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

Monday, November 8, 2021

Untying the Gordian Knot: Process, Reality, and Context - Session 2


The Alexandrian Solution


Untying the Gordian Knot:
Process, Reality, and Context

What an honor it is to hear from the second generation of process theologians and philosophers now in their late 80s and 90s still able to share their journey with us of the third and fourth generations. The Cobb Institute, as well as many other process organizations and websites like Relevancy22, have been dissecting and weaving together their dialogues, discussions, books, journals, and podcasts over the years so that they are not lost to history, and quite open for exploration and discovery by future generations of process Whiteheadians.

Do take advantage of these living souls in their late years. It is with great honor that these several process theologians continue to share their personal journeys into the realms of the biological, quantum and psychological/sociological sciences.

Lastly, thank you to all those in the process community who have been willing to make time and effort to share their separate process insights from their respective disciplines! Each thought, each soul, helps create depth to a very complex philosophy of cosmology.

As introduction to these series, earlier this past summer the Cobb Institute began an 8-part series discussing and distinguishing substantive philosophies and sciences from those of the process variety. Hosted by Matt Segall, John Cobb, and Tim Eastman each explore Eastman's book written in December 2020 on untying the Gordian Knot of physics. Enjoy.

R.E. Slater
October 31, 2021



Untying the Gordian Knot: Process, Reality, and Context



 * * * * * * * * *



Amazon Link


Untying the Gordian Knot
Process, Reality, and Context

by Timothy Eastman
In Untying the Gordian Knot: Process, Reality, and Context, Timothy E. Eastman proposes a new creative synthesis, the Logoi framework - which is radically inclusive and incorporates both actuality and potentiality - (1) to show how the fundamental notions of process, logic, and relations, woven with triads of input-output-context and quantum logical distinctions, can resolve a baker’s dozen of age-old philosophic problems.
Further, (2) Eastman leverages a century of advances in quantum physics and the Relational Realism interpretation pioneered by Michael Epperson and Elias Zafiris and augmented by the independent research of Ruth Kastner and Hans Primas to resolve long-standing issues in understanding quantum physics. 
Adding to this, (3) Eastman makes use of advances in information and complex systems, semiotics, and process philosophy to show how multiple levels of context, combined with relations—including potential relations—both local and local-global, can provide a grounding for causation, emergence, and physical law. 
Finally, (4) the Logoi framework goes beyond standard ways of knowing—that of context independence (science) and context focus (arts, humanities)—to demonstrate the inevitable role of ultimate context (meaning, spiritual dimension) as part of a transformative ecological vision, which is urgently needed in these times of human and environmental crises.


  * * * * * * * * *


The Gordian Knot is an intractable problem (untying an impossibly tangled knot) solved easily by finding an approach to the problem that renders the perceived constraints of the problem moot ("cutting the Gordian knot"). - Wikipedia



* * * * * * * * *

Tim Eastman Unties the Gordian Knot - Session 2
July 23, 2021



THE COBB INSTITUTE
In this session Tim Eastman provides an summary of the second chapter, and Randall Auxier, Michael Epperson, and Elias Zafiris offer a response.
00:00:07 - 00:02:53 - Welcome from Matt Segall
00:02:54 - 00:17:20 - Presentation by Tim Eastman
00:18:18 - 00:33:07 - Response by Randall Auxier
00:33:38 - 00:46:51 - Response by Michael Epperson
00:47:27 - 01:01:11 - Response by Elias Zafiris
01:01:13 - 01:38:11 - Conversation between Tim and respondents
01:38:12 - Open Conversation Meeting
Chat Text: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K-mT...
Chapter Summary, by Tim Eastman
This series of conversations is provided by the Cobb Institute. Please consider supporting this program and others like it by giving. https://cobb.institute/donate/

 

CHAT TEXT

00:25:08 Weston McMillan: Good morning all - I’ll be audio only for about 30 min - great to be here ! Happy Saturday!

00:33:10 Gary Herstein: I hadn't heard about George -- that's very sad news indeed.

