Spectrum Blog

The Spirit of Prophecy

Loren Seibold — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:53:00 -0700

I was listening to Krista Tippett’s interview with Martin Marty[1] the other day. In it, Marty referenced the Niebuhr brothers, Reinhold and H. Richard. They were prophetic voices in the culture, he said. They weren’t much good at the more affective parts of religion like leading worship, he thought, though they did write some prayers; it was their prophetic voice, speaking with power and eloquence for justice and truth, that made them important theologians.

The mention of the Niebuhrs as prophets jarred me. I often hear Adventists speak of prophecy, and often speak of it myself. But I don’t think I ever hear us use the word in that way. When we speak of prophecy, we are generally thinking of something that is finished: the Bible prophecies, as well as those of Ellen White, are already in our hands, and it is up to us only to understand them and watch for and prepare for their fulfillment. That probably accounts for why the word, for the average Adventist, brings to mind prediction and not, as in Marty’s characterization of the Niebuhrs, moral confrontation.

So I wonder if we would be able to apply to ourselves the concept of prophecy as Martin Marty apparently is using it: of Christian voices that say, “What is happening here is wrong, and we Christians oppose it and actively stand against it.” I certainly have seen, in my lifetime, people do such things: Martin Luther King, Jr. comes to mind. Perhaps I’m missing something, but I’m not seeing it happening now, at least with much consequence, in my church or in very many others.

Two stories:

A number of years ago I attended a mildly charismatic worship service. At some point in the service, a young man (possibly a lay pastor) stood and said, “I have a word of prophecy from the Lord.” He said that someone in the service that day—he didn’t know exactly whom—was experiencing a troubled marriage. The Lord was telling him that this person should try to stay with the marriage, because God had the power to heal it. Again, that word “prophecy” startled me. The message was a good one, an encouraging one and a Biblical one. It was sufficiently general that I suspect it applied to dozens of people, not just someone (in which it had some parallels to one’s daily horoscope.) But was it a prophecy?

A few years ago I participated in an ecumenical Good Friday service at an Episcopalian church. As we were sipping hot cider afterwards, the young vicar pointed out to me that we were drinking from earthenware cups. “Our parish board has voted never to allow the use of disposables here, as part of our prophetic voice against pollution and global warming.” I acknowledged that it was a sensible, even moral thing to do, but I wondered (to myself) if it counted as prophetic in the Martyan sense of the word. If so, it was a fairly low-grade prophecy, and nearly as confined in its consequences as the one concerning troubled marriages.

I think my years of understanding prophecy in the Adventist setting make it difficult for me to see it in another way, and I find myself not much closer to that more inclusive, current application of it than I was before. The mainline churches have spoken “prophetically” so often—social action and justice are central concerns there—but the voice seems to me not to carry very far. Perhaps people are listening less attentively to protests than they were in the 60’s and 70’s, so these moral stands end up being more symbolic than anything—not bad, but not world-changing.

The prophecy I heard in the charismatic church was personal, not societal. While we see books of that in the Old Testament, and volumes of it in Ellen White[2], we see in both many loud, nation- and culture-encompassing prophecies[3]. (Though none those, as Jesus correctly pointed out[4], are necessarily appreciated at the time they are given; they gain respect hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years later.)

It seems to me being prophetic should have some action to it: something you’re willing to stand for, to sacrifice for, and in that respect taking the time and effort to wash cups rather than to simply throw them away qualifies—though the prophetic action is rather limited, given that we all drove to the Good Friday service in automobiles, a larger ecological impact.

On the other hand are conservative Christians being prophetic when they speak publicly and shrilly against abortion, or gay marriage? Inasmuch as I find myself unable to see either of those issues in the stark black-and-whiteness that they do, their prophecies makes me uncomfortable.

The prophecy in the charismatic church raised concerns, too. Would I have found it prophetic if the prophet had said something more specific than he did: for example, that God has just told me that someone here is a homosexual, and should immediately stand, publicly repent and turn straight? Or God has told me that someone here has received an inheritance, and God wants you to give the entire sum to this church?

Perhaps we are safest just leaving our understanding of prophecy as it is: as something given by God in the mysterious past, but no longer spoken today, and only needing to be lived and applied. That alone—living what we’ve already been told—would go a long way.

But it probably isn’t going to change the world.

1 http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/marty/kristasjournal.sht...

2 Joel 2:12,13, Psalm 51:7, and Ellen White’s Testimonies to the Church

3 Isaiah 58:5-7, and entire books such as Jeremiah and some of the minor prophets that addressed wickedness in Israel, Judah, and surrounding nations; for Ellen White, The Great Controversy is an example.

4 Matthew 5:12

Prophetic Short Sermon Series | Amazing Grace - Wintley Phipps

Alexander Carpenter — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:36:20 -0700

Happy America's Birthday Spectrum community.

As I think about what this country means to me and all the ideals of opportunities it stands for, along with the national anthem, the words of Amazing Grace come to mind.

Wintley Phipps at Carnegie Hall.

AF Conference Speaker Featured in New Yorker

Bonnie Dwyer — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:50:47 -0700

Joel Hunter and the New Evangelicals

“We’re at a watershed in our history,” Joel Hunter told New Yorker writer Frances FitzGerald. “What has passed for an ‘evangelical’ up to now is a stereotype created by the people with the loudest voices. But there’s a whole constituency out there that it doesn’t apply to. Now something is happening. You can feel it like the force of a tsunami under the water.”

Hunter, who has been described as a leader among those tagged as New Evangelicals, will open the Adventist Forum Conference “Christians in the Public Square” Sept. 26-28 in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida.

Writing about “The New Evangelicals” in the June 30 issue of the New Yorker, Fitzgerald says that “the religious-right activists are no longer the only evangelical leaders peaking out. Since 2004, influential pastors and the heads of many large faith organizations have set a new national-policy agenda, one founded on their understanding of the life of Jesus and his ministry to the poor, the outcast, and the peacemakers. The movement has no single charismatic leader, no institutional center, and no specific goals. It doesn’t even have a name. But it is nonetheless posing the first major challenge to the religious right in a quarter of a century.

“Dr. Joel C. Hunter, the senior pastor of Northland: A Church Distributed in Orlando, Florida, who every week preaches to ten thousand people in his church and through the Internet, is one of the new leaders. . . He has worked with a group of evangelicals and secular progressives to try to establish common ground on such polarizing issues as abortion and the role of religion in public life.”

At the Forum Conference, Hunter will be speaking about the role of the congregation in the public square. At Northland, he emphasizes the need to serve the community as a whole. Members of his socially-engaged congregation say, “It’s not a church that wants to gather you in with the people of the same mind-set.” Lori Droppers told the New Yorker, “He pushed us out (into the community). . . .Sometimes I do long for the ‘holy huddle,’ but it’s the right thing to do.”

After reading the New Yorker article, I am really looking forward to the September Forum Conference. And I invite you to join us for what promises to be a lively weekend.

And in the meantime, what do you think about the Evangelical community in 2008? Is it changing? Do you see Adventists as an active part of it?

Click here for a printable registration form.

Questions?

Email: subscriptions@spectrummagazine.org

Adventist News

Alexander Carpenter — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:26:08 -0700

Famous neurosurgeon, Ben Carson, receives the US Presidential Medal of Freedom,
A newly opened sc
hool in New Zealand wins several Master Builders awards,
The director of the world church's new office of assessment and program effectiveness visits Australia, New Zealand and Fiji,
Kids have rallied in South Australia whilst their parents learn how to pass on spirituality,
A new pidgin language Bible will be launched in the Solomon's in July,
Central Coast Adventist School students run 4000km and raise $4000 to help other kids in need.

Court Rejects Ministerial Exception Defense In Firing of Pregnant Teacher. The Religion Clause blog writes:

In Redhead v. Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49416 (ED NY, June 27, 2008), a New York federal district court, applying the 2nd Circuit's recent "ministerial exception" decision in Rweyemamu v. Cote, refused to grant defendant's motion for summary judgment in a Title VII pregnancy discrimination case. Plaintiff, an unmarried teacher at a Seventh-Day Adventist school, was fired after she became pregnant. The school claimed that she was dismissed because she violated its religious policy against fornication. Plaintiff, Jewel Redhead, argued that this was a pretext for pregnancy discrimination, and that the anti-fornication policy was not applied equally to men and women employees.

ADRA Jamaica has a new director.

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has a new director. He is Pastor Wenford Henry who will assume the position today. His election took place at the mid-year meeting of the executive committee of the West Indies Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, held last month at the Union headquarters in Mandeville, Jamaica.

Henry replaces Pastor Desmond Robinson who had been serving as ADRA Director since January 1, 2006.

"It is with humility that I accept this call to serve as director of ADRA in West Indies Union Conference," said Pastor Henry.

Henry was born in Ballard's River, Clarendon. He attended Northern Caribbean University (formerly West Indies College) from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theology in 1987. In 2005, he graduated from the Inter-America Theological Seminary with a master's degree in pastoral theology.

ADRA-Jamaica is a part of one of the largest humanitarian organisations in the world, ADRA International, which is active in more than 125 countries.

