Biweekly $7.95 March 4, 2015

Thinking Critically. Living Faithfully.

FRED CRADDOCK’S

MINISTRYIN CHERRY LOG, GEORGIA To rea!rm boldly the church’s commitment to a two-state solution with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace, Presbyterians: each with secure borders, territorial integrity, and a fair share of natural resources. We also restate our profound condem- nation of the threats to a two-state solution, including: We can do violence and terrorism, the Israeli settlements, and any denial of the legitimate aspirations of either party — including their rights to a viable and secure homeland. better than To seek out opportunities in Palestine, Israel, and between Israelis and Palestinians for proactive investment in economic, educational, and interfaith ventures that promote divestment understanding across ethnic and religious divides and that oer the tangible signs of a future where both Israelis and We, the undersigned leaders in the Presbyterian Church Palestinians may dwell in justice, security, and peace. (U.S.A.), are deeply committed to a just and lasting peace between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. We have watched the events of the past few months with great dismay: the murder of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers; Most of all, we pledge ourselves anew to work with Israelis the trauma of increasing rocket attacks by Hamas on Israeli and Palestinians, with American Jews and American civilians; the extensive suering and death of Palestinians Palestinian Christians and Muslims, to a!rm the aspirations from Israel’s military response; the discovery of tunnels for and address the deep needs of both peoples, and to work major terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians; and the unabated toward the day when “they shall all sit under their own vines expansion of settlements. More broadly, the rise of ISIS, the and under their own g trees, and no one shall make them persecution of Middle Eastern Christians, and a wave of afraid” (Micah 4:4). anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Europe and North America all point to the same conclusion: that the extreme elements of this con€ict are gaining strength and in€uence. Meanwhile, those committed to the well-being of all are tempted to join in the polarization or to sink into silence and despair. Supported by:

