July 2017 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

8/11/16, Spong: The Unlikely Honored Guest at the Democratic National Convention
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 31 Jul '18

31 Jul '18

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He was surrounded in that reserved and exclusive seating area by the power-elite of the Democratic Party: A former President, the sitting Vice-President and the “second lady,” the spouses and children of the nominees, as well as those especially invited guests, who were uniquely and politically related to the convention’s eventual nominee. This unlikely guest was in his own way quite unique. He was a Republican, one who had been elected to a state-wide office as a candidate of the opposition party. He served as the governor of Virginia from 1970 – 1974 and was the first Republican governor of Virginia since 1869 in the last days of reconstruction. Later he sought his party’s nomination to the Senate of the United States, losing to another Republican, John Warner, who served with distinction from 1979 until he retired in 2008. The name of this mystery quest is Abner Linwood Holton. He is now, and has been since the day I first met him, an extraordinary man. People, unaware of the history of the Democratic Party in Virginia, find it strange that the man I regarded as the best governor of Virginia during the years I lived in that state would be a Republican. Let me tell you his story.</p> <p>Linwood Holton was born in 1923 in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, a town deep in the heart of Appalachia. He was a Republican from the moment of his birth. He was also bright and ambitious. Being a Republican in Virginia in those days was to be part of a distinct minority, perhaps even an endangered one! The Democrats of Virginia were the only cohesive political force in the state. This majority party was run by Virginia’s senior United States Senator, Harry Flood Byrd, who after serving a term as governor from 1926 to 1930, effectively ran the state until he died in 1966. It was said of Harry Byrd that he and a few of his closest political advisors would sit on the porch at his home in Berryville, Virginia, and pick the candidates for every political vacancy in Virginia from governor on down. The electorate was deliberately kept small by poll taxes, which effectively discouraged both blacks and poor whites from voting. A Byrd loyalist was in every county seat in Virginia to run the party. Racism was deep and “States Rights” was a holy slogan designed to make racism seem socially acceptable. Virginia was a one party state. Frequently the Republicans would not even nominate candidates and, even when they did, no one paid much attention to them because whoever won the Democratic primary seldom even campaigned in the general election, since Republicans simply did not win in this state! Linwood Holton made it his life’s ambition to establish two-party politics in Virginia.</p> <p>He graduated from Washington and Lee in Lexington, Virginia, and then entered the law school at Harvard University. Along the way he married a Roanoke girl, named Virginia Rogers, who went by the name of Jinks. She was the daughter of Frank Rogers, an upright, but ultra-conservative, successful and well-connected Roanoke citizen, who was the grandson of the first Episcopal Bishop in Southwestern Virginia. In his mind, the two greatest virtues were to be a conservative Episcopalian and a loyal Byrd Democrat. Jinks, the more rebellious of Rogers’ two daughters, chose to marry a Republican and a Presbyterian! Supported by this remarkable woman, Linwood began his life’s task of strengthening Virginia’s Republican Party. This party’s base, such as it was, had always been in the mountains of the western part of Virginia. As a force in opposition to Byrd Democrats, the Virginia Republican party tilted slightly leftward. There was no room to the right of the Byrd machine. The Virginia Republicans were known for their party’s efforts to improve education statewide and to develop better state mental health facilities. Linwood’s organizational efforts were so successful that in 1965 he was the Republican nominee for governor opposing the Southside, Virginia, Byrd Democrat, Mills Godwin, who had emerged as the new leader of the Democratic Party. The sickness, retirement and subsequently the death of Senator Byrd meant that the torch of party leadership had to be passed to the next generation. It is interesting that Harry Byrd, Jr., always known as “Little Harry,” who was appointed to succeed his father in the Senate, did not succeed him in the leadership of the statewide Democratic Party. Holton was defeated in that first run for the governor’s office, but he garnered a respectable total of votes and succeeded in introducing himself to the state. The day after the defeat, he began planning for his second run in 1969. The governorship in Virginia, we need to note, is limited by the Constitution to a single term.</p> <p>National issues soon began to erode the Byrd majorities. Poll taxes were declared unconstitutional in 1964. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the ballot to people of color. The feminist movement began to galvanize women into an effective political force. A national- thinking Virginia Democrat, named Henry Howell, began to build a liberal political base made up of labor unions, blacks, women and young people. His challenge to the Byrd machine resulted ultimately in his election as Lt. Governor in 1971, but he could go no farther. He remained anathema to Byrd Democrats. In the Democratic Primary of 1969, the Byrd candidate, William Battle, the son of former Governor John Battle, defeated Henry Howell in a bitter contest. The party could not heal this division, so in the General Election, Linwood Holton, supported by many of Howell’s still angry voters, rode to victory with a 65,000 vote majority.</p> <p>In his inaugural address, Holton called for an end to Virginia’s pattern of racial discrimination and its racist politics. No Virginia Governor had ever uttered such words before. Words, however, were not enough. People looked for actions. They would follow soon.</p> <p>In the most dramatic step imaginable, the new governor and his wife made the decision not to put their children in the church-related or independent private schools of Richmond, where all governors’ children had previously attended, but to enroll them in Richmond’s public schools which were at that time about 80% black. It was such a startling action for a Virginia politician that the New York Times covered it with a front page story and a picture of Virginia’s Governor Holton escorting one of his daughters into a school surrounded by a host of black faces smiling broadly. In a state where the official response of the ruling Democratic machine to “Brown vs. the Board of Education,” had been to call for “massive resistance to the law of the land,” a state in which some counties chose to close their public schools rather than to integrate them, here was the highest elected official in the state escorting his children into the majority black public schools of Richmond, Virginia. No action could have announced better that a new day was dawning in what had once been the capital of the Confederacy. One of those Holton children entering those public schools on that day was their oldest daughter, Anne.</p> <p>The white population of Virginia was shocked. They believed and stated that their new governor was sacrificing his children on the “altar of integration.” Many suggested that the “inferior education” that his children would receive in those heavily black schools would cripple them for life. It was a strange argument that gave the lie to the previous white claim that all of its racially segregated schools were “separate, <em>but equal</em>.” Anne, in her early teens, would be an exemplary student. She received a fine education and upon graduation from high school would be admitted to Princeton University, from which she graduated <em>magna cum laude</em>. She seemed not to have been penalized at all in her educational achievements. After Princeton she was accepted into the class of 1983 at the Harvard Law School, from which she now holds a doctor of Jurisprudence degree. From there she went into a legal career that in time would include being a domestic relations judge and Virginia’s Education Secretary.</p> <p>While at Harvard she met, fell in love with and married a fellow law student, who was born in Minnesota and educated at the University of Missouri. His name was Tim Kaine. She lured him back to Richmond, where his earlier life experiences, including his Jesuit high school education, his year as a volunteer missionary to Honduras and his mastery of the Spanish language, prepared him to begin his Richmond law practice as a civil rights attorney. Then responding to an expressed community need, he entered politics at the most local of levels, running for a seat on Richmond’s nine-member City Council. In a majority black city, Tim not only won that seat, but was also later elected by that majority-black city council to be Richmond’s Mayor. Two years later, in 2001 he moved to the state level, being elected Virginia’s Lieutenant Governor. In 2005, he won the governor’s office. His wife, Anne Holton, became the first person to be at one time living in the governor’s mansion as the child of a Republican governor and then a second time as the state’s first lady and wife of a Democratic governor. In 2012, Tim Kaine won a seat in the United States Senate. In 2016, with two years remaining in his first term as senator, he was chosen by the presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, to be her vice-presidential running mate. Anne Holton was there with him, waving to the crowd on the final night. As Hillary Clinton raised Tim Kaine’s hand high, former president Bill Clinton was at her side and Anne Holton was at Tim Kaine’s side. The crowd roared with approval.</p> <p>In the VIP section of that vast Philadelphia arena sat the former Republican Governor Linwood Holton, now 92 years old, with his wife Jinks, both still vibrant and attractive, watching their daughter being introduced to the nation. There is sometimes a reward for integrity. Linwood and Jinks Holton, who would not allow their lives to be twisted by the prejudice of racism, challenged the distorting and debilitating social structures of his generation in Richmond, Virginia. Doing what is right sometimes carries with it intimations of transcendence and even immortality. To this day he remains one of my heroes.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong</p> <p>Read the essay online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">here</a>.</p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Question & Answer</h2> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Alberto Mejia Aguilera from Mexico writes via the internet:</span></p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"> Question:</h4> <p>I am from Mexico and I would like to know your opinion about Liberation Theology. Do you think that this theology is still an inspiration for the struggle against the social injustice?</p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Answer:</h4> <p>Dear Alberto,</p> <p>Liberation theology was, I believe, was born in Latin America, so you should be especially proud of it. I associate the name of Leonardo Boff, primarily, with it, but there were others like the murdered Bishop Oscar Romero. It was born in an attempt to apply the principles of the gospel not just to individuals, but also to the structures of our society, which so often drive the masses into poverty. It identifies God with the poor. For those reasons it tended to be resisted in ecclesiastical circles, especially by the leaders of the Roman Catholic during the years of Popes John Paul II and Benedict, both of whom were so politically conservative that they saw it as another manifestation of Communism. I think they were both wrong in this judgment. Liberation theology, I believe, constituted a call to Christianity to see that its alliance with power, both in Europe and the new world, had corrupted the essential justice that Christianity requires.</p> <p>Christianity was born among the poor and the outcasts. It rose to dominate society and so became the religion of kings. Liberation Theology was a necessary correction.</p> <p>I wish you well.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Read and Share Online Here</a></p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Announcements</h2> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"><a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><img align="none" height="262" style="width: 350px;height: 262px;margin: 0px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="350" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/e67ac6a0-334…"></a></div> <h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:26px"><span style="color:#000000">Bishop Spong at the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan September 10th & 11th</span></span></h2> <strong>Schedule:</strong> Saturday, September 10, 2016 1:00 pm at the Reynolds Recital Hall, Northern Michigan University 7:00 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Marquette Sunday, September 11, 2016 2:00 pm at the Memorial Union Building , Michigan Technological University At each location, there will be an opportunity for Q&A and book signing.</div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></center><center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" id="aolmail_canspamBarWrapper" style="background-color:#FFFFFF; border-top:1px solid #E5E5E5;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" style="padding-top:20px; padding-bottom:20px;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></center></div> </div> <style type="text/css">#AOLMsgPart_2_1c149769-41d3-4c3b-8300-eaccdde19ae7 td{color: black;} @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td{font-size:14px !important;} .aolReplacedBody table[id="canspamBar"] td a{display:block !important; margin-top:10px !important;} } </style>

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Spong/Sandlin: Why I'm So Political; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 27 Jul '17

