Bill's 'Faith Matters' Blog

A Criswellian Christianity?: 12-19-08

Today I want to take note of a man who for decades represented a Fundamentalist approach to Christianity and who believed with all his heart that every word of the Bible was infallibly and inerrantly the word of God.

He was W.A. Criswell (pictured here), and he was born on this date in 1909. He lived until 2002, serving much of his adult life as pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas.

I hope you'll spend a bit of time reading the biography of him to which I've linked you in the previous paragraph -- noting, please, that Criswell was not a caricature of himself. That is, he sometimes said things he later regretted. And although I might -- and do -- disagree with many of his theological stances, I recognize him as a prominent and sincere spokesman for an approach to Christianity that many people have adopted. In fact, it's now often called a Criswellian approach.

In 1969 he wrote a book called Why I Preach the Bible is Literally True, drawing a line in the sand that has marked a sharp division among Christians before and since.

As a counter-voice to Criswell's view of scripture, I offer Donald G. Bloesch, who taught theology at Dubuque Theological Seminary and who wrote a book I've found helpful, Essentials of Evangelical Theology.

Listen to what Bloesch says about the idea of biblical infallibility:

"Many latter day evangelical Christians have felt the need to extend the meaning of inerrancy to cover purely historical and scientific matters, even where the treatment of these in the Bible does not bear upon the message of faith. It is no longer sufficient to declare that Scripture is the infallible standard for faith and practice: it is now regarded as totally inerrant (Tammeus note: That was Criswell's position). A view of error is entertained that demands literal, exact, mathematical, precision, something the Bible cannot provide. . . Such persons mistakenly believe that this approach insures the canons of orthodoxy whereas in reality it is a suicidal position that rests the case for Christianity on the shifting sands of scientific and historical research. The discovery of one discrepancy in Scripture can then discredit the entire Christian witness."

In many ways, this is a major divide among Christians today. Criswell stood on one side, while many others stood on the side of a less-rigid understanding of the Bible. And that difference is at the root of many disagreements and debates within the faith today.

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LEARNING ABOUT RELIGIONS FIRST HAND

Here's a novel idea: To learn about a religion, try traveling to a country where that religion is predominant. That's what this CNN travel writer suggests -- and he takes his own advice by going to Turkey and learning more about Islam. I hope to go there some day myself, though so far all I've managed to do in Turkey is change planes at the Istanbul airport.

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P.S.: I've told you about the Web site ReadTheSpirit.com, overseen by David Crumm, former religion reporter for the Detroit Free Press. Today and through the weekend, the site will feature a piece that Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn and I have written about the work we did on our upcoming book, They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust. I invite you to have a look.

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AND: Although my next book, They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust, won't be out until next year, I invite you to give my first book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift this year. It contains a collection of columns that I think stand the test of time. To order the book directly from the University of Missouri Press, click here. Missouri Press has the book on sale this fall, but the sales price is not reflected on the page to which I've linked you. So to make sure you get that lower price, you might want to call the order department at 800-828-1894. To order from Amazon, click here.

Traditions through new eyes: 12-18-08

Sometimes our holiday traditions get so, well, traditional that we sort of skate through them without much noticing.

Which is why I'm attracted to new ways of seeing old stories.

And that's why I really enjoyed a performance over the weekend of "The Christmas Story -- a medival mystery play," performed at the Block Stage at Kansas City's Union Station by the Owen/Cox Dance Group. (I borrowed the picture here today from the group's Web site.)

I had never seen this relatively new dance company (it started in 2006) do anything, so I really wasn't sure what to expect.

But the result was a fresh interpretation of the Christmas story from the gospels of Matthew and Luke, including the massacre of the innocents by King Herod. Oh, my.

I thought it was fun and insightful, for instance, that the company chose three wonderful female dancers to represent the Three Wisemen. It caused me, at least, to focus more on the gifts they brought than on who they were.

And I thought it was fascinating to have the whole company begin not with the Christmas story as told in Luke and Matthew but, rather, with the opening words of the Gospel of John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God."

The company's performance of this is done for the season, but perhaps there are other holiday performances still available that can help you see Christmas or Hanukkah or any later religious holiday in a new light. It's worth the effort.