00:47:29 Gary Herstein: And they still gave us 30,000 more words than they were normally prepared to accept.

00:48:19 Anderson Weekes: pls send us the paper!

00:48:50 Kevin Clark: YES, plz send the paper asap!

00:48:55 Gary Nelson: Yes, please send the paper

00:48:56 Matt Segall: I’ll be sure we distribute Prof. Auxier’s paper to the group.

00:53:00 Benjamin Snyder: Aren't actual entities in their objective immortality also potential? Potential = potential datum for prehension, so not just eternal objects, though they are the "pure" potentials (but still defined as an existence in terms of potential relevance for functioning in a concrescence).


00:56:44 Benjamin Snyder: Whitehead's theory of propositions as given in P&R entails that reference to actuality (indicative feeling of the logical subject) is still involved in any logic/algebra, right? Eternal objects as pure potentials on their own have no truth-value.

01:00:28 Randall Auxier: Thanks Benjamin. From the standpoint of a proposition there must be reference to something actual. Possibilities and their order do not depend upon any propositional lure.

01:02:11 Guadalupe: Anselm ontological argument for God existence

01:08:42 Mikhail Epstein: Thank you for the most interesting discussion. Unfortunately, I have to leave (a speaking  engagement).

01:09:46 Anderson Weekes: Der Einzig Moegliche Beweissgrund des Daseins Gottes/Only Possible Proof of the Existence of God

01:10:49 Matt Segall: Thanks, Anderson.

01:24:15 Richard Livingston / Cobb Institute: From Thandeka: Schleiermacher is called the Kant of religion because he delineated pure potentiality as feeling, gefuehl. Tim affirms this state as feeling but misnamed it ultimacy. Schleiermacher defined pure potentiality as the experience of the infinite universe in a finite moment of one’s life.

01:25:52 Benjamin Snyder: My current understanding of some terms being discussed in relation to Whitehead: pure potential = an eternal object as datum for feeling; real potential = an actuality as datum for feeling (thus with its contingent, particular conditions); probability = real potentiality with a social order that therefore gives some regularity to the behavior of actual entities in the society (thus, what allows for inductive judgments).

01:26:20 Randall Auxier: I agree with Jon Meyer.

01:26:27 Anderson Weekes: question for Tim: I've gotten myself into a knot!
1. Possible worlds are rejected (e.g., p. 51) bc they are only theoretical constructs—by definition there can be no actual evidence for actual beings in another possible world than our own (to which we have zero epistemic access).
2. Hidden variables are rejected (e.g., p. 33) bc they are only theoretical constructs—there can be no actual evidence for variable that are by definition hidden.
The obvious question is why the actualists can’t turn the tables and say “potentiae” are only theoretical constructs—that there can’t be actual evidence for something that is, by definition, not actual.
However, if I understand correctly, the main claim of this chapter is that this response is not possible—that quantum phenomena offer actual evidence for potentiae. This come-back won’t be effective if the actualists can plausibly say the same evidence is equally well explained by their hidden variables or other possible worlds.
01:26:36 Anderson Weekes: That would mean potentiae, hidden variables, other worlds are all equally theoretical. For the argument of this chapter to work, these options can’t be equally theoretical. So the argument for potentiae in this chapter seems to rest on a claim that the actual evidence of quantum phenomena breaks in favor of potentiae.
Here’s my problem: doesn’t the claim that everything actual will be Boolean and “look” classical conflict with the claim that something actual gives us evidence that breaks in favor of the potentiae theory?
Is there a paradox here? If not, perhaps I could get a “for dummies” explanation of the telltale evidence—how it’s actual, but points to potentiae, and not to hidden variables or other worlds?

01:27:15 jonmeyer: The shift to category theory doesn’t address the heart of problem, it merely kicks the can down the road. The heart of the difficulty is that what when dealing with addressing non-deterministic or triadic notions of potentiality, these are not reducible to formal systems. Even category theory requires ultimately on making a decisive split between two kinds of entity: either something is a morphism or it is an object. It is precisely this kind of decisive splitting that Whitehead resists in PR.

