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

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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, May 9, 2022

Thomas Jay Oord - Free Will is an Experiential Nonnegotiable





9 Reasons to Affirm Free Will




Free Will is an Experiential Nonnegotiable

by Thomas Oord
March 22nd, 2020


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

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


Our Freedom is Always Limited

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

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

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

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

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


We Should Start with the Data We Know Best

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

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


Amazon Link

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

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

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


Is Free Will Just Common Sense?

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

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

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

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


Free Will is an Experiential Nonnegotiable

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

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

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

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

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


NOTES:

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

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

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

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

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

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


Thursday, May 5, 2022

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



Here’s Tripp & Diana’s Finals Thoughts
on Jesus De/Constructed for Lent



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ADDITIONAL LINKS FROM SESSION 3




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SPECIAL BONUS SESSION:
After Jesus Before Christianity


amazon link

From the creative minds of the scholarly group behind the groundbreaking Jesus Seminar comes this provocative and eye-opening look at the roots of Christianity that offers a thoughtful reconsideration of the first two centuries of the Jesus movement, transforming our understanding of the religion and its early dissemination.
Christianity has endured for more than two millennia and is practiced by billions worldwide today. Yet that longevity has created difficulties for scholars tracing the religion’s roots, distorting much of the historical investigation into the first two centuries of the Jesus movement. But what if Christianity died in the fourth or fifth centuries after it began? How would that change how historians see and understand its first two hundred years?
Considering these questions, three Bible scholars from the Westar Institute summarize the work of the Christianity Seminar and its efforts to offer a new way of thinking about Christianity and its roots. Synthesizing the institute’s most recent scholarship—bringing together the many archaeological and textual discoveries over the last twenty years—they have found:
  • There were multiple Jesus movements, not a singular one, before the fourth century
  • There was nothing called Christianity until the third century
  • There was much more flexibility and diversity within Jesus’s movement before it became centralized in Rome, not only regarding the Bible and religious doctrine, but also understandings of gender, sexuality and morality.
Exciting and revolutionary, After Jesus Before Christianity provides fresh insights into the real history behind how the Jesus movement became Christianity.
After Jesus Before Christianity includes more than a dozen black-and-white images throughout.

1:32:35
After Jesus Before Christianity
Mar 21, 2022


Diana and Tripp are thrilled to host the authors of "After Jesus Before Christianity" for a webinar exploring the new book and how their research into the earliest Jesus Movements can challenge those of us who struggle to follow Jesus today.
You can check the book out here: https://amzn.to/3IyRtx7
This is a special bonus session from the school blind Lent group - Jesus De/Constructed w/ Diana Butler Bass & Tripp Fuller.
Check the group out here: http://jesusdeconstructed.com


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


April 4, 2022 By Tripp Fuller 
John Dominic Crossan is back on the podcast talking about his new book Render Unto Caesar: The Struggle over Christ and Culture in the New Testament. It is always a blast to have Dom on the podcast and this is no exception! Dr. Crossan is one of the leading New Testament scholars today. Not only has he significantly contributed to the academic guild, but he has consistently written texts for a larger audience. 
Want to hang out with Dom? Then come join an upcoming live stream QnA where he will be tackling a bunch of Bible questions from listeners. It promises to be a nerdy good time!
Previous Visits from Crossan to the podcast 


* * * * * * * *


Previous Episodes with Diana & Tripp




JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 6 OF 6


PART 6 OF 6



UPDATE

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

Class Outline

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

  • 3/3 SESSION 1: De/Constructing Jesus & the Lenten Journey
  • Reading: the introduction to Freeing Jesus and chapter 1 of the Guide to Jesus
  • 3/10 SESSION 2: the Consequences of C.S. Lewis’ Worst Idea
  • Reading: Guide to Jesus ch 2-4
  • 3/17 SESSION 3: from Executed Prophet to Cosmic Christ
  • Reading: Guide to Jesus ch 5-7
  • 3/24 SESSION 4: Freeing Jesus from Christendom Capture
  • Reading: Freeing Jesus ch 1-3
  • 3/31 SESSION 5: One Jesus, One Story, & a Multitude of Christs
  • Reading: Freeing Jesus ch 4-6
  • 4/7 SESSION 6: De/constructed Jesus & the Journey of Holy Week
  • Reading: Freeing Jesus conclusion & Guide to Jesus ch 8


