Category: General

Books That Influenced Me

 

For The Life Of The World, by Alexander Schmemann. This is a set of lectures that the late dean of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, New York gave to a Student Christian Movement gathering in the 1960’s. It is real Russian writing, full of passion and profound theological and spiritual wisdom in lucid prose studded with sparkling aphorisms.

 

I Heard The Owl Call My Name, Margaret Craven. A short simple novel about a young Anglican priest working with Native Americans in British Columbia.

 

The Brother’s Karamazov, by Fydor Dostovesky. A classic of Christian literature. I am especially moved by Fr. Zosima’s remarks to his brothers in the monastery as he lies dying.

 

The Resurrection of Christ: An Essay in Biblical Theology, Michael Ramsey. This book on the resurrection was life changing for me. Ramsey brings forward a long line of English exegesis on the resurrection which has found its latest advocate in N.T. Wright.

 

The Gospel and The Catholic Church, Michael Ramsey, This is out of print but is well worth getting when you can find it. It is a defense of catholic church order on the basis of its evangelical significance.

 

Romans In A Week, N.T. Wright. This is a CD of lectures that Wright gave at Regent and is available through their bookstore. The ideas presented here can be found elsewhere such as the Abingdon commentary on Romans. This is a very accessible way to get the information. Probably the biggest influence on my presentation of the Gospel in the last ten years.

 

 

The Gospel In A Pluralistic Age, Leslie Newbigin. Anything by this author is good. This is the classic statement by the late great missionary bishop.

 

Christianity Rediscovered, Vincent J. Donovan. A classic text and dramatic story about initial evangelization.

 

The Religious Potential Of The Child, by Sofia Cavalletti, A moving book by a pioneer in the religious education of children.

 

For Your Own Good: Hidden cruelty in child-rearing and the roots of violence, Alice Miller.  Not a book on theology but a very sobering and serious critique of some religiously inspired methods of child-rearing.

 

Against The Protestant Gnostics, Phillip J. Lee. A sometimes overstated but very searching important critique of Gnostic tendencies in North American Protestantism.

 

Dr Deming’s Main Message

W. Edwards Deming is the management thinker behind the quality revolution in Japanese industry after World War II. Many business thinkers attribute the success of companies like Honda and Toyota to the Japanese willingness to adopt the principles of this prophet without honor in his own country. I have been interested in his work for years and recently won a scholarship to a Deming Seminar. Part of the homework was to summarize Deming’s main message. Below is my attempt.

Dr. Deming’s work is as much a moral philosophy of management as it is a science of management. There is a vision of human dignity that is foundational to his work. Deming understands that the inherent dignity of human nature is honored when it is possible for people to make a contribution of intrinsic value to the common good. What Deming calls “pride in workmanship” satisfies a deep human need to be really and effectually of service to their fellow human beings and to make a positive difference in the lives of others. Deming recognizes that this intrinsic orientation toward mutuality and cooperation is a far more fundamental and dependable source of motivation toward achievement and excellence than is any scheme of carrot and stick extrinsic motivation. The job of leadership and management is to make it possible for people to participate “with pride of workmanship” in an enterprise that produces products and services that are inherently valuable and provide a positive contribution to the common good.

 

This requires a clear aim and the identification, development and optimization of systems of service and production that can be improved continuously and forever. Most failures in the development of quality products and services are due to problems with the system of production. Understanding and managing the system is a key management task.  The cooperative participation of workers, managers, customers and suppliers in the process of continuous improvement fulfills the inherent need for human dignity and promotes the conditions in which civil society and culture can flourish. These fundamental principles are as applicable to the government and the not-for-profit world as they are to traditional business enterprises.

 

Continued reliance on competition and extrinsic motivation robs people of pride in workmanship, destroys systems and leads to products and services of unsatisfactory quality. This leads to a declining quality of life that undermines civil society and culture.

 

The future vitality and adaptability of our civilization and society depend upon leaders of business, government and the not-for-profit world learning a new approach to leadership and management based upon this vision of human dignity and cooperation.

 

 

 

 

What Do Young People Want in Church?

Recently my wife asked our twenty-something daughter in law what young people want in church. The very articulate response is below

Hi, Mom

I thought a lot about your question re:  young people and the church.  It’s a really big question, so I can only paint a picture with really broad strokes.

