Okay, I promise I'm going to do better about updating this thing. It's been a busy summer.
For your enjoyment, Slate's "Snakes on a Plane" movie-naming contest results:
http://www.slate.com/id/2148343
Monday, August 28, 2006
Friday, August 11, 2006
Religion vs. Spirituality
Saw this quote, and thought you'd like to know that I disagree completely with two statements about religion:
1. Religion in fact does not require a particular place. Evidence: this little song I learned in kindergarten:
2. Religion doesn't require a priesthood. One of the key emphases of the reformation, way back in the 1500's was the priesthood of all believers. I guess you could get technical and say that means that there's still a priesthood, if all the believers are priests (i.e. able to communicate with God without someone in-between to help them). Ordained people in most Protestant traditions are not priests. We're leaders and representatives of the church, but this is not the same thing as being a priest.
So, what is religion, then? I've been reading a book about Schleiermacher, a theologian I was extremely annoyed at during seminary, but who I've found much more accessible in summary. Schleiermacher argues that religion is neither action nor belief, but feeling--a feeling of connection and unity with the entire creation, and connection and dependence on the being that undergirds it - God. Feeling, in this sense, is not about short-term emotions, but more like a long-term attitude.
What does religion require then? It requires community. And this is where it diverges from the spirituality that Laszlo describes. Spirituality is an individual enterprise, it seems -- one in which people make their own way without outside help or consultation. And one in which they don't share what they've been given. Religion, on the other hand, is participation in the life of a community - strengthening that sense of connection with the divine, and working together to live out the values that spring from the experience. To me, that is the real difference between religion and spirituality.
“Unlike religion, spirituality does not require a particular place for its existence, nor does it require a priesthood. Its temple is the mind of the individual, and its altar is the state of consciousness that comes about through
deep meditation and prayer.”
- Ervin Laszlo
Saw this quote, and thought you'd like to know that I disagree completely with two statements about religion:
1. Religion in fact does not require a particular place. Evidence: this little song I learned in kindergarten:
"I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together,
All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes we're the church together.
The church is not a building. The church is not a steeple.
The church is not a resting place, the church is a people."
2. Religion doesn't require a priesthood. One of the key emphases of the reformation, way back in the 1500's was the priesthood of all believers. I guess you could get technical and say that means that there's still a priesthood, if all the believers are priests (i.e. able to communicate with God without someone in-between to help them). Ordained people in most Protestant traditions are not priests. We're leaders and representatives of the church, but this is not the same thing as being a priest.
So, what is religion, then? I've been reading a book about Schleiermacher, a theologian I was extremely annoyed at during seminary, but who I've found much more accessible in summary. Schleiermacher argues that religion is neither action nor belief, but feeling--a feeling of connection and unity with the entire creation, and connection and dependence on the being that undergirds it - God. Feeling, in this sense, is not about short-term emotions, but more like a long-term attitude.
What does religion require then? It requires community. And this is where it diverges from the spirituality that Laszlo describes. Spirituality is an individual enterprise, it seems -- one in which people make their own way without outside help or consultation. And one in which they don't share what they've been given. Religion, on the other hand, is participation in the life of a community - strengthening that sense of connection with the divine, and working together to live out the values that spring from the experience. To me, that is the real difference between religion and spirituality.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Hooray!
On a lighter note, my ordination has been scheduled. Hooray! It will be on October 8 at 2pm in Cambridge, MA. If you'd like to come, drop me an e-mail and I'll send you the gritty details.
True Amy fans are also welcome to come to my ecclesiastical council, in which I will present a paper that covers a large swath of my theology, and will field questions. I think it will be very fun and interesting -- I try to make things understandable and insightful when I make presentations.
Anyway, Hooray!
On a lighter note, my ordination has been scheduled. Hooray! It will be on October 8 at 2pm in Cambridge, MA. If you'd like to come, drop me an e-mail and I'll send you the gritty details.
True Amy fans are also welcome to come to my ecclesiastical council, in which I will present a paper that covers a large swath of my theology, and will field questions. I think it will be very fun and interesting -- I try to make things understandable and insightful when I make presentations.
Anyway, Hooray!
Friday, August 04, 2006
Free Fall
Hey folks, does anyone else feel like it's either going to get a lot worse or it's not, but that there's really very little to be done about it.
1. Global warming is happening. Reversing that is probably going to take some drastic steps -- not just, "everybody recycle" or "everybody buy a hybrid."
2. We're way overstretched in Iraq, which is either an oil-fueled war, a revenge-fueled war, or some combination of the two.
3. Thanks to being overstretched, Israel knows we're not going to take any other kind of military action.
4. Of course we might - go into Iran, I mean. Which I think honestly could be the end of US dominance in the world, economic power notwithstanding.
5. The Bush Administration is impervious to facts that do not align with its previous misconceptions. Democracy - in terms of an ongoing conversation with interested parties - has been thrown to the side. The results of that are what you see now.
So, I hope the mid-term elections bring some relief, in terms of reining in the terrible executive leadership we have. But really it seems like a free fall. Things might stay the same, or get worse. I wasn't expecting Israel to explode, but I'm sure they feel emboldened, considering how overextended we are, militarily. I.e. it's not totally unexpected.
Unfortunately, I don't think things are going to get better for a long, long time.
Hey folks, does anyone else feel like it's either going to get a lot worse or it's not, but that there's really very little to be done about it.
1. Global warming is happening. Reversing that is probably going to take some drastic steps -- not just, "everybody recycle" or "everybody buy a hybrid."
2. We're way overstretched in Iraq, which is either an oil-fueled war, a revenge-fueled war, or some combination of the two.
3. Thanks to being overstretched, Israel knows we're not going to take any other kind of military action.
4. Of course we might - go into Iran, I mean. Which I think honestly could be the end of US dominance in the world, economic power notwithstanding.
5. The Bush Administration is impervious to facts that do not align with its previous misconceptions. Democracy - in terms of an ongoing conversation with interested parties - has been thrown to the side. The results of that are what you see now.
So, I hope the mid-term elections bring some relief, in terms of reining in the terrible executive leadership we have. But really it seems like a free fall. Things might stay the same, or get worse. I wasn't expecting Israel to explode, but I'm sure they feel emboldened, considering how overextended we are, militarily. I.e. it's not totally unexpected.
Unfortunately, I don't think things are going to get better for a long, long time.
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