Being a Radical Church of Refuge and Inclusivity

The primary goal of radical inclusivity is

not to imitate or change the mainline church.

But rather to BE the church.

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A Radical Democracy

by R.E. Slater

        Like a church's misdirected eschatology

of a Jesus ever coming

            in wroth and judgment -

                    as misguided Savior

                            into a misguided world

            so too is democracy's

                    languished hopefulness -

                            of a radical inclusivity

                        built on love

        to all, for all, as right and truth,

 measured not by arrival,

            but by preparedness,

                    need and wont, released

                            tears of oppression 

    sought by faithful congregants

        ever hopeful - and in their hope

                ever moving - towards a better

            becoming - a more improbable probable,

                       filled by anguished hopefulness,

                of a realized unreality gone wrong 

        built in healing and helps,

justice and equalities,

    washed in necessary sacrifice

        be-speaking

    what purposeful democracy

            might become

                    before men and women

            old and young

        bearing in their arms,

                by words and deeds,

        love and care

    and peace

for their fellow man

        laid into radical communities

    built of love - not wroth,

                grace - not injustice,

        to all, for all,

            as right and truth,

                    light and life,

                            as being becomed

R.E. Slater

May 10, 2020

"Democracy, like justice, is always ‘to come’, à venir." 

- Jacques Derrida

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

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The Age of Man in the Age of Christ

by R.E. Slater

Freedom isn't free when conservatives keep bludgeoning it to death.

Per the Supreme Court's alleged removing of Roe v Wade in support of the fetus over the mother's individual rights (May 2022) we are seeing in America a rolling stone gather power and energy in the denial against all non-conservative individual rights - whether racial, ethnic, gender/sex, color, religion, etc. Trumpian "rights" are no rights except for Trumpian followers.

This also goes to Trumpian interpreters of the American Constitution...

Rather than seeing individual liberty and equalities rise as the conservatives bemoaned during the period of Covid masking during 2020-2021, we see those same rights denied by alt-right movements across the United States.

In effect, we are seeing a return to 17th century church-based mendacities by appointed conservative "Constitutionalists" who are now imposing Enlightenment Era laws and thinking upon postmodern societies.

Remember, a "Living Constitution" goes with the times and the eras of a nation in the best of its forms and fashions when envisioning societal justice and equalities - including environmental justice and equality for ALL living things!

Conservatives however, seem to be opposed to the liberties and consitutionalities of the living, and are actively tearing down, breaking, harming, and destroying life in the best of White Christian nationalism.

"Trumpian conservatives are exactly opposite their self-righteous proclamations as they proclaim themselves "pro-lifers." Ironically, these radical rightists are speaking death into society, not life, as they think they are doing.

Death not only in the hearts of others they would deny life too but also including the God they worship, who has been made in the image of an unholy and unsanctified religion. A hateful religion forgetting its role of love and ministry for the greater temporal glory of religious and political power usurped from the hands of God's very Self.

R.E. Slater

May 10, 2022

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And Death Shall Go Before Them

by R.E. Slater

"And death shall go before them

by those who bear not

the life of creation.

These ignorant, self-serving,

lies bear darkness and evil

across the lives

of the destitute

all their evil days."

R.E. Slater

May 10, 2022

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

* * * * * * *

Embracing a theology of acceptance

means a radical inclusivity

which leaves no one behind.

The primary goal of radical inclusivity is

not to imitate or change the mainline church.

But rather to BE the church.

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What It Means to be the Church

by R.E. Slater

Rarely has the church led societies in solidarity of human rights in "free" countries unless they are left-leaning faiths witnessing the injustices of racisms being experienced by its non-majority fellowships.

However, it is quite the opposite experience in authoritarian, despotic or imperialistic countries where the church, or majority religions like Islam or Buddhism, have actively protested for liberty and freedom of their people. From China to Poland, across South America and Africa, we see church demonstrations against apartheidism, socialism, communism, racism, white supremacy, etc.

