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July 29, 2020 in Author - Brad Jersak | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The article highlighted below represents a brilliant and multiplex presentation of the worldwide realities of the premier world blight of militarism. One could call it the Ultimate Virus, the Unremitting Pandemic–that few even recognize for the Monstrous World Nightmare it is.
The other day I was forwarded an Opinion piece in Canada’s Maclean’s magazine entitled: China was in violation of International Health Regulations. What do we do now? It was written by Errol Patrick Mendes, Marcus Kolga and Sarah Teich–all part of the Canadian liberal Establishment. They ended their article thus:
Canada’s political leaders must find the courage not to allow themselves to be intimidated by China’s totalitarian regime, and stand up against their crimes against the Uyghurs, other human rights abuses including the arbitrary detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, and rampant corruption. However, now is also the critical time to put in place plans to eventually hold them to account for the global spread of COVID-19.
The Opinion piece below that was by Conservative Party leader hopeful, Peter MacKay: Canada and its allies must hold the Chinese government to account. In it we read:
This clear threat to Canada’s national security has not been properly addressed or fully acknowledged, despite ample evidence over the past several years. Canada must learn from its allies, including Australia and the U.S., who have successfully implemented legislation to curb foreign influence . . .
Canada must stand together to defend our values and principles: democracy, freedom, human rights and respect for the rule of law. United, we can protect these values and principles from the alliance of malevolent and aggressive regimes that do not share our basic values and actively seek to undermine and subvert our societies, our independence, and our best interests.
In light of the Swanson material below, one wonders: Just what world do MacKay and the other writers inhabit? That leads to a further question: How does Canada stand up to the longstanding malevolent and aggressive regime to Canada’s south–bar none vis à vis our Planet–the Ultimate Totalitarian Regime? The answer is patently clear. We do not. On the contrary: through NATO and myriad government and business alliances we are in bed with the Most Dangerous Rogue State on Earth. It is also the most deadly Bully Nation.
Several posts on this website deal with the U.S. And Empire/American Empire. See also An Open Letter to Michelle Obama. My Home page is dedicated to the Gospel as Counter-Narrative to Empire.
July 28, 2020 in Author - Wayne Northey | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I have been asked about my thoughts on defunding or defending the police recently. Here's what I'm thinking…
Some of the law enforcement people I've known over the years are incredible people. They give, serve, and put themselves in harm's way for the sake of the community. At the same time, I personally think it's evident that the policing system all of us have created in this country needs to be re-approached and reformed.
I will admit. I have been influenced by reading African Americans who were a part of previous generations like James Baldwin and James Cone. And listening to contemporary African Americans like Coleman Hughes, Ibrim X Kendi, and Chloe Valdary. (BTW those people don't agree with each other all the time!) And watching shows like 13th , and even YouTube videos like, The Quartering of Troops. And attending Black Lives Matter rallies here in KC.
I know some caucasians who just aren't interested in being influenced by any of the aforementioned. They are probably the same people who will not dig into what a defunding of the police might mean. I think many of us may be reacting to the word "defund." We see that word, and it scares us. If that's the case, then fear winds up in the driver's seat. I don't think that's helpful.
While it's possible I don't agree with every single thing the Defund the Police movement is asking for (because whoever agrees with everything anyone asks for?), please consider…
Rethinking our policing philosophy doesn't have to mean doing away with all structure as we've known it, or voluntarily throwing all of us into a state of anarchy or disrespecting those good men and women who have put their lives on the line for us in the past.
Rethinking policing could mean reevaluating how we respond to people, in particular, in times of stress. It could mean shifting away from punitive measures of discipline and shifting toward restorative measures of discipline.
July 28, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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July 27, 2020 in Author - Ron Dart | Permalink | Comments (0)
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July 24, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (7)
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Last year I wrote for Clarion about the racism crisis that exists in my hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario. I explored how Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology from below and cruciform ethics focuses our attention on the earthbound, existential Christ of vulnerable love; a God who voluntarily chooses to identify, suffer and show solidarity with Indigenous people crushed by the wheel of racial injustice and dehumanizing oppression. It’s a crisis that has played out across Canada for generations, culminating today in police brutality and systemic racism against numerous Indigenous people, particularly young vulnerable women like Chantal Moore who was shot and killed this summer in New Brunswick by police conducting a wellness check gone horribly wrong.
In Canada, the deep wounds of cultural genocide and racial oppression inflicted on Indigenous children and families are still widely felt today, but not so much widely accepted by our dominant culture, including and especially many of our Euro-Christian churches. I consider myself to be amongst this dominant culture, even though my spiritual and theological formation would have me kneeling alongside protestors across North American cities today in support of racial justice and social healing.
Even so, I had not taken the time needed to educate myself on the history of residential schools and how the leaders of Canada’s white ethno-nationalistic government colluded with pseudo-Christian church actors to destroy the cultural and spiritual identities of Indigenous children and families through years of appalling abuse, segregation and oppression.