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A HOLY LAND VISIT SCHEDULED

Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit Bethlehem in May, this report says. I've been there once in my life, but if I were pope it would be close to the first place I'd go. In the meantime, some of us in this season will be singing an updated version of the old Christmas carol. It starts, "O, little town of Bethlehem, on the Occupied West Bank. . ."

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P.S.: Among the many agencies and individuals hard hit by the Bernard Madoff scandal is the American Jewish Congress, this report says. And Hadassah, the Jewish women's organization, says it seems to have lost about $90 million by investing with Madoff. Bad enough that individuals lost money in what is alleged to be a huge Ponzi scheme, but it's worse that charitable organizations have been affected.

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ANOTHER P.S.: The online catalog describing the Ghost Ranch (New Mexico) writing class I'll be teaching in July now is available. For information, click on the "2009 Ghost Ranch class" link on the right side of this page under "Check this out." And come join me in beautiful northern New Mexico's red rock hills.

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One more P.S.: Rick Warren to deliver the invocational prayer at Barack Obama's inauguration? Classic Obama -- choosing someone he disagrees with on many issues but whose support he ultimately needs. And if Obama were a Muslim, as stupidly alleged in the campaign, where is Imam So-and-So for this task? I'm personally not happy with Warren's position on gays and lesbians, but I think Daily Kos may not really understand Obama.

Who was this Jesus guy?: 12-17-08

As a Christian, I naturally would like to know everything I can about Jesus of Nazareth. But I understand that even though he's a figure of history, his meaning is derived less from the specific details of his life 2,000 years ago -- such as exactly where and when he was born and what he wore on his first day at kindergarten -- and more on how his ministry, death and resurrection are interpreted.

So although the so-called "Quest for the Historical Jesus," now more than 100 years old, intrigues me, I have followed it enough to know that when historians engage in such a search what they usually find is not the historical Jesus but the historian's Jesus -- a figure who often looks and thinks much like they do.

Which is why I don't have very high expectations for the so-called "Jesus Project," a new quest for the historical Jesus. You will notice that the Jesus Project Web site is "currently undergoing revision," whatever that means.

This new quest is sponsored by the secular think tank known as the Center for Inquiry and its Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion (CSER). You may notice at the CSER site its own description of the Jesus Project as "the first methodologically agnostic examination of the question of Jesus’ historical existence."

I gather that means that the people undertaking this search have no faith commitment to Christianity. I don't think one needs such a commitment to investigate historical figures such as Jesus. But I do think those who undertake such a project with such guidelines may misunderstand the meaning of Jesus for Christians if they seek to know only when his actual birthday is or whether he had blood brothers and sisters or just cousins.

Similarly, I thought the folks connected to the Jesus Seminar often got so focused on whether Jesus actually said this phrase or that phrase that they missed his importance. In fact, such Jesus Seminar folks as Robert Funk got to the point that their primary focus seemed to be to do away with traditional Christianity.

Still, I'll be watching to see what the Jesus Project comes up with. And I may even learn something.

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THE TOP 2008 STORY ON RELIGION?

What do you think the top religion news story was in 2008? My friend Cathy Lynn Grossman, religion writer for USA Today, offers various views of that on her blog. Frankly, I have trouble finding many news stories of any kind without some thread of religion running through them. But as Cathy's list shows, surely the election, including Prop 8 in California, has to rank near the top.

 

Grief in the holidays: 12-16-08

It's no secret that holidays are more difficult than regular days when we're grieving the death of someone close to us.

This Christmas-Hanukkah season can be especially difficult for people -- and all the more so if this is the first season without the person who has died.

So it was good to hear my friend Harold Ivan Smith speak at an Advent service the other evening and give permission to grieving people to ignore what he called the "grief police" and to be intentional about naming the persons who are gone.

They're not finally gone, he said, unless you quit using their names and stop telling stories about them.

Each year, Community Christian Church of Kansas City offers "An Advent Service of Remembrance and Hope" in cooperation with Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care and other area non-profit hospice services. It's a lovely time to come together and to remember the people who have been important parts of our lives but who have died.

One of the important times of the service is when people come forward and hang small white snowflakes with the names of their loved ones on a Christmas tree.

It's a way of shouting into the dark that we will not forget.

