Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

God Becomes what God Makes. This is Love. Kenneth Tanner

It is a great poverty to imagine that God takes a human body only that he might die. We cannot reduce the Incarnation in this way. If in Jesus Christ the Creator becomes what he makes then God has bestowed on human flesh unimaginable dignity. At the heart of this movement down to the creature is an unfathomable (and in human terms, impossible) love. We cannot become what we make. God decides to become nothing in the universe but human. When the son takes flesh from Mary the most intimate connection is made between the divine life and human nature. God does not become what he does not love. God does not become what he hates. God becomes what he makes and this is a love and a solidarity only exceeded by God’s willingness to die also for what he makes. We do not get there though until we understand the infinite divine love involved in God becoming human. All theologies that do not marinate in this mystery will distort the Incarnation and the Cross, will give us a false image of God and a false image of humanity. The image of God and the image of humanity is the incarnate God, Jesus, nailed to wood.

 

Jordan Peterson and Ideology (2/4) by Ron Dart: (Liberal) Orthodoxy and Reflective Heterodoxy

 

WILL IT BE? by ANA PUNCOCHAR (AGE 10)

"I have always known the world could never be perfectly just. There will always be people who will think they are better or more intelligent than others just because they are older or may be of a different gender. I knew this was a problem but did not truly understand how much it went on until I toured a school and saw how much they underestimate their students. I realize they are certainly not the only people who underestimate children and how much that’s a problem no one is doing anything to fix.”

©2018 Ana Puncochar. Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

Review of Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos - by Ron Dart

Review of Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (2018) - by Ron Dart

 

From now on, everybody stands on his own feet 

“Marxism and Monastic Perspectives”             

Thomas Merton   

I may assert Eternal Providence,

And justify the ways of God to men.

Paradise Lost: Book 1  

John Milton 

I remember with much clarity and chagrin the publishing in 1987 (more than 30 years ago when I was doing my PHD Studies) of Allen Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind. The reactions from the liberal and progressive left to the well-written tome were swift, pointed and sheer attack. Bloom had merely highlighted in his layered beauty how the western canon of literature had become dim and caricatured in higher education and, as a result, the American mind was closing in on itself within trendy texts and a narrow ideology. The liberal left pilloried Bloom and castigated him as an apologist for the reactionary right (which, of course, he was not). Those who only think within the dualistic categories of liberal left and conservative right know not how to engage those who transcend such simplistic tribes. It is also significant that Emmanuel Goldstein and the Brotherhood (whether he or they actually existed) were seen as the enemies of Big Brother in Orwell’s 1984. Sadly so, there tends to be often an Orthodoxy (whether religious or secular or some combination thereof) that defines who is in the establishment Orthodox clan and who are the heterodox and heretics. Those who are attentive and alert to some of the larger issues these days of political correctness in the culture wars cannot but be acutely aware of the presence of Jordan Peterson.

The recent front stage reality of Peterson’s significance (Bill C-15, Lindsay Shepherd incident and his interview with Cathy Newman are but three in a long list of public incidences) has clarified Peterson’s heterodox or heretical positions before the Orthodox liberal clan. The reactions to Peterson are virtually identical to the way Bloom and Goldstein were treated---many are the déjà vu moments in the history of cultural clashes. But, for those who only think in a dualistic rather than more nuanced and dialectical way, Peterson is either the pre-eminent saint or sinner---it’s either hagiography or demonization---it’s either boosters or knockers. Are there more nuanced and subtle ways of reading and approaching Peterson’s all too human role in this cultural drama of sorts without slipping into a sheer and unhelpful and unhealthy intellectual melodrama?

"Why Ask the Saints?" Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man - Abbot Tryphon

Why Ask the Saints?

Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man

Most Protestant churches strongly reject all saintly intercession, citing passages such as 1 Timothy 2:1-5, which says that Jesus is the sole mediator between God and man, as well as Deuteronomy 18:10-11 which seems to forbid invoking departed souls. They also point to the fact that there are no examples in the Bible of living humans praying to dead humans — Jesus Christ being the lone exception, because He is alive and resurrected, and because He is both human and Divine.