To my shame, it was just last year that I began to read the summary findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Report. But what I found was nothing short of disturbing:
“For children, life in these schools was lonely and alien … Discipline was harsh, and daily life was highly regimented. Aboriginal languages and cultures were denigrated and suppressed … For the students, education and technical training too often gave way to the drudgery of doing the chores necessary to make the schools self-sustaining. Child neglect was institutionalized, and the lack of supervision created situations where students were prey to sexual and physical abusers” (TRC Summary Report pg. 3).
What deepened my horror was the fact that “Roman Catholic, Anglican, United, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches were the major denominations involved in the administration of the residential school system” (TRC Summary Report pg. 3).
Canada’s Christian churches—both Protestant and Roman Catholic—came together to administer the near destruction of an entire nation’s cultural identity.
Let’s let that sink in for a minute. The gravity of such atrocities should crush our hearts and make our skin crawl.
For over a hundred years, Indigenous children were targeted and taken from their parents only to face crippling neglect and abuse. Traditional land was often seized and occupied, pushing communities to the margins. Indigenous rights were ignored and in many cases, Treaties were fraudulently coerced to benefit Euro-Christian settlers.
And while educating ourselves about residential schools—a task I’ve admittedly (and embarrassingly) barely scratched the surface on—is a great first step towards addressing systemic and institutionalized racism today, “what is truly needed,” says Charlie Ratte, “is a heart change.”
Ratte, a vibrant, well-educated and outspoken Anishnawbe woman, has traveled across North America before the pandemic speaking at conferences about her Christian faith and how reconciliation can be integrated into the ethics and discipleship of Euro-Christian churches today.
“I wonder if the role of the church is to really enter into prayer on these issues. I wonder what it would look like if there was a prayer movement amongst committed Euro-Christian settlers who gather together on a regular basis to pray for hearts to be changed.”
Evoking well-known Navajo activist and theologian Mark Charles, she agrees that entitlement—an entrenched belief that Canadian settlers have an absolute right to land that was seized illegally or coercively through dishonest Treaties—is a major stumbling block to reconciliation and lasting heart change in the Church today.
“Cultivating the spiritual practice of gratitude to the Creator for the land that Canadian settlers enjoy today can really get at this sense of entitlement in Canadian culture,” says Ratte. “When people turn to God in prayer and cultivate this sense of gratitude to the Creator, that’s when hearts of stone can be turned into hearts of flesh.”
In this age of racial scapegoating, police brutality, systemic racism and hyper-polarized politics, the cruciform Word of the cosmos calls His people—the Church—to follow the Way of Cruciform Love to bring forth true and lasting heart change and reconciliation.
“And the church that calls a people to belief in Christ,” proclaimed Bonhoeffer, “must itself be, in the midst of that people, the burning fire of love, the nucleus of reconciliation, the source of fire in which all hate is smothered and proud, hateful people are transformed into loving people. Our churches...have done many mighty deeds, but it seems to me that they have not yet succeeded in this greatest deed, and it is more necessary today than ever.”
July 24, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (1)
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"To be Black in America is to have a knee against your neck every day."
"Aboriginal leaders in Canada say that just because we did not institute the structures of our white forebears does not mean that we do not benefit downstream."
A close relative saw the post, The Case for Reparations, (a long essay about the history of Black repression in the U.S.), and in response merely indicated that these things happen and moved on . . .
Another close relative who did not read the piece would simply reject the content or if briefly acknowledged as true, indicate that all that needs to be done is rise above it, and move on . . .
The interview highlighted with philosopher George Yancy is another gut-wrenching article. Deeply troubling in its overall assertion:
For me, “white America” is a structural lie. And by this, I mean that it was/is predicated upon abstract ideals that it never intended to apply to Black people or people of color. And even where there is “progress” for those of us whose lives don’t matter, it is important to recognize that such alleged progress occurs within the framework of white interests. The critical race theorist Derrick Bell made this clear with his theory of interest convergence, which shows that racial justice for Black people only happens when white and Black interests converge. So, the implication is that Black progress is tolerated as long as it doesn’t fundamentally challenge white interests. This still prioritizes whiteness.
In deeply troubling ways that would make my relatives howl foul, it questions “white ontology itself.” In other words, our very being on the planet is to benefit from structural whiteness downstream from the domination of nonwhites the world over: it’s in the white structural DNA of colonization/domination across the planet.
July 22, 2020 in Author - Wayne Northey | Permalink | Comments (0)
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CROSSROADS: HIT THE BREAKS, LOOK BOTH WAYS
I guess there is nothing extraordinary about saying this, and I don't want to be overly dramatic about it, but I believe humanity has entered a new season (I know - duh..). Every aspect of our lives is having to be examined, redefined to some degree, due to the need to restrain the spread of the pandemic, and both our present and our future are uncertain.