It is, of course, possible to get stuck in grief in unhealthy ways, and we may need professional help to get out of that. But normal grief is quite individualized. As Harold Ivan said, it's like your thumb print -- unique just to you. And we should not feel pressured by the culture to be over our grief in a week or three. The loss is permanent, and though the shape of our grieving it will change over time, we know that permanency and we grieve that, too.

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BENNY ONE-NOTE?

Is Pope Benedict XVI gaining a deserved reputation as the "pope who says no"? That's what a well-known Vatican observer believes, this report says. There is, of course, much that people of faith need to stand against in the culture. But in doing so, there's a danger that they will come off like Johnny-one-notes and eventually no one will listen to them. By the way, one of the things the pope recently condemned had to do with biotechnology. Click here for an analysis of that decision by John L. Allen Jr. of the National Catholic Reporter. And for a Vatican defense of its position, click here.

Taking youths' spiritual pulse: 12-15-08

If, in fact, young people are the future (seems tautological), who is educating them about religion and who is paying attention to what they think about all this?

One answer to the latter question is The Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolesence and its new global study about the spiritual development of youth.

This two-year study found that young people consider religion and spirituality (they detect a difference between the two) are quite important to them, though they rarely talk about it with others.

"We have spent two years listening to youth ages 12 to 25 from many countries and traditions talk about spiritual development and its role in their lives," Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, co-director of the Center for Spiritual Development, said. "Many young people are keenly interested in these issues, but relatively few have opportunities to talk with others about the things that really matter to them."

This seems odd to me. My recollection of being that age was that we often talked about these things. And it's a stereotype of college sophomores that they spend nearly all their time arguing about religion and God -- often in ways that they think no one else has thought of earlier.

And now that religion is such a huge part of nearly every news story, it would seem even more important for young people to have a chance to talk about this subject in an environment that would encourage their questions and would give them healthy adult models who have integrated their faith into their daily live.

If nothing else, young people should be reading things like this blog. (You think I'm kidding?) So get your kids over here, folks. And then talk to them about the eternal questions -- but don't just talk. Also listen.

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PROTECTING SACRED SPACE

If, as it appears, the fire at Gov. Sarah Palin's church in Alaska a few days ago was arson, it was a despicable act. Any church, temple, synagogue or mosque is considered holy ground by the people who go there. Violating any such space violates the sacred space of all of us.

Killing terrorists' ideas: 12-13/14-08

In the battle against religion-based terrorism, how far should governments go in controlling not actions but ideas? Especially what they consider bad ideas?

That's a question that such countries as Saudi Arabia have faced as they have gone through a period of post-9/11 introspection to see how their own citizens could have turned to violence as a way to further an ideological agenda that hides behind religion.

One of the Saudi answers has been to try to control what young people read. The most recent action in this regard came when the Saudi Ministry of Education ordered the removal of two books from library shelves because they contain ideas described as "extremist and confusing."

One of the books was about Sayyid Qutb (pictured here), whom I wrote about in the Kansas City Star in 2002. Qutb generally is acknowledged to be the intellectual mind behind the radical Islamists, such as Osama bin Laden.

Qutb came to the United States for a time in the 1940s and was appalled by what he described as cultural degeneration. He thought the American popular culture was infected by immoral toxic waste and he returned to his native Egypt to do what he could to protect the Arab and Muslim world from it. (He should see our culture today.)

At any rate, his writings garnered popularity and eventually various radicals began acting on these ideas in violent ways.

Now the Saudi government wants to protect its citizens from Qutb's ideas.

I think the House of Saud already should know that you don't convince people just because you are able to silence them. And it should know that one way to give credence to destructive ideas is to ban them. Bad ideas need to die in the marketplace of ideas and not be murdered by authorities (such murder rarely works). Now, there's a difference between banning books and being discerning about what can and should be on the shelves of libraries for young people.

But my guess is that banning books will be among the least effective weapons used to fight terrorism.

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BLAIR DIDN'T WANT TO BLARE

Former British PM Tony Blair now says he regrets being so reluctant to talk about his faith when he was in office. In countries with democratic traditions, somehow the leaders have to strike a balance between wanting to be our bishops and wanting to avoid any discussion of what makes them tick, if one of those elements is faith. I'm not sure any leader of any such country has figured out that balance yet.