Yet the Bible indeed directs us to invoke those in heaven and ask them to pray with us. In Psalms 103, we pray, "Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will!" (Psalms 103:20-21). And in Psalms 148 we pray, "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!" (Psalms 148:1-2).

The Kingdom of God in the Parables - Anna Svernedal

 

Van Gogh - "The Sower" 1888

The kingdom of God is the central theme in Jesus’ preaching.[1] Mark declares the start of Jesus ministry by this summary statement; ‘Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”’ (Mark 1:15).[2] The people were amazed because Jesus was teaching with authority and power (Luke 4:32, 36). He reigned, but not as an earthly king. The Jews were waiting for the Messiah, the coming King, who would establish the rule of God in the land of Israel. As the Messiah, Jesus brought healing, deliverance and redemption to his people, ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt 11:4-6, 6:10). Although spiritual, his kingdom is not just ‘in heaven’, or ‘in our spirit’, it has truly earthly dimensions, and eventually it will subvert all the kingdoms of this world.

Jesus openly demonstrated the kingdom by healing and deliverance, but the ethics and principles of the kingdom he taught partly in parables, using metaphors to plant the truth in people’s hearts, hiding the whole truth about his kingdom until it was time for it to be revealed. I will now explore the parable of the kingdom of God as the mustard seed and see if there is a hidden truth in the small mustard seed that grows up to become a tree, even though the natural mustard plant is only a big shrub. I want to examine if it is just a story about ‘extensive growth’ as C.F. Carson describes it, or if it has more to say.[4]

Click here to continue reading: Kingdom of God - Anna Svernedal

[1] Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth (London: Bloomsbury, 2007), 47.

[2] James D.G. Dunn, Jesus remembered; Christianity in the Making, Vol 1 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eernans Publishing Company, 2003), 383.

[4] C.F. Carson cited in Craig L. Blomberg, Interpreting the Parables (Downers Grave, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1990), 287.

"Me a Sinner" - More Reflections & Experiences with the Jesus Prayer - Eric Janzen

Brad Jersak and Andrew Klager recently posted a wonderful conversation on the Jesus Prayer, focusing in on the last phrase, ‘me, a sinner.’ The Jesus Prayer is very important to me. It has been central to my prayer life for a number of years now. I have chewed on it, over-analyzed it, and let it grow in my spirit at an agonizingly slow pace.

I suspect Orthodox Christians would not approve of how I’ve gone about cultivating their wonderful prayer in my own heart, but to be honest, I learned the prayer before I knew it belonged to them.

When I was a teenager, I was introduced to the Jesus Prayer in a novel where one of the characters in the story prayed the prayer. It resonated with me. It stuck with me more than the memory of the novel. It became a part of my prayers over the years, sometimes strongly, sometimes not at all. Then, years later, I discovered the incredible history of this short prayer. I learned more about how profound the words are. Since then, the Jesus Prayer has become very important to me.

I’ve thought about the Jesus Prayer extensively but I will focus on the final phrase, which caused me some consternation as I journeyed with the Prayer. When I would come to the end of the Jesus Prayer and say the words ‘me, a sinner,’ I would feel strong emotions about the words. I felt uncomfortable to be sure. My understanding of the word ‘sinner’ was pretty standard western fare: "you are a sinner; you are bad; you are in danger of not being accepted; you better try harder to get it right; why are you even praying? You can see the cascading tone of accusation. Worse, you can discern the real underlying problem: fear. The word ‘sinner’ was so charged for me that it would cause me to forget the words I’d just prayed: ‘have mercy on’.

Thomas Merton, Orthodoxy and Alaska: A Patristic Vision of Unity – Ron Dart

Thomas Merton, Orthodoxy and Alaska: A Patristic Vision of Unity – Ron Dart

If I can unite in myself the thought and the devotion of Eastern and Western Christendom, the Greek and the Latin Fathers, the Russians with the Spanish mystics, I can prepare in myself the reunion of divided Christians. From that secret and unspoken unity in myself can eventually come a visible and manifest unity of all Christians. If we want to bring together what is divided, we cannot do so by imposing one division upon the other or absorbing one division into the other. But if we do this, the union is not Christian. It is political, and doomed to further conflict. We must contain all divided worlds in ourselves and transcend them in Christ.

Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (An Image Book, 1966) - Part One: p. 21

I

Thomas Merton died tragically in Thailand on December 10, 1968. Many is the event planned for 2018 (50 years since his tragic and unexpected death) to commemorate and reflect on the well-lived life of Merton. Merton was set free in 2018 (given the demands on him in both his hermitage and monastic life at Gethsemani monastery) to seek out a hermitage that would offer him more time to enter the deeper meaning of the contemplative life and journey. There are three books that reflect and embody the final phase of Merton’s pilgrimage through time: Woods, Shore, Desert ponders Merton’s May 1968 quest for a hermitage, for the most part, in New Mexico and California. The Asian Journal (much longer) tracks and traces the final couple of months of Merton’s life when in Asia. And, Thomas Merton in Alaska covers the period of time from June 7 to October 2 in which Merton is planning and pondering his trip to Alaska and then from September 17-October 2 is in Alaska. The aim and goal, as mentioned above, throughout the spring-summer-autumn of 1968, was to search out possibilities for a hermitage in which the experience and meaning of the contemplative life could be deepened far from the madding crowd.

Merton was in Eagle River (outside of Anchorage) from September 18-22 in which he led a retreat at the Convent of the Precious Blood. There is a unique connection between the sisters who lived at the Convent of the Precious Blood, Merton and St. John Orthodox (Antiochene) Cathedral that now calls the 55 acres home (and has so for a few decades). The connection between Merton, Orthodoxy and a branch of the conservative evangelical tradition (Campus Crusade now Power to Change) is most interesting. The year was 1968 when Harold/Barbara Dunaway from Campus Crusade (remembering these were the Vietnam years and there was a significant American military base in Anchorage and area) began a mission to the military in the area. The mission grew quite quickly and the Roman Catholic diocese was interested in selling the convent in Eagle River. Harold/Barbara purchased the property in 1972 as a base of sorts for their Campus Crusade-Maranatha North mission. But, significant changes were afoot. Many within the Bill Bright Campus Crusade clan were questioning their understanding of Christianity (much too thin, a-historic and extremely protestant parachurch and schismatic). The journey of many within Campus Crusade to Antiochene Orthodoxy has been aptly and evocatively told by Peter Gillquist in Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith (1992). It was just a matter of time, therefore, before the Convent of the Precious Blood became the center of Orthodoxy in Eagle River and the Anchorage area, many within Campus Crusade being received into the Antiochene Orthodox Church in 1987 after about a decade of studying the Bible and Church History.  But, what does this have to do with Thomas Merton and Orthodoxy?

II

I was fortunate to spend time with the Orthodox community in Eagle River for a few days in September 2008 (exactly 40 years after Merton led the retreat at the Convent). There is, of course, a direct connection between Merton, the Roman Catholic Convent, St. John Orthodox Cathedral and St. James’ (fondly called the “Big House”) residence on the property of the Cathedral. Merton gave seven lectures to nuns and priests as part retreat and part workshop when he was in Eagle River: 1) This is God’s Work, 2) Prayer, Personalism, and the Spirit, 3) Building Community on God’s Love, 4) Community, Politics, and Contemplation, 5) Prayer, Tradition, and Experience, 6) Prayer and Conscience and 7) The Life that Unifies. The seven reflections and question-answer sessions are some of the most compact and succinct that Merton has done—a congealed distillation of his finest insights.  The lectures by Merton that have much affinity with Orthodoxy are “Prayer, Personalism, and the Spirit” and “Prayer, Tradition and Experience”. Both lectures are worthy of many a meditative reread. Merton has this to say in “Prayer, Personalism, and the Spirit”: 

I would like now to talk a little bit about the theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church in which I am also interested and which I think is something that we might profitably explore in the present day.

And,

One of their (Orthodox) theologians in whom I am particularly interested is Vladimir Lossky.