So we are all back to the basics: feeding our families, raising our children, protecting one another from infection, and continuing life as best we can. Survival. Basically doing what is in front of us, live in the present, be creative and industrious, learn to value time spent with loved ones, and hope for a cure.
Many people want to go back to the way things were. We hear about continuity, but others also talk about re-imagining, about revolution. In a way, many feel we have to let go of what was, and hold on to what keeps us safe and sane, but do we know what these terms mean for us, and for Blacks, Indigenous and People of Color?
OLD TRADITIONS ARE NEW AGAIN
Speaking of Indigenous peoples, I had a thought: it seems that for our post-colonial countries to move forward and move away from self-destruction, the path ahead needs to include what Indigenous cultures, African Americans, have been pointing at for centuries. We need to bring the changes they have asked for, walked for, protested for, died for. And due to the present protests around Black Lives Matter, we need to be starting with reforms of our justice systems, which unjustly targets Blacks, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). This would then trickle down to law enforcement in their dealings with these communities.
This could then open the way to make the management of the environment more efficient, a constant request by Indigenous people around the world. It could end the ludicrous criminalization of those protesting risky projects of pipelines across Native lands, rivers and shores.
Why do these cultures seem to be discriminated against still today, through the court system? As if we haven't grown beyond racism and apartheid. Because to the degree there is systemic discrimination and racial profiling in our country's justice system, to that degree an apartheid regime is still in operation within our borders. And who benefits from this? We need to find out. It is a stain on our countries as a whole and makes our international advocacy for human rights hypocritical.
CLICK HERE to download the rest of REimagining the World Post-pandemic
July 20, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Jesus, Advocate or Intercessor?
Did you know that there are numerous titles for Jesus in the Bible? Among them are Lord, Savior, Redeemer, Good Shepherd, and Messiah to name a few. These titles are descriptive of various aspects of our Lord’s nature and character, which helps us to know who Jesus is and what he is like. There is a particular title describing a role that Jesus plays and that is the role of Advocate, which is found in 1 John 2:1-2. The New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB95) has translated these verses in the following way:
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
What does it mean that Jesus the righteous (another description) advocates for us? And what is an advocate anyway?
According to our English dictionary an advocate is a person who pleads another’s cause; specifically, a lawyer. That’s the first definition. The second meaning is a person who speaks or writes in support of something; such as, to advocate for lower taxes.[i]These are fine definitions… so does that mean that Jesus stands as our lawyer before the Father? Or does he favor lower taxes? If it means he’s our attorney then the question as to why we need one is in order. If you will notice, the word “Father” is a familial term. It seems odd to me that in family matters we would need a lawyer to plead our cause before Dad as though Dad was our judge and not our Dad at all. Is it possible that there could be another explanation, possibly even a better word than Advocate, to describe this role of Jesus in our lives? I would like to suggest that not only is it possible but probable.
Perhaps it would help to define the Greek word from which Advocate is translated from. That word is “Parakletos” from which we get the English word “Paraclete”. According to the lexicon (Greek dictionary) this word means “Helper”; literally, one who is called or sent for to assist.
In a legal sense, a parakletos came as an act of friendship to give character witness in a court of law. It was considered more effective when others affirmed the character of the accused than for the accused to defend his or her own honor. In a non-legal sense, a parakletos came to offer encouragement, such as a pep talk before a battle or contest.[ii] Think of boxer whose manager stands in the boxer’s corner to offer assistance, encouragement and advice. In my opinion, it is this second sense that applies to the situation in 1 John 2:1-2.
To be clear, what I am saying is this: Don’t think Advocate as in court of law. Jesus is not a defense attorney protecting us from an overbearing despot who can’t wait to punish us for each and every infraction that we might commit. As verse two explains, Jesus has already taken care of the legal ramifications of sin by providing himself as the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for those of the whole world as well. That’s what the cross was all about. Rather, think Intercessor. Think of Jesus as your manager who is in your corner. He sees your struggles, knows your strengths and weaknesses and is always available to offer comfort, encouragement, advice, and help in becoming all that you can be – the best you possible.
It might also interest you to know that this same word “Advocate” used of Jesus in this passage is also used of the Holy Spirit in several others where the apostle John is the author, such as John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7, but it is only translated as advocate in 1 John 2:1. Go ahead, raise an eyebrow. I did.
Finally my friends, take a look at these verses in The Passion Translation (TPT):
You are my dear children, and I write these things to you so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does sin, we continually have a forgiving Redeemer who is face-to-face with the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
That’s what I’m talking about. And that is what Jesus is all about, i.e. forgiving and redeeming! Amen!
