tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73279779401049494982024-02-08T03:49:56.282-08:00Here's To the Wandering Always WanderingJonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-90048676026085547202014-02-08T10:27:00.000-08:002014-02-08T10:27:15.766-08:00words made holy unwareempty the words<br />
enter the stomach<br />
exit through by<br />
the internal pathway into<br />
the soul. by the by the<br />
end of beginnings is the<br />
beginning of ends and no<br />
longer do words<br />
said in jest or anger<br />
frighten me. i can sit<br />
under the wrath of people<br />
inhuman and worldly<br />
religious. i can sit and<br />
sympathize with their<br />
meaningful inanities. nice<br />
people scare me more<br />
than cruel decency in<br />
times of trouble. words<br />
mean stuff mean things mean<br />
to mean something mean to<br />
me. though sensitive i<br />
may be i least have<br />
a soul(less) heart. JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-90965555787049988242014-02-06T13:33:00.004-08:002014-02-06T13:33:37.781-08:00Sin and SacramentIt seems odd but I think often times what initially is declared a sin crosses over into sacrament. Sure, we can nitpick but a lot of times the lines become blurred. Lines, which, frankly, are not too easily regained. More to come on sin as sacrament.JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-53608216902518603832014-01-28T11:41:00.000-08:002014-01-28T11:44:07.412-08:00Meaningless Triviality Such is the way of Christendom. Take up our crosses and follow Jesus as we take on ourselves the mental anguish associated with apologetic work or arduous debate with other believers. We've reversed the importance of mental acuity and the importance of obedience. I come from a homeschooling background and within this sphere/sub-culture there exists potential for great feats within the public realm of discourse (namely, the meaningless circus known as politics or media culture) mostly because homeschooled kids have a ton of mental agility and think well. It's drilled into us in some of the more popular curriculum and in our obsession with things like TeenPact and debate clubs. I come from this background and am slowly learning, albeit very slowly, the impotence of these discourses on eschatology and whether or not paedobaptism is biblical or not.<br />
<div>
Now, I admit. I enjoy a good discussion. And the bible is to be dealt with in community and some of these debates and arguments are fun. But where in the bible do we find a debate on the most inane of topics? Nowhere. Yes, St. Paul (primarily), in his letters calls out fools and people who would do damage to the Church but then goes on to teach those churches how to live in this world. Jesus doesn't give two rips if you're a Calvinist, Pelagian or not. In fact, while doctrinal orthodoxy (which is too often a phrase for "fortress theology") is important (doctrine does motivate and move when presented right), the importance of praxis is being undermined. Sure, Reformed folk of the theonomic stripe argue for the "Regulative Principle of Worship" which basically is a how to guide for worship from the bible, but most times the bible doesn't care for specific on how you embody the way of Jesus. In fact, the bible is more concerned that you actually do embody the Way and learn. </div>
<div>
Look. All this is coming from the mouth of a guy whose probably going to major in philosophy in college. I love arguing, discussing, and debating trivial things. But it's becoming apparent to me that unless those seemingly trivial ideas can become practiced then I am basically blowing steam into an area of nada. If it cannot be practiced it is, almost always, an meaningless waste of time. </div>
JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-49100350677588061972014-01-26T15:25:00.001-08:002014-01-26T15:25:41.124-08:00On Faith Faith, being that which names an Object and thus obliterates it in the name of following, is that thing which no one can seem to speak clearly about. Mostly since faith eludes naming, at least true faith eludes naming. As Critchley argues in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Very-Little-Almost-Nothing-Philosophy/dp/0415340497">Very Little...Almost Nothing</a> (paraphrased), "Adam was the first serial killer." Why? Because he named things. Faith does this all the while being unnameable itself.<br />
<br />
I claim faith is unnameable (undefinable) because in any attempt to define it becomes simplified and therefore, most times, meaningless. Faith kills that which it has as an Object since it tries to grasp and name that Object. But at the same time faith is oddly needed.<br />
<br />