Last June, the General Assembly of our church voted 5IF3FW+PBOOB."EBNTt5IF3FW%S1BVM"MDPSOt5IF3FW%S'SBOL"MMFOt5IF3FW%S'SFE very narrowly to approve the divestment of stock in three 3"OEFSTPOt+PIO-"OEFSTPOt5IF3FW%S4VTBO3"OESFXTt%S+BO#SVDF"SNTUSPOHt5IF companies deemed as complicit in the occupation of the 3FW+$"VTUJOt5IF3FW%S+BDL8#BDBt5IF3FW%S"OJUB#FMMt"MJTPO#FOOFUUt5IF3FW%S Palestinian territories. We are among the many Presbyterians &BSM#MBOEt5IF3FW.BSL#PZEt5IF3FW+FòSFZ(#SJEHFNBOt5IF3FW#MBLF#SJOFHBSt5IF 3FW)FOSZ(#SJOUPOt5IF3FW%S+PIO#VDIBOBOt5IF3FW%S+PO#VSOIBNt5IF3FW%S all over the country who have worked against this action, .JDIBFM1#VSOTt5IF3FW$VSSJF#VSSJTt5IF3FW"MCFSU(#VU[FS **t#BSSZ#ZSEt5IF3FW%S believing that divestment would strengthen the extreme $ZOUIJB$BNQCFMMt5IF3FW%S3PCFSU"OESFX$BUIFZt4UFXBSU$MJòPSEt5IF3FW%S+PTFQI positions on both sides of this con€ict without alleviating +$MJòPSEt5IF3FW.JLF$PMFt"MCFSU%B$PTUBt5IF3FW%S8JMMJBN1$SBXGPSEt+BNFT%BMF the suering of Palestinians — and further divide and t(BSZ%BWJTt5IF3FW)FMFO1%F-FPOt*BO$%FWJOFt-JOEB-%POBMEt#SFOU+&FMNBOt discourage the vast center of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 4IFMCZ&UIFSJEHFt5IF3FW"OESFX$POOPST'PTUFSt5IF3FW%S#SZBO+BNFT'SBO[FOt+PIO that longs for justice with love for both peoples. We continue &(BòOFZ +St$IBQMBJO4JN(BSEOFSt.JDIBFM(J[[Jt.JLF(PPESJDIt5IF3FW%BWJE(SBZt5IF to dissent strongly from this divestment action, and many 3FW%S8JMMJBN))BSUFSt5IF3FW%S4UFQIFO")BZOFSt5IF3FW-BSSZ3)BZXBSEt+JN of the Presbyterians who ll our pews on Sunday mornings )FOEFSTPOt5IF3FW%S,BUIBSJOF3IPEFT)FOEFSTPOt.BEHF)VCFS)FOOJOHt5IF3FW%S share this conviction. .BSL)PTUFUUFSt5IF3FW+JN)PVTUPO)FODLFOt5IF3FW3PZ8)PXBSEt5IF3FW%S%PVH )VDLFt)BSSJFU)VHIFTt&EXBSE8)VNNFST +St5IF3FW%S&EXJO()VSMFZt5IF3FW Yet we are more convinced than ever that those who are $ZOUIJB"+BSWJTt+PBO+PIOTPOt5IF3FW%S4DPUU#MBDL+PIOTUPOt5IF3FW%BWJE'+POFTt %POBME(,JMQBUSJDLt5IF3FW$SBJH4,JOH 4St5IF3FW%S$ISJTUPQIFS.-FJHIUPOt5IF3FW concerned for justice and peace in the region must reject .JDIBFM--JOEWBMMt+JN-PTFZt5IF3FW%S"SOPME#-PWFMMt.T&NJMZ4-PWFMMt5IF3FW%S polarization, silence, despair, or inaction — starting with ,FOOFUI + .BDBSJ t5IF 3FW %S8 &VHFOF .BSDI t5IF 3FW %S -ZOO (BOU .BSDI t 4IFJMB .BSTIBMMt,FOU.D,BNZt5IF3FW%S%BWF.D,FDIOJFt5IF3FW%S#MBJS3.POJFt-BVSFZ ourselves. Only by working together — Muslims, Jews, and )BSUXFMM.VSQIZt5IF3FW%S/BODZ&.VUIt#BSCBSB/BODFt%BWJE/BUJPOt5IF3FW%S1BVM /B[BSJBOt,BUIJ/FVCFSUt3(VTUBW/JFCVISt5IF3FW%S"HOFT8/PSøFFUt.BSHBSFU. Christians; Americans, Palestinians, and Israelis — can we 0CSFDIUt5IF3FW%S4UFQIFO0HMFTCFFt4BN1BMNFSt5IF3FW%S#SJBO31BVMTPOt5IF3FW hope to nd the true path to a just and lasting peace for both (FPòSFZ 1GBò t 3 .BSL 1MVNC  $3& t5IF 3FW .BSL 1MVOLFUU t5IF 3FW %FBO 1PHVF t +PF 1SVFIFSt$BSPM1ZFt5IF3FW$IBSMFT1ZFt3BDIBFM3BOLJOt5IF3FW%S'SJU[3JUTDIt5IF3FW peoples. To this end, we invite Presbyterians and all people of .BSZ3PEHFSTt,VSU3PFMPòTt(BSSZ4DIPPOPWFS 3&t5IF3FW%S'SFEFSJDL/4FBZt+JN- 4IJMUTt5IF3FW%S+PTFQI%4NBMMt5IF3FW+Fò4NJUIt"OOF.4PFOTt5IF3FW%S/ faith and moral conviction to join with us as we commit (SBIBN4UBOEJTI .48t5IF3FW5PEE4UBWSBLPTt$MJò4UFXBSUt4ZMWJB8BTIMJDL4UVEFONVOE ourselves to the following aspirations and goals: t3VTTFMM$4VMMJWBO +St%JBO%VLF5IPNBTTPOt5IF3FW$MJOUPO5PMCFSUt+PBOOF8BMMJTt+JN 8BMMJTt5IF3FW%S+PO.8BMUPOt5IF3FW3BOEPMQI8FCFSt5IF3FW+PIO8JNCFSMZt5IF 3FW%S(FPSHF#8JSUIt5IF3FW5JNPUIZ38PPESVòt5IF3FW1FSSZ8PPUUFOt5IF3FW%S To reclaim the church’s role as “repairer of the breach,” 5IPNBT:PSUZt&MEFS8JMMJBN(:PVOH nationally and locally, among ourselves and between Christians, Jews, and Muslims through deep and relational work that models peace and reconciliation with justice 1SFTCZUFSJBOTGPSB+VTUBOE1FBDFGVM'VUVSFJOUIF.JEEMF&BTU and compassion. [email protected] by John M. Buchanan Embargoed pensions

