Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

Why Two Christmas Stories Are Better Than One

by Josh Way in Christian Issues

As a citizen of America, I’m almost done with Christmas. We’re living in a century where the cultural defense and political exploitation of Christmas as an institution have become even more obscene than the holiday’s ongoing commercialization. But, as a Christian and a big fan of Jesus and hope, I still admire and embrace the season of Advent and the holy day (that’s right, just a day!) of Christmas. There is much to love, from ancient traditions to recent memories.

My falling out with Christian culture and my journey through biblical scholarship over the last several years have complicated and ultimately transformed my relationship with Christmas, particularly with the nativity traditions found in the Bible. The notion of a singular, harmonious, “biblical” Christmas story runs into all sorts of trouble when the texts are read attentively.

I’m not so much concerned with veracity or historicity, since these are stories about revelation and faith. But what comes apart under scrutiny is the idea that the Bible presents us with a single complete and coherent narration of the birth of Jesus. Instead, it offers us two very different ones, and we have smashed them to bits in order to construct a third hypothetical one out of their pieces. This is my brief attempt to outline a case for keeping them separate, allowing them to speak and breathe, and coming to terms with their apparent incompatibility.

Our Nativity Mashup

By “harmonizing” the two gospel accounts of… [Read more…] about Why Two Christmas Stories Are Better Than One

Advent Four:  Do You Hear What I Hear?

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

This guest post by Jill Crainshaw is based on the Gospel lectionary reading for Advent 4, Luke 1:39-56.

Snow falls. Gently. Lights twinkle in houses festive with welcoming wreathes. Santa and eight tiny reindeer alight on a snow-softened roof. Enchanted. Perfect.

“Bah Humbug!”

Those were Robin’s words as she opened that year’s Christmas gift to discover–the snow globe. A holiday scene trapped in a watery sphere. “What does a 50-year-old woman do with a snow globe? You look at it, and then what?”

Robin had no room for one more thing to look at. Her house was too full of stuff. Her life too complicated. Her time too cluttered with grown-up realities. She packed the snow globe back into its box and shoved it onto a top shelf in a closet.

But don’t we sometimes long for a snow globe Christmas? Smiling people strolling down cheerful sidewalks. Just the right amount of snow to hide imperfections without shutting down streets. A lovely Christmas contained in a predictable scene. Oh, the extremes some of us have gone to at times to create that perfect Christmas, and what disappointments have befallen us.

I think we are tempted to see the Nativity story as a series of picturesque snow globe scenes too. Joseph in a well-organized carpentry shop working with gently used Harbor Freight tools. Shepherds on a verdant hillside, startled by the angels that Christmas night, but not too much. A baby born in a barn kissed by the glow of heaven’s brightest… [Read more…] about Advent Four:  Do You Hear What I Hear?

White Supremacy and the Pulpit: What the White Church Must Learn from Charleston

by Kaytlin Butler in Current Events

Embed from Getty Images

Today marks the six-month anniversary of the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Though other stories now dominate the headlines, and though the trial of Dylann Roof is at least a half-year away, the issues raised by the events of that horrific day are still sadly relevant. Issues of racism, oppression, responsibility and reconciliation continue to haunt American society and continue to confront Christian church. But, just as yesterday’s tragic headlines are all too quickly forgotten, so too does the white church all too easily ignore these deeper issues, instead sacrificing meaningful engagement for the complacency of simplistic platitudes.

In an interview with NBC News several months after the Charleston shooting, two of the survivors spoke about their experience. Felicia Sanders recalled watching her son, Tywanza Sanders, breathe his last breath. Polly Shepherd recalled being specifically told by Dylann Roof that he would intentionally spare her life so that she might tell the story of his actions. In the interview Sanders says, “I’ve forgiven him now. It’s all in God’s hands.”

In the days after Dylann Roof was apprehended by South Carolina authorities, the victims’ families and the Emanuel AME community gathered for Roof’s bail hearing. Through the course of the hearing, the community members were given an opportunity to speak directly to Roof. They tearfully declared that they had chosen to… [Read more…] about White Supremacy and the Pulpit: What the White Church Must Learn from Charleston

Advent Three: Rejoice?

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality, Poetry

“Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4).  “Sing for joy!” (Isaiah 12).

With these words, ancient biblical voices call us to joy on the third Sunday in Advent.

The Latin term for this week in the season of Advent is “Gaudete” or “Rejoice,” and on this Sunday many churches follow the historic practice of lighting a rose-hued candle of joy instead of the penitential purple or anticipatory blue candles of the other three Sundays.

