Pneumatological Compassion and Mindfulness

Lately, I've been listening to podcasts of Krista Tippet's Speaking of Faith (American Public Media) on my iPod. This is a very stimulating and engaging forum of religious discussion. 

As a religious studies minor, and a lover of ideas, I want to stay in touch with all the "current" religious movements even after I leave the University. 

As an amateur follower of Francis Schaeffer, I really want to learn how to authentically listen to those of different faiths. As a Presbyterian, I am very good at destructing arguments and immediately pointing out when someone has gone theologically astray.  I do a poor job highlighting the beauty and truth (even if it is a partial truth) of other world religions. 

One of Krista's guests was Karen Armstrong. Armstrong considers herself a "freelance Monotheist". Armstrong is a Monotheist drawing from the various resources of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. When asked how these three religions could coexist, she pointed to the theological virtue of compassion. She believes that compassion is the one thread that runs through these three "historical" faiths that prohibits them from blowing each other apart. She concluded her interview by stating that compassion is the greatest of all religious impulses. 

Krista Tippet has also interviewed Thich Nhat Hanh.  Hanh is a world renowned Zen master. He has had a countless influence on many people (including Martin Luther King). For Hanh, the greatest religious impluse is "mindfulness". Mindfulness for Hanh is a calm and melodic "being in the moment". He believes that if different religious leaders would take the time to understand the sufferings of the "other" and practice mindfulness, we would see far more peace in the world. 

As a Christian, I believe compassion and mindfulness are indispensable. While I appreciate Armstrong's and Hanh's insights, I have to disagree with them on an important level. Throughout their entire conversations about compassion and mindfulness, they never mentioned God or even an "outside force" that could help cultivate compassion or mindfulness 

in human beings. This is really one of the reasons why I am a Christian. Most (if not all other religions) have beautiful ideals and ethical standards that I (on one level or another) am attracted to. My problem is that I can't muster enough will power or "calmness" to produce these religious impulses. 

My Christian faith stems from my desperateness and utter dependance. It is only in the Christian tradition that you have an outside personal force (the Holy Spirit) breeding these religious impulses in ones heart. I'm too anxious to be mindful . I'm too selfish to be compassionate. But I believe in a pneumatological mindfulness and compassion. It is the Holy Spirit that moves in us to cultivate a desire to sit still (mindfulness) and authentically listen to the "other" (compassion). I think this is why Christianity has never called these virtues impulses. They aren't a result of our spontaniety. Instead they are fruit. They can only grow when we are rooted in Christ and empowerd by his Spirit. 

 

John Calvin's Central Soteriological Structure

What I am about to say will probably be controversial to some people.

John's Calvin's central soteriological structure is not the doctrine of predestination (as some critics of Calvin wrongly assume).

Lane Tipton, professor of systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, writes:

"Calvin's central soteriological structure is Spirit wrought faith union with the crucified and resurrected Christ of Scripture"

Amen brother!

The Drama of Doctrine

I have a big problem. I try to read too many books at one time. My wife Kristen thinks I have an incurable disease :)

I also don't usually read through an entire book (I usually get through 1/2 or 3/4 of the way through). The major exception to this is when I read a book with someone else.

To my heart's delight, my friend/pastor (Brad Wright) and I will be reading through Kevin Vanhoozer's The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology.

The main argument of this book is that doctrines are not merely theoretical concepts that we are called to intellectually submit to. Instead, doctrines are the canonical-lingustic teachings about God's Trinitarian drama within redemptive history that serve to shape and guide the Christian's ecclesiastical/cultural performace.

I needed to hear this..

"Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God"

Karl Barth

This is a great quote for me. I really needed to hear this as I am prone to take life too seriously.

You Can't Mean Everyone?

"In the church of Jesus Christ there should be no non-theologians"

Karl Barth

Very Convicting

"Faith in God's revelation has nothing to do with an ideology which glorifies the status quo."

Karl Barth

Tradition(ed) Faith

"Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living"

- Jaroslav Pelikan

Some Definitions (vol. 1; pages 1-10)

Evangelical Christianity is often allergic to tradition.Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and anyone else doing that liturgy thing, we often believe, are merely trading the Bible for the traditions of men. In some instances this may be the case. But it doesn't always have to be.

Some Christians are very proud of the fact that they stick to the Bible and "the Bible alone!". They don't let philosophy, theology, church history or any other tradition get in the way of God's pure Word. Don't get me wrong. I'm evangelical. I understand why most people think this way. We're trying to protect the uniqueness of the Bible.

However, I think Christians are mistaken if they believe they can arrive at a mature and developed doctrine of the Trinity (for example) by merely opening the pages of their New Testament and never consulting the tradition of the church. This is not to say that the doctrine of the Trinity is not in the New Testament. This is to say that many apologists and theologians have fought long and hard, across the centuries, to communicate how God can be fundamentally one yet also three. Whether Christians know it or not, the minute they use the word "Trinity" and talk about God in terms of being and essence they are walking into the halls of tradition, borrowing extra-biblical terminology to describe a profoundly biblical truth.

Not all tradition is the enemy of biblical truth. In fact, I would go as far to say that on one level, you can never separate the two. We never experience biblical truth apart from the communicative channel of tradition.

Reflections on the Christian Tradition

I finally received all five volumes of Jaroslav Pelikan's Christian Tradition. I've already started to read the first volume.

What I plan to do is utilize this blog space to share some of Jaroslav's thoughts on the development of doctrine throughout the history of the church. Each chapter in the book is divided into smaller sub-sections. I hope to give some brief commentary on each sub-section.

Maasai Creed

The Maasai Creed The Maasai Creed is a creed composed in about 1960 by Western Christian missionaries for the Maasai, an indigenous African tribe of semi-nomadic people located primarily in Kenya and northern Tanzania. The creed attempts to express the essentials of the Christian faith within the Maasai culture.

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created man and wanted man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the earth. We have known this High God in the darkness, and now we know him in the light. God promised in the book of his word, the Bible, that he would save the world and all nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good his promise by sending his son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left his home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing that the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He was buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, he rose from that grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.
We believe that all our sins are forgiven through him. All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love, and share the bread together in love, to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

Jaroslav Pelikan?

Jaroslav Pelikan. I hadn't really heard of him until a few days ago. Pelikan has been considered the greatest church historian of our century. He learned to read and type when he was two years old. He graduated from seminary and completed his PhD from the University of Chicago before he was 22! He taught over 40 years at Yale. He was raised Lutheran and converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in his very late years before he passed away.

I have recently ordered his magnum opus: a 5 volume set chronicling the doctrine of the Christian church from A.D. 100 to the present. It should be fascinating. I'll try to post my thoughts frequently.

If the Resurrection is true, nothing else matters. If the Resurrection is not true, nothing else matters.

- Jaroslav Pelikan