I VISITED CUBA 19 years ago, long before the to make monetary payments to Cuban nationals or to release recent softening of relationships between the Cuban and money from accounts held in the United States in their names. American govern ments. As a representative of the Presbyterian Meanwhile the money sat in U.S. accounts where it Church (U.S.A.), I was visiting the Independent Presbyterian increased in value to nearly a million dollars. But that money Reformed Church of Cuba, which was established by Protes - was not getting into the hands of the people who had earned it. tant missionaries in the late 19th century. The IPR churches had Presbyterian Pension Board officials would not give up. thrived over the years and had built a theological seminary at Frank Maloney, chief operating officer of the Board of Pensions, Matanzas. went to work with legal counsel Jean Hemphill. They continued After Cuba became a communist state the churches learned to request the release of the funds and were denied each time by how to exist under the Castro regime’s strictures and subtle— the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury and sometimes not so subtle—persecution. There were some Department. PCUSA Board officials and officers visited U.S. arrests and imprisonments. Churches were mostly allowed to lawmakers—only to encounter the strong anti-Castro lobby in remain open, but evangelism efforts were forbidden, and it was Congress that opposes any political or economic accommoda- almost impossible to print and distribute literature. Govern- tion with the Castro government or the Cuban people. ment agents often came to worship services; a Christian’s pub- Progress came in the mid-1990s when a license was issued to lic affirmation of faith could have economical, professional, and pay the Cuban retirees $100 per month, but it was still held up educational consequences. by the prohibition against U.S. banks doing business in Cuba. At the time of our visit a warming of the relationship In the meantime, retired Cuban pastors were aging and start- between the two nations had come to a sudden end, and there ing to die. In 2006 the government licensed the church to pay was a reemergence of suspicion, hostility, and fear. Despite up to $500 per month and permitted board staff to travel to these demanding and sometimes dangerous circumstances, Cuba to find the pensioners and their survivors. Cuban Christians had remained faithful to their Christian com- Now, in the new atmosphere in U.S.-Cuban relations initiated mitments and their churches. by the Obama administration, the blocked accounts will be opened Then I made a distressing discovery. The Cuban Presby - and full payment made to surviving Cuban pastors and their heirs. terian Church was formerly an organic part of PCUSA, and The mainline denominational agency’s faithfulness and re - Cuban pastors had paid into the Presbyterian Pension and lent less commitment to justice reinforces my conviction that Benefits Plan—but they weren’t receiving the benefits. After these structures do absolutely critical work and faithful mission. the Castro revolution, the assets of American corporations that Meanwhile, the Cuban church has pointed the way to faithful were doing business in Cuba were expropriated, and our gov- work with its courageous and durable witness. During visits near- ernment placed an economic embargo on Cuba. Suddenly 50 ly two decades ago and again in 2001, I developed ongoing friend- retired Cuban pastors and church workers were deprived of ships with Cuban pastors and church leaders. My experiences in their pension benefits. worship, preaching, and baptizing a Cuban infant were inspiring. For many years the Presbyterian Board of Pensions worked The Christians in Cuba have carried on. They are still there. to persuade our government to allow the board to make pay- There is, I think, something in Jesus’ promise to Peter that the ments. The legal issue was acquiring licenses that are required gates of hell will not prevail against the church.

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3 Christian Century March 4, 2015 March 4, 2015 Vol. 132, No. 5

Editor/Publisher John M. Buchanan

Executive Editor David Heim

Senior Editors Debra Bendis Richard A. Kauffman

Associate Editors Amy Frykholm Steve Thorngate

News Editor Celeste Kennel-Shank

Contributing Editors 6 Letters Martin E. Marty This I believe James M. Wall Dean Peerman Trudy Bush Jason Byassee 7 Locking up kids The Editors: A more humane way Poetry Editor Jill Peláez Baumgaertner

Editorial Assistant 8 CenturyMarks Janet Potter Absolution, good generation, etc.

