Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Confession(s) of Faith -- Brad Jersak

Confession(s) of Faith - Brad Jersak

As requested, what follows is a confession of faith that clarifies the doctrines to which I subscribe. 

The difficulty of such confessions is four-fold.

1. The very idea of a personal doctrinal statement seems to me oxymoronic, in that the Christian faith was ‘once for all delivered’ (Jude 1:3) – a particular Gospel received by and passed on to the Church (1 Cor. 15:3). The best we can do is to identify the heart of that faith and consent to it, rather than composing our own private or even denominational belief systems.

2. The idea of a single confessional statement is also problematic in that both the Bible and the early Church orbit around several summary hymns and creeds, which comprise a constellation of affirmations that all orthodox believers agreed on for the first three centuries of Christianity.

3. The apostles and their successors did not always agree and were willing to speculate freely and broadly about theology. But to maintain unity, they kept dogma (what one must believe) to a bare minimum … just eight sentences after three centuries! To venture beyond the brief historic creeds led to the schisms that fractured unity.

4. Finally, various confessions answer different sets of questions, sort of like asking what suit is ‘trump’ in a game of blackjack or how many points a ‘free throw’ gets in a hockey game. So please forgive me if the following confession answers different sets of questions than the reader might be asking.

 Click here to view or download the remainder of "Confession(s) of Faith  

 

 

 

 

Frank Schaeffer on the L'Abri Legacy -- with Ron Dart and Brad Jersak

Published on 25 Feb 2014

Frank Schaeffer discusses growing up with his Father and Mother, Francis and Edith Schaeffer and the lasting impact they made on the Evangelical Right in America. He carefully traces Francis Schaeffer's engagement with Christianity arguing that, rather than turning away from his parent's legacy, he has instead carried it on through his journey to Orthodoxy. 

Review of Brad Jersak’s George P. Grant: Minerva’s snowy owl -- by Henk Smidstra

Brad Jersak’s, George P. Grant: Minerva’s snowy owl: essays in political theology, 2012.

A review, by Henk Smidstra.

This short book explicates a complex topic in a concise and clear way, the topic of the interrelation of epistemology, theology, and politics. Though the book is designed primarily for Christian readers, it contains a topic of critical concern for anyone raised in western culture, where we consider it normal to separate religion from politics and business, arenas of public concern where the matters of the human heart have no business according to modernist logic. Brad Jersak has charted the philosophical-spiritual development of George Grant from conversion to maturity. The focus is not on personal sin, on being delivered from sin to eternal salvation, but rather on spiritual growth in terms of the psychological- spiritual-social plane of life in this world. The author reviews the philosophical, intellectual, journey that influenced, not only Grant’s spiritual formation, but his own as well. Jersak quotes from significant authors, from Plato, Nietzsche, to Heidegger, Simone Weil, and George Grant, and refers to his own work on his PhD. thesis work on Grant’s political theology. He writes in his preface, “The entire experience has been a joy and a revelation, awakening me to a connection between contemplative theology, a theodicy of the cross, and how these inform political ethics as just peacemaking in the world of realpolitik” (p. 1). Despite the complex topics of epistemology and the contemplative way, the book is written in a clear and readable manner. Included in the book are some of George Grant’s correspondence and journal entries, and some other relevant primary sources to place George Grant’s work in its historical context. This book makes important philosophical-theological connections relevant to the issues swirling around us in in North American realpolitik of the day. In my own case, coming from a Calvinist background, the conversation in the book on the vital need for a revival of contemplative thought and the theology of the Cross is compelling and challenging.

Click here to download the rest of Smidstra's Review

Review of John H. Walton's 'The Lost World of Genesis One' -- by Wayne Northey

Book Review of The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate, John H. Walton, Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2009, 191 pp.

For decades agnosticism about the early chapters of Genesis felt comfortable. This despite two close family members who have been adamant “Creation Science” rationalists. Out of the blue came this book urged on me by friends. In response I echo a reviewer on the back page:

“[The author] has blown away all the futile attempts to elicit modern science from the first chapters of the Bible.” (Davis A. Young, Calvin College).

