Ξ April 28th, 2009 | → 4 Comments | ∇ Life |
paradigm- A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.
paradigm shift is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. It is in contrast to his idea of normal science. It has since become widely applied to many other realms of human experience as well even though Kuhn himself restricted the use of the term to the hard sciences.
Are we “in” a paradigm shift? I believe so. So from what to what are we shifting?
I believe we are shifting from an Augustinian paradigm. Augustine’s theology which centered around “original sin” and “just war”, was preoccupied with human guilt and obtaining salvation. It should be no surprise to find the development of a belief in divine retribution (hell) coming from this preoccupation of Augustine. The church continued to develop Augustine’s theology, expanding it to a very complex system of theology centered around the church’s ability to relieve one from the wages of sin (hell) and help one obtain salvation. He became the preeminent theologian for the early church (4th/5th Century CE forward). His influence on the church, both Catholic and Protestant, down through the ages since cannot be overstated.
So this is the Christian paradigm we have today for the most part. This is the paradigm I believe we are shifting from. Rene Descarte, the great philosopher/mathematician of the Enlightenment was heavily influenced by Augustine’s theology. Under Descarte’s direction and philosophy, the Enlightenment theologians were challenged to go in search of the “historical Jesus”. The quest for the historical Jesus, anthrocentricism, has dominated christological studies for two centuries as a result. As an example, this quest for the historical Jesus has been done at the expense of the mystical side of Christian theology, which had played a large role in the early years of Christianity. Mysticism’s role had been on the decline since Augustine’s theology had come to prominence. The death knell for it, was the beginning of the Enlightenment and the emphasis on the historical Jesus. Our preoccupation with the historical Jesus, directly from the Enlightenment period, has led us astray from the important issues associated with the coming paradigm shift.
TO what or where the paradigm shift is headed, I am not completely certain. I have my own ideas. LOVE certainly is to play a major role in the shift. A view of God, our Source as being completely loving and without rath, vengence, and retribution most assuredly will play a role. This shift is one from a paternal role to a maternal role for deity. The theology of universal reconciliation, or universal salvation, whatever you wish to call it stems from this maternal role of deity. I also think there has to be a distancing of theology from the anthropocentric paradigm for a major shift to take place. This obviously will require letting go of old paradigms of education and theology. This anthropocentric paradigm is rationalistic, antimystical, antimaternal in its worldview. It may well be time to completely eliminate the paraphernalia that has accumulated around the theme of the historical Jesus if the paradigm shift is to occur. Religion’s resources must be channeled in another direction. It should be obvious that a paradigm shift in theology and religion itself will not simply be an easy change of consciousness or a simplistic change of agenda. To move from a “personal savior” Christianity, which is what anthropocentric Christianity gives us to something different will require an metanoia, a change of perspective, or direction by all those who do theology and by those schools which claim to teach theology.
That will be quite a paradigm shift! However, I am excited to be where I am today- right in the middle of that change. The change or shift will not be at all easy and will certainly be met with much resistance. Denial will also be present- the denial that everything is not right in Christianity, or in Western education, or in our very definitions of what constitute theological education and ministerial training, or in the prevailing worldview of patriachal religion in general. Another kind of denial will be demonstrated when persons resist hearing that Augustine on whom we have depended for so long, might have misled us on so many basic issues. Resistance is a sign that something deep is being challenged, and a paradigm shift is a deep movement indeed. The decision to reject one paradigm is always simultaneously the decision to accept another. A paradigm shift requires generosity, courage, and sacrifice. Otto Rank put it this way:
We are at one of those crises in human history in which once again we must sacrifice one thing if we want
the full enjoyments of another……..There seems to be a spiritual law whereby nothing can be wholly won or
enjoyed without something being given up or sacrificed for it.
Surrender, Rank insists, is always a “freely chosen decision.” The surrender of an overly anthropocentric Jesus and an overtly anthropocentric and antimystical vision is part of the process of letting go that is required if a new paradigm is to replace the quest for the personal savior of fundamentalism and the quest for salvation by good deeds (which effectively replaces grace) to which a rationalistic theology succumbs.
This paradigm shift will affect every aspect of our culture. No change this large has ever succeeded without appealing to its “soul”. Jesus himself spoke of a paradigm shift in his time in his parable of the old and new wineskins. ARE YOU READY?
*some ideas and thoughts are from the works of Matthew Fox
Ξ April 23rd, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
Bet that got your attention!! In case you haven’t heard about this book, be sure to follow the link to a unbiased review of the book. The review lists the "10 Things". I’ve also linked the ABC interview the author recently did. All of us who still claim in some way to be Christian should read what he has to say. Maybe it will make us better people. Maybe it will make us aware of how Christianity is viewed from a different angle. Here’s the link. Here’s the ABC mini-interview.
Ξ April 22nd, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
Thank you God for your provision. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your plan. I know that I AM a co-creator with you in that plan. In these tough economic times may I be thankful for what I have knowing that many people in our land and around the world have so, so much less. I realize that in my life I have never suffered for lack of essential, life-sustaining substance. Many others have not been so fortunate. In my married life of 42+ years, I have been so fortunate. I have lacked for nothing. Thank you! If hard times come, I desire to see how fortunate I truly am. I am thankful to have a wife who loves me and is willing to be a co-creator with me to provide for our well-being. Thank you for her. As we travel this journey together, may we both be truly thankful for the things we have.