Confronting the Challenges in Adventist Education

Lawrence G. Downing — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:31:13 -0700

A Response to Dr. Richard Osborn’s Presentation to the San Diego Adventist Forum

In a November 10, 2007 presentation to the San Diego, Adventist Forum chapter, Pacific Union College president Richard Osborn set forth a clear, realistic view of Adventist education in North America. He directly or implicitly addressed many of the significant issues that confront higher education within the Adventist church. Unlike other presentations from church officials, Osborn did not pull his punches. He is forthright, realistic and is not afraid to call the shots as he sees them. May his tribe increase!

The economic factors Osborn enumerates are complex and profound. He is realistic in his evaluations and prognostications. He explains the challenges that confront students, parents, the colleges, universities and the institutional church. He is correct in his assumption that the institutional church will not contribute significant funds above the present levels. Many local churches, and the local church is the only entity in the Adventist system that produces a consistent income stream, are in survival mode.

There are, however, areas of concern that Osborn does not address. One is the potential liability that the educational system poses to the Adventist church. It may be that the educational system has the highest liability potential of any of the organizations that are part of the official church. Those who sit on K-12 boards know the razor thin financial edge most schools walk. Add the higher educational component and the risk is increased. If there should be a sudden economic down-turn and educational institutions are not able to generate the funds needed to meet payrolls and other expenses, the conferences would be liable for the short-falls. This could run into the millions.

It was not that long ago that the health system spun off from the church and now functions as a separate entity, thus freeing the church, it is hoped, from the high liability that goes with operating hospitals and medical facilities. (Some in the legal profession are not sure that the so-called curtain of separation is not as impenetrable as people hope.) If Adventist educational institutions were to be perceived to be a financial threat to the institutional church, what response might the church take to protect itself?

Another area that Osborn hinted at, but only in an oblique way, is how the attitudinal changes among church members affect Adventist economics and the educational system.

For my grandparents and my parents, tithe paying was a moral issue and so was Christian education. It was understood that a faithful Adventist paid tithe before paying the rent. Parents sacrificed to send the kids to Adventist schools. Osborn related how his parents sold property to pay for their children’s education. My own grandfather sold his prized cow to pay for my aunt’s college tuition. This is what “real” Adventists did. Not so today. Many of us have a very different attitude toward the institutional church and the trappings that are part of traditional Adventism.

Many of our church leaders hold degrees from non-Adventist institutions. I have one myself. When one of my children made the decision to attend a non-Adventist college, I did not consider his decision a moral issue. My wife and I paid his unsubsidized full tuition. I think it safe to predict that this attitude regarding Adventist education is becoming more and more common. Currently, every student who does not attend Adventist school represents a projected loss of tens of thousands of dollars.

Osborn’s opening statement that our college and university campuses represent the future of Adventist education is worthy of further consideration. For some this is one of the most frightening thoughts imaginable. For others, like myself, it is a cause for rejoicing. What gift it would be if the same creative power that dreamed up Facebook, Google, and YouTube were to energize the Adventist church!

I graduated from PUC in 1963. When my generation came on the scene, we thought the church wanted our ideas and energy, and together we would create a fantastic future! When I began my work as a parish minister in Southern California, there were more than thirty-five of us young guys (no women) who came out of seminary about the same time. We met together on a regular basis to talk, share ideas, and plan what revolutionary things we would do. We were, after all, the first seminary-trained generation. We knew what needed to be done, and we had the smarts to do it. We were surprised that not everyone stood up and cheered. As time passed, our ranks thinned. After ten years, the original group of thirty-five numbered three or four. A significant number of men (and we were then all men!) went to graduate school. Some pursued medicine or other medically related professions. A few were fired.

What fate awaits the present group of young people as they interface with local congregations and church leaders? Will the church welcome them or will the current church leaders tell the new kids on the block that their daring ideas are unwelcome? Will the current generation of educated people demand a strict adherence to Adventist traditional views on science and creation, the age of the earth, the worldwide flood, traditional Adventist eschatology and prophetic interpretations? Will the church make room for those who hold views on sexuality and gender that do not follow traditional Adventist understandings and practice?

When Osborn asks whether a North American church with one million members can continue to support fifteen colleges and universities and a vast K-12 system, we can only intuit an answer. The statistics he gives provide little hope for a bright and shinning future. Demographic projects are more grim than happy. The average Adventist family, he correctly notes, cannot afford the costs associated with higher education. The group that traditionally funded Adventist institutions and programs is an endangered species. There is no enthusiastic generation waiting in the wings. So how did we find our way into this morass?

Osborn reminds us that there is no over-seeing body that has responsibility and control over the educational system as a whole. Union Conferences own most Adventist institutions of higher education. (Andrews, Oakwood and Loma Linda Universities are. owned and operated by the General Conference.) Numerous people over the past decades have made a case that a significant number of these institutions should be closed. The liquidated assets would provide a significant endowment to reduce tuition costs for Adventist young people. Osborn did not venture far into this quagmire. He does acknowledge that Atlantic and Columbia Union Colleges have a questionable future. He did not recommend that these colleges be closed.

Implicit in what Osborn presented and what is evidenced in the track record of AUC and CUC is the need for an over-all strategic plan to guide Adventist educational institutions as they prepare for the mega changes ahead. It is doubtful that there will be such a plan unless there is an economic emergency of such proportions that reality cannot be ignored.

We pastors know that the church in North America is in dire straights—this despite the glowing accounts that often come from the official organization. We see what is taking place in our local parishes. The evangelistic programs we spend millions to support are not effective in attracting new members. We know that a high percentage of the people who graduate from our Adventist schools will not be active church members. Over the years we have watched as talented people leave our church because they do not like what they have experienced: the refusal to ordain women, emphasis on theological matters that are not pertinent to their lives, duplicity on the part of church leaders, the lack of gospel-oriented preaching, and the perceived, and sometimes real, emphasis on works.

I appreciate Osborn’s affirmation that PUC will not follow Southern University model that emphasizes conservative religious and social practices. Let the South benefit from this model and let the West continue on its own course.

I appreciate the fact that Osborn reminds us that the present Adventist church culture is on life-support from previous generations. When the plug is pulled, when people stop giving or people die off, then the church culture will die. But, he admonishes, one should not confuse church culture with the Christian faith. The church, as established by Jesus, will survive. The church culture, which has a tendency to become confused with Christianity, may not make it.

It is important, says Osborn, for the Adventist church to develop a missionary oriented culture (ADRA comes to mind) that will maintain the people we have. The high number of young adults who drop out is a significant problem. Osborn is correct when he says that the revolving door phenomena must stop. He believes that the Church must provide a new vision, and that the church members in North America buy into that vision. Osborn is quick to affirm that we have the ability to find solutions. He points out that too many of us are merely content to “survive until Jesus comes”. Can we, he asks, capture the same vision as our pioneers? He, along with all of us, awaits an answer.

Finally, Osborn suggests that the Adventist educational system was established to promote an end-of-the-world eschatology. Today, Adventist education must look to the Gospel message of inclusiveness, compassion and love to find a new direction.

Dr. Lawrence G. Downing pastored the Hollywood, California Seventh-day Adventist Church the White Memorial Church in Los Angeles. He has taught at the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies in the Philippines and served as Adjunct Professor in the School of Religion and School of Business and Management at La Sierra University.

Caricatures of Adventists: Doug Batchelor

Alexander Carpenter — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:24:00 -0700

With a laugh, I recently discovered the Caricatures of Adventists blog.

I have received permission from the anonymous artist to share some with you.

"Doug Batchelor is an excellent example of the pendulum effect. Batchelor was born to wealthy, influential parents. He grew up a rather undisciplined boy, living life to the fullest, if you know what I mean. From that end of the pendulum, he swung to the other end as a result of time spent in a cave in the desert of Southern California. He wrote about the cave experience in his book, "The Richest Caveman."
In the cave, Batchelor found a Bible, which would thereafter become his primary means of earning a living. Batchelor became a Seventh-day Adventist pastor as well as the head honcho for a ministry called "Amazing Facts."*

In the cave, he was often naked. He now wears suits. In the cave, he had long hair. He now enjoys a more polished look. How the pendulum swings!"

See more here.
*Originally said that he started it. See Monte's comment.

Adventist News: Vegetarian edition

Alexander Carpenter — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:24:00 -0700

The Seattle Times notes high-tech workers and Seventh-day Adventist influence in the emerging vegetarian culture of the Pacific Northwest.

Stewart Rose points to the region's immigration patterns and religions. The vice president of Vegetarians of Washington and longtime vegan notes that newcomers from Buddhist and Hindu nations brought their traditional meat-free or low-meat diets, including engineers who came in droves from Asia to work for Microsoft, Amazon.com and other tech hubs. The Northwest also is home to a large population of Seventh Day Adventists (sic), many of whom are vegetarian. These groups opened stores and restaurants to cater to their tastes and needs, Rose said.

"You had the immigration of different ethnic groups, you have homegrown groups that took on everything from yoga to health food," said Rose. "And then you have something else that has been growing in interest and that is the animal-rights movement, which has a very strong presence in the Northwest."

