Stuff Liberal Christians Like: #2 Coexist Stickers

June 23, 2010 by Chad Crawford 7 Comments

Very few would argue that Liberal Christians have the upper hand when it comes to religious merchandise. Those other Christians have the most sales in bumper stickers and T-shirts. There’s a lot of money in “putting a God-spin on popular secular ideas.”

The formula is fairly simple for youth ministers in this group … take a hit TV show like LOST, make it the theme for X-treme Summer Camp 2010, throw an evangelistic Bible verse like Acts 4:12 after it, and there it is … a T-shirt is printed that’s all the rage. This approach might look cheesy to some, but it’s key for maintaining that crucial relevant-but-not-worldly balance.

Cut off the red part.

For the most part, Liberal Christians are content with letting the other Christians have the corner on the cheesy merchandise market. But a few notable exceptions exist. One is the ‘God is not a Republican…or a Democrat’ sticker … although Liberal Christians often think they’re supposed to circle one or cut part of it off prior to application.

Then, there are the ‘Coexist’ stickers, which are very popular among Liberal Christians and their spiritual-but-not-religious friends. Liberal Christians like these stickers because they like the idea of diversity, and really like counting how many friends they can possess from the other religions represented (possible future posts).

You might find yourself looking to play a good joke on a Liberal Christian. Your desire is not surprising, because they make good targets. They … along with their conservative counterparts … like being offended (possible future post).

You already know how to identify one. All you need to do now is obtain an evangelistic version of the sticker, which puts a God-spin on the popular ‘Coexist’ decal. The evangelistic version says, ‘Convert,’ rather than, ‘Coexist,’ and comes complete with ‘Acts 4:12′ across the top.

Approach the Liberal Christian’s car when he’s not around.
Carefully apply the sticker over the original.
Then, just wait days … or sometimes weeks … for him to notice.

You might even get to be there to see the look of horror when someone asks him about it.

Thanks to Pastor Mack for suggesting this post. Leave any suggestions you have for future SLCL posts in the comments. What’s your favorite Liberal Christian merchandise?

If you like this kind of stuff, grab a copy of the book, Stuff Christians Like, by Jon Acuff.

…And speaking of stickers…Get a free Homebrewed Christianity sticker!

Filed Under: engaging, Stuff Liberal Christians Like

The Resurrection’s Role in Christian Theology

June 22, 2010 by Tripp Fuller 6 Comments

Jurgen Moltmann’s newest book, Sun of Righteousness Arise!, he spends six chapters examining the resurrection and its role in Christian theology. His general observation is this, in light of the numerous crises that the world faces (ex. ecological crisis, nuclear threat) the human species has come to see itself as mortal. This calls the church to ‘believe in the power of the resurrection, and to prepare the way for the kingdom of God in the context of today’s apocalyptic horizon’ (39). Moltmann develops a particular logic of resurrection that connects the event, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, to the promise of God’s hope for universal cosmic redemption. So he says that ‘with the raising of Jesus, God’s own ‘arising’ has begun, and will bring about justice for all the wretched and for the whole earth. With the raising of Jesus, God himself has arisen, to fulfill his promises to all those he has created. The hope for the resurrection of the dead is not an answer to the human yearning for immortality; it is a response to the hunger for righteousness and justice‘ (41).

For Moltmann the event of the resurrection is inextricably tied to Jesus for very particular theological reasons. The cross-dead Jesus must also be the resurrected Christ if the resurrection is to be a truly transformative event for all the world. He points out that when Jesus was crucified the hope the disciples had in the kingdom of God preached and made present in Jesus also died. Jesus was not the only forsaken one, so too were all those who heard the Good News as proclaimed by Jesus. If, as Moltmann’s silent opponents suppose, the cross-dead Jesus is only the conceptual backdrop for the resurrected ‘Christ event’ then the Good News being preached is less comprehensive, less radical, less just, and less revolutionary than that of Jesus’, because it is through the event of cross-dead-yet-resurrected Christ that the disciples’ hope is reborn, death is given an expiration date, and the violent alienating power of humanity is embraced and transformed. So Moltmann says:

I do not believe that a transfigured Easter body took the place of Jesus’ mortal body of ‘flesh and blood,’ so that we have to make a distinction between the two. It must be the same pre-Easter, crucified, dead and buried body of Jesus which has been raised, has ascended to God and is transfigured in the glory of God. Without the identity of Jesus’ bodily existence, his resurrection cannot be conceived. (51)

Belief in the resurrection, when set in the Apocalyptic & pentecostal framework of Moltmann, the issue is not ‘registering a historical fact and saying ‘oh really?’ without drawing any conclusions from it. It means being seized by the life-giving Spirit of the resurrection and rising up ourselves…it is not the empty tomb that is evidence for the resurrection. It is the message of the resurrection that is evidence for the empty tomb’ (53).