[i][i] Webster’s New World Dictionary, Second College Edition (Cleveland, OH: William Collins & World Publishing Co., Inc. 1976), pg. 1029
[ii] The Complete Biblical Library, Volume 15: Greek-English Dictionary, Pi-Rho (Springfield, MI: The Complete Biblical Library, 1991), pg. 63
July 20, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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In the book of Isaiah the prophet (chapter 45) there is a prophetic word of the Lord to the nations of the earth. It begins in verse 20 with a call, an invitation, to the fugitives of the nations to gather and come - to draw near - and yet something hinders them from responding. The problem it seems is "they have no knowledge, who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save." An idol, as it turns out, is a belief in a god who cannot save but the worshiper doesn't know that his idol is impotent. He has no knowledge that his idol is powerless any more than he has knowledge of the true God who has power to save.
Thankfully that's not the end of the story for the idol worshiper. His ignorance is confronted with the declaration in verses 21-22, "there is no other God besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other." Isn't this what the prophets had declared all along? But who would listen? Who would understand? Who would believe the truth? Who would turn from their idols to God? Hasn't this been the human condition since the beginning?
We have still not arrived at the end of the story. Despite man's ignorance of the true God; despite his unresponsiveness to God's call to salvation, God has made a promise in verse 23 to the nations, "that to me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance." In addition to their unconditional surrender it is stated in verse 24, "They will say of me, 'Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength.' Men will come to him, and all who were angry at him will be put to shame."
Now we are at the end. God's promise, his decree, is that every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance to him. Even those who were (past tense) angry with him - the rebels, the defiant, and the idolaters are ashamed of the things they once believed. They are no longer rebellious and defiant idolaters but are now those who speak well of God saying, "Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength." Their idols proved to be false and powerless and unable to save but with Yahweh the opposite is true, so they discover. With Yahweh there is salvation; he alone has made it happen.
In the New Testament the apostle Paul recognized this passage in Isaiah as being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In Romans 14:9-11 Paul speaks of Christ as being Lord of both the dead and the living. And because he is Lord all will stand before the judgment seat of God and give an account of himself/herself to God. The end result of that conversation with God will be individual surrender (the bowing of the knee) and worship (the giving of praise to God). See also a similar teaching in Philippians 2:1-11 (esp. vs 9-11) where, "at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on the earth and under [yes! Under!] the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Isaiah's vision of the future regards the nations of the world turning to God for salvation by bowing their knees and swearing their allegiance. To this end Isaiah wrote and taught and proclaimed and lived.
The apostle Paul envisioned a world where all would come before the judgment seat of God and ultimately bow the knee and give praise to God by confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. To this end Paul went to the nations proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of Christ. To this future he gave his life.
The question I pose to you the reader today is what is your vision of the future? Is it hopeful? Does it make God bigger or smaller? Does it magnify the glory of God or render him powerless and unimposing, like an idol? And secondly, how does your vision of the future inspire the way you live?
July 20, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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WN: NOTE: This piece appeared in The Atlantic 6 years ago. It could have been written yesterday . . . or at any other point in American history.
In the post, Cornel West Says ‘Neo-Fascist Gangster’ Trump and Neoliberal Democrats Expose America as ‘Failed Social Experiment’, there is an attempt to provide a tiny inkling of information in support of Dr. West’s claim.
The article highlighted below is not merely a “tiny inkling”, it is the fruit of painstaking research by a gifted writer about troubled White America. As one reads it, it repeatedly is made plain that the social experiment has not really “failed"; for that would posit a social experiment set out to do one thing, but unsuccessful in the end. Quite the contrary: the “social experiment” by America did not fail in its foundational structures and consequential “tentacleized” permeation of every facet of American life downstream. The System achieved throughout American history exactly what it was designed to do: make the American Dream accessible to one racial group only: Caucasian.
With that last line, a close relative would stop reading in full-on righteous anger, and malign me for the Liberal molly-coddling naïve duped anti-racist I am (not–well, yes to “anti-racist” 🙂 ). What I am unsuccessful in, given many attempts, is encouraging this person to consider dispassionately another viewpoint. For so much of life understanding depends upon our starting point of view.
In mediation training, we refer to this observation as the “WOWMOM” syndrome. Note the stylized image here. In doing our training, we would take a blank piece of paper and place it between two persons sitting opposite each other. We would then print in large letters WOW and ask each person to read out loud the word in front of them.
Now despite that undeniably clear piece of communication (both witnessed the printing of the word in real time), the two opposite parties receive–and report–very different messages. Yet each is in that moment telling the truth.
So why the difference? In a word: viewpoint. Obviously. Yet, in an enormous amount of human communication by word or body language, that is either not factored into one’s comprehension (perhaps forgotten if known), and this understanding is jettisoned, at least omitted. Even when traits of similar ethnicity, culture, language and a host of other variables align. This doggèd capacity to see things primarily from one’s own vantage point is indeed a foundational reality of our human condition.
A simple example representing one shift only in surrounding culture: a person enters a prison in Canada for the first time. That is the only changed variable for him. The first time he opens his mouth and tells a prisoner: “You’re such a goof!“, he as likely would receive a “shiv” to the gut as ever get out of that prison alive. That one cultural variable forbids ever consequence-free calling someone a “goof” inside.