John Walton is professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College and has authored many books on the Ancient Near Eastern background of the Old Testament, and a commentary on Genesis. He explains in the “Prologue” that he has proposed a reading of Genesis that is “faithful to the context of the original audience and author, and one that preserves and enhances the theological vitality of the text (p. 5).” In doing so, he “argues convincingly that Genesis was intended to describe the creation of the functions of the cosmos, not its material nature. In the process, he elevates Scripture to a new level of respectful understanding, and eliminates any conflict between scientific and scriptural descriptions of origins.” (Francis S. Collins on back cover).

Agreed!

Download the remainder of Northey's Book Review of The Lost World

Stoning Animals and the Presence of God - Matt Lynch

Editor's note: Dr. Matt Lynch is Dean of Studies and Old Testament Lecturer at Westminster Theological Centre in the UK (wtctheology.org.uk)

10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day,because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death. 13 They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

The command to stone or shoot an animal that touches Mt. Sinai borders on the melodramatic (Exod 19:10-13). God had called his people to come close to Mt. Sinai, but then warns them (and their animals) not to get too close, lest they ‘touch the edge of it.’ If anyone touched the mountain, they were to be put to death via stoning or arrows. The fact that animals would receive the death penalty is odd. The whole scene is odd. God had just delivered his people from Egypt, and then he brings the beleaguered ex-slaves to his mountain for what? to frighten them?

Sin, Your Eyes, and Seeing God - Eric Janzen

Sin, Your Eyes, and Seeing God

As I sat in the back seat of a car, staring out the window at the landscape rushing by, I began to feel tired. My eyes grew heavy and I let them close. Then the gentle whisper of Jesus came to me and he said, “Sin broke humanity’s view of who God is and what He is like. You need me to show you my Father in powerful and heart changing ways.”

I sat there and stilled my mind. I wanted to just let his words sink in. Then I did what any modern person would do. I got out my phone, opened the ‘notes’ app, and wrote the words down. Then I set about doing what any ancient person knew to do…I began to ponder what he’d said.

Over the next few weeks I spent time thinking about it. I felt like there was a path to follow, so I looked for the beginning, which of course led me to The Beginning. In Genesis chapter 3 we have the account of the Fall of Man, which I sometimes think should be referred to more in terms of what man loses at this point. We tend to emphasize the rebellion and fault we see—which certainly are obvious elements present in the account—but we also witness profound loss in this story. It is tempting to launch into a lengthy discussion of the Fall, but I will limit myself to a single point: humanity’s loss of sight. At the Fall, Sin shattered human vision. It placed fractured spectacles upon our noses, through which we squint and blink, trying to see, but until those cracks are fixed we will be unable to see our way clearly. Sin broke our ability to see and know God as he truly is. We may be aware of him, but what we perceive of him is unclear… it is out of focus. But we are made to know God. We are made to worship him—indeed we are made for worship. So, despite our broken vision, we will seek something outside of ourselves and we will worship. In Romans 1:25, Paul writes, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” 

Beyond Arguing about Divine Inconsistency in the Old and New Testaments: An Orthodox Perspective on Union and “Knowing" — Andrew P. Klager

 

The seemingly irreconcilable portrayal of divine violence and retribution in the Old Testament vis-à-vis Jesus’ commandment to love one’s enemies and example of suffering in the New Testament presents a perennial challenge.  This is a complex and multi-layered issue, the various proposed resolutions for which hold serious implications, including the way our perception of God often becomes a justification for our own behaviour—either abusive, brutal and violent or compassionate, gentle and nonviolent. The following, therefore, does not claim to be a comprehensive settlement to placate all sides of the ongoing debate, nor does it present a “silver bullet” solution. Instead, I’ll outline a couple considerations from an Eastern Orthodox perspective that I hope will be helpful to the many who struggle to reconcile the ostensibly divergent portrayals of God in the Holy Scriptures.  Perhaps more importantly, however, I’ll propose a realignment of our priorities that will hopefully help us transcend the many arguments on all sides regarding this issue or other theological issues like it.