The implicit criticism throughout these chapters is a theology of the resurrection in which the horizon of Easter doesn’t move beyond the self. If what is raised is something less than the cross-dead bringer of God’s kingdom then what is being affirmed is impoverished compared to the hope of Israel and testimony of the early church. Moltmann states that, ‘Jesus’ death on the cross was solitary, and exclusively his death, but his raising from the dead is inclusive, open to the world, and embraces the universe, an event not merely human and historical but cosmic too; the beginning of the new creation of all things’ (55). What he seems to be pressing here and develops in the following chapters is how it is precisely through a robust understanding of the resurrection, God’s redemptive apocalyptic work, that we can address our apocalyptic situation today.

BTW, you should listen to Tony Jones and I interview Moltmann over at the Emergent Village podcast!!!

Ohh, for my philosopher friends I imagine you might enjoy his philosophical account of the resurrection:

Nonbeing has been annihilated, death has been abolished, sin, the separation from God, has been overcome, and hell destroyed. These negations of the negative are the presupposition for a positive position which is indestructible. Out of the surmounting of nonbeing by being, new being emerges (57).

Barry Ballard, a friend of HBC, Moltmann, and scholar, has a series of mini-lectures on Moltmann’s theology if you are interested.

Filed Under: books, thinking

Go PoMo with John Caputo on your Ipod

June 22, 2010 by Tripp Fuller 5 Comments

John Caputo is master of deconstruction, a philosopher smitten with its undoing, a theologian who confesses God’s weakness, an author who is actually fun to read and one of the most popular guests on the Homebrewed Christianity Podcast! Not only is John Caputo coming back on the podcast but he has been releasing a ton of audio for your theo-poetic pleasure. On his own website we has published audio from 6 of his classes and I have taken the files and converted them to MP3s for all the Caputo and HBC fans who won’t to get more Caputo in their iPod.

The classes include ‘Post Modern Theology: Derrida and Religion,’ ‘Transcendence and Immanence: Levinas and Deleuze,’ ‘A Theology of Flesh,’ ‘Heidegger,’ ‘The Theological Turn in French Phenomenology,’ ‘Husserl and the Foundations of Phenomenology,’ and Merleau-Ponty,’ and ‘Radical Theology from Hegel to Zizek.’ You can download the class syllabus on his web page.

All the audio files I have are in this public folder. Just right click and ‘save-as’ to download the MP3s.

Filed Under: engaging, philosophy, pomo

CALL FOR PAPERS: “The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion

June 18, 2010 by Tripp Fuller 1 Comment

When John Caputo asks you to plug something…….YOU DO

CFP: The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion (Syracuse)

Postmodernism, Culture and Religion 4
“The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion”

Syracuse University | April 7-9, 2011

Plenary Speakers:

JOHN D. CAPUTO
Watson Professor of Religion and Philosophy
Syracuse University (http://religion.syr.edu/Caputo.html)

PHILIP GOODCHILD
Professor of Theology and Religious Studies
University of Nottingham (UK) (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/Theology/People/philip.goodchild)

CATHERINE MALABOU
Professor of Philosophy
University of Paris-X, Nanterre (http://www.u-paris10.fr/10980645/0/fiche_EE8__pagelibre/)

CALL FOR PAPERS

Paper submissions are invited on the topic ‘The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion,’ its past and present, its history and its prospects, in the widest possible terms, addressing the whole range of its implications…politics, feminism, constructive theology, philosophy, history, literature, interfaith dialogue, and the hermeneutics of sacred texts.