It is pertinent to note that Merton was attracted to Lossky given both Lossky’s critique of the Western notion of the Holy Spirit, his substantive grounding in orthodox mystical theology and the fact that Alaska was the home to many Orthodox with historic Russian Orthodox connections.  Merton was quite drawn to the Orthodox and Lossky’s notion of the mystical economy of God, sobornost and kenoticism. Much of “Prayer, Personalism, and the Spirit” was devoted to Orthodoxy just as “Prayer, Tradition, and Experience” delves deeply into the wisdom of the patristic ethos and theology of transformation. When I was in Eagle River and at the Cathedral, many of the laity and priests mentioned to me that they thought the seeds planted by Merton in his retreat/workshops in the autumn of 1968 became the mature plant that was bearing much fruit in the Antiochene community in Eagle River. When I was with the Orthodox community, they kindly allowed me to stay in the Merton room in St. James’ residence—it was more than a meaningful act of hospitality and, when there, I gave a lecture on Merton and Orthodoxy (realizing the topic had its controversial tendencies). The Q. & A. session that followed was lively, informed and animated.                    

III

I realize, as mentioned above, that the Orthodox community can be quite divided in their acceptance or rejection of Thomas Merton. Much of this has to do with how various Orthodox accept or question the readings and interpretations of Merton by Seraphim Rose or Patrick Reardon. Rose has a substantive following of uncritical devotees and his biography was in the Merton room where I stayed. Father Patrick Reardon is somewhat more nuanced and layered in his read of Merton, but he does raise critical questions about Merton. Needless to say, both men are viewed by some within the Orthodox community with much respect and honour.  There has, of course, been other more irenical and dialogical reads of Merton from within the Orthodox community. The publication of Merton & Hesychasm: The Prayer of the Heart: The Eastern Church (2003) has many fine essays by Kallistos Ware (3), Jim Forest, A.M. Allchin (3) and Rowan Williams on Merton, Hesychasm, and Orthodoxy. The three sections in the tome tell their own weighty tale:

1) Hesychasm: The Gift of Eastern Christianity to Spiritual Practice, 2) Thomas Merton and Eastern Christianity and 3) Hesychasm in the Writings of Thomas Merton. There has been, within the Orthodox tradition clashes between Archbishop Lazar and Seraphim Rose, and Lazar’s more appreciative read of Merton, Thomas Merton and the Hesychastic Tradition: The Problem of Inner Human Suffering (2005) offers a more balanced read of Merton than Rose. The much-respected Anglican, A.M. Allchin, who wrote much on both Orthodoxy and Merton dedicated his fine primer on Orthodoxy and the West, The Kingdom of Love and Knowledge: The Encounter between Orthodoxy and the West (1982) to Vladimir Lossky. It was Allchin, also, who was a supervisor for Rowan Williams Ph.D. on Lossky. And, to complete the circle, Rowan Williams’ more recent book on Thomas Merton, A Silent Action: Engagements with Thomas Merton, has contributions by such significant Orthodox writers as Jim Forest and Kallistos Ware. Both Jim Forest and Kallistos Ware have spoken at the annual Eagle River Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies that is supported by St. John Cathedral.

The fact that September 2018 will be the 50^th anniversary since Merton visited Eagle River means that many an event is planned for the occasion. The International Thomas Merton Society (ITMS) is partially funding an event to be held in Eagle River that will reflect on his visit there and the retreats, conferences, and workshops he led when there. I’m sure there will be presentations on Merton and Orthodoxy at this auspicious and historic gathering. I certainly hope to be there.

Bibliography

Cook Mary Grace, Community of Grace: An Orthodox Christian Year in Alaska (Ancient Faith Publishing, 2014).

Dart Ron, “In the Footsteps of Thomas Merton: Alaska”, The Merton Seasonal: A Quarterly Review (Vol. 33, No. 4: Winter 2008).

Brochure: Saint John Orthodox Cathedral: Eagle River, Alaska.                                    

Have Mercy On Me *The* Sinner – A Reflection by Jessica Williams

Have Mercy On Me The Sinner – A Reflection:

When Friday’s Clarion post hit my inbox my heart skipped a beat. “Me a Sinner – A Jesus Prayer Conversation.” I had been turning those very words around and around all week. Just the night before I’d written my thoughts out and sent them to a friend.

