Must be watched to be believed August 31, 2008
Posted by Zack in | 2 commentsPat Buchanan channels Barack Obama, firing up a crowd as he does it:
(HT: Ari Melber)
I want to be like James Legge and wake up and work at 3AM every day August 30, 2008
Posted by Zack in Uncategorized | 12 commentsI’ve been trying to research this question: Was Jesus’ teaching of enemy love (the most radical extent of his philosophy of non-violence?) a first? Is it unique among religions?
I read “The Great Tranformation” by Karen Armstrong recently, and she basically said that a lot of Indian and Chinese teachers long before Jesus taught some pretty radical non-violent philosophies.
Why ask that question? I am having a hunch that the unique thing about Christianity is the *combination* of non-violence with the command to make redemptive history—to fix everything. Usually, “fixing everything” is taken to mean going around and *forcing* everyone to conform to what you think “fixing everything” means. Jesus blocks us from taking that path. But he (and the Bible) still call us to fix everything nonetheless. In other words, we are called to extremely difficult, complex community with all of humanity…in a long, historical struggle to, yes, fix everything.
That’s my hunch anyways.
A friend who knows a lot says I can’t trust Karen. So I was following her footnotes in the UMKC library today. I was going through this incredible 50 volume set of ancient writings by Asian classic philosophers. It was published back in the 1800’s when academics still did really hard, grinding work. Apparently, hardly anything has been done since then in that field with all those old texts. Is that wrong to say? I’m just saying: the only translations for most of this stuff are those old ones from 120 years ago, which must be totally insufficient.
Of course, all of these translations were compiled by missionaries. Back then, they were the only ones who felt strongly enough about understanding “inferior” cultures on their own terms. How else would you convert them? And in the course of their deep immersion, many quickly accepted that the cultures were not inferior at all. The guy who handled the Chinese classics was named James Legge (理雅各; December 20, 1815 – November 29, 1897). He seems to have been awestruck by the depth and mass and complexity of Chinese philosophy, acknowledging that Chinese writers were thousands of years ahead of the West on all sorts of topics.
Anyways, this really got me:
Tag: James LeggeIn 1875 he was named Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford and in 1876 assumed the new Chair of Chinese Language and Literature at Oxford, where he attracted few students to his lectures but worked hard for some 20 years in his study at 3, Keble-terrace, over his translations of the Chinese classics. According to an anonymous contemporary obituary in the Pall Mall Gazette, Legge was in his study every morning at three o’clock, winter and summer, having retired to bed at ten. When he got up in the morning the first thing he did was to make himself a cup of tea over a spirit-lamp. Then he worked away at his translations while all the household slept.
Steve Waldman on the DNC August 28, 2008
Posted by Zack in Colorado | 1 commentOn Monday, I was on a panel with Beliefnet President Steve Waldman at the DNC. Here’s his take on the DNC in the Wall Street Journal today:
Compared to the 2004 Democratic Convention, the 2008 gathering is a veritable religious revival meeting. At the last convention, people of faith were treated as a worthwhile little interest group, roughly on the same level as mohair farmers.
What a difference four years make. By my count, there are at least nine different faith-related events. The week opened with an Interfaith religious service, led by the Democratic convention’s CEO, who is also a Pentecostal minister (!). At the Institute of Faith and Politics lunch, Democratic office holders talked about the role of faith in their lives. Events were held by the Faith Caucus, the Network for Spiritual Progressives, the National Jewish Democratic Council, and the American Muslim Democratic Caucus.
(HT: Faith in Public Life.)
Tags: Democratic Convention, Steve WaldmanWant to help refugees in Kansas City? August 27, 2008
Posted by Zack in Kansas, Missouri | 5 commentsThis post if for readers who live in the Kansas City area.
Elizabeth and I have gotten involved in the lives of this amazing group of refugees from Burma. They’re from a minority nationality from Burma who have been struggling for survival against all kinds of attacks by the Burmese state and army there for about 60 years. People from this nationality just started arriving in the U.S. two years ago. They have very little support. And almost no one speaks English yet. Most of these families have been living in refugee camps in Thailand for the last 10 years.
They’re really struggling here just to get jobs, make it to the doctor, get immunizations, enroll in school, get dental care for long-standing issues, learn to drive, fill out forms for basic assistance and housing, etc…
About 20 years ago, I hitched hiked through a part of South East Asia just a few hundred miles from where these folks come from, and where a related nationality lived. I’d wind up in a village near night fall, and the village would just get together and decide who would take care of me that night. A family would take me home, feed me, tell me stories (we all spoke about the same amount of Chinese), and give me the best mat in the house to sleep on. I was 18 years old and was so arrogant as to think that I should just be able to walk into villages and have people take care of me. They didn’t mind — they thought it was normal to put themselves out to take care of strangers, even when it could potentially get them in trouble with the government.
