That Quote I Read in Class Today

The glory of provocative quotes is that they stick in your mind. And maybe because I read it, it has stayed with me for the rest of the day. Here is the quote:

• “A psychotherapy which suggested that the knowledge that we gain of ourselves in the psychotherapeutic relationship is itself what makes us whole human beings would perhaps be a genuine Gnosticism in a contemporary form. It would have substituted self-knowledge for God’s redemptive initiative in Christ.” (Bergquist in Heresies and How to Avoid Them, 111-112)

Here is what I think... I think that the evangelical or even just the Western Church in general has gnostic tendencies especially in the latter half of the 20th century (as we were all growing up in the church--or in the culture at large). This has resulted in a church culture that undervalues the psychological health (and even, at times, the physical health) of its members to such a degree that to appear 'spiritual' is to trump any kind of psychological maturity. Another way to say this is that psychological health--and along with that relational health, etc.--has often been thought to be a 'spiritual' weakness or even disease. Spirituality has often been separated from relation maturity, relational honesty and relational accountability, thus make our discipleship models very gnostic.

If you pray this prayer, you sins will be forgiven and forgotten (rather than forgiven and then redeemed through maturity). If you just memorize these verses, you will become spiritually mature (rather than dealing with the crap as you memorize those verses).

What I am trying to say is that it can happen that the material reality of our lives can be undermined and separated from our 'spiritual lives' as if the whole of our everyday existence is not a part of our spiritual life. That, in my estimation, is gnostic.

All in all, we need a balanced model. And that is why you are in this class and at this school. What is your model of the spiritual life and how does it incorporate psychological and relational health?

Peace,

Chelle

Pub Quiz on December 1st

I sent out an email earlier today, but I wanted to put up this announcement in several places. Hopefully you will all get this message.

I have changed the reading for the pub quiz. More specifically, I have cut three chapters from from the required reading. The quiz will cover: the prologue and chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 and 12.

Happy Thanksgiving!
-Chelle

A Poem about Mary

MARY OF NAZARETH

by Patrica Clemens Repikoff

I am mystery,

rebel,

mother,

refugee,

a voice crying out compassion

in the face of cruelty,

human misery.

I am Mary of Nazareth,

I sing my reckless trust,

my ache,

confusion.

Mine are the dirges any mother sings

whose child is cut

down too young.

I sing

of dashed dreams

that turned to diamonds.

I was young and hopeful,

the future danced in my eyes!

I always had a wild streak

(some said

I was a rebel),

My head uncovered,

my hair flying,

I ran

through the streets

with friends.

My voice carried

loudest

they said.

I did not always

heed the Law,

or my parents,

or anyone else.

I sometimes spoke

out.

I asked the why of things.

I was silenced.,

but never

for long,

because

a restlessness ran through me.

It seemed I wanted more from life

than most.

The longing wouldn’t go away.

They hoped that Joseph would

tame my restless spirit

with domestic dreams, a family future

I accepted,

but secretly,

I tucked away

my restlessness

in the corner of my heart

far from

the eyes of anyone.

Yet, God spied my hidden treasure, and smiling,

asked if I’d dare bring

that MORE in me to life,

new life,

for all like me

who dream for more than Law.

I swallowed hard, but

I

said

YES!

I surrendered to birth

a bigger dream

than hearts could capture then.

I said YES

to birthing MYSTERY

midst the darkness.

My YES blasted walls

of Law and custom.

It brought talk,

sniping,

pointing fingers,

stones,

as I walked

pregnant with MYSTERY,

God’s dream.

I remember…

that dark night,

NO’S

slamming in my face,

locked doors,

far from family,

my body bursting

I gave birth

to MYSTERY shining

on a bed of straw

midst blood and tears,

beggar’s breath,

shepherd’s sighs.

Yes, I remember…

hot sand, night chills,

running, foreign lands,

fleeing, strange streets,

fugitives, Herod’s cold cruelty.

But, I do remember warmer days,

watching my boy grow.

I saw myself in him.

I wondered who he might become.

I loved his fire,

his integrity, his joy.

And as he grew, I saw

his YES,

His YES to God and

no one else!

I was afraid.

Mother love could not last longer.

He was a young man

with the future in his eyes, and

compassion in his arms!

I let him go.

I let him go into his YES,

into streets,

salons,

and synagogues,

open arms of prostitutes and beggars, and

Into the slippery hands of hypocrites!

I am a martyr’s mother.

I let him go into his YES.

I let him go into God’s arms.

GOD’S ARMS BECAME A CROSS!

And my YES

hung limp

on the tree—

a last

lifeless

leaf.

I cried all martyrs’ mothers’ tears.

I wailed the death of dreams and hoping.

I moaned my flesh and blood

martyr-child snatched

too young

from the nest!

WHERE ARE YOU NOW GOD?

WHO ARE YOU

TO LET GO OF

YOUR PEARL

SO EASILY?

WHAT KIND OF CRUEL GOD

ARE YOU

THAT SNUFFS OUT

YOUR OWN DREAM?

HE GAVE YOU EVERYTHING,

YOU GAVE HIM DEATH!

SCORPIONS!

SNAKES!

YOU GAVE US STONES, NOT BREAD!

But, I remember…

how there was new

breath

and wind

and blessing.

how God

breathed

into our empty.

Death couldn’t hide,

Death couldn’t hold our YES!

YES! there was breath

and bread

and blessing!

YES! An empty tomb! YES!

bread broken and blessed on a road! YES!

ARMS OPENED

AND HEARTS BURNING

WITHIN US! YES!

There is breath

and wind

and blessing! YES!

He lives!

among us!

I birthed a bigger dream

more than our hearts

could contain,

more truth than death’s arms could bear!

