An amusing quote from Karl Barth

"But what is involved and meant by that Word is rather and immediately the woe and the salvation which are eternal and thus also temporal, heavenly and for this reason also earthly, coming and therefore already present. By that Word are expressed and declared: woe and salvation to the Europeans and the Asians, the Americans and the Africans, woe and salvation to the poor rigid Communists and woe and salvation to the still poorer (because still more rigid) anti-Communists, woe and salvation to us Swiss as well, to our self-righteousness which is exceeded only by our business acumen, our profound anxiety, our milk and watches, our tourist trade, our narrow-minded rejection of voting rights for women, and our somewhat childish desire for a few choice atomic weapons."

Karl Barth, Evangelical Theology: An Introduction, page 79. 

A celebration of God's superabundant love

Too often theology, philosophy, academia, church, and the Bible can feel dry, boring, abstract, irrelevant, dour, and a chore.

But this should seem strange because the Bible is full of celebration: feasts, parties, songs, and poems. They are celebrations of love, thanksgiving, and wonder; celebrations of the superabundant generous gifts of God to humanity.

It is refreshing to encounter an academic book that addresses theology, philosophy, and the Bible in a manner that is a celebration.

I have read most of Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture by Christopher Watkin.

There are many elements to the celebration. Here is one beautiful passage that reflects on the gift of creation and of the Cross of Christ.

The cross lifts Christianity out of the iron logic of necessity, of unbreakable cause and effect, up into a logic of superabundance...

...philosophy... could not receive theology's gift of a superabundance in the midst of life. There is no ultimate explanation of God's love, no rational justification for it, no way to bring it under the logic of necessity and equivalence. The love of God expressed in creation and in the cross is a reality with which the two-speed gearbox of chance and necessity can never come to terms. Divine superabundance is the raging bull that storms through the staid china shop of demure philosophical concepts, shattering every symmetrical plate and dashing every systematic bowl to the ground in a way that leaves not a trail of destruction but a grander, richer, and more open imaginary than ever before.

        (pages 420-1)

Celebrating God's generous gifts to us: existence, meaning, and love

“This paradigm of the gift places us in the posture of recipients. We receive existence, we receive meaning, and we receive love. To be sure we are creative recipients,... and receiving the gift of the universe certainly does not make us passive. But the fact remains that we are recipients nonetheless. The one thing we should not do with a gift is pretend we bought or made it ourselves. The giver is usually thanked, so our fundamental orientation to existence in the paradigm of the figure of gratuity is one of praise and thanksgiving.”

        (page 60)

Engagement with the world, in all its limitations, can still be a celebration

To live in God’s city here and now is to enjoy God’s limitless peace, love, and creativity; it is also to live a subversive, revolutionary life in this world as we repeatedly scratch the surface of the earthly city to reveal God’s goodness, truth, and beauty under its makeshift palimpsest.

Celebrating the gift of human language

Watkin writes as a gifted wordsmith, delighting in turns of phrase; not just his own, but also that of masters including C.S. Lewis, David Bentley Hart, G.K. Chesterton, and of course, the Biblical authors.

Signals of transcendence from human experience

Peter Berger was an influential sociologist. In his book, A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural, Berger considers five aspects of everyday human existence that he considers are "signals of transcendence". These experiences are accessible to all and are within the domain of natural reality, but appear to point beyond that reality. [Berger wrote the book in 1969 and revised it in 1990].

Berger describes his arguments as "inductive faith" which "moves from human experience to statements about God". In contrast, "deductive faith begins with certain assumptions (notably assumptions about divine revelation) that cannot be tested by experience." (p.64-5). Deductive faith provides an interpretation of experience.

The five signals of transcendence are below.

1. An argument from ordering. Humans have the propensity to believe that the world is ordered in a trustworthy way, even when things appear chaotic. An example is a mother comforting a scared child, telling them that things will be okay. The mother is not lying to the child because "the reassurance, transcending the immediately present two individuals and their situation, implies a statement about reality as such." (p. 62)

2.  An argument from play. In all contexts, even the most "serious" ones, humans have the capacity to play. While playing adults can become like children, suspending the time structure of the ordinary life of adults. Berger quotes C.S. Lewis famous sermon, Learning in Wartime:

"Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice. [It is part of our nature to create, reason, and laugh in the midst of pending disaster] to propound mathematical theorems in beleaguered cities, conduct metaphysical arguments in condemned cells, make jokes on scaffold, discuss the last new poem while advancing to the walls of Quebec,..."