And so that’s part of why it’s breaking my heart seeing these families stuck in inadequate housing, with roaches crawling all over everything (not able to communicate with the landlord or pay for exterminators), without enough food half the time, and with hardly anyone lending a hand. But being around these families is an amazing thing. Watching them do church, whether you’re Christian or not, will blow you away. (They got totally missionized in the 1850’s, which is part of why they’re being driven out of Burma, and therefore why we owe them!) Watching them laugh and have a great time even as they’re getting beat up at school, going hungry at home, and being sick and stranded at home without transportation will blow you away too. They’re just awesome people. You should meet them if you live in Kansas City.
Anyone want to help meet some of these needs and get to know these families? Email us at help@revolutioninjesusland.com.
Tags: Kansas City, RefugeesVideo interview with Donald Miller August 27, 2008
Posted by Zack in Colorado | 3 commentsHere’s a video interview by Christianity Today with best-selling Christian author Donald Miller at the DNC in Denver. Miller gave the prayer on the first night of the convention Monday. Read Sarah Pulliam’s intro to the interview and other postings from the convention here.
Donald Miller says here that he’s a “single evangelical who represents no one.” But it’s really easy to find young evangelicals who are saying exactly the same things that Don is saying here regarding abortion, political parties and politics.
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PS: Here’s Miller’s prayer at the DNC on YouTube:
Just one little example of Christian house meetings August 26, 2008
Posted by Zack in Missouri | 6 commentsHouse gatherings are a major feature of today’s evangelical/born again culture. House meetings are such a broad and diverse phenomenon in the church that it’s impossible to generalize about them. There is also some controversy about house meetings, or “house church,” and how to do them (and whether to do them). Some point out that house meetings were the first kind of Christian church. Others say that Christian communities need the guidance of formal organization. Some (perhaps most) say both are necessary.
Here’s one little glimpse at how one group of young Christians gathers and thinks about its gatherings. This email came from a new friend in Kansas City this morning. He and an overlapping group also gather at his house after church on Sunday evenings for a meal, conversation and the occasional card game, guitar jam or review of the latest dense theological book that Tim is reading. Here they’re restarting another kind of gathering after a summer break:
Greetings and hello and hey,
This Thursday, after a nice long summer hiatus, our group will be starting up our weekly Conversations meeting again. We’ll meet at 7 at the Freak Show (Sam and Adam’s apartment (since it’s centrally located, and not to far from public transport)) at 7. Bring something to contribute to delicious sandwich making. After eating, we’ll take communion, sing a song or two, and then pray for about an hour. It’s pretty laid-back, eyes-open, conversation kind of praying. We follow a basic structure of praying from large-scale things down to small-scale things. Hope to see you there.
Peace to you,
Timothy.PS. I’m culling from a pretty old list, and adding some new people, so please let me know if you don’t want to get any more emails on stuff like this.
By the way, you may have noticed that the posts on this blog are now rotating between three types:
- posts that engage Christians,
- posts that seek to explain aspects of born again Christian culture to people outside of that culture,
- and posts that have something to say to both audiences.
I’m saying this because the Christian audience will find this post absurd because I’m reporting something that is so commonplace to them. Timothy, who wrote the email, for example says:
Heh. Always cracks me up to think of our group in these terms. Feel free to post the email if you think it illustrates. It’s just another email to me. Tell all you’d like about us. We’re just trying to live in the moment, and live where we are, so if it’s of interest, that’s fine.
Timothy: I assure you that this kind of thing is fascinating to many people who are outside of any born again Christian culture.
One thing that many (including myself) will want some more info on: What is prayer all about? What do you pray for? Who do you pray for? What do you think prayer accomplishes? Why pray for anything when you say you believe that God has his own plan that we can’t really understand? How do you feel when you’re praying—and after? What effect does prayer have on your group/community?
And here’s a silly but vexing question from me: Why close your eyes when you pray? Why is there this feeling in church that you’re being seditious if you open your eyes while praying? What does it mean in Timothy’s group’s case when he says, “open eyed prayer?”
Tags: house church, Prayer, small groupsNetwork of Spiritual Progressives and the Global Marshall Plan August 25, 2008
Posted by Zack in Colorado | 4 commentsStill in Denver. Over at an event by the Network of Spiritual Progressives.
Keith Ellison is speaking now. He’s the first Muslim American elected to the U.S. Congress. He was sworn in on Thomas Jefferson’s Koran. For real! Now that’s some good PR strategerizing. He’s pretty darn charismatic. He’s telling Jesus’ parables. Says Jesus is a figure who can unify Jews, Christians and Muslims (as there’s plenty of Jesus in the Koran). The Good Samaritan and then the Loaves and Fishes. Wow. He’s really good. He’s got the crowd speaking together, “There’s enough. There’s enough for everybody…”
He’s talking about the Global Marshall Plan, a resolution that he introduced in Congress. But the idea is something that the NSP put together. It is also the name of last chapter in Al Gore’s 1992 book Earth in the Balance. (Now that I’ve done some googling it looks like there are a few different versions of it actually.)