And yes, the Inland Empire's Press-Enterprise has a great story about Loma Linda native gets her high school diploma. . .80 years later.

Her husband, a graduate of what was then called the College of Medical Evangelists, now Loma Linda University, died 18 years ago. Now Neva Powers Mason (pictured) lives alone in the cottage-like hillside home in Hollywood that they bought 65 years ago.

Born in St. Helena in Napa County, Mason came with her parents to Loma Linda at age 3. Her father, Jason Powers, managed the farm that fed Seventh-day Adventists attending the college.

"Most people were vegetarians," she said. "That was not part of the religion. It was part of the health thing.

"I remember the kids who didn't go to the Adventist school. They would take the bus to Redlands," she recalled. "When the bus would go by, I would be out sometimes mowing the lawn or something. They would yell out, 'Cabbage eaters.' "

Mason enrolled at Loma Linda Academy at age 7. The first and second grades were combined in one classroom of fewer than 20 students. She finished both grades in the first year.

"You were expected to go to church," she said. "You knew everybody and we all kind of looked after each other. Nobody had too much money. They sacrificed a lot to get that school going and keep it accredited."

Students at the academy, much like students at the college, played in the town's orchestra.

"It was surprising how many doctors and medical students are musicians," she said. "And they are very good at it. So we always had a good orchestra."

She played the coronet. Christopher Mason, a medical student six years her senior, played the flute. Between rehearsals, they dated under family supervision.

Loma Linda Academy opened in 1906, but as a junior academy that only went through the 11th grade. Neva Powers Mason and four classmates took a bus to La Sierra Academy for their senior year.

She enrolled in a nursing school at Pacific Union College in St. Helena and stayed there until Christopher Mason called six months later.

"He wanted to know if I was going to marry him," Neva Powers Mason remembers. "I said, 'You haven't asked me.' He said, 'The reason I'm asking is because I'm going to intern now and it will make a difference. If I'm going to get married, I'll take the one that pays the most.' I had known him and I had never gone with anyone else. I said yes."

The higher-paying job was at a hospital in Washington, D.C., and she was living there during the Roosevelt inauguration.

"It was cold that day," she said. "It was so crowded. I put my arm up to adjust my hat and I couldn't get my arm down."

They returned to Loma Linda in the late 1930s while her husband taught anatomy at the college. Then he moved on to a practice in Los Angeles.

Neva Powers Mason never lost touch with her Loma Linda roots.

"I've always felt like Loma Linda was my hometown," she said.

. . .two years ago. . .Mason met Mary Morgan, the academy's director of advancement and development.

"She is just the sweetest, cutest little old lady," Morgan said, "and she felt bad because her sister, who graduated in 1935, has a diploma from Loma Linda Academy and she does not."

Only a year after Mason's graduation from La Sierra, Loma Linda Academy added the 12th grade and began issuing diplomas.

Morgan persuaded her fellow administrators to issue a diploma, dated 1929. She checked with La Sierra Academy but they had long since lost records from those years. Morgan secretly arranged for 20 members of Mason's family to attend the graduation ceremony at this year's alumni weekend.

"They told me I was representing the class of '29, which didn't exist," Mason said. "They said they had something for me."

Morgan said school officials called Mason to the podium in the school auditorium and told her they were going to give her the diploma.

"We put a cap and gown on her," Morgan said.

Mason keeps the gown pressed and breaks it out, along with the diploma, to show off to guests.

"I think it means somebody loves me," she said. "A lot of people love me."

Who are Seventh-day Adventists?

Alexander Carpenter — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:50:15 -0700

It seems like they hit the main points, leave plenty of room for individuals to match their experience to our shared beliefs and get close to emphasizing the important stuff, Jesus, hope, health, community-mindedness, support, prayer, the Bible, hope in God and the Sabbath.

This also shows that the extremists in the church are really the overly loud criers going on and on about how talking about wedding rings, evolution, 1844, homosexuality or women's ordination goes just too far this time.

But Adventism is being lived from Australian beaches to South African slums, to Loma Linda healing to Chinese home churches. As much as it may hurt some feelings, it's not really being formed all that much in the prose pounded out by "the official" voices of the church or the reactionary fear mongers who see a conspiracy or slippery slope when Adventists work once again to apply truth to our present, lived realities.

Back in the day I read E.A. Sutherland's Fundamentals of Christian Education. In some comments here I see the same stream of good-hearted but nervous atavism that cried out "Catholic (now becoming the UN) conspiracy" or warned of the slippery slope in having university students not learn to farm or worse, wear graduation robes like the world.

The video asks: who are Seventh-day Adventists? And I can think of plenty of great Adventists who didn't even follow everything mentioned in this clip - perhaps not so healthy, or maybe they broke the Sabbath without a Mission Spotlight-ready reason.

So maybe our faith and community can't be contained in PR-video or in blog commentary or doctrinal statements for that matter. Perhaps, then, instead of creating a definition to which we then conform, we should stay in community and in conversation and create privately and publicly, kind of like it's always been done.

A Sanctuary for Non-Adventists Too?

Alexander Carpenter — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:14:00 -0700

Traditionally we Adventists have talked about the Sanctuary in our echo chambers of Sabbath School classes, our literature and sermons and except for the now ubiquitous Heschel quote and popular evangelical critique, most folks don't know how the wider world of theology relates to the sanctuary.

The thoughtful blogger at The Kairotic Word writes:

One of Seventh-day Adventism's contributions to the Christian Body in the last century and a half has been a heavy handed interest in the ancient Jewish tabernacle, the sanctuary system, and the priestly work of Christ.

Though heavy handed indeed, I think that interest has been good; most of the mainline denominations have also picked up the task of identifying the various tools and activities of the Mosaic sanctuary and reinterpreting their functions so as to understand God's relation to us (Sample 1 | Sample 2). Christ-as-mediator appears in all the major creeds, and commentators like Matthew Henry have spoken to it in their turn for several centuries. Some churches have even used it to understand the Church's Jewish roots and in turn orient their relationship with 21stC political Israel.

Because of some rather peculiar Adventist premises, the teaching looms a little large in denominational theology. Just a little large, bless their hearts. That said, the tabernacle emphasis I now see in most churches has value in its attempt to re-ground the Body: to remember the origins of an idea and to reconnect our current cosmology to it.

I recommend reading the whole piece, particularly since The Kairotic Word links to our recent Ivan Blazen lesson commentary while addressing Jonathan Klawans.

Furthermore, 3 Quarks Daily, ruminates on the intersection of science and religious history in connection with a God-spot experiment on atheist Richard Dawkins' brain.

. . .when it comes to religion, history and culture trump neurology. I quickly noticed that the same neuroscientists who were experimenting on Dawkins, among other more amenable test subjects, were also enfolding American religious history into their neurotheological data. One of the neurologists involved in the Dawkins stunt suggested in an interview, for example, that Ellen G. White, nineteenth-century prophet of the Seventh-day Adventist movement, suffered a childhood head injury that affected her temporal lobes in such a way as to produce her subsequent religious visions.

That example immediately struck me as a curious incursion of history into the laboratory. To be sure, even as an outsider, I was aware that a thriving set of conversations exists on the borders of neuroscience and religion. There are the theological questions, the God-spot questions: can the places of divine-human encounter, or, at least, the places of the felt-experiences of divine-human encounter be scanned and visualized? There are the ethical questions: for example, can the lying brain be mapped, detected, and exposed? Or, can compassionate affects be imaged and reproduced—in effect, is altruism a mental skill that can be trained? There are also, of course, innumerable psychotherapeutic questions; prominent among them is whether prayer and meditation are effective allies in the healing arts and medical sciences. But, here was the prolific visionary, Ellen G. White, suddenly thrust into the speculations of a pediatric neurologist studying temporal lobe epilepsy, all because she had been hit in the face by a rock when she was nine years old. Perhaps there is, indeed, a conversation to be had not only between religion and neuroscience, but also, more specifically, between American religious history and American neuroscience.

Both of these posts make me think of books - of course Bull and Lockhart's Seeking a Sanctuary and James' Varieties of Religious Experience.

But let me note two key books for me in thinking about what was going on in the minds of Ellen White and the Bible writers: Abraham Maslow's Religions, Values and Peak Experiences and Julian Jaynes' The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976).

It's really beyond my disciplinary knowledge, but I really do wish that more public Adventists would discuss consciousness in a way that would help our community reflect on how we experience the world vs. how humans experienced their world 2500 years ago. Once I began to understand the difference played by self-awareness in religious or self-less experience, the more I could go back and reread the Bible with added historical, and even psychological, appreciation.

Satire | "Messages to Old People" Released

Alexander Carpenter — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:15:21 -0700

I dug this up from the old underground Adventist Rearview edition of Spectrum that I created back around April 1, 2005. Needless to say, it never saw the light of the printing press, although some folks did find it online.

I'm going to reprint some of the pieces over the next few weeks since it is summer and I need some laffs after the culture warfare of late.

This just in. . .

