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7/7/16, Spong: Charting a New Reformation, Part XXVII – The Eighth Thesis, The Ascension of Jesus (continued)
by Ellie Stock via OE 07 Jul '16

07 Jul '16

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The gospel of Luke may well have been written after the fracture that caused the Christians to be expelled from the synagogue, but because Luke based his gospel largely on the gospel of Mark, his work still reflects the organizing form of the synagogue. All three of these synoptic gospels were originally created, we now recognize, to provide Jesus stories for the seasons and Sabbaths of the synagogue’s liturgical year. That is why the story of the crucifixion was told against the backdrop of the Passover and why Matthew placed the “Sermon on the Mount” against the synagogue’s observance of Shavuot or Weeks, the celebration of Moses receiving the Torah from God at Mt. Sinai. That is also why John the Baptist was turned into “The New Elijah” and associated so deeply with the synagogue’s observance of Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah, also called the Jewish New Year, was the time when people prayed for the messiah to come. John the Baptist was cast in the role of Elijah, who according to Jewish messianic thought had to prepare the way for the messiah’s arrival. So John the Baptist enters the gospel tradition not as a person of history, but as a Rosh Hashanah literary figure. The stories of Jesus engaging in physical healings were then read back into the memory of Jesus’ earthly life and told first as part of the Jewish observance of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in which goodness of health overcomes the evil of physical distress. Being made physically whole was a sign that the Kingdom of God was breaking in and that the messiah was at hand. Next harvest parables were attributed to Jesus, like the parable of the sower, who sows his seed on four different types of soil, and the wheat and tares growing together. Not coincidentally they were placed into the gospel outline against the Harvest Festival of the Jews, known as Tabernacles, Booths or Sukkoth. That is also why the story of Jesus’ transfiguration, a story that only appears in the synoptic tradition, was told against the synagogue’s observance of Dedication or Hanukah, in which it was believed that the light of God was annually restored to the Temple. When the synoptic gospels were written (72-93 CE), however, the Temple had been destroyed by the Romans, and so the followers of Jesus suggested that Jesus had replaced the Temple as the new meeting place between God and human beings. That is what is reflected when the light of God was made to fall upon Jesus in the story of the Transfiguration. In this way Hanukah was reinterpreted. Once a crack opens into the original meaning of the synoptics, we begin to see just how it was that so many of the stories in the Hebrew Scriptures were simply lifted out of the text, magnified and wrapped around Jesus of Nazareth. They are very easy to identify once the pattern is clear.</p> <p>The literary connections between Moses and Jesus was especially strong in Matthew’s gospel, and they become quite obvious once the principle has been established. Both Moses and Jesus were subjected to the attempt by a wicked king to destroy them in infancy. Both were said to have fed the multitudes in the wilderness. Both had Red Sea splitting experiences, wandering in the wilderness experiences and trials or temptations in that wilderness. Both went up on a mountain to get a new understanding of God’s law. I have examined these connections in detail in my recent book, <em>Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy</em>.</p> <p>Luke, a gospel written to a congregation of dispersed or diaspora Jews, which was just beginning to attract Gentile proselytes into its midst, had a rather different agenda from that of Matthew. So Elijah, the father of the prophetic movement, served Luke much better as the figure through whom Jesus was to be interpreted, than did Moses. So a close reading of Luke reveals this broader world into which Jesus, as the new Elijah, fitted so well.</p> <p>In Matthew’s genealogy, the lineage of Jesus went back only to Abraham, who was regarded as the father of the Jewish nation. Luke, writing for his more expansive, more cosmopolitan audience, took his genealogy of Jesus all the way back to Adam, the father of all humankind. This way Gentiles as well as Jews could be included. We also see in Luke a much deeper dependency on the Elijah narratives than anywhere else in the New Testament. In the Hebrew Scriptures we are told that Elijah raises from the dead the only son of a widow. In Luke Jesus repeats that Elijah story by raising from the dead the only son of a widow in the village of Nain. No other gospel relates that story. Elijah healed a foreigner, a Syrian, named Naaman, of leprosy. Luke has Jesus heal a Samaritan (also a foreigner) of leprosy in a story which no other gospel writer relates. The similarities abound.</p> <p>The most obvious Elijah story that Luke has retold about Jesus, however, was the story of Elijah’s ascension. Here the way Luke has used Elijah to interpret Jesus becomes quite clear. I turn now to the story of Elijah’s ascension so that everyone can see these connections. This story is told in II Kings 2.</p> <p>At the end of Elijah’s life, the text informs us, he took his single disciple, Elisha, and they journeyed together into the wilderness to have a rendezvous with God. On this journey they talk about Elijah’s imminent departure and Elisha’s succession to the role of the “prophet of Israel.” When they reached their destination, they began what would prove to be their final conversation. Elisha opens it by making a request of his master. I paraphrase: “Master, if I am to be your successor, can I make a final request of you?” Elijah responds by saying: “What is it my son? Speak on.” So Elisha continues: “If I am to do the work you have asked me to do, I need to be endowed with a double portion of your spirit!” To this request, Elijah responded: “I do not know that I have the power to grant you that,” he says, “but if you see me ascending into the sky then you will know that your request has been granted by God.”</p> <p>At that moment, according to this magnificent Jewish story, a magical, fiery chariot, drawn by magical, fiery horses, appeared out of the sky and swooped down to the ground, coming to a halt at exactly the spot where Elijah and Elisha were talking. It was as if this was a regular stop on this heavenly chariot’s bus route! Without so much as a fare-thee-well, Elijah then stepped immediately into that chariot to begin his ascension into heaven, undoubtedly waving his hand in farewell.</p> <p>Even the ancients, however, knew that some kind of propulsion was required to transcend the forces of gravity about which they knew nothing, but which they simply accepted as a fact of life. So the text says that God created a whirlwind that came roaring behind the fiery chariot. Pulled by the magical horses, this chariot bearing Elijah, was thus propelled into the sky and to heaven by a whirlwind.</p> <p>Elisha standing on the earth below watched in wonder. He cried out: “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel.” The important detail in the story, however, was that Elisha saw this ascension, and because he saw, he knew that his request had been granted. He would be endowed with a double portion of Elijah’s powerful, unique and yet still human spirit. It was and is a lovely story. The people of the Middle East were second to none as story tellers. Luke saw Jesus as the new Elijah, but one far more filled with the presence of God than had been the first Elijah. So he magnified this story. The new Elijah did not need the help of a magical chariot drawn by fiery horses. He did not need the heaven-sent whirlwind. As one who was God-sent and God-filled, he would return to God on his own.