AMERICAN SAINTS IN A CYNICAL AGE: SESSIONS 1-6

Diana Butler Bass:

American Saints in a Cynical Age

To join the open online Lenten class head over to www.EmptyAltars.com

We live in iconoclastic times. All around us, saints and heroes are being knocked off or taken down from public altars. It seems that nearly everyone we once admired or held in esteem has failed us. We’ve stripped the altars of both state and church. America’s spiritual landscape is now marked by empty altars everywhere.

Taking down statues is nothing new, especially in Christian history. Cynicism and anger at failed institutions and flawed heroes is nothing new. But human beings rarely leave altars empty very long — there’s almost a pressing need to re-sanctify the geographies we inhabit. People always put statues back up.

But of who? And to commemorate what? How do we move ahead with new saints and a less troublesome iconography? What “saints” can inspire us to address the hurts of our hearts, the brokenness of our communities, and the pressing issues of our times?

Shouldn’t we just give up on the whole idea of saints anyway? Why bother?

Join Diana and Tripp this Lentas they explore “sainthood” for an American — and global — future. We’ll share stories that need to be told of “saints” you know and those you need to know in a quirky learning journey through American religious history.

Session 1. Empty Altars: Visionaries & Prophets

Homebrewed Christianity w/ Dr. Tripp Fuller

& Dr. Diana Butler Bass

Streamed live on Feb 29, 2023

Session 2. Empty Altars: Artists & Innovators

Homebrewed Christianity w/ Dr. Tripp Fuller

& Dr. Diana Butler Bass

Streamed live on Mar 6, 2023

Session 3. Empty Altars: Mystics & Utopians

Homebrewed Christianity w/ Dr. Tripp Fuller

& Dr. Diana Butler Bass

Streamed live on Mar 13, 2023

Session 4. Empty Altars: Questioners & Thinkers

Homebrewed Christianity w/ Dr. Tripp Fuller

& Dr. Diana Butler Bass

Streamed live on Mar 20, 2023

Session 5. Empty Altars: Martyrs

Homebrewed Christianity w/ Dr. Tripp Fuller

& Dr. Diana Butler Bass

Streamed live on Mar 27, 2023

Welcome to the Post-Christian Century:

Diana Butler Bass & Bill Leonard in conversation

(Preview Podcast)

Homebrewed Christianity w/ Dr. Tripp Fuller

& Dr. Diana Butler Bass

Streamed live on Apr 3, 2023

Previous Episodes with Diana & Tripp

• Ruining Dinner… and Date Nights
• Welcome to the Post-Christian Century
• Ruining Christmas Dinner
• Ruining Election Night Dinner
• The Over-Rated Genie God
• Bad Blood, Civil War, and other Soothing Topics
• Shall the Fundies (Keep) Winning?, Abortion, and Black Holes
• Theology and Spirituality in a Time of Rupture
• White Evangelical Theopolitics, John Shelby Spong, & Jesus
• 20 Years of Religious Decline
• Jesus After Religion and Beyond Fear
• Ruining Dinner with Diana Butler Bass and Robyn Henderson-Espinoza
• Evangelical Decline, the Supreme Court, and the Horizon of Possibility
• Debating, Praying, and Living with Tyrants
• Religion, Politics, & the Elephant in the Room

Diana Butler Bass

Public Scholar of American Religion

Dr. Bass is an award-winning author, popular speaker, inspiring preacher, and one of America’s most trusted commentators on religion and contemporary spirituality. She is the author of ten books, including her most recent, Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. Diana’s passion is sharing great ideas to change lives and the world – a passion that ranges from informing the public about spiritual trends, challenging conventional narratives about religious practice, entering the fray of social media with spiritual wisdom and smart theology, and writing books to help readers see themselves, their place in history, and God differently. You can connect with her on Twitter or by subscribing to her popular newsletter, The Cottage.

Tripp Fuller

Homebrewed Christianity

Tripp just moved back to North Carolina after three years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Theology & Science at the University of Edinburgh. He recently released Divine Self-Investment: a Constructive Open and Relational Christology, the first book in the Studies in Open and Relational Theology series. For over 14 years Tripp has been doing the Homebrewed Christianity podcast (think on-demand internet radio) where he interviews different scholars about their work so you can get nerdy in traffic, on the treadmill, or doing the dishes. Last year it had over 4 million downloads. It also inspired a book series with Fortress Press called the Homebrewed Christianity Guides to... topics like God, Jesus, Spirit, Church History, etc. Tripp is a very committed and (some of his friends think overly ) engaged Lakers fan and takes Star Wars and Lord of the Rings very seriously.