So, where does that leave us with this ubiquitous human condition trait? Hopefully at least a tad more open to hearing another’s viewpoint. One can extrapolate from there . . . Though to get even an inkling of that other viewpoint presumes at minimum attentive listening. Which points unfortunately to another universal human condition trait: few of us are naturally good listeners, and must practice throughout life to develop that skill.
Now back to my close relative. After years of only listening to him expatiate on everything that irked him, with reference to race, immigration, climate change, etc., etc., I one day finally decided to tell him I simply disagreed. Full stop. And that I had my reasons–if we could have together a respectful discussion about them. He became so angry at me that I finally too, after a few outbursts, also suggested that the best thing moving forward is simply for neither of us raising/discussing those things in the presence of the other. My viewpoint?: such outbursts and storming away are not how to address the human condition of differing viewpoints. Full stop!
Enough said. Though I am happy to have a respectful, rational, attentive-listening conversation with anyone; still wish it with the relative. I in fact invite it!
So back to the highlighted article. It is, in other words: superb. In yet another: outstandingly. To say it makes one weep is beyond understated. One can even use another word?: exponentially. Especially against the backdrop of worldwide White Colonial Systems of oppression the world over.
Enough said again. I cannot say of the highlighted: Enjoy. But I can use three more words: Learn. And: Weep. And (but how?): act.
July 16, 2020 in Author - Wayne Northey | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Though not declamatory, this interview with Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of the just-published Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, is nonetheless scathing about white evangelical masculinity and the great “harm [done] inside their communities, and also at the national and even international level.” One reviewer writes:
Jesus and John Wayne demolishes the myth that Christian nationalists simply held their noses to form a pragmatic alliance with Donald Trump. With brilliant analysis and detailed scholarship, Kristin Kobes Du Mez shows how conservative evangelical leaders have promoted the authoritarian, patriarchal values that have achieved their finest representative in Trump. A stunning exploration of the relationship between modern evangelicalism, militarism, and American masculinity.”
– Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
Another new book, The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump: 30 Evangelical Christians on Justice, Truth, and Moral Integrity, points in the same direction. An excellent review of it is here.
White American Evangelicals arguably are the most dangerous religious group on the Planet, whose political alliances baptize American terrorism the world over: initiating by far the greatest scourge of barbaric violence the world has seen–with so much more almost beyond imagining waiting in the wings.
July 15, 2020 in Author - Wayne Northey | Permalink | Comments (0)
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“I thank God people are in the streets,” said the Harvard philosopher and activist. “Can you imagine this kind of lynching taking place and people are indifferent? People don’t care? People are callous?” --Dr. Cornel West
Dr. Cornel West again tells it powerfully like it is! In doing so, he not only calls out Trump for the Republican neo-fascist thug he is, but also points to the utter betrayal of the Democratic Party Obama years (and its current rejection of Sanders and his democratic socialism in favour of neoliberal Biden), failing to check the voracious scourge of neoliberalism.
On the contrary: Obama fully embraced Wall Street’s militarized neoliberalism. (See ” “Militarized neoliberalism” and the Canadian state in Latin America“ for the Canadian version of militarized neoliberalism. And this is not only in Latin America–besides our fully being intertwined with the American economy, and therefore their worldwide militarized capitalism.)
If anything, Obama and all he stood/stands for is worse than Trump, in that he portrayed himself as a reformer, accepted a Nobel Peace Prize for his “anti-nuclear stance” in full-fledged deceit (authorizing for instance at the end of his presidency 1 trillion dollars for upgrading the American nuclear arsenal), and waged endless imperialist wars for the benefit of the 1% corporations[1] whom he slavishly served–and now reaps handsomely his grovellingly ill-gotten rewards.
CLICK HERE to continue reading Northey's scathing assessment
July 11, 2020 in Author - Wayne Northey | Permalink | Comments (0)
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In America past, many Christians justified their stance on their treatment of native people groups, and owning slaves by saying that they were doing a good thing by bringing those “savages” into their good Christian homes where maybe they would find Jesus and learn to be more like them. Ironically, missing the egregiousness of their act, how twisted their thinking had become, or how far from Jesus it all was. But mankind has always looked for the voices and stance that will justify and give permission to the acts that are in their heart.
It grieves me that the voices that seem to be skyrocketing so fast in the Christian communities are the voices that are belligerent and angry and often lacking even an ounce of compassion or love in their message. But their videos and messages are being passed around and ingested like free food to the hungry.
But what spirit is being fed?
It is not surprising that these voices are almost always heavily weighted politically, because that political spirit is a win at all cost spirit that is ruthless and loves deception. It cares nothing for the “other” side. A hundred times I have wanted to ask, did you actually watch the video? Did you read the article? Because sometimes it is so dripping with hate and judgment, that I can’t believe anyone calling on the name of Jesus could get more than a minute in and the alarm bells not be going off. But some hearts have grown so calloused that I think many no longer hear the tone, or identify the divisive and manipulative words anymore.