01:28:26 Michael Heather: Potentiality in category theory is just the free functor valued category.
Types of potentially are in the pullback of existence along any arbitrary universe .

01:30:48 Farzad Mahootian: @Elias— So: instead of elements that are members of sets, we have clusters to topologies/neighborhoods via shared constraints and conditionality. The shared space of aims at minimization of Boolean phrases and maximization of (and here’s my question) what?  And: geometric faces that allow for congruence and interference.

01:32:03 jonmeyer: “Im not a mathematician I’m a logician” - I like this.

01:32:42 Guadalupe: logos spermaticos are actual and potencial from diferent points of view. they are potential because of the form that they will be. But they are actual with respect to the prime matter

01:34:58 Gary Herstein: The identification of (or reduction to) logic to a kind of formal mathematics is a fairly recent development in philosophy, that can be traced pretty much to the publication of the Principia (R&W, not Newton's). Old school folks with a background in American philosophy will tend not to make that reduction/identification.

01:44:56 Randall Auxier: possibility is not pure potentiality, nor is it “nothing” in my view

01:48:15 Benjamin Snyder: Didn't you say Whitehead's theory of eternal objects was concerned with possibility, Randall? Those are pure potentials in Whitehead's terms. Maybe there's a distinction I'm missing there.

01:48:48 Randall Auxier: Pure potentials in one perspective on possibilities, it is actuals.

01:49:13 Randall Auxier: Possibilities are uncreated, however, and hence independent of all actuality, including divine actuality.

01:49:22 Randall Auxier: Whitehead is clear on this point.

01:50:36 Clinton Combs: Missing from today’s discussion is an emphasis on the subject / object distinction. Eternal Objects are objects for some subject. It is a mistake to talk about the independent existence of an object because it has to be an object of some subject. (This is being overlooked.) The subject is primary. It is in the subject that objectification happens.

01:51:16 Randall Auxier: Whitehead makes it clear that possibilities have subjective order. I cite this in my paper Matt will send out.

01:56:03 Benjamin Snyder: I'm not sure what subjective order means there. In what sense do eternal objects have anything subjective apart from actual entities or where does Whitehead talk about that?

01:59:45 t-mahootian: Tim, can you relate your discussion in Chapter 2 about symmetry and asymmetry to C.G. Jung & Pauli’s discussion about this notion? Thanks!

01:59:52 Benjamin Snyder: Isn't Whitehead's metaphysical scheme by definition the necessary structure that is a must outside our own cosmic epoch?

02:00:49 Gary Herstein: I need to step out for 5 -- 10 min (take care of Toni's dogs).

02:01:07 Matt Segall: My question, framed in Whitehead’s terms, would be whether unexemplified possibilities are felt in the primordial nature? If so, they are not entirely outside the domain of the actual. If not, who is feeling them?

02:03:09 Randall Auxier: My answer would be that some of them are.

02:03:27 Matt Segall: I agree there is a metaphysical order of pre-spatial/temporal extension (determinate or indeterminate) that is beyond any particular cosmic epoch, but Whitehead himself seemed reluctant to claim he had arrived at this order.

02:05:53 Jeroen (Jerome) van Dijk: When trying to model the process of nature, we typically seem to smuggle in a pre-formulated "alphabet of expression" (or what Elias Zafiris called elements). In so doing we are tacitly dissecting the process of nature into "a priori-like constituent elements". It seems to me that the multiplicity of frames in category theory  still suffers from this problem, unfortunately. I think that a bootstrap methodology (especially the one in Reg Cahill's process physics) is to be preferred, because it seems to be capable of giving rise to a fully unified "actuality-potentiality-prehension network" -- all as one integrated process ... Thereby lifting into actuality the fore- and background patterns of nature as one relational network of connectivity … (hope this makes sense within the present discussion).

02:08:02 Gary Nelson: What is the relationship between “other cosmic epochs” and other universes in multiverse concepts

02:09:41 Anderson Weekes: Could Michael explain a simple example of an asymmetrical relation that is internal for both relata?

