Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

-----

Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write from the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Friday, June 12, 2020

Rev. Dr. Richard Rose - A Beloved Civilization: King’s Dream and Covid-19

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A Beloved Civilization: King’s Dream and Covid-19

by Rev. Dr. Richard Rose
May-June 2020


I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a
people will get to the promised land. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried
about anything. I'm not fearing any man.[1] - Martin Luther King, Jr.


Covid-19 has caused global humanity to take a time out. Many have used the time to reflect deeply on where we are as a human race in relation to the world we inhabit. There are many ways to view the significance of this covid event on planet earth and hindsight’s 2020 vision may allow us to see the year 2020 more clearly than we can today. At the time of this writing several cities around the country are experiencing protests because another black man was killed by police on American soil. Today we view these events from within the midst of the storm. While hindsight may be clearer, we cannot use the future reality at this time to analyze our situation. The past, however, can be helpful. Seeing “now” in light of yesterday, may provide some understanding that is insightful for this moment.

One of the inspirations in my life was my fifth-grade teacher Mr. Missick. Mr. Missick referred to us as mathematicians and he taught us to look for patterns in life. This Covid-19 global pandemic event follows an interesting pattern that can be seen in the Biblical tradition. For our task, I will use the quotation above by Dr. King to illustrate the pattern that is being revealed. In order to accomplish this task the reader is asked to enter into a particular way of understanding the world. The hope is that by seeing the world from that standpoint, we will gain insight into the nature of “now”. I will be using the language of the Christian Biblical tradition to bring forth the issues at hand. In this context, I will use the vision of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to crystalize the position.

Just hours before Dr. King was assassinated at a church in Memphis, Tennessee, he spoke these words: “I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.” Here the Promised Land is understood to be King’s vision of the Beloved Community. The notion of the promised land in the Biblical Tradition has its origin in a promise God made to the Hebrew patriarch Abraham. The story of Abraham is believed to be dated prior to the 6th century BCE. The essence of the promise states that because of Abraham’s faith in God, he is seen by God to be righteous. God would then reward that righteous behavior with a land “flowing with milk and honey” for his decendants. When doing an analysis that seeks to draw implications from one historical period to another, it is important to align the symbolism and analogies that are used in each period. The idea that the promised land would be a land flowing with “milk and honey” was added to the narrative during the exodus from Egypt by Abraham’s decendants prior to entering the land of promise. We will see the importance of these images and the pattern they represent when we examine Covid-19.

There are two related ideas, found in the text, that need further examination. What we see is that faith is related to righteousness which is related to a promise of God. This pattern is important because it established the conditions required for entrance into the land of promise. When we look at the promise, it can be taken literally or symbolically. A literal interpretation gets us into problems that make a literal interpretation difficult to understand.[2] The symbolic understanding can provide us layers of meaning that allow the language to function in multiple ways. When “flowing with milk and honey” is understood to represent prosperity and well being, the notion provides a sense of understanding and even agreement on the part of the hearer. It is within this contextual understanding that I compare the Promised Land to Dr. King’s notion of the Beloved Community.

The Beloved Community

As twenty-first century Christians, we take seriously our heritage as agents of God engaged in the struggle for spiritual and social liberation throughout the world. Our experiences in America have taught us many lessons about God’s grace and love for us as God’s children. With the mindset of heirs, we recognize and affirm the many ways God has engaged humanity and freed them from oppressive social conditions throughout history. The story of Moses and the liberation of the Hebrew people is perhaps the best-known ancient example of God’s concern for suffering humanity. The Church sees the Exodus event as a foreshadowing of the role Jesus will play in salvation history. We understand ourselves to be a part of the legacy given to the Church and expressed brilliantly in the public life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. King’s prophetic vision and words of inspiration have given us a platform on which to proclaim the Good News for this age.

The King Center, founded to promote King’s philosophy of nonviolence, clarifies his notion of the Beloved Community.

For Dr. King, The Beloved Community was not a lofty utopian goal to be confused with the rapturous image of the Peaceable Kingdom, in which lions and lambs coexist in idyllic harmony. Rather, The Beloved Community was for him a realistic, achievable goal that could be attained by a critical mass of people committed to and trained in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence.

Dr. King’s Beloved Community is a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. In the Beloved Community, international disputes will be resolved by peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.[3]

​There are three points drawn from the King Center statement that will guide our position: nonviolence as central, our relationship to the land or environment, and our relationships with each other.