Western democracies, especially hardline capitalistic democracies, are just as evil. for which the conservative right-leaning American churches must take note. As church fellowships you are either with the people in your community or against them when seeking the favor of corrupt fascist governments posing as "Keepers of Democracy."

To all churches -

• Be good shepherds...

• Be discerning community leaders...

• Lead your flocks rightly in truth, love, peace, and honesty...

• Put away from you the world's corruptions and embrace light over darkness, love over hate, and justice for all...

• Especially to those whom you despise and preach against with ill will.

The sanctimonious church's mythical idealisms which are preached from their "purified bible" are hated in their dogmas and their statements both by God and by man. Such aberrant "bible truths" are social inhumanitarian evils disguised in sheep's clothing. The wolf is in the statements of hate over love themselves created to separate, rather than to blend, one's faith from "the radical other" chosen to be vilified rather than be loved.

God is love.

• Be love, not evil, in your faith.

• A faith which follows Jesus cannot come from man's evil heart.

R.E. Slater

May 10, 2022

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And death shall have no dominion

by Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

And death shall have no dominion.

Dead men naked they shall be one

With the man in the wind and the west moon;

When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,

They shall have stars at elbow and foot;

Though they go mad they shall be sane,

Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;

Though lovers be lost love shall not;

And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.

Under the windings of the sea

They lying long shall not die windily;

Twisting on racks when sinews give way,

Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;

Faith in their hands shall snap in two,

And the unicorn evils run them through;

Split all ends up they shan't crack;

And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.

No more may gulls cry at their ears

Or waves break loud on the seashores;

Where blew a flower may a flower no more

Lift its head to the blows of the rain;

Though they be mad and dead as nails,

Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;

Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,

And death shall have no dominion.

* From The Poems of Dylan Thomas.

Copyright © 1943 by New Directions Publishing Corporation.

Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

All rights reserved.

Meaning of Poem

‘And Death Shall Have No Dominion’ is a enlightened look at the ways in which death controls mankind and the fact that even though death is powerful, it cannot control everything.

Mankind has the power to stand up against any of the evils of death, and become unified through their moving to the next world:

• Death does not divide but brings together equally all those that lived apart.

• The second half of the poem focuses on brave and strong men standing up against the power of death and not breaking even through torture and the destruction of beautiful things.

Thomas Jay Oord - Free Will is an Experiential Nonnegotiable

9 Reasons to Affirm Free Will

Free Will is an Experiential Nonnegotiable

post link here

by Thomas Oord

March 22nd, 2020

There are strong reasons to believe humans have genuine but limited free will. I believe this, in part, because I experience freedom every day.

In a previous post (click here), I listed 9 reasons it makes sense to affirm that humans have genuine but limited free will. In this post, I address perhaps the most powerful reason: freedom as an experiential nonnegotiable.

Our Freedom is Always Limited

Some people think “freedom” means “the ability to do anything.” So they reject the view. Few if any scholars who affirm free will believe this, however.

Human freedom is always limited. It’s constrained, conditioned, or framed by many sources, both internal and external to the actor. But all humans act as if they are free, even if some deny this verbally.

To be free is to choose, in a particular moment, among a limited number of relevant options. We freely choose as a source or cause of our actions. Free creatures could have chosen something other than what they chose; they could have done otherwise.[1]

I don’t know with certainty that all humans have limited but genuine free will. Absolute certainty about such matters is illusory. Certainty is rare!

But I’m more confident about my freedom than I am about descriptions of humans or even of existence. I’m confident about about free will, because I experience it personally. And I presuppose its veracity in the way I live my life.

We Should Start with the Data We Know Best

We often make mistakes and don’t know much if anything with certainty. So we should have some method in our attempts to make sense of life.

The philosopher Roderick Chisholm recommends what he calls “epistemological particularism.”[2] This method privileges experiences we know best when trying to makes sense of life. It begins with ideas that seem most obvious.

Amazon Link

Epistemological particularism doesn’t claim we can be certain descriptions of our experience are 100% accurate. But we can be more confident in first-person data — especially data inevitably expressed in our living — than data we know from a third-person perspective.

