...do happen. In case anyone still hasn't seen this. And yes, I'm still here! I hope to get back to posting more regularly over summer break. Until then, hope you are all well!
Susan Boyle
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
More cute animal stuff...
...cause while I love theology and perfume, I also love elephants. And this couldn't possibly be cuter. Happy New Year!
Watch CBS Videos Online
Watch CBS Videos Online
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Love and Suffering
In October, the magazine Presbyterian Today published an article by the well-known theologian Stanley Hauerwas, on the politics embodied by Jesus. You can read it here.
I agree with much of what he was saying, and see much of his words as 'speaking truth to power', or at least 'truth to comfort', to try and shake people out of their complacency. And yet, of late, I have an increasingly hard time with a theology that focuses on sacrifice and suffering.
So I wrote a little response--which got published!--here. (They entitled the letter 'Where is the Love')
I understand that Jesus embodied self-sacrifice. But I truly do believe we must never de-couple that sacrifice from the Love that was core to who he was. Otherwise we start preaching behavior and ethics, as opposed to the liberating Love of God. To preach sacrifice and suffering to those who are already oppressed and abused is to deny them the fullness of life embodied in Christ, in the name of Christianity. It is to validate the oppression and abuse they experience and deny them the 'Yes' God offers to their lives, imposing instead a religiously justified 'No'. What a horror.
I am not saying that there is nothing of sacrifice or suffering Jesus life. What I am saying is that perhaps it is not his suffering alone that should be our model so much as his communion with God, his compassion, his steadfastness, his love and yes, his joy...his own life in sheer palpable overflowing abundance. I know that traditional atonement theories focus on his death as saving us, but as early as the 4th century, Church Fathers such as Athanasius proclaimed that the most important reason for the Incarnation was the defeat of death, through the Resurrection. I know it's hard sometimes to truly believe in the Resurrection, but even with my very limited theological understandings, I think it's unfair exegesis to focus on Jesus' suffering and death as a model of reality and then forego all the other parts of Scripture that focus on the Resurrection and triumph over death as being 'symbolic'. His death can not be considered apart from his resurrection.
I'm not a preacher, and I'm not trying to critique Hauerwas or anyone else. What I am trying to point out is that many people do not know that they are loved. They do not know that they have inherent worth. To insist that Christianity is more about their behavior than about their ontological identity in God is to fail to meet people in their hearts and souls, where their deepest needs and longings exist. It sets up principles instead of relatedness. It brings no healing, no liberation, no life where there was death.
I know Christians are called to 'speak truth to power'. And I know there are far too many of us who are comfortable in our lives and turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. But there are also many who daily suffer under the violence of domestic abuse, the oppression of addiction, the suffering of involuntary poverty. A theology that extols suffering as the 'way of Jesus' without first speaking into these situations, speaking to the inherent worth of these victims, empowering them to get out of the abuse, and yes, even to defend themselves if necessary, is very hard for me to accept. I know Jesus chose to die at the hands of his enemies. But I also believe it was a choice. It was a calling he accepted. That is very different than telling a woman who is attacked on the streets that she should not defend herself--even violently, if absolutely necessary. As my feminist colleagues have pointed out, a dogmatic non-violence can have violence embedded in it--violence against the self. This is a huge question in Christian ethics, and one I don't feel qualified to take on, but I worry that self-sacrifice is far too easy a concept for many people, especially those with incredibly low self-esteem, to grasp. I just don't believe that that these are the places from which God means us to come when acting 'sacrificially'. Without Love as the test of the spirits, how will we know the difference?
I agree with much of what he was saying, and see much of his words as 'speaking truth to power', or at least 'truth to comfort', to try and shake people out of their complacency. And yet, of late, I have an increasingly hard time with a theology that focuses on sacrifice and suffering.
So I wrote a little response--which got published!--here. (They entitled the letter 'Where is the Love')
I understand that Jesus embodied self-sacrifice. But I truly do believe we must never de-couple that sacrifice from the Love that was core to who he was. Otherwise we start preaching behavior and ethics, as opposed to the liberating Love of God. To preach sacrifice and suffering to those who are already oppressed and abused is to deny them the fullness of life embodied in Christ, in the name of Christianity. It is to validate the oppression and abuse they experience and deny them the 'Yes' God offers to their lives, imposing instead a religiously justified 'No'. What a horror.