27 Jul '17

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Why I'm So Political By Rev. Mark Sandlin It surprises me just a little bit how frequently I get asked about my very visible participation in politics. The truth is while some might assume that as a minister I probably start my day off with prayer and/or a devotion, I start my day with about an hour of reading through the news and scheduling the stories I find the most important or engaging on various social media outlets. Probably the most notable of those outlets is The Christian Left. As you might imagine the name “The Christian Left” provokes plenty of negative responses, everything from “isn’t that an oxymoron” to “they call the organization that because all the REAL Christians have LEFT it.” The reality is, as a minister, I feel very strongly about the importance of being involved in politics. When Charles Toy asked me if I’d join with him in getting The Christian Left started, I barely paused to take a breath before I said, “yes.” I do catch quite a bit of grief because of it. As a matter of fact, if it wasn’t important to me, my life would be much more stress-free if I just walked away from it. But, I can’t. I can’t because of my theology. I can’t because I believe this world would be a much better place if Christians started acting a lot more like Jesus and a lot less like many of their contemporary leaders. I can’t walk away from being political because I’m trying to follow the teachings of Jesus and those teachings keep leading me to be political. Just ask yourself, “Why did Jesus die on a cross?” Was it as some Christians say, “to save us from our sins?” Regardless of your personal belief, you should recognize that, within theological circles, the idea that Jesus had to die to atone for our sins is debatable. What isn’t debatable is why he was crucified. In his day and age, people who were crucified were crucified by Rome. Rome crucified people who were seen as a threat to the political order. Jesus was crucified because the Roman authorities of the day saw him as a real threat to the state, a threat to political order, and (most importantly) a threat to those in power. The way people encourage me and other Christians to stay away from politics, you’d think that Jesus must have preached about the perils of being involved in politics during the Sermon on the Mount (which, by the way, turns out to be a very political speech). It couldn’t be further from the truth. Jesus didn’t end up hanging from a tree for being NON-political. In the first-century Roman empire wandering spiritual teachers posed no threat to the state if they weren’t political. As a matter of fact, there were plenty of wandering spiritual teachers at the time that never drew the ruling government’s attention in the slightest. However, the things Jesus said and did were very much political. Not so surprisingly, the Roman government sentenced him to death because of his activity. American Christians tend to get confused on this point because our country’s founding ideology was based on the separation of church and state (as relative as it may sometimes seem). In our oh-so-privileged way of normalizing everything to ourselves, many people imagine our modern situation is the same as the religious and political process of Jesus’ day. That can hardly be further from the truth. It’s important to realize that the primary governing body of Jesus’ time in Judah was not Roman. The Romans frequently left governing to local leaders in the territories they occupied. For Judah, this meant the governing body was the Sanhedrin. Depending on which expert you go to on this, the Sanhedrin was either made up of Sadducees or Pharisees or both. Yep, the primary governing body of Judah was made up of religious figures. The Sadducees who were primarily wealthy conservatives, and the Pharisees who were more like what we think of as the business class. Even someone with a cursory familiarity with the Gospels probably knows that Jesus was constantly bumping heads with the Sadducees and Pharisees. Every time the Bible speaks of the Sadducees and Pharisees approaching Jesus you can almost hear an announcer saying, “Let’s get ready to rum-ble!” In their interchanges, Jesus is prone to rebuking them and pointing to their hypocrisy and errant interpretations of Hebraic Law (Matthew 23:27-28). As you might imagine, the wealthy and the powerful don’t tend to take kindly to some homeless, wandering Rabbi rebuking them. In reading the Gospels, it doesn’t take long to start realizing that Jesus was no friend of the religiously and politically powerful. As a matter of fact, in one of the most surprising stories about Jesus (and I would argue the story that most influenced his being given a death sentence), he strikes at one of the most essential tools of the powerful – money. When Jesus starts flipping the moneychanger’s tables in the Temple courtyard, he is striking at a very important source of power for the Sadducees and Pharisees. Not only does he strike at one of their sources of power, Jesus goes a step further and denounces the religious elite for turning God’s temple into a “den of thieves” (Mark 11:17) – because that’s what it had become. Those who were already wealthy were taking advantage of those who had little – some would even be considered “the least of these.” (That may sound oddly familiar to those who follow U.S. politics). In the courtyard, moneychangers exchanged Roman money for Jewish currency. Folks needed to do this because Jewish currency was the only currency accepted in the Temple and on the Temple grounds. They needed the Jewish currency to buy animals which had been approved for sacrifice. It probably won’t surprise you to find out that the Sadducees and Pharisees profited outrageously in exchanging Roman money for Jewish currency. It probably also won’t surprise you to learn that the religious leaders also made quite a profit on the sale of the approved animals. Now, the story gets even more politically interesting when you consider the Temple’s architecture. The temple courtyard was surrounded by a tall wall. During Passover, which was the time of Jesus’ table flipping, those walls would be lined with Roman guards, who were insuring nothing got out of hand during a festival that celebrated the Jewish people escaping an ancient oppressive ruler: the Egyptian Pharaoh. The thought process probably went a little like this: If you are the occupying Roman government, the last thing you want is the story of the Jewish nation escaping an oppressive ruler to give the commoners any ideas. So, you make your military presence felt. So, in this story, we have Jesus walking into the watchful eye of the Roman guards, into the seat and source of power for the local ruling Sadducees and Pharisees, and then he loses it. He confronts the corrupt system that misuses its power and oppresses those in need. He literally and figuratively begins flipping tables on the powerful. He makes a political statement calling them a “den of thieves.” And he does it all under the watchful eye of armed militants. It is laughable to say that Jesus wasn’t political. Jesus confronted the very political structures and people who were twisting and using religion to step on those thought of as “the least of these.” He confronted the politically powerful Sadducees and Pharisees at every turn, calling out their hypocrisy and distorted use of the Hebraic Law. And, he then taught what the Law was really meant for: the expressing of Heaven on earth; a place where grace, love and justice were practiced. So yes, I’m political. I’m not a Republican or a Democrat. I’m an independent. And, in general, I don’t support particular politicians. I’m more about supporting laws and government programs that help those most in need and about resisting laws and government programs that hurt people. Theologically, I simply can’t see how to follow the teachings of Jesus without being political, being willing to stick out your own neck, and being willing to challenging the hypocritical power structures and leaders on behalf of the oppressed. So, for theological reasons, I’m political. ~ Rev. Mark Sandlin Read online here About the Author Mark Sandlin is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) from the South. He currently serves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. He is a co-founder of The Christian Left. His blog, RevMarkSandlin, has been named as one of the “Top Ten Christian Blogs.” Mark received The Associated Church Press’ Award of Excellence in 2012. His work has been published on “The Huffington Post,” “Sojourners,” “Time,” “Church World Services,” and even the “Richard Dawkins Foundation.” He’s been featured on PBS’s “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly” and NPR’s “The Story with Dick Gordon.” Follow Mark on Facebook and Twitter @marksandlin Question & Answer Betty from Minnesota, writes: Question: My grandchildren have started attending a conservative private school because of the large sizes of the classes in the public schools. Their parents have recently become concerned because of the introduction of the Devil in the curriculum of that school at the first and third grade levels where our grandchildren are students. Their questions are: "When did the concept of the Devil get introduced into the pre-Christian world? How is the Devil to be interpreted in several Bible stories? Why did the culture at that time accept the image of the Devil? Why do conservatives today not get beyond the personal Devil image? How can evil be explained without using the idea of a real Devil? Answer: By Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Dear Betty, I can’t respond fully to all the questions, but let me share some thoughts. The pre-Christian world is a mighty big place, so I’m going to focus on the origin of what is called the satan in the Jewish tradition. An excellent book, by the way, is that of Elaine Pagels’ The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics. Pagels points out that in the 6th century BCE, “when Israelite writers excoriated their fellow Jews in mythological terms, the images they chose were usually not the animalistic or monstrous ones they regularly applied to their foreign enemies.” Rather, they “most often identified their Jewish enemies with an exalted, if treacherous, member of the divine court whom they called the satan. The satan is not an animal or monster but one of God’s angels, a being of superior intelligence and status…” She goes on to say “As he first appears in the Hebrew Bible, Satan is not necessarily evil, much less opposed to God. On the contrary, he appears in the book of Numbers and in Job as one of God’s obedient servants – a messenger, or angel…. In Hebrew, the angels were often called ‘sons of God’, and were envisioned as the hierarchical ranks of a great army, or the staff of a royal court.” Contrary to popular mythology and fundamentalist theology, “In biblical sources the Hebrew term the satan describes an adversarial role. It is not the name of a particular character.” Later Christianity would anthropomorphize this adversarial role which would enable it to create a dualistic world view where God would be contending against the Devil. This dualism, which was a projection of our own internal struggles with the adversarial quality of our own instinctual drives and emotions, would also be disowned and projected onto human adversaries, whom we would claim were under the control of this satanic character. As Pagels helps us to understand, the root stn means “one who opposes, obstructs, or acts as adversary.” (The Greek term diabolos, later translated as ‘devil,’ literally means ‘one who throws something across one’s path.)” In truth, life is continually throwing things in our path, challenging the plans and desires we have. In the Hebrew scriptures, “the satan’s presence in a story could help account for unexpected obstacles or reversals of fortune.” When the obstacle prevented someone from a costly or even fatal mistake, it was praised as gift from God, as in the story of Balaam in the book of Numbers. As human beings, we find it very difficult to own as our own the parts of ourselves we have split off into our unconscious as little children, because they threatened our sense of safety and survival in our family system – often, because they were judged morally as wrong and shameful and thus we resorted to