Building on the success of the timely release of the Angels compilation a few years ago, the Ellen G. White Estate has announced the publication of a new compilation entitled Messages to Old People. Said senior estate editor Miss Ing Context, "with all the Social Security pressure these days and the graying of the Church, we thought that the loyal membership who was raised on Sister White might like more messages."

She adds, "as usual, after we cut out the irrelevant verbiage and grouped similar sounding words together, we were surprised by how timely Ellen White is. For example, see this passage from volume one of the new compilation: trust and obey. . .the conference. . .trust. . .and a. . .new. . .ity. . .officers" (GC 205, COL 167, DA 54, PP 498).

Interestingly, in a new marketing move, the Estate will provide a special edition for the "more mature" Adventist Forum member, a special gilt-edged edition with comparative commentary by Walter Rae.

The two-volume set will come as a standard large print edition. Also available will be the twelve-volume "I Can't Find My Reading Glasses and This Light Is Too Dim" edition.

Said chief archivist Anne C. Dotal, "we've just discovered a text-proof algorithm that has unlocked a combination of early writings revealing heretofore unknown visionary advice for the end times for some. Apparently Mrs. White urges, 'moderation in the use of stimulants such as tea, coffee, and ci...a...l..is'" (MYP 34, 1T 96-99, MB 122, GC 357).

Prophetic Short Sermon Series | Zizek: Materialism, Theology, Logic, Love

Alexander Carpenter — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:42:52 -0700

A very interesting use of G.K. Chesterton, Islam, Job, Christ.

Slavoj Zizek, a Slovenian sociologist, postmodern philosopher, and cultural critic is a professor at the Institute for Sociology, Ljubljana and at the European Graduate School.

What’s Really Up With North Pole Sea Ice?

Alexander Carpenter — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:58:36 -0700

Andrew Revkin at the Times' science blog, Dot Earth has a good post up with the facts (and great graphs) on the recent news about the North Pole losing its ice caps. He writes:

"it’s clear that, by the end of the 1990s, the veneer of ice on the Arctic Ocean had shifted to a far more tenuous state, with ever less thick, years-old ice like the floes I camped on when I went with the team setting up the annual North Pole Environmental Observatory. The animation above shows that the ice was flushed out, not melted.
Most of the seasoned Arctic ice experts I’ve canvassed for recent stories see the region exhibiting a mix of natural variability in the ice (like the flushing process) and a long-term trend toward less of it in summer, and more of it being fresh-made each season, and thus thin and easy to melt. Most also are convinced the change is now at least partly driven by human-caused global warming.

Their various projections are laid out in monthly Sea Ice Outlook reports. Right now the odds are essentially even on a 2008 match for the dramatic ice loss last year."

Cordwood: War, Poetry, Reality

Andrew Hanson — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:51:00 -0700

As the presidential election approaches, I want to remind readers about the realities of war. But first, some quotes from 2003.

"Tommy Franks and the coalition forces have demonstrated the old axiom that boldness on the battlefield produces swift and relatively bloodless victory. The three-week swing through Iraq has utterly shattered skeptics' complaints."

(Fox News Channel's Tony Snow, 4/13/03)

"The only people who think this wasn't a victory are Upper Westside liberals, and a few people here in Washington."

(Charles Krauthammer, Inside Washington, WUSA-TV, 4/19/03)

"We're proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical, who's not a complicated guy like Clinton or even like Dukakis or Mondale, all those guys, McGovern. They want a guy who's president. Women like a guy who's president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It's simple. We're not like the Brits."

(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 5/1/03)

"We had controversial wars that divided the country. This war united the country and brought the military back."

(Newsweek's Howard Fineman--MSNBC, 5/7/03)

REALITY is an unpublished piece of short fiction I wrote in 1987 after years of listening to the stories of my students who are Vietnam vets.

Re[a]lity (re al e te), n., pl.-ties 1 actual existence; true state of affairs: I doubted the reality of what he had seen; I thought he must have dreamed it. SIN: actuality. 2 a real thing; actual fact: Slaughter and destruction are terrible realities of war.

Thorndike Barnhart, World Book Dictionary, 1967 Edition

The Army pathologist pulled off the white plastic sheet and threw it in the corner. The boy was Vietnamese, approximately six years old. The apparent cause of death was cardiac arrest due to shock and hypovolemia; secondary to a severed left arm. There were bruises on the neck, face, and upper right arm and severe contusions and abrasions on the shins.

It was all so damn obvious. Any half trained medic could do this job. He wondered why his superiors wasted his time and theirs. Working a war was the most boring thing imaginable.

******************************

The Vietcong soldier had difficulty holding the screaming child. This last one seemed to know what was going to happen, and he fought like a demon. The soldier now knew what his instructor had meant when he said that maintaining mental discipline was the ultimate test of will. Over and over he reminded himself that stern reprisals against portions of the civilian population that collaborated with the enemy where essential to victory, and his ability to act in these situations was the ultimate proof of his patriotism.

He managed to get the child under control by the time he reached the courtyard, but was only partially successful in keeping his vomit from soiling the uniform of the man with the axe.

******************************
The propaganda officer was one of the first Americans to return to the village. The little arms were piled in the center of the courtyard where he had photographed the medical team vaccinating the village children the day before. The brutality of the act paralyzed him, routed him to the ground. He we sure he was dreaming. It was in comprehensible. It could not be real.

When he finally set up to photograph the severed limbs, he noticed that they were all left arms with fresh vaccination marks. The Vietcong message was clear. The propaganda officer was an educated man, and he had always assumed that propaganda was an exercise in self-deception; that the enemy was more or less like himself. But he now knew that the gook bastards were subhuman. That was the reality. To prove it beyond any doubt, he had the body of an unclaimed child shipped back to Saigon for an official autopsy. He wanted every American to see the bodies of the children and the pile of little arms.

******************************
The father knew enough to try to hide his son when the Vietcong entered the village. When they found the boy, the father fought them with all his desperate strength, but they beat him senseless with their rifle butts, tied his hands and feet, and tethered into a tree in front of his hooch.

He could not remember when he began screaming or when he knocked out his teeth on the gray, jagged rock in front of him. He was not conscious when his son, the last surviving member of his family, died shortly after his left arm was hacked off. When they left, the soldiers dragged the father into the forest and kept him in a bamboo cage for a week before they strangled him. When the Vietcong returned, they threw his body into the village well.

******************************
The boy was numb with terror when the soldier pulled him from his hiding place under the sleeping mat. He did not struggle until his father fought with the soldiers. After that he tried desperately to get away and cried out for his dead mother, but the soldier tightened his grip on his neck and arms and crushed his lips with a hand that was as hard as stone.

Panic had shut down the sensory centers of his brain, and endomorphine had made him almost impervious to pain by the time the soldier carried him into the courtyard. He did not see or hear the other soldiers, or feel much more than a hard punch to his upper arm when it happened. The soldier released him, and he stumbled off spurting an impossible amount of blood. He took eleven steps before he fell.

******************************

Ralph Jacobs, the author of CORDWOOD, A COLLECTION OF KOREAN WAR POEMS, is a treasured friend and a Harvard educated medical doctor. He served in Dog Medical Company, First Marine Division, in the Korean War.

"We clambered over the ship's side on rope ladders and chugged on a landing barge into Inchon. With another medical company we set up the major collecting and clearing hospital at the Korean Kimpo Air Field, just captured, to treat the casualties from the assault on Seoul. . . I served in the Marines from July 1950, through June 1951. . . I hope the poems will offer a personal lens for you to see and feel my experiences in Korea. Many of the events, situations, and dilemmas in these poems mirror what others have seen and felt in other wars."

Ralph Jacobs, from his Introduction

April, 2004

CORDWOOD

Screaming news—600--heavy casualties
from the Marines, the Army, ROK* troops.
Everything is coming our way—right now.
Evaluating the wounded in Receiving:

I order shock therapy stat.
I order others to the holding tent—
belly surgery, chest surgery, many for major debridement,*

Pressing corpsmen to quick-step and IV and IM meds,

surgical preps, IV plasma and blood.

Snarling suddenly—too low a blood supply.
Commanding by phone--more blood by copter.
Scrubbing up to insert chest tubes in the short of breath.
Sheathing hot water bottles around frozen blood units.
Surveying surgery—all teams with shiny retractors bent over:

wide-open bellies, wide open-chests,
large shrapnel wounds being debrided—
then lavaged, lavaged, lavaged.

Supervising corpsmen casting arms, legs,

dressing face wounds—
dressing genitals, abdomens, thighs.

Wolfing a Tootsie Roll for supper.
Lifting stretchers, flipping sutures, giving open drop

ether anesthesia throughout the night.

Devouring a Spam sandwich at midnight.
Overcast dawn, bitter 20 degrees below, light snow falling.
A wall of cordwood:
Two piles, each four frozen bodies high,
line our path to the mess tent.

*Republic of Korea
**removal of dead tissue and foreign material

Video | A Conversation with Philip Yancey

Alexander Carpenter — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:40:29 -0700

Author Philip Yancey talks about his writerly approach to the big questions of Christianity. An interview with Dean Nelson of Point Loma Nazarene University in their series: Writer's Symposium By The Sea, April 2008.

