Vaclav Havel, center in red scarf, placing a candle at a Prague commemoration of the Velvet Revolution (Petr David Josek/AP)

The New York Times did a nice retrospective yesterday on Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution on its 20th anniversary. I was 15 years old when the Berlin Wall fell along with all the other Eastern European dominoes that fell in its wake. Just old enough to have a global consciousness, but not quite old enough to have a sense of what it all meant and what it still means today. I’m still learning.

Of course, the Times didn’t mention the role religion played in the Czech Republic’s peaceful move toward a free democracy and society. That doesn’t bother me; that’s what we’re here for. And by sheer coincidence I ran across this passage last week by Stanley Hauerwas, written in his book After Christendom, not long after the monumental events of 1989.

These questions [about the “awkward” role of…

In our western culture, the word mythology has overtones of some other religion, or a religion of the past.  I have no problem calling my own religion a mythology.

As a school age child of the 60’s and 70’s, I was taught that mythology was used to explain the world before the real sciences were developed.  I take issue with this explanation of mythology because it is an interpretation based from a purely rational epistemology.  Does mythology/religion attempt to explain the workings of our environment and/or the whole Cosmos?  Yes it does, but seen properly, only as a component of our relationship with the environment.   Rational interpretations (with an emphasis on cause/effect, subject/object experience) neglect the psychological, existential ramifications of our “being” in relation to environment.  Unfortunately, I think rationalism has crept into our religious thought, weakening our ability to transcend our egocentric tendencies.

Another contemporary problem with the use of the…

"The Risen Lord" by He Qi

When the artist He Qi visited the Concordia Seminary campus recently, he told the following story about the artwork above, “The Risen Lord.”

A church in China commissioned the work from He Qi for their sanctuary without any strings attached. He Qi went to work with a “blank canvas,” so to speak. When he showed the pastor what he had made, the pastor was speechless.

Two minutes of frozen silence passed. He finally spoke.

“Its too Chinese,” the pastor said.

He then asked He Qi if he could make a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”

One of the interesting things about Dr. He Qi, though, is that he is also an art scholar. And he then proceeded to remind us that Leonardo’s models for “The Last Supper” were all his fellow citizens of Milan. We could just as easily say about it, “Its too Italian.”

Needless to say,…

Jaroslav Pelikan

This morning, American Public Media’s “Speaking of Faith” replayed an interview with the late, great Jaroslav Pelikan on creeds and how they function within religious belief. Excellent stuff. One of Pelikan’s last big projects before his death resulted in the book Credo.

Pelikan once came up with one of the all-time great quotes on this subject: “Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.”

Two things strike me about creeds. One, they contain a sparkling minimalism. When you think of all the volumes of Christian theology written over the centuries, the Christian creeds are exceptionally short summaries of belief. That minimalism is even more true of the Jewish shema or Islam’s shahadah.

Two, their spoken power has a poetic resonance. When I listen and speak the Apostles Creed, I hear a unique poetic rhythm at work. Creeds are meant to be sung.

…

In the midst of the recent deluge of neighborhood violence in the city and cries from the community for action, Saint John’s United Church of Christ (UCC) is working with its partners to try to answer the question, “What is the church doing?” with “The Beloved Community: Equipping the Saints for the Work of Justice,” an ecumenical conference that will provide practical tools and information that citizens and communities of faith can put into action immediately.  The event will be held November 5-9^th at Saint John’s UCC, 4136 North Grand Boulevard, at the corner of Grand and Lee Avenue.  It includes two worship experiences, a play by The Black Rep, three separate ministry institutes, a discussion on faith and politics and two community service opportunities.  Conference partners and supporters include the Missouri Mid-South Conference of the UCC, The African American Pulpit Journal (Memphis, TN), The Black Rep, Washington Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church,…

The old adage, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”, has been validated this week by Rush Limbaugh’s denial of NFL team ownership. If Rush is receptive, a life lesson on karma may be attained.

On some level, good comes to those who do good. I think we are psychologically hardwired to honor and help others for good behavior. Karma is manifested daily in our interpersonal relationships.

We also recognize that bad things happen to good people. The story of Job is a lesson in this reality. Karma is expressed in one way, but not in all ways. Karma is a chapter of our existence but not the whole story.

Rush Limbaugh was denied the privilege of NFL team ownership last week.  What did he do that evoked negative karma?  Historically, Rush has been derisive and hurtful.  This blog makes no attempt to judge any specific comments by Limbaugh (not that…

Believe the earth is flat, or I'll kill you. Are you able to ignore the evidence that says otherwise?

Eternal bliss or eternal suffering, each at a level so profound that we cannot begin to imagine the plenary ecstasy of heaven or the relentless horror of hell. This,  Christians contend, is what is at stake as we try to decide whether or not to believe in Jesus as God.

But even this “choice” misunderstands the concept of belief. Belief is not a decision, but rather an intellectual position to which we are taken by evidence (evidence which can include, I am told, personal revelations from God, a courtesy not yet extended to me). We can’t believe the earth is flat, even if threatened with death for that disbelief, because the evidence tells us it’s spherical.