The church is in great need of an outpouring of the gift of discernment. But the funny thing about the gift of discernment is that everyone seems to believe they have it. But the ear that has tuned into the wrong voices for so long that they believe them to be of God, is no longer able to discern between God’s voice and the adversary’s. In their heart, any voice that does not align with theirs is not of God and any voice that does, they will give their God stamp too. People are throwing the heart and good name of God to the wolves just so that they can have another voice to post that validates their side of the argument. It needs to stop.
So I speak to the church today in saying, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be more responsible about the videos and articles you are passing around. Even if the person validates the stance that you believe with all your heart, if their message is lacking love, full of judgment, and does not have a heart of restoration or redemption, it is not a voice you need to be propagating. Jesus’ voice will always be one of love and redemption. The more people give their ears to these messages, and pass them around, the more desensitized people become and the more we normalize loveless messages in the church. Until after a while, people no longer see those things as wrong, hateful or lacking love. This is how we get to the place where we can enslave ourselves and others, and believe it to be inviting people to Jesus. Please be responsible with your posts!
July 09, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (1)
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July 07, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I finished a book I’ve been promising myself I’d read for three years — when COVID lockdown hit I decided I had time. And it still took me three months of sporadic reading. I had to read it slowly so that it could seep into me — I took weeks-long breaks. The Patient Ferment of the Early Church by Alan Kreider, an academic book by a Harvard trained Ph.D., professor emeritus of church history and mission at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. It was an academic book, so it was exhaustingly comprehensive and tedious at times and certainly not for everyone. Brian first read it three years ago and loved it. There are lots of books he reads and loves I know I’ll never touch, and visa versa. But the title so intrigued me and I mused on it often. A patient ferment. A little leaven that slowly makes the bread rise, expand, grow, mature. Water turned to wine. How did the early church end up changing the world?
According to Kreider, the early church had no organized plan for evangelism, in fact tried to hide itself and prohibited visitors. They were a secret society, not so much because of fear of persecution but of avoiding throwing pearls to swine. What they had was so precious it had to be protected. Those who sought to join them had to go through a demanding and lengthy catechismal process designed to not only teach doctrine but to change the “habitus” of converts — a discipleship of programming Christlike behavior that would become automatic and habitual — an embodied faith.
The early church had no plan for growth and yet it grew. It spread throughout the world organically, almost imperceptibly, yet relentlessly, like a new species introduced into an ecosystem, which is exactly what it was — a new species, a new humanity, a new kind of people whose DNA was now of the Jesus strain.
What made this new group unique? First, they insisted on the absolute equality of all people. Roman society was very striated. The rich were superior to the poor and felt no obligation to care for them or to increase their lot in life. But in this new humanity, this new organizing of the world, rich and poor met together in equality. These new communities worked hard to care for the poor, especially their own, sharing their resources. Women were also elevated and valued more in the church than in any other place of Roman society. Slaves were on equal footing with senators in the church. Racism was not tolerated, as it says in Galatians — “no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
They believed that God is love and in following the non-violent, self-denying model Jesus had set forth. Their catechesis calls to mind the non-violent training that Gandhi and King implemented in modern times. Non-violence and self-denial must become reflexive and automatic in the lives of Christians. Behavior was more important than mental understanding of beliefs.
The early church believed that God was patient and that Jesus, the Son of God, modeled and embodied patience. They believed that God was at work, slowly and patiently transforming the world, and that they were called to patiently allow that work to be accomplished in each individual as it was being accomplished in them. They didn’t feel called to convert the world but to be the world converted by Jesus. They didn’t much preach to the world with words but trusted that the Christlike behavior of their converts would intrigue and attract others. This was fermentation at work.
The early church had a strong ethos of patience and taught often on patience. Many early church writings are devoted to the virtue of patience. They weren’t in a hurry to see the world changed. God would do it all — in time. The scripture that we now refer to as the Great Commission at the end of Matthew was more a proof text for their understanding of the Triune nature of God than a missional directive. They felt strongly that the gospel could never be compelled upon people by coercion, which would be impatience. Freedom of all religion must always be protected, because even true religion cannot be forced upon anyone.
After their catechism was complete, after it was shown their new “habitus” was sufficiently established, converts were baptized, welcomed into the worship services of the church, and could now receive communion. The early Christians were sustained and empowered by their frequent meeting together to worship. It was as if the catechismal process was the price they paid to receive admittance into the worship services of the church, which had a strong numinous quality, an awe-filled and holy awareness of something other-worldly. These Christians had encountered “the pearl of great price” and were prepared to suffer persecution and great loss for the privilege of being a part of this new company.