Maybe the beauty of Christianity is that it requires a faith which, in naming as its Object the person of Jesus, can kill God because God has already died. In so doing, then, we find life.JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-83809907580012082302014-01-20T16:15:00.002-08:002014-01-20T16:15:43.626-08:00On LeavingI'm quitting social media for a time. It may be permanent. It may be temporary. I'm unsure whether or not I will be coming back to it soon or ever. I do know, though, that it's taking away from things I could be doing, things more beneficial and enjoyable in the long run. Primarily I'm finding that I'm not actually savoring life but living solely through a screen. Sure, I go out and walk and wander and go to school but I'm not truly living. As well, separating myself from social media will better allow me to read and write and thus pursue my goals and dreams. My blog (this site) and my email will be the primary means by which you can contact me.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-85603913491953483352014-01-17T16:47:00.001-08:002014-01-17T16:47:54.771-08:00Dirt:Rib I thought, today, about how the world revolves around beauty and truth.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
At least, I want it to revolve around those two spheres. It would be nice if the world revolved around those two and sin and evil and ugliness were not so prevalent. Sadly, or not so sadly in my mind, the picture of truth, beauty, evil, ugliness, is one much more haunted by intimacy than we would like it to be. Like a spiral of color where one ends the other begins and often times one can only guess at the end or beginning. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If we're honest this picture of reality - a potpourri of conflict - is based in the primordial reality of the bible. In the opening chapters of the creation account we find God molding out of dirt and rib humanity. Dirt and rib which is intimately linked to God by being made in his image. And then a chapter later we find man breaking down, the dirt and rib cracking, and the image of God becoming marred. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>But it is still there, haunting our every move, mixing in the sin and beauty into one rough cut whole. </b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
And as the story of the bible continues on towards its culmination in the Incarnation of the Word there are numerous stories of this complex interaction between the ugliness of sin and the beauty of God's children. David, the man after God's own heart, commits murder and adultery and causes people of his nation to be killed at God's behest. Rahab, the prostitute, redeemed by faith and action (and oddly seemed to have faith while still a prostitute). Solomon, given wisdom, commits idolatry via marriage. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>The point is, the stories we tell often do not fit the stories of the bible. The language we use does not fit the language we find in scripture. </b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Point is, horrible sinners can be decent people. Saints, good people we admire, screw up horribly, commit atrocities and horrors unspeakable. We are grace filled creatures with sin leaking in the cracks, made by dirt but breaking, created via life yet death creeps ever closer at every step. We are not only walking contradictions, we are walking dead. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We are not sinner or saint. We are decent killers and indecent saints. </div>
<div>
</div>
JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-61182452911196339822014-01-08T17:06:00.001-08:002014-01-08T17:06:12.281-08:00UntitledHere, now, sit I forever <div>
and ever. Amen. World without </div>
<div>
end nor beginning. As I eat</div>
<div>
I eat with trembling hands-</div>
<div>
lack of food or liquids or something</div>
<div>
other and distant and something?- either</div>
<div>
or I eat a new life. Life without end</div>
<div>
it speaks as I chew. </div>
JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-43243396164123492552014-01-07T17:06:00.001-08:002014-01-07T17:06:16.612-08:00Being God Equals Loneliness How horrid it must be to be God, to be alone, to be utterly alone. God, who is the ultimate "something" there is (admittedly, that idea might be a linguistic creation) is in a state of ultimate loneliness. There are no others like God. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
(Yes, I know, we have the Trinity in Christianity. Yes, it is three persons in one (which, is again, important but often practically meaningless language) and all three are equally God and individual, yeah, I'm not going into the discussion of Trinity, suffice it to say: useful but at time impractical because of the language used.) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But God, as unified whole, the most complete whole, is alone. God is the only one like, similar to, in any way comparable to, God. It seems God needed a mission - unless of course the idea that God has himself to entertain and find joy in is true then I am wrong - to provide himself something to do, to be less lonely. Maybe that's why humanity exists. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We exist to glorify God and our glorification of him lets him know he is wanted (because everyone wants to be wanted). God created us to teach himself he is wanted. Maybe the courage of Nietzsche is letting God know he is unwanted. Maybe the courage of Christians is recognizing in Jesus that God doesn't want himself but rather wants us. </div>
JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-48987951352521653502014-01-06T15:08:00.003-08:002014-01-06T15:08:59.562-08:00Grace <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
read in the bible of a being that, with “truth and grace”, came into our world.
