March 2023 - Dialogue - lists.wedgeblade.net

3/12/23 PHOTOS—B½ OF ARCHIVE PROJECT
by Frank Knutson 13 Mar '23

13 Mar '23

1 0

3/11/23 PHOTOS—B½ OF ARCHIVE PROJECT
by Frank Knutson 12 Mar '23

12 Mar '23

4 3

Kathleen Joyce, DOD 3/9/23
by Richard Alton 12 Mar '23

12 Mar '23

Kathleen was a Global Citizen committed to the work of the Institute of C ultural Affairs (ICA), locally and globally. She was a voracious learner, attending many ICA training programs. The ICA appreciates her generosity, constancy and longstanding commitment to the ICA. She was introduced to ICA's global work through the MN ICA Learning Community (ICANetwork) in the Twin Cities in 1991. Through it, she also met Betty and Dr. Burt Dyson, ICA members and authors of the book "Neighborhood Caretakers". Kathleen worked with them in churches and environmental groups as part of her ICA work. The ICANetwork was renamed the Minnesota Facilitator's Network (MFN). As one of it's co-founders, Kathleen was the first chair of the MFN 1994-1996. MFN was one of the first organizations outside of the ICA offices to offer the Technology of Participation (ToP®) facilitation methods training to facilitators and consultants to empower individuals, organizations and communities through participatory methods. Kathleen was one of the first local facilitators to become a certified ToP® Trainer. She also served 3 years on the Leadership Options program guide team at the ICA Chicago office. After the passing of her son, Kevin, she worked at the ICA-USA ToP® office in Phoenix, Arizona. She later returned to the Twin Cities to continue with her work with the ICA Board (2002-2007), Minneapolis and Chicago ICA offices. Kathleen continued her support of the ICA's International Global Fund, and also traveled internationally working on projects, training ToP® and participating in conferences in Africa, Kyrgyzstan and in England. Her commitment with her ICA work and connection to global and environmental issues were strongly felt and appreciated by many with an impact that will live on through others. Note to All: John and Molly Burke can be reached at: 171 Wildwood Ave. White Bear Lake, MN 55110 612-386-8172 -- Richard H. T. Alton ICA Global Fund Methodist Eco-Sustainability T/F T: 773.344.7172 richard.alton(a)gmail.com Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2 Won't you be my neighbor?

1 0

Fwd: Democracy and Beloved Community Confirmation
by Bill Parker 10 Mar '23

10 Mar '23

1 0

3/09/2023, Progressing Spirit: Rev.Dr. Matthew Fox: M. D. Chenu’s Very Progressive Christianity; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 09 Mar '23

