Peter Kreeft’s Practical Theology

I am a Protestant with Anabaptist baptism (1950) and current Lutheran confirmation (1976), so my TBR list hasn't included Thomas Aquinas. If you've had seminary training, is he ever mentioned in a positive light? (Revelation is not found only in Scripture or only in church tradition; revelation is a divine source of knowledge of which the Bible and the church are channels).

Well, here's a Christmas gift book suggestion for the heavy duty thinkers and pastors on your Christmas book list : "Practical theology; spiritual direction from Saint Thomas Aquinas." Ignatius Press, 2014. It is topically arranged, with each page a brief excerpt from Summa Theologiae (4,000 pages), with Peter Kreeft's annotation and explanation. I would have preferred 365 pieces of wisdom rather than 359, but reviewers don't get to design the title. Kreeft has made Aquinas brief, livable and personal, although not exactly lovable.

Topics include the problem of evil; reconciling justice and mercy; angels and demons; the purpose of morality; evil and ignorance; how Christ's death opened heaven; what is the significance of Jesus being crucified between 2 thieves; qualifications for religious teachers; how do the Beatitudes relate to the 10 Commandments, and so forth.

I don't claim to understand all this--but sometimes it's just a relief to get away from "16 ways to pray in the car," or "I'm spiritual but not religious" type books.

http://www.ignatius.com/Products/PRT-P/practical-theology.aspx

On reading Hegel and Marx

After struggling through Julie's manuscript to Chapter 8 (she's writing a book), I've decided that if you read and understand nothing but 18th and 19th century philosophers, historians, theologians, and educators--looking back to who influenced them and forward to whom they influenced in the 20th century--you'd pretty well understand the mess we're in today and the causes of WWI and WWII, and the pervasive weakness in the churches who subscribe to "social justice," which sets them up to be helpless to confront Islamists. Not sure who the big name thinkers of the 20th-21st centuries are, but they mostly seem to be scientists and not people in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Yesterday as I noted below, I was reading ScienceHeroes website about the 2 guys who invented chemical fertilizer in 1909--credited with "saving or creating" 3 billion lives.

Anyway, we got to all the 'isms of today--progressivism, liberalism, communism, materialism, environmentalism, Darwinism, multiculturalism, fascism, fundamentalism, conservatism--with the help of Kant, Fiehte, Schelling, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Strauss, Nietzsche, Feuerbach, Marx, Darwin and Dewey. What is it about the Germans. . .

Religious gobble-de-gook

clap·trap (kl p tr p ). n. Pretentious, insincere, or empty language

San Francisco Theological Seminary (Presbyterian) and the Graduate Theological Union, a hodge podge of Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Baptist, UCC, Disciples, UMC, Unitarian and others are going to tell black Baptist women . . .

“Given the realities of sexism in a post modern world and the continued undermining of a womanist theology, this symposium acknowledges that leadership roles in ministry are often fraught with subtle and overt politics of exclusion and the realism of marginalization based on sexism,” Taylor said. “The old traditional ecclesiastical institution is becoming an endangered and extinct institution if the culture continues to imprison the gifts and creativity of seminary trained women while preserving sexism, homophobia and other primitive practices.”

God > life > choice > sex

As John C. Rankin explains "Genesis and the Declaration of Independence." If new ideas or challenging concepts fail to take root when the seeds are dropped among the weeds, don't bother to go there. He says Thomas Jefferson was a rationalist, a biblically literate man, and surrounded by biblically literate and orthodox Protestant Christians, who followed exactly the order of Genesis in writing the Declaration of Independence.

God = "Creator;"
life = "Life;"
choice = "Liberty;" and
sex = "the pursuit of happiness."

The Declaration begins with God as our Creator who endows us with unalienable rights. The first right is that of life, followed by liberty, which equals the language of choice or freedom. Then the language of the pursuit of happiness, along with that of "property" as set forth in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, equals the domain of sex.

Human sexuality in the order of creation is based on the joining of man and woman in marriage, whereupon they establish a new household. The Greek word for "household" is oikonomos, our root for the English word "economics" (same concept as the Hebrew word bayith). The household is the basis for property rights and economic productivity, which in total yields society’s power for the pursuit of happiness.

Rankin at his website, The Theological Education Institute (TEI) promotes his "vision for "first the Gospel, then politics..." and a passion for "the love of hard questions" is always in place; where "the biblical nature of a level playing field" for all debated issues to be equally heard is in place, confident that the truth will rise to the top."

In today's charged political climate, he is indeed refreshing.