Nonviolence is the first principle and stands at the core of King’s notion of the Beloved Community. The philosophy of nonviolence is grounded in the idea that all of life is interconnected. As a result, what happens to one, happens to everyone. In fact, if I produce hate and anger, eventually it will make its way back to me. If, on the other hand, I promote love and trust, those traits will be put into the mix of human interaction as a positive force. The depth of this notion is centered in the nature of nonviolence as a means of cooperation with God’s plan for the Beloved Community. King writes,

"It is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. Consequently, the believer in nonviolence has deep faith in the future. ... For he knows that in his struggle for justice he has cosmic companionship. It is true that there are devout believers in nonviolence who find it difficult to believe in a personal God. But even these persons believe in the existence of some creative force that works for universal wholeness. Whether we call it an unconscious process, an impersonal Brahman, or a Personal Being of matchless power and infinite love, there is a creative force in this universe that works to bring the disconnected aspects of reality into a harmonious whole."[4]

We should not miss the pluralistic nature of this statement. King understood God, as ultimate reality, to be a transcendent presence. That reality was not limited to or limited by theological pronouncements.

The second idea that deserves our attention is the idea that the people of the earth should share equitably in its resources. Here we see the practical connections and a place for a metrics to determine measurable outcomes of the global vision. It is in this area that we can creatively develop practical projects with persons or organizations that are committed to fair and just land practices. Because the earth is extremely vast, with regional as well as local topologies and demographics that vary widely, there are no one size fits all solutions. Consequently, each local and regional land mass is encouraged to be responsible for its resources. Not only is individual responsibility emphasized, but also care of neighbors is emphasized. Mahatma Gandhi expresses the idea as Oceanic Circles: 

"In this structure composed of innumerable villages, they will be ever-widening never-ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be an Oceanic Circle whose center will be the individual always ready to perish for the circle of villages, till at last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals never aggressive in their arrogance but ever humble, sharing the majesty of the oceanic circle of which they are integral units."[5]

To modern ears this sounds tribal, but the advances of technology will allow us to connect in ever-widening ways with people and projects that transcend our physical land base. It will be in those networking relationships that the final set of principles drawn from the Beloved Community are emphasized. 

Finally, through love and trust the relational component of the philosophy is emphasized. Beginning with human relationships, this notion must be extended to all life forms and the earth itself. As a religious philosophical thinker, King experienced mystical connections with nature and understood nature to be an extension of God’s sovereignty.[6] But, during the 1950s and 1960s, the urgent need was to establish proper human relations. That is also a good place to start today. King’s hope in proper human relationships was built on his understanding of God. King was introduced to Personalistic Philosophy during his Ph.D. studies at Boston University. Personalistic Philosophy holds that the meaning of ultimate reality is found in personality. King writes,
“Personalism’s insistence that only personality – finite and infinite is ultimately real strengthened me in two convictions: it gave me a philosophical grounding for the idea of personal God, and it gave me a metaphysical basis for the dignity and worth of all human personality.”[7]
A person’s humanity is affirmed by acknowledging the dignity and worth that is at the core of every person. We have seen that within the notion of the Beloved Community, improving human relations takes center stage. Based on what we have seen, we can imagine the direction in which King would have taken these ideas in light of the ecological crisis facing humanity in this generation. Covid-19 requires us to consider King’s ideas in light of its presence on the global scene.

Covid-19: A Symbol for A New Beginning

There was an eerie but reassuring feeling in my home this year during the season of Passover, which takes place during the week Christians remember Jesus’s sacrifice. The three events, Covid-19, the Jewish Passover and the Resurrection story came together in April 2020 with remarkable similarities. Those similarities reminded me of Mr. Missick’s council to pay attention to the patterns that life brings your way. The pattern I observed falls in line with the apocalyptic tradition found throughout the Bible. The apocalyptic claim is that God will intervene in historical affairs in order to align the social order with God’s plan for creation. Once God has moved, the righteous will be allowed to inhabit and cultivate the created order in accordance with a sustainable plan for harmonious relationships.

In order to see the plan develop we begin with a quick look at God’s record of liberation during Israel’s most challenging time, slavery in Egypt under the rule of Pharaoh. The Exodus story serves as a model of God’s concern for humanity by providing a means of escape from conditions that prohibited their total freedom. We note that Pharaoh’s refusal to grant the request of Moses to free the Hebrew people resulted in a series of plagues, the final plague being the angel of death. The instructions given in order to prepare for the Passover event reveal deep spiritual insights. Families were to gather in their homes and choose a lamb to be slaughtered. It was to be eaten quickly, and the blood was to be used as a sign of protection. All this was to be done so they would be ready to escape Egypt after the death angel, the final plague, had passed.