repressing them to avoid the sense of debilitating guilt. In time, we also learned to project these unwanted parts of ourselves onto others, thus providing a justification for our judgment of them. For myself, evil is most fruitfully understood as the experienced absence of the presence of goodness. There is no thing or no character responsible for evil. Evil arises from the dispossessed, disowned, unconscious qualities of our own human soul. As an unconscious force, we are blind to its effect on our perception of reality; and so evil distorts and contorts and can destroy our lives. Our spiritual response is not to further judge and disown, but to understand the truth of the unconscious obstacle, whatever it is, and learn to grow from the experience. There are also times in our lives when someone is so constricted and cut-off from conscious awareness of who they truly are, that they threaten the integrity of ourselves or others. The response is not to demonize that person/nation/group, but to stop them from carrying out their destructive behavior with the least amount of force possible. In effect, ironically, we need to be the satan, or messenger, obstructing their damaging path. ~ Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Read and share online here About the Author Kevin G. Thew Forrester is an Episcopal priest, a student of the Diamond Approach for over a decade, as well as a certified teacher of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. He is the founder of the Healing Arts Center of St. Paul’s Church in Marquette, Michigan, and the author of five books, including “I Have Called You Friends“, “Holding Beauty in My Soul’s Arms“, and “My Heart is a Raging Volcano of Love for You” and “Beyond my Wants, Beyond my Fears: The Soul’s Journey into the Heartland“. _____________________________________________________ Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited "The Passion of the Christ" Mel Gibson's Film and Biblical Scholarship – Part III There are some aspects of the gospels' passion narratives that Mel Gibson seems not to know. That is surprising since they are commonplace in the world of New Testament scholarship. First, in the earliest narrative of the Passion of Jesus (Mark 14:17- 15:47), a poignant but little noticed fact is registered. Mark informs his readers that when Jesus was arrested, "They (the disciples) all forsook him and fled." Let me make certain that those words are heard; 'All' of his disciples forsook him and fled. So authentic and real was this memory of apostolic desertion that a powerful need arose to exonerate the disciples for this undeniable behavior. A text from the book of Zechariah (13:7) that reads, "strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered" filled this requirement. These words were quoted often in the gospels (see Mk. 14: 27, Mt. 26: 31, and Jno.16: 32) to show that the disciples were bound to fulfill the scriptures, and thus had no choice. We are told that Peter tried to hang around incognito until his cover was blown then, denying that he had ever known Jesus, Peter also disappeared. The fact is that Jesus died alone. There were no disciples who witnessed his death. The passion of Jesus was something he endured alone! Who then created the passion narratives? Once this realization sinks in a second question arises: Where did the gospel writers get the details that are woven so beautifully into the story of the crucifixion? Who wrote them down if there were no eyewitnesses? Who was there to recall the dialogue between Jesus and the chief priests, Jesus and Pilate, Jesus and the soldiers, Jesus and the crowd, Jesus and the penitent thief? Who would have known about Joseph getting permission from Pilate to bury Jesus in a new tomb in Joseph's lovely garden? Who was there to record the earthquake, the darkness at noon, the cry of dereliction, the abuse and taunting of the crowd? Since Jesus died alone, those questions must be raised. The only conclusion to which we can possibly arrive becomes so obvious. The story of the passion of Jesus is not remembered history. It was created by the second, perhaps even the third generation of the Christian Church to aid them in the liturgical function of recalling the meaning of the one who had been crucified. If that essential premise can be embraced, then the question becomes where did these early Christians get the content to create the liturgy of "The Lord's Passion!" The simple answer is that they got it directly out of the Hebrew Scriptures. The gospels are Jewish books shaped by the Jewish Scriptures. This is as true of the story of the crucifixion as it is of any part of the Jesus story. So intimate is the connection between these biblical sources and the Passion Narrative that conservative Christians have claimed that the ancient Jewish Scriptures were divinely-inspired prophecies that Jesus, by virtue of his divine nature, had miraculously fulfilled. The truth is exactly the opposite. The story of Jesus' passion was written with these passages from the Hebrew Scriptures in front of the authors and the story of Jesus was crafted to comply with these various Jewish expectations. It was not the other way around. So central is this insight to cracking the stifling literalism that surrounds the story of Jesus in popular religious circles, that it requires a full exposure. I begin by concentrating on the passion narrative in Mark's Gospel since it was foundational and was largely incorporated into both Matthew and Luke's narratives, while John heightened the story time after time. A close reading of Mark's account of the crucifixion will reveal that it is designed to go from 6:00 p.m. on Thursday to 6:00 p.m. on Friday, thereby creating a 24-hour liturgical vigil. One can see the divisions at 14:17-31, 14: 32-42, 14: 43-65, 14:66-72, 15: 1-20, 15:21-32, 15:33-39 and 15: 40-47. The hours are actually marked in verses17 and 37-41 of chapter 14 and in verses 1, 25, 33, 34, and 42 of chapter 15. Note also that the betrayal is made to occur at midnight, so that the darkest deed in human history can occur at the darkest moment of the night. It serves the drama needs of the liturgy not the facts of history. Most Christians are also unaware that the Palm Sunday procession in Mark is again not history but is taken directly out of the Jewish liturgy of Sukkoth, a fall harvest festival of eight days duration. In the liturgical observance of Sukkoth, worshipers marched around the Temple or synagogue waving a 'lulab,' a bunch of leafy branches made up of willow, myrtle and palm, in their right hands. As they marched, they shouted the words of Psalm 118, "Hosanna! which is translated "Save us" and Blessed is he who enters (comes) in the name of the Lord (vs. 25 and 26)." That ought to sound familiar. This Palm Sunday idea introduced by Mark is based on a text (Zechariah 9:9-11), which reads: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your King comes to you, triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey and the foal of a donkey." Zechariah's narrative has been adapted as the vehicle through which to tell the Jesus story. When the story of the cross unfolds, this pattern of adapting Jesus to the Hebrew Scriptures continues. We tend to forget that Paul, before any gospel was written had observed that, "Christ died ---- in accordance with the scriptures (I Cor. 15:3)." The only scriptures Paul knew were what we today call the Old Testament. The details of the story of the cross are quite familiar since worshipers have read and relived them for 2000 years. Jesus is given over into the hands of wicked people. He is silent before Pilate and his accusers. He is mocked and abused. His clothing is divided among the soldiers. They cast lots to determine who would get what. He is crucified between two bandits or thieves. The crowd passing by derided him. His fellow victims taunt him and he cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" He is buried in the private tomb of a rich man named Joseph. What is not familiar to worshippers, however, are the accounts from the Hebrew Bible that Christians have adapted through which the story of Jesus can be told. We are not reading history when we read the passion story from the gospels; we are participating in the interpretative liturgy through which Jesus was rooted in the scriptures of his people and to interpret him as the fulfillment of Jewish expectations. The passion story of Jesus is actually based on two primary sources in the Old Testament. I will deal with one of them, Psalm 22, this week. That Psalm opens with the cry of dereliction, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" These words were quite deliberately placed onto the lips of Jesus by Mark. Psalm 22 goes on to say, "All who see me, mock at me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; he committed his cause to God, let God deliver him (Ps. 22:7-8). Surely Mark had this Psalm in front of him when he wrote, "Those who pass by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha, you who would destroy the Temple . . . save yourself" (Mk. 15:29ff). Matthew made the connection even more overt by adding, "He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now if he wants him." (Mt. 27:43). Psalm 22 continues by saying, "I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint." (v. 14). This verse and the phrase "I can count all my bones," near the end of this Psalm (verse 17), gave rise to the tradition that the bones of Jesus were not broken. John once again develops the story more fully (Jno. 19:31-37), by augmenting his narrative with a reference to another Psalm (34:20), where the psalmist adds, "He keeps all his bones, not one of them was broken." These words revealed the growing liturgical identity between Jesus and the sacrificial lamb of the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. In the Yom Kippur liturgy, the sacrificial lamb had to be physically perfect, no scratches, blemishes or broken bones. Only the blood of the perfect lamb of God could cleanse the people from their sins. The theme of thirst is also found in Psalm 22 (v.15) where the psalmist writes, "My strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue cleaves to my jaws: thou dost lay me in the dust of death." This idea was incorporated by Mark into the Passion Narrative when Jesus is given wine mingled with myrrh to drink prior to the crucifixion. He declines. Later the Fourth Gospel heightens the thirst theme by having Jesus actually cry, "I thirst!" John says, he was given a sponge filled with vinegar to drink. To buttress this story John quotes another Psalm (69:21), where it is written, "for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." After this, John has Jesus say, "It is finished," before he breathes his last (Jno. 19:28-30). Psalm 22 further says, "They divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots (v.18)." Mark says of Jesus, "They divided his garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take." The dependence on this text is more obvious when the Fourth Gospel describes the scene even more graphically by turning one piece of Jesus' clothing into a seamless robe for which literal dice are rolled to award possession. Can anyone seriously doubt that Psalm 22 was a major source employed in the creation of the details of the passion story of Jesus in order to shape the worship life of the early Christian Church? We are not dealing in the gospel story with the literal history of the final events in the life of Jesus as Mel Gibson and so many, not very well informed, Christians seem to think. We are dealing with a liturgical attempt to lead the second and third generation of Christians to meditate during Holy Week on who it was who was crucified and what the ultimate meaning of his life is. The second source for the content of the passion is Isaiah 53, to which I shall turn in next week's column. ~ John Shelby Spong Originally published March 10, 2004 Announcements Pilgrimage as a Journey of the Heart Online eCourse July 31st - August 25th Pilgrimage is a spiritual practice for nearly every major religion of the world. Pilgrimage transcends religious, national, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. This e-course will explore the many dimensions of pilgrimages as a spiritual practice and offer resources to aid those called to the journey today. Click here for more information/registration

