One In Jesus

From Nein. A Manifesto by Eric Jaronsinki, compiled from his Twitter feed of philosophy based humor: @neinquarterly

Kierkegaard

Jared Byas recently posted a Kierkegaard quotation at Peter Enns’ blog:

My listener, allow me to make a confession about myself here. I still do not dare to be utterly alone with God’s Word. I don’t have the honesty and courage for it . . . Being alone with God’s Word is a dangerous matter. Of course, you can always find ways to defend yourself against it: Take the Bible, lock your door – but then get out ten dictionaries and twenty-five commentaries. Then you can read it just as calmly and coolly as you read newspaper advertising.

Kierkegaard, the Nineteenth Century philosopher and theologian, was arguing against our use of scholarship to insulate ourselves from the demands of Jesus — a very valid point. We turn Jesus’ stories into laboratory specimens to study as disinterested Western scientists and scholars. And by turning them into puzzles to be solved rather than stories to be lived, we escape from the power of Jesus’ words. Continue reading →

From Nein. A Manifesto by Eric Jaronsinki, compiled from his Twitter feed of philosophy based humor: @neinquarterly

Our story

I’ve written several times about the story in which we live — and yet I’m sure it remains a foreign concept to most. The idea is that, whether we realize it or not, we all have a certain worldview (metanarrative, framing story) that defines the culture in which we live. For Americans, this worldview is about personal freedom, individual autonomy, the good life defined in terms of family and consumer goods — having a good job and being able to buy vacations and stuff, patriotism to our nation, the inevitability of economic and scientific progress, etc.

For most people, these ideas are never considered because they are too obvious to question. Thus, when Islamic nations begin to revolt against their rulers, we assume that they revolt to gain civil freedom, democracy, and free enterprise. After all, that’s why we fought the Revolutionary War against England. It doesn’t occur to us that they may be rebelling to gain power to impose their understanding of Islam on their nation. We would never do that. Nor do we consider that it may about vengeance of one tribe for atrocities committed by the tribe in power years, even centuries, in the past. Again, we would never do that — and we assume that everyone is like us. And they’re just not. Continue reading →

From Nein. A Manifesto by Eric Jaronsinki, compiled from his Twitter feed of philosophy based humor: @neinquarterly

Solutions

Family, our denominational identity, the story we live, and hermeneutics. It’s a tall order to expect any church leadership to successfully lead their congregation through so many barriers to change. The solution, I think, is to tackle these issues long before the church deals with such issues as female deacons or … well, you know the list.

If the leaders are talking about family resistance to change in the context of female deacons, then the members will weigh their Thanksgivings against the benefits of female deacons. And no matter how strongly you feel about female equality, your life is likely far more impacted by how your family treats you on Thanksgiving. Continue reading →