Since we all agree...

Too often I find myself in a room with a group of people where it is assumed that since we are all in the same room together we must have the same view on a particular topic. This occurs in the university, in social settings, in churches, ... The topic can be politics, religion, science, ...

``We are all here because we want money ...''
``We have to do whatever we can to keep students happy...''
``Obviously, anyone who votes for candidate A is an idiot...''
``We can clearly see that there is only one possible interpretation of this passage in the Bible...''
``We have no choice but to ...''

I recently learned of the comic strip below in a footnote in the book, The Emergence of Sin.
The Lone Ranger says to his Indian assistant Tonto, ``Indians! Indians! All around us, Tonto. It looks like we are finished.'' Tonto responds, ``What do you mean .... WE?''

The comic originally appeared in MAD magazine in March 1958, as part of "TV Scenes We'd Like to See" , and was drawn by Joe Orlando.

Questions and answers about Mindfulness

For most of my adult life, I have struggled on and off with mental health issues, particularly anxiety and depression. About 15 years ago a psychologist introduced me to a set of mindfulness exercises. They were developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn for the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program that he founded at the University of Massachusetts Hospital in Boston in 1979. Although originally developed for patients with chronic illnesses, such exercises are now used in a much wider range of contexts. I have found these exercises incredibly helpful. They have helped me to learn to control my thoughts, particularly when I cannot ``turn off my brain.’’  Here are some answers to questions about mindfulness I am often asked.

 How would you describe mindfulness? 
I see it as a discipline or set of exercises that enable me to train my brain to slow down and to engage with the present (both in time and space), rather than letting my brain race out of control and fixate on past events or future imagined events.

As a Christian are you not concerned that mindfulness has its origins in Eastern Religions? 
Yes. If mindfulness means emptying your mind, losing your personal identity, merging with the universe, or thinking that life is an illusion. However, there are many versions of mindfulness, both religious and non-religious. I believe in common grace: ``God sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous’’. People of different religions, or none, all have the ability to discover (partial) truths about medicine, write great literature, and change the world for good.

Are there Christian versions of mindfulness exercises?
Yes. See, for example, The Mindful Christian on YouTube.
Here there is a fascinating theological dimension to the focus of Mindfulness on breathing. In Genesis 2 we learn how God ``breathes life’’ into humans. YHWH is the name of God that is revealed to Moses. This is the name that must never be spoken, in many Jewish traditions. There are suggestions that in Hebrew, this name is silently ``breathed.’’ 
Psalm 46:10 says ``Be still and know that I am God.’’

What do you think about the fact that your university has recently been promoting mindfulness?
 Superficially, I am happy that the university is attempting to put mental health on the agenda and making people aware of mindfulness. However, I am concerned that many initiatives seem to be more about marketing gimmicks, rather than serious engagement. This has been described as corporate well-washing. An article in the Financial Times and the Australian Financial Review points out that Mindfulness won't fix bad management. Furthermore, the university is not asking hard questions such as: why are so many students and staff have mental health problems? Is the university culture and policies contributing to these problems? If so, what does the institution need to change?

What mindfulness exercises would you recommend to start out? 
The one that I have found most helpful is the body scan. At a particularly low time 15 years ago I would do most of this every morning. If I wake up in the middle of the night and my mind is racing, I put on my headphones and do this exercise. I can usually go back to sleep.

How is sin emergent?

One of the most exciting books I have encountered recently is
The Emergence of Sin: The Cosmic Tyrant in Romans by Matthew Croasmun.
It is based on the Yale Ph.D. of the author.
[At US$75 the book is rather expensive! Fortunately, I could read an electronic version through the UQ library].
I have a longstanding interest in how the concept of emergence is relevant to the dialogue between science and theology.

My son made me aware of the book, through a podcast from the Bible Project [who make cool videos summarising books of the Bible] with the author.  The podcast is an excellent introduction to the book.

What is sin? How should it be defined? A simple and common definition is something like ``sins are individual acts which involve disobeying God's commandments". Another is that ``sin is part of the human condition: our intrinsic disposition to do what we want rather than what God wants". But, is sin also something even greater, a cosmic force?
Corruption is sin. But, is corruption just the choices of individuals or is it something larger, a social force in some societies that carries people along and is something far greater than just small decisions by individuals? This is the idea of structural sin, that is particularly highlighted in liberation theologies. What does the Bible actually say?

Paul's Epistle to the Romans is one of the great treatises on sin (and redemption through Christ). Croasmun focuses on the puzzles presented by Chapters 6-8,

In Romans 5–8, Sin struts on the stage of the text like a personal being. The “data” are clear on this point. The noun ἁμαρτία (sin) is used as the subject of an active verb no fewer than eleven times in this brief passage. To summarize the familiar language, in these chapters, ἁμαρτία exercises dominion (5:21, 6:12), seizes opportunities to produce covetousness and kill (7:8, 11), revives (7:9), and acts in place of the human agent in whom it dwells (7:17, 20). The noun ἁμαρτία is deployed in personal terms in these chapters. This is not disputed. The question is, rather, whether this constitutes literary “personification,” or whether we have instead what we might describe as “person identification.”

I like the discussion of racism (chapter 3) as an example of the questions explored. There is a famous mathematical model for racial segregation that is relevant. Even a small amount of individual prejudice can lead to segregated communities and amplification of inequitable access to resources (education, medical, security, networking, …) and increase prejudice because people have little day to day contact with the ``other’’. Small individual choices that may not be considered sinful can lead to unjust social structures that facilitate sin.

Contrasting perspectives on biblical theology

This table is taken from Dalit and Tribal Christians of India: Issues and Challenges, by V.V. Thomas.

Who is the greatest?

Recently I talked with some friends about Matthew 18:1-7, where Jesus answers the question, ``Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of God?'' Here are my notes.