3. An argument from hope. have an "unconquerable propensity to hope for the future." We hope even in the face of death.

Man's "no!" to death - be it in the frantic fear of his own annihilation, moral outrage at the death of a loved other - or in death-defying acts of courage and self-sacrifice - appears to be an intrinsic constituent of his being. There seems to be a death-refusing hope at the very core of our humanitas. While empirical reason indicates that this hope is an illusion, there is something in us that however shamefacedly in an age of triumphant rationality, goes on saying "no!" and even says "no!" to the ever so plausible explanations of empirical reason. (p.72)

4. An argument from damnation. Humans have an innate morality and justice. Even people who would identify as moral relativists, sometimes exhibit a conviction that some things are just plain wrong and must be condemned and be punished.

The transcendent element manifests itself in two steps. First, our condemnation is absolute and certain, it does not permit modification or doubt, and is made in the conviction that it applies to all times and all men... We give the condemnation the status of a necessary and universal truth, [but it] cannot be empirically demonstrated to be either necessary or universal. We are, then, faced with quite a simple alternative: Either we deny that there is here anything that can be called truth... or we must look beyond the realm of our natural experience for a validation of our certainty.  Second, the condemnation does not seem to exhaust it's intrinsic intention in terms of this world alone. Deeds that cry out to heaven also cry out for hell. This is the point that was brought out very clearly in the debate over Aldolf Eichmann's execution.

5. An argument from humor.  Humans have not only the capacity to laugh, but also to use humour to cope with tragedy and to undermine the delusions of the powerful.

By laughing at the imprisonment of the human spirit, humor implies that this imprisonment is not final but will be overcome, and by this implication provides yet another signal of transcendence - in this instance in the form of an intimation of redemption... 

Humor mocks the "serious" business of this world and the mighty who carry it out... The one to be finally pitied is the one who has an illusion. And power is the final illusion, while laughter reveals the final truth... Power is ultimately an illusion because it cannot transcend the limits of the empirical world. Laughter can - and does everytime it relativizes the seemingly rock-like necessities of this world.

We can debate whether these are convincing arguments for the existence of transcendence. On the other hand, I think these arguments are creative and a refreshing alternative to the classical arguments for the existence of God.

I thank Vinoth Ramachandra for making me aware of Berger's ideas through a recent blogpost. 

When does humanity make my heart sing?

What is so wonderful about being human? Sometimes humanity does inspire awe and wonder in me.

Babies burp, puke, poo in their pants, and sometimes cry inconsolably. Yet, they are so cute and adorable. I love their little fingers and toes, with miniature nails. They explore their environment with great curiosity. Babies occasionally flash winsome smiles to the joy of those watching them. And there is the miracle of the way they grow spontaneously and mature into small children. Those cute little fingers grow to full size.

Small children have their own sense of awe, wonder, curiosity, and joy. They can be a source of inspiration and envy to staid adults like myself. Simple things delight: throwing flower petals in the air, blowing bubbles, digging in the garden, holding a hand, or cuddling a pet.

To often I struggle to see adults as cute and adorable or a source of delight, awe, and wonder. They have an incredible ability to heartlessly inflect pain on others. But sometimes adults do make my heart sing and I clamour for more. I am moved deeply by acts of service, tenderness, compassion, courage, reconciliation, forgiveness, generosity, and self-sacrifice. A poor person shares what little food they have with their neighbour. A child stands up to a bully in the playground.  A mother comforts a sick child. A highly-paid CEO leaves his position and suburban house so he can work and live in a marginalised poor community.

Relationships can be beautiful and lead to awe and wonder. Even introverts such as myself hunger for relationships and community. There is nothing quite like the connections associated with vulnerability, camaraderie, and laughter. Even those of us blessed with a stable and rich family life, desire more.

                                    Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. 

I am in awe of human creativity expressed in art, music, literature, business, science, engineering, and academic disciplines. Wow! Why can humans create such amazing things?

Humans have much of the same biology as animals: DNA, proteins, cells, organs, brains, ... Yet humans are unique in the animal kingdom. Their level of consciousness, reflection, communication, creativity, and culture is simply on a different scale from anything seen in primates. On the one hand, apes can do some fascinating things with similarities to human behaviour. However, apes do not write science textbooks, build telescopes, or create great literature.

Humans all have the same biology. But no human has exactly the same DNA as another. Consequently, each human has a unique personality, unique physical characteristics and abilities. Humans also share many common abilities and aspirations. There is unity in diversity. I delight in the diversity, even though sometimes I do wish everyone was just like me! In particular, it would be nice if everyone had the same values and perspectives as me. On the other hand, I can begrudgingly admit the world would be an even bigger mess if it was full of introverted Western theoretical physicists.