To us a child is born, to us a son is given

That must be on a million Christmas cards, that passage from Isaiah 9, and it is just one example of the gospel in the Old Testament. Martin Luther writes in his "A Brief Instruction on What to look for and expect in the Gospels," [1522]:

"When you lay hold of Christ as a gift which is given you for your very own and have no doubt about it, you are a Christian. Faith redeems you from sin, death, and hell and enables you to overcome all things. O no one can speak enough about this. It is a pity that this kind of preaching has been silenced in the world, and yet boast is made daily of the gospel. . . Christ as a gift nourishes your faith and makes you a Christian. But Christ as an example exercises your works. These do not make you a Christian."

He could almost be talking to the speakers in the 21st century pulpits and the congregation in the pew, waiting expectantly through warrenized, emerging and peace and justice sermons. Luther's warning almost 500 years ago has fallen on death deaf ears, because people prefer reinventing ways to find God and push away the gift--even in this gift giving season.

"Be sure, moreoever, that you do not make Christ into a Moses, as if Christ did nothing more than teach and provide examples as the other saints do, as if the gospel were simply a textbook of teachings or laws."

In proofing this I noticed I'd written "death" instead of "deaf." But isn't that the end result when churches forget the gospel and preach either law or example, and not the gospel, which Luther says is briefly summarized in Paul's letter to the Romans, 1:1-4.

"The gospel is a discourse about Christ, that he is the Son of God and became man for us, that he died and was raised, that he has been established as a Lord over all things. . . even the teaching of the prophets, in those places where they speak of Christ, is nothing but the true, pure, and proper gospel--just as if Luke or Matthew had described it."

I don't have the almost 60 volumes of Luther on my bookshelves, but I did recently buy from a used book dealer Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings, edited by Timothy F. Lull (Fortress Press, 1989). There is a 2005 edition and parts of it have been scanned by Google. I'm perfectly happy with my $9 used copy because I don't like to read books on a CRT. But if you do, the material I quoted is on pp. 94 and 95 of the 2005 edition.

Theology and Religion

Resource list at Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion.

Lilly in Indianapolis must have more money than God.

The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion is wholly funded by grants from Lilly Endowment. Inc. This $8.1 million grant brings the total grant amount received from the Endowment to $35 million for 17 years of programs.

The Wabash Center organizes its activities around five areas: strengthening teaching and learning; developing the professoriate in theology and religion; supporting teaching environments in theological schools and religion departments; understanding new technologies in teaching and learning; and developing scholarly literature on theological teaching.

It looks to me (browsing through the grants) that if you're a pastor and you have a dream for sabbatical, say singing gospel songs in Fiji, all you have to do is apply.

The future of hope

In the Baker's Dictionary of Christian Ethics, (1973) Hope is defined as

"the conviction that God will judge the evil of the world and create a new heaven and a new earth with righteousness. The Old Testament prophets tell us that the whole of history is divinely ordered, and interpreted even the most hopeless hours in the light of the coming victory of God. A new age will replace the present one and end all woe and sin."

I suspect that isn't the direction Barry and Mama Obama are taking us.

"The New Testament takes up the theme of the Old Testament idea, but elucidates, sharpens, and specifies it at the same time."

Is this where Obama comes in?

"Jesus through his life, suffering, death, and resurrection laid the basis for that final intervention of God in history and human experience. Christian hope is concerned with the future of every human being, but it does not end there. The overarching concern encompasses the new humanity or Christ's church."

So the hope is the Kingdom of God? Seems to be some disagreement even among Christians about "what is our hope?"

"The theologians of hope want to rewrite theology in terms of categories of change--a total restructuring takes place where God is seen as part of the changing process."

Hmm. Did this guy write Obama's theme speeches? Hope, future, change? This might be the most religious guy we've ever had running for the White House! Oh, wait.

"As promised in the Scriptures, [hope is] demonstrated in the resurrection of God's Son, and experienced by Christians in the past and present."

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

Obama

God and Hillary Clinton

First, let me say that I think candidates for office, whether city council or the presidency of the United States, should be allowed to speak at any forum, even if it is the pulpit of a church. Americans learn democracy in the committees and congregational votes of their churches and synagogues. Black Americans have a long tradition of this--and according to the polls, it hasn't hurt their faith one bit. Second, some Christians are terrible hypocrites about this. Here in Columbus we had a group gang of 31 smug, self-righteous, mainline preachers trying to take the tax exempt status from World Harvest (which draws much bigger crowds than they do) during the 2006 election cycle. Third, I haven't read this book--and probably won't since I'm not a Hillary fan. Still, it's an important topic. Faith does shape one's politics.

I listened to an author interview; he has written other "God and. . ." books. (Here is another interview, but not the one I heard and it addresses different issues.) He said that George W. Bush spoke at a church 3 times in his first 3 years in office, all at memorial services. Hillary Clinton spoke 6 times in churches on one election day (her senate run in New York). Yet she is the one who says she won't "wear her religion on her sleeve" (audience applause) because that would be Pharisaical. She gave many "Why I am a Methodist" speeches when the folks in Arkansas were a bit doubtful about the young couple living in the governor's mansion in the 80s.