02:11:09 Randall Auxier: @Gary Nelson the Everett hypothesis is an actuals hypothesis, governed by mathematical and logical necessity. This has no constructive relation to ANW’s theory of cosmic epochs. Gary and I cover this in chs. 7-9 of The Quantum of Explanation.

02:13:01 Randall Auxier: @Jerome —this is the smuggled presupposition I try to avoid in my rendering of extensive connection in the Logic book, chi. 19-23.

02:13:38 Randall Auxier: I am with Michael on ontologizing concepts.

02:18:16 Benjamin Snyder: Whitehead says his metaphysical scheme applies to all cosmic epochs: "There can be no cosmic epoch for which the singular propositions derived from a metaphysical proposition differ in truth-value from those of
any other cosmic epoch" (PR 197).

02:19:08 Randall Auxier: @Benjamin That is essentially part of what I was saying

02:19:38 Randall Auxier: But only part. It means that anything that holds in one cosmic epoch holds for all of them

02:20:15 Matt Segall: We will make sure the chat is saved and distributed following this session.

02:20:33 Randall Auxier: The one this he thinks will hold is that there would be a quantum, a principle of least change that distinguishes what is actual for that cosmic epoch from what isn't

02:21:06 Randall Auxier: But change in other cosmic epochs may not presuppose time as it does in our cosmic epoch

02:21:28 Randall Auxier: @Jerome yes

02:21:58 Jeroen (Jerome) van Dijk: Thanks, Randall!

02:23:43 Randall Auxier: I agree with Elias, but we disagree when he uses “independence” to mean total independence from all actuality.


Introducing SuperScholar Diana Butler Bass



 
Diana Butler Bass (Ph.D., Duke) is an award-winning author of eleven books, popular speaker, inspiring preacher, and one of America's most trusted commentators on religion and contemporary spirituality, especially where faith intersects with politics and culture.
Her bylines include The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN.com, Atlantic.com, USA Today, Huffington Post, Christian Century, and Sojourners. She has commented in the media widely including on CBS, CNN, PBS, NPR, CBC, FOX, Sirius XM, TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, and in multiple global news outlets.
Her website is dianabutlerbass.com and she can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. She writes a twice-weekly newsletter - The Cottage - which can be found on Substack.

Amazon Link


How can you still be a Christian?

This is the most common question Diana Butler Bass is asked today. It is a question that many believers ponder as they wrestle with disappointment and disillusionment in their church and its leadership. But while many Christians have left their churches, they cannot leave their faith behind.

In Freeing Jesus, Bass challenges the idea that Jesus can only be understood in static, one-dimensional ways and asks us to instead consider a life where Jesus grows with us and helps us through life’s challenges in several capacities: as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence.

Freeing Jesus is an invitation to leave the religious wars behind and rediscover Jesus in all his many manifestations, to experience Jesus beyond the narrow confines we have built around him. It renews our hope in faith and worship at a time when we need it most.

The Grassroots Movements which preserved Jesus's message of Social Justice for 2,000 years and it's impact on the Church today.

For too long, the history of Christianity has been told as the triumph of orthodox doctrine imposed through power. Now, historian Diana Butler Bass sheds new light on the surprising ways that many Christians have refused to conform to a rigid church hierarchy and sought to recapture the radical implications of Jesus's life and message.


Amazon Link

Diana Butler Bass, one of contemporary Christianity’s leading trend-spotters, exposes how the failings of the church today are giving rise to a new “spiritual but not religious” movement. Using evidence from the latest national polls and from her own cutting-edge research, Bass, the visionary author of A People’s History of Christianity, continues the conversation began in books like Brian D. McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity and Harvey Cox’s The Future of Faith, examining the connections—and the divisions—between theology, practice, and community that Christians experience today. Bass’s clearly worded, powerful, and probing Christianity After Religion is required reading for anyone invested in the future of Christianity.







