Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Stanley Hauerwas' "Jesus Changes Everything" - Review by Bradley Jersak

Stanley Hauerwas, Jesus Changes Everything (Plough Publishing), 2025. 

Review by Bradley Jersak

In prayer and meditation, I have given this month to asking the Lord, “Show me where I am being tempted to despair and where I am being invited to despair.”

In the current Great Regression—social, political, and religious—I am recognizing both aspects. First, the temptation to despair speaks of hopelessness, despondency, paralysis, and gloom. Many, especially vulnerable folks on the margins, feel afraid, under assault, traumatized. Despair lurks.

But conversely, I also sense Jesus inviting us to a despair of a different register. I suspect we should despair of imagining we can fix our world, our nation, and even the Christian brand through worldly ways via partisan politics, culture wars ideology, and religious nationalism. These have proven ineffectual and have increasingly mutated Christianity into something foreign to the Jesus Way.

What then? Enter Stanley Hauerwas. For a long time, he’s being urging the followers of Christ to be “resident aliens,” where the church is not trying to “take the seven mountains” of cultural influence and certainly not to found a theocracy as a political power. But neither is Hauerwas calling us into a Christian conclave as lumps of tasteless salt and bucket covered lamps.

In Jesus Changes Everything, Hauerwas asks us to despair of cultural control and political power. Like Jeremiah, we are not citizens of the empire, but strangers from another world, planted wherever we live as yeast in the loaf. In only that way, “a new world is possible.”

In this tight (133 pages and just $10), clear manifesto, the author reorients us to Jesus, in six movements as simple that they are radical and provocative.

• Part 1: Following Jesus
• Part 2: Good News
• Part 3: God’s Alternative Society
• Part 4: Kingdom Economics
• Part 5: Sowing Seeds of Peace
• Part 6: The Politics of Witness

Hauerwas makes it hard to be a Christian (because, of course, basics such as radical forgiveness and enemy love involve a kind of death to self), and he makes it hard to not to be one, as the person of Jesus and his story are intensely compelling. This book shows us how Jesus’ story can be my story, our story, and from that center, trust the ripples. A keeper.

Here is an interview with Dr. Hauerwas about the book (with Charles Moore of Plough Publishing).   

Gregory of Nyssa on Ascent through the Psalter - excerpt from Ronald Heine

Gregory of Nyssa reads the Psalms soteriologically.

Abridged excerpt from Ronald E. Heine, Gregory of Nyssa’s Treatise on the Inscriptions of the Psalms (Oxford, 1995), 43. [note: emphases and brackets mine]

For Gregory of Nyssa, the skopoV[aim] of the Psalter is to lead one to the attainment of blessedness[beatitude], and the latter is further defined as ‘likeness to God.’ What Gregory means when he defines ‘human blessedness’ as ‘like to God’ is the attainment of salvation, which he also calls ‘true being’ or ‘true humanity.’ True humanity bears ‘the imprint imposed on our nature from the beginning.’ Gregory [following the Psalter] contrasts those who are ‘fleshly, earthly and irrational’ with those ‘who are being saved and have an impress of human nature in themselves. Now likeness to the divine is the distinguishing impress of humanity.’ Salvation understood in this way is the goal to which ascent through the five stages of the Psalter leads.

Gregory takes the Psalter as descriptive of the way of salvation for all humanity, for he anticipates the possibility, at least, of ‘the complete return of humanity to the Good. The final division of the Psalter, which represents for Gregory ‘the mountain peak’ of the stages discussed in the Psalter, has for its subject ‘the complete consummation and recapitulation of human salvation. The final achievement of blessedness will occur in the eschatological unity of all creation in praising God when all evil has perished.

From Brad Jersak: 

This passage clarifies how Gregory conceived “ascent” in his Life of Moses and in the ladder of the Beatitudes. The ladder analogy (cf. also John Climacus) often triggers Protestant sensibilities regarding grace alone, concerned as they are that human participation in a soteriological ascent compromises the gospel with works righteousness. But a millennium prior to these worries, the synergism of the Eastern Fathers is perfectly in sync with James (2:22), who says, “You see that [Abraham’s] faith was working together with his works and his faith was perfected by works. [βλέπεις ὅτι ἡ πίστις συνήργει τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἔργωνἡ πίστις ἐτελειώθη].

Review of James Karman's "Robinson Jeffers: Poet and Prophet" - by Ron Dart

 

Jeffers room at Deetjen’s Inn in Big Sur

Review of James Karman, Robinson Jeffers: Poet and Prophet (Stanford University Press, 2015).

Lee Masters, Frost and Robinson Jeffers all really have something to say and some real art. – C.S. Lewis, Letter to Bede Griffiths (April 22, 1954)

Robinson Jeffers is, probably, one of the finest poets of the tragic in the American literary canon. My wife (Karin) and I make an annual pilgrimage (usually in April) to the Big Sur area in California when the high ridge and low land flowers are in abundant display and profuse colour. We walk the ridge of Santa Lucia Mountain with the ocean thousands of feet below us, nighttime replete with many lanterns in the sky. It was in Carmel by the Sea (Northern Big Sur) where Robinson and Una Jeffers lived much of their lives. Tor House and Hawk Tower (where the Jeffers’ lived) are sights worth the seeing, perched as they once were on a rock protrusion facing into the varied seasons and temperament of Nature and the foaming ocean waves. Needless to say, Jeffers was no naïve Nature romantic—he was, in fact, a poetic realist about Nature, Humanity, Civilization and Culture.

The publication by one of the finest Jeffers scholars, James Karman, Robinson Jeffers: Poet and Prophet, does Jeffers proud. The biography of sorts tracks Jeffers’ literary and personal life in a chronological way, noting both the waxing and waning of Jeffers and his perennial poetic message (certainly not for the sentimental or faint of heart). Each of the four major sections probes well and wisely into Robinson and Una’s layered journey: 1) Wild Honey: 1887-1915), 2) Tides of Fire: 1915-1930, 3) The Whirlwind’s Heart: 1930-1945, and 4) Eagle and Hawk: 1945-1962. Jeffers had an uncanny way of cutting to the core and centre of the human heart, culture and empires—he saw the rise and fall (like ocean waves) of civilizations and the sheer indifference of Nature to Humanity. This led Jeffers to the notion of “Inhumanism”, that is, a position in which Nature has the final Say. Humanity might build, create, extol and spread the artifacts of the human will and making, but when Nature decides enough is enough, Humpty Dumpty will come tumbling down.

The tough, relentless and rigorous questions that Jeffers raises about theology, the church and God must be faced and pondered with all honesty. The fact that Jeffers heeded well the Greek tragic tradition tends to be rare for Americans who tend to either fawn before the assured results of the American empire or some form of progressivism—Jeffers lingered with the tragic and would not leave such a place. How then can the tragic and hope dwell in the human heart, mind and imagination without one silencing the other? Such was the transparent honesty of Jeffers that he dwelt with these hard and not to be denied questions, tensions and issues.

Karman, to his judicious and faithful decades-long Jeffers research and writing, has offered the reader a superb primer into the life and writing of Jeffers (a must read for those who see the all too human journey in all its layered complexity). Robinson Jeffers: Poet and Prophet has an uncanny way of articulating what it means to be both a fine and mature poet and, also, hints and tendencies towards the prophetic—most rare indeed. It is significant that C.S. Lewis had such a respect for Jeffers.