Young people generally come to church looking for the same things as everyone else.  They want to know, in one form or another, who they are, where they came from, why they’re here, and what will happen to them when they die.  They want the answer to the longing for God that He has planted in their hearts.  They want community, comfort, and to be freed from guilt over their sins.  They want to be apart of something bigger than themselves, something that matters.

The biggest differences between what young adults and older adults want in church, I think, exist because the mainline churches by and large think that young people either 1. shouldn’t be interested in church or 2. are incapable of understanding the Gospel. I don’t know how many stories I’ve heard of people between 25 and 35 being told to go out and live a little and come back to the church when they’re older.   It’s pretty much become an unspoken rule that most parishes won’t send anyone under 40 to seminary.  Those churches that do want to involve young people tend to be patronizing or obsessed with making the church be as close to “youth culture” as possible.  Of course, the Church isn’t in the business of creating culture.  It’s in the business of preaching the Gospel, and when it tries to create an alternate Christian culture (with its own music, fashion, and movies) it tends to do it badly.

These two tendencies lead to young people needing extra things that they probably wouldn’t need if they were just treated like adults:  They need to be taken seriously and allowed to get involved, and they need to be given the doctrine and dogma of the church without “relevant” filler material.

This, of course, mostly applies to “churched” young people.  There are many people in their 20s, who have never walked into a church and know nothing about the Gospel but stereotypes, steeples, and what they see on South Park.  In my experience, young people like that want three things from the Church:  1.  They want a Bible that just has the Bible in it–no pictures or cute little text boxes cluttering up the text.  2. They want to know what the Church teaches, what Christians believe, and what would be expected of them if they were to convert.  3.  They want the space to think about the decision for as long as they need without having to make a committment and someone who will answer their questions honestly without sugar-coating the truth, judging them for having doubts, or being condescending.

Of course, this is all general.  “Young people” are as diverse a demographic as any other, and it is difficult to say anything meaningful without having to turn around and say the opposite.  I think that many of these problems would be solved by parishes having things for all adults to get involved in and preaching the Gospel on Sundays–things parishes should be doing, anyway.

Hope that helps!

-Kristy

Christianity and Postmodernism: Richard Rorty and John Paul II’s Fides et Ratio

This essay continues a series on Christianity and Postmodernism.[1] In this essay, I confront traditional Roman Catholic teaching on philosophy with that of a Postmodern philosopher, Richard Rorty. The two main resources are Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical Fides et Ratio and Richard Rorty’s essay, “Solidarity or Objectivity.” Adapting the title of James Huntington’s modern political classic, these two documents are a “clash of civilizations.” This essay’s basic premise is that understanding this clash better is valuable for contemporary Christians.

Christianity and Postmodernism: Richard Rorty and John Paul II’s Fides et Ratio

Response to the JSC Report

Response to the Report of the Joint Standing Committee of the Anglican Primates

On

The Reply of the American House of Bishops

The JSC has determined that the American HOB has responded adequately to requests from the Anglican Primates for clarification of their response to the Windsor Report both in terms of the approval of additional bishops in committed same-sex relationships and the approval of same-sex blessings.

The JSC concludes that a majority of bishops have committed themselves to withhold consents to election of candidates for bishop in same sex relationships. This is I believe actually the case. The meeting in New Orleans did express a consensus that consents would be withheld at least until after the next General Convention. I suspect that if there is a Lambeth Conference in the offing the HOB will in all likelihood refrain from giving the necessary consents until after Lambeth.

The JSC has accepted the declaration of the HOB that TEC has not authorized public rites for same-sex blessing though reserving the right for private pastoral response. The JSC makes clear that “we believe that the celebration of a public liturgy which includes a blessing on a same-sex union is not within the breadth of the private personal response envisaged by the Primates in their Pastoral Letter of 2003, and that the undertaking made by the bishops in New Orleans is understood to mean that the use of any such rites or liturgies will not in future have the bishop’s authority, ‘until a broader consensus emerges in the Communion, or until General Convention takes further action.’”