Do modern Christians have that experience today? I have often mused on the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, forty days after the Ascension — what awareness of the presence of God had the people of God experienced prior to that historic moment? Do we now take for granted the Holy Spirit that we have become so accustomed to? I remember the encounter that so changed my life at age 13 — how I’d said “yes” to the altar call at the end of some impassioned preaching, but it was when I was taken to the prayer room afterwards and encountered real presence in worship, that I found what I hadn’t know I was looking for, but knew I’d chase after and long for my whole life. Pearl of great price indeed!
The early church’s philosophies on discipleship are summed up in these sentences from the book:
“The Apostolic Tradition’s assumption is clear. Inner and outer are inextricable; if you live in a certain way in everyday life, you cannot hear, comprehend, or live the gospel that the Christian community is seeking to embody as well as teach. The church will not baptize people in hopes that they will change thereafter...The early church believed that people lived their way into a new kind of thinking.”
We continue to wrestle in modern times with the same concepts. Must Christians behave before they belong? The early church seems to be resolute in this. But this was soon to change, just a few hundred years after Christianity began.
The last two chapters were the most intriguing, devoted to Constantine and Augustine, two historic figures with enormous influence on the church. I was surprised that Constantine, the Roman emperor, had such interest and knowledge of the developing theology of the church. In a very short period of time, Christianity went from being a persecuted minority to a favored majority, because Constantine made it so. I knew how he claimed to have heard a voice telling him he would win a battle if he fought in the name of Christianity and assumed him to be more like a modern politician, using religious language to gain the approval of religious constituents. Instead, Constantine appeared to seriously engage with the church and Scripture but, as emperor, he didn’t submit himself to the authority of the church or become a catechumen, a disciple on his way to full inclusion in the church. He did it his way. He was the emperor, of course, accustomed to being in charge.
He was not baptized until he was on his deathbed, twenty-five years later. According to the author, it appears that Constantine was unwilling to change his lifestyle, his habitus — that the dignity of his noble standing could not be sacrificed. He was naturally — by nature — superior to others. Yet he wanted to justify his life before God, and so he devoted himself to finding a way to do so, engaging philosophically with Scripture and theologians. He eventually embraced the idea of two ways of life — not differentiating between Christians and pagans, or believers and unbelievers, but about two types of Christians — one type “living the perfect way of life” but the second “more humble, more human.” The former was devoted to the imitation of Christ including a rejection of violence and killing, while the latter viewed this as an idealistic impossibility in the real world we live in.
As emperor, Constantine did outlaw crucifixion and gladiatorial games. But he persecuted with torture and death Christian heretical groups, namely the Donatists. He famously ordered the executions of his wife and son and daughter-in-law. It seemed he learned some things about God without yielding to God until he knew he was dying and consented to baptism. His deathbed conversion made deathbed conversions popular — a conversion more concerned with afterlife judgment than right living. And after Constantine, cathechism was less about behavior and began to emphasize right thinking — correct doctrine. After Constantine, Christianity began to change.
Eighty years after Constantine’s death Augustine, the influential bishop of Hippo, wrote his famous treatise “On Patience,” putting forth a novel understanding of how the church regarded patience. He too was intent on ridding the church of heretics — Pelagians and others he considered heretical, but may have used too much force in seeing that accomplished. He may have become impatient in the way the early church defined patience, and then simply redefined the word for his purposes. His influence on the Western church was gargantuan. He changed the emphasis on behavior for believers to an emphasis on attitudes — thinking and possibly feeling Christianly, having predispositions to good works, but realizing those good works aren’t always practical. Augustine said that Jesus’s commandments “pertain to the disposition of the heart, which is something interior, rather than to action, which is something exterior. In that way we maintain patience along with goodwill in the secret of our soul while we do openly what is thought to be able to benefit those for whom we ought to do good.”
We live in a different world sixteen hundred years post-Augustine. But it’s important to understand how the church has changed and to consider the message of the early church as we seek to continue to live the gospel of Jesus, the Savior of the world.
July 02, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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In a diary entry written by apothecary Luca Landucci from 1512 states:
We heard that a monster had been born at Ravenna, of which a drawing was sent here; it had a horn on its head, straight up like a sword, and instead of arms it had two wings like a bat’s, and at the height of the breasts it had a fio [y-shaped mark] on one side and a cross on the other, and lower down at the waist, two serpents, and it was a hermaphrodite, and on the right knee it had an eye, and its left foot was like an eagle’s. I saw it painted, and anyone who wished could see this painting in Florence.[1]
In Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King, a mention is made of this monster born in March 1512 at the city of Ravenna as cited above. Ross states that this monster was utilized in a sermon by Egidio da Viterbo during mass on the first day of The 5th Lateran Council where Egidio announced to the assembly that the military defeat at Ravenna was divine judgment and was foretold by the birth of this monster which occurred eighteen days prior to their trouncing. [2] In this sermon Viterbo utilizes the birth of this deformed child as a portent of the military defeat that had befallen Ravenna and all the current dire circumstances Italy was experiencing were because the Lord was displeased with the Church of Rome. [3]
This intriguing mention reawakens an area of curiosity and wonder for these marvelous stories of the unknown and macabre which stir the cauldron of imagination for this writer. In my youth, the stories about Joseph Merrick, werewolves, hirusites, and all the creatures which dwell in the shadows of daily life have always intrigued this writer with all their possibilities and magic. On screen, in art, and through the countless books consumed, the hunger to meet and listen to them has never abated. In this stunted exposition, a minutest meandering will occur which will just brush upon the hems of our collective nightmares and what they can teach us.