</p> <p>He also did not, as Elijah did, have a double portion of his enormous, but still human spirit to bequeath to his disciples. The new and greater Elijah was said by Luke to be in possession of God’s Holy Spirit, which he could bequeath not just to a single disciple, but to all of his disciples then and throughout all of the ages. Luke’s Jesus was Elijah magnified in the hope that by endowing him with these expanded images, he could capture and communicate to his readers the essence of this Christ, who had made God’s presence so near and so available. So it was that Luke took the story of the ascension of Elijah and his gift to his single disciple of a double portion of his spirit and magnified it beyond all limits. The result was the story of the ascension of Jesus into heaven and the subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, both of which are uniquely Lucan stories repeated nowhere else in the New Testament.</p> <p>When one sees who it was upon whom the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost, one sees immediately the universal message of Luke’s gospel. “Men from every nation under heaven,” Luke said, were gathered there at Pentecost: “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphilia, Egypt, Libya, visitors from Rome, Jews, proselytes, Cretans and Arabians.” Given the knowledge of geography available in the first century, this was a remarkably inclusive list, even if it did call human beings “men!”</p> <p>Luke knew that this ascension story was not literal history, but he also knew that the inclusive love of God was universal so he told this story. Today we are invited to hear its meaning, and to escape its literal understanding. Gospel truth can never finally be contained in the vocabulary of our humanity.</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-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">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">Harry Bryan from Bristol, England, 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>As I begin to write this message, I realize that it’s not at all clear in my mind what exactly I want to say, just that I need to say something. My name is Harry and I live close to the city of Bristol in the United Kingdom. I really hope that this message reaches you, as I’ve just watched a video that I stumbled upon after much reading and watching of other documentaries and religious talks, a series of lectures, which you delivered under the title: “Why Christianity as We Know it is Dying.” I feel the need to express my appreciation.</p> <p>I must admit that I do not describe myself as a Christian, but I would say that one of the main reasons for this is the yawning gap between what I perceive as the positive, charitable, loving message of the New Testament and the all too common face of Christianity today which is today so often intolerant, woeful and almost unrecognizable as a religion of peace or of love. Too many times I’ve found myself pushed away from the Bible by people who preach messages of hate, of prejudice and of things, which simply don’t make any sense regardless of your standing in life. When I study the biblical text, I find a lot that I admire, a lot, which I feel people could learn from today and that people should consider, but can’t reconcile that with the need for mysterious or gory symbolism, the gold finery that dresses the altar and the clergy, to say nothing of the practice of immersion in water as a cure all for previous trespasses.</p> <p>I was reading Matthew 6, where Jesus is quoted as saying “Do not worry.” I feel it is such a beautiful passage and yet where is this message in the Christian Church today? I’ve never heard it spoken of; it is absent. The Christianity I know simply doesn’t have a place for it, just as it doesn’t have a place for many things which Jesus was said to have taught. The Bible for me cannot be an entirely accurate, entirely literal account of past events nor can one reading of it be the only way to avoid eternal punishments when our lives come to an end. That the Bible exists at all means that there were followers of Christ long before it was written and compiled as we know it today, so are we to believe, for example, that all the early Christians reside in hell, given that they couldn’t have possibly followed a book to the letter, which in their time didn’t exist? There must be room to interpret and discuss the Bible in the context in which it was written and to do away with much of the now obsolete traditions and rituals which still surround it. I need to express my appreciation for your words, for your open-mindedness and also for your humor. I know you aren’t the only person who questions the faith and continues to work with the Bible as opposed to supporting fundamentalism or simply casting it aside altogether, but you are the first person I’ve seen speak (albeit via a computer screen), who has expressed views, which resonate with my own and make me feel more comfortable about reading the Bible again. I can’t deny entirely my belief in God, but I also can’t identify with “the old Christianity,” which seems totally bent on control of those people who simply want some guidance in their lives. I’m not sure where my journey will take me from here, but know that this marks an important step. So I will now watch the second lecture from that same conference, “What a New Christianity for a New World Will Contain.” I wish you well and hope that my message will be received.</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 Harry,</p> <p>Thank you for your letter. I am sorry that through your years of association with the Christian Church, you have received such a distorted and woeful view of the Bible and of Christianity itself, which you reveal in your letter.</p> <p>It is not the Bible’s fault that so many have made an idol out of the scriptures. In the name of that idol, we have over the centuries opposed democracy in the name of the divine right of kings, become oppressively anti-Semitic, justified the Crusades, as the necessary killing of “infidels,” most of whom were Muslims, burned “heretics” at the stake, enslaved people of color, forced women into being second class citizens’ oppressed homosexual people and justified many a war. If the “Word of God” results in that kind of behavior then I for one want no part in it. A literally understood Bible is not benign, it is an absolute evil.</p> <p>The Bible itself can be a great asset to faith. It asserts the holiness of life. It portrays the love of God as infinite and universal. It calls us in the Holy Spirit to be all that we can be. It is not now and never has been the literal word or words of God. One does not want to blame God for some of the things included in the Bible like the execution of disobedient children, those who worship a false God and homosexual people.</p> <p>I am glad you finally heard something different. I hope you will continue to explore the still developing Christian story. Perhaps you will help to develop that story. I will be doing a lecture tour of Scotland, Wales and England in October. I would love to meet you at one of the venues.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">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%;"><img align="none" height="193" style="width: 349px;height: 193px;margin: 0px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="349" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/8d4503e2-0e8…"></div> <h4 class="aolmail_null" 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;"> </h4> <h4 class="aolmail_null" style="text-align: center;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;"><strong><span style="color:#000000">Bishop Spong speaks at Unity Church Lynnwood, WA</span></strong></h4> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"> <strong>Lecture and Q&A: Jul 15th, 2016 at 7:30PM</strong> At the Unity Church in Lynnwood 16727 Alderwood Mall Parkway Lynnwood, Washington <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Click Here for More Information</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_social" style="background-color: #FAFAFA;border: 0;"> <div style="color: #707070;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;line-height: 125%;text-align: center;"></div></td></tr><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_a0e9d715-4510-44b7-bb39-100c97b26de8 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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(no subject)
by ICA International via OE 05 Jul '16