He talks about growing up in a racist church, a letter from a Seventh-day Adventist, as well as his writing life and going out to eat with Bono.

Sabbathing

Alexander Carpenter — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:52:21 -0700

For Adventists, the Sabbath has set us apart, both from "the world" and from mainstream Christendom. While some, particularly a few ex-Adventists, attack us for our Sabbatarianism, I think they are missing the point.

Getting at that, a recent post at Cliff yesterday sparked some reflections on why I keep the Sabbath as a young Seventh-day Adventist.

(I know, I know, some might not like this much Goldstein here, but say what you will, he's provocative, and this time, I think, productively.)

He writes:

For years now, I've been getting Dale Ratzlaff's Proclamation, in which each issue declares how the gospel has freed him and others from the shackles and legalism of Adventism. There's no sense going over all the arguments; we've heard them before, and there's really nothing new there, nothing that anti-Sabbatarians haven't been uttering for centuries now.

But I do find one argument amusingly and oxymoronically ironic: the idea that the rest we have in Jesus "liberates" us from the fourth commandment. This means, basically, that the seventh-day Sabbath, a symbol from the old covenant, has been abolished and Christians are "freed" from keeping it. Sabbath-keeping is, says Dale Ratzlaff, a legalistic work that robs us of the rest Christ offers us in the new covenant doctrine of grace.

Now, maybe I'm missing something here, but how is it that the one commandment devoted to rest, the one commandment that specifically expresses rest, the one commandment that gives us a special opportunity to rest, has been turned into the universal "New Covenant" symbol of works? The only commandment that, by its nature, is all about rest has become the iconic metaphor for salvation by works?

Can you see the irony of Ratzlaff's entire premise: by resting on the Sabbath, I'm trying to work my way to heaven!

The fact is, far from being a symbol of works, the Sabbath is the Bible's covenant symbol of the rest that God's people have always had in Him.

In addition to the irony, the Ratzlaff proclamation is ludicrous when speaking of global Adventism. Most of the 15 million members are hungry for salvation, justice and community peace, not some privatistic "at least we ain't legalists" dogma that's so outdated than even conservative evangelicals are moving on.

As Cliff argues in A Pause for Peace (my grandma used to leave that out for my favorite ex-Adventist, now Conservadox uncle), there is a lot more to the grounding of the Sabbath than the Western tradition of law.

The oh-so-last century ex-Adventist "I'm saved, you're not" mantra reminds me of someone who, after a breakup, spends their time bad-mouthing an entire gender because of their anecdotal experience. This while slapping themselves on the back with ahistorical Walter Martin quotes.

I suggest to them: stand in the middle of Loma Linda University Medical Center or at the next Adventist Society of Religious Studies conference and explain to those who pass how worshiping in community on a day has any connection to who goes to heaven. Sure, some crazy folks still link attendance to heavenly status, but most pastors preach, most teachers teach and in practice most Adventists go to church because of the here-and-now benefit, and leave the rest to God.

I personally keep the Sabbath for myriad reasons including to signify my concern for God's creation (God blessed all creation on the Sabbath) and as an act of resistance against the church/state Constantinian compromise and that continuation through mainstream Christianity's constant habit of compromising Biblical values over issues like unnecessary military aggression and favor for those with the most.

Historically, I think that this is actually more in line with the Sabbatarian orthopraxy of Jewish resistance to empire, Early Christian nonviolent witness, anti-Catholic (in the dissenting Waldensian sense) protest, Coptic and Anabaptist peacemaking than some 19th century modernist proof-texting about law and grace.

Yep, I'm proud to be a Seventh-day Sabbath keeper. (Whoa, dudes, just another extreme plank in the crazy Spectrum agenda...)

As others have noted, keeping the Sabbath mixes belief and behavior. It's an action. And being a Sabbathing Adventist means, for me, that I work, I care, I act out my ethics as Christ modeled.

In the end, I'd have a lot more time for the ex-arguments if they didn't look so often like they were publicly Martinizing their personal soteriology.

After all, we all depend on Christ as well as one another for saving grace and acts of social healing, no matter how we wrinkle our human time.

Pew Video | Increasing American Religious Comity

Alexander Carpenter — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:36:42 -0700

Although a majority of Americans say religion is very important to them, nearly three-quarters of them say they believe that many faiths besides their own can lead to salvation, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

The report, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, reveals a broad trend toward tolerance and an ability among many Americans to hold beliefs that might contradict the doctrines of their professed faiths.

For example, 70 percent of Americans affiliated with a religion or denomination said they agreed that “many religions can lead to eternal life,” including majorities among Protestants and Catholics. Among evangelical Christians, 57 percent agreed with the statement, and among Catholics, 79 percent did.

Among minority faiths, more than 80 percent of Jews, Hindus and Buddhists agreed with the statement, and more than half of Muslims did.

The findings seem to undercut the conventional wisdom that the more religiously committed people are, the more intolerant they are, scholars who reviewed the survey said.

The study shows:

Most Americans agree with the statement that many religions – not just their own – can lead to eternal life. Among those who are affiliated with a religious tradition, seven-in-ten say many religions can lead to eternal life. This view is shared by a majority of adherents in nearly all religious traditions, including more than half of members of evangelical Protestant churches (57%). Only among Mormons (57%) and Jehovah’s Witnesses (80%) do majorities say that their own religion is the one true faith leading to eternal life.

Most Americans also have a non-dogmatic approach when it comes to interpreting the tenets of their own religion. For instance, more than two-thirds of adults affiliated with a religious tradition agree that there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their faith, a pattern that occurs in nearly all traditions. The exceptions are Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, 54% and 77% of whom, respectively, say there is only one true way to interpret the teachings of their religion.

...

The lack of dogmatism in American religion may well reflect the great diversity of religious affiliation, beliefs and practices in the U.S. For example, while more than nine-in-ten Americans (92%) believe in the existence of God or a universal spirit, there is considerable variation in the nature and certainty of this belief. Six-in-ten adults believe that God is a person with whom people can have a relationship; but one-in-four – including about half of Jews and Hindus – see God as an impersonal force. And while roughly seven-in-ten Americans say they are absolutely certain of God’s existence, more than one-in-five (22%) are less certain in their belief.

A similar pattern is evident in views of the Bible. Nearly two-thirds of the public (63%) takes the view that their faith’s sacred texts are the word of God. But those who believe Scripture represents the word of God are roughly evenly divided between those who say it should be interpreted literally, word for word (33%), and those who say it should not be taken literally (27%).

Washington Post Obit | Kenneth Wood

Alexander Carpenter — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:12:33 -0700

Today's Washington Post prints an obit on Adventist editor, Kenneth H. Wood.

Kenneth H. Wood, 90, an influential former editor of Adventist Review, a national publication of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and a longtime elder of the church, died May 25 of congestive heart failure at a ManorCare nursing facility in Potomac. He lived in Silver Spring.

Mr. Wood was an Adventist pastor for several years but spent most of his career in administrative and editorial positions within the church, which has its world headquarters in Silver Spring.

For the past 28 years, he had been chairman of the board of the Ellen G. White Estate, a church archive that oversees the publications and spiritual legacy of a co-founder of the church. White wrote hundreds of devotional books and other publications that have had a formative effect on the development of the Adventist faith. Mr. Wood edited and updated many of those writings.

His greatest influence on the day-to-day activities of his 15 million-member church, however, came during his 16 years as editor of Adventist Review, a weekly journal that reflects and sometimes confronts the church's official views. Mr. Wood was the magazine's top editor from 1966 to 1982.

The Review has long been a "parallel source of influence" in the church, said its editor, Bill Knott. In the late 1960s, Mr. Wood navigated the publication through shifting cultural currents and raised issues of civil rights and equality that occasionally challenged the church's conservative hierarchy.

"I looked on the church paper as a voice to influence the church rather than just a mouthpiece reflecting what was happening in it," Mr. Wood said in an interview in Adventist Review in January. "It needs to be a trumpet giving a good sound and having a powerful influence."

Mr. Wood was known as a graceful writer and sensitive editor whose skill with words helped shape the thinking of generations of Seventh-day Adventists. In 1975, he wrote an editorial endorsing gender-inclusive language in church publications, and two years later, he hired the first female assistant editor of the Review. He was credited with helping open the ranks of church leadership to women, African Americans and other historically excluded minorities.

"His legacy was one of courage and of clarity as a writer," Knott said. "In many ways, I see Kenneth Wood in keeping with the early editors of the 1840s and 1850s. The magazine was founded by ardent abolitionists, and Wood brought back that courage. It has served us very well."

When doctrinal disputes erupted in the evangelical church, which holds worship services on Saturday, Mr. Wood saw himself as "a defender of the faith." He cleared articles with church leaders discussing church policy and doctrine.

"I tried to call the church to account where I felt it had strayed," he said in January, "but I am very much against anybody who tears it down."

Mr. Wood was born Nov. 5, 1917, in Shanghai, where his parents were missionaries. He lived in China until he was 15 and graduated in 1938 from Pacific Union College, an Adventist school in Angwin, Calif.