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WHAT THE MADOFF SCANDAL MEANS

Jews around the world are worried about the fallout from the Bernard L. Madoff arrest on charges of financial fraud, as this entry in the Jewish Journal site notes. I view this the way I viewed the information that disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois is an adherent of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which is to say that it's irrelevant. And it just shows that no religion is immune from scoundrels and no religion can be responsible for all the bad things its adherents do when they stray from the moral guidance the religion offers.

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P.S.: In this posting in October, I told you about Lipscomb University's effort to start a new institute designed to promote better business ethics. That Dean Institute for Corporate Governance and Integrity was launched this week. At the site to which I've linked you in the previous sentence you can read about the launch and some remarks by the keynote speaker, who said he was saddened by a "massive failure of business leadership." Yeah, well, a lot of us feel the same way.

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AND: Although my next book, They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust, won't be out until next year, I invite you to give my first book, A Gift of Meaning, as a holiday gift this year. It contains a collection of columns that I think stand the test of time. To order the book directly from the University of Missouri Press, click here. Missouri Press has the book on sale this fall, but the sales price is not reflected on the page to which I've linked you. So to make sure you get that lower price, you might want to call the order department at 800-828-1894. To order from Amazon, click here.

When can you leave church?: 12-12-08

In the New Testament, the Greek word often used to refer to a congregation of followers of Jesus means "called out." Which is to say that Christians now understand the church not to be a voluntary club but, rather, the collection of people whom God has called out of the world to be members.

Well, that's at least an important Christian theological concept. But the truth is that's not the way most Christian congregations operate today, even if they think of themselves as somehow put together in that way.

Rather, they often use various marketing tools to attract new members and then later willingly let them transfer to other congregations for almost any reason. A man who teaches theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary thinks the church has this all wrong.

Edwin Chr. van Driel, in a piece in the current issue of Theology Today, says that if church membership really is "based on divine covenant," then maybe authoritative church bodies, when faced with a member's request to transfer out (for reasons other than moving to a different city, I gather), should respond this way: "We are sorry, but we cannot do this. Obviously there is something that bothers you about our church. We are committed to working with you on this, however difficult and painful this might be for all of us. But we all are called to be together as members of the body of Christ; and just as much as the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' we cannot let you go."

He suggests something similar when people want "to transfer in because they have conflicts with their parishes of origin, or simply because they prefer our youth program or Bible study or the preaching of our pastor."

In a nation that values its individual freedom above almost everything, would this work in America? Or would much more theological education be required for people to understand this theology?

My own guess is that for the no-transfer kind of policy to have a chance, a whole lot more education and discernment will have to happen when people decide they want to join a church. And that wouldn't be a bad thing.

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A FLAWED ECONOMIC SYSTEM?

Pope Benedict XVI has issued some harsh criticisms of the global financial system, saying it often is selfish and short-sighted. No kidding. My question is this: With 2-plus billion Christians in the world, many of them holding high-ranking positions in that system, why is it that way? Is it not possible to infuse this system with better values?

Ministering to special people: 12-11-08

The widely read and honored Christian theologian Jurgen Moltmann once declared that a church that does not have any members with disabilities is itself disabled.

Many faith communities take seriously their responsibility -- privilege, I would say -- to minister to people with various disabilities. Among those in the Kansas City area that have an especially good record in this area are Valley View United Methodist Church in Overland Park, Kan.; Colonial Presbyterian Church of Kansas City and the College Church of the Nazarene of Olathe, Kan.

My wife and I attended services at the latter church this past Sunday because my wife's oldest child, my stepson, who attends services there, was singing in a special choir. He goes to the church with other residents of the group home where he's lived for nearly 20 years.

I'm showing you a wide shot of the singers as they were assembling for the two songs they were to do. Take a moment to look at the individual faces. (The woman on the right was doing signing for deaf people and there are a few adult chaperones in the choir.)

As you look at them, remember what the churches who welcome such people remember, which is that each one of them is a unique individual with a personal story. And each one is a child of God.

How does your faith community, if any, welcome people with disabilities and seek to meet their needs? If you don't know, I suggest you find out. You can be an advocate, too, for people who need advocates.

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DEAR GOD: HOW'S THE WEATHER UP THERE?