05 Jul '16

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 July 2016 issue of the Global Buzz Global Buzz Report: July 2016 or copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar http://globalbuzz.icai-archives.org/7dayreport-16/2016-07-01.php ICAI Communications

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"Journey Reflection" > JUNE most viewed blog posts
by John C via OE 30 Jun '16

30 Jun '16

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Fwd: How god became god. Dealing with thrownness
by James Wiegel via OE 30 Jun '16

30 Jun '16

Interesting review. Here is a brief excerpt. The book explores metaphorical interpretations of Genesis–and Smoley engages in his own parables, which he returns to in his short, effective exegesis of practical mysticism. One of the unitive themes of How God Became God is Smoley’s metaphor of a “water table underlying everything we call reality,” a transcendent consciousness, a “living, vibrant, moving presence…” The world of the five senses…is simply a crust that floats on this eternal presence. Smoley identifies this presence with the Ground of Being, or Spirit. And, he tells us, We can say that there are points in this crust of reality where the water of the Spirit breaks through…Those “wells,” shall we say, are moments of encounter with the Sacred. Despite its many desert-like stretches of barbarism, its faulty transmission, its biases and flagrant myths, the Bible, Smoley demonstrates, seethes beneath the surface with sacred springs. ♦ > Subject: How god became god > > http://parabola.org/2016/04/28/god-became-god-scholars-really-saying-god-bi… Jim Wiegel 401 North Beverly Way, Tolleson, Arizona 85353 Tel. 011-623-936-8671 or 011-623-363-3277 jfwiegel(a)yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com "We are no longer living in an era of change. We are living in a change of era." Pope Francis

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7/30/16, Spong: Charting a New Reformation, Part XXVI - The Eighth Thesis, The Ascension of Jesus
by Ellie Stock via OE 30 Jun '16

