5 Deeply de-Christian doctrines

Joe tagged me with this (and the people I would tag have already been tagged, so I won’t bother). Basically, anything good which gets raised too high becomes de-Christian; anything which is less than God which starts taking on divine attributes (especially perfection) becomes idolatrous and oppressive, and thereby de-Christian. So with that said…

1. Sola Scriptura: not just meaningless but, in so far as it eclipses the truth that a human being was the incarnate Word of God, anti-Christian.
2. Papal Infallibility: ultimately it is the consensus fidelium which is infallible, but even there, there are some things which we cannot stand just yet.
3. Private Judgement: source of the ten thousand things and all manner of distress. Has a role as part of an iterative process, it cannot be a final locus of authority on its own.
4. Penal Substitution: if suggested as one possible metaphor for understanding atonement, I can just about bear it; when imposed as the only possible understanding then it is the ultimate “doctrine of man” and graceless.
5. “Family Values”: source of much of our present distress, and not something that Jesus was particularly supportive of. There is the individual in their relationship with God, and then there is the church family. Biological links come some way behind that, at least as Jesus taught.

Random beliefs

Doug tagged me with this; I’m supposed to “Post a collection of 10 things you believe, ethical, philosophical or theological.”

1. I believe that God is a very great deal less concerned about sexual preference (and even behaviour) than we are.

2. I believe that God is a very great deal less concerned about styles of worship than we are.

3. I believe that there are services of “Christian worship” which qualify under neither heading.

4. I believe that love makes the world go round in a very literal (ie law of physics) sense.

5. I believe that governments consistently cause more problems than they solve, and I especially appreciate the prayer in the BCP that we might be ‘godly and quietly governed’.

6. I believe that the seriousness of climate change is significantly overstated.

7. I believe that all abortions are in every case sinful, but I also believe that on some rare occasions it can be a lesser sin than the alternative.

8. I believe that the church has lost something essential with a shift away from “supernatural” understandings of the faith (eg angels and demons); I also believe that there are problems with such traditional language of the “supernatural”. Should I ever get a chance to scratch the academic itch then I will research the nature of these forms of theological language and try to answer the question ‘what is actually going on during an exorcism?’ I believe that something very real and important takes place, but neither the supernatural nor the secular approaches capture it.

9. I believe that Wittgenstein is not well understood by many (most?) mainstream philosophers, most especially with regard to his understanding of religious language. (He’ll be my principal converation partner if I end up doing that PhD – but I doubt it will be in a Philosophy faculty.)

10. I believe that atheism in the humourless sense is a passing fad and that within perhaps as little as twenty years the likes of Richard Dawkins will be viewed in the same way as, eg, Ron Atkinson was for his language. That does not mean that all atheists will become believers (to think that is to persist in missing the point) – it is to say that at the philosophical level positivism has been comprehensively debunked, and all that’s left are the cultural echoes amongst the half-educated, which will slowly die out.

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I’m going to tag: Banksy, Sally, bls and Graham.

Honest Scrap

Peter Kirk tagged me with this, “I’m supposed to tell you 10 HONEST things about myself and then nominate 7 other blogs that I think deserve to receive the Honest Scrap Award.”

Hey, everything I write on here is honest! (Some of it is scrap without the s too 😉 And I’ve done this sort of thing before… So this’ll be brief, and I’m not going to tag anyone else.

1. I’m completely deaf in my left ear since birth.
2. I’m learning to sail.
3. I’m going on sabbatical this autumn, hoping to finish my LUBH book, and do some more sailing.
4. I grew up on a houseboat about ten miles up river from where I am now.
5. I’m married with three kids, a dog and a parrot.
6. I’m in therapy, which is a good thing.
7. I’m really enjoying learning to ride a motorbike.
8. I have permission from my Bishop to stop doing some of the things that I have been doing, because even he now thinks I’ve been doing too much!!!
9. I haven’t blogged properly (or sung the Eucharistic prayer) since early May (let the reader understand). I expect this psychological blockage to ease during the sabbatical.
10. I am writing this using a new computer but my old (and very mucky) keyboard, because the shape of the keys on the new keyboard is slightly and annoyingly different. Time to invest in a keyboard cleaner.

Bible books meme

I’ve been tagged by John and Doug on this.

Rules:
1. Name the five books (or scholars) that had the most immediate and lasting influence on how you read the Bible. Note that these need not be your five favorite books, or even the five with which you most strongly agree. Instead, I want to know what five books have permanently changed the way you think.
2. Tag five others.

