Index of Articles

Journey into Modern Culture: The Spiritual Theology of Richard Niebuhr

I selected Richard Niebuhr as an exemplar and trailblazer into modern culture because he combined the cataphatic (with image) and apophatic (without image) modes of spiritual life and thought. These technical terms from spiritual theology were not used by Niebuhr nor are they normally used by moral theologians, especially those practicing fifty years ago. Nonetheless, applying these terms from spiritual theology may revitalize Niebuhr's thought and position it in the context of spiritual theology.

Word Count:

928

956 min read
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Party Etiquette for Cross and Resurrection People

Watching the movie of David Adam Richards' The Bay Of Love And Sorrows and reading the story of the great banquet in Luke 14:15-24 was like having the same yarn told stereophonically. The Bay Of Love And Sorrows kicks off with a party, a rural New Brunswick booze-fest back in the heady utopian days of the early '70s. Two men, Michael Skid and Everett Hutch, were celebrating their homecoming: Michael from his exotic pilgrimage to India, and Everett from his dreary confinement in a provincial penitentiary.

Word Count:

2064

2064 min read
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Passions of Prometheus

I DON'T THINK that it is inconsequential that my heroes are men.... It is not because women are not as passionate, creative, or in any way undeserving that they don't make my short list of heroes. Rather, it is because I share with most men an inclination toward "Prometheanism". I don't know why it is not as prevalent in most women. Perhaps it is the hard wiring of centuries of birthing and caring for life (if I am allowed that stereotypical explanation). I do not think it is because women are morally superior to men, only that

Word Count:

3455

3470 min read
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Paul and the Moral Philosophers

Linda, reading 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6: For we know brothers, loved by God, that he has chosen you because our gospel came you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit, and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. Eldon: The moral philosophers stressed the importance of reason and reliance in yourself for moral growth. And Paul refers the moral life to God and the power of the Spirit. In this verse He says that he has chosen you. So, first of all, it wasn't your idea to begin with. It

Word Count:

654

668 min read
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Persuading The Gardner

Whether or not Luther derived his existential way of interpreting Scripture from the medieval four-fold interpretive method, the German mystics, his love of Augustine, or his own passionate nature, what translated his tentative inklings into definitive spiritual prescriptions was the assignment by his mentor Johan Von Stauptiz: to teach students. His first serious attempt (1513-15) involved reading the Psalter as a living oracle. This was not an easy task given the obscure, vindictive, lament-like nature of many Psalms. Luther filtered his reading of the Psalms through his understanding of Christ. He read them christologically. He also applied the tropological or

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1467

1498 min read
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Principalities and Powers

This week we looked at Walter Wink's ideas on Principalities and Powers. A group of us went to a retreat that Wink spoke at more than 10 years ago in Saskatchewan, so it was interesting to return to his ideas. One of Wink's strengths is his acknowledgement that we are surrounded by Powers (similar to the archy idea from the previous week). In the Testament and perhaps up until the Enlightenment when rationality gained precedence over religion, these Powers were called angels, demons, principalities, powers and thrones. Wink contends that people had an understanding that everything that existed had some

Word Count:

509

521 min read
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Prologue of Assurance in Luke

Can Luke teach us how to start again, to have faith in uncertain times? It seems we've spent a lifetime trying, becoming conscious, becoming developmentally appropriate. Could we start again, as Jesus Christ Superstar asks? As some of us had seen the Jesus Christ Superstar show the night before, the question of how such a radical critique and low Christology still evokes faith came up. It makes people ask who Jesus really was, past church dogma and the overemphasis on Christ's divinity. His humanity makes him more accessible. But the play is possibly docetic in how it portrayed Jesus too

Word Count:

1055

1080 min read
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Ralph Waldo Emerson's Harvard Divinity Address

The average temperature in Boston during the summer of 1838 was a stifling 90 degrees Fahrenheit - hot enough to cause the six graduates and a select group of esteemed guests to loosen their starched collars as they crowded into the tiny side chapel at Harvard Divinity School for the graduation address. Neither diminutive numbers nor heat would dampen the refreshing gust of thought and inspiration that Ralph Waldo Emerson brought that day. No matter how claustrophobic the physical space or the minds of his listeners, Emerson's reflections opened onto vistas of spirit that

Word Count:

2070

2107 min read
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Response to The Rapture movie

THE RAPTURE IS IS difficult to evaluate. It honestly deals with the struggle to overcome meaninglessness yet the screenwriter's point of view is so cynical and apparently post-modern that there is no possibility of any genuine healing or meaning. Simply, the film The Rapture could be translated as, "Look how hard I am trying and God just doesn't come through! What a bad God! I think I will damn myself just to get back at Him." The simplistic solutions of sexual swinging and spiritual mindlessness have met a simple partner- modern cynicism.

Word Count:

448

466 min read
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Resurrection: Beyond Ghosts and Ghouls

MORE THAN A fact or doctrine, the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth embodies personal and historical hope. While reading a variety of viewpoints on the resurrection, I have been alternatively confused, comforted, restored and unexpectedly devastated by this theme. Internally and subjectively the resurrection is an encounter with the epicenter of meaning and significance. Without a living encounter and reliance on the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, spirituality amounts to little more than armchair speculation. This strikes at the root of my fears because my intellect hesitates to believe that a person whose bodily functions had ceased, whose tether to

Word Count:

3146

3146 min read
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