Advertising Manager Heidi Baumgaertner 10 The pastor as person Art Director Amy Frykholm: Ministry counselor Ross Peterson Daniel C. Richardson Production Assistant 20 The people’s preaching class Diane Mills William Brosend: Fred Craddock in retirement Comptroller Maureen C. Gavin 24 Religious violence? Marketing Consultant Shanley & Associates Ted A. Smith: The politics of a higher law

Editors At Large 28 Carbon and compost M. Craig Barnes Walter Brueggemann Ellen Charry Martin B. Copenhaver Norman Wirzba: Gardening in a time of climate change Lillian Daniel William F. Fore Beverly R. Gaventa L. Gregory Jones Belden C. Lane Leo Lefebure Thomas G. Long Robin W. Lovin Thomas Lynch Bill McKibben Cover photo © Jimmy Emerson (via Creative Commons license) Kathleen Norris Stephanie Paulsell Lamin Sanneh Donald Shriver Max L. Stackhouse Barbara Brown Taylor Grant Wacker William H. Willimon Ralph C. Wood Carol Zaleski NEWS 12 China cracks down on Protestants; Ugandan Anglican bishop defends rebel commander accused of war crimes; Report reveals full history of theologian’s abuse, institu- tions’ response 20 I N R E V I E W 32 Books Randall Balmer: The Cross of War, by Matthew McCullough Samuel Wells: Who’s Afraid of Relativism? by James K. A. Smith Brian Volck: Medicine and Religion, by Gary B. Ferngren Rebecca Todd Peters: A Political Theology of Climate Change, by Michael S. Northcott Dennis O’Brien: The Soul of the World, by Roger Scruton

43 Media Jason Byassee: Sheepdog or sheep?

47 Art Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal C. Parsons: Christ Driving the Money Lenders from the Temple, by Ippolito Scarsellino

COLUMNS 3 Editor’s Desk 10 John M. Buchanan: Embargoed pensions 18, 19 Living by the Word Gracia M. Grindal 31 Faith Matters M. Craig Barnes: Lone leaders 45 Church in the Making Carol Howard Merritt: Shut up and learn

POETRY 11 Warren L. Molton: Boundary 43 22 Tania Runyan: There was silence in heaven for half an hour 26 Paul Willis: Pearly everlasting