30 Jun '16

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} .aolReplacedBody #aolmail_templateContainer,.aolReplacedBody .aolmail_bodyContent{ background-color:#ffffff; } .aolReplacedBody .aolmail_bodyContent div a:link,.aolReplacedBody .aolmail_bodyContent div a:visited{ color:#4487cf; } </style><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none;margin: 0;padding: 0;background-color: #ffffff;width: 100% !important;" class="aolReplacedBody"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="100%" width="100%" id="aolmail_backgroundTable" style="margin: 0;padding: 0;background-color: #ffffff;height: 100% !important;width: 100% !important;"> <tbody><tr> <td align="center" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templatePreheader" style="background-color: #ffffff;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" class="aolmail_preheaderContent"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"><div style="color: #505050;font-family: Arial;font-size: 10px;line-height: 100%;text-align: left;"> </div></td> <td valign="top" width="190"> <div style="color: #505050;font-family: Arial;font-size: 10px;line-height: 100%;text-align: left;"><a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: none;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…"><img style="border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;height: auto;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;" src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/print.png"></a></div> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templateContainer" style="border: 1px solid #4487cf;background-color: #ffffff;"> <tbody><tr> <td align="center" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templateHeader" style="background-color: #D8E2EA;border-bottom: 0;"> <tbody><tr> <td class="aolmail_headerContent" style="color: #202020;font-family: Arial;font-size: 34px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;padding: 0;text-align: center;vertical-align: middle;"> <img alt="" border="0" style="margin: 0;padding: 0;max-width: 600px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;height: auto;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;" src="http://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/newsletter_he…"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" class="aolmail_headerNavigation"> <h5 style="color: #202020;display: block;font-family: Arial;font-size: 12px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;margin-top: 15px;margin-right: 0;margin-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;text-align: left;text-transform: uppercase;"> <a style="color: #4487cf;text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Homepage</a> <a style="color: #4487cf;text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">My Profile</a> <a style="color: #4487cf;text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Essay Archive</a> <a style="color: #4487cf;text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">Message Boards</a> <a style="color: #4487cf;text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Calendar</a></h5></td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="aolmail_templateBody"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" class="aolmail_bodyContent" style="background-color: #ffffff;"> <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;"><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;">Charting a New Reformation</h1> <h2 class="aolmail_null" 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;">Part XXVI, The Eighth Thesis, The Ascension of Jesus</h2> <blockquote> <p><em>“The Biblical story of Jesus’ ascension assumes a three-tiered universe, which was dismissed in intellectual circles some 500 years ago. If Jesus’ ascension must be regarded as a literal event that occurred in history, it is now beyond the capacity of our 21st century minds to accept it or believe it.”</em></p> </blockquote> <p> The late Carl Sagan, one of the world’s most esteemed and well known astrophysicists, said to me at a conference in Washington, DC, just two years before his death: “Jack, do you know that if Jesus literally ascended into the sky at the time of the ascension, and even if he traveled at the speed of light (approximately 186,000 miles per second), he has not yet escaped our galaxy?” It was a typical Sagan tour de force delivered against what he experienced as the small mindedness of traditional religious believers. Carl, who was Jewish by ethnic background and atheist by theological persuasion, was well known for having little patience with what he thought of as absurdities offered by religious people as something designed to be literally true. Yet the fact remains that for most of Christian history this story, has been uncritically presented in both church and society at large, even though it makes no sense in our post-Copernican world. Many magnificent portraits of Jesus ascending into the sky have been painted by the master artists of the ages and they hang today in the great museums of the world. A number of them have also been reproduced in stained glass and they continue to occupy prominent places in the churches of the world. If an artist was commissioned to paint scenes from the life of Jesus on the walls of an Italian Church in the Middle Ages, the first scene would normally be some aspect of the virgin birth and the final scene would almost surely be some aspect of the ascension of Jesus. These two scenes were thought to have framed the limits of his earthly life — his arrival in this world and his departure.</p> <p>We noted earlier in this series that the miraculous birth of Jesus is referred to in only two of the four gospels and that neither of these stories became part of the Christian tradition until the ninth decade. This fact hardly confers objective truth on either of the two virgin birth stories. Since that is so, then it is even more problematic to ascribe history or objectivity to the story of Jesus’ ascension into heaven, for this story appears in only one gospel and it may well be as late as the tenth decade. The first mention of the ascension of Jesus is found in the 24th chapter of the gospel of Luke (vs. 44-53). That particular narrative is, however, not the well-known or well publicized ascension passage. According to Luke the resurrected Jesus made appearances over a period of forty days. Following his final appearance, and serving the purpose of announcing that resurrection appearances were now ceasing, Luke concludes his gospel with these words: “Thus he (Jesus) led them out as far as Bethany and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” It is worth noting that the words “was carried up into heaven” are missing from many of the most ancient manuscripts and may well be a later editorial gloss to bring the story more into line with the version described in the first chapter of Acts, which is far better known. When we come to this ascension narrative in the book of Acts, we need to be made aware that we are dealing with the same author who wrote the gospel of Luke. The book of Acts is simply volume two of Luke’s two-part corpus. It is in this second volume that we find the familiar and much more elaborately detailed narrative of the ascension of Jesus. When most people think of the ascension they are drawing their details from the book of Acts. Listen to the actual words found in this source: “As they were looking on, he (Jesus) was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold two men stood before them in white robes and said, ‘Men of Galilee why do you stand looking into heaven. This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:10-11).</p> <p>There is only one other reference to the ascension in the New Testament and that comes in the final chapter (chapter 20) of the authentic Fourth Gospel. (By this I mean to imply that chapter 21 of John’s gospel is widely regarded as a later addition to this book and from the pen of a different author.) This reference comes in the account of the risen Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene (20:11-18), to which we referred when we were dealing with John’s resurrection material. Here in this narrative Jesus speaks her name: “Mary.” In the speaking of her name, we are led to believe that she finally saw his identity, which until that moment had been hidden from her. She turns, says the writer of the Fourth Gospel, calls him “Rabboni,” which is a rather intimate form of the word Rabbi, and rushes toward him. Jesus appears to hold her off saying: “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God.’” The Fourth Gospel is normally dated between the years 95-100, well after Luke-Acts, so I think it fair to say that he was drawing on Luke’s material. That is the sum of the places in the New Testament where an explicit mention was made of what came to be called the ascension. It is thus a late-developing part of the Jesus story.</p> <p>We note first a couple of obvious contradictions. Ascension in Luke brings the appearances of the risen Christ to an end. In John, the ascension of Jesus precedes all other resurrection appearances except the one to Magdalene. Luke in Acts tells the ascension story with narrative details; John provides no details whatsoever, referring to the ascension as if people would know what the word meant. There is no doubt that it is Luke’s narrative in Acts that placed the story of Jesus’ ascension into the Christian understanding, so I will focus on that narrative in the development of this eighth thesis.