I am not saying that there is nothing of sacrifice or suffering Jesus life. What I am saying is that perhaps it is not his suffering alone that should be our model so much as his communion with God, his compassion, his steadfastness, his love and yes, his joy...his own life in sheer palpable overflowing abundance. I know that traditional atonement theories focus on his death as saving us, but as early as the 4th century, Church Fathers such as Athanasius proclaimed that the most important reason for the Incarnation was the defeat of death, through the Resurrection. I know it's hard sometimes to truly believe in the Resurrection, but even with my very limited theological understandings, I think it's unfair exegesis to focus on Jesus' suffering and death as a model of reality and then forego all the other parts of Scripture that focus on the Resurrection and triumph over death as being 'symbolic'. His death can not be considered apart from his resurrection.
I'm not a preacher, and I'm not trying to critique Hauerwas or anyone else. What I am trying to point out is that many people do not know that they are loved. They do not know that they have inherent worth. To insist that Christianity is more about their behavior than about their ontological identity in God is to fail to meet people in their hearts and souls, where their deepest needs and longings exist. It sets up principles instead of relatedness. It brings no healing, no liberation, no life where there was death.
I know Christians are called to 'speak truth to power'. And I know there are far too many of us who are comfortable in our lives and turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. But there are also many who daily suffer under the violence of domestic abuse, the oppression of addiction, the suffering of involuntary poverty. A theology that extols suffering as the 'way of Jesus' without first speaking into these situations, speaking to the inherent worth of these victims, empowering them to get out of the abuse, and yes, even to defend themselves if necessary, is very hard for me to accept. I know Jesus chose to die at the hands of his enemies. But I also believe it was a choice. It was a calling he accepted. That is very different than telling a woman who is attacked on the streets that she should not defend herself--even violently, if absolutely necessary. As my feminist colleagues have pointed out, a dogmatic non-violence can have violence embedded in it--violence against the self. This is a huge question in Christian ethics, and one I don't feel qualified to take on, but I worry that self-sacrifice is far too easy a concept for many people, especially those with incredibly low self-esteem, to grasp. I just don't believe that that these are the places from which God means us to come when acting 'sacrificially'. Without Love as the test of the spirits, how will we know the difference?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Random Music Moment
It's Wednesday, and time for a little break. Thanks to my friend "Ufo" for sharing this!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Bloggers in the Middle East...
..weigh in on the elections. Apparently hope is contagious. Excerpt below:
Esra’a, Bahrain (mideastyouth.com)
I can honestly say that we can finally wave goodbye to the overwhelming anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry that we have suffered with for the past eight years under the Bush administration. We can expect less wars, less corruption, less political abuse. It won’t be perfect, but it will get better. I am so happy and proud of all the Americans who worked extremely hard for Obama, understanding fully well the importance of change in every sense of the word. This moment is not just historical but crucial to us here in the Middle East.
This is a win for all of us, not just America.
This is a win for civil rights and justice.
For all the pessimists out there, allow us to enjoy this moment. If you learned anything from this campaign, you would learn that it starts with hope — not cynicism. And hope is what I have right now, for America and the Middle East.
We can do it, and this time, we can be sure that we can do it together.
I haven’t said this in a really long time, but I am loving America right now.
Esra’a, Bahrain (mideastyouth.com)
I can honestly say that we can finally wave goodbye to the overwhelming anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry that we have suffered with for the past eight years under the Bush administration. We can expect less wars, less corruption, less political abuse. It won’t be perfect, but it will get better. I am so happy and proud of all the Americans who worked extremely hard for Obama, understanding fully well the importance of change in every sense of the word. This moment is not just historical but crucial to us here in the Middle East.
This is a win for all of us, not just America.
This is a win for civil rights and justice.
For all the pessimists out there, allow us to enjoy this moment. If you learned anything from this campaign, you would learn that it starts with hope — not cynicism. And hope is what I have right now, for America and the Middle East.
We can do it, and this time, we can be sure that we can do it together.
I haven’t said this in a really long time, but I am loving America right now.
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