Yet according to the Christian proposition, we must believe certain things to avoid damnation. What are they? Besides the…

photo courtesy photobucket

We believe that all religions are basically  the same-

at least the one that we read was.

They all believe in love and goodness.

They only differ on matters of creation,

sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

Steven Turner, “Creed”

I’ve been thinking of this passage from journalist Steven Turner’s satirical poem ever since reading Rosalynde Welch’s excellent blog yesterday.  Karen Armstrong’s suggestion that somehow religion is improved by a loss of religious belief …well, it gives me a headache.   What world does Armstrong live in, that she thinks people of religious faith will happily and knowingly accept a spiritual placebo - a God who doesn’t exist, but is terribly important, nonetheless?  Does anyone else find this condescending?  I need more than metaphor and folklore to help me grapple with the big questions of meaning, ethics and mortality.  I enjoy Santa Claus as much as the next person, but I wouldn’t build my life on…

An artist's rendering of Joseph Smith's first vision

Karen Armstrong, a popular historian of religion whose bestselling A History of God brought her to national prominence in 1993, is back in the news. Her new book, The Case for God, revisits some familiar  territory in a stimulating survey of Western religious history, but this time Armstrong packages her message in an admonition to both conservative Christians and bellicose atheists, mutual antagonists in the cultural skirmishes over religion.  The Wall Street Journal recently commissioned Armstrong and Richard Dawkins, the most outspoken of the new atheists, to respond to the question, “Where does evolution leave God?” (one wonders why they did not also include an informed representative of conservative religion in their symposium).  The two answers were published together, and they make a most interesting study in contrast. Armstrong uses the platform to reprise the argument of her new book:

In the past, many of the most…

Obama on the campaign trail last year, courtesy of the NY Times

As we in St. Louis wake up this morning, the news is just breaking that President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  I’m not sure this is going to be a very popular decision here in the US. Already the naysayers are at work, ready to ridicule and deride.  What has he actually done to deserve this, anyway?  But it’s not going to be only the usual anti-Obama crowd who are concerned.  Even Lech Walesa, a fellow laureate, says this is “too soon” and hopes it will be “an encouragement” for Obama to do more. “Let’s see if he perseveres. Let’s give him time to act.”

The Nobel Committee cites “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Their statement continues, “The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world…

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on regulatory reform, Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Hey Mom.  Sometimes there’s a reason for falling asleep with the television on.  This morning I was awakened by the voice of Congressman-turned-Talk Show host, Joe Scarborough, sharing the news that White House Press Secretary Joe Gibbs awakened President Obama this morning to inform him that he had won the 2009 Nobel Prize for Peace.  That’s worth a little extra electricity.

What followed was a little more challenging.  ”Morning Joe” then began to discuss with Mika Brzezinski, Lawrence O’Donnell and Savannah Guthrie his views that the President hadn’t earned the award.  The dialogue mentioned the possibility of the prize being given to put political pressure on the POTUS as he makes decisions about troop levels in Afghanistan.  And early Associated Press reporting suggests the award being given to Obama as a “slap at President George W. Bush…

Update: Upon further investigation, it turns out that the story purported in this video most likely never happened. According to a Snopes.com article, there is no evidence that Albert Einstein ever made this statement, or that this confrontation between an atheist teacher and a Christian student ever even took place.

With that being the case - does it matter to you? Do you think the theory is any less true because it was maybe put forth by someone less of an authority on physics than Einstein?

I can’t help but think of the parables of Jesus - are the truths they contain any less valid because they were illustrative stories as opposed to literal accountings?

Perhaps you’ve seen this video, by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Macedonia, making its way around the Internet:

Do you agree or disagree? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!

…

As much as the exclusive, masculine language above rubs me the wrong way, it really does get across the point of this post.  I’ve recently been in dialogue with a number of young adults (particularly college students) who struggle with decisions about the development of their lives of faith.  The most difficult for those who live in the city in which they grew up is whether they will continue to worship in the same congregation of their families. 

While this may sound odd, it is a difficult decision because for many of them joining those congregations was never a decision.  The choice of sanctuary, synagogue or mosque for people like me who grew up nurtured by religious traditions is really not our own.  My mom made sure I was at Union Missionary Baptist Church for worship, Sunday School, choir rehearsal, mid-week prayer service and youth activities on Saturday every week.  When mom decided our family membership would change…

Last week was a case study in theological theory meeting practice for me.  On Sunday, I shared information with our congregation on the intent of President Obama’s Health Care proposal, reminding them that the United Church of Christ declared support for H.R. 676, an early and more progressive effort calling for a single-payer, universal health care system in our summer General Synod in Grand Rapids.  On Monday, I stood with the leadership of the Saint Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition and a representative from Organizing for America to declare support for the president’s Health Insurance Reform and invite others to pray for our elected leadership.  On Wednesday (the day Senator Max Baucus unveiled the Senate Finance Committee plan) at our church’s mid-week Bible study we reflected on the prophetic vision of Isaiah chapter 1 that the responsibility of the people of God extends beyond worship to “defending the fatherless…pleading for the…

We just finished up this year’s theological symposium on science and theology on the Concordia Seminary campus. Presentations on quantum physics, ecology, and neuroscience (free videos of which will be up on the Seminary’s iTunes U site shortly) and other issues have left my brain oozing, but also with a couple of observations….