To understand the wonder and tragedy what a human is and how they behave, I find different perspectives helpful. Humans can be considered at different scales, from genetic to social. Thus, one can bring to bear perspectives from biology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and theology. I also have awe and wonder at humans and what we can understand about humans, again reflecting something wonderful about human capabilities.

My sense of wonder provides hints of transcendence: there is something beyond all that we observe, touch, measure, and rationalise.

There is much to celebrate and enjoy about humanity. But, sober observation acknowledges the reality of human depravity. We hurt ourselves, others, and nature. Sometimes brutally and in ways that we consider worthy of condemnation. This leads me to an ambivalence about humanity. Awe and wonder at the beauty of humanity must be held in tension with revulsion and contempt for human vulgarity. This is a paradox.

The dialectic of the human condition is captured in the narrative of the Genesis narrative, and the associated theological concepts of creation and fall. On the one hand, each person is made in the image of God, of intrinsic value, and mandated to enjoy, care for, and steward the creation. On the other hand, this image is marred. Humans are fallen, prone to violence, and alien to themselves, others, and nature.

Counting: the sin of metrics, from King David to modern socieity

One of many strange stories in the Bible is the following from 2 Samuel 24.

Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ‘Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.’

2 So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, ‘Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enrol the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.’

3 But Joab replied to the king, ‘May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?’

4 The king’s word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders; so they left the presence of the king to enrol the fighting men of Israel.

....

8 After they had gone through the entire land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

9 Joab reported the number of the fighting men to the king: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand able-bodied men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand.

10 David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.’

There are many questions associated with this one. But, a basic one is: why was it sinful to count the fighting men. I presume it is because this reflected David trusting in the strength of his army and not that of the LORD. Such trust goes against what a young David said before he fought Goliath (1 Samuel 17:47)

All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's,..

Is there something in this passage that is relevant today. Partly with tongue in check, I wonder if it is relevant to the obsession of society today with counting (metrics) to measure performance, particularly in workplaces and sadly often in churches. In this vein, Mike Higton, a theology professor at Durham University, has an article,  The Research Assessment Exercise as sin.

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.

Why do I like Downton Abbey?

My wife and I recently watched all six seasons of Downton Abbey. For some reason, I am a little embarrassed to admit that I enjoyed it so much. Perhaps, this is because there is an element of soap opera and "wealth porn" to the show. However, what I think I actually enjoyed and valued was the history, social commentary, characters, and dialogue.

I had not appreciated before how the first world world war brought about great social change in England, particularly in the decline of the aristocracy. I was aware that the second world war also brought about a lot of change, but not the first.

The series begins about one hundred years ago, but seems a world away from today. I was particularly struck by the attitudes and prejudices about social class, unwed mothers, birth control, homosexuality, women's roles, royalty, dress, war, rape victims, the death penalty, Catholics, .....
On the one hand ninety years is a long time, but on the other hand that is the era that my parents were born in. Now (unfortunately, belatedly) I have a better appreciation of some of their values, habits, and aspirations that seemed strange or debatable to me growing up.

I felt that some of the characters were very "real" and human, reflecting a desire to often do good, yet struggling to do so and sometimes making a mess of things, as we do.

I don't envy the wealth, opulent lifestyle, and leisure of the Family. But, I do envy some of the characters witty lines, ability to guide conversations, frequent desire to be gracious, and to part on good terms with others, even those who have hurt them.

On the lighter side here are some classic lines from Cousin Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, who I came to appreciate more as a peace maker, as the series went on.

Who are they running from?

My family enjoyed watching the movie, Hunt for the Wilderpeople. A teenage boy bounces from foster home to home, before ending on a farm in the wilds of New Zealand with an eccentric couple. Tragic events lead to a wild chase through beautiful wilderness as a Government social worker tries to capture him. Largely the movie is funny, the scenery is stunning, and it has a redemptive message. But, it also does highlight the tragedy of such children and how they are failed by not just their own families but by government agencies who are meant to be protecting them.

The question no one is game to ask

... except for raging grannies.
Why do we need endless economic growth?

My wife and I watched the documentary, "Two Raging Grannies".
You can buy it on Vimeo.
Two Raging Grannies from Faction Film on Vimeo.

Here is the theme song from the Raging Grannies activist group.

The highs and lows of family

My wife and I enjoyed watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (at the movie theatre!). It is light hearted fun but does deal with the challenges of marriage, extended family, in-laws, immigrant identity, and children leaving home...



We enjoyed it so much we decided we will watch the original again tomorrow night.

Grappling with our emotions

I watched the movie Inside Out with my wife and daughter. It is both a serious and humorous look at how we deal with our emotions (joy, sadness, fear, anger) and how they shape us. The interplay of the different  emotions with memory (short and long term), trains of thought, and ideas is dealt with in a stimulating way with elements of education, intrigue, and humour.

