Today is Halloween...or as we call it around here, Reformation Day. The day Luther played a nasty trick on the Roman Catholic Church. He knocked on the door...and left them 95 Theses. This morning a student put up his 30 Theses directed against Dordt College, but more specifically the Theology Dept. And I quote: "Members of the Dordt College Theology Dept. Advocate doctrines that are borderline heretical" Borderline? Hmmmm..... Then this one..."Members of the Dordt College Theology Dept. Advocate doctrines that are heretical" What? Which is it? This next one is ironic..."The Dordt College Theology dept. contradicts itself" There are more...but that's good for now...
So what is a heretic anyway? Is it true to say that history is written by the "winners"? Roman Catholics call us heretics...we return the favor. The Eastern Orthodox tell us we are welcome back to the Church anytime. Even within Reformed circles we can't quite agree on who's in and who's out. So who is right? How do we determine who's right? Do we have to be right? (Heresy! Heresy!)
Today in Theology 101 I gave a presentation on the gospel of Mark. I told the students that Mark is calling us to "see" who Jesus is...and if we "see" him...to follow Him along the way. Who is Jesus for Mark? Jesus is the Son of God... the King...but He is a suffering King, the suffering servant of Isaiah. The crucified Christ...who calls those who "see" him rightly to take up their cross and follow him. In other words we are called to enter into the suffering of Christ...by entering into the suffering of others. The church for the world...
Some want to erect fences - doctrinal fences that declare who is in and who's out. Separating the sheep from the goats, as if that were our job. Doctrine becomes a rigid tool for beating others over the head...beating them either into submission or destroying them. Fences into which the Biblical narrative, and the revelation God has given us, is forced. So that God becomes, as Luther would say, the "god who is not God" - a god after our own image. That is the danger of doctrinalism.
I'm not opposed to doctrine...we all have doctrinal beliefs - and these beliefs are important. But from where do these beliefs spring? Do the confessions and creeds flow out of scripture? Or do we conform our understanding of scripture to the confessions and creeds?
Today is Halloween...or Reformation day as we call it. Tonight I will be taking my kids "trick or treating"...I guess that makes me a heretic.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Temple or Tabernacle?
Shameless self promotion...that's what this is.
I wrote a piece for Perspectives...a journal for reformed thought. I intertwined three things...Stephen's speech in Acts 7, Walter Bruggemann's theological thought, and an interesting story about my Grandpa Lief.
Here's the link to the online version.
http://www.perspectivesjournal.org/2007/10/insideout.html
Enjoy...(but only if you want too)
I wrote a piece for Perspectives...a journal for reformed thought. I intertwined three things...Stephen's speech in Acts 7, Walter Bruggemann's theological thought, and an interesting story about my Grandpa Lief.
Here's the link to the online version.
http://www.perspectivesjournal.org/2007/10/insideout.html
Enjoy...(but only if you want too)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Inerrancy
If for Halloween someone told me I had to dress up like some from the history of the church...I would be Martin Luther. I grew up in Minnesota, I went to a Lutheran church, and I have a tendency to let my passions get the best of me. I have as yet to drop an f-bomb on any of my students...but I bet if Luther were teaching at Dordt, which is a funny thought, he surely would have done so already and been promptly fired.
Today, after my Theology 101 class, I let my passions get the best of me. I had seen a post on the Dordt forum that caught my eye...challenging the notion that C.S. Lewis was a Christian. I love C.S. Lewis...his writings, as they do for so many, help me wrestle with the Christian faith. I knew the student who wrote it would be coming in for the next class...I had her in my sights...and I couldn't stop the words from coming out of my mouth..."So you don't think C.S. Lewis is a Christian?" I hope she can forgive me...it was the Luther in me. We preceded to argue about the issue of Biblical inerrancy. I threw out some thoughts...she rebutted...some other students chimed in...other students were waiting to talk to me about the Theology 101 test on Friday...but I kept on. When I act like this I think of Seinfeld...and the phrase pops into my head..."Luther!"
Did we resolve anything? Nope. Was I all fired up...yup. I had done the exact same thing the day before. A rep from a confessional upstart seminary stopped in my office for a fight...and I gave him one. We went from the Westminster to Moltmann to N.T. Wright to Calvin. I just can't help myself. I had other things to do - but I love a good fight.