This story has powerful implications for us during this time of physical separation from one another as we experience the visitation of the Coronavirus. As the Hebrew people were required to separate themselves to prepare for the Passover, we too have been given Stay-At-Home and Social-Distancing orders from our government. Covid-19 can be seen as a symbolic angel of death, similar to the death angel in Exodus. Covid-19 is an invisible substance that causes an effect in the physical world. Whether we refer to the virus as a good or bad substance is not our concern. Asking that question is like asking whether or not the plagues in Egypt were good or bad. Our broader concern is the opportunity the Covid-19 event provides for a New Beginning.

Beloved Civilization

The quote used to begin this essay showed that King anticipated that the opportunity for a New Beginning would be present within the near future. While King was not certain about his future, he had confidence in God’s cosmic involvement for the establishment of equality in America. Could Covid-19 and the social unrest we are experiencing today be an opportunity to create the Beloved Community that King Dreamt about? In this final section we will consider King’s central ideas of nonviolence and a personal God in relation to the environmental and social crisis we face today.

We begin this section by defining ecological civilization:

Ecological civilization is a term that describes the final goal of social and environmental reform within a given society. It implies that the changes required in response to global climate disruption and social injustices are so extensive as to require another form of human civilization, one based on ecological principles. Broadly construed, ecological civilization involves a synthesis of economic, educational, political, agricultural, and other societal reforms toward sustainability.[8]

The need for a new type of civilization is clear when one considers the current state of our global and domestic affairs. The unrest fills almost every hour of our 24-hour news stations. At the time of this writing several cities around the country are experiencing protests because another black man was killed by police on American soil. In the city of Minneapolis, where the most recent killing occurred, many buildings are ablaze. Covid-19, and the imposed health and financial hardships, has turned the temperature up on many of our social inequalities in terms of communities of color not having the resources to adequately deal with the pandemic. The forecast for the near future is that little will change on the social or economic scene; many believe things will become worse before the quality of life begins to improve on a national scale. Looking at the broad categories which are addressed within the Ecological Civilization platform, there is much within the philosophy of King that can provide wisdom when addressing these issues “now” or for this age.

In King’s final book Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community, the final chapter is titled World House. In that chapter he acknowledges the interconnected relational nature of our world and the chapter’s title helps us to remember the planet is our home. In this chapter King acknowledges the rapidly changing landscape of his time by quoting Alfred North Whitehead. King affirms Whitehead’s claim that they were experiencing “a major turning point in history when the pre-suppositions on which society is structured are being analyzed, sharply challenged and profoundly changed.”[9] So, while King was in-tune with the profound nature of the age in which he was living and the nature of the change before the world, he realized the first item that had to be addressed was the area of human relations. What King shows is that when proper human relations are the first items of social business, one gains perspective on how to address the other issues that arise within the platform. The challenge is that each of the following fields can be seen as a distinct discipline with their own set of presuppositions about what is good theory: education, politics, agriculture, and sociology. However, when seen through the lens of proper human relationships, the interrelated nature of the disciplines becomes clear. Seeking societal reforms require that educational, political and agricultural decisions also be made consciously, with a certain set of common values. When this occurs these systems are working harmoniously as one.

King identifies a method to be used for making public policy decision that will help humans within society to gain a relational stance that will serve them well moving forward. Part of the challenge with Western societies is the artificial privilege given to some individuals in relation to others in the society. When public policy is driven by selfish interest, the policy is bound to be unfair. Being able to build a society on the values of fairness and equality become necessary for a social system that can be sustained. At this point we can see that Kings distinction between just and unjust laws is insightful. He writes, 

"A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust."[10] 

Personality is seen here as that which contributes to making a person whole. When policies are aimed at building up the whole person, quality of life is placed before any groups agenda which would serve as an advantage. It is through the philosophy of nonviolence that the proper action can be established in real life situations. King was not able to work with the principle of nonviolence or ahimsa as long as Mahatma Gandhi. In the life of Mahatma Gandhi we see the principle of ahimsa is extended to all forms of life. All of life seen with personality would be similar to the Native American idea that all the materials of existence are our relations; it seems King would welcome this way of thinking.