Hundreds of "Letters to God" were delivered to Jerusalem's Western Wall this week in an annual ceremony of hope. What would you say in a letter to God? Or, if you're an agnostic, a letter "To Whom It May Concern"?

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P.S.: Do you know about the Christo Rey schools in the country, including in Kansas City? They provide college prep educations to disadvantaged high school students in urban areas. The Jesuit priest behind the Cristo Rey movement was honored yesterday at the White House with a Presidential Citizens Medal. He's the Rev. John P. Foley. Good work, Father Foley.

The under-educated clergy: 12-10-08

As someone who served for several years -- six, as I recall -- on a committee that oversees Presbyterian seminary students, I sometimes wonder about the quality of students attending seminary these days.

I was not encouraged when I read the lead editorial in the current issue of Theology Today, a quarterly published by Princeton Theological Seminary.

It was written by James F. Kay, who teaches homiletics and liturgics there. In it, he makes a plea (to himself and others) to learn from today's students. But along the way he writes this:

"In my own classroom, I look out on students born in the late 1980s. They belong to a post-everything world. They can manipulate computer screens and text message while enduring my lectures, but they cannot write essays. They insist on 'handouts' that will prepare them for whatever may be on a test, but comparing, contrasting, reasoned arguing, historical perspectives, and scriptural allusions are largely unknown to them. Hence, their ignorance can be accompanied by an astonishing arrogance. It is all beyond them because, in some sense, they have gotten through an American educational system that no longer values what was once known as 'the liberal arts.' I gather, on good authority, that most of them have never received any grade lower than a B, and I wonder as I read their papers how this could possibly be the case."

Oh, my.

If this is more or less universally true in seminaries across the country -- and I suspect it might well be -- what can it possibly mean for the future of the church? How will preachers ever have the patience and skill to read the Bible in its original Greek and Hebrew and exegete it so they can offer its meaning to their congregations? How will pastors communicate effectively with the people in the pews?

What's your experience with this problem? And what's the solution, if any?

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'W' AS A MODERATE THEOLOGIAN

Well, well, well, now that George W. Bush doesn't much need the support of people who would consider themselves religiously conservative or even fundamentalist, he's describing his own beliefs in terms that people who would call themselves theological moderates or progressives or even liberals might embrace. What he believes it up to him, of course, but I think we might have avoided some of the more hostile religious rhetoric of the last eight years had he been more forthright about all of this from the start.

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P.S.: I make nothing of this information, but the question inevitably will come up, so I thought I'd try to answer it here: Gov. Rod Blagojevich, arrested on corruption charges yesterday, is listed as being an adherent of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The first link here is from Adherents.com. This second link also identifies him as Eastern Orthodox. As I say, I make nothing of this. It says nothing about Eastern Orthodoxy but the long list of allegations about Blagojevich may tell us a great deal about the governor.

Feeling the loss: 12-9-08

The western sky was shimmering with a fading orange, and high, thin clouds muzzled a cold half moon as we stood and watched people spoon Steve's ashes into a small hole in the earth in the church garden.

Earlier in the year I had played golf with Steve and other friends. He couldn't breathe well, but he was an inventive and determined man, so he had rigged up a carrier for his oxygen tank that fit in the center of his back, allowing him to swing the club freely.

But that was in the spring. And now Steve is gone, missed by family, friends and his parish. So we gathered at his church to say farewell and to remember.

Then we moved outside to the garden and interred Steve's ashes beneath a small tree, ashes that no longer could feel, sense, respond. Ashes that really weren't Steve any more, though somehow they were connected to him.

And I thought of Wallace Steven's stunning poem, "The Snow Man," and what it says about sensitivity and insensitivity to the world around us:

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

So as Steve's ashes went into the cold ground, we beheld the something that was not there and the nothing that was. And our hearts sighed.

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WILL IT HELP TO ASK SANTA?

Pope Benedict XVI says he's praying for the jobless this holiday season. Couldn't the Vatican help out by hiring, say, a temporary vice pope or two?

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P.S.: I almost missed it. But happy birthday (No. 400) today to poet John Milton, whom the chair of the English Department at Temple University says still is relevant. Milton is where to go to learn about paradise -- lost and regained. Read especially Jacques Barzun's section on Milton in From Dawn to Decadence.