Dreams lie waiting hidden

in you hearts to be born again

carried to all who long like us for MORE.

My sisters, my brothers,

carry them, bear them.

Bring them to YES!

Bring them to birth

midst the darkness!

By Patricia Clemens Repikoff

From DASHED DREAMS AND DIAMOND

Guest Speaker in Class: Dr. Andy McCoy

This week in class we will have a guest speaker. His lecture will be the first of three lectures that he will give at the school this week on text.soul.culture.

Andy is a graduate of mhgs, with a MACP. He then went on to do a Ph.D. in Theology at the University of St. Andrews, where I did my post-graduate work. We overlapped a year in that little town on the shores of the North Sea. I look forward to hearing Andy this week. I hope you will enjoy his take on the integration of theology and psychology. He is the first of our alumni lectures series speakers. Very exciting!

Description of Lecture:

MHGS believes that Christian faith is a call to transforming worship of God amidst the interplay of text, soul and culture. But what does it truly mean to worship God in a suffering world and how does that affect the work of all who would be activists for the Gospel of Christ? This lecture series will offer theological reflection on each of the three MHGS themes in light of biblical lament as both a human response to suffering and a human response of worship. I will propose that lament shapes our relationship with God and others by bringing honest expression of pain into the context of our expectations about God's redemption of creation through Christ.

A Great Quote from LaCugna

Here is an important quote from Cathrine LaCugna's book, God For Us. (Did you know that she was a graduate of Seattle University?) I have mentioned this quote a number of times in class but I have never had it in front of me. I recently found it again, so here it is. In this passage, LaCugna is looking at the doctrine of the Trinity from an Eastern Orthodox position. She points out that Orthodox theologians emphasize that the Trinity is a communion of equals with no subordination, yet maintaining a relational structure. As she is highlighting the benefits of this understanding of equality in relationality, she simultaneously critiques the lack of ethical follow-up within the Orthodox tradition.

"Orthodox theolgoians seem entirely unaware of the ideological abuses of personhood with respect to women, or the poor, or other marginalized groups. There is no critique of heirarchical social or ecclesial structures. Much feminist literature has been devoted to exposing the oppressive 'doublespeak' contained in the reasoning that 'men and women are equal but different; God has endowed them with different places in the economy of redemption; every household needs a head and this role properly belongs to the man; this does not make the woman inferior.'"

And here is the key sentence:

"The strongest possible defense against sexism is indeed to argue ontologically, as feminist and liberation theologians have done, that the being of God is utterly antithetical to every kind of subordination and subservience." (God For Us, 287)

She continues by saying that eschatological hope and transformation are no excuse for allowing injustice to remain, because their theology calls for a different ordered structure for the church and society: that their trinitarian theology "calls for the transformation of persons and institutions in the present, precisely because unjust structures or practices obstruct grace and delay the reign of God." (288)

And here we see the heart of LaCugna's theological vision, that God's very being calls for justice, mercy and equality on every level of society, family and culture.

Unfortunately, LaCugna died of cancer at a fairly young age. We will never know the theology of her mature years, and for that we are theologically impoverished.

Peace,
Chelle

My New Book, Or Shameless Self Promotion

I have a book. Well, I am one of 5 authors. We are a diverse crowd: gender, race, theological passion, denomination, doctrine, etc. What unifies us is a love for the church and a love/hate relationship with the movement called E/evangelicalism.

Most of the authors met at the Lausanne Conference in Malaysia. (I'm the only one that didn't go...) On the way home from the conference a few of them asked the question, "Do I want to be an evangelical?" Out of this came a set of articles in The Other Journal dedicated to this question: Earth to Christians. Mark Russell, one of the original crowd, thought that this conversation would be a good book, so voila! here is the fruit of this original question.

I guess we all want to remain evangelical, in one way or another, because we spent the time writing this book. We even got together for a writing a few summers ago in order to all talk face to face about our chapters and our visions for the future of evangelicalism. It was a good time, though very tiring. We laughed a lot, cried a bit and, from time to time, fought passionately about our ideas. We, for the most part, agreed about the need for more conversation and flexibility within the tradition. We also agreed that the church needs a more robust understanding of God as Trinity and we need to live in the world in an attitude of humility and love of neighbor. What we disagreed about were the specifics of how this happens within the community of the people of God. But conversation is a very good place to start. Conversation about our passions, our difference and our commonalities (especially our love for God and God's love for us) is a vital key for creating community. If evangelicalism it going to not only survive but also thrive and flourish, then broader and more open conversation is needed to establish trust in the ranks. I tend to think that God is really the answer to all the questions but we are a diverse and creative people. Because of this, we are all called to take part in the formation of the church, the 'how' of this call on our lives to be the people of God.

The authors are Allen Yeh (he teaches at Biola), Michelle Sanchez (she is a pastor in Boston), Mark Russell (a missiologist, who writes and teaches about micro-finance in the two-thirds world and how business and missions can work together to help two-thirds world economies), our own Dwight Friesen (who teaches here at Mars Hill Graduate School) and me, Chelle.

What did I write about in my two chapters? Worship and the Holy Spirit. Ahhh, for a really robust doctrine of the Holy Spirit within our understanding of the workings of the church!

So, look out for Routes and Radishes: and other things to talk about at the evangelical crossroads, Zondervan, 2010.

I for one benefited from conversing with this small group of theologians and pastors. Who are you talking to about these issues?

Peace,
Chelle

Christopher Hitchens

Since we watched a video last week with Richard Dawkins, I thought (via Sonny M.) that you might be interested in hearing from the author of God is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens. He has some interesting things to say.

• Christopher Hitchens interview with Charlie Rose

Let me know what you think!

-Chelle

PS Thanks Sonny for the link.