Fish's Blog

Lately I've been enjoying the NY Times blog of literary theorist Stanley Fish, found here. I found particularly interesting three pieces he did last year on the new Atheism of Dawkins, Hitchens and the like. He counters their claim to an objectively true high road with his own (secular) critique of their ability to make such a claim (The Three Atheists, Atheism and Evidence, and Is Religion Man-Made?).

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?

I don't often think of Johnathan Edwards, but I did the other day. I was reminded of his (in)famous sermon that starts with a quotation from Deuteronomy 32:35 - "Their foot shall slide in due time."

Some friends and I, reading through Psalms, came across another passage, which I think might serve as an interesting intertext/countertext:

"When I said, 'My foot is slipping,' your unfailing love, LORD, supported me." (94:18)

All manner of respect and grace to Johnathan Edwards, but I take great comfort in the hope that his 'angry God' might actually turn out to be more of a gracious and merciful one.

A Few Reviews

I wrote a book review a while back that was recently posted on the Other Journal. The book is Seattle resident Tom Sine's The New Conspirators:

http://www.theotherjournal.com/article.php?id=424

A number of months before that I wrote another one as well, this one on a book about Theology and Music, by theologian and musician Jeremy Begbie:

http://www.theotherjournal.com/article.php?id=333

Artistic Impulse Art Project

http://www.cabematthews.com/photos/theology/index.html

My Art project was a photographic reading of the major sections of James Wm. McClendon's doctrinal theology (Systematic Theology: Volume 2, Doctrine).

He do the Police in Different Voices

Last night in a book I was reading I came across a long quote from The Crucified God by German theologian Jurgen Moltmann. About half way through the quote I realized that I was reading it, silently to myself, in a thick German accent. I've read him before, and I've seen him speak, both on video and in person, but what happened last night was unprecedented, as well as a little weird and more than a little humorous.

No Press is Bad Press

Except when I'm doing a Stupid Looking "Dance" on the Cover of a Neighborhood Periodical.

Check out this piece in the Belltown Messenger:

http://www.belltownmessenger.com/062008/062008-044-feature.html

Let the record show that at no point were we acting out the story of Adam and Eve. Though I am flattered that I got to be Adam while David Rice was apparently the serpent. Also note that the really dumb looking picture of us imitating the imitation of Matisse's La Danse is the Messenger's current cover photo. My modeling career is not off to a very flattering start.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer also ran a column yesterday about MHGS, which is less exciting and entertaining, but far more informative and notable in the world of Journalism:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/365217_faith31.html

Huh?

From a CNN article about much needed aid to Burma that the government of Myanmar/Burma will not allow to be delivered:

"There is great sensitivity all over the world to violating a country's sovereignty," Gates said. "Particularly in the absence of some kind of U.N. umbrella that would authorize it."

This is a completely different situation, that would potentially put our military in the position of bringing aid to people who really really need it. And I realize Gates hasn't been around for most of the Bush administration's foreign policy. But did anybody else laugh out loud at the irony?

And maybe shed some tears for those who might have benefited this time from our government's previous lack of respect for national sovereignty and the UN?

Pictures from Mora

I just posted some new pictures from a recent trip with some friends to the Pacific Coast out on the peninsula. They can be found here:

http://www.cabematthews.com/photos/mora

And here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2458108&id=7915777&ref=mf

The Non-Violent Jesus of Revelation

I just posted the following comment on Kim's Faith and Gender blog. Her post is in response to a blog post by Mark Driscoll that can be found here.

You're right. The street-fighting Jesus is not in the Gospels. But I have to break something to Mark: he isn't in Revelation either.

In Revelation it turns out that the victorious lion is a slain lamb, and when Jesus rides in to battle he has a sword, as Kim rightly pointed out, only it's a sword that is coming out of his mouth. His sword is the word of God.

There is war imagery in Revelation to be sure; many first century Christian communities felt besieged and attacked and so this imagery makes sense here. But it's always twisted a little, showing that this war is very much not conventional. For instance, it doesn't make sense for a victorious general's robe to be soaked in blood - to be soaked in blood like that is an image of defeat, because whose blood is it going to be but yours? And yet the victorious general riding into battle is wearing such a blood-soaked robe. This is not conventional warfare imagery, but subverted warfare imagery - imagery to transform and supersede conventional warfare.

The victorious lion is the lamb that was slain. That's the scandal of the New Testament, and perhaps of all human history. The lion defeats his foes by the way of the cross, not by the way of the sword.

I think Mark is right: Jesus could beat him up. The gospel (expressed perhaps too simply) is that he absolutely won't.

Also, it should perhaps be pointed out that pornography, something I believe Mark takes a strong stance against, is also very good at reaching men from 18 to 34. I think in that case also it's important to wonder with Mark why this demographic is drawn to such things. But to then colonize your doctrine of God with such things is problematic at best. Why are we to reject pornography but embrace the UFC? Why is sex bad in pornography but violence is great when it comes to the Octagon? Who gets to decide what's good and where?

If the answer to that last question is "Jesus" then I think there is a much better case for Christians to be skeptical of violence in all forms than there is for us to be skeptical of things like pornography.

Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not be Ordained for Ministry

Kim George emailed this link to me, and I found it amusing, witty, and insightful:

Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not be Ordained for Ministry

Some Thoughts on What's Changed Since the Last Time I Blogged

It has been since December, and there has been significant movement in my life since then. Here are a few of those movements, briefly articulated as a way for me to step back into the blogosphere with these new convictions as a starting point of sorts.

1. Christian theology must be ethical. Jesus' teachings must be lived now, in this life, and they aren't some kind of unrealistic moral standard to prove we are all sinners. We are all sinners, but Jesus' teaching are still what we aspire towards today.

2. This (perhaps obvious to some) realization has led me to another conclusion: If I am to follow Jesus I must be against violence in all forms. As such, I'm a pacifist now. If I follow a God who preached love and forgiveness for enemies and neighbors alike, who taught us to turn the other cheek and that those who live by the sword die by the sword, who ultimately allowed himself to be brutally murdered while praying for his murderers' forgiveness, and who we call Prince of Peace, I am by necessity unable to justify taking the life of another.

3. But also to be true to this God I must recognize another important theme in God's self revelation through Christ. Namely, I cannot be passive, but must be active. To follow Christ is to do things: healing the sick, caring for the poor, setting captives free, and actively standing up against the violence of those who would do harm to others, whether those others are my friends or my enemies.

Those three are a helpful starting point, but it should be said that they are in no way an attempt at being comprehensive, as I've left out much that has remained largely the same. For instance, the resurrection went unmentioned, though that remains a central presupposition of mine, and in many ways I think I see these three things through resurrection eyes. I also left some things out that have changed, but get off my back; this is only a blog.