What exactly does it mean that Jesus came in “truth and grace”? What exactly is
grace? The sphere of Christendom I have grown up in has defined grace as “unmerited
favor” or another odd, but no less abstract definition. But Jesus came in “truth and
grace” or, rather, “truth and grace came through Jesus.” Either way, somehow I
think I’ve missed the point. Grace is not some abstract concept. It might
explain why the other more liturgical denominations speak of “means of grace.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Means of grace: word and sacrament: visible, tangible. </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus brought grace into
this world via Incarnation. Incarnation: real, visible, malleable, tangible,
felt, and not off in the world of concepts alone. A conceptual understanding of grace demands
nothing of us, has no long lasting effect. Grace is not for one time, one
conversion. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Rather, it is for all time, always reforming, always converting, and
always being felt. And if it is not tangible and real it
seems meaningless and lacking. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Grace is...real and maybe it’s too real for our
own comfort and maybe that’s why we put grace in the world of ideas because if
it’s a reality found in the physical world, then it demands something of us. In
fact, it is all around us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-15259009212933228492013-12-22T13:50:00.000-08:002014-01-15T16:31:27.858-08:00Flesh: Introduction I am nothing more than skin and bones, flesh on muscle on whitened bone.<br />
<br />
I am from earth and to earth I will one day return.<br />
<br />
My body, our bodies, are brittle, and subject to breaking.<br />
<br />
"The flesh is weak," spoke the wandering teacher. If only he had known how very true those words are and continue to become. Little things, like the cutting of skin, the purging of the food from one's body, loathing oneself (a spiritual reality in a fleshy manifestation), the bodies we posses and find ourselves in are weak indeed. What significance does the flesh have? In light of the earthiness by which we are bound and developed what purpose does flesh have? To what end?<br />
<br />
Christianity has often felt the lack of flesh in its theology. Flesh is important to the biblical narrative, in fact, I would argue, more important than the soul. Or, rather, souls are so tightly woven to flesh that separation is nigh impossible. The series here, hopefully, will be able to show how flesh refers not only to my body and its parts but to a different reality beyond that which we can see and touch and smell and feel and ultimately quantify. As well, I hope to show the the bible as a whole is a fleshy book, concerned primarily with things of the earth rather than mysticism or some sort of spiritualism.<br />
<br />
The general outline will look like this:<br />
<br />
1) Preliminary Thoughts on Flesh<br />
Attempt to explain what I am referring to when I refer to flesh as well as teasing out what I see as the differences between "body" and "flesh".<br />
2) Word about Flesh<br />
What scripture has to say about flesh.<br />
3) Word as Flesh<br />
Scripture as flesh in Jesus.<br />
4) Flesh Redeemed<br />
Flesh saved from its abuse<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-50644250139783250042013-12-12T15:18:00.004-08:002013-12-12T15:18:51.059-08:00(Very) Brief Thoughts on Privilege and the Oppressed 1. Privilege does exist but what constitutes an inappropriate use of privilege or speaking from a point of privilege is often ambiguous and poorly defined. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2. Privilege is not the end all be all. In fact, too often it is used in such a manner so as to shut down any further dialogue. Acknowledge that one is speaking from a privileged perspective and move on. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
3. God is not preferential to the poor/oppressed. Yes, his/her's heart is for the poor but the precedent is clearly one of grace to all, privileged and oppressor, broken and oppressed alike. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
4. Privilege is too often spoken from those who are, shocker, privileged. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ergo, privilege is ambiguously/poorly defined by the privileged and hoisted onto the unprivileged/oppressed in a manner which may or may not be appropriate. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-25237041609214672812013-12-07T09:35:00.000-08:002013-12-07T09:35:43.062-08:00Disbelief is Fidelity It is not so much that I disbelieve all that is put under the banner of Christianity, my particular opiate of choice, but rather that I do not believe it enough. I have friends who believe more consistently than I and in some sense the easiest answer to why I don't believe as they do is: they are wrong. Or, more bluntly, their version of God is wrong. But that isn't right either. I refuse to believe consistently in some regards if only because I like to think I'm caring for others. My love for the Other demands I disbelieve that which my religion demands I believe.JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-81753096199732280182013-11-21T14:42:00.000-08:002013-11-21T14:42:21.559-08:00Quotes<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“They all think any minute I'm going to commit suicide. What a joke. The truth of course is the exact opposite: suicide is the only thing that keeps me alive. Whenever everything else fails, all I have to do is consider suicide and in two seconds I'm as cheerful as a nitwit. But if I could not kill myself -- ah then, I would. I can do without nembutal or murder mysteries but not without suicide. ” The Moviegoer, Walker Percy </span>JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-75066263041181467292013-11-16T13:00:00.000-08:002013-11-16T13:00:23.945-08:00Part One of a Series on Death of God Theology: Eucharist as God's Perpetual Death"You are sacrificing Christ all over again," or so the objection to real-presence in the Eucharist goes.<br />
<br />
The objection states that we continue to re-sacrifice Christ on the cross. Guess what? It's true, we do. In fact, we do so in many ways. But the taking of the Eucharist is an important, institutional, global and very visceral way in which we declare God is dead. God is no longer out there. God's death, if it means anything, means that God is no longer Other. God is not the Object but the Subject. As Heidegger states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life - and only then will I be free to become myself. ” </span></blockquote>
By the eating of God, if you will, we face God's death and free ourselves. We take his death into ourselves in a very real sense. By re-sacrificing Christ we continually destroy the Other. We continually embrace the world we have all around us (yes, that is a reference to The Orphans) and live in a Spirit inhabited world. Thus, the common evangelical complaint gets turned on its head and can be embraced.<br />
<br />
This is part one of an ongoing series as I read more about death of God theology/radical theology.<br />
JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-82329984242149676662013-11-07T13:09:00.001-08:002013-11-07T13:09:26.047-08:00Glory, AbusedThe glory of God is the new Law. No longer are we enslaved to the Law of death. At the present we are enslaved to the Law of glory. Whatever one does is to be done to and for God's glory and instead it turns into a vicious cycle of guilt and demand. The death of Jesus speaks to us now, forming us, with the realization that on the cross God has already been glorified. In partaking of the cross (through Eucharist and Baptism and faith) we find ourselves partaking in the once and final act of glorifying God, the last need to do so has been placated and filled full. We are free to live in grace and folly.<br />
<br />JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-54987483645761003792013-10-25T18:13:00.000-07:002013-10-25T18:13:00.201-07:00Quote<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“In the Christian context, we do not mean by a "mystery" merely that which is baffling and mysterious, an enigma or insoluble problem. A mystery is, on the contrary, something that is revealed for our understanding, but which we never understand exhaustively because it leads into the depth or the darkness of God. The eyes are closed—but they are also opened.”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Kallistos Ware </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-19719394757420550642013-10-22T17:06:00.000-07:002013-10-22T17:28:19.083-07:00OddityChristianity is not lived on Good Friday and Easter but rather is more often lived on Holy Saturday, the in between. In fact to state the following is not an extreme: life generally is lived on Saturday. The oddity of the death of Jesus is the sorrow and the abandonment that comes because there is now nothing. Nothing to do but weep with God. No one to follow but the emotions that come with the death of a loved one. There is absolutely nothing because Jesus is in the tomb.<br />
But there is something rather curious about this death, this nothingness, because of it we now see a God who wants us to live on and follow him despite the absence. In the nothingness of death there is a call.JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-57905327484762081412013-10-06T16:52:00.000-07:002013-10-06T16:52:03.878-07:00Ode to the DeadHere's to the dead. Not those who've gone before<br />
only. But to those who stand at the door of their<br />
own end. Here's to the endless line that stands<br />
forever at death's door. Some knock, and some,<br />
<br />
the tragic few, kick the door in, rushing through.<br />
This is a toast to those who have crossed the<br />
divide and torn the curtain in two. This is for<br />
those who await the crashing. And this is for<br />
those who were shoved through too soon.<br />
Be at peace.<br />