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7/20/17: Forrester/Spong: What does it mean to speak of God’s reign?; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 22 Jul '17

22 Jul '17

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Thew Forrester, Ph.D.</h3> <p><a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><img align="left" class="aolmail_alignleft aolmail_size-full aolmail_wp-image-49801" height="125" style="border: 0px;float: left;width: 125px;height: 125px;margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="125" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/00b950f5-89f…"></a>One of the most characteristic features of Rabbi Jesus’ teaching is his experience of the reign of God as present here and now. This manifestation of God’s reign is not a reality to be feared, but as we hear in the synoptic gospels, is to be received as “good news.” But why? What are some of the qualities of the reign of God that tell of its goodness in our lives? And what does it even mean to speak of “God’s reign” in the 21st century within a culture in which kingdoms and monarchs do not exist, and resonate within our imagination and lives as antiquated and oppressive?</p> <p>Let’s begin by exploring a few of the essential qualities we can associate with the reign of God. These qualities might then enable us to briefly reconsider what we mean when we invoke these biblical words. I am going to draw from several early childhood experiences with my own father, because they are experiences, I now know, that introduced me to qualities of God. There is not necessarily anything gender-specific about these experiences; what is key is that a nurturing adult in my young life invited me to realize within my quotidian existence the presence of Being itself in all of its goodness.</p> <p>When I was about 4 years old, I awoke early one summer weekend morning and strolled quietly to my parents’ bedroom. My mother was already downstairs with her coffee, but with the door slightly ajar, I could see my dad lying peacefully upon the bed, the covers pulled down to his waist to receive the cooling morning breeze through the open window. I tiptoed in, climbed up beside him – not knowing if he were sleeping – and laid my wondering boy head upon the nest of curly hair on his belly. As I ran my little hands through his hair my head floated upon the undulating movement of his belly, his breath gently coming and going. The sun ever so slowly continued its morning climb, its warmth, like that of my dad’s body, melted any distance there may have been between his heart and mine. A golden sense of Oneness arose, lying pleasurably upon the bed, our single being unencumbered by any edges, expanding endlessly like the azure sky of dawn.</p> <p>This is one of my earliest experiences of realizing union of heart and soul in all its golden wonder. My father was this tender, strong, inviting gate into the endless expanse of the beauty of creation. I was tasting the gift of being one with the ground of Being in and through the specific being of this young man, my father. There is a basic and undeniable goodness in the melting of hearts that invites us on the lifelong path of letting go and experience the golden quality of merging with Being at the center of our own being. Here is the taproot of Jesus’ realization that he and his Beloved are one.</p> <p>About a year later, I was with my dad at a football game on a Friday evening in southeastern Michigan. Standing beside him, we were engulfed in an arboreal sea of humanity. As I looked around, I felt as if I were deep inside a forest of giant trees swaying vigorously from a strong wind. I sensed myself as tiny, week, disoriented and vulnerable. I had no idea where to turn. The next moment I was being scooped up and planted firmly upon my dad’s broad shoulders, like a small chickadee suddenly finding a secure perch on a steady oak in a storm. Now, with my skinny little legs within the firm grasp of my dad’s hands I surveyed the scene. My heart relaxed and my eyes excitedly widened; I had embarked on an adventure. I wasn’t simply tolerating the crowd, I was enjoying, even relishing, the excitement. The vital strength of my father’s heart was coursing through my body. The strength of his soul was now mine. I knew that “I can do this.” We strode together, as if he were one of Tolkien’s Ents bearing a hobbit, with the swaying trees of humanity seeming to part as needed as we wandered about.</p> <p>Strength – knowing that we can do what needs to be done – is an essential quality of being a human being. Without it we withdraw and cower and feel we are without capacity to engage whatever is before us. Strength is an essential quality of the reign of God, and it is critical that we have caregivers in our lives who introduce us to our capacity to do what needs to be done. Over again, Rabbi Jesus’ encounters with people results in the astonishing realization of the strength of their being. Jesus mixes spittle and mud, applies it to the man’s blind eyes, and he discovers the strength to see clearly.</p> <p>One final vignette. The summer after I turned seven, my parents gifted my older sister, brother and I with an unescorted train trip from Michigan to Illinois. Illinois may well have been China for me; it was a far away land that we would reach by rail after many hours. Such pride: we had been deemed capable of making an exotic trip without our parents aboard. The evening before our departure, neighbors joined us for a celebratory spaghetti dinner. As the eating and partying progressed I found myself feeling worse and worse; I quietly stole away into a corner alone in what quiet could be found. It didn’t take long before my mother discovered me curled up. My temperature had soared and my tummy had become exquisitely tender to the touch. Dad scooped me up and drove me to the emergency room. There I sat upon the vinyl clad examination table, covered by that crunchy white paper in place to ward off germs. The room was cold and sterile. The doctor probed and prodded and muttered to himself until finally he said to me, “son, you aren’t going anywhere. Your appendix is infected and about to burst. You need to have surgery right away.” I sat stunned and crushed, with tears rolling down my ashen cheeks. The adventure had vanished as if it had been a midnight dream. My dad came and stood in front of me as I sat on the table. He held the gaze of my eyes gently but firmly and said, “I think you should be the one to call and tell your mom.” Without question, my heart knew that he was right. But even more, I knew, even though I was in tears and heartbroken, that I could do it. There was a powerful peace in my dad’s gaze and it held me and touched me and assured me of my own power to be with what was happening. Nothing was being denied – not the pain, not the sorrow, not the lost dream. It was all there and I hated much of it; but it was there held within the power of my little being to endure.</p> <p>Essential to the reign of God is the realization of the power to be the truth of who we are within the circumstances of where we are. In this most simple and intimate exchange between my dad and I, he was inviting me to discover the power that is woven into the very substance of my soul. This power was not reactive. This power was the response of Being as my being. It was the same power that enabled Rabbi Jesus to accept the cup before him in the Garden of Gethsemane.</p> <p>Union. Strength. Power. These are essential qualities of the reign of God. They do not come to us magically out of the blue, but are introduced to us through the significant people in our lives who don’t miss the chance when the chances arise. Nature is grace, but we often fail to perceive and respond. History is God manifest, but often unrecognized and unseen. On these three occasions, my dad was graciously attuned to the present moment. He had no conscious idea of the mystery he was inviting me to discover. But, because his own heart was soft and open, Love drew his heart and soul to mine in an act of trust in its wisdom to guide us both.</p> <p>What happens when we don’t have someone to introduce us to these qualities of the reign of God in our lives? We can become like ashes, without substance, and a victim to the forces that blow all about us and through us. Without a sense of union, strength, and power (and these are just a few of the qualities of God’s reign), we can feel unbearably thin and without the capacity to engage life. Like Peter, when confronted with the unknown we can seek the shadows or find ourselves sinking below the turbulent waves of life.</p> <p>In their book, <em>Proverbs of Ashes</em>, Brock and Parker describe such ashes in the lives of women who experience themselves with no strength or power to act in order to relieve themselves from violently oppressive relationships. To add insult to injury, they find in such language as “the reign of God,” religious justification to remain powerless and seemingly disunited from God. They believe they need to suffer the blows and indignities of abuse, because that is what they think Jesus did – the reign of God demands acquiescence. If we suffer like Jesus, perhaps we will then be graced with the chance to rest our heads in peace and know the union we long for.</p> <p>Here is where we need to return to the matter of what we mean by the reign of God, which is simply a poetic way of speaking about Divine Presence. Rabbi Jesus is a wisdom teacher who invites us to discover that <em>within</em> our daily interactions we can come to experience and know directly the living and abiding Presence of the Beloved; not apart from nature and history; not above nature and history; but as the very warp and woof of nature and history. There is a depth to reality we tend to overlook in our habitual ways of skating along on the surface. This depth is the Divine heart of <em>this</em> life. This Presence, Jesus teaches, can come to reign in our lives as our way of living, which means we can come to know Being as our being, as the true nature of our own human nature; as the sure and strong beat of our own powerful heart.</p> <p>We each need living, breathing, human beings to introduce us to the essential goodness of life. Jesus is such a human being in the lives of the disciples. There is nothing magical about his interactions, nor those of my father. But when those relationships don’t exist, tragedy arises in history as human ashes. Divine Presence, the reign of God, has many essential qualities that enable us to experience the goodness of our own human fullness. Three of these are union, strength, and power.</p> <p>~ Kevin G. Thew Forrester, Ph.D. Read the essay online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">here</a>.</p> <p><strong>About the Author</strong></p> <p>Kevin G. Thew Forrester is an Episcopal priest, a student of the Diamond Approach for over a decade, as well as a certified teacher of the Enneagram in the Narrative Tradition. He is the founder of the Healing Arts Center of <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">St. Paul’s Church </a>in Marquette, Michigan, and the author of five books, including “I Have Called You Friends“, “Holding Beauty in My Soul’s Arms“, and “My Heart is a Raging Volcano of Love for You” and “<a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Beyond my Wants, Beyond my Fears: The Soul’s Journey into the Heartland</a>“.</p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><hr> <h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Question & Answer</h2> <p> <span style="font-size:18px">NJ via FaceBook, writes:</span></p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"> Question:</h4> <p>How is it that liberal-minded people who claim that they are open to allowing people to believe what they want and live the way that they want attack people like me who stand on the Bible? That's real tolerant now isn't it?</p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size:20px">Answer: By Rev. David M. Felten</span></h4> <p><a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><img class="aolmail_alignleft aolmail_size-medium aolmail_wp-image-49812" height="156" style="border: 0px;float: left;width: 125px;height: 156px;margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="125" src="https://johnshelbyspong.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/David-Felten-242x300…"></a></p> <p>Dear NJ, First off, allowing people to believe what they want is just one characteristic of “liberal-minded people.” But to characterize liberalism as some willy-nilly-believe-what-you-want perspective is a false claim. True, liberals are OK with people believing what they want – but only insofar as those beliefs respect the basic dignity of other people and doesn't do others harm. That's a big difference. I've also heard it said that liberals tolerate anything but intolerance. I think that's about right.</p> <p>And let's be clear, you're probably not being "attacked" for being a person who "stands on the Bible," but for being a person who's "stand" on the Bible is not in keeping with other peoples' "stand" on the Bible.</p> <p>Let me remind you that people "stood on the Bible" to defend slavery, they "stood on the Bible" to keep women from having the vote, they "stood on the Bible" to defend segregation. Without "liberals" who opposed those racist, misogynist, and un-American practices, our world would be a very different place indeed (and not for the better). Many of those appalling liberals, by the way, were faithful Christians who appealed to the Bible to further the causes of freedom and basic human rights. I’m going to assume that, in these areas, you agree with them and their “liberal” interpretation of the Bible.</p> <p>Among today’s front line issues of defense on behalf of basic human dignity and human rights are LGBTQ rights and reproductive choice. Bizarre Biblical attitudes toward women and sexuality notwithstanding, neither of these (as we currently understand them) are topics in the Bible (uh-oh, no place to “stand”!). Similarly, although there’s no mention of cultural practices like female genital mutilation and sex-trafficking in the Bible, many conservatives “stand” with liberals in opposition to these sex-related challenges – and do so on the grounds of that eminently liberal notion of human rights.</p> <p>Then, if you manage to filter out all the propaganda, cultural prejudices, and superstitions from the Bible, there are plenty of examples of where scripture is clearly aligned with what you would call today’s “liberal agenda.” Opposing racial injustice and the U.S.’s unjust immigration policies are just two examples where liberals have all kinds of Biblical precedent on which to “stand.”</p> <p>So, don't mistake the liberal tendency towards tolerance (which allows you – in broad strokes – to believe what you want and do what you please) to remain silent when what you believe and advocate fails to respect the rights or freedom of others. You can claim that your “stand” is the definitive interpretation of what the Bible says, but so did the slave-owning, sexist, and racist Christians of the past – and so do the discriminatory, misogynistic dogmatists of today.