The Cottage

Drop in. Sit down. This is a place to explore faith and spirituality. Especially for those who feel dissatisfied, discomforted, or uncertain about religion — and who need a different angle, a new view of things of the spirit. Here you’ll find both inspiration and thoughtful commentary. My door is open.

Notice: this space isn’t The Sanctuary or The Parsonage or even The Retreat. This is The Cottage. That’s because I’m not a clergy person or a paid religious professional. I’m a writer, speaker, and itinerant teacher.

And The Cottage is a real place in my backyard where I write, think, reflect, and even meditate and pray.

Virginia Woolf famously wrote that a woman needed a room of her own to write. My house is too modest for a separate office (I wrote two of my early books in my family room!), so we built this cottage in our yard to accommodate my library and my work. From here, I’ve written blogs, articles, essays, and books – and these days it serves as a makeshift television and recording studio! I look out of the Cottage to the garden and from there out to the world, which means that I view spirituality, religion, and faith from my backyard.

But unlike Virginia Woolf, I didn’t want to keep the cottage as my “own.” I wanted to open it up, invite in my friends and readers, to share the magic and the hard work of this space — and so I created The Cottage on Substack. Here, I’ll share what I’m writing, what trends I see, how faith is growing and changing, issues of concern, and things that I find interesting or challenging or beautiful. And, as The Cottage community grows, I’ll host conversations and threads so we can get to know each other — and share our questions, concerns, hopes, and gratitudes. It is good to have friends in these hard days. To feel less alone.

And, by way of full introduction, I am a Christian (even though that label is more than a bit awkward these days) and I write from that perspective, with a generous heart toward wisdom wherever it is found. The “creed” that guides me most closely aligns with these 1,000 year old words from the mystical poet Ibn Arabi:

There was a time I would reject those
who were not of my faith.
But now, my heart has grown capable
of taking on all forms.
It is a pasture for gazelles,
An abbey for monks.
A table for the Torah,
Kaaba for the pilgrim.
My religion is love.
Whichever the route love’s caravan shall take,
That shall be the path of my faith.

Or, in the simple words of Jesus: “Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Wherever you are on your journey, I’m glad your route has led to The Cottage.





Diana Butler Bass, Ph.D., is an award-winning author, popular speaker, inspiring preacher, and one of America’s most trusted commentators on religion and contemporary spirituality.

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. She does this with intelligence, joy, and a good dose of humor, leading well-known comedian John Fugelsang to dub her “iconic,” the late Marcus Borg to call her “spontaneous and always surprising,” and Glennon Doyle to praise her “razor-sharp mind” and “mystical heart.”

She holds a doctorate in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of eleven books. Her bylines include The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN.com, Atlantic.com, USA Today, Huffington Post, Spirituality and Health, Reader's Digest, Christian Century, and Sojourners. She has commented on religion, politics, and culture in the media widely including on CBS, CNN, PBS, NPR, CBC, FOX, Sirius XM, TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and in multiple global news outlets. In the 1990s, she wrote a weekly column on religion and culture for the Santa Barbara News-Press, which was distributed nationally by the New York Times Syndicate.

Her work has received two Wilbur Awards for best nonfiction book of the year, awards from Religion News Association for individual commentary and for Book of the Year, Nautilus Awards Silver and Gold medals, the Illumination Book Award Silver medal, Books for a Better Life Award, Book of the Year of the Academy of Parish Clergy, the Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize for Church History, Substack Fellowship for Independent Writers, and Publishers Weekly’s Best Religion Book of the Year.

She and her husband live in Alexandria, Virginia, with their dog and their sometimes-successful backyard garden.


Sunday, November 7, 2021

Lions and Lambs - A vision of humanity living together with one another.




Isaiah 11.6-9

6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

and a little child shall lead them.

7 The cow and the bear shall graze;

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

9 They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain;

for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.



And the lion shall lay down with the lamb...

by R.E. Slater

When I read verses like Isaiah 11.6ff it tells me that the God of Love who is unwilling to be God without us also urges us to learn to live together in love and kindness towards one another. That we, God's children, are unwilling to be called such if we refuse to love one another.