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appreciated Amy Frykholm’s article church with my husband again the past excluded for their disaffirmation of on the Nicene Creed (“Believe it or few months. But yes, every Sunday I have these creedal statements. This disso- Inot,” Feb. 4). I’ve had a number of to decide what to do with the creed and nance within me provides a background younger people tell me that they tried other aspects of the liturgy that push my for the melodious hope of unity the church, but when the congregation buttons. It’s rather exhausting. I want to through grace (not belief) that draws stood and said, “I believe . . .” they said be open and engaged in worship, which me into fellowship with many, whose they don’t believe all that and never requires finding a way through the frames of reference range from expo- came back. defensiveness I’m experiencing. sure to these statements from birth to Once when I was a visiting preacher I Also, I am much more drawn to “be- those who have no knowledge of their had to “introduce the creed.” I said, “Let loving” than to believing. These Episco - existence. For it is “in Christ that all us stand and remember what our moth- palians have totally won my heart. The things hold together,” not in creeds ers and fathers in the faith said almost liturgy is their dance. The words may not designed by the majority who crave 2,000 year ago with their limited knowl- always light my fire, but honoring these human order. edge and worldview.” The creeds were precious people by joining their dance Mijdi Wedre written and voted on by human beings. does. christiancentury.org comment Most of the time dogma was written Sarah Bensen afterward to support what was in the christiancentury.org comment creed. Do unto others . . . William R. Phillippe have led creedal affirmations many Princeton, N.J. Itimes in worship. I have often stated S. Mill, the consummate consequen- before beginning that though I believe Jtialist, argued that trust is so essential, n the cloud of unknowing, love for every phrase of the creed, one need not so sacred, to our communal existence IGod trumps understanding. believe everything in those phrases to be that any act that violates it does us all Creeds represent best guesses in his- a Christian. The only true requirement great harm (“Tortured ends and means,” torical context, based on a community’s for being Christian is to be a follower of by John M. Buchanan, Jan. 21). This is founding documents and traditions. We Jesus Christ. Following is an active true even if the lie is ultimately justified quickly forget how relative they are in lifestyle of challenging powers that dis- by the good it achieves. All the more, tor- their expressions of what matters. Love rupt life-giving grace—powers which ture harms and demeans us, the tortur- and relationship matter more than any also exist in dogmatic application of ers, as well as the victims. As thinkers set of words. creedal content. from Aristotle to the Buddha argue, we We might be writing new creeds that I say I believe all the creedal state- choose who we become. Will becomes link the past and our historic identity ments because I have tested many of choice, choice becomes action, action with more present-context expressions them in my own heart by challenging repeated becomes habit. Drop by drop, of faith (trust) and love. them in my studies and prayer life. And we become just, or unjust, by acting just- Thomas Johnson those I have yet to fully challenge ly or the reverse. christiancentury.org comment remain true until proven false, because I So, the means become the ends. Our trust those who wrestled over these nation will forever be one that legally was a dedicated Pentecostal for more understandings to provide guidelines for sanctioned torture at the highest level of Ithan 20 years when my belief system our engagement with each other in the elected office. Is that the nation we real- suddenly derailed on a trip to the Middle community. ly want to be? East. I stuck with my church for a couple Still, when I say I believe them, I Remember also that Mill insisted that of years, trying to make sense of what may not believe them exactly the way “in the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, had happened, but finally gave up and the original writers believed them. My we read the complete spirit of the ethics left. My husband remained Christian and life experiences, being different from of utility. To do as one would be done by, was confused and upset by what I was theirs, provide nuances that incorpo- and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, going through. rate broader understandings than what constitute the ideal perfection of utilitar- Eight years later, I met some Episco - has been distilled for us from their ian morality.” How often does that ethic palians who welcomed me to fellowship writings. justify torture? with them even though my beliefs aren’t I also hold in my spirit while reciting Bob Mesle orthodox. It’s been good attending the struggles of those who have been Lamoni,

Christian Century March 4, 2015 6 March 4, 2015 Locking up kids

resident Obama’s proposed $4 trillion budget wisely includes $1 billion to address the conditions in Central America that sent tens of thousands Pof women and children fleeing to the United States last summer. (Similar numbers are anticipated this coming summer.) Some of this money is directed at helping El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras reform their judi- cial systems so that fewer people have need to flee. Most of the women and children entering from Central America are victims of domestic and gang- related violence, and they would benefit from more effective local governance. But the budget unwisely calls for increased funding to house these families in detention centers in the United States—even though human rights groups have advocated for an end to child and family detention, citing the negative effects of incarceration on children and the injustice of locking up innocent people. Despite these criticisms and the lawsuits filed to protest conditions at family detention centers, up to $850 million is slated for the “apprehension, care, and transportation of unaccompanied children and families with children apprehended along the southwest border.” Much of that money would go to Corrections Corporation of America, which operates a newly opened family detention center in Dilley, Texas. At Dilley, the largest such center in the country, 2,400 detainees will be housed at a cost of $300 per person per day. The average age of children incarcerated there is six. There is a cheaper and more humane alternative to placing children behind razor wire. As officials at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services point out, the current immigration system already has most of the resources it needs to deal with these women and children. The vast majority don’t need housing because they have relatives to stay with. What they need is not larger deten- tion centers but more effective management of refugee cases, more immigra- tion judges to ensure that refugee cases get a prompt hearing, and more part- nerships with nongovernmental groups that resettle refugees. The solution, in other words, is to treat Central American refugees like all other refugees and to bol- The U.S. should treat Central American ster a system that already works. Unfortunately, the Obama administra- refugees like all other refugees. tion sees detention as a way to send a mes- sage to would-be asylum seekers that the United States does not welcome their presence. Meanwhile, the harmful effects on children persist. Women detained at a center in Artesia, New Mexico—since closed—reported that their children lost weight, had suicidal thoughts, and expressed despair and hopelessness. The protocol for refugees laid out in the 1951 Refugee Convention and codified into U.S. law declares that refugees be recognized as vulnerable human beings whose “special protection” is the responsibility of the govern- ment that receives them. Putting families in detention centers is a parody of providing special protection.