</p> <p>~ Rev. David M. Felten</p> <p>Read and share online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">here</a></p> <p><strong>About the Author</strong></p> <p>David Felten is a full-time pastor at <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">The Fountains</a>, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. David and fellow United Methodist Pastor, Jeff Procter-Murphy, are the creators of the DVD-based discussion series for Progressive Christians, “<a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">Living the Questions</a>”.</p> <p>A co-founder of the <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Arizona Foundation for Contemporary Theology</a> and also a founding member of <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice</a>, David is an outspoken voice for LGBTQ rights both in the church and in the community at large. David is active in the <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church</a> and tries to stay connected to his roots as a musician. You’ll find him playing saxophones in a variety of settings, including appearances with the <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Fountain Hills Saxophone Quartet</a>.</p> <p>David and his wife Laura, an administrator for a large Arizona public school district, live in Phoenix with their three often adorable children.</p> <p style="text-align: center;">______________________________________________________</p> <p> </p> <h3 style="text-align: center;color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 26px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;"><strong>Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited</strong></h3> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>"The Passion of the Christ" Mel Gibson's Film and Biblical Scholarship – Part II</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="Spong" class="aolmail_wp-image-49832 aolmail_alignleft" height="128" style="border: 0px;width: 121px;height: 128px;margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;float: left;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="121" src="https://johnshelbyspong.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Spong-283x300.jpg"></p> <p>Mel Gibson claims that in his film, "The Passion of the Christ," he has "followed faithfully the texts of the Gospels." That is demonstrably not so, as I sought to show in this column last week. Yet, what interests me about this even more is that many religious people think that biblical accuracy is the only criterion by which this film should be judged. If it is true to the Bible, then it seems not to matter whether it increases the virulent cultural prejudice against Jewish people. Upon viewing the film, no less a person than John Paul II, for example, stated approvingly, "It is as it was!" The Pope clearly bought the argument that the biblical account itself is accurate. These words reveal a failure to embrace some uncomfortable aspects of contemporary biblical scholarship on his part. It is not dissimilar with the other Christian leaders. To make that clear, one has only to lift several facts of history into the public awareness.</p> <p>First, the most elementary study of the familiar material in the passion story will reveal that it is not the work of eyewitnesses. Jesus' earthly life came to an end around the year 30. The first account of the events in Jesus' life from Palm Sunday to Easter was not written until Mark's Gospel came into being between 70-75 or, at a minimum, forty years after the events being described. This means that these narratives were developed and passed on orally in some context for at least forty years before they were written down for the first time. In that world there were no places to go to research events of the past.</p> <p>Second, this Passion story in Mark's Gospel was then, during the next ten to twenty years, incorporated into both Matthew and Luke, each of whom wrote an expanded version of Mark. Matthew, who copied some ninety percent of Mark into his gospel, wrote probably between 80 and 85, and Luke, who copied some fifty percent of Mark into his Gospel, wrote probably between 88-92. Since we can compare these narratives today, we recognize that both Matthew and Luke changed the passion details dramatically, adding new things and omitting others. For example, Matthew develops the story of Judas Iscariot by placing into the narrative such things as the 30 pieces of silver as the price of his treachery, the attempt to return the money, the refusal of the high priests to receive it, Judas hurling it back into the Temple and his suicide by hanging, none of which were in Mark's original story. Matthew also introduces the story of the Temple guard placed around Jesus' tomb, heightens Mark's messenger of the resurrection into being an angel with the power to cause these guards to faint and adds an earthquake to his story. Then he contradicts Mark on whether the women, who came to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week, actually saw the Risen Christ.</p> <p>Luke continues the development of Judas' story by finally giving the reason for the betrayal and expanding the dialogue that Judas has with Jesus. Luke also adds three of the familiar "last words of Jesus" from the cross, while omitting the cry of dereliction that, according to Mark, were the only words that Jesus spoke there. Only in Luke do we find the sayings: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do," spoken to the soldiers; "Today you will be with me in Paradise," spoken to the penitent thief; and "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit," spoken presumably to God. In the Resurrection narrative, Luke denies the Galilean tradition as the locus of any resurrection experience for the disciples, which contradicts a major feature in both Mark and Matthew. Luke expands Mark's resurrection messenger into not one but two supernatural angels. The story is certainly not static.</p> <p>John, writing between 95 and 100, adds the words from the cross committing Jesus' mother to the care of the beloved disciple, the cry "I thirst," that was related to a prophetic saying (Ps. 69:21) and the final words of triumph, "It is finished." He introduces the story of the soldiers breaking the legs of the thieves to hasten their deaths, but not breaking Jesus' legs, relating this to a prophetic saying (Ps. 34:20), the account of a soldier hurling the spear into Jesus' side, which he suggests was foreordained by the writing of the prophet Zechariah (12: 10) and the story of the soldiers rolling dice for Jesus' clothes. John's resurrection narratives are also radically different from the other gospels. John focuses on Mary Magdalene, a miraculous entry by Jesus into a locked and barred home in Jerusalem, and the conversation with the doubting Thomas. He then tells a Galilean story of a resurrection appearance, together with the account of Peter's restoration, which was set months after the crucifixion. None of these details are found anywhere else. It is quite clear that between the first Gospel of Mark and the last Gospel of John, the story of Jesus' passion and resurrection has grown considerably. The question that this brief sketch raises is simply this: "If the details grew that much between 70-100 when the narratives were written, how much did the story grow between 30 and 70 when there were no written narratives?"</p> <p>The only things we find in those hidden years are scanty details in Paul's writings during the mid-fifties (I Cor. 15:1-6). There is no narrative here about Jesus' betrayal, his arrest or his torture. Paul says only that, "Christ died." There is no crowd, no trial, no thieves, penitent or otherwise and no words spoken from the cross. Then Paul says just as simply, "He was buried." There is no tomb, no garden and no Joseph of Arimathea. Next Paul says still sparingly, "He was raised on the third day." There are no women coming to the tomb. Indeed there is no tomb, empty or otherwise. There are also no angels, no earthquakes, and no narration of an appearance to anyone. Paul provides only a list of witnesses to whom, he says, Jesus appeared.</p> <p>That list is fascinating in several details. Cephas or Peter is first. The mention next of the number 'twelve' implies that Judas is still among them. Paul does not seem to know the tradition that one of the twelve was the traitor. The name James, third on this list, begs the question as to which James is intended. Is it James the son of Alphaeus, James the son of Zebedee, or James the brother of Jesus? The phrase, "the apostles" placed fourth on this list causes us to wonder who they are, since the 'twelve' have already been named! Then after mentioning 500 brethren, Paul lists himself as the last one to whom the raised Jesus appeared. The fact that Paul's experience was certainly not that of a physically raised body suggests that Paul did not regard the resurrection of Jesus as physical at all. Paul thus offers us no clues about the historicity of the passion narratives as the gospels describe them. Perhaps the papal words about Gibson's film, "It is as it was," ought to be rendered, "It is as gospel writers 40-70 years after the event suggested it was." That is not a very vigorous claim.</p> <p>Another thing that causes scholars to question the historicity of the passion narratives, as they appear in the gospels, is the kind and sympathetic way that Pilate is portrayed. He is exonerated from blame. In no way does this portrait connect with the historical references from secular sources that we have about this Roman Governor.</p> <p>Pilate is introduced into the Christian story by Mark (15:1-44) who portrays him as "wondering" at Jesus' lack of response when being interrogated, as trying to free him and being overwhelmed by the crowd's cry for his crucifixion, and as protesting Jesus' innocence by asking, "Why, what evil has he done?" Finally, Pilate is pictured after the death of Christ as granting Joseph of Arimathea permission to bury Jesus properly. Matthew follows Mark's story line closely (Mt. 27:11-65), but adds a scene in which Pilate's wife sends him word to "have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much over him this day in a dream." Then Matthew has Pilate wash his hands, claiming to be innocent "of this man's blood."</p> <p>Luke introduces Pilate earlier by name when Jesus emerges to be baptized by John (Lk. 3:1). He also refers to Pilate's atrocity of mingling the blood of Galileans in pagan sacrifices (13:1). Luke then quotes Pilate in the crucifixion story (Lk. 23:1-53) as saying, "I find no crime in this man." Later, Luke says, Pilate tries to escape involvement with Jesus by sending him to Herod since Jesus was a Galilean and thus not part of Pilate's responsibility. Next, Pilate reiterates his belief in Jesus' innocence and tries to release him after scourging him, hoping that whipping the prisoner will satisfy his enemies. Only then does he acquiesce to the crowd.</p> <p>In John, Pilate is portrayed as seeking to save Jesus by ordering the Jewish accusers to try Jesus according to their law that did not provide for an execution; then as waxing philosophical by asking, "What is truth?" Finally, John has Pilate repeat his belief in Jesus' innocence, seek again to release him, and even to refer to him as the 'King of the Jews.'</p> <p>The story line of the gospels read as if Pilate is simply trapped by events over which he has no control, benign at worst, benevolent at best. Even Jesus is quoted in John's Gospel as establishing Pilate's innocence by saying, "He who delivered me to you has the greater sin (19:11)." This, it must be stated, is a far cry from the portrait of Pilate that we meet in history.</p> <p>Pilate appears, in the records of antiquity available to us, to have been a murderer of unspeakable cruelty. A Jerusalem Post writer, after researching his life, has referred to him as "the Saddam Hussein of his time." His contemporary, King Agrippa, in a letter written to the Emperor Caligula, referred to Pilate's corruption, his murder of untried and presumably innocent people and his ruthless inhumanity. Philo, a first century Jewish philosopher, called Pilate an "unbending and recklessly hard character, famous for violence ----ill treatment of the people --- and continuous executions without even the form of a trial." Roman records indicate that Pilate was recalled in the year 37 for sadistic actions, among which was his slaughter of 4000 Galileans who had gathered on their holy mountain, an act that made Pilate a political liability even to the Romans. At the same time, historical records abound in which the Romans routinely crucified self-proclaimed messiahs and kings of the Jews: There was Judah in the year 6, Theudas in 44 and Benjamin in 60, just to name the most famous. None of this negativity, however, appears in the New Testament portrait of Pontius Pilate or of the Romans.</p> <p>So, where is the truth? How trustworthy historically is the biblical account of the crucifixion of Jesus? Is there some other agenda operating at the particular time that the gospels were written that caused their authors to exonerate Pilate and to shift the blame for Jesus' death from the Romans to the Jews? Is it enough for Mel Gibson to claim that he is following faithfully a biblical text that becomes nothing but his pious rationalization for pumping enormous amounts of anti-Semitism into the bloodstream of the western world? Is it not time for Christian leaders including even John Paul II, to acknowledge that the way the gospels describe the death of Jesus may well not be the way it was?</p> <p>Next week, I will propose a different way to read the Passion story in the New Testament, by placing it into the context of its own history, some 40 to 70 years after the crucifixion. Perhaps that exercise will help us to understand why the annual reading of the story of Jesus' final days has continuously created anti-Semitism which Mel Gibson in this film has now raised to an art form that will be seen by millions and for which he apparently feels no shame.</p> <p>~ John Shelby Spong Originally published March 3, 2004</p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><hr> <h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Announcements</h2> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"> <h1 style="color: #003d4a;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 34px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"><span style="color:#FFFFFF">........</span><a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><img height="266" width="400" style="border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;height: auto;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/5320d28b-af3…"></a></h1> <h1 style="color: #003d4a;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 34px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"> Identity, Dignity and Compassionate Inclusivity Webinar Series</h1> <div style="text-align: left;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;">The purpose of this series is to provide accurate information and first-hand accounts of the international refugee and immigration crisis. 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4 3