The biblical hope in Isaiah 11 s for predatory people to stop destroying their fellow vulnerable members. To hold, rather, a vision of living rightly together with one another in supportive communion, grace, forgiveness, mercy, equality, and fairness without slander, harm, gracelessness, thoughtlessness, or hate.

The heavenly communities we envision here on earth must first begin here, on earth, with us, everywhere. Otherwise we have not done our job disobeying Jesus to live peaceably with one another.

And if you think about it, there is no magic formula in heaven which brings people together, as so many people here on earth  believe. If Jesus is the magic formula than the possibility of heaven lies also here on earth with us, and it is we, Jesus' followers, who are not allowing this to happen.

So many say, "God wins." Which is not true, God wins ONLY when "Love wins." Otherwise the formula is backwards. Fear, hate, racism, ends when love wins, not God. 
God works through us to create the possible. If we refuse then God cannot work. The God of Love is the God of the possible who has enlivened His love in us. Submit, therefore, and be enlivened to God's Spirit of love.

Love is relational. It relates to all things - from earth to people. Live love, be love, seek love-and-reparation with all. Be the lion that humbles itself to live with God's lambs. Those without hope. Of a different color. Who believe differently (not toxically like so much of the Christian religion bent on "overcoming evil with evil").
Be the dove of peace, the sacrificial Lamb of God, the Servant of El Shaddai, who whispers, "Peace be still." God wins when Love wins.

R.E. Slater
November 7, 2021






The Lion shall lie down with the lamb

by By  on May 26th, 2011


Here’s a phrase that has morphed from it’s biblical origins.  Isaiah wrote about “the wolf dwelling with the lamb while the leopard lies down with the kid… and the young lion” (Isaiah 11:6).  Yet, as with a phrase like “Pride goeth before a fall." it’s the abbreviation that has survived the test of time: "the lion shall lie down with the lamb."

But however it’s phrased, what could sound more unnatural than a wolf or lion lying down with a lamb?

It’s a vision that has drawn mockery from many quarters:
—  “Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb, and the rose grow without thorn” (Martin Amis)
—  “No absolute is going to make the lion lie down with the lamb unless the lamb is inside.” (D.H. Lawrence)
—  “The lion will lay down with the lamb, but the lamb won’t get much sleep.” (Woody Allen)

Isaiah has painted a deliberately provocative scene.  Nature, as Tennyson reminded us, is red in tooth and claw.  How absurd to think that nature itself could be tamed!  What could possibly bring about such a cosmic reversal?

Well, as ever, Isaiah answers by pointing us to the Messiah.  In the face of warring nations and warring nature, Isaiah continues to set our hope on a miraculous birth.  He will be called Immanuel or the Prince of Peace, or here in chapter 11 He’s called “the Branch.”

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.  5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them… 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.  (Isaiah 11:1-9)

When the true King reigns in righteousness, the world is set to rights.  This is not a spiritual truth divorced from historical and physical reality.  There will be a day when actual wolves and actual lambs graze together contentedly.  When seals will swim happily with great white sharks.   When children will play with crocodiles.

Impossible! Ridiculous! Fairytales! you might say. Yet Isaiah refuses to live in a double-decker universe. We often think that Christian truths apply to a spiritual realm while the real business of life occurs on some irredeemable physical level. We might concede that Jesus has spiritual power but, we imagine, it has no bearing on the way of the world.

But Isaiah cannot believe in such a divorce of spiritual and physical.  He believes in a very earthy Messiah.  He believes in God with us.  A God who becomes a Child.  A God who really enters into our world – to be born as a human king.   The power of heaven will enter into this world from the inside.  Not simply to grant spiritual benefits to spiritual people, but to remake His own creation.

We know that the false king, Adam, brought spiritual and physical death.  Well then, is Christ less powerful than Adam?  Is His victory less decisive than Adam’s fall?  No.  Therefore Christ, when He comes again, will bring spiritual and physical redemption to the ends of the earth.