<br />JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-47026708027648849442013-09-30T17:07:00.002-07:002013-09-30T17:09:04.193-07:00The Filling FullIncarnation affirms humanity and redeems the material world and our bodies. And deems them sacred.<br />
The cross sets the pendulum back in place between man and his God. No longer do we idolize man nor can we idolize God.<br />
Resurrection defeats death by affirming life. And by affirmation negates any claim that has us floating off into the stratosphere.<br />
Ascension drags the material world into the presence of the God who is spirit. This fills all the previous events full, affirming the immanence of God because the material is now before and embraced by him.JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-2867774081174294872013-09-22T09:24:00.000-07:002013-09-22T09:24:38.531-07:00On Fundamentalism There are fundamentalists [connotation] and then there are fundamentalists [denotation]. The fear of being labeled a fundamentalist [connotation] only perpetuates the illusion that some people are not bigoted or fundamentalist. When, in fact, all are fundamentalists because all have specific fundamentals to which they think we should return. Thus, to label someone a fundamentalist [connotation] is to accept that you implicitly have fundamentals to which you would like to return but cannot because that fundamentalist [connotation] is stopping you. It's all a vicious cycle. Thus, the only difference between the connotation and the denotation is that of method and approach.JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-74347455012869075542013-09-16T17:13:00.001-07:002013-09-16T17:13:52.909-07:00Ding Dong the Witch is Dead (God)For those unfamiliar with the ideas brought up herein, read the following links (I understand these are not comprehensive but they are good introductions to one of the main proponents of the idea of "living the death of God"):<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._J._Altizer">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._J._Altizer</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/god-dead-controversy">http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/god-dead-controversy</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=523&C=527">http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=523&C=527</a><br />
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This post will be my attempt to deal with the options for radical theology/death of God theology as well as some of the main problems (as I see them).<br />
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First option:<br />
Death of God theology is nonsense. The basic assertion, as I understand it, is that God is dead (though what that means is itself not super clear). It seems to be simply saying that God [as transcendent] is dead. This death comes because of the incarnation and finds it's embodiment upon the cross. This has led to me to ask: what about the Trinity? Because, as much as a Hegelian reading of the Trinity is beneficial, it really does not explain the complex nature of the Trinity. Nothing does, really, but there is two thousand years of Christian thought on the matter and death of God theology (seems) to disregard this fact. If God is dead via the cross then how is the Trinity to be understood? As a dialectic triad? What about God the Father still existing as transcendent? Is God the Son's death the death of the Father? What about the Ascension? Jesus rises and returns to heaven, thus, returning to transcendence (leaving the Spirit, yes). Thus, this idea of the death of God becomes entirely nonsensical. It's just nitpicking without really taking into account the entirety of Christian tradition.<br />
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Second option:<br />
Unclear restatement of Christian tradition. This is a quite simple critique but also vital. Any attempt to deal with Christianity in the current age needs to learn how to contextualize, to speak to this time and age. Currently, this death of God movement is simply speaking to academia. It uses the terms given to them by Hegel, Lacan, and Zizek; terms which, for the most part, are extremely unclear. Though, admittedly, they could find a home withing Christian tradition.<br />
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Third option:<br />
It's all accurate and a current developments that needs to be embraced by the Church. But again, clarity and simplicity. Both lacking.<br />
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Fourth option:<br />
It's all crazy.JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-47783923596735210182013-09-12T15:07:00.000-07:002013-09-12T15:07:05.305-07:00UPDATE: See blogs I read tabI'm adding a few more blogs to the ones I read. Enjoy.JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-82845010975407962932013-09-10T15:27:00.000-07:002013-09-12T15:09:43.083-07:00Cross as Destruction of StructuresThe cross is a violent act, a violent moment in time. On the cross we see a man brutally displayed in all his humanity and without dignity.<br />