In the past, these conferences, which have provided a forum for the most influential philosophers, theologians, and cultural theorists to interact, have consisted solely of several keynote speakers. This conference will be different. It will feature three plenary speakers and offer multiple concurrent sessions devoted to papers submitted on a diversity of issues relating to the primary theme. This call for papers is deliberately open, befitting the conference’s animating concern with the future. Papers are invited that address questions like (but not limited to) the following. What now, or what comes next…specifically, after the death, if not of God, at least of the generation consisting of Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault, Levinas, etc.? This question concerns not only the future after those significant theorists, but also the future after-life of these eminent minds who have left such a deep impact on Continental philosophy of religion. What is the future of Kant and German Idealism, of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche in Continental philosophy of religion? What remains for the future of phenomenology? Of the ‘theological turn’ in the phenomenology of Jean-Luc Marion and others? Of Gadamer, Ricoeur and philosophical hermeneutics? Of apophatic or mystical theology? What is the future of feminism and Continental philosophy of religion? What are the status and future of the new trinity of Agamben, Badiou and Zizek? What relevance do the political interpretations of Antonio Negri, Michael Hardt, and the more recent Continental philosophers such as François Laruelle and Catherine Malabou have to philosophy of religion and political theology? What about the future of sovereignty, of money and capitalism, as in the work of Philip Goodchild? What is the future of the movements of Radical Orthodoxy and of radical death of God theology, whether in their original or contemporary manifestations? What about the new sciences of information and complexity in thinkers like Mark C. Taylor and Michel Serres? What about Continental philosophy of religion and our “companion species” in Donna Haraway? What about “Post-Humanism”? What is the future of Continental Philosophy of religion and Judaism? And Islam? Or world religions generally? What is the relationship between postmodernism, religion and postcolonialism? What role can Continental philosophy play in the future of religion? In the professional study of religion? How does Continental philosophical theology relate to the ethnological and empirical-scientific study of religion? How does Continental philosophy of religion differ from traditional philosophy of religion? Or from analytic philosophy of religion? What is continental philosophy of religion anyway?

Instructions: Submit electronic copies of completed papers (up to 3000 words). Abstracts cannot be considered. Papers will be subject to a double blind review by a selection committee. Include your name, paper title and contact information on a separate page. Include the paper title but not your name on a header or footer on each numbered page of the paper itself. The papers must be previously unpublished in any format. The Conference reserves the right of first refusal of the submitted paper for inclusion in a projected volume to be based upon the conference. Paper submissions are due by December 15, 2010 and acceptances will be made by February 15, 2011. Send your papers to: pcrconf@syr.edu.

Filed Under: engaging

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove on the Wisdom of Stability: Homebrewed Christianity 80

June 16, 2010 by Chad Crawford 1 Comment

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is a voice in the new monastic movement. He’s an author, speaker, North Carolinian, and Duke Divinity grad, who visits us to talk about his new book The Wisdom of Stability.

In The Wisdom of Stability, Wilson-Hartgrove illuminates the biblical and monastic understanding of why staying in one place is both a virtue, and good for you. “For the Christian tradition,” he writes, “the heart’s true home is a life rooted in the love of God.” When we cultivate an inner stability of heart, by rooting ourselves in the places where we live, engaging the people we are with, and by the simple rhythms of tending to body and soul, true growth can happen. The Wisdom of Stability is a must-read for pastors, leaders, and anyone seeking an authentic path of Christian transformation.

Check out Jana Riess’ Q&A with Jonathan.

Pick up a copy of The Wisdom of Stability at your local bookstore or here.

Also check out Baptimergent. Thanks Amy for calling in and talking about your chapter!

Standard Podcast [ 43:13 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Filed Under: podcast

A rabbi, a minister and an imam walk into a classroom, and it’s no joke….

June 14, 2010 by Tripp Fuller 4 Comments

‘A rabbi, a minister and an imam walk into a classroom, and it’s no joke.’ That’s the opening line from the AP story on Claremont School of Theology’s new University project. The plan is basically to have all three Abrahamic faiths training ministers in separate schools within one larger University. Al Mohler (among other conservative voices) have already started revving up the heresy charges. I’ll let you watch the opening news conference and tell me if it smells like a cafeteria of religion or a perfect response for theological education in a pluralistic environment with global crises. If you like the plan why? If not, how should theological education take account of the enduring nature of religious pluralism and the global challenges?

TONS OF LINKS…..Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, CST Practical Theology Professor, blogged at the Huffington Post ‘A New Paradigm for Theological Education‘ \ Going Interfaith: Claremont School of Theology’s Radical Move (@ Patheos) \ The Jewish Journal’s Report \CST’s President guest blogs @ the Washington Post he re, ‘Methodists, Muslims and Jews: Learning together to lead together‘ \ Here’s Mitchell Landsberg’s sweet post from the LA Times\ ‘Claremont seminary reaches beyond Christianity‘ \ James, a CST grad and Theology After Google Student!!!, blogs on it here. \ Al Mohler’s radio show bit \ Methodist Thinker’s huge link collection.

Filed Under: living, pomo

Stuff Liberal Christians Like: #1 Saying, “I’m Not One of Those Christians.”

June 8, 2010 by Chad Crawford 7 Comments

A Dinner Party

Liberal Christians get nervous when outing themselves as Christians. They choose their words carefully, since often it occurs at a dinner party with their spiritual-but-not-religious friends.