It is in this context that the Beloved nature of King’s Dream meets the nonviolent dimension of Gandhi to address issues of sustainability by creating a New Civilization. A major paradigm shift will be required in our thinking for Civilization to move in this direction. Have the events of 2020 helped us to see our situation as humanity more clearly? Or, are we hoping to fix this right-quick so we can get on to the next challenge? If the Covid-19 time out is telling us anything, it is to "Stop, Look, and Listen" to your heart in this moment. Are we ready to build the Beloved Civilization, one Beloved Community at a time? It is time.


End Notes

[1] Martin Luther King., Jr. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. ed. by Clayborne Carson (New York: Warner Books, 1968), 365.

[2] A literal interpretation of Promise Land would not allow King to make the reference in the first place.

[3] Cited from the King Center Website: https://thekingcenter.org. May 31, 2020.

[4] Martin Luther King, Jr. “An Experiment in Love” in A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King., Jr. ed. by James Melvin Washington (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986), 20.

[5] Mahatma Gandhi, Selected Political Writings. ed. by Dennis Dalton (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co. Inc., 1996), 150.

[6] In The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. the editor includes a paper written by King where is reminiscing about his days at Crozer meditating on and communing with nature. In the essay King agrees with Henry Ward Beecher “Nature is God’s Tongue.”

[7] Autobiography, 31.

[8] Cited from Wikipedia Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_civilization. May 31, 2020.

[9] Martin Luther King, Jr. Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? (Boston: Boston Press, 1967), 169.

[10] Martin Luther King, Jr. “Letter From Birmingham Jail” in A Testament of Hope, 293.



David Ray Griffin - The Christian Gospel for Americans: A Systematic Theology


Amazon Link


Book Blurb [edited by re slater]

In 1934, [Dietrich Bonhoeffer's] Confessing [Lutheran] Christians in Germany declared that support for the Nazi regime violated the basic principles of the Christian faith, thereby creating a status confesionis (confessional situation), requiring a binding doctrinal stance on sociopolitical questions. 

In this book, the result of a lifetime of engaged religious, philosophical, and critical inquiry, David Ray Griffin declares that with regard to American Empire, the church in America is in a similarly dire situation and must stand up for the integrity of the Gospel. He writes:
“Our Christian faith at its best would lead us, both as individual Christians and as churches, to oppose the American Empire in the name of God. As long as the church does not explicitly oppose this empire, it is, by its silence, a de facto supporter.
Chapter by chapter (in some cases, verse by verse) Griffin argues that Christians in America must deal with the darker side of their country, especially its imperialism, racism, and nuclear and climate policies.

With clarity and insight, Griffin points out ways in which the American Empire is similar to the Roman Empire—the empire that crucified Jesus—and urges Christians, “publicly and unequivocally” to reject it.

To that end, Griffin has written a theology that aims always to keep in mind the meaning of “gospel”—good news. That is, it focuses on the primary doctrines of Christian faith, which are unqualifiedly good news, as distinct from secondary and tertiary doctrines, some of which have delivered bad—sometimes horrible—news.

The primary doctrines are rooted in the Bible, especially the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Written from the perspective of process theology, the book is “liberal in method and conservative in content.” 

“Liberal in method” means that all appeals to authority to establish truth are rejected. Theology, like philosophy, can argue for the truth of its doctrines only on the basis of evidence and reason. So although the reality of revelation can be affirmed, theologians cannot make claims for the truth of events or doctrines by claiming that this truth was revealed [sic, the Christian church is to test its truth claims against Jesus' teachings in the gospel.]

It is “conservative in content” by virtue of employing a constructive postmodern worldview, based on the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. Being “conservative in content” does not mean affirming the types of conservative theology that allow secondary and tertiary doctrines to distort the gospel’s primary doctrines. It means reaffirming primary doctrines of the Christian gospel, such as God’s creation of the world, God as actively present in us, and divinely-given life after death. 

American Christianity is in crisis. In this timely book, [process theologian] David Ray Griffin preaches the Gospel—not interpreted for the convenience of Americans, but to remind Americans of what the Gospel actually says and what it calls us to do.


Editorial Reviews

Every David Griffin book abounds with his vast learning, astute insights, and deep humanity. This one is an occasion for rejoicing inasmuch as Griffin has never previously marched through the classic doctrines to convey what they mean to him in our situation. The Christian Gospel for Americansis the systematic gift that many of us have waited for him to offer. - Gary Dorrien, author, In a Post-Hegelian Spirit: Philosophical Theology as Entangled Discontent.

With brilliant lucidity Griffin lays out a comprehensive theology for Christians here and now. The gospel's "reign of divine values" lands--with authority--in a confession relentless in its ecopolitical insistence, gracious in its boundless embrace. - Catherine Keller, author, Political Theology of the Earth.