He and his new bride then spent four years leading tent revival meetings in California's San Joaquin Valley. After studying at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, then in Takoma Park, Mr. Wood served as a church pastor in Charleston, W.Va., and Cleveland.

In 1947, he became a church administrator in New Jersey before coming to Takoma Park as regional director of Sabbath school and lay activities in 1951.

Mr. Wood developed an early interest in publishing and edited campus publications in college. He joined the staff of Adventist Review in 1955 and, in the late 1950s, received a master's degree in Greek and systematic theology from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.

He wrote several books of essays on religious thought and, with his wife, wrote a biography of F.D. Nichol, his predecessor as editor of Adventist Review.

He traveled throughout the world and credited his long life to the abstemious health and dietary regimens of his Adventist faith.

"I'm a vegetarian," he said in the January interview. "I live a very disciplined life when it comes to rest and eating a balanced diet."

His wife of 69 years, Miriam Wood, died March 16.

Survivors include two daughters, Janet Stoehr of Silver Spring and Carole Xander of Gainesville, Fla.; a sisters; seven grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.

Confronts official views? It's not that I don't believe it, but I trying to think of an example. Anyone?

Colbert | Barbara Ehrenreich

Alexander Carpenter — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:32:43 -0700

"Stephen wants you to buy Barbara Ehrenreich's book so she gets super rich and has to swallow her words."

Who's Your Daddy Parenting Series: Things I Never Dreamed I'd Say

Michael Bennie — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:39:12 -0700

Everyone knows kids say the darnedest things. But only parents know how often kids lead you to speak, pause, review what you just said, and wonder at the improbable language required for childrearing. We say insane stuff every day.

When I get the time, I'd like to create a random generator of things parents of young children have either said or will eventually say. All the computer would do is select a random choice from each of these categories:

Negative mandate (with implied threat) such as "stop trying to, you should never, please do not, never ever, you will go on time-out if you, I'm pulling over and it will be ouchy if I see you," etc.
Verb for frequent child behaviors, including but not limited to "hit, eat, break, throw, mess up, bite, kick, fuss at, scratch, smash, inhale, cut, splash, lick, pinch, wet, hurt, fight," etc.
Likely object of verb (usually something sentient, fragile, valuable or totally disgusting): "your sister, me, the carpet, my jewelry box, the kitten, poopoo, sand, peepee, the computer, the family portrait, the curtains, the toilet, your food, bathwater, my papers, the dirty gummy bear from under the car seat," and so forth.

A parent smart enough to program a robot to say these randomly generated bits of wisdom might save volumes of speech. Recording these phrases in one's own voice, randomly putting them together and then playing them at night while the child is sleeping would be a great subliminal preemptive strike on all manner of misdeeds, or at least would allow a parent to later say, with virtual truth, "I told you not to do that!"

Off the top of my head, here are just a few of the really-truly bizarrisms that we can remember saying, unaided by technology:

Do not eat the Band-Aid you took off your foot.
Never ever wipe your bottom with the hand towel.
No biting the chair while on time-out.
Please do not blow your nose onto the couch/Mommy's dress/the dishtowel.
Do not go poopoo in the bath tub.
Do not drink the bath water! It has poopoo in it!
Your sister/the kitten/Mommy's hair/the power screwdriver is not a toy!
Please do not ever stick a marble up your nose again.
Only eat flowers that Daddy tells you to eat.
No, you may not ride on top of the minivan.
Stop biting your Cinderella dress.
You can't wear your Jasmine dress to church.
Please take off your Snow White dress before taking a bath.
Do not throw diapers in the toilet.
Please clean the table with something besides the broom.
I don't think the kitty wants to eat your raisins.

The list gives you a feel for a day in the life, but is far from exhaustive. And if it were exhaustive today, it would be so no longer by tomorrow. New material is generated as often as our bathroom floor is desecrated by potty-trainers.

I would love to read other weird things parents have said in the line of duty. Maybe I can work them into my random Daddy-talk generator someday!

So, "for real life," as Brielle would say, let's hear them! Please comment away with your own peculiar parental prose!

Michael Bennie writes from California's San Bernardino mountains, where he and his wife, Rachelle, parent their 5-year-old, Brielle, and twin 3-year-olds, Melía and Ashlyn. In his down time, he is a 9th-grade school counselor. He vaguely remembers having hobbies of his own before the princess proliferation, but still squeezes in audio books, a tiny men's Bible study (which, surprisingly, includes no tiny men), dates with Rachelle, random hikes, a spring marathon and a fall 3-day novel. He is mad at the Amish because they have what he wants: peace, community and simplicity. This column was originally posted on his blog.

John Cobb on Omnipotence, Faithfulness of Jesus, John 14:6

Alexander Carpenter — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:20:23 -0700

I know that many Adventists - including David Larson and Trisha Famisaran - have had the opportunity to meet and work with theologian John Cobb, Jr. while at Claremont.

I had the pleasure of talking briefly with him at the AAR meetings and found him to be a polite and very witty man - a world famous theologian who didn't mind the awkwardness of a bunch of graduate students standing around a little tongue-tied.

In these short clips, Dr. Cobb discusses some key theological concepts rooted in a careful textual reading of scripture.

The Faithfulness of Jesus vs. Faith in Jesus

Here's a fun selection from the Center for Process Studies series: Ask Dr. Cobb.

June 2008 Question

Churches increasingly recognize the need to address the subject of religious pluralism, but the verse from John 14:6 "No one comes to the Father except by me," remains a stumbling block. How do you, as a process theologian, exegete this verse? Can it be understood in a less exclusivist way?

Dr. Cobb's Response

Before I answer the question directly, indicating other ways of exegeting the text, let us recognize that there is in fact an exclusivist note in the early Christian writings. The spirit of the early Christians included a strong emphasis on the new reality that Jesus, and no one else, had brought into the world. Jesus was not for them one “savior” or “lord” among others. His coming had changed the situation in which everyone lived, whether they recognized this or not.

The nature of the change is described in a variety of ways. Paul tells us that whereas prior to Jesus the righteousness of God appeared as wrath against sin, in Jesus it appeared as love. Of course, Paul found prophesies and even anticipations of this in earlier prophets and writers, but the change occurred decisively only in Jesus. We now live by participation in his faithfulness rather than in obeying the Mosaic Law or any other law. These affirmations distinguished the communities Paul founded from those communities that continued more traditional forms of Judaism.

Paul did not think of these as two equally valid forms of Judaism. If, today, we argue that the covenant with God through Christ does not supersede the covenant of the Jews with God, Paul would probably partly agree with us and partly disagree. He expected the end of history shortly, and in this end believers would share the resurrection/transformation of Jesus. However, the whole of creation, including certainly the other Jews would also share in the final transformation Paul’s exclusivism did not condemn all who failed to join the movement, but it certainly privileged those who did.

John does not image the transformation effected by Jesus in the same way. He talks about “eternal life” which is probably equivalent to “coming to the Father.” In John’s view Jesus provided a test. Some were drawn to him; others avoided him. To John, this difference was of ultimate importance. But this does not mean that God punishes those who hide from the light in Jesus. Jesus came to save the whole world. Those who refuse his gifts condemn themselves to living without them.

This is certainly “exclusivist”. I prefer, however, a different language. For the early Christians, Jesus was a unique person who performed a unique work. For followers today to deny this because of its exclusivist character is, to me, understandable, but unfortunate. I believe that the quality and character of life that Jesus made possible is unique and of great value and importance, and I hope that Christians will continue to emphasize and prize this quality of life.

What is objectionable, in my view, is for those who prize one kind of life, the kind that John called coming to the Father, to imply that all who prize other forms of life are condemned by God, fail to achieve what they are seeking, or have no spiritual wisdom to offer. One can certainly interpret some texts in this direction, but that is to suppose that the texts were directly addressing our contemporary questions, formulated in a very different context. Today we can affirm the uniqueness of Jesus’ person and of his historical work without denying the uniqueness of the person of Gautama and his historical work. That does not mean that Jesus and Gautama are two examples of one thing. They are not both incarnations of God or attainers of Buddhahood. They are profoundly different from one another. But to be different does not imply that one is good and the other bad, or one important and the other unimportant. Both are both good and important.

My point in these comments is that the way ahead for Christians is to affirm the uniqueness of Jesus, the crucial importance of his work, and our discipleship to him. Precisely in being faithful, in participating in his faithfulness, we will approach other communities of wisdom and insight with open minds and open hearts, appreciating their achievements and their offering to the world. To condemn others for having found another Way does not express participation in the faithfulness of Jesus. Often when persons who have found a rich and meaningful life in other communities encounter Jesus, they are deeply moved. Muslim’s hold him in very high esteem. Buddhists often suppose that he is one of the enlightened ones. Hindus often treat him as an avatar. Gandhi based much of his life work on Jesus’ teaching. To suppose that Jesus would have us condemn all these people because they have not joined Christian churches is totally unfaithful to Jesus.

John tells us that the light came into the world and that some turned away from it because their deeds were evil and they preferred darkness. Thus they condemned themselves. But Gandhi did not turn away from Jesus. He followed Jesus far more closely than do the vast majority of the members of Christian churches.