With this crowd, the conversation can accelerate from sushi to spirituality in 5 seconds. That’s fast for a Liberal Christian. If you ask her whether she practices Buddhism or Kabbalism, you’ll catch her off-guard, and she’ll answer, “Christianity.” But then, apologetically, she’ll add, “But…I’m not one of those Christians.”

By “those Christians,” she means that she’s not about to tell you, ‘If you died tonight, and you’ve ever broken one of The Ten, you’ll go to hell for eternity, unless you say some magic words.’

In order to make the situation less awkward and the Liberal Christian feel comfortable, you should say, “Yeah, Jesus was a liberal…”

Filed Under: engaging, Stuff Liberal Christians Like

The Future of Christianity is (not) a Postmodern Glorification of Diversity…Moltmann Speaks

June 7, 2010 by Tripp Fuller 3 Comments

God only knows (and bemoans) how crappy the Church can be. A brief look at the history of the Church and you can easily make a big list of reasons one group of Christians think another group is wrong enough to go to Hell and a slightly smaller list of times the truth holders helped the heretics meet God quicker. Of course you could say it is the collateral damage of being a community of humans, but it is more than that. The history of the Church contains multiple occasions of tyrannical power, ‘eternal’ manipulation, and end-time inspired violence. These real historical failures tragedies require a different guiding vision of the church for the future. There must be a different way to handle ethical challenges, theological disagreements, and the questions of the age than we have in the past. In response one could (and one google search will reveal) decide to enthrone plurality, figuring that the continued magnification of multiplicity, difference, and diversity would protect the Church from repeating these past (and continued) problems.

In a chapter titled, ‘the rebirth of the Church,’ Moltmann offers a trinitarian reading that privileges the One over the Many on behalf of the Many. Instead of a fear of diversity Moltmann sees the nature of God calling us to trust that the one Spirit of God is at work in our diversity, saying ‘God’s life-giving Spirit is the inexhaustible wellspring of a plurality of original powers and forms of life, for it gives everyone what is his or hers.’

There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are varieties of service, but the same Lord. There are varieties of powers, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. (1 Cor. 12:4-6)

‘Paul’ he argues ‘is putting forward a trinitarian argument for unity in diversity and diversity in unity…this is not a premodern eulogy of a uniform unity, nor is it a postmodern glorification of diversity.’ Life lived in this kind of community is such that one experiences fellowship with God neither as ‘the power above them’ or as ‘the ground below them’ but as ‘the bond between them.’

The church, Moltmann argues, is a minority with a universal mission but this mission is NOT the flourishing of our religion, society, or truth. The church is a community with a ‘comprehensive hope for the peoples of the world and for this earth. The future of the church is more than the church; the future of Christianity is more than Christianity. The church answers for God’s universal future.’

Emergent Village is finally posting the audio from the ‘theological conversation’ with Jurgen Moltmann. Go check it out.

For even more Molty, check out the audio from the ‘Holy Spirit in the World Today’ conference. It includes Rowan Williams, Mirslav Volf, David Ford, and more. Well worth all the FREE you pay for it!

None of this will top actually reading Moltmann’s new book. It is awesome!

Filed Under: books, emergent, thinking

Coming This Summer: Stuff Liberal Christians Like

June 3, 2010 by Chad Crawford 21 Comments

Apple Logo First, there was ‘Stuff White People Like.’

Then, ‘Stuff Christians Like.’

Soon, we at Homebrewed Christianity will bring you ‘Stuff Liberal Christians Like.’

I was just pitching the idea to Tripp about this new series and we thought of a ton of ideas for titles: from ‘Having token friends from other religions’ to ‘Reading Daily Kos on an iPad.’

Drop your ideas for ‘Stuff Liberal Christians Like’ in the comments section and we’ll make it happen.

Filed Under: engaging

Openness, Love, and other Goodness from the Oord of Tom

June 2, 2010 by Tripp Fuller 1 Comment

Tom Oord is one of my favorite philosophical theologians working today. On top of that he is a publishing machine! I am currently reading one of his newest books ‘The Nature of Love: a Theology‘ and I am sure it will get more blog time soon but for now I just wanted to share this little video I grabbed of Tom when he visited Claremont this semester. In it he discusses two books he edited, ‘Creation Made Free: Open Theology Engaging Science‘ and ‘Divine Grace and Emerging Creation.’ If you are looking for some good summer reading then check out all of Tom’s new books here and if for some reason you don’t already have his blog in your RSS reader then DO IT!

Here’s Tom’s visit to Homebrewed Christianity and his appearance at Nick & Josh that other podcast.