09 Mar '23

M. D. Chenu’s Very Progressive Christianity#yiv5189815492 p{margin:10px 0;padding:0;}#yiv5189815492 table{border-collapse:collapse;}#yiv5189815492 h1, #yiv5189815492 h2, #yiv5189815492 h3, #yiv5189815492 h4, #yiv5189815492 h5, #yiv5189815492 h6{display:block;margin:0;padding:0;}#yiv5189815492 img, #yiv5189815492 a img{border:0;height:auto;outline:none;text-decoration:none;}#yiv5189815492 body, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492bodyTable, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492bodyCell{min-height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;width:100%;}#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnPreviewText{display:none !important;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492outlook a{padding:0;}#yiv5189815492 img{}#yiv5189815492 table{}#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492ReadMsgBody{width:100%;}#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492ExternalClass{width:100%;}#yiv5189815492 p, #yiv5189815492 a, #yiv5189815492 li, #yiv5189815492 td, #yiv5189815492 blockquote{}#yiv5189815492 a .yiv5189815492filtered99999 , #yiv5189815492 a .yiv5189815492filtered99999 {color:inherit;cursor:default;text-decoration:none;}#yiv5189815492 p, #yiv5189815492 a, #yiv5189815492 li, #yiv5189815492 td, #yiv5189815492 body, #yiv5189815492 table, #yiv5189815492 blockquote{}#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492ExternalClass, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492ExternalClass p, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492ExternalClass td, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492ExternalClass div, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492ExternalClass span, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492ExternalClass font{line-height:100%;}#yiv5189815492 a .yiv5189815492filtered99999 {color:inherit !important;text-decoration:none !important;font-size:inherit !important;font-family:inherit !important;font-weight:inherit !important;line-height:inherit !important;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492bodyCell{padding:10px;}#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492templateContainer{max-width:600px !important;border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv5189815492 a.yiv5189815492mcnButton{display:block;}#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImage, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnRetinaImage{vertical-align:bottom;}#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent{}#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent img{height:auto !important;}#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnDividerBlock{table-layout:fixed !important;}#yiv5189815492 body, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492bodyTable{}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492bodyCell{border-top:0;}#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492templateContainer{border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv5189815492 h1{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:26px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv5189815492 h2{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:22px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv5189815492 h3{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv5189815492 h4{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templatePreheader{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templatePreheader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templatePreheader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templatePreheader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent a, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templatePreheader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateHeader{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:0;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateHeader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateHeader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateHeader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent a, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateHeader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateBody{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:2px solid #EAEAEA;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateBody .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateBody .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateBody .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent a, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateBody .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateFooter{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateFooter .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateFooter .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:center;}#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateFooter .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent a, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateFooter .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}@media only screen and (min-width:768px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492templateContainer{width:600px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 body, #yiv5189815492 table, #yiv5189815492 td, #yiv5189815492 p, #yiv5189815492 a, #yiv5189815492 li, #yiv5189815492 blockquote{}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 body{width:100% !important;min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnRetinaImage{max-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImage{width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnCartContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionTopContent, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnRecContentContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionBottomContent, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnTextContentContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnBoxedTextContentContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageGroupContentContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{max-width:100% !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageGroupContent{padding:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent{padding-top:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageCardTopImageContent, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionBottomImageContent, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionBlockInner .yiv5189815492mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent{padding-top:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageGroupBlockInner{padding-top:0 !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{padding-top:9px !important;padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{padding-right:18px !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageCardLeftImageContent, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnImageCardRightImageContent{padding-right:18px !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcpreview-image-uploader{display:none !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 h1{font-size:22px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 h2{font-size:20px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 h3{font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent, #yiv5189815492 .yiv5189815492mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templatePreheader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templatePreheader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateHeader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateHeader .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateBody .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateBody .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateFooter .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent, #yiv5189815492 #yiv5189815492templateFooter .yiv5189815492mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} By Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | M. D. Chenu’s Very Progressive Christianity | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox March 9, 2023Some wonderful news and a wonderful book appeared in my life recently that has everything to do with a “Progressive Christianity.” The news is this: The German Dominicans have opened a “Chenu Institute” in Berlin and have published a book called A Coming of God into Time and History: The Theological Project of M-D Chenu OP.I welcome both events with open arms. Why so? Renowned historian Etienne Gilson stated that "there is only one Fr. Chenu each century."[1] Pere Chenu was a French Dominican who was my mentor at my studies at the Institut catholique in Paris. He named the creation spirituality tradition and the Fall/Redemption tradition for me when I was in class with him in the Spring of ’68. A year that saw the deaths of MLK, Jr., Robert Kennedy and Thomas Merton (who had recommended I study at the Catho and admired Pere Chenu very much). In 1968 students were protesting in Paris, Berkeley, California, Madison, Wisconsin, Tubingen, Germany and many other places. (One result of the student protests in Tubingen was the “conversion” of theologian Josef Ratzinger from being a contributor to progressive theology at Vatican II to being an arch conservative. When students invaded a faculty meeting at Tubingen he left the room and came back a totally changed man.)[2]As it turned out, my semester with Pere Chenu was his last semester of teaching. I still have my notes that I took in his class which was a course on the Spirituality of the 12th Century, a century that he, historian that he was, called “the one Renaissance that worked in the West” because it was bottom-up—freed serfs, the young and women led--and not a top-down renaissance like that of the 16th century.Why is a Chenu Institute and a new book about him such good news for progressive Christians today? Because he was a progressive and courageous theologian throughout his life and was unafraid to break the glass in so many areas of culture and religion including theological education. As regent of studies at the Dominican House of Studies, he reinvented theological education and wrote about it in a short book on Le Saulchoir. In 1942 the Vatican put his book on the Index of Forbidden Books. Why? For daring to redesign theological and seminary education--a task, I might add, that was my preoccupation for 45 years of a redesigned education to teach spirituality to lay and religious alike, beginning with ICCS (the Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality) at Mundelein College in Chicago for 7 years; then 12 years at Holy Names College in Oakland, California. During ten of those years Cardinal Ratzinger sought to shut us down and when he finally succeeded, I started up the University of Creation Spirituality with its Doctor of Ministry program to bring work and spirituality together as I laid out in my book, The Reinvention of Work. Chenu wrote two books on work, Spirituality of Work (1941) and Toward a Theology of Work (1955).In one of my visits with him years after I graduated, I told him of my books on Hildegard of Bingen and he told me that he taught courses on Hildegard as well as Mechtild of Magdeburg back in the 1930’s —and with a woman scholar, Jeanne Ancelet-Hustache (who also wrote on Meister Eckhart). In short, he was a feminist in the 1930’s. Chenu found himself in hot water for supporting the worker priest movement in France through his writings. In addition, he marched in protests in the streets on behalf of workers and unions (which in France after the war were quite Marxist at times), and attended union meetings giving feedback when asked about debating views being expressed. For this ministry, he was forbidden to write and was exiled from Paris for 8 years, right up to 1962, the year of the opening of Vatican II.His work with the worker priests, an act of listening to real people discussing their real issues and decision-making, became it seems to me an integral part of the methodology of liberation theology and base communities. He always insisted that laity should have prominence in the church.He used to say: “I never did theology from an armchair.” (Or from an ivory tower of comfortable academia.)On receiving one of my books he would write me back a short note, “we are brothers in communion of thought.” He gave me permission to translate and combine two articles of his that I still refer to these days (and to add a few teachings from Rabbi Heschel) on the very important topic of non-dualism that was so central to him and his mentor, Thomas Aquinas. Called “Body and Body Politic in the Creation Spirituality of Thomas Aquinas,” it was published in my book, Western Spirituality: Historical Roots Ecumenical Routes. There he demonstrates how Aquinas took on neo-platonic and Augustinian dualism that put the seat of the virtues in the mind. He showed how Aquinas broke ranks with them in a big way by placing the seat of virtues in our passions. Aquinas calls the union of matter and spirit, passions and virtues, a communio mirabilis, a “wonderful communion.”Chenu was invited as a “peritus” or theological guide not by a European bishop but by the bishop of Madagascar, a “third-world” bishop of Africa therefore. His influence was felt strongly at the Council and in documents he authored including Gaudium et Spes. One of his favorite terms, “to read the signs of the times,” made its way into several major documents at the Council. Among other things, he worked closely behind the scenes with Eastern orthodox bishops and theologians, thus engaging in deep ecumenism. His ecumenism extended back to 1938 when he urged his students to meet scholars of Islamic mysticism in Paris and helped found an Institute in Cairo for Christian-Muslim dialog. Zen artist Frederick Frank, who traveled to the Council uninvited (there were no artists invited to Vatican II), told me that of all the hundreds of participants, “Chenu had the most interesting visage” and he eagerly sketched him. Chenu insisted on the marriage of spirituality and the arts—it comes through powerfully in his iconic book, Nature, Man and Society in the 12th Century. In class he brought in large picture books of the Cathedrals of the Middle Ages and taught from them, saying that “you cannot understand the theology of the Middle Ages without studying the great art--architecture, sculpture, windows of the time.” The last time I visited him, he was 91 years old and going blind, and he put his arm around me, wagged his finger and said, “Never forget. The greatest tragedy in theology of the last 300 years has been the divorce of the theologian from the poet, the musician, the painter, the potter, the dancer, and the film maker.” No doubt this has something to do with my insistence on using art as meditation as integral to educating for spirituality.A brief note on the fine book, A Coming of God into Time and History. The first essay is written by Ulrich Engel, one of the Dominicans overseeing the Chenu Institute. It is called “The Question of Modernity in Catholic Theology, the dispute over ‘Nouvelle Theologie’ as the Context of M-D Chenu’s book Une Ecole de theologie: Le Saulchoir (1937). It begins this way. “The term ‘nouvelle theologie’ (New Theology) is a battle term. At least that was the case for a large part of the twentieth century, more exactly the periods between the middle of the 1930s and the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)." Chenu and others opposed the “strict division between faith and the world” and tried to “build a bridge between the two.”[3] You can see the roots of the “Church in the Modern world” document of Vatican II right here. A second article, written by Sister Janette Gray, RSM of Australia, demonstrates how Chenu’s insistence on historicity overthrew what he called “baroque scholasticism” and “seminary Thomism.” (He had a colorful way with words--which did not always endear him to anal-retentive academic types.) She cites Chenu, “this scholasticism tended to define intelligibility in a strictly rational way.... Logical formalism has triumphed at the cost of curiosity.” He showed how profoundly “modern scholasticism” deviated from Thomas’s pre-modern spirit and theology, endorsing the epigram, “no theology without new birth.”[4] Chenu, being critical of the hyper rationalism of the modern era, anticipated a post-modern consciousness imbued with pre-modern awareness.A third excellent article, by Thomas O’Meara, an American Dominican, reflects on Chenu’s favorite topics: “History, Culture and Revelation.” He cites Chenu again addressing creativity while taking on contemporary academia: “Cultural dimensions in the course of history go beyond academic teaching. They emerge in new images and lead the religious dimension to find new mental categories and vocabularies.” Invoking Albert the Great, Aquinas’s mentor, Chenu writes that “science was far from complete: new sciences are awaiting discovery. Theology appears as a historical dimension for the life of the church at the same time as the life of the church enters into the breadth of theology.” Says O’Meara, “Chenu was both historian and theologian. ‘History in theology lies at the inner reality of theology itself.’” In O’Meara’s words, “Creation becomes history.”[5] Surely this perspective smacks of Chenu’s often repeated call to “read the signs of the times” that made its way into the consciousness and documents of Vatican II.There is great depth and riches in this book on Chenu. The final chapter is a wondrous surprise—an article by Chenu himself written in 1939, called “Catholic Action and the Mystical Body” which demonstrates his early commitment to values of both Liberation Theology and Creation Spirituality today. Indeed, Gustavo Guttieriez calls liberation theology “a daughter of Chenu.”