When we brush away the misconceptions about both science and religion, we are left with two kinds of human knowledge that can be mutually enriching. There were more than a few times when talk of scientific discovery led my mind into new and exciting theological territory. It is truly tragic when misunderstandings on both sides cut off the dialogue between the two. So much of the terrain between the two is still uncharted.

Second, one of the faculty presenters, Dr. Rick Marrs, in referencing an article by Barbara Bradley Hagerty in USA Today, picked up on a distinction between secrets and mysteries.…

Concordia Seminary’s 20th annual Theological Symposium is September 22-23, and this is the issue at hand. “Science and theology” isn’t necessarily anything new, although the dialogue between the two has often been tenuous at best. But the “new questions and new conversations” certainly is. The symposium will walk the cutting edge of where science and theology intersect today, as well as the ethical implications that these intersections leave us with.

Behind all this is the attempt to get beyond the stereotypically American preoccupation between evolution and creationism. There are simply too many interesting questions out there on which both science and theology can provide answers that are mutually beneficial and enriching. And it is on those questions that we will be focused September 22-23.

To do that, the primary plenary speakers will be leading scientists from diverse backgrounds:

Benjamin Schumacher on “Elusive Reality: Quantum Physics and Theology.” Dr. Schumacher is a physics professor at…

Anselm of Canterbury, under glass

Feed your inner philosopher by checking out this column by Nathan Schneider on the “Happy Days” blog at the NY Times. If you want to go further outside the box, check out the provocative religion blog that Schneider edits: Killing the Buddha.

Anselm of Canterbury was the eleventh century philosopher and theologian who famously articulated what we now know as his “ontological” proof for God. Schneider explains. I remember first learning Anselm’s ontological proof as an undergrad philosophy student. Suffice it to say, I hadn’t thought about it for loooong time until reading this.

Schneider saves the kicker for the end, for how Anselm’s thinking about God influenced how he treated other human beings. A very good read.

As an aside, I find it curious how—and I see it regularly in the “Happy Days” blog—self-professed atheists among the New York Times readership are often first in line to jump all over anything…

Photo of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, courtesy of Episcopal News Service

I got that question a lot this summer from friends and family who aren’t Episcopalians and who are bemused by the stuff they read about my church in the national press.  So here is my brief, idiosyncratic, and much too general take on “what’s happening.”

Every three years the Episcopal Church gathers for General Convention.  General Convention is our governing body; we don’t have an archbishop or pope who decides things for us, but instead work in a complicated, messy, democratic way to get the business of the church done, and even to decide what our business really is.  Our bicameral legislative body is noticeably similar in structure to the U.S. Congress, which is no surprise because it developed alongside it, under the guidance of some of the same “founding fathers.”  It’s big, though, with over 800 people (lay and…

Julia McKenzie/aka Miss Marple has been entertaining us weekly this

credit: Agathachristiefilms

summer via the PBS station KETC/Channel 9, starring in the latest rendition of Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries.

Somehow it doesn’t matter one whit how often we’ve read or watched the various stories; like little children we want to hear them again.

Perhaps Nick Baldock’s insights posted yesterday at the FIRST THINGS site suggest one reason why.

He writes, 

…..The plain fact is that detective fiction is a distinctively moral genre; indeed, a distinctively theological genre. Questions of guilt and justice are inherent within even the most implausible and incredible whodunit. The world of Agatha Christie was a Christian world. The assumptions, morality, and society are Christian.

…..In 1953, Christie received a letter of appreciation from a Ruth Thomas of Newport, which suggested that “the detective of fiction fills a shrine left vacant by a lost faith.”

…..Christie’s belief that life was sacred and not to be taken lightly was…

That’s the title of a summer workshop I will be leading later this month (July 27-29) at Concordia Seminary. It’s a topic I’ve studied, talked, and thought about for a long time. Peter Mead, senior editor at Creative Communications for the Parish, will lead some of the presentations too. Even if you’re not interested in the workshop, it will feature a public reading at 4:00PM on Tuesday, July 28.

Here’s the blurb I wrote for the brochure:

This workshop will delve into various kinds of creative writing—poetry, storytelling (for “page” and “stage”), and creative nonfiction—and what it means to write in these genres as a person of faith. What role does faith play in the creative process? What makes a piece of writing religious? How is faith expressed through creativity? Questions like these will be explored through presentations, close readings, conversation and creative exercises. Although not required, participants are encouraged to bring…