Small, but Powerful, "3-Word-Theologies" from the NT

Small, but Powerful,

"Three-Word-Theologies" from the NT

The Cottage

A Weekly Sunday Observance

by Diana Butler Bass

October 2, 2022

Luke 17:5-6

The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, `Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

What caught my attention this week were the three words at the beginning of the text: Increase our faith!

Three words carry emotional and spiritual weight — you can feel the disciples’s longing to trust deeply, to believe more fervently. Sometimes three words are all that are needed.

Three word theologies in the New Testament:

• God is love
• Love your neighbor
• Here am I
• Be not afraid
• Peace on earth
• Love one another
• Do unto others
• Faith, hope, love
• Pray like this
• Go, do likewise
• God will provide
• Love is patient
• Love your enemies
• Seventy times seven
• Thy Kingdom come
• Love never fails
• Increase our faith
• Mustard seed faith

Honestly, who needs tomes of systematic doctrine when we have such concise wisdom at hand? Three word theology is deceptively simple, but it isn’t shallow. One could live a lifetime with this list and never grasp its full beauty or practice its teachings consistently. But these uncomplicated phrases beckon, holding our hearts and hopes, and offering a vision of love and mercy. The way is often found in the smallest things, the fewest words. Maybe all we need is mustard seed faith.

INSPIRATION

Lord of the growing seed,
you reach to the roots of our being
and quench our sea-deep thirst:
help us to know ourselves
through the eyes of the other
who calls us to answer and serve
and, in the end, be filled.

— Steven Shakespeare


Love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places

yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds

— e.e. cummings, “Love is a Place”

On Sundays, the preacher gives everyone a chance
to repent their sins. Miss Edna makes me go
to church. She wears a bright hat
I wear my suit. Babies dress in lace.
Girls my age, some pretty, some not so
pretty. Old ladies and men nodding.
Miss Edna every now and then throwing her hand
in the air. Saying Yes, Lord and Preach!
I sneak a pen from my back pocket,
bend down low like I dropped something.
The chorus marches up behind the preacher
clapping and humming and getting ready to sing.
I write the word HOPE on my hand.

— Jacqueline Woodson


Who ever saw the mustard-plant,
wayside weed or tended crop,
grow tall as a shrub, let alone a tree, a treeful
of shade and nests and songs?
Acres of yellow,
not a bird of the air in sight.

No, He who knew
the west wind brings
the rain, the south wind
thunder, who walked the field-paths
running His hand along wheatstems to glean
those intimate milky kernels, good
to break on the tongue,

was talking of miracle, the seed
within us, so small
we take it for worthless, a mustard-seed, dust,
nothing.
Glib generations mistake
the metaphor, not looking at fields and trees,
not noticing paradox. Mountains
remain unmoved.

Faith is rare, He must have been saying,
prodigious, unique —
one infinitesimal grain divided
like loaves and fishes,

as if from a mustard-seed
a great shade-tree grew. That rare,
that strange: the kingdom

a tree. The soul
a bird. A great concourse of birds
at home there, wings among yellow flowers.
The waiting
kingdom of faith, the seed
waiting to be sown.

— Denise Levertov

Diana Butler Bass - Understanding Christian Nationalism, Parts 1-3

Vote Common Good is trying to get Pennsylvania voters to understand the dangers of Christian nationalism. https://www.votecommongood.com/penn-live-in-billboards-evangelical-group-urges-faith-voters-to-ditch-support-of-mastriano/

Understanding Christian Nationalism

article link

An invitation to explore the movement shaping American politics

by Diana Butler Bass

September 14, 2022

I got an email this week from a reader letting me know that his adult education group was using the recent Christian nationalism posts from The Cottage as a multi-week study leading up to the fall elections.

What a great idea! Until I read his note, however, I didn’t realize that I’d written a post each month since July on the subject. It certainly wasn’t a planned series. It just happened in conjunction with the news — and the intense interest in the subject of Christian nationalism.

He inspired me to turn the Christian nationalism essays into a three-part discussion curriculum that you can use.

Today’s post links all three of the essays in a single newsletter. I hope this will be helpful to you. Some may want to use these posts as my friend’s congregation is — for others that may be too controversial and you might want to read them in a small group. I do suggest that you engage them with others if possible.