So why did I title this blog "inerrancy"? Just to get your attention! No seriously, I found this on the website of St. Olaf with regard to Luther. How often we take our 20th century issues and impose them back upon historical Christianity...onto people like Luther.
Here's the link. Hope you enjoy it...and if I ever go all Luther on you...please show me grace. Us Luther types need it badly.
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/edwards/luthbibl.htm
Today, after my Theology 101 class, I let my passions get the best of me. I had seen a post on the Dordt forum that caught my eye...challenging the notion that C.S. Lewis was a Christian. I love C.S. Lewis...his writings, as they do for so many, help me wrestle with the Christian faith. I knew the student who wrote it would be coming in for the next class...I had her in my sights...and I couldn't stop the words from coming out of my mouth..."So you don't think C.S. Lewis is a Christian?" I hope she can forgive me...it was the Luther in me. We preceded to argue about the issue of Biblical inerrancy. I threw out some thoughts...she rebutted...some other students chimed in...other students were waiting to talk to me about the Theology 101 test on Friday...but I kept on. When I act like this I think of Seinfeld...and the phrase pops into my head..."Luther!"
Did we resolve anything? Nope. Was I all fired up...yup. I had done the exact same thing the day before. A rep from a confessional upstart seminary stopped in my office for a fight...and I gave him one. We went from the Westminster to Moltmann to N.T. Wright to Calvin. I just can't help myself. I had other things to do - but I love a good fight.
So why did I title this blog "inerrancy"? Just to get your attention! No seriously, I found this on the website of St. Olaf with regard to Luther. How often we take our 20th century issues and impose them back upon historical Christianity...onto people like Luther.
Here's the link. Hope you enjoy it...and if I ever go all Luther on you...please show me grace. Us Luther types need it badly.
http://www.stolaf.edu/people/edwards/luthbibl.htm
Monday, October 22, 2007
Liefism
Found something funny on the internet today. Another Lief...Dan Lief...has used the term "Liefism". Funny.
For me, the term was coined by Pella Christian grad Timothy Jabaay. He referred to the Bible IV senior doctrine class as "Liefism"...It just kinda stuck.
Follow the link below...UCLA student Dan Lief makes reference to "Liefism"...better be careful...it seems to be spreading.
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/archives/id/18785/
For me, the term was coined by Pella Christian grad Timothy Jabaay. He referred to the Bible IV senior doctrine class as "Liefism"...It just kinda stuck.
Follow the link below...UCLA student Dan Lief makes reference to "Liefism"...better be careful...it seems to be spreading.
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/archives/id/18785/
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Faith and Spirituality
"If there be God - please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul..."
"How painful is this unknown pain - I have no Faith."
What does it mean to have faith? What does it mean to be a "Christian"? What does it mean to be "spiritual"? The more I learn, the more I wrestle with other people's thoughts and experiences, the longer I teach and encounter young people who are trying to figure out the answers to these questions...the more I have to say I don't know. The above quotes are from Mother Teresa's recently released letters...intimate expressions of uncertainty and doubt. Mother Teresa! A woman who dedicated her life to the poor and suffering on the streets of Calcutta. A woman who lived out her Catholic belief in the crucified Christ in whom God reveals his solidarity with the poor and oppressed. A woman who is held up as the example of someone who "did something"...who acted upon her beliefs. Who would seem to be the one person who had it all together...no doubts and uncertainties...pouring herself out in service because her faith was rock solid. Come on, if Mother Teresa has doubts...
It's been a crazy few weeks for me at Dordt College. Students are struggling...probably for a lot of reasons. I see my job as a privilege...I get invited into the lives of so many young people. Their joys, their sorrows, their struggles. The last few weeks have been primarily struggles. Students who don't think they are good enough...spiritual enough...who aren't sure if they have faith...if they believe. They don't pray enough, read the Bible enough, "believe" enough. Some of them remind me of the Opus Dei priest in the Da Vinci code...as they talk I can almost hear the cracking of the whip. So what is my great advice? What is my wise council? "Join the club..." I say.
