Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

"Pardon Me?!" by Wayne Northey

“Pardon Me?!”   

      On Good Friday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper telephoned Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to overhaul Canada’s pardon legislation.  He declared “there are some crimes that should never be pardoned.”  On Good Friday!  The Prime Minister, a Christian believer, called Toews the day Christians worldwide celebrate the pardon Jesus’ death offered all humanity including the thief on the cross. 

      Vic Toews, also a believer, now proposes changing the term “pardon” to the blander “record suspension.” Forgiveness, said Toews, “is not the business of government.”   One editorial expressed, “That seems mean-spirited.”  Perhaps a tad unmerciful?  Contradictory even of The Lord’s Prayer that reads?: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (Matthew 6:12).”, with Jesus’ commentary: “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. (verses 14 & 15).”

Clarion Journalist in Thailand: May 20, 2010

I don’t have internet right now, but I’m writing this at 19:11 local time.

             Violence erupted in Bangkok today after several days of increasing tension. It seemed like everything would be alright a week or so ago when the government offered November elections that the Red Shirts tentatively agreed to. Then, the Red Shirts declared the road map was unacceptable and continued their protests. A few days ago shots were fired and things started heating up again. Half of the 10000 protesters left the site in the centre of the city and Red Shirt leaders called for immediate peace talks with the government. The government refused and today moved in with the military, including tanks.

            Last I heard there are a dozen or so dead today, and five foreigners killed in the last three days. However, that was several hours ago. Red Shirt leaders surrendered and called off the protests but the protesters haven’t stopped. The military says its “operations in Bangkok” have ended, but I’ve also heard that they have orders to fire at anyone causing “unrest,” which includes looting and I don’t know what else.

Marci McDonald's The Armageddon Factor - Review by Ron Dart

Marci McDonald, The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, Random House Canada, 2010. Review by Ron S. Dart

See also Douglas Todd, "War of words explodes as Armageddon Factor hits bookstores," The Search - Vancouver Sun, May 22, 2010 [note: Todd quotes Ron Dart as John Dart].

How did Canada, in the last two decades, become transformed to a significant extent, into a republican nation? What has been the nature of our national journey that has dashed the historic Canadian High Tory-Liberal tensions and clashes, so well depicted in Robertson’s Davies The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks, into a plaything and centre fold for American republican conservatism? And, equally important, what are the organizations, leaders and hot button issues in the culture wars that define, shape and animate the right of centre rise and development of Canadian Christian nationalism? The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, by Marci McDonald, answers such questions in a poignant, probing and searching manner. This is a must read tome (400 pages plus) for those interested in how a type of Christian nationalism has come to define Canadian nationalism in a distinctively republican manner, and the implications of such a shift for the Canadian soul and politics.   

Deuteronomy, Jewish Prophets and the Sermon on the Mount by Ron Dart

Evangelicals have been reading the Sermon on the Mount for centuries with little evident intention of taking the text seriously.

Clark Pinnock, Revolution (1971)

I have taught courses on political philosophy for many years. I tend to highlight both the Jewish and Greek sources of the Western political tradition rather than beginning with Plato and Aristotle and moving fastforward. The course, then, moves onward, after the Greeks and Jewish traditions, to the Roman tradition and into the Christian political tradition of the Patristic Latin West and Greek East. It is rare in a class in political philosophy that Deuteronomy and the Jewish prophetic tradition are taught. This speaks volumes about the secular and liberal prejudices of modernity. But, in the teaching of Deuteronomy, a variety of tensions emerge, and some of the more substantive tensions seem quite irresolvable.  What are these tensions, and why are they a problem? 

Forgiving our fathers by Bob Ekblad

On May 2nd I returned home from a week of teaching on the Island of Leyte in the Philippines.  I took the 16 hours of flights (each way) to help out with the Holy Given Mission School, a two-month induction into the ministry of Jesus.  These schools are designed for grass-roots leaders, bringing them into the bigness of Jesus' vision for the Kingdom of God, and into the intimacy of fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

The Filipino leaders-in-training were mostly under 30: hungry, open, ready to give their lives as pastors & teachers, evangelists, prophets, or apostles.  One morning I felt led to speak on the importance of forgiving our human fathers.  I have been struck by the relevance of the last few verses of the Old Testament, where Malachi writes:

“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.  and he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse" (Mal 4:5-6).