[6] I call Chenu the father (or grandfather?) of creation spirituality.I rejoice that Chenu’s spirit and story, courage and curiosity, prophetic spirit and critic of modern consciousness, is being remembered at this critical time in human and planetary and religious/spiritual history. As he said to us in class in 1968 as Paris was literally shut down and all schools except ours were closed, “we have been studying history. Here is your chance to make it. Go out and join the revolution. Don’t come to school next week; come back in two weeks and tell me what you have contributed.” He was 76 at the time. And the youngest person I have ever known.~ Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox Read online here About the Author Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris and has authored 40 books on spirituality and contemporary culture that have been translated into 78 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 (called The Cosmic Mass). 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. Among his books are A Way To God: Thomas Merton's Creation Spirituality Journey; Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Times; Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times; Order of the Sacred Earth; The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times; and Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic – And Beyond; Original Blessing; The Coming of the Cosmic Christ; A Spirituality Named Compassion; Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality. To encourage a passionate response to the news of climate change advancing so rapidly, Fox started DailyMeditationswithMatthewFox.org[1] Hilary D Regan, ed., A Coming of God into Time and History: The Theological Project of M-D Chenu OP (Brompton, SA, Australia : ATF Press, 2021), p. 14, note 37.[2] See Matthew Fox, The Pope’s War: How Ratzinger’s Crusade Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved (New York: Sterling Ethos, 2011).[3] Hilary D Regan, A Coming of God into Time and History, p. 3.[4] Ibid. pp. 23f., 25, 48.[5] Ibid., pp. 71f.[6] Gustavo Gutierrez, “Liberation theology—a daughter of Chenu,” 2004, Copyright by Institut M.-Dominique Chenu Berlin, www.institut-chenu.eu. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By AlbertJesus never tried to teach us a theology. If it was important, wouldn’t he have at least mentioned his theology? When he interacted with people, he loved and accepted them for who they were. He didn’t try to change them and he didn’t try to change the world, except maybe one person at a time. He taught them to have faith and do the right thing. Why do Christian churches, ministers, missionaries, etc. feel the need to force their theology on us? Jesus would not be doing this. In my opinion, no theology is entirely correct, even my own. A: By Dr. Carl Krieg Dear Albert,Fifty years ago I wrote a book entitled What to Believe?? The Questions of Christian Faith, published by Fortress Press and currently available from ProgressiveChristianity.org. In that book I asked fifteen different theological questions, summarized answers that have been given throughout the history of Christian thinking, criticized those answers, and concluded by offering some thoughts of my own. Well, not quite concluded, because now, fifty years later, I have tried to reflect about how my thinking has changed. These reflections are serialized, also in progressivechristianity.org. All of this is to underscore your last comment, that “no theology is entirely correct, not even my [your] own.” Our perceptions are culture-bound and short-sighted, in many ways products of our time. But we can change, hopefully, and grow, perhaps evermore approaching that which is true.There is a difference between thinking theologically and pronouncing dogma. Much to our dismay, there are many churches and clergy who prefer the latter, especially those who proclaim that they alone have the truth, that in order to be “saved” [whatever that might mean], you have to believe that Jesus died for your sins and that the Bible is inerrant. On the other hand, we all do need to think about life and God and about the meaning for which we search, but in that process we certainly must not impose our beliefs on others. If each of us could admit the shortcomings in our perception, the world would be more peaceful and just. Jesus did not have a set of beliefs that he wanted to transmit to others, but he did have an awakened attitude that he tried to teach, challenging people to “have faith and do the right thing”, as you succinctly put it. Love God and love your neighbor. As an illustration of loving confrontation, we read that a teacher of the law came to Jesus and asked “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded, “There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among thieves…and a Samaritan came by…” Jesus did challenge those who were blind to the essence of their humanity, as with this teacher of the law. The challenge was love in action. Part of that awakened attitude was a vision for a different world. The society into which Jesus was born and in which he walked, was a society founded upon oppression of the poor. The rich and powerful ruled without mercy, and Jesus really did challenge that system, not least by gathering a family of friends, a group of about 25 disciples who cared for one another and shared their goods. This vision of a new way to live directly challenged the status quo established and enforced by the rich and powerful, so they had him murdered. If we gather these thoughts together, the sum and substance is that it is integral to our humanity to creatively think theologically without slipping into dogmatism. Beginning with the basic premise, taught by Jesus and others, that love is the way, we need to challenge ourselves and others to continually work toward that higher awareness. Should we succumb to the temptation to impose our belief on others rather than helping them to grow in their own understanding of life and love, then we have ourselves become blind to the truth, and our pronouncements are null and void. ~ Dr. Carl Krieg Read and share online here About the Author Dr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith, The Void and the Vision and The New Matrix: How the World We Live In Impacts Our Thinking About Self and God. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife Margaret in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podbean | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Part VI Matthew: The Genealogy (1:1-17) Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong November 7, 2013“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” — that is how the gospel of Matthew begins. The word “genealogy” means “origins,” beginnings. It could thus also be translated the book of the “genesis” of Jesus, the messiah. For “genesis” is what is being described in this opening chapter and Christ is simply the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “machiach,” which means messiah. If the words “genesis” and “messiah” were both used in an English rendition of this text, it would become very obvious that Matthew was a Jew writing to a Jewish audience about the Jewish Jesus to make the claim that he was the expected Jewish messiah. I suspect that all of these things were obvious both in Matthew’s mind and in the minds of the Jewish audience for whom he wrote. Matthew, we will discover later, will divide his teaching of Jesus into five major blocks, just like the Torah was divided into five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. So it should not be surprising that Matthew opens his gospel with his account of Jesus’ “genesis.” Today we will circle back to the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel to examine his view of the “genesis” of Jesus.Matthew’s genealogical narrative begins with Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation. Jesus is to be heir to and the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham. In this “genesis,” Matthew will also touch a second major moment in Jewish history. This was their memory of the days of Jewish glory, the golden age of Jewish history, which they had identified with King David. Among his many accomplishments David had begun the plans for the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. His son Solomon had brought this Temple to completion. As the years rolled by King David, despite many character weaknesses, still had his reputation filled with the mythological content of heroes. Ultimately all Jewish dreams of the coming messiah included in them the re-establishment of the royal house of David as the mark of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. Matthew touched all of these bases in his “genesis” of Jesus. He was the son of Abraham, the son of David and the messiah for whom the people yearned.The third experience in Jewish history to which this “genesis” would allude was the most painful moment these people ever endured. They called it “The Babylonian Exile.” It came about after the defeat of the Jews at the hands of the Babylonian army that happened first in 596 BCE and then once again a decade later in 586 BCE, when an ill-conceived rebellion broke out in Jerusalem. To pacify the land, the Babylonians moved significant numbers of the Jewish population to the land of Babylon, where they became an underclass of cheap labor. That kind of exile normally ended in the loss of national identity as intermarriage occurred and the people forgot their own biological roots and places of origin. That had been the fate of the Northern Kingdom of Israel when they were defeated by and exiled into the land of the Assyrians in the 8th century BCE. Today, we call them “The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.”Matthew, however, was well aware that the defeated Jewish people survived this crisis of the exile. They did it with Herculean efforts to keep themselves apart from the people of Babylonia. They accomplished this by emphasizing those things that made them separate and different. The Jews of the Exile observed the Sabbath by refusing to work on the seventh day of every week; they adopted Kosher dietary laws that prevented them from eating with and thus from fraternizing with non-Jews, and they placed the sign of their Judaism, circumcision, on the bodies of every Jewish male. Those intense efforts at separation paid off and in time these exiles were able to return to their homeland as a cohesive people. This was the time when they began to dream of the one who would someday come to restore the power and the fortunes of the Jewish people. These were the notes that Matthew struck in his genealogy. He wanted his readers to know that Jesus was the son of Abraham, the son of David and the expected messiah. Despite the boring nature of these opening verses this “genesis” was terribly important in developing the purpose of Matthew’s work.Everyone, including Matthew and his original readers, knew that this genealogy was not literally accurate. It was filled with stylized numbers. All of the great moments of Jewish history were divided, said Matthew, by fourteen generations. From Abraham to David was fourteen generations, from David to the Exile was fourteen generations and from the Exile to the birth of Jesus was fourteen generations. What was that about? Since seven was the holy, perfect and lucky number, the generational dividers were double sevens or fourteen in number. It was an interesting, but historically impossible claim to make. The years between Abraham and David were about 900, the years between David and the Exile about 400 and the years between the Exile and Jesus were about 600. If a generation was 20 years, which would be the average measure in a world where the life expectancy was 30-40 years, the separation between Abraham and David would be closer to 45 generations; between David and the Exile, 20 generations, and between the Exile and Jesus, 30 generations. In the line that connected David to the Exile, Matthew claimed to be following the kings of the Southern Kingdom, but he still left out some kings that were actually named in the biblical story in order to produce his rounded symmetry. Matthew surely knew this. The audience for which he wrote would also have known this, for they were both conversant with the Jewish Scriptures and with Jewish history. Thus it would not have occurred to them to think that this genealogy or “genesis” of Jesus was to be treated literally. That would be the later contribution of the Gentiles who became almost exclusively dominant in the Christian church by 150 CE. Lacking the Jewish knowledge and background to read or to understand these basically Jewish gospels, they assumed that they were reading literal history. I repeat a general theme of this entire series. Biblical fundamentalism was born in Gentile ignorance. It is a “Gentile Heresy!”One other detail in this “genesis” must have leapt out at the original Jewish reader. Four women are named in the genealogy of Jesus, all of whom have their stories told in the Bible itself. To include women in a genealogical line of ancestors, whether historical or mythological, was quite rare because in the ancient world, the role of women in reproduction was simply not understood. Western science did not definitively establish the existence of an egg cell in the female until the early years of the 18th century. People thought of reproduction after the analogy of a farmer planting his seed into the womb of Mother Earth. The role of Mother Earth was to nurture the man’s seed to maturity, not to contribute genetically to that seed. Women were thus thought of as the incubators of life, which was a product only of the male. So, in the ancient world, women did not make it into genealogical lines because they were not thought of as primary contributors. Yet, in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, four women are included. They are Tamar, whose story is recorded in Genesis 38; Rahab whose story is recorded in the 2nd and 6th chapters of the book of Joshua; Ruth whose story is recorded in the book that bears her name and especially in chapter three, and the wife of Uriah, who is unnamed in the genealogy, but since her story is told in II Samuel 11, we know that her name is Bathsheba.What are these women doing in the genealogy? What do they contribute to Matthew’s story? What was his purpose in including them? Why did he name these four and not others? Major female figures in the Old Testament like Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel, for example, are not included. These questions simply were not asked before the dawn of critical, biblical scholarship, and since these women were hidden in a genealogy, which is so boring that most people skipped over them anyway, their presence was barely noticed until relatively recently. What can we say about them in this introductory study of Matthew? Our answer involves at least three things.First, each of these women was a foreigner, a Gentile, not a Jew. Matthew will open his gospel with a story of Gentiles in the form of the Wise Men coming to pay homage to the infant Christ Child at the moment of his birth. When he reaches his climax in the final chapter, Matthew will have the risen Christ send his disciples “into all the world,” beyond the boundaries of the Jews “to make disciples of all nations.” So breaking down the barriers that divide Jews from Gentiles is a very important theme of this gospel. It is, therefore, not surprising that in the line that produced Jesus four foreign women find a place in Matthew’s genealogy. Tamar was a Canaanite woman, Rahab a citizen of Jericho, Ruth a Moabite and since Uriah was a Hittite, we must assume that his wife was also. Bathsheba’s name literally meant “daughter (bath) of Sheba” and the Queen of Sheba in the biblical story was certainly a foreigner when she came to visit King Solomon. So the first interpretive clue to the inclusion of these women in the genealogy is that none of them was Jewish, all of them were foreigners, “unclean” foreigners.There was one other surprising clue that comes only when these women’s stories are read in the Bible. All of them were, by the standards of that day, sexually-compromised women. One was guilty of incest, one was a prostitute, one was a seductress and the last was an adulterer. We will turn to their stories next week. Until then ask yourself why Matthew would introduce four sexually-tainted women into the genealogy of Jesus in the verses that form the preamble to his story of Jesus’ miraculous birth? Then recall that the Virgin Birth makes its first appearance in the Christian tradition as the immediate follow on to Matthew’s startling genealogy! It is at the very least a strange way to introduce the Messiah.Once the literal prison in which we have confined the Bible has been shattered then, far from being destroyed as traditional Christians seem to fear, our faith is rather opened to new meanings. These columns leading up to Easter are designed to introduce my readers to the kind of biblical debates that are commonplace in the world of academia but which institutional Christian spokespersons are loathe to discuss publicly. This week I examine one more detail in the passion story that we have mistakenly literalized, the unit of time that we call “three days.”~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