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Yet, the cross is a self-defeating act, too. For, on the cross, we find a man, destroyed, beaten, by the powers of his age. But the violence done to Jesus is violence done to the structure(s) of the time, the powers, the State. By employing violence on a peace-making Rabbi, the son of God, they employ violence on themselves. Thus, the cross is self-destruction - of the powers and the violence upon which the State is (too often) predicated.JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-3632013223602039902013-09-03T13:25:00.000-07:002013-09-03T13:25:00.055-07:00Anecdotes<div style="text-align: center;">
1.</div>
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The death of God is an absurd notion if taken literally for God is spirit. --Yet some say in Christ dying God died too. But this fails to appreciate the nature of the Trinity. Perhaps God is dead but this statement needs to be explained/clarified/expounded on</div>
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2.</div>
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The endless raging and antics of those who would see the death of an idea only perpetuate that idea. </div>
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3.</div>
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To oppose an idea is to afford it legitimacy -- when they picket and shout that God Hates Fags they already assume that Fags exist and therefore that they have some significance to culture. Maybe ignorance would be a better reaction. </div>
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4. </div>
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The Church is its own political institution thus any affiliation to the American system is, in very clear ways, while not wrong explicitly, flawed.<br />
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5.<br />
--I am not political is a political statement--<br />
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6.<br />
The self is alone and continually faces outwards to avoid seeing itself revealed to other selves. Because to be revealed to other selves would cause the self to become accountable to itself and other selves.<br />
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JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7327977940104949498.post-20243301142349639432013-08-28T14:41:00.000-07:002013-08-28T14:41:01.066-07:00On ExchangePreviously I began to address the radical nature of law vs. gospel within the scriptural context. But, did not set out any nuance (mainly because I am not fond of nuance-ing everything). This post is an attempt at that.<br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people</span><span class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30076L" title="See cross-reference L">L</a>)"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come,</span><span class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30076M" title="See cross-reference M">M</a>)"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> one in the order of Melchizedek,</span><span class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30076N" title="See cross-reference N">N</a>)"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> not in the order of Aaron?</span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Not only did death come via the Law but perfection could not be attained through it. The Law was created to pass away. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The priesthood is no longer with Aaron and his heirs but is now with Melchizedek and his heir. And with this heir there comes a change in the Law. But saying the Law has changed seems okay. It's kosher within Christian circles to say the nature of the Law changed but isn't set aside. Yet, the bible leaves us no room for the comfortable. </span></span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless...</span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Law was created to pass because it is weak and useless. The goal was perfection and the Law was useless in achieving this goal. Ergo, it has to pass. </span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">...</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and a better hope</span><span class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30084U" title="See cross-reference U">U</a>)"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> is introduced, by which we draw near to God.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This hope is one of an indestructible life. Again, the tension of death vs. life. Death in and by the Law and life in and by Christ. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>Through whom we live and move and have our being.</i> </span><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></i>JonasWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06510604032034206265noreply@blogger.com0