Jonathan Romain considers issue of national loyalty in the Guardian’s Face to Faith column.
Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph about Templeton Prize winner Charles Taylor in Behind a prize of £800,000.
John Wilkins writes in The Times on why Theologically, Rome and the barrio are still worlds apart.
Robert Mickens in The Tablet has a related article, Iron fist, but velvet glove and there is also an editorial column on this.
Giles Fraser writes about The time of selfishness in this week’s Church Times.
Times Online refers to a Notification of the Roman Catholic hierarchy against Jon Sobrino, and lack of trust between bishops and theologians. In a church group last week I mentioned the five main sociological models of authority, the “classical” being: the charismatic, of a magnetic individual drawing authority, like Lenin, Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi; of traditional authority, a sacred system as in threefold ministry or monasteries; bureaucratic authority, which is fitting the office by rational selection to do a rational task, as in Synod and all these reports; but then systemic authority, of experts within the organisation, and such is with… Read more »
This is another excellent write up on the Templeton Prize winner, it expands a bit more on how his thinking can help both the religious and secular worlds and is worth a read http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/4836 Giles Fraser’s article was excellent. His consideration of “freedom from” and “freedom to” is pertinent. In fact, this weekend I’ve been thinking how people seem to think that wealth/status/intelligence/righteousness gives them the freedom to do whatever they want. When There seems to be a romanticisation that “successful” characters can to whatever they want to whomever they want whenever they want. We talk of “the secret” of… Read more »
On the changing swings of who is or is not endorsed by religious leaders. It has been rather amusing to watch souls swinging one way and then the other. It’s one of the ways I know that we are dealing with God. Only God is clever enough to make it that no matter what we do, God wins the point.
The only explanation for there being consistently so many breakthroughs of such magnitude on so many fronts in such a short time frame is that God is on the move. No one else could cause this much uproar.
Cheryl, I very much like your reflection, but please explain what you mean by “fearing” God. It strikes me that those who are rooted in fear, not loving trust, are the ones who become rigid and need tight rules as security blankets for themselves. The rules become a kind of insurance: If I obey this, then I’ll be alright. This later extends to: If I allow someone else not to obey this and that someone believes they are alright too, then that leaves me with the awful possibility that my rules are not as secure as I need them to… Read more »
Erika One of the hopes of a “slam dunk” prophet is that God had moved enough e.g. tsunami, katrina, pakistan quake, wilma/alpha/nor’easter etc that people would wake up and realise that human endeavours are paltry compared to God’s power if God decides to move. The problem at the moment is that so many souls are so passionate that they must “win” that they are going to ridiculous lengths to “gain control”. Attempted genocide (physical or cultural) is not healthy nor from God. But some souls are so convinced that if they do not destroy “the other” that “the other” will… Read more »
Cheryl I know that husband very well, I was married to him. Although being a real person he was more complex than your sketch. And I know that all the apparent coldness, callousness and disregard for others was due to an utter inability to look at anything other than external success – because the internal was a desert. Condemnation isn’t the answer, parental condemnation is what contributed to the problem in the first place. If God’s love had been able to break through and show that self-knowledge is scary but possible when you’re held in love, real growth and real… Read more »
I am sure we shall all continue to read and reflect on Sobrino’s Christology at the Crossroads for a long time to come. I think the CDF’s stance shows that neither he nor the so-called faithful–actually intelligent agents in the world– can be stopped from thinking, reflecting and acting. At least they waited until Tony DeMello had died before trying to shaft him–and how pissed off I was to be given one of his boks with a Jo Ratzinger looseleaf ‘spiritual health warning’inserted. The great thing is neither Ratzinger nor the religious conseratives can win this war. Would that they… Read more »
Erika That was a beautiful posting. God gets so frustrated that souls will not “soften” and get past fear and violence mongering. God loves to be the compassionate parent but there are times when the children are being so obstinate and naughty that the only thing that will stop their shenanigans is hard love. Big parent walking into a melee with a whistle and yelling “Stop! Look at what you’re doing!” Sometimes they need to be put on the “naughty chairs” for a “time out” because they are so hyped up from their games that they can not stop until… Read more »
Cheryl, If I knew the answer I’d still be married! Or better – if the only answer, persistent love and individual attention, forgiveness, care, compassion and more love worked for everyone, God’s Kingdom would already have arrived. The “time out”, the “naughty chair”, they all have their place, but it depends on who uses them, how and why. If you put a child on there to teach them a lesson, to humilitate, to punish… then you create a child in your own image. If you put them there to have true time out before you take even more time to… Read more »
Thanks for this discussion.
You may enjoy Daphne Hampson’s work –especially some chapters of After Christianity.
She deals with patriarchy and then having cleared the decks, with spirituality and spiritual practice in our age….