* * * * * * *


Amazon Link


The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus
Lord, Liar, Lunatic, Or Awesome?

by Tripp Fuller

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

* * * * * * *


CLASS 6 VIDEO
2:27:53
Jesus De/Constructed with Diana and Tripp
April 7, 2022




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Homebrewed Guide to Jesus 
BOOK Notes for Chapter 8
by Steve Thomason | Apr 28, 2022

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

Below are my notes from chapter 8.

View chapters 2-4 here.

View chapters 5-7 here.

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

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

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

Scroll down and enjoy!

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CLASS 6 VIDEO
2:27:53
Jesus De/Constructed with Diana and Tripp
April 7, 2022




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Jesus DeConstructed VIDEO Session 6 
Class Notes
by Steve Thomason | April 29, 2022


by Steve Thomason


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

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

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

 

Steve Thomason

Steve Thomason

Steve Thomason




JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT, PART 5 OF 6



JESUS D/C SERIES




JESUS DE/CONSTRUCTED FOR LENT
PART 5 OF 6



UPDATE

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

Class Outline

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

  • 3/3 SESSION 1: De/Constructing Jesus & the Lenten Journey
  • Reading: the introduction to Freeing Jesus and chapter 1 of the Guide to Jesus
  • 3/10 SESSION 2: the Consequences of C.S. Lewis’ Worst Idea
  • Reading: Guide to Jesus ch 2-4
  • 3/17 SESSION 3: from Executed Prophet to Cosmic Christ
  • Reading: Guide to Jesus ch 5-7
  • 3/24 SESSION 4: Freeing Jesus from Christendom Capture
  • Reading: Freeing Jesus ch 1-3
  • 3/31 SESSION 5: One Jesus, One Story, & a Multitude of Christs
  • Reading: Freeing Jesus ch 4-6
  • 4/7 SESSION 6: De/constructed Jesus & the Journey of Holy Week
  • Reading: Freeing Jesus conclusion & Guide to Jesus ch 8


* * * * * * *


Amazon Link


The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Jesus
Lord, Liar, Lunatic, Or Awesome?

by Tripp Fuller

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

* * * * * * *


CLASS 5 VIDEO
2:02:57
Jesus De/Constructed with Diana and Tripp
Mar 31, 2022

YouTube Video - Paid Content


* * * * * * *


Jesus DeConstructed VIDEO Session 5 
Class Notes
by Steve Thomason | April 21, 2022



by Steve Thomason

Here are my notes from Session 5 of Jesus De/Constructed with Diana Butler-Bass and Tripp Fuller. It was an excellent session. I sectioned out the different parts and placed them in a more linear fashion below. Scroll down to get a sense of how the session flowed. Enjoy!

This session was based on chapters 5-6 of Freeing Jesus. See my notes of those chapters here.

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

by Steve Thomason

by Steve Thomason

by Steve Thomason

by Steve Thomason

by Steve Thomason

by Steve Thomason

by Steve Thomason

by Steve Thomason



* * * * * * *



CLASS 5 VIDEO
2:02:57
Jesus De/Constructed with Diana and Tripp
Mar 31, 2022

YouTube Video - Paid Content


* * * * * * *


Jesus DeConstructed BOOK Session 5
FREEING JESUS Notes
with Diana Butler-Bass and Tripp Fuller

Mar 28, 2022




Freeing Jesus by Diana Butler-Bass Visual Notes chapters 5-6
by Steve Thomason | Mar 28, 2022

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

Below are my notes from chapters 5-6.

See notes from chapters 1-4 here.

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.

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



by Steve Thomason
by Steve Thomason