Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

Who Were the Men in Orange? "The 21: A Journey into the Land of Coptic Martyrs" by Martin Mosebach

Behind a gruesome ISIS beheading video lies the untold story of the men in orange and the faith community that formed these unlikely modern-day saints and heroes.

Objectivity and Fingerprints: A Critical Analysis of Constructivist Theory for Bible Interpretation - Krista Heide

“The Bible Clearly Says...” “Let’s get back to the Bible.” “We follow the main and plain understanding of Scripture.” Expressions like this are riddled through the religious milieu of our time. Until recently I had largely presumed this discourse around ‘a right way’ of interpretation existed solely in religious spheres. However, my recent initiation into the academic research field led to a surprising discovery that similar discussions around the concept of objectivity in interpretation were at play there as well. While theologians wrestle with the concepts of inerrancy and inspiration, researchers and educators find themselves in a parallel conversation around positivist and constructivist theory. I began to wonder, is there a way to connect these analogous dialogues to approach biblical hermeneutics through a fresh set of eyes? This paper will attempt a critical analysis of how constructivist theory can inform our approach to Scripture. To do so we will ask: what is constructivist theory? What does it have to offer our hermeneutical methods? Are there limitations? And finally what are helpful ways I plan to appropriate this theory into my future interactions with Scripture?

Download Krista Heide - Clarion- Objectivity and Fingerprints_ A critical analysis of constructivist theory

Betty Spackman - Wonderment, Mercy, Transgenics & Post-humanism

In a world where science is outpacing philosophy and religion, how do we respond ethically to engineering babies, downloading our brains or creating meat in the lab? Will Christians take a self-disqualifying earth-is-flat approach? If we're to have a voice, what words come out? Artist and teacher Betty Spackman approaches the tensions of post-humanism and transgenics creatively and thoughtfully--literally 'artfully.' She's currently creating an art installation called "A Creature Chronicle" (with accompanying catalogue).

Brad Jersak caught up to her at her studio for a teaser tour and brief interview.  

Betty Spackman and Art Installation: "A Creature Chronicle" (in process)

On Forgiving Oneself and other N.A. Reflections - Vladika Lazar

I have said before that forgiveness is the wellspring that extinguishes the fires of hell in our hearts.

Tonight’s meeting of Narcotics Anonymous at the monastery reiterated this concept in my mind. The other subject that came up this evening was the way in which fear can paralyse a person.

Forgiveness of oneself is as important as forgiving others. One of the primary aspects of confession should be helping people to forgive themselves once they have received God’s forgiveness. Failure to forgive oneself can also be crippling and could cause a person to fail in their struggle against addictions. This is an aspect that is often overlooked by those who hear confession.

Building up one’s self-esteem is also a necessary aspect of helping to achieve a remission of addictions. Addictions are diseases, and they should not be over moralized. Everything that helps to crush or lower a person’s self-esteem must be studiously avoided when working with people who are addicted. Addiction is never “cured”--they can only be put into remission. It is a life-long struggle to maintain their remission. One of the primary strengths of Narcotics Anonymous is the sincere co-suffering love among the people who attend these meetings. They really understand each other's suffering and are genuinely committed to helping each other in the struggle.

The notion often put forward that lowering self-esteem is a part of the spiritual life is simply wrong. I realise that it is often spoken of, but it is counterproductive and destructive.

Also, couching everything in terms of “sin” is often counterproductive also, and does nothing to get to the root of people’s problems. There is always some kind of fear or alienation at the root of many of people’s problems and failings.

Fear is the primary source of hate and anger and one needs to find out what the source of the fear is. Addiction is a special situation which is often genetic in its source. When people have low self-esteem and are crushed further with burdens of priest-imposed guilt and are told that the whole problem is sin, this is sheer ignorance on the part of the priest and it helps to push a person further down into the darkness.

Somehow we really have to master the concept of co-suffering love – we have to enter into the person suffering in order to help them. We must never forget that the word "passion" means suffering and that people often fall into sin because of the pressure of their inner human suffering which is seeking the safety valve.

[Vladika Lazar]

The Love Starts to Return - Poetry by Jessica Cotten

Once, you gave us a gift.

A work of art, unique and special.

We loved it, back then.

 

We lost sight of the gift, of its beauty.

We forgot what you said.

Love, your love, disappeared from our memory.

 

But sometimes, when the wind blows,

we start to remember.

We hear the dolphins sing,

we start to remember.

The sun rises,

spreading its reflection in colors

we could never dream up ourselves,

and we start to remember. 

 

Caterpillars are reborn,

flowers unfurl,

birds take flight,

leaves cast themselves off of trees

And we remember.

 

The land we once loved,

Given to us again.

The giver of the gift,

Calling to us again.

 

We remember

what it means to belong,

and we remember our charge:

Make a home for all.