When I got here Michael Lerner was speaking. I really want to meet him. He used to be a radical lefty and then left that and became a Rabbi.
Both Lerner and Ellison were giving passionate sermons. And then Tony Campolo, who’s speaking now, got up and started: “When a Muslim and a Jew sound more like Billy Graham than I do — the world is messed up!”
Tony now: “People asked me: Why would you go teach at that little Baptist school? Why would you leave the Ivies? I wanted to go to that little school (Eastern University) because my students are committed to transcendent values.” He’s telling stories of all the things that his students have gone off to do. For example going to work for Opportunity International, which has created 3.5 million jobs for the poor, he says. By the way, Shane Claiborne was one of his students.
OK. Tony is amazing. This is the first time I’ve ever heard him speak. At the crescendo of a speech that I can’t attempt to represent here, Tony is saying right now, “Overcome evil with good. Overcome evil with good. Overcome evil with good.” That is the answer Obama should have given at Saddleback and it would have trumped McCain’s “Defeat it!”
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UPDATE: Oh my, Lerner may have just ruined the whole thing by making everyone get up and sing Lennon’s Imagine! With him leading loudly and out of key. 
Don Miller praying for/with the Democrats August 25, 2008
Posted by Zack in Colorado | 1 commentSo, guess what — I had a beer with Don Miller last night here in Denver. My born-once audience will not know who that is. But my born-again audience is again eating their hearts out with jealousy. They’ve all read Don’s bestselling book Blue Like Jazz at least twice. And basically every chapter in the book is Don talking about theology and life with someone over a beer. When you’re reading the book you definitely have a thread in the back of your mind saying, “Man, it would be so cool to have a beer with Don Miller.” I just did, and it WAS cool.
Don is doing the closing prayer at the convention today — something that will probably stir up some controversy on both sides. Or maybe not. We’ll see. Here’s the statement on his website now:
Many of you have heard I will be delivering the closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention Monday night in Denver. After the key-note address, I’ve been asked to close the evening with a short benediction.
I’ll be posting the prayer here shortly before I leave my hotel for the Pepsi Center. I doubt the prayer will be televised, but you can read it on this site a couple hours before I read it off the teleprompter.
I will be notifying twitter followers when I update the site with the prayer. Simply text message the words “follow donmilleris” to the number 40404 to be notified when the prayer has gone online.
It is an honor to be asked to come and pray before such a diverse audience. i am grateful and looking forward to the opportunity.
Sincerely,
Donald Miller
Blue Like Jazz was actually one of the first signals that reached me and made me aware that something interesting was happening out there in the church. Just before we were married, Elizabeth picked up the book at Borders saying she had heard it was a big deal. She started to read it to me as I drove her home. I kept telling her, “Wait, read that part over again!” He was inviting me into a church that actually made sense, one that was honest and humble. He was telling the story of his journey: a journey away from certain aspects of institutionalized church toward a spirituality flowing from the radical life and message of Jesus. And the book was a huge best seller — so obviously there was a constituency out there for this. Amazing!
Don’t blame Don for sitting down with a scurrilous character like me. He had no idea who I was when a mutual friend introduced us over email and I think he just didn’t know anyone else in this sea of Democrats.
His new project is incredibly exciting — a non-profit that pairs up volunteers from churches to be mentors to young people. Please check it out and consider getting your church involved. I hope that we can bring him to speak in Kansas City, where we really need a big wave of additional youth mentors.
Tags: Democratic Convention, Don MillerJesusland at the DNC 1 August 25, 2008
Posted by Zack in Colorado | 3 commentsI’m here in Denver in the middle of all the mayhem of the Democratic Convention. I did my Revolution in Jesusland act this morning at a side show called “The Big Tent.” It went over well. And it even got a notice from The Heritage Foundation thanks to Conn Carroll.
As Exley continued attending church he noticed that there was a sizable number of younger parishioners who were devouring books by Shane Claibourne, Donald Miller, and Greg Boyd. These younger believers are moving away from the Republicans but are not becoming Democrats. Exley says that they have more in common with the anarchist protesters here in Denver, than they do with Democrats. These younger evangelicals want to love the state out of existence. Exley said liberals need to convince them to love the state into making the right change.
It’s a bit over simplified, but not a bad take on what I said. However, if I have to identify as something on the traditional political continuum, I’m not liberal, but radical.
Tags: Democratic Convention, Denver, Heritage FoundationJoke August 20, 2008
Posted by Zack in | 6 commentsOK, hopefully RIJ can become your one stop shop for progressive Evangelical political humor. Here’s the first installment thanks to commentor James:
Obama is not the Messiah, but he may cast out some demons in November.