Ron Dart               

Review of Naim Stifan Ateek's "A Palestinian Theology of Liberation" by Ron Dart

Naim Stifan Ateek, A Palestinian Theology of Liberation: The Bible, Justice, and the Palestine-Israel Conflict (Orbis Books, 2017).

It was quite apt and appropriate that A Palestinian Theology of Liberation was published in 2017, very much anticipating 2018 as the 70^thanniversary of the founding of the state of Israel and the Palestinian Nakba in 1948. The violence in Gaza, and elsewhere, in the early months of 2018 have illuminated, in a graphic and raw manner, the fact that the tragedy does ever continue in an unabated way and manner. The sheer beauty and strength of A Palestinian Theology of Liberation is the way Naim Ateek, building on two previous books on this timely and time tried topic (Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation and A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation) ponders, in a poignant and probing manner, the ongoing tale of two peoples. This is both a small yet large book—the pages are few but the content substantive and large.

Stanley Hauerwas in Canada -- Review and Reflections by Ron Dart

Stanley Hauerwas recently gave the Laing lectures at Regent College in Vancouver, BC. Prof Ron Dart (UFV) has previously reviewed both Hauerwas' books and thoughts. Two of these posts warrant republishing for current reflection. Click on the following links to read these Clarion classics: 

Stanley Hauerwas' With the Grain of the Universe: The Church's Witness and Natural Theology - Review by Ron Dart

"Stanley Hauerwas and Noam Chomsky: Anarchist Affinities" - by Ron Dart

Review of Christopher Page's "Christ Wisdom" - by Ron Dart

Christ Wisdom: Spiritual Practice in the Beatitudes & the Lord’s Prayer. Christopher Page.  Toronto: Path Books, 2004. 134 p. ISBN 1-55126-420-X

There is and has been a growing interest in the Wisdom Traditions from most of the major and minor religions for the last few decades. Wisdom Traditions (like their contemplative counterparts and companions) are often compared and contrasted with

Confessional and Creedal Traditions. Wisdom Traditions are seen as probing the inner and Divine depths and seeking meaningful transformation while Confessional and Creedal Traditions are about intellectual assent to propositions within a particular faith heritage.  Wisdom Traditions are often, so such an interpretation goes, about a deeper unity between religious traditions (at an esoteric level), whereas Creedal Traditions are more about differences and divisiveness. The former tends to be idealized while the latter is demoted and subordinated to the exoteric level.

Analysis and Reflections on Hermann Hesse's "Peter Camenzind" by Ron Dart

In the beginning was the myth.

—1^st sentence, Peter Camenzind    

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord”, he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

—John 21: 15                      

The publication of Hesse`s Peter Camenzind in 1904 was, in many ways, Hesse`s breakthrough novel. Hesse had published a few minor works of poetry and literature before 1904, but with the publication of Peter Camenzind, Hesse became more widely recognized as an up and coming German writer.

Many know Hesse today, at a more sophisticated level, as the author of The Glass Bead Game (Siddharta being the primer for the larger tome that, in some ways, won him the Nobel Prize for literature in 1946). But, there are the many other compact novels that have held the attention of Hesse keeners: Demian, Steppenwolf, Narcissus and Goldmund, Under the Wheel, Wandering, Gertrude, Rosshalde and If the War Goes On… (to include his more political writings). There is also Hesse`s volumes of poetry, multiple paintings and thousands of letters. Hesse, like Thomas Mann, embodies the best and the highest of the German humanist way that has many a thick root going back to the layered soil of Goethe’s life and writings.

It is somewhat intriguing that Hesse engaged Nietzsche in many subtle and sensitive ways and yet Nietzsche is very much in the ascendant these days and waxing well, whereas Hesse (much wiser and more insightful) has waned. There has been, gratefully so, in the last decade plus, a revival and renaissance of Hesse, and, as such, a return to Hesse`s Peter Camenzind is a fine place to begin a journey with Hesse into the core of what animated and held his soul and mind, imagination and literary life.

"Evelyn Underhill's Prayer Book" (Ed. by Robyn Wrigley-Carr) - Review by Ron Dart

Evelyn Underhill's Prayer Book

Edited by Robyn Wrigley-Carr

Foreward by Eugene Peterson

SPCK: London, 2018

 

 

Evelyn Underhill was, in many ways, the Thomas Merton of the 1st half of the

20th century, and the recent publication of her "Prayer Book" is a meditative

missive not to miss. The core and centre of the book, edited by Robyn Wrigley-Carr,

is worth many reads, and Robyn has done a superb job in bringing to the fore

Underhill's "Book of Private Prayers". Needless to say, such prayers, like the Psalter,

cover a wide range of varied genres of prayers. Underhill had a historic catholic breadth

and depth, and these prayers reflect such maturity of the faith journey.   

 

The Appendix, rightly so, highlights for the reader how and why the "Prayer Book" was

edited to make it relevant for many readers, and the slim Foreward by Eugene Peterson

is a fine pointer to the banquet of a read that Robyn has so well prepared on the finest

of tables--she has served Underhill well and wisely. 

 

There can be no doubt that the 159 prayers that cover pages 11-117 in "Evelyn Underhill's

Prayer Book" are worth daily reflections just as Robyn's "Introduction to the life of Underhill"

(for those who know her not) is a must read as a primer to the committed and evocative

life of Evelyn Underhill.

 

Do purchase, read and inwardly digest this beauty of a missive--much will be gleaned, the

soul significantly nourished and the life journey enriched by sitting at the feet of one who is

dead yet ever lives.

Review of Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos - by Ron Dart

Review of Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (2018) - by Ron Dart

 

From now on, everybody stands on his own feet 

“Marxism and Monastic Perspectives”             

Thomas Merton   

I may assert Eternal Providence,

And justify the ways of God to men.

Paradise Lost: Book 1  

John Milton 

I remember with much clarity and chagrin the publishing in 1987 (more than 30 years ago when I was doing my PHD Studies) of Allen Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind. The reactions from the liberal and progressive left to the well-written tome were swift, pointed and sheer attack. Bloom had merely highlighted in his layered beauty how the western canon of literature had become dim and caricatured in higher education and, as a result, the American mind was closing in on itself within trendy texts and a narrow ideology. The liberal left pilloried Bloom and castigated him as an apologist for the reactionary right (which, of course, he was not). Those who only think within the dualistic categories of liberal left and conservative right know not how to engage those who transcend such simplistic tribes. It is also significant that Emmanuel Goldstein and the Brotherhood (whether he or they actually existed) were seen as the enemies of Big Brother in Orwell’s 1984. Sadly so, there tends to be often an Orthodoxy (whether religious or secular or some combination thereof) that defines who is in the establishment Orthodox clan and who are the heterodox and heretics. Those who are attentive and alert to some of the larger issues these days of political correctness in the culture wars cannot but be acutely aware of the presence of Jordan Peterson.

The recent front stage reality of Peterson’s significance (Bill C-15, Lindsay Shepherd incident and his interview with Cathy Newman are but three in a long list of public incidences) has clarified Peterson’s heterodox or heretical positions before the Orthodox liberal clan. The reactions to Peterson are virtually identical to the way Bloom and Goldstein were treated---many are the déjà vu moments in the history of cultural clashes. But, for those who only think in a dualistic rather than more nuanced and dialectical way, Peterson is either the pre-eminent saint or sinner---it’s either hagiography or demonization---it’s either boosters or knockers. Are there more nuanced and subtle ways of reading and approaching Peterson’s all too human role in this cultural drama of sorts without slipping into a sheer and unhelpful and unhealthy intellectual melodrama?