This method should lead us to affirm the reality of human freedom. Of course, some people interpret studies in neuroscience (and other sciences) as indicating humans are not free. For several reasons, I think such interpretations mistaken. But my first step in addressing claims about determinism is to argue we should feel more confident of the truthfulness of first-person data – our inescapable personal experiences – than the data of neuroscience. Scientists obtain neuroscience data through third-person perspectives.

I’m not rejecting neuroscience as a discipline. In my view, neuroscientists should pursue their research with passion. The discipline has generated helpful insights, and I have friends contributing in this field. But we must avoid conclusions the data does not and, I think, could not in principle support. For an accessible philosophical defense of freewill in light of neuroscience research, see Alfred Mele’s work.[3] 

Is Free Will Just Common Sense?

Some call those beliefs that are self-evidently true and inevitably expressed in our actions “common sense.” Philosophers such as Thomas Reid, GE Moore, and Alfred North Whitehead argued for commonsense ideas.[4] In terms of freedom, common sense says we all act freely — at least sometimes.

We use “common sense” to describe ideas that are not inevitably expressed in our lives, however. To some people, for instance, it’s common sense black men should not marry white women. Others think it’s common sense that the New England Patriots are the greatest football team. Some think common sense tells us God controls our lives. Because these ideas are not truly common nor expressed inevitably in our actions, the phrase “common sense” can be misleading and then dismissed as unhelpful or dangerous.

David Ray Griffin distinguishes between ideas some call common sense and what he calls “hard-core” and soft-core commonsense ideas.[5] We inevitably presuppose hard-core commonsense ideas in our practice. We don’t inevitably presuppose soft-core commonsense ideas. Soft-core commonsense ideas might include the (wrong) belief that black men and white women shouldn’t marry, the (debatable) belief that New England has the best football team, or the (arguably harmful) belief that God controls creation.

We can deny soft-core commonsense ideas and still live consistently. Hard-core commonsense ideas cannot consistently be denied in our practice.

Free Will is an Experiential Nonnegotiable

I’ve come to call the ideas that we inescapably live out “experiential nonnegotiables.” We must accept the truth of experiential nonnegotiables if we want to speak adequately about the way the world works.

We contradict ourselves if we say we act one way and then act differently. We commit what Jürgen Habermas calls “performative contradictions:” our performance in life contradicts our statements about what life is like.[6]

In terms of freedom, we contradict ourselves if we claim we are not free and then live as if we act freely. Our words don’t match our actions; we are experiential hypocrites. At least for most humans if not all, genuine but limited freedom is an experiential nonnegotiable.

I could list other experiential nonnegotiables (e.g., there is a world external to myself). Myy point for this essay is the inevitable experience of freedom in our lives provides strong justification to think humans have genuine but limited freedom.

We contradict ourselves if we claim we're not free and then live as if we act freely. We are experiential hypocrites.

NOTES:

[1] For similar understandings of freedom, see Laura W. Ekstrom, “Free Will is Not a Mystery,” in The Oxford Handbook of Free Will, 2nd ed., Robert Kane, ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 366-380; William Hasker, “Divine Knowledge and Human Freedom,” The Oxford Handbook of Free Will, 2nd ed., Robert Kane, ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 40-56; Timothy, O’Connor, “Agent-Causal Theories of Freedom,” in The Oxford Handbook of Free Will, 2nd ed., Robert Kane, ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 309-328 and “The Agent as Cause” Free Will, Robert Kane, ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002); Kevin Timpe, Free Will: Sourcehood and its Alternatives, 2nd ed. (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013).

[2] Roderick M. Chisholm, The Problem of the Criterion (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1973).

[3] Alfred Mele, Free: Why Science Hasn’t Disproved Free Will (Oxford University Press, 2014).

[4] For a brief overview of commonsense philosophy, see “Philosophy of Common Sense,” New World Encyclopedia. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Philosophy_of_Common_Sense

[5] David Ray Griffin, Unsnarling the World-Knot: Consciousness, Freedom, and the Mind-Body Problem (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1998), 34, 210.