</p> <p>First, the framework. The Bible, like most things written during the time of its compilation (circa 1000 BCE and 140 CE), assumed that the earth was the center of a three-tiered universe. Heaven, the abode of God, was clearly above the sky, while something, usually fearful, was thought to be located beneath the earth, in time it became known as hell or the abode of the devil, though that note is not dominant in the New Testament until the Book of Revelation, written in the tenth decade. Ancient people had no concept of the vastness of space. The sky seemed near enough to place them in the direct gaze of God, but the closest they could come to God physically was to climb to the top of a mountain. So Moses had to go up a mountain to receive the law. A story in Genesis reveals that human beings thought they could build a tower high enough to reach heaven (Genesis 11). Matthew’s birth narrative assumed that the sky was the floor of heaven, which meant that a star could be dragged across the floor of heaven so slowly that wise men could actually keep up with it. Given these assumptions, for them to have Jesus return to God at the end of his earthly life, meant that they had to portray him as rising into the sky. It made perfect sense in the small universe they believed they occupied.</p> <p>Luke had one other agenda. As we noted earlier, Luke had turned the resurrection of Jesus into a literalized, resuscitation of a deceased body. For Luke, resurrection seemed to imply that Jesus has resumed his pre-crucifixion physical life. When a truth, incapable of being expressed in words, is literalized there are some unanticipated consequences, which become obvious immediately. If resurrection meant being restored to one’s previous life, bound as it was by time and space, then what does one do with that life then? How does one get that physical life out of this world? Usually the way we depart this world is to die. Jesus, however, tried that and it did not work. So the question was: “Was he bound to walk the paths of this planet earth through all eternity?” If one literalizes the resurrection then one must develop an exit story appropriate to a resuscitated body. That is exactly what Luke did in his gospel. In the narrative of Jesus’ ascension, Luke created a plausible exit story, but it was never meant to be more than a story.</p> <p>Carl Sagan reminded us that if we literalize the story of the ascension of Jesus, but do not understand the size and shape of the universe in which that story presumably took place, the result is absolute nonsense. Can we get to heaven by rising up into the sky? Of course not! If we rise into the sky far enough, there are only two options. One is to achieve orbit. The idea of Jesus in perpetual orbit around this earth with his white tunic waving in the breeze does nothing for my spiritual life! The other is to have Jesus sink into the infinity of space. Heaven is not above the sky, I don’t care how many athletes point to the sky when hitting a home run, making a goal, kicking a football through the upright from sixty yards away or sinking the winning basket. When we in the western world point to the sky, we are pointing in exactly the opposite direction from someone who lives in the Far East. Words like “up” and “down” become meaningless in the infinity of space.</p> <p>Since we know it would take light still traveling at the approximate speed of 186,000 miles per second, more than 100,000 years, to go from one end of our galaxy to the other, a literalized ascension story does nothing except to make Carl Sagan literally accurate.</p> <p>There must be a meaning to this story that has simply eluded us in our literal attempt to understand the Bible. There is, and we will turn to it next week.</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">Katherine May via the Internet, 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>Thank you for your weekly emails. They are always informative and interesting. I’ve also read your books over the years and enjoyed your thought-provoking ideas and perspective. I am a nurse-psychotherapist in private practice and an adjunct professor for a psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner program at a university. I will be teaching a course next year, which I have developed, entitled: “Depth Psychotherapy: Caring for the Soul.” I have studied James Hillman, Thomas Moore and have participated in many workshops and studies in Jungian Psychology for over two decades.</p> <p>James Hillman spoke and wrote a lot about his disappointments around psychotherapy. Modern day treatment of mental health issues is caught in the “spirit of the times” medical model, including over diagnosing and overuse of medication to “relieve symptoms” and “improve functioning” as its primary goals.</p> <p>Since “psyche” is a Greek word translated in English as “soul” and “therapy” means to “minister, care, serve,” I’m interested in studying how we can better connect psychotherapy practice back to its original meaning. I’m wondering if you would be willing to share your view of “soul,” how soul expresses/manifests in life and any ideas about a psychotherapy that could “minister” or “care” for the soul? Also, your ideas about the differences between souls and spirit and mind.</p> <p>Thank you so much for your efforts and care in answering these questions.</p> <p> </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 Katherine,</p> <p>Thank you for your letter and for your professional work dedicated, as it is, to the wholeness of life.</p> <p>I find human words “squishy” when trying to define topics which words cannot fully embrace. The Greeks used the word <em>soma</em> to refer to bodies, but they also used the word <em>sarx</em>, which got translated as “flesh.” The word “<em>psyche</em>” could mean mind, but the Greeks also used the word “<em>nous</em>” to refer to the mind. <em>Psyche</em> could also mean “<em>soul</em>.” The words are anything but precise.</p> <p>The Hebrew word “<em>nephesh</em>” is translated as “soul” or “spirit,” but it literally means breath. <em>Ruach</em> was the Hebrew word for “wind,” but it also meant “spirit”. So I don’t find it helpful just to assume that words convey a consistent message. Words are, however, all that human beings have to use, but in the non-scientific, inexact areas of human experience, they leave much to be desired.</p> <p>In my opinion both psychotherapy and all the healing arts have one primary goal, which is to make people whole. The sign of wholeness is not found in any particular religious formulation, but is an expression of a deeper level of self-acceptance, one that expresses itself in the ability to give yourself away in love to another. The word “grace,” so freely used in religious circles, means the recognition that we are ultimately not self-made people, but are dependent on another for both life and love, which for me are synonyms for God. Obviously the gift of life is given to us by our parents. Not as obvious, but equally true, is that we have to be loved into the ability to love. We cannot give away what we have not received. We are driven by our own biology to be survival-oriented and thus self-centered. The grace of love is the only thing that can lift us beyond our survival needs and enable us to live for others.</p> <p>The healing disciplines deal with both the physical and mental distortions that have been passed on to us in the course of life. This fact should free us from moralizing, one of the favorite pastimes of religious people. Judgment is difficult, however, when we know that unloved people hurt others, that abused children are likely to turn into being abusive adults and that, in biblical language, “the sins of the fathers (and mothers) are passed on to the third and fourth generation.”</p> <p>Your task and mine is to bring wholeness to life. If using words like “soul” are helpful, that is fine; if not, feel free to abandon those words. Wholeness comes to our bodies, minds, spirits and souls in a variety of ways. The task of the would-be healer is to enable every person, no matter how badly he or she has been wounded by life, to find the courage to be all that he or she can be.</p> <p>Enjoy your life of service to others.</p> <p>John Shelby <a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb2…">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-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><img align="none" height="165" style="width: 371px;height: 165px;margin: 0px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="371" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/e126c963-4a1…"></a></div> <h3 class="aolmail_null" 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;"><span style="color:#000000">Bishop Spong at Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA - July 11th - 15th, 2016</span></h3> The purpose of the course will be to establish the fact of history that the three Synoptic Gospels are the products of the First Century Synagogue, in which Jesus was wrapped inside the Hebrew Scriptures, organized by the liturgical cycle of the Synagogue, invested with Jewish messianic interpretations and are reflective of the story telling traditions of the Jewish people. Biblical literalism was imposed on the gospels by Gentile Christians after 150 CE, unaware of </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"> </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_abb87f68-3abe-45d6-b5ce-2cc352cd83c8 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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ICA Global Archives Fall Sojourn Invitation and Spring Report
by Beret Griffith via OE 29 Jun '16