Within that letter arose a theme not unlike the conversation Brad and Andrew shared with us. My heart was asking an important question: “Is it okay to keep calling myself a sinner?”

It isn’t popular language.

Over the past year, the Jesus Prayer has become a precious mantra of mine. I have played with different ways of saying it but I mostly stick with the tradition. For me, the prayer brings my attention to the closeness of God and the companionship of Jesus who is with me, a sinner, pouring out mercy. I say this prayer most often when I am somehow stuck in the grip of my sinful condition. Usually this hits me in the form of severe self-doubt, shame/guilt and a felt unworthiness that can torment and paralyze. This prayer helps me to confess these thoughts and feelings rather than deny they exist, and then to accept the love and mercy that is there for me, and to move on. Moving on looks different at different times. Sometimes it only gets me moving into the next breath –and I say it again. But, I think this prayer is changing me. It is certainly changing the way I experience the compassion of Christ.

In his book The Orthodox Way, Bishop Kallistos Ware teaches that “in its literal meaning the Greek text is yet more emphatic, saying, ‘on me the sinner,’ as if I were the only one.”

My church is in the middle of finding a way to talk about things we disagree on. I’m really proud of them – of us. So often our diversity is left uncelebrated in faith communities, and we attempt to pretend that we are all the same. I see so much courage in what we are aiming to do in this season. But as the night approaches in which the topic most dear to my heart will be engaged, I find myself anxious and caught in the throes of frustration. As I’ve worked to gather my thoughts, the words of St. Paul to Timothy keep coming to me. “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

When I read those words and when I say them – they ground me somehow. I am the sinner. I am the one in need of saving. Me.

Perhaps that is the place we need to begin.

In David Moore’s book, Making America Great Again, he points out that the Jesus prayer is not about humiliation but humility. He explains: “When I say these words, which is often, it reminds me of my place, my role within all humankind. It helps me with much-needed humility.”

When we offer these confessions and acknowledge our sin, it is not a denial of our innate worth, or of the glory of God in each of us, or of the ultimate healing and restoration of all things through Christ.

I think it is just a place we go within ourselves to meet with Mercy and Love.

And perhaps the more we go there, the more we become it too.

“Me a Sinner” – A Jesus Prayer Conversation – Brad Jersak and Andrew Klager

 

The Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

“When we identify ourselves as sinners, we are not speaking ontologically. That is, we are not speaking of our truest selves seated with Christ in the heavenly realms or as those declared righteous by his saving work. Rather, we are speaking existentially of our daily struggle with the passions and the human condition. We are facing into the reality of life in this broken world and our not-yet glorified humanity, posturing ourselves for God's unfailing mercy.” --Sinner Irenaeus

BRAD:

When we say the Jesus Prayer, some Evangelicals balk that we would identify as sinners, since we’ve been forgiven and are now, somehow, ontologically in Christ and identified as ‘saints.’ But clearly we keep on sinning and need to receive daily mercy.

So I am wondering what word you would use to fill in this blank: “When we identify ourselves as sinners, we are not speaking ontologically. We are speaking __________ of our daily struggle with the passions and the human condition. We are speaking not of our truest selves seated with Christ in the heavenly realms or as those declared righteous by his saving work. Rather, we are facing into the reality of life in this world and our not-yet glorified humanity.”

That is, we identify ourselves with the prodigal (Luke 15:11-32), publican (Luke 18:9-14)and the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43), awake to our need for mercy and gratefully receiving that mercy from Christ the all-merciful. 

They are worth recounting: 

• “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son."
• "God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
• “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

These prayers are sometimes downplayed or even scorned for their supposed "worm theology" (which, by the way, the Psalmist puts in the Messiah's mouth in Psalm 22:6). But they are not theological statements to be corrected--they are expressions of the human condition, cries of the stricken conscience, and appeals to the goodness and generosity of a gracious God.   

Note: not only did Christ commend these prayers--he actually composed two of them and answered all three of them.  

So I think the right word us “existentially” but wanted to run that and the whole sentence by you for quality control.

What does offering mercy mean for victims of domestic violence? Heather Morgan

 

I came across the following quote by St. Isaac of Syria today:

"Rebuke no one, revile no one, not even those who live very wickedly.