Erasmus: Wild Bird - video of Ron Dart, review by Brad Jersak

 

"Erasmus was too good a humanist to live only in the past." - P.S. Allen

In these days of the 500th anniversary of Luther's Wittenburg manifesto and the strange opposition between Christianity and humanism, one can only wonder how history would have played differently *and better* if Erasmus had won the day when simultaneously facing off with both Luther and the Pope. Whereas Luther was known for polarizing parties and raging at opponents, Erasmus knew that 'calling in' was preferable to 'calling out.' He knew how to speak truth to power but his heart was for both reformation and reconciliation. Even though he ended up on the RC banned reading index for centuries, it's no coincidence that Popes stopped crusading in the wake of Erasmus' critiques. All this to say, Erasmus can rightly be called 'the father of humanism' (if Christ isn't better due that claim) and, as Dart calls him, a 'Wild Bird.'

One of the skills I so admire in Ron is his ability, like Erasmus, to transcend the ideological tribalism of spectrum politics and religion. Like Erasmus, he is unafraid to call injustice what it is, but also seeks ways to invite the other (even the fundamentalists other) into conversation. And this capacity for connecting enables him to compare, contrast and connect key historic figures in highly productive ways. This trait shines through every page of this book. For example, the chapter titles alone demonstrate this helpful agenda:

1. A European Pilgrimage: Erasmus, Heidegger, Nietzsche, Hesse
2. Erasmus and Thomas Merton: Soul Friends
3. The 16th-century Peace Tradition: Erasmus and Anabaptism, the English Vision
4. Erasmus, the English Reformatioins and the Church Fathers: a Man for All Seasons
5. Erasmus and Luther: the Final Fray
6. Erasmus, the Eastern Fathers and the Great Tradition
7. Erasmus and the Fathers: Part 2
8. Erasmus and L'Abri
9. Erasmus: Then and Now
Appendix A. Thomoas More and Thomas Merton
Appendix B. Occupy Wall Street: More and Erasmus
Appendix C. "From Suffering to Solidarity" book review

These essays highlight Ron Dart's insight and wisdom, but also the decades as a University Prof that make his writing accessible and, at times, poetic. In any case, at 120 pages, it's a quick but supremely helpful introduction to Erasmus in his historical and our contemporary context. Enjoy!

Review of Jim Forest’s "At Play in the Lions’ Den" - by Ron Dart

Jim Forest, At Play in the Lions’ Den: A Biography and Memoir of Daniel Berrigan (Orbis Books, 2017).

The publication of At Play in the Lions’ Den brings to a fine and fit close a trilogy of biographies by Jim Forest, the previous biographical page-turners about Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton. There can be little doubt that Jim is perfectly poised and positioned to reflect and expand on the lives of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and Daniel Berrigan----he knew each of them well, worked closely with them in his emerging adult years and writes about such a phase of his journey (with each of them) in a thoughtful and compelling journalistic way. Jim’s uncanny ability to thread the needle between a paper thin journalism and dry as bones academic style is his unique gift and genius.

At Play in the Lion’s Den, true to earlier biographies, blends, in an exquisite way, compact and succinct chapters that track and trace Daniel Berrigan’s life (from beginning to end) with fine photos that speak their own compelling and evocative tale. The title of the tome should alert the reader to the journey about to be told. The Daniel of Biblical legend weathered many a trial in the lion’s den in imperial Babylon. The obvious affinities (although more layered and nuanced) between the Biblical Daniel and Daniel Berrigan cannot be missed. The rapacious nature of the Babylonian empire has many an overlap with the imperial nature of the United States. Both men saw through the ominous nature and structure of their distinct empires, dared to be Daniels and, in different ways, endured the consequences of insisting the empire was without clothes.

The life of the Berrigan family is aptly recorded in the initial chapters of this finely textured book, Daniel’s earlier seminary years as a Jesuit clarified and his leadership role, as a Roman Catholic (quite different, indeed, from Republican and democratic Roman Catholics) is poignantly unfolded as Berrigan goes in and out of the prison houses of the American den of lions. The life of Daniel Berrigan (insightfully and artistically written about in various ways by himself) is brought together in this biography in a way that illuminates and probes yet deeper and fuller dimensions of Berrigan’s life and multiple published writings (excellent prose and poetry). Jim weaves well together Daniel Berrigan’s life with that of Phil Berrigan (who I had a lengthy correspondence within the late 1980s-early 1990s), Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and many others of his generation that protested against the domestic and foreign policy issues (and there were many) of the USA from the Post WW II period to the end of Berrigan’s life.

The final few chapters of At Play in the Lions’ Den are tender and told in a winning manner. The further Daniel Berrigan traveled into his late autumn years, the more his body weakened and waned. The photographs near the end of this comprehensive biography do not shy away from walking into this phase and season of Berrigan’s life. Needless to say, the life of the Biblical Daniel was never recorded or told with such in-depth honesty, transparency and fragility. This makes, in a sense, the drama of Daniel Berrigan much more interesting and attractive, more worth the read than the much shorter and more victorious and, at times, hagiographical, tale of the Biblical Daniel.

There can be no doubt that Jim’s biography of Daniel will become the definitive portal book for those who wish to know both more about the literary, prolific and substantive life of Daniel Berrigan but also about the ethos of post WWII America (and those who cheered on the empire, those who moderately and safely questioned it and those who prophetically spoke into Molech’s dark places). I think, by way of conclusion, I cannot help but paraphrase a quote from Charles Dickens’ Bob Cratchit, “A triumph, another biographical triumph!”.

Ron Dart

Brad Jersak' s Autumn Readings: 5-Star Picks by Bartlett, Cavey, Greenblatt, Gritter & Huff

This autumn I've been overwhelmed by the quality and range of books for review. Before I can read and report on one top-notch title, another arrives that thrills my heart. By 'quality,' I mean please consider promoting these works to the top of your nightstand stack. They've earned it! And by 'range,' I'm saying this 'best-of' list crosses a wide spectrum of genres: we've got a creative training manual, an accessible introduction to the core gospel, some beautifully written historical theology, a faith and culture game-changer, and three volumes of breath-taking children's curriculum. I can only refer to each briefly, but I feel compelled to offer my whole-hearted endorsement before moving on. 

See the video for samples

Anthony Bartlett, Seven Stories: How to Study and Teach the Nonviolent Bible (Hopetime Press, 2017).

Tony Bartlett's manual on how to study and teach a 'nonviolent Bible' is exactly what I've been looking for. I am pleased to say that I was the first reviewer to formally announce this beautifully organized and illustrated work as my primary textbook for the course, "Peace and Violence in the Old Testament" at the Institute of Religion, Peace and Justice.   

OF COURSE the Bible is loaded with violence--and it comes to a theological head at the Cross of Christ--but the drama of redemption recorded through its pages is the great story of how God in Christ unmasks, challenges and subverts the myth of redemptive violence in our religions and our cultures. It shows us a way forward to a nonviolent reading of Scripture and practice in our lives and world. To those who recognize the voice of Rene Girard here, well done. Bartlett is one of the masters of integrating the gospel and Girard for the 21st century.

After laying out his method, Tony proceeds through seven stories of three lessons each, walking us through the following progressions:

1. Oppression to Justice
2. Violence to Forgiveness
3. The Land and its Loss
4. Wrath to Compassion
5. Victim to Vindication
6. The Temple and its Deconstruction
7. History to its End 

Each lesson includes a lesson plan (learning objectives, core texts, key points), lesson content, followed by lesson questions, personal reflections, a glossary, a list of resources/background reading and cultural references. 