29 Jun '16

Announcement of 2016 fall sojourn dates Monday - Friday, September 12-16, 2016 And ICA Global Archives 2016 Spring Report In memory of Gordon Harper and Steve Harrington Introduction Work on organizing the rich legacy of work of the Ecumenical Institute, the Order:Ecumenical and Institute of Cultural Affairs, residing in the ICA Global Archives, has been in process for many years. This work has come to feel like an endless marathon and we have felt the need to recast the work. Those of us working on the task are in the process of looking toward the future; coming to terms with the limits of our capacity to continue the work; and creating ongoing processes to respond to requests for access to archival materials. As we engaged in deep conversations about the future of the global archives we decided to engage Bruce Williams to guide us in creating an action plan for the next 18 months. We will be mining the common memory of people familiar with historical documents to determine which of the 20,000 documents currently on file in the archives need to be added to the 2000 existing digital documents. The creation of an intern program will increase the core of people working on the archives and make it possible for archive work to continue. The creation of a dynamic archive website will create access to archive collections.We will build a research support system for documenting and distributing outcomes of current ICA initiatives. Robust operations will provide the underpinning for these efforts. There is a growing awareness among people of the need for radical, significant and structural change on planet Earth. Making available the historical residue of EI, O:E and ICA experiences around the world, the ICA Global Archives is a research treasure which has the capacity to empower and enable dialogue within current awakening movements. Digitization of Critical Documents Team Members: Beret Griffith*, Steve Ediger, Jean Long, Marge Philbrook, Wendell Refior There are 20,000 documents in the ICA Global Archives. Only 2,015 documents have been digitized. The Document Digitization Team will develop a plan to scan and digitize the most important documents within the FileMaker Pro database of 20,000 entries. We will begin by asking select colleagues to determine categories in the Category List with which they are familiar. They will be given a section from the FileMaker Pro database. They will select individual documents for scanning. To enable this process FileMaker Pro has been printed and put into notebooks to track the work. The system of pulling, scanning and re-filing materials will be refined. Criteria will be developed for determining document selection based on societal need. People will need to be trained in the scanning process. Jack Gilles and Frank Knutson tested the selection process and selected documents which are in line for scanning. Individual and ICA archive collections around the world will be catalogued. It will be necessary to gather collection information for each of the collections. The ICA Global Archives location in Chicago will maintain a list of all global digital resources. Finally, digitized documents will be analyzed and collection decisions made. Victory is the digitization of critical documents by the end of 2017 and a listing of EI/ICA archival material around the globe. Creating A Dynamic Website Team Members: Paul Noah*, Frank Knutson, Steve Ediger, Wendell Refior, Doug Druckenmiller The task is to design and implement over the next year and a half a website which appeals to multiple user groups i.e. religious groups, students, casual observers or the curious. The steps to doing this are: - Research existing websites that meet the needs of identified generic user groups. - Write user stories about how the sites are used. - Build a site map for our content. - Find a designer to build the website from the user criteria we have developed and is compatible with ICA objectives. - Figure the cost impact of maintaining the site into the future. - Develop and refine the content. - Hand the completed site over to ICA. Victory is a completed website. Research and Funding Strategies Team Members: Doug Druckenmiller*, Jack GiIles, Oliveann Slotta, Steve Ediger, Jim Wiegel The Funding strategy for the archives depends on reorienting our strategy from digitizing the archives to building a research support system for documenting and distributing the outcomes of current ICA initiatives. This allows us to build infrastructure for fundable projects that will as a matter of course provide the necessary mechanisms to collect, archive and disseminate project results. Major project grants are always required to provide a plan for this activity. As a first prototype and example of this an archival component for the Town Meeting Climate Change Action being undertaken by the ICA will be developed as the model for other types of research initiatives. Thus, the archives is a critical research component of ongoing programs. Once an archive component has been envisioned, it will be captured in a concept paper to be presented to an international conference as a first step in identifying funding targets for a research effort. Academic research networks will have a stake in the research effort and provide contacts and collaborative support. They will also identify, collaboratively frame, and network the funding targets. Once a prototype grant is developed and submitted, other specific grant applications can be written for at least 5 major programs. Victory is a funded and established research partnership. Archives Operations, Interns and Volunteers Team Members: Steve Ediger*, Wendell Refior, Tim Wegner, Douglas Druckenmiller, Sally Fenton Operationalize the intern program We identified two ways to increase human resources as the core of people working on the Global Archive by developing internships and creating alliances with interested project-based groups. Both of these can be accomplished with minimal expenditures on our part. We already have begun to develop connections to intern programs. In addition to providing pre-professional work on the archives, our collection will become known around the academic community and potentially attract graduate level students that want to use the collections as research material. Last semester, Dominican University provided two interns that have been working on the Town Meeting collection to provide material for the planned Town Meeting Climate Change Action project. An additional two interns signed up for this semester. Additional universities to contact include DePaul, UI-Chicago, UI-Urbana-Champaign and possibly others. One key concern is the cost of intern supervision. A strategy to minimize undergraduate intern supervision is to have graduate student interns take on an active management role as part of their internship.Then we can begin identifying projects, recruit interns and work the program each semester. After a few rounds, we will evaluate the program. Another method for increasing our work capacity will be to engage groups already working to further ICA projects. A number of groups are coalescing, including some folks working on the New Religious Mode and others working on Training Inc. In particular the Training Inc group has been meeting virtually for over a year, participated in the Fall 2015 Sojourn and plans on participating in the Fall 2016 Sojourn. We believe that by identifying and connecting with these groups and offering them the infrastructure of our archive tools they can develop their own work. In order to do this, we’ll start with Training, Inc., identify group members, develop a liaison function between them and the Archives Advisory Council, have them participate in the archive process for their materials, and evaluate the pilot. Victory is an operational intern program and working relationship with one project-oriented group. Archives Operations All objectives hinge on a well-thought out and defined set of standard operating procedures and a robust technology foundation. We need to update documentation for operational procedures and plan for sufficient technology capacity. Archival documents both physical and digital are distributed across the world and Internet requiring standardized operations in technology and process. We will document our technology infrastructure and create a capacity building plan to sustain future operations. We will inventory our operations and add missing elements and update them. This set of tasks would make a great project for a grad student. Currently, certain aspects of the technology are well-managed and coming into focus. For instance our work on the FileMaker Pro archives database has been enhanced with the ability for users to access the database from any Internet connection in the world through a hosting service that Archives Advisory Council members are currently funding. Beyond that we have bits and pieces stored all over the place, some in a website managed and paid for by Tim Wegner and other pieces on the ICA Server. Unfortunately, the ICA server is just about out of room and we are unable to replicate the digital documents stored elsewhere. We will create a plan outlining tasks necessary to address all aspects of the technology infrastructure. Victory is a completed Operations Manual and Technology Plan. Conclusion: A New Paradigm The Archives Team has documented its plan and commitments for bringing the ICA’s historical assets into an accessible, interactive research dynamic. We foresee new relationships with groups and individuals that will bring both opportunities and support for the ICA. New people have stepped forward to replace two giants of our team’s journey, namely Steve Harrington and Gordon Harper. We have given ourselves an 18 month window to bring the archives operations into a working virtual reality. We look forward to having continuing support of the ICA-USA as a vital resource for ICA programs, relationships, support and reputation. During the summer of 2016 the Archives Advisory Council will plan for the fall 2016 sojourn. You Are Invited to the ICA Global Archives Fall Sojourn - On Site & Virtual Monday - Friday, September 12-16, 2016 Contact Jean Long: Cell 720-633-5008 Email: jean.long512(a)gmail.com

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(no subject)
by ICA International via OE 28 Jun '16

28 Jun '16

Reminder for entries This reminder is for the Global Buzz that will be published July 5th. 2016 (Please send your entries at least a day ahead) Please send all your entries by regular e-mail to: inform(a)ica-international.org with your entry as an attatchment. Send details of news items, training programmes, your peer to peer connections with other ICAs, any concerns you may have and of any events that are coming up at your location. Your report can be long or short, but remember that all other ICAs would really like to know about the things that matter where you are, and what you are doing as an ICA. Peter, for ICAI Communications Pour les entrées de rappel Ce rappel est à la Global Buzz qui sera publié le 5 Juillet 2016 (Veuillez envoyer vos entrées au moins une journée à l'avance) Veuillez envoyer toutes vos entrées maintenant par courriel ordinaire à : inform(a)ica-international.org avec votre entrée comme un attatchment. Envoyer les détails des articles de nouvelles, des programmes de formation, vos connexions peer to peer avec d'autres CIAS, de toute préoccupation que vous pourriez avoir et de tous les événements qui sont à venir à votre emplacement. Votre rapport peut être longue ou courte, mais rappelez-vous que toutes les autres CIAS aimerait vraiment savoir à propos de choses qui importe où vous êtes et ce que vous faites comme une ICA. Recordatorio de las entradas Este aviso es para el Global Buzz que se publicarán 5 Julio 2016 (Favor de enviar sus entradas al menos con un día de antelación) Por favor envíe todos sus entradas ahora por correo electrónico a: inform(a)ica-international.org con su entrada como un archivo adjunto. Enviar detalles de noticias, programas de capacitación, el peer to peer las conexiones con otros convenios o acuerdos internacionales, las preocupaciones que usted pueda tener y de los eventos que se aproximan en su ubicación. El informe puede ser a corto o largo, pero hay que recordar que todos los demás convenios quisiera saber realmente sobre lo que realmente importa, y lo que están haciendo una ICA.