Liberating Fire - Bob Ekblad documentary

REPOSTED with permission from http://www.thewindvaneproject.com

Why Go to Church? Christ is Risen! (An Anabaptist Reconsiders) - Eric Janzen

A question I often hear these days is, “Why should we go to church?” While this question might stir some uncomfortable feelings in pastors, ministers, denominational leaders, and others, it is actually an excellent question. In a post-Christendom era, the very concept of church is coming up against some well-deserved challenges. An institutionalized system of doing faith, filled with programs, rigid schedules, and an inflexibility of form, faces increasing disinterest from people. Where a focus on control and domination of the society around it no longer apply or have veracity, some have joyfully exited the church, enjoying a new found freedom from an institution more interested in maintaining status quo and propping up political powers than actually sharing the Gospel and focussing on the teachings of Jesus. Some have left in anger and bitterness, let down by a version of faith that devalued them while it sought to serve the very powers that oppressed the faithful church goer. I confess I can empathise with these people. I have a deep distrust of the vestiges of Christendom who continue to preach nationalism and devotion to the State instead of the true Christian message of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and his Kingdom.

Haiku for Colossians 3:11 - Jessica Cotten

 

 “In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.”

Colossians 3:11

 

Outdated labels

Bow before our true essence

Equal, you and I

 

~*~

 

Skins and shapes and ranks

Christ, the great equalizer

We are all at home.

 

~*~

 

Dark winter of hearts

Pierced by lifelight of the Christ

Deep breaths of freedom

 

~*~

 

We hold each other

Ears close enough to listen

Prejudice leaves

New Year Hope – Alienation and Belonging - Lorie Martin

I am sharing a reflection on the many ways we experience separation and division in our lives and the reconciling hope that I have experienced through my personal soul work, belonging in community, what I offer to those I love and serve as a spiritual companion, and pray we may all carry and deepen into in 2019!

This reflection explores what I understand to be one of the most critical issues of our day: The apparent and experienced division and separateness within ourselves, in meaningful relationships, and in the interconnectedness of all created life. Alienation is deeply affecting the wellness, grounding and flourishing of the human ‘soul.’ 

I see a deep hunger in many people and communities to be accepted with a true sense of belonging. I believe the sense of disconnection and the challenge to live in harmonious relationships stems from generations of dualistic thinking and teaching, some unhealthy cultural belief systems, unhealed emotional and psychological wounding, and underdeveloped spiritual maturity. My deeper reflection in this critical dilemma is to ask where is there hope in this massive sense of separation and how do we heal from this loneliness and sense of lostness?

Catherine of Sienna tells us our deepest self is God which highlights there is no separation in God. She is not saying we are God, she is saying God can not be separated from us, nor we from God. If we believe or sense a separation, it is an illusion.

As a Christian, I rest in the belief that we are one with God. In 1 Corinthians 8:6 I read that there is one God from whom all things exist. I believe we are in God, and God is in all of us, as taught by Jesus when he prays to his Father asking that his disciples be protected so that they may be one with him and the Father even as they are one (John 17:11).

Craig Allert's "Early Christian Readings of Genesis One" - Review by Ron Dart

Craig Allert, Patristic Exegesis and Literal Interpretation. IVP Academic, 2018.                                             

There has been, gratefully so, in the last few decades, a questioning of the reformed, evangelical and charismatic approach to how the Bible should be read, interpreted and applied. This larger question transcends the protestant tendencies and ethos, but it is a bugaboo of sorts for those whose approach to the Bible tends to be excessively focused on a more literal, grammatical, historic and linguistic approach to the text (with usually some moral and devotional application to rescue the book from an excessive scholarly attitude or simply museum culture). The turn to a more catholic exegetical (catholic in the Patristic sense) approach to Scripture has been growing in momentum and commitment the last few years, and such an approach is being applied to various and varied content issues within the Bible.

The sheer bounty of Allert’s recent book, Early Christian Readings of Genesis One, is the way he applies Patristic reads of early chapters of Genesis to the creation accounts. Needless to say, this is a heated topic (often more heat than light) for those who tend to read the creation accounts in both a literal and young earth way and manner. Such an approach needlessly collides with many reads of science and alternate ways of reading Genesis that are classical, hence cannot be easily dismissed as liberal. The careful and historic turn by Allert to the layered exegetical means by which the Fathers of the Church read the early chapters of Genesis illuminates for the curious and honest faith seeker that there is more to the Bible than has often revealed by a more reductionistic and one dimensional approach by many within the evangelical and evangelical-reformed tribes.

7 Musts for 21st Century Orthodoxy - Abp Lazar Puhalo

From SAILING IN THE WINTER SUN: JOURNAL OF AN OLD MAN.

1. We should take the love of everyone seriously as genuine love, even if it is different than our own; and we should accept that every human and even every creature needs love as they need blood in order to live.

2. We must validate in our hearts the humanity of every other person, even those who seem to be "enemies," are outcast and disenfranchised, otherwise we cannot validate our own humanity.

3. The Orthodox faith must be seperated in our minds from nationality, and we must come to understand that for each one of us who believe, Orthodoxy is our nationality and Paradise is our homeland.