1. John Ashton, not so much for his magnum opus as for the fact that he was my principal NT teacher, who introduced me to all the basics (form criticism, Bultmann, Sanders etc), and is therefore foundational to how I think about the study of Scripture. A good bloke too.
2. Fundamentalism, James Barr. Contemporaneously with the first, reading this was an eye-opening experience for someone who thought that the only way to read the Bible faithfully was through a fundamentalist perspective.
3. Andrew Mein, who recognised my Marcionite tendencies and took me in hand whilst at Westcott. Introduced me to some fairly important ideas, eg the Deuteronomistic history, and also got me to read Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination (and the rest is history). Another nice bloke – although he’s crap at Risk 😉
4. James Alison, Faith Beyond Resentment. Was given this by a friend around five years ago and found it utterly fascinating, introduced me to Girardian ways of interpreting Scripture although I think there is more to Alison than simply a representation of Girard. The last chapter blew my mind; not sure the pieces have all been put back together yet.
5. Margaret Barker, Temple Theology who I was switched on to via another of Alison’s books, and who I am only now starting to explore properly (excitingly, she’s a speaker at Greenbelt this year), but I’m finding everything about it fascinating (even if it undermines some of my ideas about worship!).

And I’m surprised I’ve mentioned neither Tom Wright nor Eugene Peterson!

Tags: Phil, Tim G, Paul, Joe, Tim C.

Theology books (meme)

From Byron
Rules:
i. List the most helpful book you’ve read in this category;
ii. Describe why you found it helpful; and
iii. Tag five more friends and spread the meme love.

Prefatory note: this is HARD; if you’ve been reading theology for twenty years how do you assess?? But I’ll be disciplined, and just put one book into each.

1. Theology
Theology after Wittgenstein, Fergus Kerr. The key to integrating my philosophical and theological interests into some sort of harmony: “That considering the execution of an innocent man is a more promising starting point for sustaining Christian theology than proving that God exists might be one unsurprising conclusion” [flowing from W’s philosophy].

2. Biblical Theology
The Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggemann. Totally shaped how I understand not just the OT but also what I’m supposed to be doing in my ministry.

3. God
The Darkness of God, Denys Turner. Describes the rigorous intellectual context for the mystical tradition and what it means to talk about God.

4. Jesus
Jesus and Judaism, EP Sanders. I’d probably disagree with a lot of this now but it was the backbone of the NT part of my degree.

5. Old Testament
Leviticus as Literature, Mary Douglas. Fascinating and humanising.

6. New Testament
What St Paul Really Said, Tom Wright. Concise, readable, essential.

7. Morals
The Peaceable Kingdom, Stanley Hauerwas. Explains why most “Christian Ethics” is nonsense, and what we should be doing instead.

8. (Church) History
At the Origins of Modern Atheism, William Buckley. The fish rots from the head down.

9. Biography
The Shame and the Sacrifice, Edwin Robertson. The book that introduced me to Bonhoeffer’s life and thought.

10. Evangelism
The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch. Need to re-read this, but it’s an excellent manifesto for authentic church – easy to enter but demanding for disciples.

11. Prayer
The Roots of Christian Mysticism, Olivier Clement. Practical and integrates doctrine and spirituality; also functions as a great introduction to the Church Fathers.

Tags (exceeding my allowance): your meme, should you choose to accept it: Paul, Jon, Justin, Joe, Tim, Tim and Phil.
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An atheism meme

Via James Elliott and Chris Dillow. I thought I’d jump in and see what happens…

Q1. How would you define “atheism”?

The denial of theism.

Q2. Was your upbringing religious? If so, what tradition?

Church of England.

Q3. How would you describe “Intelligent Design”, using only one word?

Atheistic.

Q4. What scientific endeavor really excites you?

Lots. I’m particularly interested in neuro-psychology at the moment.

Q5. If you could change one thing about the “atheist community”, what would it be and why?

Give them a better sense of intellectual history, especially Christian intellectual history.

Q6. If your child came up to you and said “I’m joining the clergy”, what would be your first response?

You can’t do it unless you’re called, and if you’re called you can’t do anything else.

Q7. What’s your favorite theistic argument, and how do you usually refute it?

I don’t have any favourite theistic arguments.

Q8. What’s your most “controversial” (as far as general attitudes amongst other atheists goes) viewpoint?

er… bearing in mind where I’m coming at this from, probably that God=meaning.

Q9. Of the “Four Horsemen” (Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens and Harris) who is your favourite, and why?

I’ve never read Harris so can’t comment; Hitchens is a journalist with attitude but not much more; Dawkins is a gifted writer with a good understanding of biology but not much more; which leaves Dennett as the best of the bunch. He at least has some greater breadth.

Q10. If you could convince just one theistic person to abandon their beliefs, who would it be?

Oo. Lots to choose from, but it’d be a toss up between Osama bin Laden and Peter Akinola.