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(no subject)
by Matthew Sieradski via OE 26 Jun '16

26 Jun '16

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(no subject)
by Matthew Sieradski via OE 26 Jun '16

26 Jun '16

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6/23/16, Spong: Addressing the National Conference of the American Humanist Association
by Ellie Stock via OE 23 Jun '16

23 Jun '16

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They came from all across the United States and abroad with the Netherlands, in particular, being well represented. By and large they were a well-educated group made up largely of professional people: doctors, lawyers, business leaders and academics. Their single most identifying mark, however, was that they were overtly non-religious – perhaps anti-religious. Their publicity material featured a quotation from Kurt Vonnegut, the late novelist, extolling the virtues of living without God. I had been invited by this organization to receive an award and to address this conference. I shared both of these privileges with one other person. His name was Dr. Jared Diamond, a renowned scientist and former professor at UCLA, who is the author of numerous books. I was to receive the Humanist Association’s annual “Religious Liberty Award.” Dr. Diamond would be honored as “The Humanist of the Year.” Previous winners of this award, I learned, were Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts and novelist Joyce Carol Oates. It was an impressive list.</p> <p>I found it a fascinating experience to enter this conference, as I did, as a representative of organized religion. Clad in the purple shirt and clerical collar of my profession, my wife and I presented ourselves at the registration desk to receive orientation materials, a schedule of activities, meal tickets and name tags. Above this registration desk was a banner that proclaimed “Good without a God.” I felt very much like a Mexican immigrant might feel at a Trump rally!</p> <p>I thought about that banner’s message and I did not disagree with it. I have known and respected atheists whose lives were not only good, but noble. The quality of goodness does not depend on a belief in God. Perhaps what I understand better than that is that the opposite of their slogan can also true. One can be “evil with God!” I thought of the anti-Semitism that has been the great “contribution” of the Christian Church over the centuries. I recalled that the Crusades were organized by the Vatican to kill “infidels,” which was the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries’ word for Muslims. I thought of Christianity’s complicity with slavery, the “Bible Belt’s” support of segregation, the church’s denigration of women over the centuries and the abuse of the LGBT community of people by organized religion. Yes, one can be good without a God and one can be evil with one. It is also true that people can be evil without a God and good with one. Having a God or not having a God seems to me to be no guarantee or even an indicator of goodness.</p> <p>Everyone that I met on a personal level at this conference was incredibly warm and gracious. I saw one person, who had attended lectures I had delivered in a church in Western North Carolina over a number of years. She had always wrestled with what she called the unbelievable aspects of the various religious explanations with which she had grown up. She was absolutely glowing when she greeted me. “I have finally found the community in which I belong,” she stated. I was delighted for her. Religion sometimes does strange things to people.</p> <p>Another delegate greeted me with a lovely smile, then shared with me the fact that the last book she read before deciding that she was no longer “a believer” was my book: <em>Why Christianity Must Change or Die</em>. That book, she said, “pushed me right out of the door of organized religion.” An author never knows quite what effect his or her writing will have on his or her reader. It was interesting to me that this woman seemed to say this as a compliment!</p> <p>I discovered that the reason I had been chosen to receive their “Religious Liberty” award was related to two things. One was the role I had played over the last fifty years in the various battles for justice, as people of color, women and the LGBT community struggled for full acceptance in the life of our church and country. The other was what they perceived to be my attacks on the kind of religious literalism with which most of them grew up and were today in vigorous rebellion against. I found it fascinating how familiar they were with my writing. I have discovered many times that those, who are themselves most overtly anti-religious, are also deeply, sometimes even emotionally interested in the religion they claim to reject. Carl Sagan, who was what I call a “God-intoxicated atheist,” fitted that category.</p> <p>At the banquet during which the awards were given, the two honorees spoke. During my presentation, I walked them through just a bit of contemporary biblical scholarship. The Bible is a human document, written between two and three thousand years ago and it makes assumptions that no one today can still make with any intellectual credibility. The earth is not the center of a three-tiered universe, God does not live above the sky. Human beings were not created perfect, only to fall into “original sin.” Stories of a virgin birth are not about history. Miracles, people need to recognize, do not enter the story of Jesus until the 8th decade of the Common Era. Thus for anyone in the church to speak of the Bible as the “Word of God” becomes irrational. One surely does not want to blame God for all of the things in the Bible. For me, these statements are so mundane, so commonplace in the field of academic biblical studies that they are not even debatable. The fact is, however, that to my audience that night, they had never heard a representative of the Christian Church say these things. My talk received a standing ovation and elicited a number of questions to which I was given the privilege of responding. After that address, there was a lively sale of my books.</p> <p>I am sure that Professor Diamond’s address was far more tailored to this group’s expectations than was mine. I, nonetheless, found his address absolutely fascinating. He spoke on the two reasons that, in his mind, belief in God no longer made sense. The first of his reasons came from the field of evolutionary biology. Human beings are “developed animals,” he said, not a special creation. He illustrated that with the discoveries of genetics and with the fact that all of us today carry some of the genes of Neanderthal people in our makeup. The idea that there is something unique, godlike or eternal about human life has, he suggested, no basis in science. The second reason, which in his mind destroyed the possibility of one being able to believe in God, came from the field of astrophysics. In the vastness of the universe, inhabited by perhaps as many as a trillion galaxies, the evolutionary probability is that intelligent life exists in many more places than just on planet Earth. This means, Dr. Diamond suggested, that life is a product of nature and that God is little more than a human myth.