[6] Jürgen Habermas, “Discourse Ethics: Notes on a Program of Philosophical Justification,” in Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action, trans. C. Lenhardt and S.W. Nicholsen (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1990).

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED - FINAL AUDIOS, VIDEOS, & RESOURCE LINKS

JESUS D/C SERIES

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 1 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 2 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 3 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 4 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 5 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 6 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED - FINAL AUDIOS, VIDEOS, & RESOURCE LINKS

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JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT

Here’s Tripp & Diana’s Finals Thoughts

on Jesus De/Constructed for Lent

(AUDIO)

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ADDITIONAL LINKS FROM SESSION 3

• Jürgen Moltmann: The Crucified God

• Elizabeth Johnson on Infinite Mystery and the Diverse Doxology of God

• Elizabeth Johnson on an Ecological Christology

• Quest for the Living God w/ Elizabeth Johnson

• John Cobb: the Greatest Living Theologian Turns 97

• John Cobb: Christology and Process Theology

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SPECIAL BONUS SESSION:

After Jesus Before Christianity

amazon link

From the creative minds of the scholarly group behind the groundbreaking Jesus Seminar comes this provocative and eye-opening look at the roots of Christianity that offers a thoughtful reconsideration of the first two centuries of the Jesus movement, transforming our understanding of the religion and its early dissemination.

Christianity has endured for more than two millennia and is practiced by billions worldwide today. Yet that longevity has created difficulties for scholars tracing the religion’s roots, distorting much of the historical investigation into the first two centuries of the Jesus movement. But what if Christianity died in the fourth or fifth centuries after it began? How would that change how historians see and understand its first two hundred years?

Considering these questions, three Bible scholars from the Westar Institute summarize the work of the Christianity Seminar and its efforts to offer a new way of thinking about Christianity and its roots. Synthesizing the institute’s most recent scholarship—bringing together the many archaeological and textual discoveries over the last twenty years—they have found:

• There were multiple Jesus movements, not a singular one, before the fourth century

• There was nothing called Christianity until the third century

• There was much more flexibility and diversity within Jesus’s movement before it became centralized in Rome, not only regarding the Bible and religious doctrine, but also understandings of gender, sexuality and morality.

Exciting and revolutionary, After Jesus Before Christianity provides fresh insights into the real history behind how the Jesus movement became Christianity.

After Jesus Before Christianity includes more than a dozen black-and-white images throughout.

1:32:35

After Jesus Before Christianity

Mar 21, 2022

Diana and Tripp are thrilled to host the authors of "After Jesus Before Christianity" for a webinar exploring the new book and how their research into the earliest Jesus Movements can challenge those of us who struggle to follow Jesus today.

You can check the book out here: https://amzn.to/3IyRtx7

This is a special bonus session from the school blind Lent group - Jesus De/Constructed w/ Diana Butler Bass & Tripp Fuller.

Check the group out here: http://jesusdeconstructed.com

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Post-Easter Bible QnA w/John Dominic Crossan
Apr 21, 2022

April 4, 2022 By Tripp Fuller 

John Dominic Crossan is back on the podcast talking about his new book Render Unto Caesar: The Struggle over Christ and Culture in the New Testament. It is always a blast to have Dom on the podcast and this is no exception! Dr. Crossan is one of the leading New Testament scholars today. Not only has he significantly contributed to the academic guild, but he has consistently written texts for a larger audience. 

Want to hang out with Dom? Then come join an upcoming live stream QnA where he will be tackling a bunch of Bible questions from listeners. It promises to be a nerdy good time!

Previous Visits from Crossan to the podcast 

• Resurrecting Easter with John Dominic Crossan 

• John Dominic Crossan on the First Christmas 

• From Jesus’ Parables to Parables of God with John Dominic Crossan 

• John Dominic Crossan on God & Empire!

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Previous Episodes with Diana & Tripp

• 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

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 6 OF 6

JESUS D/C SERIES

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 1 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 2 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 3 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 4 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 5 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 6 OF 6

JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED - FINAL AUDIOS, VIDEOS, & RESOURCE LINKS

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JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT

PART 6 OF 6

The class will cover two books. Diana’s Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence and Tripp’s The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus: Lord, Liar, Lunatic . . . Or Awesome?. If you are super nerdy you may want to check out Tripp’s Divine Self-Investment.