The believer in Christ has a physical hope – death defeated, wars vanquished, disease abolished, nature itself brought to peace and prosperity:

6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. 7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.  8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. 9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.  (Isaiah 25:6-9)



Thursday, November 4, 2021

Homebrewed Christianity - Walking with Soren Kierkegaard, Part 4




Homebrewed Christianity - 
Walking with Soren Kierkegaard,
Part 4





Faith, Doubt and Kierkegaard
with J. Aaron Simmons
November 3, 2021
This week, J. Aaron Simmons joins me to discuss philosopher/theologian Soren Kierkegaard. Although Kierkegaard died in 1855, his message has deep resonance and relevance today. Enjoy!  
NOTE: Those into process theology like myself should also listen to the podcast with Catherine Keller which is next in line after Aaron's Kierkegaarde podcast. - re slater






* * * * * * *


SHORT TAKES, RESOURCES, AND MORE

NOTE: Pay especial attention to Stephen Backhouse below. - re slater

Søren Kierkegaard on Reintroducing Christianity into Christendom
by Stephen Backhouse
Sep 20, 2017


Christendom, rather than being an official connection between a government and a religion, is most often found in attitudes and mistaken assumptions. In today's Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Stephen Backhouse demonstrates how Søren Kierkegaard can be appropriated to challenge our core assumptions about identity and allegiance.



PHILOSOPHY - Soren Kierkegaard
Jun 26, 2015


Soren Kierkegaard is useful to us because of the intensity of his despair at the compromises and cruelties of daily life. He is a companion for our darkest moments.

 


Greatest Philosophers In History | Søren Kierkegaard
Aug 18, 2020


Søren Kierkegaard was a profound and prolific 19th century writer and philosopher in the Danish Golden Age of intellectual and artistic activity. He wrote about how we choose to live and what it means to be alive, centred in the individual or “existing being”. He is regarded as the father of Existentialism. The stress of subjectivity is one of Kierkegaard’s main contributions.

His concept of anxiety or angst is one of the most profound pre-Freudian works of psychology. His most popular work includes the leap of faith, the concept of angst, the three stages on life (aesthetic, ethical, religious), among others.


Amazon Link

The Essential Kierkegaard Paperback
May 30, 2000

by Søren Kierkegaard (Author),
Howard V. Hong (Editor), Edna H. Hong (Editor)

This is the most comprehensive anthology of Søren Kierkegaard's works ever assembled in English. Drawn from the volumes of Princeton's authoritative Kierkegaard's Writings series by editors Howard and Edna Hong, the selections represent every major aspect of Kierkegaard's extraordinary career. They reveal the powerful mix of philosophy, psychology, theology, and literary criticism that made Kierkegaard one of the most compelling writers of the nineteenth century and a shaping force in the twentieth. With an introduction to Kierkegaard's writings as a whole and explanatory notes for each selection, this is the essential one-volume guide to a thinker who changed the course of modern intellectual history.

The anthology begins with Kierkegaard's early journal entries and traces the development of his work chronologically to the final The Changelessness of God. The book presents generous selections from all of Kierkegaard's landmark works, including Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, Works of Love, and The Sickness unto Death, and draws new attention to a host of such lesser-known writings as Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions and The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air. The selections are carefully chosen to reflect the unique character of Kierkegaard's work, with its shifting pseudonyms, its complex dialogues, and its potent combination of irony, satire, sermon, polemic, humor, and fiction. We see the esthetic, ethical, and ethical-religious ways of life initially presented as dialogue in two parallel series of pseudonymous and signed works and later in the "second authorship" as direct address. And we see the themes that bind the whole together, in particular Kierkegaard's overarching concern with, in his own words, "What it means to exist; . . . what it means to be a human being?

Together, the selections provide the best available introduction to Kierkegaard's writings and show more completely than any other book why his work, in all its creativity, variety, and power, continues to speak so directly today to so many readers around the world.