"Spread your cloak over those who fall into sin, each and every one, and shield them.

"And if you cannot take the fault on yourself and accept punishment in their place, do not destroy their character."

 

In thinking about the quote, the question was asked: “what does this kind of mercy look like in the case of those experiencing domestic violence?” 

 

It’s a hard question.

 

It’s a valid question.

 

It’s one of many similar questions - such as what about the rapist or what about the gunman or what about the terrorist or what about the [insert your personal hardest-to-love enemy here].

 

But it turns out I have the most experience with the original question - what does this kind of mercy look like in the case of those experiencing domestic violence?

 

You see, I deal with this challenge regularly. 

Intellectual Honesty and Interpreting the Bible with the Conscience - Richard Murray

If nothing else, Law School taught me to be intellectually honest about the text of the law--what the text might mean, what it could mean, what it shouldn't mean, and how its various applications could be evolved by engaging it as an open rather than a closed text. The law allows for what is beautifully termed "the enlightened conscience of the jury" to be the ultimate "fact-finding" determiner of whether the spirit of the law has been broken in any given situation.

In short, I learned in law school to always read and interpret the law with my conscience. (I freely admit some lawyers are strict constructionists in their interpretations, but many are not).

I practiced law for 4 years before I encountered Christ. Right after that, in 1990, I left my practice for two years and attended Regent University to obtain a Master's Degree in Practical Theology. Sometimes I asked questions that got me on the professors' bad side.

One such incident occurred during my first week in my hermeneutics class. I was excited because I was sure this class would show me the best way to read the Scripture, particularly the Old Testament. Here the professor said we would learn rules that would keep us from ever quoting passages out of their historical or grammatical context.

Better the Devil You Know? Richard Murray

“Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.” Irish Proverb. 

 

The problem arises when we each know a "different devil." Today there is often a wide conceptual chasm amongst Christians of good faith regarding the nature and reality of Satan. Some see Satan as a rebelliously angelic "who," while others see Satan as a non-ontological "what." 

 

Is Satan an evil angel of hostile intent projecting his evil onto humankind, or is the devil an amalgam of humankind's evil natures which are projecting themselves onto an archetypal image Satan? Simply put, is the devil a dark cosmic angel acting UPON humankind, OR is the devil a dark cosmic dynamic acting WITHIN mankind?

 

And does it matter?

 

Must we, as the body of Christ, have uniformity in our beliefs about "the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41, Revelation 12:9) to still effectively resist the fallen powers as the body of Christ? 

 

Or, can we cordially disagree on Satan's ontology, while still sharing a cohesive and coherent theodicy which allows us function together in a spirit of unity? Can we still disagree on this topic without calling the other side deceived, blind, primitive, stupid, or superstitious? 

 

Can we tenderly apply John Wesley's sage advice to "think  and let think," especially in this particular area in which diverse beliefs don't necessarily malign God's character or nature?

Transfiguration as a revelation of the defeat of death - Kenneth Tanner

The transfiguration is a revelation of the defeat of death. Elementary observations of that moment that make this plain are often overlooked or unspoken. Here are Moses and Elijah very much alive and embodied. Second, they are speaking with Jesus. Human speech requires tongues and tongues require bodies.

The disciples are witnessing not cleverly devised mythology but resurrection. This reality of resurrection is just outside our kin, just beyond our ability to perceive it, and yet it is nevertheless everywhere, and near us, and greater than death. Resurrection is the end of all things, not death.

On the holy mountain the law and the prophets are in a conversation with their embodied human perfection and their talk is about sacred sacrificial love, about what Jesus would “accomplish” at Jerusalem, about the cross.

For a fleeting moment, the disciples witness the “eternal now,” the glory of what Eastern Christians call the “uncreated light” that is waiting to be unveiled everywhere and in every ordinary thing in creation, the light of resurrection.

This unique illumination, unavailable part from self-sacrificial love, is made possible by the humility of God incarnate. The suffering of God in the human flesh of Jesus is what fills the universe with a light more radiant than all stars.

This uncreated light reveals not the color and shape and size and texture of a thing or a person as natural light does but the goodness, beauty, and verity instilled in the thing or her by God.