To be very frank, I am both jealous and relieved. I wish I could have created this manual but know that it would have taken a lifetime. In a real sense, it may stand as Bartlett's great life-work and should see a lot of traction for years to come as study groups, churches, colleges and universities find it on their radar.  

 

Bruxy Cavey, (Re)Union: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints and Sinners (Herald Press, 2017).

I first met Bruxy over a dinner conversation that was so rich it spilled into brunch the next day. During that encounter, he shared the heart of the gospel with me in 1 word, 3 words and 30 words. And he also explained what he meant by the 'religion' he sees the gospel taking down. You can view his summaries HERE. And that led to him generously sharing a Meeting House podcast where he interviewed me on Atonement, Eternity and Orthodoxy (11/22/17) . The meeting concluded with a book exchange in which he gave me a copy of (Re)Union. 

The (Re)Union book unfolds that same gospel message. In 1 word: Jesus. In 3 words: 'Jesus is Lord.' And in 30 words: "Jesus is God with us, come to show us God's love, save us from sin, set up God's kingdom, and shut down religion, so we can share in God's life." The book unpacks all of this in a way that is truly good news. As the title suggests (and lives up to), Bruxy's expression of the gospel brilliantly addresses seekers, saints and sinners (of who I am chief). And for that reason, I've come to believe he's the best gospel communicator in Canada. At least of which I'm aware. 

But as accessible as Bruxy is, he is far from generic. He is an unapologetic Anabaptist through and through. That is, he keeps his eyes fixed firmly on the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth as his guide on the way, his guiding star to our destination and the filter through which he comes to both Scripture and our culture. As an Anabaptist, he's taken a firm stand that Jesus is the Way of peace ... some might seem him as Toronto's version of Greg Boyd or Shane Claiborne, both who know and love his work (and no doubt have a thing or two to learn from him).

So, what's the gospel? Want to communicate it clearly in a winsome way and replace the religious cringe factor? Start here!       

 

Stephen Greenblatt, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve (W.W. Norton & Co., 2017).

In recent years, the question of Adam, Eve and the creation story has become hot once again. Some can no longer imagine that a man named Man, a woman named Life, a talking serpent and two trees in Paradise were actual historical events that could have been recorded on your smart phone. Sorry folks, no photobombs of the proto-couple! That camp nevertheless believes that the genre of mythology delivers revelation in a profound way, speaking the truth about humanity and about our lives.

Others cannot imagine how dispensing with the historical fall of Adam and Eve does not also dispense with the historical resurrection of Christ. This is especially the case when the Apostle Paul connects the death that came through Adam with the life that comes through Christ in direct parallel. Isn't the Genesis narrative of our origins essential to our faith? How many liberties can we take before losing it altogether?

Into this discussion, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stephen Greenblatt applies his Jewish imagination to the task of tracing humanity's ancient religious creation tales through to the rise of the Jewish story of Adam and Eve. He continues from there into the background and intricacies of Augustinian "fall theology." The book then turns its gaze to a major interest of mine: Christian, Jewish and Muslim visions of the afterlife (via literature and art). And further on, the author lands into our post-Darwinian readings and reality.

All along the way, the reader is treated to a feast of faith, philosophy and politics dressed in the gorgeous prose of a masterful writer. His honest scholarship, the stunning depth and breadth of his research, and his ability to spin phrases into a literary tapestry often left me grinning with appreciation. How do I say this? The whole thing was delicious.

What I loved most was how seriously he took the power of myth as a genre, its genius in expressing and shaping reality. Greenblatt left me sensitive to the fact that speaking of anything as "just myth" is a silly, reductive oxymoron. Like Jesus' parables, Hebrew mythology can bear the great weight and impact of abiding revelation for postmodern humanity. 

And as for my own convictions, I found nothing in the book that would undermine my faith (nor did Rowan Williams, who endorsed it heartily). In fact, it significantly boosted my appreciation of the genius of Scripture, alerted me to the damaging effects of misapplied literalism, and deepened my desire to dive more deeply into the faith-world of Genesis 1-3.  

Wendy VanderWal-Gritter, Generous Spaciousness: Responding to Gay Christians in the Church (Brazos Press, 2014). 

Wendy is the faith and culture game-changer among this crowd. She's famous (and to some, infamous) in Canada for leading a movement from its existence as New Direction Ministries (once a sort of compassionate version of gay conversion therapy by prayer IMO--I say this from direct contact) into a new network of gay-welcoming, faith-seeking fellowships across Canada called "Generous Space."

The book itself is an invitation to dialogue with someone who has traversed the thin ice of what it means for the church to respond to and reconcile with the gay community. So, rather than further describing the contents, I'll share a lightly edited snippet of an actual conversation I had with Wendy this past Sunday.

Brad: You were executive director of New Directions for over 10 years, yet somehow you experienced a major shift in perspective. What were the key waypoints in your change?

Wendy: First, I became convinced that our humanity matters to God. And I observed that some of our practices involved a stripping of that humanity and of personhood. Second, I was impacted by a theme in Henri Nouwen’s book, Life Signs (1986). He said, "You cannot get from fear-filled questions to love-filled answers." He talked about moving from the house of fear to the house of life. And he raised the question, "What are the spiritual practices that lead you there?"

From that place, I've learned the importance of hitting the 'PAUSE' button. When we hit a question where there is dissonance, I hit 'PAUSE' and just keep listening. I try to avoid either-or/us-them binary thinking. I ask, rather, “How will this [conversation / issue] be different if i’m energized by love instead of fear?”

Brad: Tell me about Generous Space. What is it? What do you believe? What is your practice?  

Wendy: Today there is a groaning in the church. We know wineskins are cracked. The church has tried to address this by becoming more missional (instead of attractional), but we’re still clinging to traditional forms and old wineskins. But GS consists of communities centered in a generous, deep belongingness. And for all the pain involved in our journeys, that sense of belonging also makes it quite light.

One question we ask ourselves is how to draw towards community and communion rather than consumerism and commodity. We ask what values hold out life to others and what values energize how we choose to navigate our lives. There has been a trauma of Christianity in the Trump era, where we have had to ask what values led white Evangelicals to bring him to power. But now we need to ask the deeper questions that cause us to follow Jesus.

 

Brad: I know that being fully inclusive means you're up against the conservative Right. But being inclusive to ALL and embracing Christian faith ... isn't that also problematic when you run into the "angry Left."  

 

Wendy: Generous Space is subverting of myth of linear progress towards a Left that can also be violent, exclusive and unjust .... We want to be truly inclusive, and not simply perpetuating the new injustice. So yes, there is critique of GS from Right—charging us with moral relativism—but also from the Left for being a 'haven of oppression' by not excluding.

 

As a "Generous Space," we are inclusive of the full spectrum of queer relationships, including those who choose to remain celibate. We just had a "release and embrace ceremony." A covenant in which the former spouse has released her partner into a gay marriage but also embraced that couple so they can raise the children as a family. This isn't simply moral relativism. We need to think in terms of a "redeemed moral imagination," rather than trying to maintain the moralistic purity code of tribal Israel. We ask, "What will bring life, hope, love, resilience?"

 

Brad: Resilience?

 

Wendy: ... resilience of faith in the face of violence and the overwhelming powers of systemic corruption that stand against us.