1 0

cause for bouncing - too many addressees
by Timothy Wegner 09 Mar '23

09 Mar '23

Here's one of my rare posts on using the dialogue and oe mailing lists. The mailman software does not like you to try and post a message with a whole bunch of addresses in addition to the correct list address. I often see someone who appears to be sending something to their entire contact list. When this happens I can't even tell if they meant the message to go to the listserv or not. The best practice is to include just the list address only, with no other addresses. Or, as I am doing with this, to both lists. It's ok to cc just one or two people whose attention you need, but I usually don't even do that. Usually when someone is having a problem I intervene and try to help out. But there are just not enough hours in the day for me to intervene when an attempt is made to send something to a large number of people along with the lists. I just let the software fail to post the message and send the user an error message, and I don't intervene. Of course I am telling you all this because this has happened a lot lately. If you have questions or comments please email me personally, and don't reply to this message on the list, since while necessary, this is really off topic, and I'd like to limit this topic to this one message. I hope everybody is doing well! Tim Wegner Your usually silent list administrator

3 2

Joyous Participation: A journey toward wholeness
by Karen Snyder 05 Mar '23

05 Mar '23

Connie Reemtsma has just published another book called Joyous Participation: A journey toward wholeness. You may recognize the name of her editor, John Burbidge, and the person doing cover design and layout, Robert Lanphear. You can find the book at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Joyous-Participation-Journey-Toward-Wholeness/dp/B0B…) The site describes the book as follows: Joyous Participation: A Journey Toward Wholeness explores that part of life most of us try to avoid—our final years. Sharing insights from the lives of five people—her own included—as well as Jungian psychology, contemplative theology, and more, 91-year-old Connie Reemtsma challenges us to see aging not as a decline to be mourned but as a time of fulfillment and an opportunity for growth. In so doing, she beckons us to shed our ego-driven selves and discover our true core. As we create our last decades "as a time of fulfillment and an opportunity for growth”, we will resonate with her words. Peace, Karen Snyder Troxel on behalf of the Global Archives Team PS. The Publications tab of the Global Archives has a list of some 200+ books colleagues have written through the years. The list includes two of Connie's books, Rob Work’s online books, and many online papers and memoirs colleagues have shared as well. https://icaglobalarchives.org/resources/

1 0

A program called The Week. Let me know if you would be interested / willing to try this out with me later this month
by James Wiegel 05 Mar '23