OOOooops!
by Lee Early via Dialogue 21 Jul '17

21 Jul '17

Sorry about that. Lee Lee Early 19230 Forest Park Dr. NE A-102 Lake Forest Park, WA 98155 Phone: (425)212-7997 lees.mail(a)comcast.net

1 0

Hey George!
by Lee Early via Dialogue 21 Jul '17

21 Jul '17

You guys had a good run. You were on an excellent team. The good news is - you will have those team mates for the rest of your life. Some will be with you in close proximity and others will live far away but always in your mind and heart. Priceless. Congratulations, Poppi Lee Early 19230 Forest Park Dr. NE A-102 Lake Forest Park, WA 98155 Phone: (425)212-7997 lees.mail(a)comcast.net

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7/13/17, Felton: A New Template for Religion: A Conversation with Michael Morwood: Part 1; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 13 Jul '17

13 Jul '17

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David Felten</h3> <p><img height="154" style="border: 0px;width: 125px;height: 154px;margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;float: left;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="125" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/117a0944-fe1…">Most 21st century Christians have grown up indoctrinated by a conventional religious experience that offers the assurance of having all the answers tied up in a little bow, just for the believing. Many still find this to be comforting, but a growing number are antsy. On the verge of becoming what Bishop Spong calls “church alumni/ae,” they know too much. Archaeology, astrophysics, and any number of other scientific disciplines continue to make discoveries that compel us to re-evaluate our true place in the universe – and we are right to be feeling increasingly humble. So, many are feeling stuck. Even as deeply religious questions of origins and purpose continue to persist, the Bible seems to be more of a hindrance than a help. Rational thinkers know that the Bible and much of what people consider to be “core doctrines” of Christianity reflect the fanciful notions of a pre-scientific mindset. Cosmologists have shown without a shadow-of-a-doubt that the ancient notion of a three-tiered earth-centric cosmos is just a quaint throw-back to the fertile imaginations of primitive thinkers.</p> <p>The question is, can religion as a whole adapt to a new template? A new reality? A brush with mystery? Can religion reflect modern scientific discoveries, honor the mysteries of the universe, and dump the requirement of maintaining allegiance to primitive claims and beliefs?</p> <p>As we face this latest decisive moment in our collective human experience, champions of just such a new model are emerging – and one of the most articulate is Australian author <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Michael Morwood</a>.</p> <p>With over 40 years’ experience as a sought-after retreat leader and educator, Morwood is well known around the world. Bishop John Shelby Spong writes: <em>“Michael Morwood…is raising the right and obvious questions that all Christians must face. He provides fresh and perceptive possibilities for a modern and relevant faith.”</em> With <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">a dozen books to his name</a> (<a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">two of which were banned</a> before he resigned from the Catholic priesthood), Morwood brings an extensive background in spirituality to what he sees as the urgent need to reshape Christian thinking for a new millennium.</p> <p>What follows in interview form is the first of several columns inspired by a presentation Morwood offered at the <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Common Dreams Conference</a> in Brisbane, Queensland, in 2016. In it, he offers a re-visioning of who Jesus was, new perspectives on prayer and worship (from a non-theistic perspective), and thoughts on whether our conventional ideas of religion have any real value anymore.</p> <p><strong>Felten:</strong> <em>What are some of the new discoveries that fire your imagination in formulating a new template for religion? </em></p> <p><strong>Morwood:</strong> In February of 2016, Australian scientists, using a radio telescope at the <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Parkes Observatory</a> in western New South Wales discovered <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">a cluster of over 800 hidden galaxies behind the Milky Way</a> – a third of which had never been seen before. The report noted that our galaxy is being drawn to this cluster at a speed of two million kilometers an hour. Two million kilometers an hour!! Hold that in mind for a moment.</p> <p>Scientists estimate that most galaxies contain about 100 billion stars – and how many galaxies in our universe? The current estimate is between 100 and 200 billion. That’s at least 100 billion galaxies each with 100 billion stars all hurtling through space at unimaginable speeds.</p> <p>Let’s also hold in mind that galaxies like the Milky Way probably have about 17 billion earth size planets.</p> <p><strong>Felten:</strong> <em>I’m feeling pretty humble.</em></p> <p><strong>Morwood:</strong> Well, in the grand schema of galaxies, stars and planets, planet Earth rates in comparison with it all as little more than what a speck of dust is to hundreds of millions of planets. A speck of dust.</p> <p>If this speck of dust and everything on it were to disappear, the rest of the universe would not blink.</p> <p><strong>Felten:</strong> <em>That seems dark…</em></p> <p><strong>Morwood:</strong> Maybe not as dark as the fact that all the known matter in the universe – all those galaxies, stars and planets – make up less than 6% of the universe’s composition. “<a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">Dark matter</a>” and “<a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">dark energy</a>” make up the other 94%. These realities are called “dark” because scientists can deduce that they exist, but they can’t detect them.</p> <p><strong>Felten:</strong> <em>So, here we are on this speck of dust surrounded by the mystery of indefinable “dark” matter and energy – where does that leave our ideas of “God”?</em></p> <p><strong>Morwood:</strong> Well, it’s not only any understanding of “God” that becomes problematic within this scientific data. Christians now have quite a list of topics that have become problematic against such a background: revelation, Jesus, salvation, worship, prayer, sacraments. At the very heart of the “Christ” religion now looms the problematic question– how can we justify elevating a Jewish prophet to becoming the Christian notion of “the Christ”, the triumphant cosmic figure way out in front of us, God-himself, leading creation to its glorious fulfillment? In the light of what we know today it seems too grandiose, too far ahead of ourselves in religious thinking to keep maintaining that the “Christ” is the be all and end all of the universe’s existence.</p> <p><strong>Felten:</strong> <em>What’s the likelihood that the institutional church will be able to adapt to these new realities?</em></p> <p><strong>Morwood:</strong> Unlikely. All institutional Christian understanding of these supposedly religious essentials were shaped in a worldview that was pre-scientific, ignorant, limited, and now extremely outdated. Religion based on that worldview is like trying to use a floppy disc in your new Mac.</p> <p><strong>Felten:</strong> <em>OK, then considering your background in adult faith formation, what hope can you offer those of us who are trying to upgrade our theological or spiritual Operating Systems? </em></p> <p><strong>Morwood:</strong> In any process of adult faith formation, I think there are three key questions that need to be raised and answered for each concept being considered:</p> <p>1. What are you asking me to imagine? 2. Where did that image come from? 3. How does that image or picture of reality fit with what I know of reality today?</p> <p><strong>Felten:</strong> <em>OK, Let’s start off with something easy. How about the idea of “God”? </em></p> <p><strong>Morwood:</strong> If you’re asking me to imagine “God,” I’d have to simply say that I don’t know what “God” is. No one does, really. I’m one of many people who don’t even like to use the word “God” anymore because it is so misleading and so tied to outdated ideas about the universe and earth’s place in the universe.</p> <p>Our understandings from scripture, creeds, doctrine and liturgy is of a personal being essentially located “somewhere else.” The prayers we were taught and the prayers commonly used in Christian liturgy presume the notion of a heavenly deity who demands to be worshipped, who listens in, who sometimes responds, and who is in control of everything that happens. These ideas are not only cemented into our imaginations, but as a picture of reality, are really beyond questioning. But those floppy disc theologies just don’t fit with the operating system we have on hand today.</p> <p>Our pointers to this greatest of mysteries need to be expanded beyond the biblical and doctrinal and liturgical and prayerful notions of a personal deity. Our pointers may best be found in notions such as “ground of all being,” or “source and sustainer of all that exists,” and in universal realities such as energy and consciousness. In other words, we need to take seriously that this mystery is indeed everywhere.</p> <p>The mind-blowing, ever-expanding knowledge we have about the age and size of this universe compels us to have a mind-blowing and expansive notion of whatever we think “God” might be. At the very least we should acknowledge that we are not dealing with a reality that can disconnect from our tiny piece of the cosmos, intervene from somewhere above us, and play mind-games with the human species.</p> <p><strong>Felten:</strong> <em>What kind of precedent do we have for this kind of “reboot” in our tradition? </em></p> <p><strong>Morwood:</strong> There’s a long-established religious belief that mystery is everywhere. Today’s scientific discoveries are pointers that re-enforce ideas expressed as long ago as the 4th century. Gregory of Nyssa wrote:</p> <blockquote> <p><strong>“For when one considers the universe, can anyone be so simple-minded as not to believe that the Divine is present in everything, pervading, embracing, and penetrating it?</strong></p> </blockquote> <p>As you know, a significant feature in Christian tradition has been a sharp divide between the Mystics and what we’ll call “institutional” theologians. On the one hand you have the Mystics who, in keeping with the above quote, speak the language of presence, relationship and intimacy.</p> <p>On the other hand, we’ve had the institutional theologians focusing on disconnection and the need for “someone” with whom we can reconnect. Turning that “someone” into a God and seeking forgiveness for whatever human fault caused the separation in the first place has become an obsession – and reconnection and renewed friendship with a heavenly God is the only achievement worth pursuing.</p> <p>The time for such theological thinking is over. It makes no sense any more. It’s time to state this publicly, clearly and unapologetically. It is time to stop defending nonsensical images and to move on to the challenges that face us as we wrestle with the pointers we have today – pointers to a template that reflect the greatest of all mysteries.</p> <p>~ Rev. David Felten with Michael Morwood Read online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">here</a></p> <p><strong>In the next installment of “A New Template for Religion,” Felten will ask Morwood to apply his three questions to the concepts of revelation, Jesus, and being human. </strong></p> <p>Be sure to visit Michael Morwood’s website by clicking <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">HERE</a>.</p> <p>David Felten is a full-time pastor at <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">The Fountains</a>, a United Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. David and fellow United Methodist Pastor, Jeff Procter-Murphy, are the creators of the DVD-based discussion series for Progressive Christians, “<a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Living the Questions</a>”.</p> <p>A co-founder of the <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Arizona Foundation for Contemporary Theology</a> and also a founding member of <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice</a>, David is an outspoken voice for LGBTQ rights both in the church and in the community at large. David is active in the <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church</a> and tries to stay connected to his roots as a musician. You’ll find him playing saxophones in a variety of settings, including appearances with the <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Fountain Hills Saxophone Quartet</a>.</p> <p>David and his wife Laura, an administrator for a large Arizona public school district, live in Phoenix with their three often adorable children.</p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><hr> <h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Question & Answer</h2> <p><span style="font-size:18px">An Italian Philosopher from Italy, writes:</span></p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;"> Question:</h4> <p>1. You are a theologian, and more precisely a scholar of spirituality who has reintroduced to Western audiences the major insights of Medieval mystics, insisting on their practicability today. Yet in this book you do not use the word “God” even once? Why?</p> <p>and,</p> <p>2. I was especially struck, in this book, by your deep yet free relation with the tradition, with the wisdom of the past. What are the difficulties that people have, in your opinion, for understanding this balance? How much do you think this vision is advancing in the world today?</p> <h4 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 22px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Answer: <span style="font-size:20px">By Matthew Fox</span></h4> <p>Dear Reader,<span style="color:#FFFFFF">...<img height="109" style="border: 0px;width: 115px;height: 109px;margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;float: left;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="115" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/1383a9f4-6b3…"></span></p> <p>These questions were put to me by an Italian philosopher on the<span style="color:#FFFFFF">.</span>occasion of the publication of my book on education, <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><em>The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human, into Italian</em></a>. I felt they were deserving of sharing with an American audience as well.</p> <p>1. Well, not all medieval theologians were obsessed with God language either after all. Meister Eckhart said, “I pray God to rid me of God” and Thomas Aquinas says every creature in the universe is another name for God—and no creature is. And Francis of Assisi’s great poem on Brother Earth and Sister Moon never mentions God or Jesus' name once! The mystical path includes <em>not knowing</em> and <em>unknowing</em> and letting God be God in whatever form he/she is rising to present the Godself.</p> <p>Furthermore I wrote this book with public school educators in mind and in the US God talk is not encouraged in our public schools. As a spiritual theologian I am more interested in our <em>experiences</em> of God than our invoking that name as such (didn’t Jesus say not all who invoke the words “lord, lord” will enter the kingdom?).</p> <p>I think the experiences of living out the values inherent in the 10 C’s presented in this book constitute our experience of the Divine and our putting our spirituality into practice. (The 10 C’s that lie at the heart of my agenda for reinventing education are the following: Cosmology/Ecology; Contemplation; Chaos; Creativity; Community; Compassion; Critical Thinking; Character Development; Courage; Ceremony, Celebration, Ritual.)</p> <p>And that is the point. To <em>do compassion</em> and <em>justice</em>, not to talk about them. The term “awe” summarizes nicely our deepest experiences of the Divine, as Rabbi Heschel taught. Awe is the door for Wisdom and Wisdom is one (of many) names for the Divine, isn’t it? And education needs to move beyond mere knowledge to wisdom if humans are to survive and the planet as we know it is to survive.</p> <p>2. I think the biggest obstacle is ignorance. If for example people do not know that there is and has been a creation spirituality tradition that is rich and foundational in our Western consciousness, a tradition of Original Blessing as distinct from Original Sin and guilt, then we are set up for pessimism and lack of creativity. We fall into Patriarchy and what feminist poet Adrienne Rich calls its “fatalistic self-hatred.” If we don’t know this tradition we lack a hermeneutic for interpreting our greatest thinkers and artists. Education becomes education for a society based on a secular version of original sin which we now call consumer capitalism. In such a scenario competition and greed triumph rather than joy and truth-seeking. Beauty loses its rightful place as an inherited, original, blessing, into which we are all born.</p> <p>I think the desperation of our times is calling forth wisdom from the young and from many who recognize that our current, modern way of looking at the world, our lack of a sense of the sacred, is not working and is not sustainable. Education needs a thorough reinventing.