Brad: Faith in Christ? 

Wendy: Yes. Although for millennials, there is no false innocence about their faith. Some are no longer able to put their faith in Jesus. But might they still maintain their resilience to participate in cultivating all that is shalom? I am sad when the person of Jesus isn’t part of that cultivation in a conscious way. But my theology affirms that he is, nevertheless, there anyway. He is the energy bringing about this redemptive reality. And we may even see those who identify as atheists participating in Jesus’ project of shalom while self-identifying Christians are not. [Cf. Matt. 25:31-46]

 

Tim Huff (3 titles published by Castle Quay Books):

• The Cardboard Shack Beneath the Bridge 
• It's Hard Not To Stare: Helping Children Understand Disabilities (with Jan Fukumoto). 
• Honour the Drum: Sharing the Beauty of Canada's Indigenous People with Children, Families and Classrooms (with Cheryl Bear).  

Last but definitely not least, my friend Lise Struthers gifted me with three very special illustrated children's books--curriculum for training children how to understand, engage and include those on the margins.

The Cardboard Shack Beneath the Bridge helps children understand homelessness. It explores how the homeless live and where they come from. That is, it humanizes them, reminding children that these folks were once children too, with hopes and dreams just like ours. The text (written in rhyme) tells children that the homeless need shelter, food and clothes, but some only ask for a smile or a talk, which can be delivered if you're accompanied by an adult. Children are reminded that despite their different appearance, we ought not to tease or be mean to the homeless. Rather, we can be kind and keep them in our hearts and prayers. The book begins with a foreword by the Honorable Hilary Weston (Lieutenant Governor of Ontario) and ends with a page-by-page discussion guide for parents, teachers and caregivers.

It's Hard Not To Stare follows similar themes, but this volume addresses the question of disability. Another Lieutenant Governor (David Onley) offers his foreword. The author then offers a picture of a scrabble board of key terms: Respect, Breathe, Brave, Familiar, Include, Cerebral, Look, Mobility, Ability and Prosthesis. The illustrations and text begin on the theme of how hard it is for us to understand and imagine what it is like to have disabilities. But then it moves on from our differences to our sameness, even though doing the same things may be much more difficult for others. It requires extra effort and time and care. It covers different causes like disease or accidents or age. When we become more familiar with disability, we can move from staring to caring. After the text proper, there's another page of terms, followed by the 'Sharing Pages' (discussion guide by Jan Fukumoto). 

Honour the Drum is different than the previous books. First, the illustrations and children's text on each spread face a more detailed description and discussion questions for each page. The book is all about educating children in Indigenous culture, beginning with the drum ('the heartbeat of the earth'), as well as their music, stories and dance. It explains patterns, symbols and colours important to Indigenous culture and describes what a Pow Wow is and means. Totem poles are given a page and then it's on to history, values and humour. The author emphasizes respect and honour for the elders--the keepers of tales.

The book also includes an important page on how words matter, explaining why we've moved from the misnomer 'Indian,' to 'aboriginal' (meaning 'of unknown origin') to the more accurate 'indigenous' (people of the land). In Canada, the indigenous peoples include the First Nations, Metis and Inuit people. Each have their own language, name for the Creator and way to pray. One way they honour the Creator is by caring for creation. And finally, the book turns to how we might best imagine 'honouring the drum,' where all children gather, wherever they're from. While Tim Huff has created the basic text and pictures, the major work of composing the discussion guide came from Cheryl Bear (from the First Nation community of Nadleh Whut'en in BC) who ensures that the descriptions are accurate, rich and welcoming. 

I would encourage parents to get these books for their children, and even better, encourage churches and schools to include them as embedded curriculum. 

Review of Frank Schaeffer's "Letter to Lucy" - by Brian McLaren

Editor's Note: CLICK HERE to read chapter 1 of Frank Schaeffer's "Letter to Lucy"

free.

 

I am one of thousands (millions?) who became a devotee of Francis Schaeffer in the 1970's. Escape from Reason, The God Who is There, He is There and He is Not Silent, True Spirituality, Pollution and the Death of Man ... I devoured everything he wrote. For a generation of young fundamentalists like me, Schaeffer was our gateway into the world of philosophy and art. He told us we could use our brains, that we could take art, literature, and film seriously, that the counter-culture had some things right ...

 

I remember feeling ... dismayed, I suppose is the word for it ... when Schaeffer became an apologist for the Religious Right. Had he been co-opted, or had he sold out ... or was he really in league with Robertson, Falwell, and their fellow culture warriors?

 

I think it was in Francis' book A Christian Manifesto where I felt especially alarmed. As I recall, he held up Oliver Cromwell (!) as a spiritual hero of sorts, and there were intimations of armed rebellion against the government, wrapped in talk of "lex rex" versus "rex lex." (In fact, I remember in the early 80's hearing about "Christian Militia" in the deep south who were training in weaponry, inspired by Schaeffer to prepare for war.)

 

I also was a fan of Francis and Edith Schaeffer's son, Frank. His A Time for Anger made me laugh out loud and introduced me to a master of the art of rant. Years later, I read Frank's Calvin Becker trilogy (Portofino, Zermatt, and Saving Grandma) and (this is an old English major speaking) I still feel they are three of the most delightful and insightful novels I've ever read. His "And God said, 'Billy!'" was also quite powerful, reminiscent of the great Walker Percy's Love in the Ruins, but even more God-haunted.

 

Frank and I became friends through Wild Goose Festival, where we're two of the resident grandpas walking around, thrilled to see honest young people passionate about justice and an authentic spirituality in an era of so much crass religious crap. (Frank would have used much more vivid diction in the preceding sentence.)

 

When Letter to Lucy became available, I was one of the first to download it ... which suggests one of many unique things about the book. It's best read on an IPad or other digital device, the bigger the screen and the higher the resolution, the better, because this book isn't simply a feast of words ... it's a visual and musical feast as well.

This is Frank's ode to beauty, his theology of beauty if you will, because like many of us, Frank has let go of so much that he inherited from fundamentalism, but he hasn't let go of the pearl of great price ... a deep reverence and passionate love for beauty, which for Frank, is the best and most trustworthy signature or trace of the divine that we have. 

 

One feels Frank's grandchildren, especially Lucy, present on every page, because he is writing for them, not to them as much as for their benefit. He acknowledges the megatons of crass religious crap that are being spread liberally on us all by the bigly (believe me!) dispersal fan of Donald Trump; Frank challenges us not to surrender to that political and religious shower of stench, but to defy it by seeking beauty in the ugliest of administrations.

 

Through beauty - in forms from jazz to classical, from sculpture to film, from children's literature to Shakespeare - we can survive these times, and build a better world for our grandchildren on the other side, Frank argues.

 

But he doesn't just argue. He demonstrates. So when he mentions a great piece of jazz, you can click and listen. When he mentions a great piece of sculpture, you can see a photograph of it on the page. He lets us sample the ways he is enriching the lives of his grandchildren.

 

Along the way, he talks about his family, his upbringing, his faults and mistakes, his misadventures in the rumbling bowels of the Religious Right. At times he's furious, at times, hilarious ... but throughout, he's as sincere as a furiously loving grandfather can be, and that passionate sincerity is downright ... evangelical, in the absolute best and lower-case sense of the word.