05 Mar '23

" The environment is breaking down and the climate is changing rapidly. The Week is a group experience to help us see what’s coming and what we can do about it. " In 2014, Dick West organized a book study on Reinventing Organizations that a number of us participated in. The author, Frederic Laloux, was focused on how to create really "participatory" organizations that operated from a high level of consciousness. Now (see below) he and his wife have created an approach to release people's energy to take on the changes and challenges we're facing over the next several decades, especially related to climate. Here is a link to the program The Week | Home | | | | | | | | | | | The Week | Home The environment is breaking down and the climate is changing rapidly. The Week is a group experience to help us ... | | | The fuller announcement is copied below. The idea is 1. to get a group together, in an organization, a family, a church, a neighborhood to go on a journey of looking ahead, seeing the challenges, letting them sink in and coming to some realistic sense of vocation in relation to this time in history.2. Spend 3 90 minute sessions together over the course of a single week (video presentation and conversation)3. move on from there . . . I am looking for a couple of people to try this out together and see how it works. The cost is minimal to organizations and no charge for friends, family, neighborhood, church Jim Wiegel Theunknown is what is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybodyscurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, allthat. Unknown is what is. Accept that it's unknown, and it's plainsailing. John Lennon 401 North Beverly Way, Tolleson, Arizona 85353 623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Frederic Laloux (Reinventing Organizations) <frederic(a)reinventingorganizations.com>To: "jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com" <jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com>Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at 07:50:40 PM MSTSubject: My new project after Reinventing Organizations For the last 3 years, I've been working on a new project with my wife, Helene. This is the big announcement: 'The Week' is live! | | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dear James My last newsletter was… years ago! That’s because for the last 3 years, I’ve been working with my wife Helene and a growing team on a new project, this time related to the climate emergency. It’s called The Week and after 3 years of work... it’s now live! I thought that you’d like to know. I’m as proud of this project as I am of Reinventing Organizations! So what is The Week? It's more than a book: it’s a group experience and it’s really powerful. Here is a short video I just shot to tell you all about it! | | | | | | | | | | Want to see the first five minutes of episode 1? It’s here! Want to know more about using The Week in your workplace or with corporate clients? It’s here! The Week is available in English and French - and there are German and Dutch subtitles to the English version (thank you Liv & Linda & Laurence!) www.theweek.ooo I’m so excited to be able to share this with you all. I hope you’ll like it and find it as meaningful as Reinventing Organizations! Frederic PS: We are hiring ! Do you know a fabulous person in the United States who could spread The Week in the corporate world or spread it in faith communities? | | | | | | | | | | | | Copyright © 2023 Reinventing Organizations, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the Reinventing Organizations newsletter or downloaded a copy of Reinventing Organizations and I thought you might be interested in my next project. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list here. | | | | |

1 0

3/02/2023, Progressing Spirit: Dr. Carl KriegThe Birth and Death of the First Century Church - Part 2; Spong revisited
by Ellie Stock 02 Mar '23