David Ray Griffin delivers his systematic theology of freedom and creativity that will inspire hope in all caring souls to resist the demonic American Empire. Rarely does a book so true and inspiring come along to roil the waters of religious and social complacency. This is his crowning achievement, a rare marriage of spiritual contemplation and social analysis that brings to life Jesus and the Hebrew prophets. This book is a gift. - Ed Curtain, author, Resistance: Lyrical and Critical Essays.

I consider this David Ray Griffin's magnum opus! It draws together the wide-ranging and cutting-edge ideas Griffin has advanced over the years. And yet it offers new insights, gems, and mind-blowing ideas. Griffin makes claims here that will surprise--in positive ways--both conservatives and liberals. This systematic theology not only has something new for everyone, these new ideas desperately need to be heard to avert the crises of our day. For the sake of our sanity and for the planet's well-being, we need this book! - Thomas Jay Oord, author The Uncontrolling Love of God and God Can't.


About the Author

David Ray Griffin is Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Theology, Emeritus, Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA and a founder and co-director of the Center for Process Studies. He has published, as author or editor, more than 40 books in theology, philosophy, philosophy of religion, the relation between science and religion, and social and political issues.


Product Details

Paperback: 510 pages
Publisher: Process Century Press (July 25, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1940447429
ISBN-13: 978-1940447421


Rance Darity - The Jesus You Never Knew




The Jesus You Never Knew

by Rance Darity
June 8, 2020

When in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus told the ‘Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus’ he was addressing head-on the issues of wealth and poverty, social neglect and suffering, privilege and discrimination.

He wasn’t giving a description of the afterlife, you know, the popular 'heaven and hellfire' scenario you probably heard growing up.

He was employing familiar hyperbolized imagery, the kind found in Second Temple Judaism, about the outcomes of life awaiting his hearers for the kind of life lived now. It was his way of portraying the coming kingdom which will sweep away the world as we experience it now and bring in the world as it will be under the reign of God.

Fundamentalist preachers will tell you Jesus spoke more about hell than about heaven. That is completely wrong.

Jesus spoke continually about one thing (as reported in the Synoptic Gospels) - the arrival and inauguration of the Kingdom of God. And he repeatedly talked about it in terms of the socio-economic changes it brings along with it. Riches and poverty, power and privilege, insiders and outsiders were the paramount issues he preached about. [Simply said, it was about social justice to the oppressed and outsider].

This is the Jesus of the Gospels. Familiarize yourself with him. Jesus didn’t kiss up to the rich and powerful. He reached across to the poor, the sick, the elderly, and the outsider. [And His message was for spiritual and social action today; not to wait around doing nothing till heaven came. Jesus spoke out for his fellow man].

- RD

#TheJesusyouneverknew



Thursday, June 11, 2020

Book Review - The Color of Compromise


Amazon Link

The Color of Compromise: The Truth about
the American Church’s Complicity in Racism

January 7, 2020

An acclaimed, timely narrative of how people of faith have historically--up to the present day--worked against racial justice. And a call for urgent action by all Christians today in response.

The Color of Compromise is both enlightening and compelling, telling a history we either ignore or just don't know. Equal parts painful and inspirational, it details how the American church has helped create and maintain racist ideas and practices. You will be guided in thinking through concrete solutions for improved race relations and a racially inclusive church.

The Color of Compromise:
  • Takes you on a historical, sociological, and religious journey: from America's early colonial days through slavery and the Civil War
  • Covers the tragedy of Jim Crow laws, the victories of the Civil Rights era, and the strides of today's Black Lives Matter movement
  • Reveals the cultural and institutional tables we have to flip in order to bring about meaningful integration
  • Charts a path forward to replace established patterns and systems of complicity with bold, courageous, immediate action
  • Is a perfect book for pastors and other faith leaders, students, non-students, book clubs, small group studies, history lovers, and all lifelong learners


The Color of Compromise is not a call to shame or a platform to blame white evangelical Christians. It is a call from a place of love and desire to fight for a more racially unified church that no longer compromises what the Bible teaches about human dignity and equality.

A call that challenges black and white Christians alike to stand up now and begin implementing the concrete ways Tisby outlines, all for a more equitable and inclusive environment among God's people. Starting today.


Editorial Reviews

lecrae

“My friend and brother, Jemar Tisby has written an incredible book. It’s powerful.”
- Lecrae, Grammy award-winning artist


ta

“Jemar points courageously toward the open sore of racism-not with the resigned
pessimism of the defeated but with the resilient hope of Christian faith.”