"Testing faith: redeeming Christians from themselves" - Reflective Review of L. Huskinson's 'Nietzsche' by Brad Jersak

“Testing faith: redeeming Christians from themselves”

A Reflective Review of Lucy Huskinson’s Introduction to Nietzsche

 

Nietzsche’s Test of Faith

 In Lucy Huskinson’s brilliant, all too brief missive, An Introduction to Nietzsche (SPCK 2009), she assesses and affirms the value of engaging Friedrich Nietzsche’s thought for Christianity. Huskinson’s Introduction prepares readers who hope to dip into Nietzsche by avoiding reductionist caricatures that naively paint this great philosopher as either the devil incarnate or some sort of closet Christian. She maximizes what we might learn from Nietzsche by reminding us not to simply react to his provocations, but rather, to observe and diagnose our own instinctual responses to them.

Her final chapter is titled “Testing faith: redeeming Christians from themselves.” I wish that SPCK had used this chapter title on the book’s cover, for it is a great contribution to an urgent need of the day. In it, Huskinson sees Nietzsche’s primary target audience as Christians, provoking them to test the strength of their faith. By opening ourselves to Christianity’s harshest critic and facing into his deepest questioning, ones faith is ‘salted with fire—but salt is good’ and ought to be internalized (Mark 9:49-50). After Nietzsche’s fire tests the Christian heart, will any faith remain? He is doubtful.

Herein, we shall recount Dr. Huskinson’s clear explanation of Nietzsche’s ‘God is dead’ test, then proceed to testing the test for its criteria and assumptions—not to avoid it but to stoke it and shape it for those Nietzsche calls ‘the most serious Christians’—with one such Christian in mind. Namely, the early 20^th century French philosopher-activist-mystic, Simone Weil.[1]

Thomas Merton & C. S. Lewis: book reviews by Ron Dart

                            Thomas Merton & C.S. Lewis:

                                       Book Reviews

      I think that Thomas Merton could easily be called the greatest

      spiritual writer and spiritual master of the twentieth century in

      English speaking America….The only contender would be the

      enormous popularity of C.S. Lewis.   Lawrence Cunningham

           Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton pgs. 183-4

 

                     C.S. Lewis & Philosophy as a Way of Life:

A Comprehensive Historical Examination of his Philosophical Thoughts

                                      Adam Barkman (2009)

                      

                                           Soul Searching:

                              The Journey of Thomas Merton

                                   Morgan Atkinson (edited)

                                                   (2008)

 

We read, study and meditate upon the writings and lives of those fuller than ourselves so that we mature into the large and demanding issues of the soul and society. Our lives are raised to a higher level by heeding and hearing those who have gone further and deeper than ourselves. There is no doubt that C.S. Lewis and Thomas Merton dared to plumb the depths and ascend to heights that few do, hence the fact they are held so high as icons of the 20th and 21^st centuries. The publication of C.S. Lewis & Philosophy as a Way of Life and Soul Searching ably and amply illustrate why Lewis and Merton have such an ongoing and perennial appeal for those who souls are searching for deeper waters to slake their philosophical and spiritual thirsts.

Thoughts on a Christian Nation by Derek Vreeland

I am happy to be a part of a Christian nation. It has become my sense of identity, my place to belong. I didn’t choose to be a part of the nation, I was born into it. It was not my choice, but I am grateful that this Christian nation is my home. I pray for this nation to reflect the image of its Architect. I pray that this nation will demonstrate faith, hope, and love to the world. I pray that this nation will transform culture. 

And by the way, the Christian nation of which I speak is the Church. 

Today is the “National Day of Prayer” and I am joining people of various faiths in praying for our civic nation. As a follower of Christ, I am asked to pray for those in authority, to pray for those with delegated authority. I will stand today and do so, but my prayer may be different than other Christians. I will be praying: God, let your kingdom come, let you will be done on earth and it is in heaven. Sadly, I assume others will be praying: God, our nation has forsaken you, help us to return to you, so that you can bless us again.