If we wish to follow John closely, we should distinguish between those today who are drawn to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and to his understanding of the basileia theou. (Usually translated as the “Kingdom of God”. I prefer “the divine commonwealth”.) We would find that today the lines of division would go through the Christian communities, the Hindu communities, the Buddhist communities, and the Muslim communities. This is the light that has come into the world. Many in all branches of the human family, including many in Christendom, prefer darkness. To say “Lord, Lord” in no way guarantees that one has actually embraced the light.

Let us note also that the main obstacle to the full appropriation of the light that shone in Jesus has been the historic behavior of Christians. When conquistadores enslaved the natives of the new world in the name of the cross of Christ, it is hard to believe that the natives could see in Jesus the light of which John wrote. When Christian missionaries warned Hindus that God would send them to eternal hell if they did not subscribe to Christian doctrine, it is hard to believe that the Hindus could see this light. The response to Mother Theresa in whom, at least in some measure, the light shone, was very different from the response to exclusivist anti-Hindu teachers.

But I should address the original question more specifically. John’s gospel is very hostile to the dominant Jewish community. Probably John’s community had suffered some form of persecution at the hands of Jewish authorities. The verse in question probably reflects this hostility, expressed in so many ways in this gospel. It probably means “you Jews who rejected Jesus and reject us because of our discipleship to him, have no access to the God you pretend to worship.” It does not serve us well to deny that the quarrel between the followers of Jesus and those who rejected him as a false messianic claimant was sometimes a bitter one, or that Jesus’ followers sometimes suffered persecution from Jewish authorities. But it also does not serve us well to take formulations that come out of that historical context and apply them in situations in which it is Jews who suffer at the hands of Christian persecutors, who by their actions make it very difficult, indeed, for Jews to see the light that was in Jesus. We can be very grateful that when Christians have repented of their treatment of Jews, a good many Jews have come to appreciate Jesus.

Now that I have acknowledged that the original formulation probably had an exclusivist meaning over against the Jewish persecutors of Christians, I will directly discuss the question of whether another exegesis is possible. The answer is Yes. And this other exegesis is also closely related to the original intention of the author. The book begins by speaking of the eternal Word of God. This Word functions centrally in the whole creative process. It is especially manifest in the human mind. Finally, it is fully incarnate in Jesus. Throughout John’s gospel the focus is on this incarnate Word. The words that are placed on Jesus’ lips in this gospel are very different from those attributed to Jesus in the synoptics. In John Jesus speaks about himself as the incarnate Word. It is this Word, incarnate in Jesus, that is the light, as well as the way, the truth, and the life. If one rejects the eternal Word, one cannot come to the Father, for they are inseparable. “The Word was with God and the Word was God. All things came into being through him.”

The gospel of John clearly opens the door to ways of approaching the Word that do not involve Jesus. The Word that became flesh in Jesus is also found in and through all creation. No reader of the Bible as a whole can doubt that the Jewish scriptures also testify to this God who is inseparable from the Word. That Jews continue to deny the messianic claims that are made for Jesus by Christians does not mean that they prefer darkness to light. Today some Jews and some Christians prefer the darkness. Some Jews and some Christians are drawn to the light. Without being drawn to the light no one can come to the Father. Christians find that light uniquely embodied in Jesus. The Christian treatment of Jews has made it impossible for most Jews to see Jesus as the incarnation of the light. Those Jews, who have been able to separate Jesus from Christian crimes against Jews and who are now appropriating Jesus as an important Jewish teacher, are convinced that Christians have exaggerated Jesus’ uniqueness. They emphasize the continuities between Jesus and other Jewish teachers and are teaching Christians much about these.

My point is that in general the statement that no one can come to the Father apart from the Word, or Wisdom, or Spirit of God does not exclude Jews in general any more than Christians in general from access to God. No doubt the author of John thought that the Jews who so strongly opposed Jesus showed thereby a blindness to the light that Jesus embodied. Perhaps this was true, at least in part. The establishment in every culture tends to be blind to reasons for its disestablishment and to take destructive actions to preserve its power. It was those without vested interests in the structure of the society of Jesus’ day who heard Jesus’ gladly. That the poor and oppressed who believed Jesus thought that those who rejected him preferred darkness makes a good deal of sense. Their refusal of Jesus’ teaching showed their priorities. Those priorities did not put God’s truth first. Without doing that, they could not come to the Father.

We have learned long since that being a member of a Christian church, even a leader in the church, in no way insures that one puts the service of God first. Enjoyment of the prerogatives of leadership all too often takes precedence. Many, many of us Christians fail the test of welcoming the light. Many of us, too, block ourselves from coming to the Father.

Both the question and my answer point to the ambiguity of canonization. On the one hand, this is an important, even essential, process for a community. By specifying the writings in relationship to which it identifies itself and establishes its norms it provides a basis for discussion of basic questions within the community. The courts in the United States could not function without knowing the authoritative documents that determine what is legally acceptable and what should not be permitted. An academic department or guild decides what extant writings are central to its current responsibilities. Not everything can be up for grabs.

But there is always the danger that even informal canonization will give excessive authority to particular past formulations in any field. This danger is most acute when the canonization is formal and official and when the community is a religious one. Our Christian canon is profoundly inspiring and life giving. But it is full of mistakes of all kinds, historical, ethical, and religious. Some of the worst of these are in the gospel of John, and they are especially about Jews. When Christianity was a politically and religiously powerless and persecuted movement, its lashing out against its enemies, while not fully admirable, is certainly understandable. But when this lashing out is canonized, there is a tendency to de-historicize it, that is, to suppose that judgments about particular people at a particular time have universal truth. For two centuries Christian scholars have been studying the canon in much the way they would study any ancient writings. This, too, is ambiguous in its consequences, but it has liberated those who attend to it from the de-historicized approach to the canon. Sadly, most preaching and even most Bible study deals only tangentially with this scholarship or ignores it altogether. Accordingly, people in the pew are left with the supposition that, as Christians they should believe things that in the current situation can only prove harmful.

Perhaps a simple rule of thumb may be this. Begin with the summary of the law: love God and neighbor. Do not believe anything that reduces this love or leads to action that fails to express it. Among other things, do not believe anything that leads to anti-Jewish feelings or actions.

The Theological Fallacy of Omnipotence

Spectrum Site Stat Update

Alexander Carpenter — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 05:58:57 -0700

Here are some Spectrum stats from March 20 to June 21. You're a part of:

Over 109,186 Visits
by over 63,434 Absolute Unique Visitors
with 248,745 Pageviews.

Also, in the last ninety days, here's a image of the top 100 or so US cities from where y'all have visited.

Here's a list of the top 25 world cities.

No city specified
Loma Linda
Casselberry
London
Monterey Park
Portland
West Hollywood
College Place
Brooklyn
Sydney
Long Island City
Collegedale
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Orlando
Chattanooga
Altamonte Springs
Dallas
Grand Rapids
Seattle
Alameda
Colton
Washington
Dayton
Spokane

Back to the US, this map reveals a distribution pattern that mimics Adventist population by state.

7089 visits from Florida, 5490 visits from Texas, 18208 from California, 3871 from Tennessee, 3790 from Georgia, 2227 from North Carolina, 1205 from Missouri, 935 from Oklahoma, all the way down to 126 from South Dakota, 84 from Wyoming and last but not least, 62 from Vermont.

We are averaging between 7000 and 9000 unique visitors a week.

Thank you all for contributing so much to making this a wide-reaching and sustainably growing forum for good Adventist conversation.

Short Film | The Danish Poet

Alexander Carpenter — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:27:17 -0700

It's Sunday. If you'd like a break from the back-and-forth of the comments section, check out The Danish Poet which explores questions such as: Can we trace the chain of events that leads to our own birth? Is our existence just coincidence? Do little things matter?

The narrator of The Danish Poet considers these questions as we follow Kasper, a poet whose creative well has run dry, on a holiday to Norway to meet the famous writer, Sigrid Undset. As Kasper's quest for inspiration unfolds, it appears that a spell of bad weather, an angry dog, slippery barn planks, a careless postman, hungry goats and other seemingly unrelated factors might play important roles in the big scheme of things after all.

WINNER OF THE 2007 OSCAR® FOR BEST SHORT SUBJECTS ANIMATION

A film by Torill Kove
Narrated by Liv Ullmann

Reviewing the Review: On Gender edition

Andrew Hanson — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:13:48 -0700

June 12, 2008
Vol. 185, No. 16

GENERAL COMMENTS
This is an outstanding issue! When you finish reading it, give it to a friend.

COVER STORY
Against the Wind by Lillian R. Guild
Christine was born in India and became an Adventist when she married and moved to Singapore. Not content to keep to herself the joys she'd found in Jesus, she became the catalyst for outreach efforts in her hometown in India. Now retired and living in Southern California, she continues to give Bible studies and teaches a Sabbath school class.