The Top 100 Intellectuals

I’m stealing a meme from John Hobbins. We have to take this list of the top 100 intellectuals and then make (1) a list of all those I could carry on a conversation with based on things I’ve read by them; (2) a list of those I’ve spoken with in person or corresponded with; (3) authors any self-respecting intellectual must read if she hasn’t already. And I’m going to add a 4) as well…There’s a danger of the list becoming self-congratulatory but I’m taking it more as an audit of how widely read I am/ need to become.

1) Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Jared Diamond, Umberto Eco, Niall Ferguson, Thomas Friedman, Al Gore, Christopher Hitchens, Samuel Huntington, Paul Krugman, Steven Levitt, Bernard Lewis, Bjorn Lomborg, James Lovelock, Martha Nussbaum, Steven Pinker, Robert Putnam, Salman Rushdie, Peter Singer, Charles Taylor.

2) None.

3) Of the above I’d say several don’t deserve to be on the list, including Dawkins, Friedman, Chomsky, Gore, Hitchens, Krugman, Putnam, Rushdie and Singer… The people who I think will have made a lasting contribution, of those I have read, are Nussbaum and Taylor, but that might just reflect my own intellectual background. I would tend to agree that you need to read at least Bernard Lewis, Bjorn Lomborg and probably James Lovelock to consider yourself informed in their various arenas. Not so confident about Dennett and Pinker – too many competing voices.

4) Intellectuals where I’ve bought their books but haven’t properly read them yet: Pope Benedict XVI, Jurgen Habermas, EO Wilson, Slavoj Zizek.

5) Another one – missing from the list: Alasdair MacIntyre, there ought to be many more theologians (like Rowan and Tom Wright), Stanley Cavell, Steven Mithen, Wendell Berry, Roger Scruton, Robert Spencer…

Once more unto the meme dear friends

bls retaliated with a tag:

Rule 1) List three reasons for your blogging.
Rule 2) List these rules.
Rule 3) Tag three others with the thread.

Reason one: it’s a pensieve, where my mind can overflow, and the contents, instead of being lost and forgotten, are preserved for posterity. That may not be a superior outcome of course.
Reason two: the conversation. Writing things makes me a) articulate myself more effectively, and b) invites comments that stretch my own thinking and challenge me to reassess my views. It’s intellectually very healthy.
Reason three: because I enjoy writing.

I tag: Jonathan who never does a meme but I’d be really interested in his answers to this, and for whom I’d like to buy a pint; Jonathan in lieu of the pint that never was; and Justin as downpayment on a pint yet to come.

Bible meme

Tagged by Paul. Original spelling of ‘favorite’.

1. What translation of the Bible do you like best?
Probably the RSV but this is definitely in flux at the moment. I’m enjoying reading the New Living Translation on a daily basis. See this post. I don’t like the NIV much, no, not at all.

2. Old or New Testament?
I’m loving the Old more and more as time goes on, but I can’t see any real choice here for a Christian.

3. Favorite Book of the Bible?
The Gospel of John.

4. Favorite Chapter?
Either 1 or 6. The farewell discourse is pretty good stuff too…

5. Favorite Verse? (feel free to explain yourself if you have to)
Probably John 10.10. There are lots!

6. Bible character you think you’re most like?
St Paul.

7. One thing from the Bible that confuses you?
The book of Revelation. St Paul.

8. Moses or Paul?
Don’t really understand the question. Does it mean ‘Law or Grace’? But I’ve answered St Paul twice already, so the answer must be Moses.

9. A teaching from the Bible that you struggle with or don’t get?
There are lots in Leviticus (which I’m reading at the moment).

10. Coolest name in the Bible?
Elizaphan of course.

I tag: Michael, John, bls, Steve and, because I didn’t tag him on the other one, Tim.

Book tag

Byron tagged me with this meme, which was nice, because I never get tagged 🙁

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five other people.

As it happens, I have Kim Paffenroth‘s ‘Gospel of the Living Dead’ next to my elbow. So the relevant text is:

Out in the streets, a further setback for the human survivors is that the electrified fence is still turned on, and therefore they cannot escape out of the city, making Riley’s earlier observation of the fence all the more prescient and chilling: “I can’t help but think we’re all locked in.” We see a crowd of people trapped at the fence, with zombies closing in on them. Riley anticipates this problem, and as he drives Dead Reckoning towards the fence, he shoots off fireworks to try and save the trapped people, but now it is to no avail, as the zombies are no longer distracted by them.

It’s from a synopsis of 2005’s ‘Land of the Dead’ – but I haven’t got to that point in my re-watching yet (though I have seen the film a couple of times).

I tag: Paul, Tom, Joe, Jonathan and Juliet.