I have been thinking in recent days that perhaps this Advent we should forego Rejoice Sunday. The world is too weary with violence and pain. Indeed, what manner of rejoicing even rings true as we strike a match and touch its flame to the joy candle on this year’s wreath?

My friend’s 75th birthday celebration made me stop and reconsider my decision to snuff out the joy candle. Party-goers were asked to write my friend a poem or blessing. As I thought about this request, I realized that my friend’s life itself is both blessing and poem, for she has done what she could over her years of living to be kind, not just during the idyllic weeks of quixotic Christmas snow globes, but for the season that is her lifetime, even during times when life was anything but kind to her.

Thinking about my friend’s 75 years of weeks and days of learning by doing how to be a kind and caring human being has made me reconsider the meaning of that rose-hued candle on the Advent wreath. A world weighed down by fear and grief needs gifts of kindness. We may even be… [Read more…] about Advent Three: Rejoice?

Homosexuality and the Bible: Beyond the Dichotomy between Biblical Prophets and Cultural Compromisers

by Randal Rauser in Christian Issues

Over the last several years few social issues have caught the attention of the Christian community like homosexuality. Critics often complain that the attention and emotional energy that Christians have directed toward this particular issue are disproportionate to its relative importance (see, for example, my article “Ten things that are more disturbing than gay marriage”).

Regardless, the topic has assumed for many conservatives (“the prophets”) the status of a sort of litmus test that distinguishes those who accept “what the Bible teaches” over-against those “compromisers” who allow their opinions to be shaped by the contemporary culture. On this construal, the prophet recognizes and submits to the infallibility of the moral and prudential witness of the biblical authors, and they faithfully proclaim it even when it diverges from the culture. By contrast, the compromiser subverts the moral and prudential witness of the biblical authors to the culture, and thereby they subvert the authority of scripture itself.

In this article, I’m going to challenge this dichotomy between “prophets” and “compromisers.” In particular, I’m going to argue that Christians who uphold the authority of scripture can — and often do — disagree with biblical authors. Once we recognize this fact, we can begin to have more open and irenic discussions about topics like homosexuality.

To make my case I will argue that some biblical authors express views about corporal punishment — in… [Read more…] about Homosexuality and the Bible: Beyond the Dichotomy between Biblical Prophets and Cultural Compromisers

Bible Test for Syrian Refugees

by Matthew Distefano in Christian Issues, Current Events

Surely, it is quite easy to establish whether someone is a Christian or not. Just ask Presidential candidate Jeb Bush. I mean, there are ways. One of those ways should be for all Syrian refugees who want to enter the United States to take a rigorous test of their faith and their understanding of Scripture.

The Bible clearly states that Christians are to rightly explain the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). Thus, I believe the easiest thing to do is create an appropriate test for us to tell whether or not we are bringing in Christians, as some have suggested we do. I have compiled such a test below.

Section I: Multiple Choice

Directions: Select the best answer from the given options.

How many books are in “the Bible?”

66
73
80
81

Where was Jesus born?

Bethlehem in Judea
Nazareth in Galilee
Bethlehem in Galilee

Who wrote the Torah?

Moses
J
E
P
D
All of the above except a

How should the phrase πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, from Romans 3:22, be translated?

Faith of Jesus Christ
Faith in Jesus Christ
I don’t know Greek
I didn’t know that was Greek

According to the Old Testament, who incited David to take a census in Israel?

The Lord
Satan
Satan, working for the Lord
Depends on who you’re talking to

According to the Bible, in what way were the first man and woman created?

At the same time
The man first, then the woman
Depends on who you’re talking to

According to the Bible, when will the rapture… [Read more…] about Bible Test for Syrian Refugees

Advent Two: Longing for Sunlight and Song

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality, Poetry

The songs and images of the Advent and Christmas season stir in many people a longing for peace and good will. But peace is hard to come by these days. Instead, violent world realities incite fear.

How can a fear-wearied world rejoice with songs of hope? How do we keep fear from taking over and destroying our capacity to love and care for each other and our neighbors with open hearts and minds?

The admonition to “fear not” appears often in Advent lectionary readings. Angels materialize at unexpected times to urge Mary, Joseph, and shepherds on a hillside not to be afraid as unfamiliar and fearful things happen in their lives. The “fear nots” of these familiar nativity scenes sing out to us in beloved Christmas carols, and children enact them in annual church Christmas plays. The Advent and Christmas season is a time to consider what we fear and to be aroused by God’s fear not.