02 Mar '23

The Birth and Death of the First Century Church - Part 2#yiv3756079761 p{margin:10px 0;padding:0;}#yiv3756079761 table{border-collapse:collapse;}#yiv3756079761 h1, #yiv3756079761 h2, #yiv3756079761 h3, #yiv3756079761 h4, #yiv3756079761 h5, #yiv3756079761 h6{display:block;margin:0;padding:0;}#yiv3756079761 img, #yiv3756079761 a img{border:0;height:auto;outline:none;text-decoration:none;}#yiv3756079761 body, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761bodyTable, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761bodyCell{min-height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;width:100%;}#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnPreviewText{display:none !important;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761outlook a{padding:0;}#yiv3756079761 img{}#yiv3756079761 table{}#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761ReadMsgBody{width:100%;}#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761ExternalClass{width:100%;}#yiv3756079761 p, #yiv3756079761 a, #yiv3756079761 li, #yiv3756079761 td, #yiv3756079761 blockquote{}#yiv3756079761 a .yiv3756079761filtered99999 , #yiv3756079761 a .yiv3756079761filtered99999 {color:inherit;cursor:default;text-decoration:none;}#yiv3756079761 p, #yiv3756079761 a, #yiv3756079761 li, #yiv3756079761 td, #yiv3756079761 body, #yiv3756079761 table, #yiv3756079761 blockquote{}#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761ExternalClass, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761ExternalClass p, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761ExternalClass td, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761ExternalClass div, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761ExternalClass span, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761ExternalClass font{line-height:100%;}#yiv3756079761 a .yiv3756079761filtered99999 {color:inherit !important;text-decoration:none !important;font-size:inherit !important;font-family:inherit !important;font-weight:inherit !important;line-height:inherit !important;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761bodyCell{padding:10px;}#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761templateContainer{max-width:600px !important;border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv3756079761 a.yiv3756079761mcnButton{display:block;}#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImage, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnRetinaImage{vertical-align:bottom;}#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent{}#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent img{height:auto !important;}#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnDividerBlock{table-layout:fixed !important;}#yiv3756079761 body, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761bodyTable{}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761bodyCell{border-top:0;}#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761templateContainer{border:5px solid #363232;}#yiv3756079761 h1{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:26px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv3756079761 h2{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:22px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv3756079761 h3{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv3756079761 h4{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-weight:bold;line-height:125%;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:left;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templatePreheader{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templatePreheader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templatePreheader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templatePreheader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent a, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templatePreheader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateHeader{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:0;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateHeader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateHeader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateHeader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent a, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateHeader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateBody{background-color:#FFFFFF;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:2px solid #EAEAEA;padding-top:0;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateBody .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateBody .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p{color:#202020;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:150%;text-align:left;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateBody .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent a, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateBody .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p a{color:#007C89;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateFooter{background-color:#FAFAFA;background-image:none;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:center;background-size:cover;border-top:0;border-bottom:0;padding-top:9px;padding-bottom:9px;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateFooter .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateFooter .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p{color:#656565;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%;text-align:center;}#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateFooter .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent a, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateFooter .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p a{color:#656565;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;}@media only screen and (min-width:768px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761templateContainer{width:600px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 body, #yiv3756079761 table, #yiv3756079761 td, #yiv3756079761 p, #yiv3756079761 a, #yiv3756079761 li, #yiv3756079761 blockquote{}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 body{width:100% !important;min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnRetinaImage{max-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImage{width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnCartContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionTopContent, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnRecContentContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionBottomContent, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnTextContentContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnBoxedTextContentContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageGroupContentContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionRightImageContentContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageCardLeftTextContentContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageCardRightTextContentContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageCardLeftImageContentContainer, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageCardRightImageContentContainer{max-width:100% !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnBoxedTextContentContainer{min-width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageGroupContent{padding:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionLeftContentOuter .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionRightContentOuter .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent{padding-top:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageCardTopImageContent, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionBottomContent:last-child .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionBottomImageContent, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionBlockInner .yiv3756079761mcnCaptionTopContent:last-child .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent{padding-top:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageCardBottomImageContent{padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageGroupBlockInner{padding-top:0 !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageGroupBlockOuter{padding-top:9px !important;padding-bottom:9px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnBoxedTextContentColumn{padding-right:18px !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageCardLeftImageContent, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnImageCardRightImageContent{padding-right:18px !important;padding-bottom:0 !important;padding-left:18px !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcpreview-image-uploader{display:none !important;width:100% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 h1{font-size:22px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 h2{font-size:20px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 h3{font-size:18px !important;line-height:125% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 h4{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent, #yiv3756079761 .yiv3756079761mcnBoxedTextContentContainer .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templatePreheader{display:block !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templatePreheader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templatePreheader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateHeader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateHeader .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p{font-size:16px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateBody .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateBody .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p{font-size:14px !important;line-height:150% !important;}}@media only screen and (max-width:480px){#yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateFooter .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent, #yiv3756079761 #yiv3756079761templateFooter .yiv3756079761mcnTextContent p{font-size:12px !important;line-height:150% !important;}} By Dr. Carl Krieg | | | | View this email in your browser | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Birth and Death of the First Century Church - Part 2 | | | | | | | | | | Essay by Dr. Carl Krieg March 2, 2023In the first part of this essay we saw how Jesus was able to impact the disciples and also how the disciples were changed and lived a transformed life apart from the Passion narrative. We now turn to analyzing how the rich and powerful handed us the story of Jesus that we have today.Continuing where we left off: Part Three: Takeover by the Rich and Powerful6. If we ask how the traditional story came to be dominant, the answer is that the rich and powerful of the day infiltrated and overpowered the leadership of the fledgling community and also transformed its thinking.Jesus’ message was that the essence of the universe is love, that a life of love is a life of happiness, and that such happiness and love is incompatible with the oppression and injustice rampant in society. Incompatible. Such an outlook threatened the rich and powerful, who benefitted from the system of oppression, and they fought back. They had killed Jesus, believing that the loss of the leader would destroy the movement, but they miscalculated, and the movement only grew. Their next tactic involved both taking over leadership positions and distorting the story, a double maneuver that worked splendidly, the outcome lasting to this very day. The easiest way for us to understand their success is to compare the real story with the traditional story and thereby discover how the traditional story handed down to us was of benefit to the wealthy. Not long ago I was uncertain whether the changing of the story was due to influence on the part of the rich, or if it was simply a matter of social inertia, i.e. if you don’t work to change the situation, it stays the same. Seeing how the rich and powerful operate in today’s world, I am inclined to accept the theory of influence. The question, of course, is whether the influence was purposeful and intentional, conscious and deliberate, or whether it was subconscious. We’ll probably never know, but in either case, certain factors certainly came into play.To begin with, there was nothing in the economic system that would have encouraged justice and equality. Patronage guaranteed that one’s responsibility was to those to whom one was beholden, not to the poorer below. And those above made their living, so to speak, by taking from the poor. The rich and powerful had no economic incentive to liberate anyone from the oppression that formed the linchpin of the system.Beyond