Ξ April 20th, 2009 | → 5 Comments | ∇ Life |
When was the last time you were "in awe"? Radical amazement, as Abraham Heschel calls it. When was the last time you were moved to radical amazement by the awe of things. Heschel believes awe to be the beginning of wisdom. "Awe and praise precedes faith". In this, Heschel expresses the truth of the great mystical and wisdom literature of Israel. But Heschel is not the only one to see awe . Einstein, when he defined mysticism, said, "the mystic must be able to wonder, marvel, and be rapt in awe."
Don’t take your existence for granted. Draw radical amazement from the world around you. BE in awe. In awe of nature, and draw radical amazement from one another. According to Matthew Fox, we are all mystics, whether we know it or not.
Translators of Hebrew in the Old Testament, with no appreciation of the mystical, mistakenly rendered the Hebrew word for awe as fear (the fear we English-speakers understand). WRONG! Awe is the beginning of wisdom. Awe contains an element of fear (terror). The universe that birthed us is terror-filled. Therefore, the fear experienced in the face of that terror is not the fear of guilt as we face God, but the fear of WOW ! – a reverential fear based on the realization of the greatness of our existence, of being a included in this billions + year drama that is the universe. Awe is the passion involved in yielding to the radical amazement that surrounds our lives.
When was the last time you were in AWE ?
ideas and paraphrasing from: Matthew Fox’s, "The Cosmic Christ".
Ξ April 16th, 2009 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Life |
To our good friend, Cliff Hazelbaker-
It has been a life-changing experience to know you………………..
Godspeed!
Ξ April 16th, 2009 | → 4 Comments | ∇ Life |
The writer of Matthew had a particular fascination with what Christians have come to refer as hell. If the gospel of Matthew was removed from the Bible, 90% of the so called references to hell (gehenna) would be eliminated from the Christian tradition. He expounded and expanded on the subject. Most of the horrific perceptions which mainline Christianity has about this misinterpreted concept, comes from the writer of this gospel. Although we cannot attribute to Matthew the creation of the twisted interpretation that is hell today (that credit must go to Augustine of Hippo) it was certainly the emphasis of the writer of Matthew. The early church would then adopt "hell" as a technique of behavior control by means of reward and punishment.
Ξ April 16th, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
“The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”
Michelangelo-
Ξ April 13th, 2009 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Life |
"Ecclesiastical claims to possess infallibility in any formulated version of Scripture and creed or in the articulations of any council, synod, or hierarchial figure are to me manifestaions of idolatry. Such claims do not serve the truth. They serve only the power and control needs of the ecclesiastical institution…….Like every institution, the church’s primary concern is for its own survival and viability. This is the inevitable result of institutional religion…………….The church must embrace the subjective and relative character of everything it says and does . If the church provides security, it cannot provide truth. This is the choice that faces Christians today. I vote for insecurity and the pursuit of truth. The alternative, I believe, is security and the creation of a doomed idolatry."
from John Shelby Spong
Ξ April 9th, 2009 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Life |
I highly recommend John Shelby Spong’s "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" to anyone who is questioning the literalism of this world treasure. If inerrancy is something you are exploring, this book is a wonderful resource.
Spong speaks out strongly against twisting one’s brain into "a first century pretzel" by trying to hold on to images that really do not fit our knowledge or experience. "I want to place the biblical narrative into a frame of reference that will enable my readers to embrace the reality of time and see what that reality does to ancient religious claims, as well as the possibilities it creates for new biblical insight" (p. 38). To do this he takes the reader on a journey through both the Old and New Testaments.
Spong strongly believes that there is consistency to the experience of God in every age, though the words used to express the experiences are always dated and limited. He points out that the experience of Jesus was one of divine love, and that "The God who is love cannot be approached in worship except through the experience of living out that unconditional quality of love" (p. 239). He wants to break open the church and free it of its prejudices. Jesus’ life was "in touch with a reality so powerful that it has escaped all human limits. . . . Jesus was alive, totally alive, and in that vibrant, vital life God was experienced" (pp. 240-1). Peeling off the outer fabric of Christianity, we end up at the deepest core of it — the unconditional love of the divine and our task to express this love in our lives. Jesus is a symbol for this love, but this does not take away from the fact that in essence he is reexpressing the Golden Rule of universal brotherhood: love your neighbor as yourself.
This is a book well worth your time.
*part of this review from: Sunrise, February/March 1995. Copyright © 1995 by Theosophical University Press)
Ξ April 6th, 2009 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Life |
It has been my experience as I study religious systems that whenever a group of religious folk begin to believe that they possess God’s truth, almost without fail they become the ones who persecute, purge, excommunicate, and try to justify wars in the name of God (or religion) against any who do not see truth as they do; who do not assent to their tradition or acknowledge the rightness of their beliefs in all things religious.
*paraphrased from John Shelby Spong.
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