4. We must be careful that we shed the true light of Orthodoxy upon the world, and not some re-cycled scholasticism.

5. The "models of reality" from the past are not all valid, and we must see the creative power of the faith to help us shape new models of reality based upon genuine advances in knowledge about the universe and about mankind. To demand obedience to disproved models of reality is simply to demand that people accept and try to live a lie.

6. The faith is dynamic, not static. We cannot just "ritualise" our way through life and into Paradise. The faith is a dynamic transformation of the human conscience and person, not just a series of rituals to be done correctly and nothing else, and not just a series of catchism "facts."

7. Neither priest nor bishop is "above the people," rather we are "of the people," and if we are to be true to our calling, then we must have an open-hearted co-suffering love for the people and find a way to embrace everyone with that love. Otherwise we cannot truly proclaim Jesus Christ and the heavenly kingdom. We must accept into our hearts every person just as they are and trust in the grace of the Holy Spirit to express Itself in each of them if we minister to them with co-suffering love, without judgment or condemnation, without condescension or contempt. We must not look down to anyone, but look directly across at them, eye to eye.

This is the only way that we can minister to the world we live in, and to the people around us - everyone of them beloved by Jesus Christ.

Hello 2019. by Jessica Cotten

Clarion welcomes Jessica Cotten as a new author to our site.

2018 was, for me, the year of learning to make peace with the unexpected.

Certain things didn't turn out like I had thought they would. At all. I should know by now that life isn't always predictable. Dreams and inklings still have their place, though. I tried to stay away from certainty as much as I could last year regarding those dreams and inklings, but boy did I ever get a few shockers. The last half of the year was spent focusing on letting go, letting go, letting go. I am still learning how to have one foot in the land of "current and present reality", and the other foot in the land of "things earnestly hoped for and dreamed about". It takes a certain amount of introspection and intention to live in such a way where one can accept reality, yet still believe for better. I've been thinking about this concept a lot, and I think it has to do with wholeness.

So for 2019, wholeness is what I want. I have no idea how or where or with whom or what. I just know that what came out of my mouth unexpectedly to my friend the other day is really starting to mean something to me: "I want to be stronger...and softer. Like toilet paper."

So, strength and softness in my heart, please.
I already know it will take change and possibly pain to get me there.
But can it please, please come in surprisingly good ways, too?
"Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery!
Replace the evil years with good...
and make our efforts successful.
Yes, make our efforts successful!"

*Quote from Psalm 90, NLT

Ron Dart on Jordan Peterson, Francis Schaeffer and Community - with Paul VanderKlay

The Birthplace of God - Jessica Williams

The Birthplace of God

 

It started with a spark of fear

in the heart

of a Girl.

 

But this Girl

 

was

not

just

any

Girl

 

–she was every Girl.

 

Every Girl

unseen before,

every Girl

unheard.

 

Every Girl

with eyes

cast down

unbelieving,

unperceiving

–her worth.

 

This Girl was not just any Girl,

she was every Girl.

 

Every Girl

excluded,

shamed,

pushed down,

left out.

 

Not just any Girl,

–every Girl.

 

And that fear

 

was

not

just

any

fear

 

–it was every fear.

 

A

fear

that

makes

your

knees

go

weak,

 

your

stomach

drop,

 

the room

begin

to spin.

 

Me?

How can this be?

 

This is not just any fear.

 

This.

 

This is a Woman’s fear.

 

A fear that knows its weakness

before it knows its strength.

 

A fear

subjected

to the power

of man.

 

A fear that understands

 

danger is near

 

–always.

 

This is a Woman’s fear.

 

And this,

 

THIS

 

–this is the birthplace of God.

 

 

 

An Apocalypse of Love (stop trusting violence) - Kenneth Tanner

The gospel calls humanity to stop trusting violence.

If Jesus is the sovereign Lord of all things, if he is King, not just of heaven but of earth, then today’s gospel (John 18:33-37) tells us that those who are apprenticed to his kingdom have renounced violence as the means by which the world and humanity will be saved.

Jesus tells Pilate that his followers don’t fight because his kingdom is not of “this world.”

The end of the world that this King promises is not an apocalypse of violence (as if God’s violence will somehow prove greater than humanity’s). Stories of the end that portray Jesus as a more strategic and ruthless general than the generals of the world are blasphemy.

No, the end Christ promises is an apocalypse of love, a revelation of the harder love than the love the world knows, the love that lays down its life for the life of the world, of a servant God who dies that death may die.

But if there’s one thing this pastor has learned in preaching it’s this: humans (I pastor the American variety) don’t like to hear that they have to stop trusting violence and trust the cross.

Rome was converted by the sacrificial love of Christ followers not by coercion or force, not at the edge of a sword.

The world will be converted when those who bear Christ in the world renounce violence in imitation of their Lord and, perhaps in the face of a new worldwide Rome, collectively trust that their mass execution will join the death of Christ and bring about the resurrection of all things.

Perhaps not but that’s an ending that fits the story the gospel is telling. The story Christians trust says that resurrection is the end of all things and not death.