economic incentive, however, was the psychology of being rich. Studies in neuroscience have shown that wealth affects the operation of a human brain. There are at least three such influences: a sense of entitlement, lack of empathy, and addiction. Beginning with the last, money and its accumulation are addictive. Once one passes the amount required for a comfortable life, the search for more easily becomes an obsession. Whatever inclination to share that might have been present initially, is overpowered by the urge to accumulate ever more. This addiction is accompanied by both a growing sense of entitlement and a lack of empathy for those less fortunate. The sense of entitlement refers not only to the attitude epitomized by the comment “I worked hard for my money”, but also to the attitude that because I am rich, I have certain rights and privileges not available to others. Royalty and corrupt politicians glaringly exemplify the condescension. In such a mental framework, empathy for the less fortunate is impossible.Given the power that wealth wields over the minds of those who possess it, most probably the regression of the early church didn’t “just happen”, but was, rather, intentional on the part of those in society who were already in control. But whether by intent or inertia, the system did not give way to the Way of Jesus, and the story that emerged was not a story of transformation but rather one that stymied transformation. In this sense, Jesus stands in a long line of Old Testament prophets who spoke out strongly against the injustice prevalent in the land, only to be ridiculed, stoned, and killed for their efforts. We now turn to the specifics of this takeover.7. The leadership of the community began to reflect the interests of the rich and powerful.It seems clear that the first century saw great change in the organization of the church community. However the first groups were organized, be they wandering bands, home churches, or families of friends, at least some soon developed into larger organizations with a hierarchy that included priests and bishops. This institution represented the interests of the wealthy class as reflected in the writings of the time, such as the pastoral epistles. [The book of James and the community therein portrayed seems an outlier to this trend.] The stories about Jesus that had initially circulated orally now became codified in writings, and these writings in turn were interpreted for the congregations by the priests and bishops. Those who knew Jesus personally had a certain authority in the earliest community. But as they were replaced by a second generation, the source of authority shifted, and became similar to what one finds in society. Through this system, the rich and powerful assumed control of a movement that had previously been a threat.8. The rich and powerful led the way for the early church to believe that the death of Jesus was not the economic/political empire’s execution of a revolutionary troublemaker, but instead was the way God had chosen to save us from our sins.We all know that Pilate gave the order to have Jesus executed as a criminal against the state. And we all know that the church at the end of the first century found the death of Jesus to be an atoning sacrifice. If you think about it, that’s quite the transition: from trouble-making revolutionary to sacrificial lamb. We have let ourselves think that the early church became so distraught at the death of Jesus that they searched for ways to make sense of the event. And so, in so doing, they discovered in Isaiah and elsewhere words that might apply to the situation, eg, [he was bruised for our iniquity, etc], and concluded that it was all God’s plan, as foretold by the prophets. But if the stayers and the movers on had all been transformed by Jesus into proponents of a new society and severe critics of the old, certainly they were aware that crucifixion was a possibility, if not a probability. They expected trouble; it neither surprised nor discouraged them, even though it must have frightened them. It must have been the later converts, those who became new followers without realizing the revolutionary impetus inspired by Jesus, who succumbed to the devious explanations for the crucifixion offered by the power structure. 9. The rich and powerful deluded the early church into believing that the revolutionary impact of Jesus was not with the transformative power that lived on in the new Movement, but rather was a single event that happened to him when he walked out of a tomb.There is a huge difference between believing that the meaning of your life is to be found in a loving, caring and sharing community that works to transform society, and believing that you will go to heaven because Jesus opened the door and will come for you at some future time. This difference greatly benefits those who control the current system of oppression and seek to maintain the status quo. Reducing the on-going power of the spirit to an empty tomb saps the revolution of its energy and puts God on the side of established order.Some other dimensions of the takeover.10. It is impossible to imagine Jesus speaking positively of slavery, and yet the later church required that slaves be obedient to their masters, no matter how cruel. Such a rule would certainly have benefitted those who gained financially from the system.11. We know that there were probably a dozen women who were integral to the family of friends gathered by Jesus. They played a huge role, supporting the group with their money and ministering to Jesus. And yet, in the later church, we find prohibitions forbidding women to even speak in church and demanding submission to their husbands. Why? Must it not be because patriarchy was essential to the economic system, and those men now had the power in the community?12. We have become accustomed to believe that Jesus had twelve male disciples, eyewitnesses to his life who became the apostolic pillars of the later institution, modeled after the twelve tribes of Israel. This is certainly a creation of the rich and powerful men who relied on the system of patriarchy. Jesus had women disciples, pure and simple.13. Initially it seems that the earliest Christian communities shared a supper, rich and poor together, as both a real, physical sharing, and also a symbol of the reign of God wherein all were equal. We gather from Paul that at least in Corinth the common meal had deteriorated to the point where the wealthy came early, ate and drank their fill, and, inebriated, left the poor to their own devices. That is bad enough, but even the pretense of equality was soon thrown by the wayside as the actual meal was reinterpreted as a sacramental meal that involved no real sharing at all. Commonality of all, rich and poor alike, became individualized communion with God without any economic implications as the wealthy were in no way obligated to share their bounty. 14. The life and teaching of Jesus was subversive. Were that not the case, he never would have been crucified. The church of the later first century reversed that subversion and demanded that everyone be subject to the governing authorities. And the governing authorities no doubt represented the rich and powerful. SummaryWe began with a description of human nature and used that to try to understand who Jesus was and how he was able to impact people, an analysis that bypasses much of the traditional theology about who and what he was. From there we moved on to examining the two types of disciples and how their lives question the centrality of the Passion story in Christian theology. We then looked at the many ways that the rich and powerful utilized to return the radical message of Jesus back to the confirmation of the existing power structure, a place we have remained ever since. The question we must ask ourselves is whether the Story we have been handed is what really happened. ~ Dr. Carl Krieg Read online here About the AuthorDr. Carl Krieg received his BA from Dartmouth College, MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of What to Believe? the Questions of Christian Faith, The Void and the Vision and The New Matrix: How the World We Live In Impacts Our Thinking About Self and God. As professor and pastor, Dr. Krieg has taught innumerable classes and led many discussion groups. He lives with his wife Margaret in Norwich, VT. | | | | | | | | Question & Answer Q: By Bill Judgement? Can we say someone is not a Christian by watching their behavior, or would we be judging, which is not ours to do? A: By Rev. Jim Burklo Dear Bill,It’s understandable that folks would question the bona fides of others who claim to be Christian, given that so many of them fail to live up to the example of the Christ they so stridently claim to follow. But that kind of judgment is a stumbling block for those of us trying to follow the way of Jesus. If we think of Christianity as a bulwark with walls, then we define who is in and who is out. But if Christianity is centered on divine love, naturally attracting people toward the Ultimate Reality of compassion, then there are no boundaries, no dogmatic definitions of who is Christian and who is not, who is out and who is in. Progressive Christianity, at its best, affirms this perspective of the faith. We are all Bozos on Jesus’ bus, and that’s okay. Not one of us is a perfect mirror of the divine agape at the center of our faith. While we preach and teach a progressive, non-dogmatic, pluralistic perspective of the faith, we are called to welcome all sorts of humans into our churches. Fundamentalists, evangelicals, atheists, agnostics, people of other faiths, Republicans, Democrats, socialists, capitalists, flat-earthers, anti-vaxxers – and certainly we welcome hypocrites. Because to one degree or another, that’s all of us. We all espouse values we fail to reflect in our behavior. If your church doesn’t have some members you find hypocritical, funky, or outright obnoxious, go look for another church. Because the church is supposed to be a fitness center for love. And if there aren’t some folks in your church who are hard to love, then you are missing out on the heavy lifting that will build up your spiritual muscles. To follow the way of Jesus, a sense of humor is very helpful. Because comedy abounds in a faith that attracts us toward ideals that are nigh unto impossible to put fully into effect. Our best response to people who claim to be Christian but don’t seem to act the part is to smile –appreciating the irony of their failure, and of our own failure, to love as Jesus did.~ Rev. Jim Burklo Read and share online here About the Author Rev. Jim Burklo is the Executive Director of Progressive Christians Uniting, which is now organizing ZOE, a national network of progressive Christian ministries at colleges and universities. He is the founder of Souljourning.org, providing resources for families to nurture the natural spirituality of young people. He retired as the Senior Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life at the University of Southern California in 2022 and now serves as pastor of the United Church of Christ of Simi Valley, CA. An ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ, he is the author of seven published books on progressive Christianity. His latest is Tenderly Calling: An Invitation to the Way of Jesus. His weekly blog, “Musings,” has a global readership. He is an honorary advisor and frequent content contributor for ProgressiveChristianity.org. Jim and his wife Roberta live in Ojai, CA. | | | | | | | | Please continue to send us your feedback… we are listening. We aim to give voice to many different perspectives that are relevant and inspiring along this spiritually progressing path. We are not here to tell you what to believe or how to act. We are here to support your journey, to share and learn together.Thank you for being a part of this community - join us on Facebook! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | As a non-profit ProgressiveChristianity.org/Progressing Spirit rely heavily on the good will of our donors to help us continue to bring individuals and churches the messages of progressive Christians, Weekly Newsletters, along with the many other resources we provide. For years, the majority of our fundraising came at the end of the year. Looking at various ways to create a more reasonable amount of cash flow we decided rather than having a BIG ask at the end of each year, our more frequent asks give folks a chance to contribute when their funds are more flexible. We think that's a win for everyone. We also want to highlight the opportunity to become a sustaining supporter. If you are looking for the best way to help us continue to provide progressive Christian resources, become a sustaining supporter by choosing Recurring Donation. Help keep ProgressiveChristianity.org online and going strong - click here to donate today! * Another way to support us is to leave a bequest in your Will and/or Trust designating us a beneficiary. | | | | | | | | | | | Don't miss the next Episode of PC.org's Executive Directors Mark and Caleb on: The Moonshine Jesus Show - every Monday at 4:30pm Eastern Time – watch live on Facebook,, YouTube, Twitter, Podbean | | | | | | | | | Bishop John Shelby Spong Revisited Part V Matthew: Isolating This Gospel from All the Others Essay by Bishop John Shelby Spong October 31, 2013Having now introduced you to a different way of reading the gospel of Matthew, and puncturing for you, I hope forever, the assumption that this book along with all the other gospels was ever intended to be either history or biography, I want in this column to double back and focus on the gospel of Matthew as a whole. My purpose now is to isolate this gospel from all of the others so that we might see it in its pristine uniqueness. What does Matthew’s gospel contribute to the developing Christian story? Where in this gospel has the author introduced new ideas, new stories or new concepts that have never before been heard in Christian circles? Most people, I fear, know the Christian story only as one grand, homogenized blend and they have no idea what parts of the Jesus tradition are the gifts of the various gospel writers. Today I seek to separate Matthew from everything else in the Christian tradition and force it to stand alone. First, the date of this work needs to be established. Most scholars tend to date this gospel in the middle years of the ninth decade, or in the 82-86 CE year range. It is all but universally agreed that the author of Matthew was familiar with the gospel of Mark. He clearly used Mark and quoted from it directly although expanding it considerably. Most scholars date Luke well after Matthew, the consensus being perhaps a decade later, but with a minority making the radical suggestion that Luke might be as late as 140 CE. The intensely Jewish character of Matthew’s gospel is also generally acknowledged. It appears to be the most traditionally Jewish of all the gospels. Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus in passionate debate with the Pharisees also tends to support a date in the middle years of the ninth decade when Pharisaic power was dominant in the land of the Jews. A coterie of biblical scholars believe quite firmly that the author of this gospel was in fact a Jewish scribe, who had become a follower of Jesus and who served as the head of a congregation of Jewish Christians somewhere in one of the more urban centers of Syria, perhaps around Antioch. There is even some agreement among scholars that the author of this gospel has placed a self-revealing, autobiographical note into his text in which he identifies himself as a scribe: “Therefore, every scribe, who has been trained for the Kingdom of Heaven, is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old” (Matt, 13:52). Certainly this gospel reveals a passion for things Jewish and an openness to dramatically new Christian understandings. I will begin this phase of Matthean study simply by listing in bullet-point form the things about this gospel that are unique to this gospel. * Matthew is the first gospel writer to trace the ancestral line that produced Jesus of Nazareth. He opens his account with seventeen rather boring verses of “who begat whoms.” We will return to these verses later in this series for they contain some powerful interpretive clues, but for now we simply note that it was important for Matthew and for his community to ground Jesus in the DNA of Judaism. Jesus is portrayed as the son of Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, who left his home in Ur of the Chaldees to form a new people in the wilderness. Abraham was said to have made a covenant with the God who called him to this new place. Jesus in this genealogy is also designated the son of David, a fact the served to establish his messianic credentials, for a major piece of Jewish messianic thinking was that the promised deliverer had to restore the throne of David. Jesus was also said to have been descended from survivors of the Babylonian Exile. Matthew thus rooted Jesus in the crucial events of Jewish history. * Matthew is the first New Testament writer to introduce the story of the Virgin Birth. The idea that Jesus had a miraculous birth had never before been mentioned. Since this gospel was not written until the 9th decade of the Christian era we are forced to acknowledge that the idea of a Virgin Birth for Jesus is a very late developing tradition and thus not part of original Christianity. Paul, who wrote between 51-64 CE, had clearly never heard of this miraculous birth tradition. He refers to Jesus only as one who was “born of a woman” like every other person, and “born under the law” like every other Jew. Mark, the first gospel to be written (ca.72 CE), also appears to know nothing about a miraculous birth tradition. Mark even portrays the mother of the adult Jesus as thinking that he was mentally disturbed (Mark 3:31-35). That is hardly the stance of one who was told that she would be the mother of the Son of God. So, embrace the fact that Matthew is the gospel writer who introduces the Virgin Birth tradition into Christianity. Please note the fact that only in Matthew do we find stories about a star in the east, the journey of the magi, the slaughter of the innocent children by Herod, the flight of the infant Jesus into Egypt and the subsequent settlement of the holy family in the Galilean village of Nazareth. * Matthew is the first Christian writer to introduce Joseph as the earthly father of Jesus. This Joseph was also destined to disappear from the Jesus story almost immediately after he plays his role in the birth narrative. Matthew alone suggests that Jesus preached “The Sermon on the Mount.” * Matthew introduces a number of parables into his narrative that no one else in the developing Christian tradition seems ever to have heard or known. Among them are the parable of the weeds (13:24-20), the parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of the pearl of great price (13:44-46), the parable of the net (13:47-50), the parable of the householder (13:51-52), the parable of the unmerciful servant (18:23-25), the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (20:1-16) and, probably the best known of all the Matthew parables, the parable of the judgment in which the sheep and the goats are separated (25:31-46). * Matthew alone adds to the biography of Judas Iscariot the narrative of his receiving thirty pieces of silver for his act of betrayal, the narrative of Judas repenting and trying to return the money and the narrative of his act of committing suicide by hanging. * Matthew alone asserts that guards were placed around the tomb of Jesus to prevent the disciples from stealing his body and then using that story to fuel resurrection fantasies. One of those fantasies was that the descending angel struck the guards causing them to sink into a state of unconsciousness while the angel removed the stone from the entrance to the tomb. * Matthew was the first New Testament writer to narrate the details of the risen Christ appearing to anyone. Please note that this means that appearance stories of the resurrected Jesus do not enter the Christian tradition until the ninth decade. In Matthew’s first narrated resurrection story, Matthew has the risen Christ appear to the women at the tomb at dawn on the first Easter morning. That is of special interest since Mark, who wrote earlier than Matthew, and Luke, who wrote later, both say that the women did not see Jesus at the tomb on Easter morning. * Matthew is the first gospel writer to describe the actual appearance of the risen Jesus to the disciples. Matthew tells us that this appearance took place in Galilee on a mountain top, not in Jerusalem at the tomb, and that Jesus appeared to them from out of the sky already glorified. He was not a resuscitated body appearing out of a grave. Since the story of Jesus’ ascension does not enter the tradition until Luke, a decade or so later, this scene argues strongly that the earliest conception of resurrection was not that of a physical, resuscitated body rising from the grave back into the life of this world, but rather of one who had somehow been transformed into the eternal life of God from which he could be manifested in some visionary way to certain chosen witnesses. That puts the resurrection of Jesus into the Old Testament category that was believed to have included Enoch, Moses and Elijah. * Matthew is the first gospel to quote the resurrected Jesus as speaking. Before Matthew he had said nothing to anyone. The words Matthew quoted him as saying were what we now call “the Great Commission.” That commission had two parts, a command and a promise. The command was to go into all the world, make disciples of all nations, baptize and teach them to observe “all that I have commanded you.” The promise was that they would never be alone, for the risen Lord was quoted as saying: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.” Matthew has no concept of the Holy Spirit coming after Jesus has departed, no sense of a “comforter,” who would replace him as appears in the later gospels of Luke and John. The closest thing to Pentecost that Matthew offers is this promise of the eternal presence of the living Christ. Matthew opened his gospel with an angel stating that Jesus would be called “Emmanuel,” meaning “God with you.” The circle is completed in Matthew when Jesus makes this claim for himself: I am Emmanuel, the eternal presence of God, who will be “with you always to the end of the age.” The Christ presence is thus Matthew’s version of the Holy Spirit. Those are some of the distinguishing marks of the gospel we call Matthew. Embrace its uniqueness and listen to its special contributions. We will examine them all in more detail as this series of columns unfolds. For now, grasp first the Jewishness of this gospel and then grasp the fact that at the beginning of his Jesus story Matthew shows Gentiles in the persons of the Wise Men, compelled to come and worship this Jewish Jesus and at the end of his gospel Matthew portrays the risen Jesus commanding his followers to go to the Gentiles to make disciples of all nations. It is inside that interpretive envelope of the Gentiles coming to Jesus and then the disciples being sent to the Gentiles that Matthew’s story of Jesus of Nazareth unfolds.~ John Shelby Spong | | | | | | | | Announcements The Tarrying Place This project is a direct outgrowth of the work of the Sojourner Truth Leadership Circle (STLC) whose mission is to help Black women-folx embody STLC’s twin mantras: Self-care is a mandate for prophetic leadership. Social justice movements will no longer happen on the backs or over the dead bodies of Black women. The Tarrying Place represents the wit and wisdom of the community of more than one hundred women-folx who make up our ever-expanding Circle, each of whom is engaged in their own life’s journey to activist-centered self and community care reflected in our guiding mantras. READ ON ... | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

1 0

Rob Work's books
by Karen Snyder 02 Mar '23

02 Mar '23

Did you know that Rob Work has published five books since 2017! He is generously sharing all of his books with colleagues and friends on the Global Archives website under Publications: https://icaglobalarchives.org/resources/. In other words, as you find his books on the list, you will find that each one is now a PDF. So when you click on the title, it will open up for you to read online or print. The books include: Society, Spirit, Self: Essays on the one dance <https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/24076.pdf> (2021) The Critical Decade 2020 – 2029: Calls for ecological compassionate leadership <https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/24077.pdf> (2020) Earthling Love: Living poems <https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/24074.pdf>(2020) Serving People and Planet: In mystery, love and gratitude <https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/24075.pdf>(2019) A Compassionate Civilization: The urgency of sustainable development and mindful activism – reflections and recommendations <https://wedgeblade.net/files/archives_assets/24073.pdf> (2017) Rob, words seem inadequate to express our gratitude for your gift. But we do say “Thank You” many times for your giving on behalf of all. Peace, Karen Snyder For the Global Archives Team

2 1