UPDATE

Tripp’s book has proved hard to find for many of you. HERE is a PDF of the book. We just ask you don’t share it and if inspired purchase a delayed or digital copy.

Class Outline

We will have 6 weekly sessions each Thursday at 5pm ET. In addition to these sessions, there will be a special visit from the author of After Jesus Before Christianity: a Historical Exploration of the first two centuries of Jesus Movements.

• 3/3 SESSION 1: De/Constructing Jesus & the Lenten Journey
• Reading: the introduction to Freeing Jesus and chapter 1 of the Guide to Jesus

• 3/10 SESSION 2: the Consequences of C.S. Lewis’ Worst Idea
• Reading: Guide to Jesus ch 2-4

• 3/17 SESSION 3: from Executed Prophet to Cosmic Christ
• Reading: Guide to Jesus ch 5-7

• 3/24 SESSION 4: Freeing Jesus from Christendom Capture
• Reading: Freeing Jesus ch 1-3

• 3/31 SESSION 5: One Jesus, One Story, & a Multitude of Christs
• Reading: Freeing Jesus ch 4-6

• 4/7 SESSION 6: De/constructed Jesus & the Journey of Holy Week
• Reading: Freeing Jesus conclusion & Guide to Jesus ch 8

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Amazon Link

The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus

Lord, Liar, Lunatic, Or Awesome?

by Tripp Fuller

Christology is crazy. It’s rather absurd to identify a first-century homeless Jew as God revealed, but a bunch of us do anyway. In this book, Tripp Fuller examines the historical Jesus, the development of the doctrine of Christ, the questions that drove christological innovations through church history, contemporary constructive proposals, and the predicament of belief for the church today. Recognizing that the battle over Jesus is no longer a public debate between the skeptic and believer but an internal struggle in the heart of many disciples, he argues that we continue to make christological claims about more than an “event” or simply the “Jesus of history.” On the other hand, C. S. Lewis’s infamous “liar, lunatic, and Lord” scheme is no longer intellectually tenable. This may be a guide to Jesus, but for Christians, Fuller is guiding us toward a deeper understanding of God. He thinks it’s good news—good news about a God who is so invested in the world that God refuses to be God without us.

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CLASS 6 VIDEO

2:27:53

Jesus De/Constructed with Diana and Tripp

April 7, 2022

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Homebrewed Guide to Jesus 

BOOK Notes for Chapter 8

by Steve Thomason | Apr 28, 2022

I am currently reading Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus by Tripp Fuller as part of a class taught by Tripp Fuller and Diana Butler-Bass.

Below are my notes from chapter 8.

View chapters 2-4 here.

View chapters 5-7 here.

The book introduces recent scholarship about Jesus and a really helpful and inclusive way to be a radical disciple of Jesus in this present moment. I find it life-giving.

You are welcome to join the class. It is awesome. CLICK HERE to check it out.

This book is the more accessible version of Tripp’s Book Divine Self-Investment, which I illustrated (a little) here.

Scroll down and enjoy!

by Steve Thomason

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CLASS 6 VIDEO

2:27:53

Jesus De/Constructed with Diana and Tripp

April 7, 2022

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Jesus DeConstructed VIDEO Session 6 

Class Notes

by Steve Thomason | April 29, 2022

by Steve Thomason

Here are my notes from Session 6 of Jesus De/Constructed with Diana Butler-Bass and Tripp Fuller. It was an excellent session. I sectioned out the different parts and placed them in a more linear fashion below. Scroll down to get a sense of how the session flowed. Enjoy!

This session was based on the conclusion of Freeing Jesus and Chapter 8 of the Homebrewed Guide to Jesus. See my notes on that chapter here.

CLICK HERE to view these notes as a PDF. Feel free to download and print. 

 

Steve Thomason

Steve Thomason

Steve Thomason