First, it’s important to realize that God is revealing himself incrementally throughout the Old Testament, especially from Abraham forward. God cannot and did not inculcate his fullness instantaneously (perhaps a more modern Western binary and forensic understanding of salvation leads to this miscalculation), but he instead had to work with and gradually mold a Mesopotamian polytheistic polygamist tribal leader from Ur who implemented a well defined Semitic tribal legal code that was familiar to his kinsfolk. This is what God had to work with from the beginning, and so the Old Testament is important as a narrative of God revealing himself piecemeal, culminating in his full revelation at the incarnation as the “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15) in whom “whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” (Jn. 5:19). Those who hastily accuse proponents of a more ‘Christ-like God’ of neo-Marcionism or nonchalantly throwing out the entire Old Testament might do well to affirm the gradual nature of “narrative” and acknowledge the constraints of breaking into time and space.

Violent or Nonviolent Reading of the Bible? - Anthony Bartlett

Challenge

How do you get to the bottom (foundations) of the fundamentalist reading of the bible in three or four (relatively) easy but accurate lessons? Without making light of anybody’s first hand Christian feeling? And, at the same time, without minimizing the enormous crisis the reading represents for all of Western culture?

If we are on the verge of something genuinely new in Christianity then there has to be a fresh understanding about how to read scripture, one that must also encompass a clear account and deconstruction of its prior alternatives.

Response

You remember how you were young? Filled with an infinity of life? And you may also be young now, filled with that same sense. That road, that mountainside, that street after rain, what incredible freshness! That’s what we’re attempting to name here, no matter the chronological age or received tradition of Christianity.

To read the rest of this article, click http://hopeintime.com/?p=152

People's Seminary: Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins

In October 2014, The People’s Seminary will pilot its first cohort Certificate in Transformational Ministry at the Margins. This 18-month course of study isdesigned for Christian pastoral workers called to pioneer holistic ministry among the poor and marginalized.

The foundation of the certificate is Tierra Nueva’s more than 30 years of ministry and reflection. Its objective is to train ministry leaders, missionaries, theology students, and pastors in transformational ministry that includes Word, Spirit, and Street categories.  The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology is considering co-sponsoring this non-accredited certificate.

Reason - poetry by Fr. Denys Scully

REASON

 

We’re not gods, we’re fools.  Reason won’t save for self-love

Has played the whore, with envy and lust, rage,

Deceit and strife.  Like a damned quiver these passions

Rouse war inside.  Like Jekyl and Hyde we end up

 

With two minds.  That burns like hell.  It’s beyond reason.

And what do we do when reason is strong but the will

Is weak?  Or when you and I conclude contrary things

From the same set of facts?  Whose logic should we trust then? 

 

Age of Reason?  What fraud.  What jest.  For logic itself

Won’t help us.  If we think it will then we become

Irrational slaves.  To our peril we ignore the conscience,

And deny other ways to know.  So what should we do?

 

It’s wisdom we need, and the Eternal One who gives it.

Knowledge with faith and hope and love.  Imagine.

  

Denys A. Scully

December, 2009

Gentleness - Poetry by Rod Janz

Gentleness is: 

Treading lightly on the earth.

A line in nature's liturgy.

 

A way to be

a way to show up

a gateway into "the peace of God, which transcends all understanding."

 

A fruit of the Spirit.

Interwoven into the fabric of a spiritually mature person's life       who is kind and understanding.

 

Mysteriously emerges from times of

silence

solitude

and stillness.

A path.

 

Dictionary definitions:

"Considerate or kindly in disposition; amiable and tender." 

"Not harsh or severe; mild and soft."

To read the rest of this poem, click here.

Q & A: "God became man so that man might become Gods" — Andrew Klager

Question from Brad Jersak:

If I hear the Early Church Fathers correctly:

The telos of Deity was to become human (a transfigured human by nature) without surrendering his deity.
The telos of humanity was to become divine (a transfigured human by grace) without surrendering our humanity.

Andrew Klager:

“God became man so that man might become gods,” as written by St. Athanasius in the context of the Arian controversy, but also found in several fathers – Sts. Basil of Caesarea and Irenaeus most prominent among them.

There’s a paradox though, and your observation, “without surrendering our humanity,” touches on it: when we consider the kenotic (self-emptying) maneuver of the Logos incarnate, it is precisely our humanity (if embraced properly and attentively) that reveals the extent to which we have “partaken of the divine nature” (2 Pt. 4:1). This is to say, when the pre-existent Logos took on the flesh of the Theotokos, he revealed the divine virtues that are intrinsic to him—humility and love—but that are contextualized in time and space within a postlapsarian world, i.e., translated as mercy in a postlapsarian world that now needs mercy, compassion in a postlapsarian world that now needs compassion, patience in a postlapsarian world that now requires patience, peace in a postlapsarian world that now needs peace, etc. This is co-suffering love, but a love that can only be expressed quintessentially when God and we embrace his and our humanity. 

