The Engine Running on Victimization – Jonathan Foster
The Engine Running on Victimization
and some Girardian-inspired ways to change
The conservative Christians feel justified in their anger because they have bought into the idea that their way of life is under siege. With backs up against the wall (supposedly), they feel the panicked need to legitimize their importance, tighten boundaries, and generally increase their bizarre practice of claiming to be victims even as they victimize.
Meanwhile, the progressive Christians feel justified in their anger because they have bought into the idea that they are the true defender of victims. This justifies their canceling culture, legitimizes their importance, and generally increases the practice of “using” the victim for their benefit. Some days, one wonders whether the progressive really wants to eliminate all the victimizing ways; I mean, how would they operate in such an environment? How would they formulate an identity? What is a progressive without a victim?
‘Mystical Landscapes’ (Katharine Lochman – ed.) – Review by Ron Dart
Mystical Landscapes: From Vincent van Gogh to Emily Carr. Ed. by Katharine Lochman with Roald Nasgaard & Bogomila Welsch-Ovcharov. New York: DelMonico Books, 2016. There has been a regrettable tendency to falsely and naively assume the right wing...
Jesus is First Known … – Kenneth Tanner
Jesus is first the Word of God in the vivid experience of those who knew him in flesh and blood: walking the streets of Capernaum and the alleyways of Jerusalem, fishing at dawn on Galilee, dining in Bethany, or reading the scroll of Isaiah at the synagogue in...
Jaroslav Pelikan: Magister Ludi of Christian Castalia – with Ron Dart
Ron S. Dart (UFV) uses the imagery of Hermann Hesse’s “Glass Bead Game” to reflect on the career and works of Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006).
“Are you ‘saved’?” (uh …) by Brad Jersak
Trinity by Scott Erickson A constellation of questions, common to some Christian traditions, increasingly makes me cringe. Are you saved? Is he/she saved? When were you saved? I know what is intended. They are identifying ‘saved’ with the moment I ‘invited Christ into...
Ascended, Not Absent by Brian Zahnd
Ascension is not about the absence of Christ, but about the ascendancy of Christ. The ascension of Christ to the right hand of God is the ascendency, the rise, the elevation, the promotion of Christ to the position of all authority in heaven and on earth.
Reviews of Mary Ford’s “The Soul’s Longing” & David Ford’s “Wisdom for Today” – by Ron Dart
Dr. Mary S. Ford. The Soul’s Longing: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on Biblical Interpretation. Saint Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2015 David C. Ford. Wisdom For Today From The Early Church: A Foundational Study. Saint Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2015 I have, since the...
The Literalist Hermeneutics of Luther’s Increasing Violence – Richard Murray
What caused Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation, to become so bitter and violent-minded in the later years of his life?
Hermann Hesse and Thomas Merton: Countercultural Affinities – Ron Dart
But the longing to get on the other side of everything already settled, this makes me, and everybody like, a road sign to the future. - Hermann Hesse Wandering: Farmhouse There is another side of Kanchengunga and of every...
Annunciation, Incarnation and Help (Angels, Jesus and Doulas for All) – Jessica Knight
“If you have deep questions or doubts, trust them until they bring you to a God you can worship.”
Revelation is the Final Exam re: the Goodness of God – Richard Murray
Revelation is the "final exam" for understanding the goodness of God. If we don't already know the nature of God, we will never understand the book of Revelation. As Revelation 5 clearly shows, ONLY the divine nature and wisdom of Jesus is WORTHY and...