The Canticle of Zechariah, a lectionary reading from Luke 1 for the second Sunday of Advent, also sings about the power of fear and the mysteries of God’s call to “be not afraid.” In this ancient story, Zechariah is startled when an angel announces to him that his wife, Elizabeth, is to birth a son in her aging years. His skepticism becomes speechlessness.  Zechariah is silent for many weeks, until his and Elizabeth’s child—John the Baptizer—is born and his silence gives way to a fear-not song of freedom and fearless worship. This poem-prayer for the Second Sunday in Advent is based on Zechariah’s… [Read more…] about Advent Two: Longing for Sunlight and Song

How Should Christians Love America?  

by Chuck Queen in Christian Issues

What did Jesus mean when he said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not from/of this world” and how does this relate to the way Christians should love their country?

Certainly Jesus did not mean that God’s kingdom is heavenly while the kingdom represented by Pilate is earthly. I suppose one could try to make a case for that interpretation based on readings in John’s Gospel, but it would stand in opposition to its meaning in the Synoptics. The kingdom envisioned in the model prayer is about God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

Also, Jesus is certainly not suggesting that Pilate’s kingdom is a political kingdom while God’s kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. That is an impossible distinction to make because all governments, businesses, economic systems, politics, and institutions of all types express some kind of spirituality. In some cases (perhaps many) the spirituality exhibited may be a demonic kind of spirituality that is oppressive and destructive, but it is a spirituality nonetheless.  All systems and structures in society reflect some kind of spirituality.

So what is Jesus saying? In John’s Gospel the term “world” is used both positively and negatively. When employed positively it refers to God’s good creation, with particular emphasis on the world of humanity. When used negatively is refers to what the late Walter Wink described as the domination system, a system that is pervaded by greed, selfish ambition, and egocentric pride (see 1 John 2:15-17).

Jesus says to… [Read more…] about How Should Christians Love America?  

Advent One: Longing

by Jill Crainshaw in Christian Spirituality

In my church this Sunday, we will begin the Advent season by hearing biblical texts crafted by writers who longed for God’s presence. The Gospel text for the first Sunday in Advent this year, Luke 21:25-36, speaks of “distress among the nations.” Jeremiah imagines justice, righteousness, and safety in hurting lands (33:14-16). These texts speak to us across the years with great urgency. Almost daily in my newsfeed, I read of distress among nations and peoples, and along with Jeremiah I imagine—hope for—justice and safety for people whose fearful eyes search the skies not for stars but for bombs. So the season of Advent begins–with too many people across the globe seeking refuge from the symbolic and literal “roaring of sea and waves” (Lk. 21:25). Advent begins.

Bright flames dance in the distance
somewhere on down the path.
We are eager for the light,
for toes warmed up by a friendly fire
after walking
too many wintry miles.

But for now, one candle only,
an illuminating snippet
to see us through
until the spark catches and the fire grows.

God of First Light,
Stir in us a yearning
to hear with gentle ears
the stories of others
who stumble with us
upon this just-lit Advent fire.

Send to us for these dim days
flashes of insight.
Light a new torch to animate humanity’s treacherous search
for this thing we call truth.
Keep us from harboring
evidence of things not seen
in the limited glow of a single flame.
Arouse longing for wisdom and beauty
that await recognition
beyond the… [Read more…] about Advent One: Longing

Three Kisses: A Glimpse Into the Life of a Syrian Refugee Family in America

by Sana Khatib in Current Events

This guest post was written by Sana Khatib about her visit with a Syrian refugee family. Specific names and locations have been omitted in order to protect their privacy.

View image | gettyimages.com
 

I knew I was in the right place when I saw stained sofas and mattresses on porches, spray painted houses with boarded windows, and shirtless teenage boys on the street corner. On September 25th, someone robbed the refugee family I was going to visit of the $1200 that they had managed to scrounge together for rent. When they returned home, the house looked like the dressers threw up and the table that used to hold a donated laptop was barren.

I pulled into the driveway, reluctant to block the entrance. Turning on the hazard lights, I quickly opened my trunk and attempted to pull out the large wooden dresser. A middle-aged man with round eyes like bouncing balls and leathery tanned skin approached me. “Ahlan! Yateekee al afiya,” he chirped in Arabic, which roughly translates to “Hello! May God grant you health.” He gestured for me to step away so he could take over. “Who do you think put this in the trunk in the first place?” I asked facetiously. He let out a light-hearted chuckle.

My eye caught a glimpse of a young boy wearing worn out jeans and a Seattle Seahawks t-shirt. “Come here,” I called for him, “I have a present for you.” His eyes brightened as I gave him a Nintendo DS that once hid untouched in the bottom drawer of my daughter’s room. I thought about… [Read more…] about Three Kisses: A Glimpse Into the Life of a Syrian Refugee Family in America