserve respect for the diverse religions, cultures, races, and ethnicities throughout the world, we ought to focus on the message of peace shared by a majority of peoples.”

“For They Know Not What They Do” By Andrew P. Klager

“For They Know Not What They Do”: An Epistemology of Obedience, Compassion and Social Responsibility

By: Andrew P. Klager

I. INTRODUCTION

I am an optimistic theoretical determinist. I also encourage freedom of conscience on a pragmatic level. While avoiding the all too ubiquitous and gratuitous theological discussion surrounding election and free-will, I nevertheless contend that the distinction between determinism and freedom of conscience presents a false dichotomy; the latter is merely a practical extension of the former. This is precisely why I can be both at once. I do not find either Calvinist claims regarding election to be persuasive, nor do I feel the utility or even existence of free-will, as it is commonly understood, to be valid. Mine is not a theological concern, per se, however; it is rather a philosophical matter or an evaluation of reality itself.