</p> <p>I am not unfamiliar with either the field of evolutionary biology or astrophysics. I have read extensively in both areas. He told me nothing about which I was not already familiar. What did surprise me about Dr. Diamond’s address, however, was that the God he believed to have been destroyed by these two areas of exploding human knowledge is a deity in whom I too have not believed in for decades. This brilliant man was still operating out of a concept of God that represented what I would call a 4th grade Sunday school mentality. How could he be so learned in one field, and so limited in another? The answer to me is quite clear. The Christian Church, in its institutional form, makes little or no effort to educate its people theologically. Adult education in most churches is naive, juvenile and easily forgettable. It does not address the great issues of our day for fear of being controversial. It does not reflect the knowledge available in the Christian academies, keeping that knowledge secret from most congregations. It does not free the Christian faith to engage the knowledge revolution that is rampant in our generation. How can one in a post-Darwinian world, for example, still talk about human life being created perfect only to fall into original sin? The Christian Church in almost all of its forms continues to protect from challenge, the childish fantasies of most churchgoers. We would rather have our members quiet and placid rather than stirred up and questioning.</p> <p>Recently I had a conversation with an Episcopal priest of my church, who decided that for the Trinity Sunday liturgy he should revert to the traditional language of the late 19th century. Why did you make that decision, I wondered? This priest responded that the language of the Trinity seemed to fit better inside the more ancient forms of liturgy. Then, as if to justify his decision, this priest went on to say how many people in his church that day had expressed their delight in hearing the ancient liturgical words being used again in worship.</p> <p>It was an interesting argument put forth by a gifted priest, but one who has yet to embrace the meaninglessness of yesterday’s theological words for today’s people. I did not press the issue, but the facts are that those who expressed delight in this traditional, liturgical language of another world will all be dead within twenty years, while the use of this language among younger and educated people produces exactly the effect that I met at the American Humanist Association convention and in their speaker, Dr. Jared Diamond.</p> <p>Because some of today’s Christians have a sentimental attachment to the liturgical patterns of the past, which portray God in pre-Copernican terms, as an external being, living above the sky, possessing supernatural power, who enjoys being flattered (we call it praise in church) and who is moved when we human beings grovel like slaves before this deity on our knees, begging for mercy, does not shield us from the fact that this God is no longer believable. That God will never be resuscitated. Our only choice is to accept this deicide or to transform, in a radical way, what the word God means. My presence at the gathering of the American Humanist Association made the choice quite clear. Christianity needs to have churches and clergy, who understand the issues and who are prepared to address them.</p> <p>John Shelby Spong</p> <p><a target="_blank" style="color: #4487cf;font-weight: normal;text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…">Read the essay 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;">Question & Answer</h2> <p><span style="font-size:18px">Louis Altman from Florida 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>I recently spent a weekend with you at a Unitarian Universalist church in Sarasota and then I heard you again at the national meeting of the American humanist Association in Chicago.</p> <p>I am a Humanistic Jew, past president of the Society for Humanistic Judaism and a member of the UU Church. At Sarasota I understood you to say that we must reject supernatural theism in favor of some other form of theism, which is so difficult to define that you described it as attempting to “nail smoke to a wall.”</p> <p>This leads me to ask, why not go directly from supernatural theism to secular humanism in a form which is represented by Humanistic Judaism and by the Sunday Assembly accommodated by so many UU churches? Humanism seems to me to offer the community aspect of traditional religion without the supernatural underpinnings. Why then should we deal with the intermediate form of theism at all, which cannot even be defined in rational terms?</p> <p>I have another suggestion, which I offer with great respect. Please do not make any more remarks which treat transgender people as though their gender is optional. Their gender is inborn, just as everyone’s gender is inborn, even though in the case of some transgender people the genitalia are out of sync. I know this because I am the father of an adult transgender son, born ostensibly female. Seeing this issue through my eyes might help you to see it in a different light.</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 Louis,</p> <p>Thank you for your letter. I found the congregation and the clergy of the UU Church of Sarasota to be a very exciting faith community. I am glad you have found a home in that congregation.</p> <p>Let me, however, correct both of your statements just slightly. I do not reject supernatural theism “for some other form of theism” as you seem to have heard. I reject supernatural theism and all other versions of theism as inadequate human words to seek to understand our experience of God. Theism defines God as a being, supernatural in power, dwelling somewhere external to the world and not only ready but capable of intervening in some miraculous way. What we need to develop is an entirely new way of interpreting our experience of transcendence. I do not think secular humanism is the only alternative or even the best alternative. It was the German Reformed theologian, Paul Tillich, who first moved me from thinking of God as a being to thinking of God as “Being” itself. It is still human language and thus still inadequate to capture the essence of God but it is a step in the right direction. I regard humanism as a good word, but “secular humanism” is not near broad enough to make sense out of what I call my “God experience.” I acknowledge the reality of a dimension of life that I call “Otherness,” and describe as wonder and mystery, concepts which the word “secular” does not capture. Deep down I consider myself a humanist. I think Christianity, when properly understood, is profoundly humanistic. How else can the words placed into the mouth of Jesus by the author of the 4th Gospel be understood: “I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly” be understood?</p> <p>In regard to your reference about my use of the word “transgender,” once again I do not think that you heard what I said properly. The “choice” I was talking about had nothing to do with being transgender. I fully recognize and accept the wisdom of science that sexual orientation is a given not a chosen. The choice to which I was referring was the choice that transgender people had as to when to ask questions in the format under which we were operating, which called for a rotation of order between males and females to achieve gender balance in the question period. Transgender people have the choice, I said, as whether they will line up as males or females.</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-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb23…"><img align="none" height="180" style="width: 279px;height: 180px;margin: 0px;border: none;font-size: 14px;font-weight: bold;line-height: 100%;outline: none;text-decoration: none;text-transform: capitalize;display: inline;" width="279" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b51b9cf441b059bb232418480/images/7a0c6ff1-8f8…"></a></div> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size:20px"><strong>Common Dreams Conference 2016 “Progressive Spirituality: New Directions”</strong></span></div> <div style="text-align: center;color: #000000;font-family: Georgia;font-size: 16px;line-height: 150%;">September 16 - 19th, South Brisbane, Australia</div> The conference will allow you to explore future expressions of faith and spirituality as well as eco-theology, inter-faith dialogue, and indigenous spirituality. 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