 

Yes, Frank has joyfully left fundamentalism/evangelicalism behind, but he is still an evangelist ... of beauty, which signals goodness, which points to truth. And in this, he shows that he has not betrayed his parents at all; rather, he has found the heart of what they loved most in Christianity and in God (remember Edith's Hidden Art?) ... and he is setting it free from the tacky religious duct tape in which it was bound.

 

This is a beautiful book, and I recommend it to all who yearn for liberation from what religion and politics have become in the age of Trump, Fascism, and Lies. Buy it (download it) here.

 

Brian McLaren 

website: www.brianmclaren.net

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brian-D-McLaren/65814657989?ref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/brianmclaren

New project: Convergence Leadership Project - check it out!

2016 book: The Great Spiritual Migration

 

Review of Arnold Shives' "Alpine Anatomy" - by Ron Dart

Alpine Anatomy: The Mountain Art of Arnold Shives (2012)

Arnold Shives has obsessively hiked, climbed and depicted British Columbia’s mountains since the early 1960s. The fiftieth anniversary of his first extended mountaineering expedition seems an apposite moment to reconsider his work and life in the range of contexts that he himself created through the two activities that have been the focus of his practice: mountain climbing and mountain picturing. This book is the result of that reconsideration.

—Foreword

Arnold Shives is one of the most creative and probing mountain artists on the West Coast, and Alpine Anatomy: The Mountain Art of Arnold Shives ably and amply illustrates why this is the obvious case. The compact hardbound edition of Alpine Anatomy brings together, from a variety of informative sources, essays about Shives from such artistic and mountain worthies as John Grande, Bill Jeffries, Edward Lucie-Smith, Darrin Martens, Toni Onley and Glenn Wordsworth---it, also, is a superb survey of Shives’ outdoors and mountain art work from 1961-2010. There are many fine photographs of Shives at different mountain locations in the book that track and trace his mountain journey from the late 1950s to the present.

Review of Ron Dart's "The North American High Tory Tradition" - by Tyler Chamberlain

Book Review: Dart, Ron (2016). The North American High Tory Tradition. New York: American Anglican Press.

The rise of Donald Trump has put thoughtful conservatives on both sides of the border in an awkward position.  The time is ripe for sophisticated and responsible articulations of conservatism in thought and action.  Ron Dart’s The North American High Tory Tradition combines the timeliness of thoughtful conservatism in the age of Trump with the timelessness of an old and near-forgotten Canadian tradition with roots stretching back to before confederation in 1867.  The High Tory Tradition, as Dart calls it, can be summarized by the following ten principles:

1. The wisdom of tradition.
2. Passion for the common good.
3. Economics cannot be separated from ethics.
4. Protection of the environment against abuse for the sake of profit.
5. State and society are not in opposition.
6. Concern for the commons, against the classical- and neo-liberal emphasis on private property.
7. The purpose of education is to ground the student in the best that has been thought in the past, not to impart skills.
8. Human nature is imperfect, finite, and fallible.
9. Ethics and religion are the foundation of a healthy state.
10. Reality consists of nuanced gradations of better and worse, and cannot be reduced to simplistic absolutes.

The North American High Tory Tradition consists of 25 short chapters which are best described as variations on a single theme.  Throughout these 25 chapters, using a disparate collection of scholars, artists, and activists, Dart frequently circles back to the distinctiveness of the Canadian Nationalist-High Tory emphasis on “Peace, Order, and Good Government” over against the American idealization of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  Whether comparing Noam Chomsky’s Anarchist-Leftist critique of American foreign policy with a Tory critique of the individualism underlying the Left and Right of American politics, or highlighting similarities between George Grant and Stephen Leacock, Dart gives the reader an unmistakeable sense of the frame of mind from which the High Tory tradition emanates.

The table is set with an analysis of misused American power abroad; St. Augustine is used to expose the hypocritical classification of terrorists that sanctions their being treated differently than state-based perpetrators of violence.  A few other highlights are worth noting.  The relatively long twelfth chapter compares the Toryisms of C.S. Lewis and George Grant, who participated in Lewis’ Socratic Club while at Oxford.  The value of this chapter lies in the fact that little work has thus far been done on either their differences or similarities.  Dart’s analysis reveals their similar outlooks, though Lewis left his political thought relatively underdeveloped.  Chapter sixteen provides a seven stage history of the liberal principle of the freedom of the individual from external constraints and authorities.  It closes by pointing to liberalism’s problematic failure to be critical of its own intellectual standards, constraints, and assumptions.  Finally, Dart’s introduction to Tory thinkers and activists is biographical such that we are treated to the many personal connections between them as well as their ideas themselves.

At the level of ideas, this book presents much that is agreeable and little that is prima facie questionable, which paradoxically points to its biggest omission: its tendency to refrain from sustained exposition of either the general principles of High Toryism or of individual Tories themselves.  Dart’s exposition of Leacock’s The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice will serve, in this instance, to illustrate this overall tendency.

Leacock’s text embodies at least seven of the ten principles of High Toryism (i.e. #2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and possibly 4), but The North American High Tory Tradition gives very little exposition of Leacock’s economic and moral arguments themselves.  For example, Leacock demonstrates that the economic laws of supply and demand alone will not result in just wages, and that the Liberal faith that they will ignores the role of unequal power in economic relationships (Leacock, ch. 3-4).  This speaks to the danger of evaluating economics apart from ethics and points to the moral purpose of the state, namely to equalize imbalances of economic and social power.  Leacock then argues in favour of the moral obligations between rich and poor citizens (ch. 7), and suggests that fallible human nature will necessarily disrupt any communist system (ch. 5-6).  His solution is the classical High Tory one: a via media between full communism and completely unregulated capitalism.  It is not that Dart misrepresented Leacock, just that his presentation of the High Tory way would have benefited from thicker descriptions of the political arguments of Leacock, Forsey, Grant, and others.  What High Toryism means in practice would have been clearer if arguments like Leacock’s had been presented and brought to bear on contemporary political issues.

In sum, Dart gives us an important vision of a timeless conservatism for the 21^st century, and in so doing initiates the reader into some of the central conversations within the High Tory tradition.  The strength of the book is its depiction of the High Tory attitude in practice, in conversation with other political visions.  This strength could possibly have been even stronger had there been a closer connection drawn between this attitude and the specific political and economic arguments and prescriptions of the North American High Tory thinkers.

Review of Robert William Sanford's "Our Vanishing Glaciers" - by Ron Dart

Review of Robert William Sanford's Our Vanishing Glaciers:The Snows of Yesteryear and the Future Climate of the Mountain West (Rocky Mountain Books, 2017). Review by Ron Dart

I have had for many a decade an interest in the slowly vanishing Illecillewaet Glacier in Rogers Pass (as recorded by the Vaux family)

and the history of Great Glacier Lodge (as the first centre of alpinism in North America). My treks to the Wheeler-Asulkan Huts (and beyond) and Nakimu Caves have revealed much about the disappearing glaciers of which Illecillewaet was a reigning elder at one auspicious moment.

So, I was more than delighted to be sent Our Vanishing Glaciers to review--so much packed into this clarion call of a well-crafted book Glaciers are, in many significant ways, the proverbial canary in the mineshaft. The state of the receding glaciers in our world tells us much about substantive shifts in the climate and augers much warning for the future. The sheer momentum of Our Vanishing Glaciers is the succinct and compact manner that Robert William Sandford highlights how the slow moving glaciers of the past (and the contributions they make via fresh water) are in jeopardy (as are we if we do not awaken to our perilous plight).