I invite you to re-read them as a group — and with a group. I’ve enclosed some discussion questions for you to think about the ideas presented in each essay as well.

This three-part exploration of Christian nationalism involves terminology, theology, and history. It isn’t exhaustive (there’s much more that can be said), but it is provocative, thoughtful, and timely. And, since the essays are short, you needn’t read an entire book to engage important issues.

Of course, you may agree or disagree with various points and interpretations. That’s expected! Talking about a subject is often a good way toward greater understanding — and moderating fear we might have. Each of these posts comes from my own wrestling with these difficult days.

ESSAY #1: CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM EVERYWHERE?

In this essay, I explore the term “Christian nationalism” and suggest we might need to make finer distinctions in how we define political impulses in white evangelicalism.

Christian Nationalism Everywhere?

In the last few days, the phrase “Christian nationalism” is everywhere. The media is on fire with the term, blaming nearly every ill in American politics on Christian nationalism. I confess: I’m not entirely on board with this. There are ways in which explaining Christian nationalism adds an important dimension to understand the conflicts in American soc…

Read more

2 months ago · 60 comments · Diana Butler Bass

For discussion:

• What do you think about the central claim of this essay? “Both of these things are true: America is not a Christian nation. And the United States was shaped by Protestantism.”

• Why is it important to understand this paradoxical proposition? What might it mean for politics to grasp this history?

* * * * *

ESSAY #2: BAD BLOOOD

In recent weeks, talk of Civil War has skyrocketed. This essay looks at the connection between political conflict and theology that lends itself toward violence. This was one of the most widely read, shared, and discussed posts of the year at The Cottage.

The Cottage - Bad Blood

With the FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, violent rhetoric and threats of an impending Civil War skyrocketed on social media. Ben Collins, disinformation and extremism expert, was all over traditional cable with dire warnings: “There are a lot of Americans right now who are extraordinarily angry. . . They believe this is the end. . . that w…

Read more

a month ago · 90 comments · Diana Butler Bass

For discussion:

• Do you worry that the central claim of Christianity involves blood and violence?

• What do you make of this statement?: “Not every Christian who holds to the theory of blood-atonement is a Christian nationalist, but Christian nationalism depends on this theology and can’t survive without it.”

• How might Christian theology, churches, and preachers address this? Where do you see these ideas in the news? Have you ever considered how bad theology might inspire political violence?

* * * * *

ESSAY #3: BAD HISTORY

Although most political commentators haven’t paid attention, white evangelical politics has been supported by and is twinned with a particular view of providential history. This essay returns to the theme of “Christian nation-ism” vs. “Christian nationalism” and explores it through history.

The Cottage - Bad History

When I reached into a box of books that had been stored, I pulled out a paperback from graduate school. A bit dusty, its pages yellowed with age, with the distinctive smell of old ink and paper, my copy of The Search for Christian America made me wince a little. The edition was dated 1989 — with an inscription “gift from George Marsden, July, 29, 1991” …

Read more

6 days ago · 63 likes · 58 comments · Diana Butler Bass

For discussion:

• What do you make of the popularity of a book like The Light and the Glory?

• And what does it mean that two best-selling histories — The Light and the Glory and A People’s History of the United States — seem to have helped create the political divisions today?

• Why is history so often a contentious subject? Why do people fight over the past? Do you know someone who believes in this providential history?

Public Witness on Substack has been running some very good pieces about Christian nationalism. I particularly appreciated this recent post on Doug Mastriano. I recommend both their newsletter and their news and opinion website, Word and Way.

* * * * *

INSPIRATION

If you understand your own place and its intricacy and the possibility of affection and good care of it, then imaginatively you recognize that possibility for other places and other people. If you wish well to your own place and you recognize that your own place is part of the world, then this requires a well-wishing toward the whole world. In return you hope for the world's well-wishing to your place.

This is a different impulse from the impulse of nationalism. This is what I would call patriotism, the love of a home country that's usually much smaller than a nation. Nationalism always implies competition, always the wish that your nation might thrive even at the expense of other nations. Patriotism is the love of a home place or a home country that recognizes the obligation of charity toward other places and other people, and it recognizes that the prosperity of your place need not come at the expense of the prosperity of other places. There is a generosity, a charity, in what I recognize is the true patriotism, which is not necessarily implied by nationalism.

— Wendell Berry

 

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