At this point the statement becomes really an exercise in subterfuge. The JSC accepts the undertaking made by the HOB in terms that the HOB never set and which are contradicted by numerous facts on the ground and the explicit statements of many bishops. By saying that such blessings when they take place are “without the bishop’s authority” the JSC is replaying on the communion wide stage the comical picture of LA bishop Bruno denying that the same-sex blessing described in the New York Times announcement page was going forward with his knowledge or authority. This is an attempt to finesse an issue that even the secular press will find duplicitous. It is inconceivable the HOB would discipline any of its members for allowing public same-sex blessings. A real undertaking not to authorize would mean to discipline those who take unauthorized action. This seems an attempt to generate a legal fiction for the purpose of giving TEC a pass by virtue of living into a legal fiction that it did not in its deliberations agree to. Meanwhile the spirit of Windsor cooperation which is what is really needed has been simply repudiated. The JSC is trying to give the HOB a way of playing the character Sargent Schultz from the sitcom Hogan’s Heroes. Schultz the German guard turned a blind eye to the shenanigans of the prisoners and when asked by his superiors about transgressions said famously, “I know nothing, I know nothing.” By its finesse and fine parsing of language the JSC is helpfully feeding the HOB this line. They are saying in effect, “we are going to say we take it in this way, you don’t protest and you will be able to say, ‘we know nothing.’”

The JSC also takes up the issues of alternate Primatial Oversight. It encourages the Presiding Bishop to consult further with dissenting groups but “we believe the Presiding Bishop has opened a way forward. There is within this proposal (the plan announced at NOL) the potential for the development of a scheme which, with good will on the part of all parties could meet their needs.” So they ask the Archbishop of Canterbury to use his office to bring together the leaders of TEC and the dissenting dioceses for further negotiation but put their prestige behind what the PB has put on the table. They suggest that possibly the Panel of Reference might be resurrected.

They encourage the ABC to use his office to discourage law suits on all sides. This is the single positive contribution in the report.

The JSC scold those primates who have offered emergency pastoral care to American parishes for not abiding by the Windsor Report and call for a determined effort to bring interventions to an end. They ask the ABC to convene talks between the intervening bishops and the TEC bishops of the diocese in which the interventions occur.

The JSC commends the listening process called for by Lambeth.

The JSC suggests that the there is an emerging consensus in the communion “which says that while it is inappropriate to proceed to public Rites of Blessing of same-sex unions and to the consecration of bishops who are living in sexual relationships outside of Christian marriage, we need to take seriously our ministry to gay and lesbian people inside the Church and the ending of discrimination, persecution and violence against them. Here The Episcopal Church and the Instruments of Communion speak with one voice.”

The essence of the JSC report is to try to sell on a Communion wide basis the American HOB fiction that because no new liturgies have been authorized and no new elections consented to the American Church is Windsor compliant.

There is a willful distortion of reality in this report that raises the most serious questions about whether the Primates can themselves be an instrument of unity and exercise meaningful authority in the communion. This report will not help the communion stay together. It is in every way a clever and artful (in the sinister sense of that word) document designed to deceive and cry peace where there is no peace. It can only seem odious to plain speaking people looking for plain talk about the really somber prospect of the break up of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. The ABC and the Primates have been badly let down by this report. I look with anticipation for a minority report from Bishop Mouneer Anis.

Welcome to Our New Blogsite.

Welcome to my new blog site. Thanks to the computer genius of my son we are moving my blog to this new site. The whole project should be more stable here. We are re-posting entries from the original blog which will take some time. Our goal is to move over the most important posts from the last three years. Check back often.

Soul Music

If you find yourself in danger of obsessing over the contre temps in the church be sure to check out the soul music of Dry Branch Fire Squad.

Their webpage is here Scroll down to the album called “Memories That Bless And Burn” This is the best traditional acapella bluegrass Gospel singing I have ever heard. The songs with instrumentals are good also. They live up to their name.

LSH+

Primates Communique

The whole thing is here. [Editor’s note: this link broken. We apologize for the inconvenience.]

The Primates have endorsed the Windsor Report including the call for stregthening the instruments of unity and the establsihment of an Anglican Covenant which they advise will be take a process of its own. They have pretty clearly opted for N.T. Wright’s fireproofing of the house. This is a very hopeful sign.

Continue reading “Primates Communique” →

Spong Thesis 2 and 4

BISHOP SPONG AND THE INCARNATION
BY
THE REV. LEANDER S. HARDING, PH.D.

The third of Bishop Spong’s theses that we are taking up in this series includes number 2 and number 4 in his manifesto. His second thesis is:Since God can no longer be conceived in theistic terms, it becomes nonsensical to seek to understand Jesus as the incarnation of the theistic deity. So the Christology of the ages is bankrupt. Thesis number 4 is: The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ’s divinity, as traditional understood, impossible.

Continue reading “Spong Thesis 2 and 4” →