Our Vanishing Glaciers in an incisive, textual and visual way unfolds the tale we must all be attentive to in a most convincing manner. There are ten illuminating chapters in the hard cover beauty of a book (each worth reading many times): 1) The Wonder of Water, 2) What Winter Does to Water, 3) Ecology as Defined by Winter Water, 4) How Icefields and Glaciers Form, 5) Canada’s Most Accessible Glaciers: The Icefields Parkway, Athabasca Glacier and the Columbia Icefield, 6) The Death of Peyto Glacier: A Case for More Comprehensive Hydro-Meteorological Monitoring in the Canadian Rockies, 7) The Columbia Icefield Today, 8) Glaciers in a Changing Climate, 9) What We Stand to Lose and 10) Water, Climate and the National Parks Ideal. Both the headings and content of the chapters make it abundantly clear the drift and focus of Sandford’s convincing argument. Our Vanishing Glaciers begins with a general overview of the issues of the wonder of water, the impact of winter on water, ecology and winter water and how icefield and glaciers come into being. Needless to say, the shifting state of the warming earth is one of the main actors in such a drama. But, the beauty and genius of Vanishing Glaciers is the way, once such essential and general topics are covered, the main themes are, rightly so, applied to the glaciers and icefields of the Canadian Rockies. The specificity of such a turning to the Rockies illustrates in ample detail the reality and dire implications of the future climate on the Canadian mountain west.

It is this concentration, again and again, on the Canadian Rocky glaciers and icefields that make Our Vanishing Glaciers a canary test textbook.  

There are those who are convinced by arguments of a textual, logical and empirical manner, science being very much the guide and tutor.  There are others who need photographs or actual encounters with the issue being pondered and discussed.  The textual and scientific approach, appropriately so, does outweigh the visual in Our Vanishing Glaciers, but, wisely, the visual affirms and confirms the larger thesis. There is a fine “Glossary” at book’s end as is there an excellent bibliography of sorts (for those, hopefully, wishing to be more informed on the topic).

I have, since the mid-1970s (after spending a couple of years in Norway with the mountain Sami and in the high alpine in Switzerland in the early 1970s) done many a trip to the glaciers and icefields of the Rockies. One of my 1^st trips was on Peyto Glacier in 1975 (so tragic to witness its slow death). I have certainly seen (as have many more astute and committed than I am) the impact on glaciers and the icefields of climate change and the tensions, as Sandford notes in his final chapter, between water, climate and the national parks ideal.

There can be no doubt on this the 150^th anniversary of Canada since Confederation that we face challenges not faced in 1867. One of the most obvious and not to be ignored challenges is both climate change and the impact on glaciers and icefields (and, in time, the consequences for us). Our Vanishing Glaciers is an informed and compelling siren call book, framed in an aesthetic yet judicious manner, and should be standard reading for Canadians (and others, of course) concerned with the future of the climate, water, glaciers, icefields and the place of humanity in such a delicate yet real changing world.

montani semper liberi

Ron Dart         

Response to Derek Rishmawy's Review of Zahnd's "Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God" by Matt Larimer

As a father of seven, a full-time minister, and a part-time farmer I have to work very hard at finding time to read.

I hesitantly put down my copy of Ephraim Radner's Brutal Unity, in order to read Brian Zahnd’s Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God. I say hesitantly because I have stated before and continue to believe that Brutal Unity may be the most important book for the church in this generation. However, Radner may now have some competition, not from SITHOALG, which is powerful and much needed, but from the firestorm of conversation it has generated between different traditions within the church. I thought it would only take me a few days to read, since SITHOALG is a short book, but then came the review. That's right, in the furthest reaches of the blogosphere and twitterverse it has come to be known by those two words alone, The Review. I follow an extremely eclectic group of people on twitter and my feed was filled with love and hate for Derek Rishmawy’s review. Derek pointed out many things that I had thought myself while reading and I agreed with much of what he had to say. That being said he also made some fairly egregious mistakes, but none were as offensive as the length. My goodness, Athanasius completed his masterwork On the Incarnation in just a few more pages than it took Rishmawy to review a two hundred and seven page book. I had to download the PDF and print it from our church computer just to make it through. So, along with responding to Derek’s criticisms this article is a plea for a restoration of dialectic brevity.

If you’re anything like me when you read John 3:18, “whoever does not believe is condemned already,” your mind probably assumes that John is referring to atheists, agnostics, or adherents of other religions but that would be a mistake. Most atheists that I have spoken with do not believe BECAUSE what they heard was not the gospel. I agree with Derek’s final sentence that the gospel really is at stake. And he was right that many of Jesus’ parables and teachings do describe wrath and judgement. What he failed to point out, however, is that Jesus’ harshest rebukes and threats of judgement and wrath were reserved for religious leaders who had prayed and thought deeply about what God is like. Many of those leaders had heard the true gospel. The Holy Spirit had revealed to them the infinite depth of God’s love and mercy, but they rejected it. Yes, Jesus says that those who mistreat the poor will experience God’s wrath but the New Testament overwhelmingly points out that it is those who claim to be teachers and mislead people about God’s true nature that will experience the most severe punishment. After all, it is the son who has spent the most time with his father, in the parable of The Prodigal Son, who experiences the most pain at the party.

Take another parable Derek mentions, The Vineyard Owner and the Wicked Tenants, where the vineyard owner clearly represents God the Father and the wicked tenants represent the men and women God has entrusted to care for his kingdom. It is the wicked tenants who experience the wrath of the owner of the vineyard, not the owner’s son. The owner’s son experiences the wrath of the tenants not the wrath of his father. This is important because it highlights the fact that Rismawy’s theology actually comes up short under the microscope that he is trying to use in order to criticize Zahnd. Penal Substitutionary Atonement is actually the view that does not take sin seriously enough.

Yes, men and women will experience the natural consequences of their sin in this life, as Derek and Brian agree, but it is only in the Orthodox system, that Zahnd supports, where sinners experience the consequences of their sin in the next life. Reformed theologians would have you believe that Christ takes the personal punishment “for specific crimes by specific sinners against specific victims” on the cross, but they have a very difficult time explaining what that punishment is. We already agreed that it isn’t the natural consequences of our sin because will all continue to experience those even after coming to faith. And when pushed about whether they believe Christ took the punishments of sinners, as they believe the punishment will be (actual rejection by God and separation from his love) they deny that as well. It is only in the Orthodox system that we see that Christ has not taken the punishment of the Father but that we all must face the final judgement.

When someone in this life becomes aware of the truth of God and experiences the pure power of his presence their reaction is much like Isaiah during his encounter described in Isaiah chapter six, or the queen in George McDonald’s Lilith when the slow worm buries itself deep within her bosom. God’s glory reveals to us the reality of our own nature and the pain associated with that revelation would be unbearable if it weren’t for God’s presence. You see this is the reality of God’s wrath in the next life. When we cross over and experience the beatific vision (Orthodox not Catholic version, no time to distinguish or we would end up with a twenty one page review) it will be an almost unbearable agony for some and an almost unbearable ecstasy for others. It will be ecstasy for those like Lazarus, agony for those like the rich man, and possibly unbearable for those who claimed to be teachers and led men and women astray. Please let me explain, someone who was born into sin, never heard the gospel, and committed horrendous atrocities meets God face to face they will weep and gnash their teeth as they realize the depth of their sin. But it will be like nothing compared to men and women who heard the gospel, who felt the pull of the Holy Spirit calling them to change their minds, and yet they refused.