</p> <p>~ Matthew Fox</p> <p>Read and Share Online <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Here</a> <strong>About the Author</strong></p> <p>Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 32 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 60 languages. Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Creation Spirituality </a>and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship. His work is inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. Among his books are <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><em>Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the FleshTransforming Evil in Soul and Society</em></a>, <a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><em>The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved</em>, </a><a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><em>Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest</em> and </a><a style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><em>The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human</em></a> A new school, adopting the pedagogy Fox created and practiced for over 35 years, is opening in Boulder, Colorado this September. Called the Fox Institute for Creation Spirituality it is being run by graduates of his doctoral program and will offer MA, D Min and Doctor of Spirituality degrees. See <a id="aolmail_m_-1629594797181833715yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1499788556168_140971" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">www.foxinstitute-cs.org</a></p> <p style="text-align: center;">____________________________________________________</p> <h2 style="text-align: center;color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;"><strong>Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited</strong></h2> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>"The Passion of the Christ" Mel Gibson's Film and Biblical Scholarship – Part I</strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"> </p> <p><img height="121" style="border: 0px;width: 115px;height: 121px;margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;float: left;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="115" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/84fbd945-363…">Mel Gibson’s motion picture, “The Passion of the Christ,” goes public on Ash Wednesday, February 25, the day this column comes out. Then people can see for themselves a film that has been hyped by advance showings to evangelical clergy and conservative Catholics, including Pope John Paul II. It has been praised by Protestant fundamentalists, who count on it to bring Christian renewal to the people of the United States and who see it as inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is, they say, “the tool of conversion,” that follows “faithfully the texts of the gospels.” One evangelical church in Kansas has even erected tents, across from the theater, staffing them with “counselors,” to bring about the full conversion of viewers following the showing of this film. It has been praised by Protestant fundamentalists, who count on it to bring Christian renewal to the people of the United States and who see it as inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is, they say, "the tool of conversion," that follows "faithfully the texts of the gospels." One evangelical church in Kansas has even erected tents, across from the theater, staffing them with "counselors," to bring about the full conversion of viewers following the showing of this film.</p> <p>At the same time, "The Passion of the Christ" has been condemned by Christian scholars and Jewish leaders as anti-Semitic in nature and, therefore, a threat to reignite the flames of prejudice and persecution that marked the darkest days in Jewish-Christian relations. A writer in the Jerusalem Post, Shmuley Boteach, has gone so far as to refer to Gibson as a "kooky fundamentalist, who seems intent on reversing the reforms of Vatican II, which officially absolved the Jews of deicide, and convincing the world that, indeed, the Jews did it." Boteach identifies Gibson as a conservative Catholic, who has never disavowed his father's statement that "The Second Vatican Council was a plot, put out by the Jews" and that the Holocaust could not have happened because, "there weren't even that many Jews in all of Europe." This film will create an enormous debate, thus insuring its financial success.</p> <p>I seek to raise two primary questions: 1. How accurately does this film follow the biblical text in telling the story of the crucifixion? 2. What historicity can we ascribe to the gospels themselves in regard to the crucifixion? This second question Gibson never faces since his brand of conservative Catholicism has never raised the issue. Scholars have, however, and it is time to address it publicly. Only then can we assess the claim made to defend this film against the charge of anti-Semitism. Simply following the biblical narrative may not be enough for exoneration.</p> <p>I begin by noting the fact that Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" includes a number of details that are not in the biblical narrative. They derive rather from a centuries-old Catholic piety. There is nothing wrong with using material out of an ancient worship tradition but one should not claim biblical authority for this material. For example, Jesus is portrayed in this film as stumbling three times on his way to Golgotha. There is no evidence to support this in the gospels but it is a well-known part of the traditional Catholic liturgy called "The Stations of the Cross." This film also introduces a fictitious character named St. Veronica who is said, at Station Number Six, to have wiped Jesus' bloodied face with her handkerchief. Veronica, a creation of later piety, never appears in any biblical narrative.</p> <p>Next, the Mother of Jesus is highly visible and quite central to Gibson's portrayal of the crucifixion. That is not true to the gospels and expresses a confusion born out of later developing Catholic devotional practices. The only time Mary is present in any biblical account of the crucifixion comes in John, the last gospel to be written, where she makes only a cameo appearance at the cross. Even John does not then include her in his resurrection narrative. Yet, in this film, Mel Gibson has Mary say to the dying Jesus, "Let me die with you," and then she cradles Jesus' deceased body. That is a famous portrait in Catholic art, painted many times and called the Pieta, but there is not a shred of biblical evidence to support it.</p> <p>As a matter of fact Mary, the mother of Jesus, hardly appears in the gospel tradition outside the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke. She is never referred to or mentioned in the writings of Paul (50-64 CE). She makes only two appearances in Mark, the first Gospel to be written (70-75 CE) and both of them are pejorative. In Mark 3:31-35, Jesus' mother and his brothers, none of whom are named, come to where Jesus is and call for him to come out to them. An earlier verse in Mark (3:21) tells us why. When his family heard about his activities, "they went out to seize him, for the people were saying, 'he is beside himself.'" "Beside himself" is an ancient way of saying "He is out of his mind." Jesus had become a family embarrassment. The scribes, according the next verse in Mark (3:22) were saying that he "is possessed by Beelzebul," who was called 'the Prince of demons." Jesus responds to his family, according to this Marcan reference, by denying his relationship with his mother and his brothers, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" Then, answering his own question, he looks around at those seated near him and says, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God, is my mother and sister and brother."</p> <p>In the second Markan reference (6:1-6), Jesus returns to Nazareth and begins to teach in the synagogue to the astonishment of the townspeople. They respond derisively as if to say, "Who does this man think he is?" Then they go on to identify him with these words, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" and they took offense at him.</p> <p>It is interesting to note that Mark, in this passage, has this critical crowd identify Jesus as "the son of Mary," as well as describing him as "the carpenter." Both of these references are quite negative. To call a Jewish man the son of a particular woman was an insult since it cast public doubts upon his paternity. To call him a carpenter identified him as a lower class laborer.</p> <p>Some ten to fifteen years later, when Matthew wrote his gospel (80-85), he copied almost 90 per cent of Mark into his story. It is interesting to note how Matthew changed Mark's negative wording (compare Mt. 12:46-50 and 13:53-58 with Mk. 3:31-35 and 6:1-6). Mark's words were so clearly embarrassing, that in Matthew's version, the slander is removed when Joseph, Jesus father, becomes the carpenter, not Jesus, and the crowd calls him not "the son of Mary," but simply recalls that his mother was named Mary. Those are the only references to the mother of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel other than those in the birth narratives. The Virgin Mother of Jesus is far more a creation of Christian history than a character in the gospels.</p> <p>In Luke it is no different. Outside the birth narratives (Lk. 1,2), and Luke's shortened retelling of Mark's episode of Jesus' mother and brothers coming to take him away (see Lk. 8:19-22), the mother of Jesus does not appear in this third gospel at all.</p> <p>Only in John (95-100 C.E.) does the mother of Jesus receive any attention but still it is not close to what Gibson portrays. She presides over a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee in chapter 2 (vs.1-11). In that story she is portrayed as requesting that Jesus meet the social crisis brought about by a shortage of wine. Jesus rebukes her, rather sternly, with the words, "Woman what have you to do with me? My hour is not yet come." In John 6, as part of that gospel's version of the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus is portrayed as saying, "I am the bread which came down from heaven (vs.42)." To this the crowd responds incredulously saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he claim to have come down from heaven?" Once again, it is not a particularly flattering reference to Mary. Finally, John portrays the mother of Jesus at the foot of the cross. That is absolutely all there is in the gospels about the mother of Jesus. The Virgin tradition has been built on very scanty material.</p> <p>I go through this in such detail because, to a degree far greater than we imagine, Mel Gibson in "The Passion of the Christ" has read the later development of pious tradition about the Virgin Mary back into the gospel narratives. Since he has so obviously heightened the crucifixion portrait, about the role of Mary, in contradistinction to the biblical narrative itself, then his assertion that he has followed the biblical texts accurately is severely compromised.</p> <p>This lack of biblical accuracy does not stop with his portrayal of the mother of Jesus. Gibson clearly hypes the biblical accounts of the abuse that Jesus endured. There is no doubt that crucifixion was a horrible and inhumane way to die, yet the physical suffering of Jesus is, if anything, understated in the gospels while in Gibson's movie it is the riveting center of the story itself.</p> <p>Look at the scourging scene in Gibson's film. It is long, protracted and grotesque. The cameras linger on the lash; the stripes, the welts and the blood, but the biblical texts about the scourging are almost matter of fact. They do not focus on the pain. Mark says simply "Pilate, having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified (15:15)." Matthew uses almost identical words (27:26). Luke has Pilate offer "to chastise" Jesus instead of executing him (23;17). When the crowd, not satisfied with that, demands crucifixion instead, Pilate acquiesces and delivers Jesus to be crucified without scourging. John says quite simply, "Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him (Jn. 19:1). I do not mean to minimize this scourging but no blood is mentioned or even described in the gospels. Following this scourging, it is interesting to note that Jesus is portrayed in John's Gospel as having a rather long conversation with Pilate (19:12-16) and in the earlier gospels as conversing with the soldiers, the crowd and the thieves who shared the cross with him. Whatever was done to him did not render him incompetent to function immediately thereafter. The "Crown of Thorns" is mentioned with no reference to blood in Mark (15:17), Matthew 27:29) and John (19:2). It is omitted in Luke.</p> <p>Once again, Gibson is reading the gospels through the lens of medieval piety. In the early church, especially in the writings of Paul, the death of Jesus was likened to the believer's act of being baptized. The believer in baptism was united with Christ in his death so that he or she could live with Christ in his resurrection (see Romans 6:1-11 and Col. 2:12). But Gibson turns this into a sadomasochistic scene of pain inflicted and suffering endured. It is so long and violent that it qualifies this film for an "R" rating, "for adults only."</p> <p>The earliest Christians knew that crucifixion was not unique to Jesus. Thousands of people had died this way at the hands of the Romans. To the Jews crucifixion was particularly associated with shame and embarrassment, since the Torah said that one who was hung upon a tree was "accursed" (Deut. 21:22, 23). The fetish about the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus was again a pious devotional technique that ultimately attributed a sacred meaning to suffering and made cruelty an attribute of God, both of which are strange, even unhealthy theological concepts. Yet Gibson has developed these ideas to a fine art. His interpretive work may engender a guilt-laden piety but we need to recognize that it is not biblically accurate.</p> <p>There are many more things that need to be said about Gibson's motion picture so I will return to this topic next week, by which time many of my readers will have seen the film. I will begin there to address my second and far more troubling question about whether the gospel narratives themselves are trustworthy as history, so stay tuned.</p> <p>~ John Shelby Spong Originally published February 25, 2004</p> </div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> <div style="color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;text-align: left;"><hr> <h2 style="color: #4487cf;display: block;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 30px;font-weight: normal;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 0;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;">Announcements</h2> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"><a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><span style="font-size:24px"><strong><img height="462" style="border: 0px;width: 550px;height: 462px;margin: 0px;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="550" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/dcc95225-b57…"></strong></span></a> <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><span style="font-size:20px"><strong>Click here for more information/to order</strong></span></a> <hr> <span style="font-size:24px"><strong>The Beloved Festival <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><img align="center" height="210" style="border: 0px;width: 500px;height: 210px;margin: 0px;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="500" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/97770b43-eb9…"></a> Beloved Festival on the coast of Oregon August 11th - 14th</strong></span> <span style="font-size:18px">We've spent ten years perfecting a weekend-long musical story of unity that weaves world music legends, cutting edge electronic producers, roots music icons, and more. This year is unquestionably our best lineup yet!</span> <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><img height="376" style="border: 0px;width: 500px;height: 376px;margin: 0px;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="500" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/b2136911-e33…"></a></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templateFooter" style="background-color: #FDFDFD;border-top: 0;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="aolmail_footerContent"><table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="aolmail_utility" style="background-color: #FDFDFD;border: 1px dashed #d3d3d3;"><div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: center;"><div class="aolmail_vcard"><div class="aolmail_adr"><div class="aolmail_street-address"></div></div></div></div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="aolmail_utility"><div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: left;"></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></center><center><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" id="aolmail_canspamBarWrapper" style="background-color:#FFFFFF; border-top:1px solid #E5E5E5;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" style="padding-top:20px; padding-bottom:20px;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></center></div> </div> <style type="text/css">#AOLMsgPart_2_b7f1910b-3551-4a26-9aba-87f1be2ce68e td{color: black;} @media only screen and (max-width: 480px){ .aolReplacedBody table#aolmail_canspamBar td{font-size:14px !important;} .aolReplacedBody table#aolmail_canspamBar td a{display:block !important; margin-top:10px !important;} } </style>