 




Quick Facts

Birthday: May 5, 1813

Girlfriend: Regine Schlegel (Ex)

Died At Age: 42

Sun Sign: Taurus

Also Known As: Søren Kierkegaard

Born Country: Denmark
Born In: Copenhagen, Denmark

Famous As: Philosopher, Theologian & Religious Author

Father: Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard
Mother: Ane Sørensdatter Lund Kierkegaard
Siblings: Peter Christian Kierkegaard

Died On: November 11, 1855
Place Of Death: Copenhagen, Denmark

Who was Soren Kierkegaard?

  • Soren Kierkegaard was a famous Danish philosopher, theologian and religious author.
  • He was well known for his criticism of the philosophies of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel.
  • His philosophical work generally deals with the issues of living as a “single individual” and giving priority to concrete human reality over abstract thinking.
  • His work in theology focuses mainly on Christian ethics and institution of the Church. It also deals with the difference between the purely objective proofs of Christianity and a subjective relationship to Jesus Christ.
  • Kierkegaard was also interested in human psychology and his psychological work explores the emotions and the feelings of individuals when facing situations in life.
  • His intellectuality was influenced by Socrates and the Socratic Method.
  • Kierkegaard’s earlier works were mainly written under various pseudonymous characters, presenting their own distinctive viewpoints and interacting with each other.

Childhood & Early Life

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was born on 5 May 1813, in Copenhagen. His father, Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard, a wealthy hosier, was a self-made man; he was intelligent, but melancholic. Søren’s mother, Ane Sørensdatter Lund, was his second wife. His first marriage to Kirstine Nielsdatter was childless.

Raised as a shepherd boy, Michael experienced great hardship in his childhood. One day, while alone on the heath, he cursed God for his adversities and loneliness. In later years, he believed that he had earned God’s wrath because of that, successfully transmitting his belief to his children.

Before her marriage, Ane Sørensdatter, a cheerful but uneducated woman, was a housemaid with the family. After Kirstine’s death, she found herself pregnant with Michael’s child, which compelled him to marry her. That he got his maid pregnant soon after his wife’s death also added to Michael’s burden of guilt.

Born the youngest of his parents’ seven children, Søren had three sisters and three brothers, out of whom five died young. While Michael was convinced that all his children would die young because of his sin, Søren and his brother, Peter Christian, later a renowned bishop, lived to experience adulthood.

As a child, Søren idolized his father, quickly developing a bond with him, going out with him on imaginary walks during bad weather. During these walks, taking place within the confine of the study, his father would describe the make-believe sights, helping him to develop his power of imagination.

During this period, he probably also inherited from his father his heavy burden of guilt and a belief that his father’s long life and wealth was actually God’s revenge. It often made the young boy depressed and gloomy.

In 1821, after finishing his education at an elementary school, Søren was enrolled at Østre Borgerdyd Gymnasium, a well-regarded “School of Civic Virtue” in Copenhagen. Here, he had a classical education, excelling in Latin and history, finally graduating in 1830.

In 1831, he entered the University of Copenhagen with theology. But he soon lost interest in that, instead being drawn towards literature and philosophy, especially studying fictitious literary figures like Don Juan and Faust, trying to find an existential model that he could follow.

Although he was aware about his father’s sense of gloom since his childhood, quite often becoming depressed because of that, it was only in 1834 that he came to know the reasons. It came as a shock, making him leave home, abandoning the Christian faith in which he was brought up.

Estranged from his father, living with mental turmoil, he began a new search. In 1835, he wrote, “The thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die.… What is truth but to live for an idea?”

In 1838, Søren returned home, being reconciled not only with his father, but also with Christianity, deciding to live by its tenets. Also after his father’s death in the same year, he decided to complete his formal education, financing it with his inheritance of approximately 31,000 rigsdaler.

In June 1841, he completed his dissertation, ‘Om begrebetironi med stadigthensyntil Socrates’ (On the Concept of Irony, with Constant Reference to Socrates), defending it in September. Finally on 20 October 1841, he graduated from the University of Copenhagen with a Magister Arutim.