Response to Augustine's 'Confessions' - by Rev. Fr. Denys Scully

The Confessions of St. Augustine - Response by Rev. Fr. Denys Scully

The Confessions is considered a classic of the Christian Church, especially by its western branch.  It was written in A.D. 397 by Augustine of Hippo, approximately ten years after his baptism into the Christian faith.  Throughout The Confessions one can see clearly, that what Augustine was confessing was two things: his/our sin and God’s great grace.  These two topics reverberate over and over.  I find it immediately and continuously striking that Augustine seems to have these two themes dancing together throughout.  Some may find this odd because when one thinks of “confession” today it is commonly in the sense of confession of his/her sin(s) only, not confession additionally of God’s mercy and grace, the latter which is also a good and holy – yes, necessary – thing.  Such is the tone of Augustine in this work.

Ascending toward Great Lent - Archbishop Lazar Puhalo

Editor's note: "Ascending toward Great Lent" consists of readings for the five Sundays preceding the Great Lent. Part 1 is reprinted here. To download all five click HERE: Download Ascending to GL

Part 1 Longing for salvation; desiring to know Christ 

ZACCHEUS SUNDAY {Luke 19:1-10/1Tm.4:9-15}

"Behold, He has lifted up my head above my enemies who surround me, and I will enter into His tabernacle and offer sacrifices of joy" (Ps.28:6).

Zaccheus of Jericho was a sinful man. As a tax collector, he was able to cheat and swindle people, especially the poor, who did not have power to defend themselves.

Although he was surrounded at all times by demons who tempted him toward greed, cruelty and every passion, his heart was not completely hardened. Somewhere, deep inside him, a longing gnawed, unfulfilled.

What could this longing be? What was it that the soul of this sinful man hungered for that could not be fulfilled by all his wealth, possessions and authority?

Everyone in Israel had heard something about this new teacher, Jesus of Nazareth. Some said that He was a holy pro- phet, others, a great teacher and healer. Many people spoke of His gentleness and compassion, while others hated Him and spoke evil of Him.

When Zaccheus heard that Jesus was coming to Jericho, he longed to see Him and discover Who He was. Since Zaccheus was short in stature, the crowd which surrounded him prevented him from seeing Jesus. As a tax collector, the crowd around him despised him and considered him an ene- my, thus he was truly "surrounded by enemies."

As Jesus approached, the desire in Zaccheus grew stronger and stronger. Spotting a sycamore tree with a large limb, Zaccheus rushed to it and began to climb above the crowd of human enemies that surrounded him. This was as far as he could go. Little did he know that Jesus was about to do the rest for him.

When Jesus reached the place where Zaccheus was, He looked upon him and called the sinner to Himself. "Come, Zaccheus. I will abide with thee and heal thy soul." Zaccheus had lifted himself above the worldly crowd and sought out Jesus, now Jesus would heal him and lift him above his spiri- tual enemies __ the hoard of demons which also surrounded him. Soon, because Jesus Christ came to him and abode with him, Zaccheus would become a friend to those who hated him. Healed by the co-suffering love of Jesus Christ, Zaccheus would use his own newly found love to help heal the sorrow and want of those whom he had formerly hurt. The co-suffering love of Christ began to take root in the heart of the sinful man and transform him.

By lifting himself up above worldly things, Zaccheus had taken the first step along the path to the Heavenly Kingdom.

Let us, brothers and sister, on this day take our first step also. Putting aside the ideals and limitations of worldly things, let us lift ourselves above the crowd, desiring with all our hearts to see Jesus and fully know in our hearts who He is. As if climbing into the sycamore tree to see Him, let us begin our spiritual ascent toward Great Lent, taking into our heart the Apostle reading for today, "This is a saying worthy of trust: we have put our hope in the living God, Who is the saviour of all.... Be diligent in these matters...so that everyone may see your progress" (1Tm.4:9, 15).