- Thabiti Anyabwile, pastor, Anacostia River Church


latasha morrison

"The foundation of reconciliation begins with truth. Tisby encourages us 
to become courageous Christians who face our past with lament, hope,
and humility. This is a must-read for all Christians who have hopes of
seeing  reconciliation."

- Latasha Morrison, author, Be the Bridge


Soong Chan Rah

"With the incision of a prophet, the rigor of a professor, and the
heart of a pastor, Jemar Tisby offers a defining examination of
the history of race and the church in America. Read this book.
Share this book. Teach this book. The church in America will
be better for it."

- Soong Chan Rah, North Park Theological Seminary


About the Author

Jemar Tisby (BA, University of Notre Dame, MDiv Reformed Theological Seminary) is the president of The Witness: A Black Christian Collective where he writes about race, religion, politics, and culture. He is also cohost of the Pass the Mic podcast. He has spoken nationwide at conferences and his writing has been featured in the Washington Post, CNN, and Vox. Jemar is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Mississippi studying race, religion, and social movements in the twentieth century.


Product Details

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Zondervan Reflective (January 7, 2020)
Language: English


Catherine Keller - "I Can't Breathe"


Police and court officers stand guard in front of Manhattan Criminal Court as
protesters demonstrate against the the death of George Floyd. | Source: AP

“I can’t breathe”: The whole Earth
echoes the cry for justice

by Catherine Keller
June 8, 2020

Sometimes a metaphor turns into a metaforce. “I can’t breathe” — the cruelly literal words of Eric Garner turned into a metaphor for the condition of black lives in 2014. When those words were repeated by George Floyd, the repetition of the same pattern of police brutality unleashed an immediate and unrelenting national uprising, unprecedented in its global solidarity for racial justice. Its metaforce will not be contained.

Look at what the very phrase contains, working subliminally, with an eerie depth resonance: “I can’t breathe” writes itself across mass demonstrations at a moment of mass death by a disease that kills by asphyxiation. We’ve known for weeks that COVID-19 kills with an obscene discrimination — African Americans are dying from the virus at three times the rate of white Americans.

The fact that George Floyd tested positive for coronavirus does not alter the charge of murder. But the coincidence is rife with epochal meaning. It amplifies the mounting cry for a justice that would not just check police violence, but transform an economic system in which black and brown people disproportionately lack adequate medical care and live in asthma-producing neighbourhoods with polluted air, zones of greater industrial pollution and fewer trees to absorb the excess carbon.

In its specific American manifestation, but also at its origins, the virus presents not just as a medical but as an ecological crisis. Of course, at this moment the pandemic has fallen into the background of the demonstrations. The masked marchers are taking a knowing risk. But they are not being reckless; theirs is the courage of a priority. If the virus spreads from these mass gatherings, the tragedy of this epoch will be intensified. But the virus will not quell the metaforce of a race, a people, a world, running out of breath.

Do the discriminatory brutality of the police and the racial impact of the pandemic together warn of the suffocation of our very world? A global eco-asphyxia? It turns out that breathlessness is no mere metaphor for the dangers of global warming. Many of us do not realise that there is a profoundly discomfiting materialisation of breathlessness on the horizon. We may not know that phytoplankton — microscopic organisms forming the oceanic base of the food chain — produce at least half, and possibly 85 per cent, of the oxygen we breathe. The phytoplankton seem to be steadily succumbing to ocean acidification driven by climate warming. “I can’t breathe” could be the cry of the entire human species by the end of the century.

My point here is precisely not, “Never mind the issues of one race; save the human race.” It is rather that the metaforce of breath will not go away. And neither will the resistance to the systemic mechanisms of suffocation, symbolic and material, that control much of what we call civilisation. That resistance is becoming insistent. The more mindfully it can carry the intersections of race with ecologies human and nonhuman, the more powerfully the metaforce can materialise.

This does not mean watering down the message of black lives mattering. It means supporting it on all sides — in its particularity. Political changes need the clarity of this particular crisis. They do not need us to get trapped in a zero-sum game of competing issues. But the choices of priority get devastatingly difficult. As a biologist and climate expert recently wrote, in view of the fact that already disproportionately more black and brown consider climate change a crisis than white people do: “Look, I would love to ignore racism and focus all my attention on climate. But I can’t. Because I am human. And I’m black. And ignoring racism won’t make it go away.”