The universe is called out of nothing and upheld and sustained in movement and life by the God who gives all of himself for this expanding cosmos they as One make and this selflessness is what truly and in the end illuminates everything that exists.

When by grace we participate in this selflessness by the Spirit we inherit the permanence that God is by nature; we become one with the Father who said “Let light shine out of the darkness,” which light shines from the face of Moses, which light is like the chariots of fire that carry Elijah beyond the sight of Elisha; the Father who has “made this light shine in our hearts so that we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ” his Son.

The BEATITUDES (Matthew 5:3-12) - Translation by Ron Dart

The BEATITUDES (Matthew 5:3-12) - Translation by Ron Dart

The Divine Life is for those who die to the demands of the ego. Such people will inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Divine Life is for those who have lived through tragedy and suffering. Such people will be comforted at a deep level.

The Divine Life is for those who bring their passions under control for goodness. It is such people that will inherit the earth.

The Divine Life is for those who hunger and thirst for justice. Such people will be fed to the full.

The Divine Life is offered to those who are gracious and merciful. Such people will be treated in a merciful and gracious manner.

The Divine Life is offered to those whose Home is clean on the Inside. Such people will know the very presence of God and see His face.

The Divine Life is offered to those who are Makers and Creators of Peace. Such people will be called the children of God.

The Divine Life is known by those who are persecuted for seeking Justice. Such people will know what it means to live in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Divine Life is known by those who are mistreated and misunderstood in their passion for justice. They will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. The prophets were treated this way in the past.

Erasmus: Wild Bird - video of Ron Dart, review by Brad Jersak

 

"Erasmus was too good a humanist to live only in the past." - P.S. Allen

In these days of the 500th anniversary of Luther's Wittenburg manifesto and the strange opposition between Christianity and humanism, one can only wonder how history would have played differently *and better* if Erasmus had won the day when simultaneously facing off with both Luther and the Pope. Whereas Luther was known for polarizing parties and raging at opponents, Erasmus knew that 'calling in' was preferable to 'calling out.' He knew how to speak truth to power but his heart was for both reformation and reconciliation. Even though he ended up on the RC banned reading index for centuries, it's no coincidence that Popes stopped crusading in the wake of Erasmus' critiques. All this to say, Erasmus can rightly be called 'the father of humanism' (if Christ isn't better due that claim) and, as Dart calls him, a 'Wild Bird.'

One of the skills I so admire in Ron is his ability, like Erasmus, to transcend the ideological tribalism of spectrum politics and religion. Like Erasmus, he is unafraid to call injustice what it is, but also seeks ways to invite the other (even the fundamentalists other) into conversation. And this capacity for connecting enables him to compare, contrast and connect key historic figures in highly productive ways. This trait shines through every page of this book. For example, the chapter titles alone demonstrate this helpful agenda:

1. A European Pilgrimage: Erasmus, Heidegger, Nietzsche, Hesse
2. Erasmus and Thomas Merton: Soul Friends
3. The 16th-century Peace Tradition: Erasmus and Anabaptism, the English Vision
4. Erasmus, the English Reformatioins and the Church Fathers: a Man for All Seasons
5. Erasmus and Luther: the Final Fray
6. Erasmus, the Eastern Fathers and the Great Tradition
7. Erasmus and the Fathers: Part 2
8. Erasmus and L'Abri
9. Erasmus: Then and Now
Appendix A. Thomoas More and Thomas Merton
Appendix B. Occupy Wall Street: More and Erasmus
Appendix C. "From Suffering to Solidarity" book review

These essays highlight Ron Dart's insight and wisdom, but also the decades as a University Prof that make his writing accessible and, at times, poetic. In any case, at 120 pages, it's a quick but supremely helpful introduction to Erasmus in his historical and our contemporary context. Enjoy!

Jordan Peterson: Transcending Tribalism and Cloistered Virtues - Ron Dart

Ron Dart assesses Canada's enigmatic rock-star intellectual, Jordan Peterson, who transcends culture wars tribalism, provoking the Progressive Left while rebuffing the Soft and Alt-Right who attempt to co-opt him.