Book Review: A Sociable God
Christians reading Wilber need to be careful in pulling from his insights. Wilber’s arguments are highly structured and do not function well when they are made to accommodate something they explicitly deny. As just one example is Wilber’s absolute central claim that mythology must be secondary to certainly causal/spirit/sagely state level development and perhaps also must be secondary for complete ascension to the lower level of subtle/soul/saintly. This makes truth claims of religious truths such as the Resurrection of Christ, his virgin birth, his ascension and most of the miracles ascribed to him, the prophets and Paul secondary if we follow Wilber’s model.Blowdown: Part 1 – Scarcity of Natural Resources
In this series of essays we will explore what I feel are the fundamental challenges facing the world and propose what we can do to prepare and resolve the underlying problems these winds of change represent. The series will range in topic from the scarcity of natural resources (the first essay), to questions about the future shape of social contracts between citizen and his government, to the role of terrorism in shaping our culture, and the impact the media will have on our future. Each of these is presented in a format that analyzes the problem but also attempts to diagnose a reasonable set of solutions, making any apocalyptic tendencies veiled properly with reasonable hope.Questions for Faith: Are We the Center of God’s Universe?
In this series of essays I am going to be keeping my contribution more brief, which will necessitate some layers of complexity going unexplored and some arguments not fully developed. I have two objectives in writing these, the simplest being to hear the thoughts of some readers, but the second to encourage reasoned and respectful dialogue between those who hold to the life of faith and those who are either authentically agnostic or simply disagree with the propositions of faith. Please feel free to comment and to do so anonymously; the point here is less debate and more dialogue. Our first exploration together will be whether or not we can say affirmatively that we are the center ...Competing Truth Claims
In Dante’s Paradiso, he writes that “knowledge of God is hidden from the eyes of those whose intellect has not matured within the flame of love.” Few issues within evangelical faith, all theisms sharing this burden equally, are as confusing as the struggle to explain how salvation can be outwardly the same but based on very different statements of belief. Wrestling with what we mean by our use of the word “salvation” and whether its outward confession is more important than inner transformation is discussed in this essay.The Unexamined Life
Love him or hate him, no one is going to make the mistake of thinking that President Bush believes in introspection. The events of the last week and the admission of Karl Rove's role revealing the identity of Valerie Plame are just the most recent in a long and disquieting series of events that suggest whatever we may think of this President, he certainly will not be mistaken for the old ideal of a philosopher-president.A Glimpse Forward
Within Christianity, two voices for reform are currently speaking the most loudly against the vociferous claims of religious fundamentalists. One is a liberal voice that feels comfortable eschewing orthodoxy almost entirely, while the other voice is the Emergent movement which feels quite comfortable reinterpreting – but staying comfortably within the confines of - conventional orthodoxy. Both voices for reform represent reasonable options for changing the tenor and direction of the modern evangelical church; however, do both equally reflect the real obstacles that religion and culture will be engaging tomorrow, or is this tension endemic of deeper questions society will soon be wrestling with? What would a cursory glance at these two voices for reform reveal about what ...DVD Review: The God Who Wasn’t There
“Bowling for Columbine did it to the gun culture. Super Size Me did it to fast food. Now The God Who Wasn’t There does it to religion.” So says the back of the recently released documentary DVD from “former fundamentalist” Brian Flemming. This documentary is not without certain insights of a personal and academic nature; however, in its attempt to deny any value to Christianity, it reinforces the ugly parts of the debate between contemporary evangelical Christianity and those who question the truths of Christianity, keeping any resulting dialogue that could discover shared common ground stuck in the muck and mire.God’s Politics or Man’s Dilemmas?
Jim Wallis’ timely book, God’s Politics, is a much needed reminder that the Christian message can not overlook its responsibility to have a prophetic emphasis on poverty and social inequality, nor does being a Christian mean you have to support the war in Iraq, blindly swearing allegiance to the current Bush administration. On these points, his analysis is prescient and a much needed caution to the supposedly monolithic Religious Right. But Wallis’ analysis leaves little room for either healthy secularism or competing faith traditions within what is an increasingly complex American society in need of meaningful religious spirituality with real empowered pluralism. He is at his absolute best when he is a voice for the marginalized, and ...June 2005 Bookshelf
June brought in more Ken Wilber, including a 10-CD set of his called Kosmic Consciousness, as well as a fascinating history of the Roman Republic, two superb books on two very different moments of World War II, and a juicy biography of Howard Hughes.About MysteriousFaith
“If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance which does harm.”
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