Being human right now will mean embracing the mattering of black lives along with the living matter of our planet. A growing mass of us must be — may already be — learning to hold the intersections, the planetary connections, in consciousness, the knowing-together that fosters a broad enough coalition, and therefore a deep enough transformation.

At this point, another register of breath appears. Call it spiritual. A lot of us practice yoga, or some sort of mindfulness meditation. We know that breath is not some airy metaphor, but the rhythm of life itself. The aching force of “I can’t breathe” can be felt in the pores of your body right now, with each inhalation, each exhalation. Slow them down. Take them deep. You may practice a yoga of world-solidarity with every breath. And in the Western traditions, there lingers still the Hebrew ruach, the Greek pneuma — both ancient words for “spirit,” which mean first of all “breath.” The old Holy Ghost comes haunting our politics.

It just so happens that the President’s posing with the Bible to sanctify policies of police brutality took place on the day after Pentecost. Pentecost commemorates the moment when, as the Book of Acts tells it, the Holy Spirit as wind blew the disciples out of hiding and into the public to demonstrate. The pneuma, instigating planetary solidarity, breathed into them every known language.

The metaforce of breath inspires and conspires. It can also expire. Is it the “Breath of Life” itself — the very life of the manifold, mattering lives of the Earth — that now echoes the cry, “I can’t breathe”?


*Catherine Keller is George T. Cobb Professor of Constructive Theology at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. She is the author of Apocalypse Now and Then: A Feminist Guide to the End of the World, Political Theology of the Earth: Our Planetary Emergency and the Struggle for a New Public and the forthcoming book, Apocalypse After All?

A Christian Eschatological Ethos of Love


Cornell West Speaks to the Meaning
of George Floyd's Death



George Floyd protests: America is at a 'turning point',
philosopher Cornel West says
Jun 4, 2020

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Harvard University professor Cornel West said the protest movement unleashed by the killing of George Floyd had brought America to a "turning point". He said he was elated by the quantity, the intensity and the diversity of the protests, noting that it had brought people together from every ethnic and religious background. West said the choice was now either the ushering in of "non-violent revolution" to address systemic racism, or the "American fascism" championed by Donald Trump, warning that Trump was playing the race card in order to ignite strife.


The Christian eschatological ethos is to love.
To stand with those who are oppressed.
To stand against those who are oppressing.

- re slater 




What is the meaning of the Kingdom of God?
It is a Kingdom of Love come to humanity.
Reclaiming this earth. Reclaiming by love.

- re slater






A Christian Eschatological Ethos of Love

 by R.E. Slater
June 11, 2020

As the US Congress gathers today to consider creating new laws to promote fairness and equality to the people of America who have endured too long the racism and brutality of their police forces I am reminded of the story of outsiders taking over the passionate vision and hope of the insider.

Too often have I had the experience of forming and promoting an idea to the betterment of an organization I was serving only to see that passion taken over by the leaders, directors, or managers and reduced to skin and bones as a shell of what it could've been.

We've had on display for the past two weeks protest demonstrations against America's police forces which have not served their communities equally or fairly by institutionalizing racism and inequality against the black citizens of America. With the racist deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd the fuse was lit and policing injustice was served on a hot plate of anger around the world.




The protesting voices are the people with a vision and hope for equality and justice. It is their own vision and hope that the outsider, such as the US Congress among many others, who will now pretend to take over and try to fix. Whose organizations will create a few laws, implement a few policies, and say "There, you are free now. There, your equality has come."

But I'm sorry to say passion cannot come by establishing more laws or more "to do items" on the whiteboard of societal ethos. No. All the actions created by the outsider has only dulled the real needs of societies by making a law, or creating a committing, or reforming this-or-that. What it will fail to do is to instill that inner drive within the human breast to live and act out equality and justice in everyday lives of bitterness and racism.

I know of no law on racism that can truly stop the human heart from expressing it. There can be no law, no ruling, no acts by committee, which can ever replace the passion in the hearts of those who cry out for social justice and equitable relationships between one another. It must be a "law" written on the human heart. A law to love. This Jesus has given to us through His atonement and by His indwelling Spirit. That of the love of God which conforms our racists hearts to that of God's love of healing and goodness to one another.


As such, I submit now, that by whatever an organization does or doesn't do - whether by enacting congressional laws, or disbanding and reforming police precincts; whether by business or organisational endeavors of any sort, that it will never be enough. Outsider laws, rules, and common orders of juris prudence is only the beginning of vision and hope but never the end of learning to love one another of all colors, creeds, genders, cultures, ethnicities, and things that make people, people. We must see the person if we are to see them truly.