If this book is as carefully researched as the author claims, and is accurate just on this "sleeve" issue, Senator Clinton will continue to set up a straw man to divide Christian loyalties to meet her own political goals.

My opinion. Christ taught nothing new about moral and ethical behavior. Our faith is not about what to do, but about who we believe in. So Matthew 25, where Christians are commanded to help the poor, sick and imprisoned is a basic religious tenet for both Christians and Jews. The Gospel of Matthew is a very Jewish book drawing heavily on the Old Testament.

Main line Protestants have no problem using this text to decide that it is the government which needs to do it with everyone's tax dollar, not just the taxes of Christians and Jews. However, the same group is quite vocal about not teaching Creation, the theological bedrock of both faiths in that it deals with God's sovereignty and how death entered the world. They ridicule conservative Christians and side with atheists, agnostics and humanists. They are vocal about blessing gay marriage, even to splitting their denomination, using every passage about marital love in the Bible. They are silent about the killing of the helpless unborn, except to mouth platitudes about "choice," and "saving the poor or deformed from a life of pain."

Today I saw a letter to the editor in WSJ which voiced concern that the Christian right was taking the reins of the Republican party (a very common complaint). Again, I ask all Christians, liberal and conservative to please show me where Christians are having any influence at all in education, economics, politics, entertainment or academe. I wish it were true, but I don't see it. Twice in 60 years we've had a Republican Congress with a Republican President. Show me a single government program or boondoggle that was turned back, slowed down or reversed by conservative Christians.

3628

Evangelicals influence on foreign policy

"God’s Country" by Walter Russell Mead was published in the Sept-Oct, v. 85, no. 5, 2006 issue of Foreign Affairs. I think it was intended to reduce the fear among the Democrats about the power of evangelical Christians in the upcoming (then) election. Maybe it worked, or provided clues on how to fake it, because lots of Democratic candidates played the religion card and won after seeing how they lost the values battle in 2004. I personally think it was because so many Republicans bungled it so badly. Even so, it is a very good article and I learned a lot about the role of religion in politics.

When I was a young adult, the only political game for Christians was liberal. I was 34 when I left the liberal church for an evangelical, liturgical church and 60 when I left the Democrats. The two are not mutually exclusive. Mainstream Protestantism which sort of has a "y'all come" attitude toward other faiths, believes a kernel of truth is as good as the whole cob. And if you've studied or even observed religions, they each have some similarities and certain moral tenants on which they agree. The worst sin for a liberal would be--well, calling something a sin because Jesus was a teacher of ethics and morality.

Liberals dominated the U.S. worldview during WWII and the Cold War--although how we stayed so humanistic and optimistic after the Holocaust, and 100 million dead from a century of constant war, I don’t understand. However, church membership meant about as much as belonging to any other social club, so liberals lost their influence. Facing questions about sexuality and abortion, the drug culture, rampant consumerism, soaring divorce rates and growing socialism within our own borders, many American Christians left the liberals and joined one of the two conservative groups--the fundamentalists or the evangelicals.

Mead notes that many non-religious people and secularists tend to confuse the fundamentalists and evangelicals and their role in politics, so here's his score card, and I think it's pretty clear.

"The three contemporary streams of American Protestantism (fundamentalist, liberal, and evangelical) lead to very different ideas about what the country's role in the world should be. In this context, the most important differences have to do with the degree to which each promotes optimism about the possibilities for a stable, peaceful, and enlightened international order and the importance each places on the difference between believers and nonbelievers. In a nutshell, fundamentalists are deeply pessimistic about the prospects for world order and see an unbridgeable divide between believers and nonbelievers. Liberals are optimistic about the prospects for world order and see little difference between Christians and nonbelievers. And evangelicals stand somewhere in between these extremes."

If you've been calling President George W. Bush a fundamentalist, you're just flat out wrong and you need to read this article. Evangelicals believe strongly in responsibility for the world social order, and will cooperate with unbelievers to improve human welfare, which the fundamentalists wouldn't do. But they don't neglect the salvation message of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection for redemption, which the liberals ignore or downplay. Evangelicals are not just limp wrist fundamentalists--they really do see the Christians' role in society very differently. Since the 17th century, there has been a widespread theology that the Jews would return to the Promised Land--that's not unique to our current foreign policy and culture. You'll get nowhere criticising evangelicals or fundamentalists for their support of Israel. Mead writes: "The story of modern Jewry reads like a book in the Bible. . . proof that God exists." Here’s the whole article. It's been archived. You won't regret reading it.