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7/06/17, Fox/Spong: Time for a New Spiritual (not Religious) Order?; Spong revisited, Pt VI
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 08 Jul '17

08 Jul '17

HOMEPAGE MY PROFILE ESSAY ARCHIVE MESSAGE BOARDS CALENDAR Time for a New Spiritual (not Religious) Order? By Matthew Fox Speaking of a need for a Reformation makes me question whether the time has arrived for a new religious order that is in fact not tied to a particular religion but is a Spiritual Order, one that might help people of various religious faiths and none to gather around a common value and focus. I think our times call for a focus on the sacredness of the Earth and all her creatures. Therefore I propose a new order called “The Order of the Sacred Earth.” Its members may come from any and all life-styles, married, single, celibate, gay, straight and from any and all occupations so long as their work mirrored the values of honoring and supporting the Earth and her creatures. Blue collar and white collar workers would be welcomed. People of all religious traditions and none would be welcome. What then would bind them together as a community? A common vow. One that reads like this: “I promise to be as good a mystic (that is, lover) of Mother Earth that I can be and as good a prophet or warrior defending Mother Earth that I can be.” The Order would be established on this common vow and it would provide both a focus for our life decisions and our citizenship but also a community of support to assist one another in the living out of our values and commitment. It would represent a new stage in religious history actually, a leap forward in our spiritual evolution because it would take us beyond denominationalism and hurl us into the deeper calling to be mystics (lovers) and prophets (defenders of what we cherish). It would allow people to stay in their respective traditions or to move beyond them or to be one foot in and one foot out. Thus it would set a new standard for Deep Ecumenism or Interfaith, Interspirituality existence and work. Why am I so confident that the time has come for such a new kind of order? First, because it is clear, as Bishop Spong has pointed out, that Christianity must change or die—but I also believe other religions are equally challenged today to move beyond their literal teachings to a deeper expression of the very essence of religion—Gratitude and Compassion, Awe and Creativity, Justice and passing on the Earth as the splendid and grace-filled being that it truly is. Whether we talk of the Earth and her creatures as the “Cosmic Christ” or the “Image of God” or the “Buddha Nature” all traditions are trying to wake us up to a sense of the sacred which surrounds us and feeds and nurtures us but which we can all to readily take for granted. How can we possibly say that we love our children (and their children and grandchildren to come) if we are leaving them a despoiled planet, a diminishing planet, a sick planet with untold species going extinct and with seas rising and great cities soon to be inundated with salt water? How can we possible say we love God if we are oblivious to our neighbor—whether that neighbor be another two-legged one or a grand species such as the elephants or tigers or polar bears and others? Once we get over our anthropocentrism (what Pope Francis rightly calls our “narcissism” as a species), we recognize not just the good Samaritan serving his ailing neighbor but we recognize all who are working to heal the plight of so many species being threatened by humans pre-occupied with their own agendas. I am also convinced that it is time for such an Order, an Order of the Sacred Earth (OSE), because of my reading of Christian history. Ours are not the only times that the Christian religion found itself running out of steam, hijacked by forces eager to use it for their own political and economic ends, boring the young people on a regular basis, offering up stale and often dead and idolatrous forms of worship. But in other eras when the Christ path was hijacked or sold out, the response was to reinvent life styles that more clearly mirrored the message and person of Jesus. Such was the case in the fourth century when the “desert fathers and mothers” withdrew from the cities after the marriage of the church and the empire to seek a more authentic life style. Such was the case in the sixth century when St Benedict gave birth to the monastic system which was to preserve much of culture and healthy religion for many centuries during the cold and “dark” ages in Europe. Such was the case when, at the end of the twelfth century the marriage of feudalism and monasticism was choking healthy religion and new leaders such as Francis and Dominic sensed the need to break from the privileges of monasticism and get more real and more involved in the poverty movement that backed the serfs and the young and, with Dominic, the newly “secularized” university system which separated education from the monastic establishment for the first time in many centuries. A similar cultural upheaval in the sixteenth century that grew out of cultural breakthroughs such as the invention of the printing press and that gave birth to the Protestant Reformation and to the opening up of new markets and new continents and encounters with new peoples in the newly “discovered” Americas and in Asia. I think a good argument can also be made than in many respects the various Protestant denominations that began in the sixteenth century were a kind of “lay orders” insofar as they arose in response to corruption in the dominant church structure (what we know today as Roman Catholic Church) but that each denomination, like many of the Orders through the centuries, had their unique form of polities and of worship and training of clergy, etc. The Jesuit Order founded by St. Ignatius in the sixteenth century was another response to the corruption of the dominant religious paradigm. One important lesson to learn from the history of religious orders is that they can be very readily co-opted by powers that be, both ecclesial and secular powers and combinations of the two. No better example of this need be offered than the fact that within one generation of the founding of the Franciscans they were enrolled by the Vatican to partake in the Inquisition. The same is true of the Dominicans. I maintain that Francis saw the handwriting on the wall when the ecclesial powers took his order from him (including his desire that his brothers not become priests but stay out of that clerical status and mindset) and that his being stripped of the very brotherhood he had launched brought about his broken heart, his stigmata, and the end of his life. This lesson from history is one reason I insist that an Order today ought to be spiritual and not religious, that it should owe no allegiance to any particular religious hierarchy or headquarters but should pick up the sign of our times which is the reality that human consciousness is outpacing religious institutions and that the very essence of religion, spirituality, is what needs to be preserved at its best and carried on. And this is what the Order of the Sacred Earth would be about surely. And this would happen on a post-denominational plane, in a time of deep ecumenism and interfaith and interspirituality. This sense of interfaith would also lie at the heart of the new Order. What unites the members is not their particular religious affiliation or identity (or lack thereof), but their common vow to protect Mother Earth and her creatures, humans included. One’s allegiance will be to that reality and that shared value and that criterion that will become the litmus test for being a participating member of said community or Order. Agnostics and atheists I could see as part of the movement. The late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heshel declared that there are three ways to respond to creation: To exploit it; to enjoy it; or to accept it with awe. This latter way is the starting point for recovering the sacred. And recovering the sacred lies at the heart of the Order of the Sacred Earth. To recover the sacred means not to take nature or creation for granted and to explore that part of ourselves that rejoices to be in the presence of the Holy even on a daily basis. But it also means to fight and carry on the pursuit of preserving the Sacred, preserving Mother Earth in all her beauty and diversity. It means taking on those enemies of the Earth from Climate Change and pumping of CO2 into the atmosphere to destroying forests and soil and rainforests and countless species headed for extinction. One’s way of battling on behalf of Mother Earth may vary broadly—from supporting political movements to running for office oneself to employing sustainable ways of living in one’s life style and work places to educating others, to raising money for eco causes, etc. etc. What it does not mean is doing nothing. Or remaining silent. Or contributing to the ongoing pollution of our greatest inheritance and our greatest gift we bequeath to our descendants—the health and well being of Mother Earth. The Order of the Sacred Earth (OSE) is scheduled to launch this Fall. Indeed, we intend to have the first day of public vow taking to be winter solstice, 2017, and we hope to live stream it from many sites where people might gather to make a commitment. (2017 is the 500th anniversary of the launching of the Protestant Reformation marking Luther’s pounding of theses at the church door in Wittenburg, Germany). While I am a founding elder and intergenerational wisdom is at the core of the vision, still its leadership needs to come from 30-somethings whose generation is called to stand up at this critical moment in Earth history in a special way. Currently a couple of 33 years old, Jan Listing and Skylar Wilson, are leading the project with me. A book entitled Order of the Sacred Earth: An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action in which Skylar and I offer essays laying out its philosophy and Jan and a number of other responders offer short essays of vision and hope for OSE will be available in the Fall in a private edition and publicly in the Spring from Monkfish Publishing Company. ~ Matthew Fox Read the essay online here. About the Author Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 32 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 60 languages. Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship. His work is inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas. Among his books are Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the FleshTransforming Evil in Soul and Society, The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved and Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest Question & Answer MaryAnn from the Internet, writes: Question: I am choosing one of Rev. Spong's books for our newly formed group. Do you have a suggestion for a particular book? Thank you for your help. Answer: By Fred Plumer Boy you are asking a tough question that begs for a good response. I suppose that is why this ended up on my desk. Frankly the choice would depend on the level of sophistication of your group. I believe two books would work if you are moving your group into a new way of thinking, I would start with Why Christianity Must Change or Die or a later book, A New Christianity for a New World written several year later. If you think your group would like to tackle some specifics, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism or The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic would be terrific reads. And finally for an overview of how the Bible is been misused, misinterpreted, misleading, Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World. This book was first published in 2010 and reprinted in paper back in 2013. It is considered by some theologians as one of Spong’s best books. I hope this is helpful. I did narrow it down a bit but it really depends on your audience. ~ Fred Plumer, President ProgressiveChirsitanity.org Read and share online here __________________________________________________ Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited The Terrible Texts: The Attitude of the Bible Toward Women – Part VI "In Christ Jesus...there is neither male nor female (Gal. 3:26,28)." The apostle Paul was a man of great ability, passion, and energy and yet his writings reveal enormous turmoil. He comes out of a rigid, patriarchal background which he reflects again and again when giving instructions to his churches: Women are to keep quiet in church; men ought not to marry unless they cannot control their passion; women are to have their heads covered as a sign of respect; women are forbidden to hold authority over a man, etc. etc. As women have come increasingly into leadership roles in Christianity, they have vented their anger at this misogynist Paul. I know women clergy today who dismiss him as an enemy who had to be defeated before they could be accepted in the Church. Paul, however, was not single minded. In almost every area of his life, he lived in conflict. The prejudices that Paul possessed, the training he had undergone, the rigidity of his pious practices, all were countered by a conversion experience that kept him in internal tension. There was a war, he said, going on between his mind and his body, his past and his present, his tradition and his future. Luke described his conversion in Acts as "scales falling from his eyes." In many places Paul does not appear to be anti-female, expressing his appreciation to women like Priscilla, Lydia and Chloe, who were his colleagues and sending greetings to various women in his epistles. The place where Paul's perceived negativity toward women is most overtly countered is found in Galatians, probably Paul's most passionate and revelatory epistle. Scholars date this work in the early fifties. In a rather strange way, it reveals an authentic unfiltered Paul, whose anger at those who wished to separate Jewish Christians from Gentile Christians prohibits the luxury of thinking about what he is saying. His Christ experience, he asserts, has removed all the boundaries inside which he once found security. He listed those boundaries as tribe, gender and economic bondage. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Please note that latter phrase. As a result of his Christ experience, he states, the power equation between men and women has been broken. That equation, presumably built on the will of God, as found in the story of creation, was the justification for the woman's second class citizenship, which historically had included periods in which women were considered to be property. Laws informed by this attitude enabled polygamy, wife beating, the right to put one's wife to death, and the refusal to allow divorce as an option for women. The assumptions were that women were neither educable nor intelligent enough to be full citizens. Paul was suggesting, however, that a new reality had broken into the world in Christ that had rendered these definitions no longer operative. When we move to the Gospels evidence suggests that this new insight was present before the Church used the authority of the 'Terrible Texts' to suppress it. In Mark, the earliest Gospel, we read the story of a woman who, in the last week of Jesus' life, intruded herself on a dinner in Bethany at the home of one called Simon the Leper. First, she poured over his head an expensive perfume. This act was a violation of every Jewish patriarchal custom and if allowed, all norms would be forever broken. The men at the banquet thus moved quickly to condemn her behavior. Jesus, however, is portrayed as rebuking her tormentors. "She has done a beautiful thing to me," Jesus is quoted as saying, "She has anointed my body beforehand for burying (Mk. 14:3-9)." That same story echoes three more times in other gospels, but with interesting variations. In Matthew, it is recounted almost identically (Mt. 26:6-12). In Luke, however, there is a dramatic shift (Lk. 7:36-50). This episode does not occur in the last week of Jesus' life and it is not a prelude to his burial. Luke locates it, rather, in the early Galilean phase of Jesus' ministry, and not at the home of Simon the Leper but at the home of Simon the Pharisee, that is, one who is known for upholding the moral norms and taboos of the tradition. The woman's character has also been heightened, but in a very negative direction. She is "a woman of the city," a prostitute. As such, she is unclean and unwelcome. Her actions, according to Luke, are much more bizarre than those recorded by any other gospel writer. They are overtly sensual and clearly violate the social norms for women. Only in Luke does this woman wash Jesus' feet with her tears and dry them with her hair. One cannot perform such acts without fondling the feet of the recipient. In a society where a woman would never touch a man in public, this was an act of dramatic challenge. Once again, the value systems of the past emerged in the emotional responses of the male dinner guests, who condemn her roundly. They also condemned Jesus for allowing this outrage to happen to him. "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him." Because Jesus did not condemn her, his credentials as a holy man were obviously compromised. Since he had allowed this 'intimacy' at the hands of an unclean woman, he was now ceremonially unclean. But again Jesus sets aside the patriarchal rules with its doctrines of cleanliness and affirms the woman, accepts her action and tears down the barrier that would cause her to be rejected. He was acting out the Pauline insight that in Christ there was neither male nor female. A new humanity, transcending ancient definitions, ancient rules and ancient religious barriers, was being born. The 'terrible texts' of the past that had relegated women to a position of inferiority were being set aside. The same story was also told in John (Jno. 12:1-8). This time the anointing of Jesus, while still in Bethany, occurs at the home of Mary and Martha. All of Jesus' disciples are present as well as the family of Mary and Martha, including a brother named Lazarus, who had been, this Gospel alone asserts, recently raised from the dead. In this very public setting Mary is the woman who anoints Jesus' feet. There is no sense here of scandal and certainly there is no rebuke. How very strange, one thinks. Where did the patriarchal rules go? Why was this action suddenly acceptable? The only thing that in that day would have allowed this act to occur in a public setting without rebuke, would be that everybody present at this gathering knew that Mary was Jesus' wife! Is this a new insight? Maybe. But I suggest it is merely the lifting into the open of a long repressed gospel tradition, which contradicted later Church teaching that Jesus' anti-female bias led to his commitment to celibacy. In another revealing story, told by Luke, the ability of Jesus to break open the negative definitions that had always surrounded women is once again related, but in an enigmatic way. Jesus is again a dinner guest at the home of Mary and Martha. Martha is busily engaged in the work of preparing the meal. Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet listening to him teach. This means that Luke has cast this woman in the role of a learner, a pupil, perhaps even a rabbinic student. These, obviously, were roles that in first century Jewish society, women were not allowed to play. Martha enters the room and rebukes Mary, demanding that Jesus order her to help in the kitchen. Jesus refuses, going so far as to suggest that Mary has chosen the "higher way." He was asserting that a woman could be a student. Nothing can rule this possibility out since in Christ "there is neither male nor female." The suppression of truth regarding Jesus' relationship to Mary is again present in this narrative. Please note that Martha asked Jesus to order Mary to the kitchen. Why did Martha not speak directly to her sister? Her demands of Jesus would be appropriate only if, as Mary's husband, he had the authority to command and Mary had the duty to obey. Now, suppose this Mary was the same woman who came to be called Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was portrayed in the gospels as the leader of the female disciples who had followed Jesus all the way from Galilee (see Mk. 15:41, Mt. 27:55, and Lk. 23:49). What kind of women would accompany an itinerant band of men in the first century Jewish world? They would have to be either wives or prostitutes. There were no other options. Mary Magdalene was both the flesh and blood woman at Jesus' side during his life, and the chief mourner at his tomb in his death. Magdalene was portrayed in the Fourth Gospel's resurrection narrative as calling him both "my Lord." and "Rabboni," intimate titles, appropriate in Jewish society to be used by a woman for a respected teacher only if he was also her revered husband. She was the same Mary who demanded access to his deceased body from the one she thought was the gardener, an act appropriate only if she were the nearest of kin. Finally, suppose the word "Magdalene" has no reference whatsoever to a village of Magdala, a village that no one has yet been able to locate in any ancient source, but was, rather, a play on the Hebrew word "Migdal" - which means "large" or "great." Migdal was once a word that referred to a tower from which shepherds could view the fields in which their flocks were grazing. This would suggest that by calling this Mary "Magdalene," the earliest Christian community was asserting that this was "the great Mary," the female partner and wife of Jesus, to whom he gave a dignity and an honor that broke the barriers of the sexist definitions of the past. For those who live 'in Christ,' Paul was suggesting, no barrier can be erected against women, and no definition of the past can be used to suggest that women are somehow less than fully human. Jesus called and empowered people to step beyond every debilitating definition of our survival-oriented humanity to claim the new humanity that lies beyond the gender boundaries of the past. The Church, once the enemy of this new day, quoting and acting upon the basis of these 'terrible texts' might yet, through this vision, become the ally of the oppressed and the community in which a new humanity is lived out. That is my dream! ~ John Shelby Spong Originally published February 4, 2004 Announcements It's what you have been waiting for: ProgressiveChristianity.org offers our most popular children's books deeply discounted for the month of July. Perfect timing for summer reading or to purchase now and put aside as future gifts - at 70% off it's time to stock up on your favorites. Click here and use Coupon Code JULYBOOK to receive 70% off select children's books - discount expires 7-31-17.

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ICAI Global Buzz July
by ICA International via Dialogue 07 Jul '17

07 Jul '17

Enjoy catching up with what is happening in ICAs across the globe.....If you wish to SEND a report...send to your ICA contact person OR...go to the members section on the ICA International website Please click the link below for the latest issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: July 2017 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-17/2017-07-01.php ICAI Communications

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PARDON ANY OVERLAP
by Lee Early via Dialogue 06 Jul '17

06 Jul '17

Do you know anyone who might meet the following criteria: any person who levies war against the United States or adheres to its enemies by giving them Aid and Comfort <http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Aid+and+Comfort> has committed treason within the meaning of the Constitution. The term aid and comfort refers to any act that manifests a betrayal of allegiance to the United States, such as furnishing enemies with arms, troops, transportation, shelter, or classified information. If a subversive act has any tendency to weaken the power of the United States to attack or resist its enemies, aid and comfort has been given. Should we change the dialogue from “impeachment” to treasson? Lee Lee Early 19230 Forest Park Dr. NE A-102 Lake Forest Park, WA 98155 Phone: (425)212-7997 lees.mail(a)comcast.net

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Info re word "Practics"
by Ellie Stock via Dialogue 04 Jul '17

04 Jul '17

Hi Folks, Does anyone have any info regarding the word "practics'? Is this a word the ICA made up? We still use the word, but I can't find it in any dictionary. Do other groups use this word or is it in the vernacular? Thanks for any info. Ellie elliestock(a)aol.com

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