Literalism - the 20th Century Heresy - Confirmation Class Resources I

This is such an important piece of learning for modern Christians in placing the relatively recent development of literalism applied to the Christian scriptures.

Here is a short-form podcast by the Reverend David Simmons on the heresy of literalism.

David has also produced a video lecture given at Murray State for a religion class he taught. The videos below expand upon the material in the audio podcast above. If you prefer audio only, the audio only version of the videos may be found here.

Part I


Part II


Part III


Part IV


Part V

The Meaning of Life with Fr. Josh

Fr. Matthew has a guest for his show this week - the Reverend Josh Condon. Josh is an old friend from the University of Georgia. Enjoy!

William Porcher DuBose

From Episcopal Cafe -Daily Reading for August 18 • William Porcher DuBose, Priest, 1918

DuBose's emphasis on the role of experience in the process of salvation underscores the theological significance of Turning Points. Indeed, DuBose's spiritual autobiography was the major theological publication that revealed and developed his theological method in terms of the central role of human experience. Turning Points was a major theological work, akin to Augustine's Confessions. It spells out "the presence and vitality of the Word of God" in DuBose's life. The central role of human experience in his theological method comes across even more clearly here than in his other theological writings because he use the personal details of his conversion, suffering, discovery, and transformation as the experiential basis for his theological reflection.

It was toward the end of the Civil War, after the Confederate defeat at the battle of Cedar Creek in Virginia, that DuBose had a moment of shock and realization. That night his brigade slept behind a line of battle for the first time in the war. At this moment he realized the impossibility of success for the Confederate cause and the world he had known all his life. He "felt as if everything was gone! The end of the world was upon me as completely as upon the Romans when the barbarians had overrun them." With respect to his moment of recognition "under the stars" that the Confederate cause was lost, DuBose states that "such an experience can never be altogether lost, and I go back to it at times for such a sense of the utter extinction of the world, and presence of only the Eternal and the Abiding, as is seldom vouchsafed to one." He recalls that "the actual issue was all upon me that fateful night in which, under the stars, alone upon the planet, without home or country or any earthly interest of object before me, my very world at an end, I redevoted myself wholly and only to God, and to the work and life of His Kingdom, whatever and wherever that might be."

From The Theology of William Porcher DuBose: Life, Movement, and Being by Robert Boak Slocum (University of South Carolina Press, 2000).

DuBose became a thoughtful theologian, teaching at the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. Some believe that the great Vatican II theologian Karl Rahner may have been aware of his work since they come to such similar positions. Sam Portaro, in his book "Brightest and Best" contends that his influence on the 20th century is unparalleled with his emphasis on the doctrine of the Incarnation.

Fr. Matthew presents - Lectio Divina - Praying the Scriptures

Breathe

Why I am an Episcopalian - David Simmons

Fr. David Simmons has a thoughtful take on why he is an Episcopalian.
He writes in part:

A large portion of the reason for me is because our denomination historically refuses to play the cultural games others have been drawn into. The Episcopal Church is drastically worship-centered. This goes all the way back to the “Elizabethan Compromise” in the Church of England in which unity in worship was considered more important than conformity in belief. This idea was codified in the “Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral” (BCP 876) which set out the basics of a generous, creedal orthodoxy which could be affirmed by a wide variety of Christians of good faith.

As I became a member of the church, I noticed how diverse it was. We had Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, Anglo-Catholics and liturgical Protestants. We had people of color in a culture where Sunday was still the most segregated day of the week. Any conversation in the parish hall that touched on religion was bound to bring up differences. In fact, if one had only come to the coffee hour, one might conclude that this was some sort of interdenominational gathering. But on Sunday mornings, we worshipped together as a family. While I could look at other churches in our town and pin exactly where the members of that church would live and how they would vote, our Episcopal church could not be so categorized.

Read the rest here.

Strategic Planning and General Convention

Marshall Scott Argues A061 the Most Important Resolution at General Convention.

I’ve been continuing to think about General Convention. Like many a powerful and moving experience, it’s taking some time to process it all, and to appreciate the many things that happened there. I’ve written about coming away with a sense of hope, and that hope remains; but with a little time passed I’m beginning to appreciate some more subtle things that we did.

With everyone else, I’ve read and thought about and commented on what happened with the hot button issues. However, there was another resolution that has stayed with me. That resolution was A061, and these were the most significant points:

“Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 76th General Convention direct the Executive Council to create a Committee of Strategic Planning to guide the Executive Council and the Church Center in their capacities as leaders of The Episcopal Church; and be it further

Resolved, That the Committee on Strategic Planning be charged with using the best appropriate planning methods available to develop a ten-year plan, updated annually, that identifies and tracks the missional, financial, societal, cultural and other challenges and opportunities facing The Episcopal Church; considers alternative paths of action; recommends a path; defines measurable indicators of success of the selected direction and a specific timeline; details resources needed and proposes how those resources will be gathered;”

Read the rest here.

Brian McLaren's Open Letter to Conservative Christians in the US

Pastor and Author Brian McLaren asks some important questions to conservative Christians in the United States concerning the current healthcare debate.



He writes:

Although today I would not call myself a political or social conservative, I am grateful for my heritage as an evangelical Christian: My faith is rooted in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, I honor and seek to live in harmony with the scriptures, and I love to share the good news of God’s love with others. Since my teenage years when I decided to follow Jesus, I have pursued wholehearted discipleship, and my life has been shaped by that commitment. After completing graduate school and teaching college English, I became a church planter and pastor and served in the same congregation for 24 years.

But for almost that many years, I have been growing more and more deeply troubled by the way so many from my heritage in conservative Christianity – in its evangelical, charismatic, and Roman Catholic streams – have allowed themselves to be spiritually formed by various conservative political and economic ideologies. It’s been disturbing to see how many Christians have begun to follow and trust leaders who live more by political/media/ideological codes than by moral/spiritual/biblical ones.

As a result, I sometimes think that Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Fox News may now influence many conservative evangelicals, charismatics, and Catholics more than Billy Graham, Rick Warren, T.D. Jakes, Pope Benedict, or even the four gospels.

Now in a free country, people certainly have the right to choose their ideology. But Christians of all sorts, I think we all can agree, have a special calling – to increasingly harmonize our lives (including our lives as citizens) with the teaching and example of Jesus. My concern is that many of my sisters and brothers, without realizing it, have begun seeing Jesus and the faith through the lens of a neo-conservative political framework, thus reducing their vision of Jesus and his essential message of the kingdom of God. As a result, too many of us are becoming more and more zealous conservatives, but less and less Christ-like Christians, and many don’t seem to notice the difference.

More here.

Evangelism the Boxed Set

All four presentations in the Diocese of Washington's evangelism series are now available online. The presenters were Brian McLaren, Dean Ian Markham and Professor David Gortner of Virginia Theological Seminary and the Rev. Terry Martin, better known to some of you as Father Jake.

Hat tip: episcopalcafe.com