I've been on a kick lately...I often I latch on to a theme and beat the drum for a while. Lately I have been pounding away at our humanity. We are human after all...we are not angels or gnostic spiritual entities. We are human beings...made from the dust of the earth...meant to be a part of this world. "This world is not my home?" B.S. It is my home...and I love it...which is why I truly grieve when people I love die. We are meant to be human...to live in this world the way God intended. Now don't worry, I believe in sin, and depravity. Yes, sin has warped our humanity, and the world is not as it should be. But we are still meant to be human, and we must never forget it.
So what does this have to do with Mother Teresa? Her letters give me comfort. Her letters let me know I am not leading young people astray. Her letters reveal that she too was human. After all, to be human is to doubt. To be human is to read the bible and not get anything out of it. To be human is to not want to pray...and not "feel" anything even if you make yourself do it. To be human is to not want to go to church on a particular Sunday morning, but to do it anyway. I have come to love this little add on..."do it anyway". This is part of being human. This is an important part of "spirituality". Not that we pray, read scripture, or worship when we feel like it (John Henry Newman argues that if we only pray when we feel like it...we will never pray)...but that in the majority of times when we don't...we do it anyway. And that's ok.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Necessary Evil
Bring up the war in Iraq in this part of the country (NW Iowa) and you're likely to get one of two responses. Either people don't want to talk about it...or they get all patriotic on you. "Support the troops"..."sacrifice"..."freedom"..."remember 9-11" - George W. Bush as the mythical American hero...and this is just in the Christian community. Now I'm not questioning any one's salvation...many people who give me the aforementioned lines are good Christian people. But I have this strange feeling that when it comes to war...the Christian community no longer views it as a "necessary evil"...just necessary.
Read any Christian throughout history who has defended the necessity of war...and you will always find someone who thinks war is hell. War is evil...it may be necessary at times, it may even be just...but it is still evil. Last Friday I was challenged by an Anabaptist student in my Theology 101 class on the issue of pacifism. I told him the truth...In my heart of hearts I long to be a pacifist...but I just can't. Reinhold Niebuhr convinced me I can't. When I taught Christian Ethics at Pella Christian I would have the students read his piece entitled "Why the Christian Church is not Pacifist". Which is nobler...to tolerate tyranny for a long period of time...or anarchy for a short period of time? Both are evil...tyranny and anarchy. But sometimes, according to Niebuhr, we are forced to choose the lesser of two evils for the sake of justice and peace.
But with regard to the war in Iraq...the Christian community seems content to call war "necessary". To question the war, to question the policies of the Bush administration, to question Bush himself...is understood to be both unpatriotic and heretical. As if the Christian church is dependent upon the American version of "freedom" for it's survival...As if the promise that Christ gave to Peter..."the gates of hades will not prevail against it (the Church)..." is somehow inadequate. As if it is a noble and glorious thing to send our young men and women into the meat grinder..shattering them emotionally, physically, spiritually...
Lately I've been watching Ken Burns documentary The War. He does a good job of showing both the insanity and treachery of the war, but also I believe it's necessity. The men and women he interviews are not proud of the violence, the gore, the inhumanity...they did what they thought they needed to do. Many of them, I firmly believe, recognize the horror of war...the evil. Listening to them talk, I did not get a sense of intense patriotism or self righteousness...I came away with a sense of survival. I talked with my grandfather once about his experience in WWII...I even got it down on tape. I came away with a similar feeling...war is hell, even when it may be the right thing to do.
I know I am fortunate to never have been forced onto the battle field. My grandfather and my father, who was in Vietnam, didn't have such a luxury. Maybe that means I should shut my mouth...but as someone who works with the young people being sent to Iraq I can't. As a Christian who believes in the hope of Christ's resurrection and presence of the Kingdom of God, right now...right here...I can't. As someone who knows someone walking the streets of Baghdad with an M16 strapped over his shoulder...I can't. That doesn't make me a pacifist...it makes me a Christian who thinks we need to call war what it is...hell, evil, "not the way it's supposed to be."
