worship as higher politics

Thanks to Travis Stanley for this link to a Christianity Today article on fundagelical reverence for Dubya.

In the heat of partisan politics (out of which many of these overstatements and misunderstandings arise), we are tempted to forget that the most potent political act -- —the one act that deeply manifests and really empowers a "kind and noble society" -- —is the worship of Jesus Christ.

In worship we signal who is the Sovereign, not of just this nation, but of heaven and Earth. In worship we gather to be formed into an alternate polis, the people of God. It is here that we proclaim that a new political order -- —the kingdom of heaven -- —has been preached and incarnated by the King of Kings, and will someday come in fullness, a fullness to which all kingdoms and republics will submit:

"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ...The city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the Earth will bring their splendor into it" (Rev. 21:2, 23-24).

"contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints"

I teach Sunday School to a group of high school guys. Currently, we're working our way through the tiny letter of Jude. Jude's letter is deceptively short: it's packed with OT and apocryphal allusions which make simple, Sunday School-style explication difficult because these texts (the Book of Enoch, the Testament of Moses, rabbinic interpretations of stories from the Pentateuch, etc.) are unfamiliar to many Christians.

In addition to being a challenging read, Jude is, arguably, the most neglected letter in the NT -- except for verse 3. In studying Jude, I've come to see just how this verse has been abused and decontextualized in such a way that it has been (and continues to be) used as a weapon against those with whom you disagree. In my own study, I've been relying on Richard Bauckham's very thorough commentary (in the Word Biblical Commentary Series). He argues, and rightly so I think, that the meaning of the phrase "contend for the faith" is governed by how the letter is structured. He provides the following outline:

1-2 Address and Greeting
3-4 Occasion and Theme of the Letter
3 A. The Appeal
4 B. The Background to the Appeal
5-19 B. The Background to the Appeal: A Midrash on the Prophecies of the Doom of the Ungodly
5-7 (1) Three OT types
8-10 plus interpretation
9 (1a) Michael and the Devil
11 (2) Three More OT Types
12-13 plus interpretation
14-15 (3) The Prophecy of Enoch
16 plus interpretation
17-18 (4) The Prophecy of the Apostles
19 plus interpretation
20-23 A. The Appeal
24-25 Closing Doxology

To simplify: after greeting the recipients of his letter, Jude describes their situation, saying that the false teachers who are among them are "designated for...condemnation as ungodly." He then gives several OT and apocryphal examples of people (ungodly teachers and prophets) who had already come to a bad end.

Why is this important?

To quote Bauckham (p. 32): "The structure of the letter is most important for establishing what Jude intended his readers to do to continue the fight for the faith. What his appeal means he spells out in vv. 20-23, which contain entirely positive exhortations." In other words, Jude does not leave his readers in the dark as to what he has in mind by the phrase "contend for the faith." He exhorts them to:

"build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies."

These are, indeed, positive exhortations that focus on the inner life and one's own spiritual formation and that of one's community (ekklesia). There are some things that Jude very definitely does not have in mind here: slandering one's brother in a public fashion, "writing up those who honestly and sincerely disagree with you on a given issue. By Jude's definition, this is not contending for the faith. Neither is this.

Thoughts?

x & y

I got the new Coldplay album, X & Y, last week and have listened several times now. Favorites so far are: "Square One," "White Shadows" and the single "The Speed of Sound."

I agree, so far, with several reviews I've read that the ending of the album is somewhat discursive, but I felt the same way about the last album -- it grew on me after several spins, though.

tennessee state flag

While Hannah and I were in Nashville, we stopped by the Tennessee State Museum to see a fantastic exhibition on the Tennessee state flag, which is 100 years old this year. Above is a picture of a flag displaying the results of a bill passed in the State Legislature in 2000 which mandated that all state flags produced for official use have the top end stamped to prevent them from being flown upside down (which is all too common in my native state).

british churches of christ

As promised, after a week of frequent Internet outages (gotta love Atlanta!) and a week of vacation, here is the fruit of some Internet browsing into the British Churches of Christ, which I was introduced to in the tasty new Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement.

Anyway, here are a few links:

The United Reformed Church -- In 1981, the majority of British Churches of Christ merged with other groups to form a united body of churches. From the URC website:

In October 1997 the United Reformed Church celebrated its 25th anniversary. Formed in 1972 by the union of the Congregational Church in England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church of England, the United Reformed Church has continued to express its deep commitment to the visible unity of the whole Church. In 1981 it entered into union with the Re-formed Churches of Christ and in the year 2000 with the Congregational Union of Scotland.

A small group of congregations declined to enter the merger. These churches are known as the Fellowship of Churches of Christ (no website available).

There were several influential figures among the British churches whose names are scarcely known in America. Some of them can be found here. Perhaps the most well known of these is J.B. Rotherham, who is widely acclaimed for his Emphasized Bible and his writings on Holy Communion, which are, unfortunately, out of print.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, missionaries from British Churches of Christ made their way to Australia and New Zealand.

Churches of Christ in Australia

Associated Churches of Christ (NZ)

Last, but not least, the umbrella organization that attempts to maintain lines of communication between these groups and their American brethren in churches of Christ, Independent Christian Churches and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is:

The World Convention of Churches of Christ

more on prisoner abuse

This is a bit belated, but go check out 2005 Amnesty International Report on human rights. Particularly worth looking at is the report on the US.

Newsweek, the Koran and the administration (part 2)

About a month later, we have official (DoD) confirmation that American interrogators did in fact "kick, step on" and "splash urine upon" the Qu'ran.

The most telling part of the article, aside from fudging the urine stuff: "Southern Command released its findings on a Friday night."

summer of oprah?

I like William Faulkner. No, I really like Faulkner. He's not the easiest or most accessible author; there's still a great deal about a novel like Absalom, Absalom (for instance) that I just don't understand. That, after having sat through classes devoted to Faulkner in college under an expert who had read Absalom some 30 times and told us that she learned something new each time she read it.

Which is why I was more than a little surprised when I walked into my local Borders the other day and saw this. The latest Oprah's Book Club selection is a box set of three Faulkner novels: As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, and Light in August. I love the idea of reading groups and large numbers of people reading and discussing the same book. I am all for Faulkner gaining a wider audience and for responsible scholars working to make the material accessible (on the hand, doesn't the most rewarding part of reading come from reading and re-reading and wrestling with a text?).

But Oprah?!??

Go ahead, call me elitist, but it strikes me that the average Oprah viewer won't get more than a few pages into, say, The Sound and the Fury, before he throws his hands up in frustration and bafflement. Where The Heart Is this ain't.

varia

I'm done for the summer, so there'll be lots more time to read, blog, etc.

I finally checked out a copy of the Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement, and have spent many hours this past rainy week perusing it. I'm fascinated with the long history of the movement in Great Britain and the theological emphases that Stone-Campbell churches in the UK, Australia and New Zealand have pursued. I'll post some links in the next few days along with, I think, fascinating bits of information.

More to come...