I found the middle of the movie really depressing as I felt the main character was plummeting towards a major mental health crisis. However, since it is Disney this does not eventuate!

Is this racist or just funny?

In Australia a new sit-com Here Come the Habibs just started on commercial television. It chronicles the interactions between a Lebanese immigrant family and their caucasian neighbours in a wealthy Sydney suburb. Some claim it is racist, others think it is built on stereotypes, and others think it is  just funny. It is bit in the genre of Upper Middle Bogan.
I actually really like it. I think it is quite funny and does a good job of making fun of the snobbery and latent racism of some Australians.

Religion is confusing

My wife and I enjoyed watching the movie PK. It highlights the complexity of religion, particularly in India. It illustrates how religion can be hypocritical and divisive, particularly when mixed with money and power. I particularly liked this scene in a church.

The funniest thing I have read this year

I am currently in Bangalore and the city is well known for over-crowded roads full of potholes. I thought this article, 29,210 reasons to sympathise with the minister was very creative and humorous. It appeared in The Hindu newspaper.

Christianity for bobble heads

This month the theology reading group is discussing Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Culture Formation by  James K.A. Smith.

Hopefully I will write more later when I have finished it.
In the meantime, I thought the following was appropriate and amusing!

"this rationalist picture was absorbed particularly by Protestant Christianity (whether liberal or conservative), which tends to operate with an overly cognitivist picture of the human person and thus tends to foster an overly intellectualist account of what it means to be or become a Christian.

It is just this adoption of a rationalist, congnitivist anthropology that accounts for the shape of so much Protestant worship as a heady affair fixated on "messages" that disseminate Christian ideas and abstract values (easily summarised on PowerPoint slides). The result is a talking head version of Christianity that is fixated on doctrines and ideas, even if it is also paradoxically allied with a certain kind of anti-intellectualism. 

We could describe this as 'bobble head' Christianity, so fixated on the cognitive that it assumes a picture of human beings that look like bobble heads: mammoth heads that dwarf an almost nonexistent body." (pgs. 41-42)

The danger of unbridled email

5 So also email is a small activity, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And email is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The email is set among our communications, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame email. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same keyboard come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?

James 3 (slightly edited!)

Deconstructing LEGO

When I first heard of The LEGO movie, I groaned. I thought it would be just another marketing movie aimed at getting parents to waste lots of money buying kids more toys. However, my daughter (aged 22) finally convinced me otherwise and convinced me to watch it with the family.

I enjoyed it. It actually has some social commentary about conformism, big corporations, and capitalism. It is light-hearted fun too.

Comparing leading newspapers in India

Like on my last trip to India I took the newspaper daily. It costs 4 rupees (about 8 cents!). Following my thoughts from last time, I got The Hindu, rather than The Times of India. I was glad I did. I thought the coverage and analysis was much better, and thankfully there wasn't the pages of Bollywood gossip, that the Times reports.

It was interesting to be reading the reports of the G20 Summit in Brisbane from an Indian perspective. It was also embarrassing and frustrating to read reports about the Australian government's policies and actions on Ebola, refugees, and climate change.

This advert nicely captures the difference between the Hindu and The Times.



A similar one is here.

All bloggers act like Baptists!

At the Immanent Frame a group of writers discussed The new landscape of the religion blogosphere. I thought the following comments from Joe Carter, Web editor at First Things, are quite insightful and amusing.

Despite their importance, there is no council, diocese, presbytery, or synod that oversees and sanctions these religious blogs. But should these bloggers be able to teach large audiences without oversight from a higher-level polity? If a professor and ordained minister at a Presbyterian college writes regularly on issues about religion and theology, should her writing be exempt from denominational authority? Or what if a Lutheran layman and a Catholic priest hold a regular open debate? Should they not be held to account as if they were writing in a denominational magazine or journal?  

 I suspect that most religion bloggers will argue that their blogging should not be overseen or scrutinized by their college, local church, or other ecclesiastical body. They would claim that since their blogs are neither churches nor parachurch ministries, they should be free from congregational supervision—even when they are writing about issues concerning their denomination’s view of doctrine. If this view is widely held—and my own experience convinces me it is—it marks a peculiar shift in the decentralization of ecclesiastical authority. Whether they are Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant, when it comes to religious discussions online, all bloggers act like Baptists.

The tragic comedy of the Church of England

This episode of the British comedy Yes Prime Minister has some pointed digs about leaders of the Church of England and the process of appointing bishops.

Yes Prime Minister 1.7 - The Bishops Gambit