By the way...a former student of mine is in Baghdad right now. He emails me from time to time...and I don't email him as much as I should. But if you don't have any personal connections to this war...get connected. Send Brandon Talsma an email. Let him know you are thinking about him, praying for him...let him know you hope he can come home soon, get married, and live a good life.
brandontalsma@hotmail.com
Read any Christian throughout history who has defended the necessity of war...and you will always find someone who thinks war is hell. War is evil...it may be necessary at times, it may even be just...but it is still evil. Last Friday I was challenged by an Anabaptist student in my Theology 101 class on the issue of pacifism. I told him the truth...In my heart of hearts I long to be a pacifist...but I just can't. Reinhold Niebuhr convinced me I can't. When I taught Christian Ethics at Pella Christian I would have the students read his piece entitled "Why the Christian Church is not Pacifist". Which is nobler...to tolerate tyranny for a long period of time...or anarchy for a short period of time? Both are evil...tyranny and anarchy. But sometimes, according to Niebuhr, we are forced to choose the lesser of two evils for the sake of justice and peace.
But with regard to the war in Iraq...the Christian community seems content to call war "necessary". To question the war, to question the policies of the Bush administration, to question Bush himself...is understood to be both unpatriotic and heretical. As if the Christian church is dependent upon the American version of "freedom" for it's survival...As if the promise that Christ gave to Peter..."the gates of hades will not prevail against it (the Church)..." is somehow inadequate. As if it is a noble and glorious thing to send our young men and women into the meat grinder..shattering them emotionally, physically, spiritually...
Lately I've been watching Ken Burns documentary The War. He does a good job of showing both the insanity and treachery of the war, but also I believe it's necessity. The men and women he interviews are not proud of the violence, the gore, the inhumanity...they did what they thought they needed to do. Many of them, I firmly believe, recognize the horror of war...the evil. Listening to them talk, I did not get a sense of intense patriotism or self righteousness...I came away with a sense of survival. I talked with my grandfather once about his experience in WWII...I even got it down on tape. I came away with a similar feeling...war is hell, even when it may be the right thing to do.
I know I am fortunate to never have been forced onto the battle field. My grandfather and my father, who was in Vietnam, didn't have such a luxury. Maybe that means I should shut my mouth...but as someone who works with the young people being sent to Iraq I can't. As a Christian who believes in the hope of Christ's resurrection and presence of the Kingdom of God, right now...right here...I can't. As someone who knows someone walking the streets of Baghdad with an M16 strapped over his shoulder...I can't. That doesn't make me a pacifist...it makes me a Christian who thinks we need to call war what it is...hell, evil, "not the way it's supposed to be."
By the way...a former student of mine is in Baghdad right now. He emails me from time to time...and I don't email him as much as I should. But if you don't have any personal connections to this war...get connected. Send Brandon Talsma an email. Let him know you are thinking about him, praying for him...let him know you hope he can come home soon, get married, and live a good life.
brandontalsma@hotmail.com
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Three Hours One Tuesday
For three hours on a Tuesday afternoon my wife and I were having twins. Healthy twin girls. I can't tell you how excited we were. My wife cried...said something like"poor Christian"...and we immediately made plans to move him out of the big bedroom upstairs to make room for the girls. Amazing what you can do with three hours. I had them graduated from high school, going to college, becoming doctors and lawyers...pastors...
I remember it well...we came home and I went back upstairs to finish painting the bedroom with this rock in my gut. "Why didn't they say everything is ok?" I kept asking myself that question over and over. "Is everything ok?" I asked the technician. "Didn't she say anything?" - referring to the doctor that had examined the sonogram in complete, horrible, silence. "No..." "Well it's hard to tell with twins..." And that was that. So I went home and painted, listening to Sufjan Stevens, afraid to let myself relax.
I came down a few hours later, having finished the bedroom, and noticed my wife was on the phone. She was crying. She scribbled down some weird technical jargon for "one of our girls is not going to live". She had a terrible condition - there was nothing we could do - one would live and the other would die.
Terrible thing being a parent. Frightening. I don't cry easily...my wife will tell you that...but now when I see or read about the plight of children my heart breaks and tears well up in my eyes. That's what being a father does to you. So what do you do when you can't do a damn thing. Nothing but wait. Wait for a daughter to be born to die. This is what my summer consisted of...waiting and preparing for the inevitable.
For some reason I kept thinking of Paul's words in Romans..."Jacob I have loved...Esau I hated." Hated? What does that mean? I know I'm taking the text out of context...but I can't get the words out of my head. One lives, the other dies...doesn't make much sense. The randomness of the whole thing...the "rotten luck" as our doctor put it. She kept telling us it was nothing we did...these things just happen...but it's hard to live with "things just happen".