This is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, this is the greater strictness, and this is the wrath of the owner of the vineyard. This is the meaning of wrath in the scriptures and in the Eastern tradition, but when you are overly dismissive of half of Christian history, tradition, and theology you miss it. You miss the depth of their thinking because you never fully engage with it and Rishmawy ultimately ends up as guilty of the sin he is accusing Zahnd of committing. This is also the reason why N.T. Wright has had to work so hard at convincing Western Christianity of the basics of Orthodox Eastern Christianity. You simply can’t understand Orthodox Christianity in its fullness through cursory readings and western criticisms. You have to do the difficult work of studying Eastern theologians throughout history. The truly sad part of this entire debate is the reality that when all the i’s are dotted and all the t’s are crossed there truly is only a hairs width between Derek and Brian’s theology, but the width of that hair makes all the difference in this life and the next.

Brad Jersak review of David Bentley Hart's New Testament

Review of Donald Mackinnon's 'Kenotic Ecclesiology' - by Ron Dart

Kenotic Ecclesiology: Select Writings of Donald M. Mackinnon. John C. McDowell, Scott A. Kirkland, Ashley John Moyse (editors), Rowan Williams (foreword). Fortress Press, 2016.

There has been a desperate and much delayed need to read and inwardly digest the poignant insights of Donald MacKinnon. Mackinnon has been ignored for too long, curtly dismissed as too eccentric or caricatured. This tendency has led to the virtual absence of MacKinnon’s insights in the broader faith community on substantive issues. There has also been a tendency to apply the notion of kenosis to either Christology or Christian contemplative anthropology. The sheer beauty and appeal of Kenotic Ecclesiology is the way the idea of kenosis is applied to the life of the church in a post-Constantinian and post-Christian ethos.

Kenotic Ecclesiology draws from two of MacKinnon’s contributions to the “Signpost” series that was published in 1940 (the searching vision is quite pertinent today, though) and his much later mid-1960s “The Stripping of the Altars”(with its searing and relentless questioning).The “Introductions” to the three booklets in the tome by John C. McDowell, Ashley John Moyse and Scott A. Kirkland bring together, in a compact and succinct manner, the congealed vision of Mackinnon and why his “Signpost” articles and “The Stripping of the Altars” are as significant today as when they were published a few decades ago. “God the Living and True”, “The Church of God” and “The Stripping of the Altars” have a prophetic and incisive bite that holds to the core issues and will not quit until the raw and painful realities are faced into with unflinching honesty and, at times, painful transparency.

Mackinnon had a unique and uncanny way of threading together theology, philosophy, literature and many other disciplines. It is quite obvious why, as a teacher of Rowan William, Iris Murdoch and many other significant writers, he is the oft hidden king. But, the real contribution of Mackinnon is the way he faithfully and consistently engages the nature of faith and the tragic. Obviously, MacKinnon is much too bright to slip into a simplistic and unrealistic Christian triumphalism. And, the way he ponders the layered nature of kenosis and tragedy is rare amongst most Christian intellectuals and theologians. Tragedy, as a literary, philosophical, political and theological insight goes much deeper and further than merely a pondering of suffering. Suffering can be tragic but there is more to tragedy than suffering. The task of threading together hope, kenosis and tragedy forms the backbone of much of Mackinnon’s far reaching approach to faith. Sadly so, the church is often quite unaware of such themes and Mackinnon’s unique approach to such reaching into the hard issues. I found MacKinnon’s dialogue between Greek and Christian thought on the tragic a needful reworking on the perennial Athens and Jerusalem horn butting or varieties of synthesis. Once the tragic in Greek theatre is brought to the fore and the tensions between the Greek tragedians, Plato and Christian thought collide, deeper places are gone to that one and all must face into sooner or later. It is significant that Rowan Williams recent book, The Tragic Imagination: The Literary Agenda, deals with such a timely and timeless theme. 

The fact that Mackinnon in these three booklets of sorts touches on difficult issues where many often do not go does not mean he does not face into the way the church has often been co-opted by political and military power. Yet again, MacKinnon points the way for the church to go that does not pander or genuflect to political realism. But, in saying such, MacKinnon was no naïve idealist either. Again and again in Kenotic Ecclesiology we see the prophet MacKinnon caring so deeply for the church that he neither abandons her (as lesser souls do) nor uncritically doffs the cap to traditionalism or the establishment status quo—certainly not an easy tightrope to walk.  

I must admit I found “God the Living and True”, “The Church of God” and, crowning these two pamphlets of sorts, “The Stripping of the Altars” compelling reads that both challenge and nourish the soul, mind and imagination. But, as mentioned above, it is MacKinnon’s genius and depth, breadth and rigorous engagement with kenosis and tragedy that is his real contribution to serious theology as it ever inches into the uncertain future.

There can be no doubt that with the publication of Kenotic Ecclesiology a phoenix-like resurrection of Mackinnon is afoot, and do we dare to hope that more of MacKinnon’s writings will be brought to the frontstage to both enrich and challenge the church?

Ron Dart    

Review of Brian Zahnd's "Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God" - by Rob Grayson

Today I have the privilege of posting some brief thoughts on the latest new book from Brian Zahnd, titled Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God, published by WaterBrook and released on 15 August.

Those who have followed my blog or my Facebook posts for any length of time will be no stranger to Zahnd. A veteran pastor of 35 years’ standing, in recent years he has become a prolific and increasingly important voice for those who tire of dogmatic fundamentalism and its ugly implications, but who are unwilling to simply throw in the towel and walk away from the faith altogether. As a result, Zahnd is at the forefront of a rising tide of prophetic voices whose mission is to help Christians and non-Christians alike rediscover – in the words of the book’s subtitle – “The Scandalous Truth of the Very Good News”. (I have previously reviewed two other books by Zahnd: A Farewell To Mars and Water to Wine).

In a way, Sinners bears some similarity with Zahnd’s previous book Water to Wine: Some of my Story, in that it starts with what he once believed as a zealous young Jesus freak and tracks his theological trajectory from there towards a much broader, deeper and more beautiful faith. The key difference, though, is that where Water to Wine was essentially a biographical narrative that served as a framework for Zahnd’s theological growth, Sinners is unashamedly a work of theology – by which I mean that its focus is theological, not biographical, and it is structured into broad theological topics, including some “hot potatoes”.

CLICK HERE to continue reading

Christian Explorations of Islam: 3 Reviews - by Ron Dart

Gordon Nickel, The Gentle Answer: To The Muslim Accusation of Biblical Falsification. Bruton Gate, Calgary, 2015.                                         

James A. Beverley & Craig Evans. Getting Jesus Right:  How Muslims Get Jesus and Islam Wrong. Castle Quay Books, Lagoon City, Ontario, 2015.

Mark Robert Anderson. The Qur’an in Context: A Christian Exploration. IVP Academic, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2016.                                   

Many significant issues must be substantively faced as we trek ever forward into the 21^st century and there can be no doubt that the issue of Islam is front and centre in such a pressing reality. The 1^st world in North America can no longer ignore such a historic fact.

Canada has a history of pondering the complex nature of Islam, and W.C. Smith (1916-2000), in the 1950s at McGill, was a pioneer in such an approach. I was fortunate, when doing my PHD at McMaster, that W.C. Smith often joined us for seminars classes. Andrew Rippin (1950-2016) was also one of the finest Canadian scholars of Islam. But, in the last couple of years, a few books have emerged from within the evangelical tribe that ponder the relationship between Christianity and Islam.