In the following few pages, it will be briefly demonstrated how monsters are useful for seeing ourselves and the world by offering us a blunt perspective, by challenging otherness, and giving us mirrors to reflect upon as we tremble with uncertainty and unease just beyond the safety of the evening fire. In this paper the questions of what were the monstrous to the premodern world? What the potential meaning and purpose such creatures may have held for the people of that time so bound by the Church? What did these creatures give to history?
Our first step is to define monster, a vital component which articulates much about how they have been understood at a basic level. In nearly every book on this topic somewhere in the early pages the meaning is laid out before the reader communicating that the etymological root is in the Latin mostrare which carries the meaning both to show and also to warn or advise. [4] A root which goes at least as far back as Augustine who saw monstrous births as demonstrating something significant in a visual form.[5] It is from this origin that we become aware that monsters are a type of educational or instructional thing or being. That in their existence we must find some knowledge or insights for life in their twisted and macabre actuality. The monsters were guides, instructors, and even prophets and they were to be heeded. (cont'd)
CLICK HERE to continue reading The Monster of Ravenna - Draper
BONUS MATERIAL: Video - The Monstrous Other in Medieval Art by Asa Simon Mittman with Sherry C.M. Lindquist
Notes:
[1] Touba Ghadessi, Portraits of Human Monsters in the Renaissance: Dwarves, Hirsutes, and Castrati as Idealized Anatomical Anomalies, Monsters, Prodigies, and Demons: Medieval and Early Modern Construction of Alterity (Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University Medieval Institute Publications, 2018), PDF e-book, 12.
[2] As this paragraph is being written, it so happens to be the 508th anniversary of this sermon which took place May 3, 1512, spooky.
[3] Ross King, Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling (New York: Penguin Books, 2003), 253.
[4] Alexa Wright, Monstrosity: The Human Monster in Visual Culture (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2013), E-book, 3. Additional readings seem to back Wrights claim of definition prevalence as found in the readings done for this paper which include the following where similar definitions are found: Elizabeth B. Bearden, Monstrous Kinds: Body, Space, and Narrative in Renaissance Representations of Disability. Corporealities: Discourses of Disability Series. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2019) , PDF e-book, Bettina Bildhauer and Robert Mills, eds., The Monstrous Middle Ages (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), PDF e-book, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Of Giants: Sex, Monsters, and the Middle Ages. Medieval Cultures Volume 17 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1999), PDF e-book, John Block Friedman, The Monstrous Races in Medieval Art and Thought (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2000), PDF e-book, Touba Ghadessi, Portraits of Human Monsters in the Renaissance: Dwarves, Hirsutes, and Castrati as Idealized Anatomical Anomalies, Monsters, Prodigies, and Demons: Medieval and Early Modern Construction of Alterity(Kalamazoo: Western Michigan University Medieval Institute Publications, 2018), PDF e-book, David Gilmore, Monsters: Evil Beings, Mythical Beasts, and All Manner of Imaginary Terrors (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003), PDF e-book, Richard H. Godden and Asa Simon Mittman, eds., Monstrosity, Disability, and the Posthuman in the Medieval and Early Modern World. The New Middle Ages (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), PDF e-book, Iris Idelson-Shein and Christian Wiese, eds., Monsters and Monstrosity in Jewish History: From the Middle Ages to Modernity (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2019), PDF e-book, Jennifer Spinks, Monstrous Births and Visual Culture in Sixteenth Century Germany. Number 5. Religious Cultures in The Early Modern World. (London: Routledge, 2009), PDF e-book.
[5] Jennifer Spinks, Monstrous Births and Visual Culture in Sixteenth Century Germany. Number 5. Religious Cultures in The Early Modern World (London: Routledge, 2009), PDF e-book, 8.
July 02, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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LaToshia Everson is a Black leader, activist and academic in America. In this interview, she shares her personal experience as a Black woman in America and within an inter-racial marriage. She then carefully defines key terms (whiteness, white fragility, white solidarity, racism, systemic racism, anti-racism, allyship, etc.). She speaks about the #BLM protest movement, love and anger versus hate, nonviolence and Jesus. She guides Brad through some key double binds and finally announces the gospel to the Black community and beyond. Magnificent resource.
July 01, 2020 in Author - Brad Jersak | Permalink | Comments (0)
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July 01, 2020 in Author - Brad Jersak | Permalink | Comments (1)
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