Don't get me wrong...I'm not pissed at God or anything. I don't question his goodness. I don't scream "why me!!!" I'm just pissed and I have a right to be. The Old Testament lets me be pissed. David, Job, Israel, Jesus - they all let me be pissed. But I am thankful for the experiences of others. I am thankful for Jurgen Moltmann, Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis, and countless others who have helped me make sense of the Biblical narrative. Who have helped me contemplate the meaning of Exodus 3:7 "For I have seen the misery of my people...", and the forsakeness of Christ on the cross. I am thankful for their help in understanding what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means for my daughter...along with the hope of bodily resurrection and new creation. I am thankful for my years at a Catholic high school - for going to mass on Thursdays...and for experiencing the Stations of the Cross during lent. I am thankful for St. James Episcopal Church in Oskaloosa, IA and the sickly old lady who always sat in the back pew, bent over the kneeler pouring her broken humanity out in prayer. And for the thoughts of Moltmann...who helped me wrestle with the history the dead have with God...and N.T Wright who gave me the green light to offer prayers for my dead daughter. Frankly, I'm passed the point of caring if it is heretical or not...if loving my dead daughter and trying to make sense of her death makes me a heretic...so be it. But most of all...I am thankful for all of those people in my life who let me curse what has happened, without questioning my faith, and just give me the space to be righteously pissed.
I remember it well...we came home and I went back upstairs to finish painting the bedroom with this rock in my gut. "Why didn't they say everything is ok?" I kept asking myself that question over and over. "Is everything ok?" I asked the technician. "Didn't she say anything?" - referring to the doctor that had examined the sonogram in complete, horrible, silence. "No..." "Well it's hard to tell with twins..." And that was that. So I went home and painted, listening to Sufjan Stevens, afraid to let myself relax.
I came down a few hours later, having finished the bedroom, and noticed my wife was on the phone. She was crying. She scribbled down some weird technical jargon for "one of our girls is not going to live". She had a terrible condition - there was nothing we could do - one would live and the other would die.
Terrible thing being a parent. Frightening. I don't cry easily...my wife will tell you that...but now when I see or read about the plight of children my heart breaks and tears well up in my eyes. That's what being a father does to you. So what do you do when you can't do a damn thing. Nothing but wait. Wait for a daughter to be born to die. This is what my summer consisted of...waiting and preparing for the inevitable.
For some reason I kept thinking of Paul's words in Romans..."Jacob I have loved...Esau I hated." Hated? What does that mean? I know I'm taking the text out of context...but I can't get the words out of my head. One lives, the other dies...doesn't make much sense. The randomness of the whole thing...the "rotten luck" as our doctor put it. She kept telling us it was nothing we did...these things just happen...but it's hard to live with "things just happen".
Don't get me wrong...I'm not pissed at God or anything. I don't question his goodness. I don't scream "why me!!!" I'm just pissed and I have a right to be. The Old Testament lets me be pissed. David, Job, Israel, Jesus - they all let me be pissed. But I am thankful for the experiences of others. I am thankful for Jurgen Moltmann, Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis, and countless others who have helped me make sense of the Biblical narrative. Who have helped me contemplate the meaning of Exodus 3:7 "For I have seen the misery of my people...", and the forsakeness of Christ on the cross. I am thankful for their help in understanding what the resurrection of Jesus Christ means for my daughter...along with the hope of bodily resurrection and new creation. I am thankful for my years at a Catholic high school - for going to mass on Thursdays...and for experiencing the Stations of the Cross during lent. I am thankful for St. James Episcopal Church in Oskaloosa, IA and the sickly old lady who always sat in the back pew, bent over the kneeler pouring her broken humanity out in prayer. And for the thoughts of Moltmann...who helped me wrestle with the history the dead have with God...and N.T Wright who gave me the green light to offer prayers for my dead daughter. Frankly, I'm passed the point of caring if it is heretical or not...if loving my dead daughter and trying to make sense of her death makes me a heretic...so be it. But most of all...I am thankful for all of those people in my life who let me curse what has happened, without questioning my faith, and just give me the space to be righteously pissed.
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