ARTICLES
To Be Like Trees by Norman L. Mitchell
Mitchell is a retired professor of biology and tree lover. His essay is beautifully crafted and a MUST READ. His writing is poetic when he compares trees "planted by the rivers of water" to Christian communities "known to provide . . . shelter, solace, acceptance, and encouragement".

Testiphonies by Carl McRoy
McRoy shares my discomfort when I hear popular Christian speakers "share lively accounts of how sinful they used to be and how God is using them mightily now, following their conversion". He argues that Christians should more often celebrate the "keeping power" of God's grace; His ability to lead us NOT into temptation.

Open Heart, Open Door by Anna Perez
This story is an incredible MUST READ. Shortly after her husband's death, Anna opens her home to strangers, a young family of undocumented immigrants. Before the story ends, she has become the savior, mother and the grandmother of their extended family.

DEPARTMENTS
Letters
The editors are to be commended for their inclusion of letters reflecting the diversity of viewpoints. In addition a serious attempt has been made to include comments regarding recent issues. However, I believe another two pages of letters to the editor would encourage more readers to participate in a discussion of important current issues and make the magazine more interesting to an increasingly casual readership.

World News and Perspectives
Adventist Relief Workers Aid Victims of Myanmar Cyclone, China Earthquake
ADRA workers were the first to deliver aid to stranded survivors in Myanmar's isolated Pinsalu Islands. They are currently working with the United Nations and the government of Myanmar to provide emergency aid to 30,000 survivors. The fate of 1000 church members in coastal Myanmar is unknown. ADRA is also working with UN agencies and other nongovernmental organizations to take the lead in food distribution in Yangon, China.

Roger C. Smith, Jr., GC Associate Communication Director, died on May 8, following a lengthy illness; Paulsen’s Let’s Talk Series was concluded in Romania; Bill Knott delivered the Baccalaureate Address at Andrews University; and a Navajo outreach booklet has been published.

Journeys
On Equality by Sari Fordham
Fordham asks an important question and suggests a change in official attitudes. "[How do] conservative Christians including women, view gender? Do we still believe that a woman's Place is fundamentally in the kitchen?" She goes on to comment, "After a radical beginning, our church quickly settled into gender norms. And while there are now growing numbers of Adventist women in ministry, they are still the minority. Even fewer women are in top administrative positions, such as conference or university presidents."

Introducing the Why
Empty Energy? by Jimmy Phillips
Phillips reminds us that, "Spirituality comes easily when wonderful emotions seep in. It's a lot more fun to sing when you can't hear your own voice. It's cool to pray when you're one of many. It's a much shorter trip to the altar with the crowd." He offers the following excellent advice. "Help [kids] find a specific, practical, and attainable ways to have an impact on their world. If it's not applied systematically, their exuberance [following a mountaintop experience] will soon fade."

Reflections
Prayer Doesn’t Work—God Does! By Debbonnaire Kovacs
Debbonnaire sums up her charming, thoughtful essay with these final words. "Prayer is not a magic spell. It's just the name we have for the dialogue. Never, never quit talking. Prayer doesn't work—God does! Pass it on!"

EDITORIALS
Healing the Uncaring Heart by Bill Knott
In this excellent editorial, Bill speaks with the confidence that made me a fan before he was running the show. "When we reduce the ‘face of Jesus’ to only the Sabbath or the Second Coming or tithing or vegetarianism, we offer the world less than the Lord has offered on us. We become just one more flag waving on the boulevard, one more cause among so many others."

A Hidden Treasure by Carlos Medley
Medley compares his rediscovery of "a treasure chest of music—nearly 100 record albums" with the merchant who discovered the pearl of great price in Jesus’ parable. Along the way, he reveals that he is a musician and a music historian. Way cool.
_____

Andy Hanson is Professor of Education at California State University, Chico. He blogs at Adventist Perspective.

Video | Stanley Hauerwas on Prayer

Alexander Carpenter — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:16:49 -0700

Dr. Stanley Hauerwas, a widely acclaimed Christian theologian, discusses his understanding of prayer.

Sojourners' interview with Hauerwas:

Dr. Stanley Hauerwas is Gilbert T. Rowe professor of theological ethics at Duke Divinity School and the author of many books including The Peaceable Kingdom, After Christendom, and most recently With the Grain of the Universe. He has sought to recover the significance of the virtues for understanding the nature of the Christian life. This search has led him to emphasize the importance of the church, as well as narrative, for understanding Christian existence. Time magazine named Hauerwas "America's Best Theologian" in the September 17, 2001, issue, saying he "has been a thorn in the side of what he takes to be Christian complacency for more than 30 years." Hauerwas was interviewed by Sojourners editor Jim Wallis on November 8, 2001. A transcript of that interview follows.

Wallis: Is "pacifist" a word that you use to describe yourself?

Hauerwas: I oftentimes say in public that I'm a pacifist, but I don't like the word for two reasons. One, it's just so passive, and I think Christian nonviolence is very active confrontation with violence. Second, I think the word pacifism sounds like you have a position that is somehow separate from your worship of the crucified Savior. Christian nonviolence is entailed in the very heart of what it means to worship a crucified God. So I don't like the idea that pacifism has some further implication for my belief in Jesus.

Wallis: Let's use "Christian nonviolence" then for this conversation. As somebody who tries to live out Christian nonviolence, how did you respond to Sept. 11? What did that do in your heart and your mind?

Hauerwas: The first thing you feel is just overwhelming sadness. You're stunned like everyone else is stunned, whether you are a pacifist or not. I did a presentation about some of my reactions at another university recently, and one of my friends was there -- and he is not committed to nonviolence at all. He said to me, "You pacifists have nothing to say. Just say you're a pacifist and shut up." Some people think that if you have a position of Christian nonviolence, you don't have anything to say because you're excluded from making discriminating political judgments. In a sense that is right. I always say I represent the "Tonto principle of Christian ethics." When Tonto and the Lone Ranger found themselves surrounded by 20,000 Sioux, the Lone Ranger turned to Tonto and said, "This looks pretty tough. What do you think we ought to do?" Tonto replied, "What do you mean 'we,' white man?"

The assumption is that our reaction should be one that identifies a "we" that combines both the American and the Christian. Yet "we" Christians are called to respond to this terrorizing event in a way that is different from that shaped by American presuppositions. I want to be very clear. Nothing that the United States has done in its foreign policy -- and it's done some very wicked things -- can justify what was done at the World Trade Center. We have to step back and ask what we Christians have done that we find ourselves so implicated in that world that we cannot differentiate our response as God's people from the American people's response. Then that also creates a kind of sadness in me in the sense that I don't want to be alienated from my other non-Christian brothers and sisters, as well as my Christian brothers and sisters, who think that we've got to go kill the bastards. But if that alienation is required, then it's required. There's a kind of loneliness that one cannot help but feel when you feel that you can't do anything other than take a different perspective on these matters -- it seems so out of step today.

Wallis: If we don't say "go kill the bastards," what do we say instead? How do we respond to people who committed not only one horrendous act of destruction, but -- unless we're naive -- are planning on doing some more?

Hauerwas: I think anyone that is committed to Christian nonviolence realizes you're in it for the long haul. You're not going to have an immediate policy response. To ask us to do that makes it sounds like Christians are not nonviolent because we think nonviolence is a strategy to end the world of war. But in the world of war, we cannot imagine anything other than nonviolence as faithful disciples of Christ. So that means that we must go on, as [Karl] Barth said in 1933, as if nothing had happened. Which means that we must work all the harder to build those forms of life that can witness to others that there's an alternative to violence.

If you want me to say, "What's the best possible response that can be made now to this immediate circumstance?" I think something like a just war response makes a lot of sense, but that's the reason you have to be so careful about the language you're using to describe this. I don't like calling it "terrorism" because it's completely uncontrollable -- it doesn't do work that you need it to do for moral discrimination. I think you need to call it murder -- and insofar as it's murder, you want to arrest the perpetrator.

So the whole war language seems to me overblown and misleading at this time because B52s turn out to be very crude police officers. In the most recent Catholic Worker newspaper, they have a column by Jean Vanier about the World Trade Center bombing, and he ends by saying, "Let us give our hand to all those around the world who suffer, who cry out and are fearful. Be one in prayer. Let us remember that the smallest gesture of beauty and tenderness done with humility and confidence will bring unity to the world and break the chain of violence." I think that is what we have to believe. If you don't believe that, then nonviolence is surely evil and wrong. But what we can do is go on enacting in life small gestures of beauty and tenderness as a witness to the world that we do not have to be driven by revenge. My best hunch right now is that the allies of nonviolent people are political realists. Political realists have a sense that bombing a Stone Age country back to the Stone Age is exactly what bin Laden wants us to do. So you're just recruiting for the next 20 years. That doesn't seem smart to me on political realist ground.

N. T. Wright on End Things

Alexander Carpenter — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:26:42 -0700

Thanks to someone who has to be one of the coolest (besides my own) grandmothers ever. Elaine Nelson mentioned this interview with N. T. Wright. How many of your grandmothers watch the Colbert Report?

What's great about N.T. Wright is that he really cares about the Bible. I heard him talk at the American Academy of Religion meetings and he is a powerful and witty speaker and a very category defying theologian.