Call me crazy but if the Lord does not write His love upon our hearts and souls, minds and body, we simply are living outward lies to the inner souls of our being, wishing to act right without being right. It's this societal fakery and lip service we've given to our "good works" which demeans, and insults, the very purpose of our living. And yes, the white church of America has promoted racism as much as anybody else when overlooking that Jesus spoke to the religious who can be the greatest hypocrite of all.


We are to love God, each other, and creation. To live lives larger than ourselves, larger than our Constitution, larger than our Bill of Rights. To live fully devoted beyond any concept we can imagine or think which might liberate and heal another to become greater than they are when receiving an attitude of love all the time, in every place we go, and in every word and action we commit.

Jesus called out the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy. He understood the corruption of the soul of humanity's many empires it lives out. He saw the common as the uncommon and named everything a study of God's love needing release through us, His people, as the bearers of God's command to love. 

We cannot legalize it, script it, create creeds and doctrines about it; nor can we live pretend lives mouthing words to it. God's love is what energizes societies to unbearable release and outcome because it must breathe lest it dies.

The message of BLM is that we breathe together as a society that we might live beyond those who would hold hostage our hearts pretending mere words and laws will help us live out what is unwritable, inscribable, uncodeable.

The word love means nothing without extending across our societies in every direction possible even as global protests have expanded this message of equality and justice across the world in vision and hope to live well with one another.

Peace,

R.E. Slater
June 10, 2020




White Evangelicalism At The Protest
Article Link

by Tim Gombis
June 2, 2020


The protest against the brutal police treatment of black people in Grand Rapids Saturday night was a profoundly Christian moment. People came together and walked shoulder to shoulder from across ethnic, racial, and gender lines, and from every social class. They peacefully and passionately advocated on behalf of the powerless to the powerful.

It was the social performance of Jesus’s action in the temple.

As we neared police headquarters, we saw that a street evangelist had set up shop. He stood apart from the crowd by a few feet and had a banner behind him. He was white, maybe 60.

When chants died down near him, he raised his hands to make his pitch. People ignored him and routinely drowned him out with cries of “No justice, no peace!” and “George Floyd, say his name!”

I’d never seen the man before but I know him well. I was raised in the same white conservative evangelical culture that produced him.

He perfectly embodied that culture Saturday night. It’s a culture that encounters Jesus and does not recognize him. It sees the social embodiment of Christian faith and wants to save it. It witnesses the gospel in action and stands off to the side. It waits for the cries for justice to die down so it can make its sales pitch.

Sarah leaned over to me and said she wanted to tell the man that if Jesus were here he would say George Floyd’s name.

Indeed, Jesus was there and that’s exactly what he was doing.

*Tim Gombis. Observations on biblical studies, books, movies, music, sports, culture, and anything and everything having to do with creatively and faithfully reflecting on and embodying Christian identity.





* * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Christian humanism is not a new doctrine but an old observance from time immemorial found in the ancients, the major creeds of religions, the teachings of Jesus, and even today in BLM. It is an attitude, a behavior, a significant and important form of communication with one another. It is built around the word Love.
Too many think of humanism as replacing God. But what if it stood with God in exemplifying divine love and forgiveness? This is what is meant by "Christian" humanism. If religions like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism were to stay to their roots of grace and peace in God one could imagine a far better world of equality and fairness.
- re slater



Christian humanism sees people for who they are, serving where it can to help and aid. Jesus didn't say to hate the world but not to be corrupted by the world, including the corruption which comes with Christian secularity. A corruption which is silent in the face of racism and supremacy. If I was to chose between the world and the church I'd rather go it alone in God's creation than fellowship with false attitudes and doctrines. The church of God welcomes and embraces all. It does not seek to brainwash, strong-arm, place guilt upon, or shout down all who differ from its inhumane silence seeking power over God's love and weakness.
- re slater


Christian humanism regards humanist principles like universal human dignity, individual freedom and the importance of happiness as essential and principal components of the teachings of Jesus. It emerged during the Renaissance with strong roots in the patristic period.
- Wikipedia


Equitable justice is the right of every man, woman and child.
If this cornerstone of civilization is removed
there will be nothing left save anarchy.

- re slater


US Supreme Court: "Equal Justice Under Law"




Mark 12:30-31 [New American Standard Bible (NASB)]

30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind, and with all your strength.’ 

31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.’ There is no other commandment
greater than these.”