7 Christian Century March 4, 2015 ABSOLVED: Following a speech by KINDEST EVER: At a public event, a baum and his father were released from Nadia Bolz-Weber at the First Baptist teenager asked Elizabeth Gilbert, author a concentration camp in Poland and sent Church in Madison, Wisconsin, a woman of Eat, Pray, Love, “What advice do you on a death march. Freezing to death, in tears spoke up to say that she was have for my generation? And where do they were taken in by Katarzyna Froeh - unable to forgive herself, because she you think we are going wrong?” Gilbert lich and her 20-year-old daughter Dorota had been told many times she was responded that the teen’s generation is Froehlich Kuc. It was a risky act; if dis- unforgivable. Bolz-Weber, widely doing nothing wrong. “I love your gener- covered, they could have been killed by known as a tattooed, salty tongued ation. You guys are wonderful. And don’t the Germans. Kuc said she and her Lutheran pastor from Denver, respond- listen to anybody who says otherwise.” mother did it because as Catholics they ed: “Maybe for as many times as you’ve Compared to her own generation, she had been taught to help the poor and been told that, you need to hear that said, youth today don’t smoke or drink as needy. Lindenbaum, now 88 and a re - God is gracious, and merciful, and slow much, or have as much sex, or beat up on tired literature professor in Israel, has to anger, and abounding in steadfast each other as much. They may spend too kept in touch with Kuc over the years. love, and loves you as you are. And as a much time on their cell phones, but they He has visited the Polish village a num- called and ordained minister of the are the most sensitive, most compassion- ber of times, most recently during the church of Christ, and by Christ’s author- ate, and kindest young people ever 70th anniversary of the liberation of ity, I declare to you the entire forgive- (Gilbert’s Facebook page, January 22). Auschwitz-Birkenau. He also hosted Kuc, ness of all of your sins.” The congrega- now 90, during a trip she made to Israel. tion responded, “Amen” (Wisconsin RIGHTEOUS GENTILES: Near the Kuc and her mother have been designat- State Journal, February 2). end of World War II, Shalom Linden - ed “Righteous Among the Nations” by the Israeli Holocaust center (RNS).

BASIC SERVICES: A study on interna- tional development released last month in the United Kingdom predicts that it will take decades and in some cases more than a century for some of the earth’s inhabi- tants to obtain basic services. Kenya has one of the fastest-growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa, yet at current rates of development it will take 150 years for the nation as a whole to get sanitation servic- es. It could take up to 85 years for Rwanda, Burundi, and Lesotho to improve nationwide water supplies. “Our research for the last three years has shown us that projects delivering good results are locally led, politically smart, and often employ entrepreneurial techniques,” said the lead author of the report (Overseas Development Institute, February 3).

HEAD COUNT: To little fanfare, Denis McDonough, President Obama’s chief of staff, joined a team on the streets of San

Christian Century March 4, 2015 8 Francisco doing a head count of the homeless. It was part of a survey required Hate is not for humans. Judgment lies with God. That of cities every two years in order to quali- is what I learned from my Arabic brothers and sisters. fy for federal funding for homeless pro- — A tweet (from four years ago) from the Japanese hostage grams. The president had told Mc - “ Kenji Goto that went global after he was executed in January Donough he wanted to know firsthand by the militant ISIS group (BBC News, February 3) ” what the city was doing about the home- less. San Francisco has been able to get We’ve seen professions of faith used both 19,000 homeless off the streets during the past decade by expanding housing and as an instrument of great good, but also support services, but it still had over 6,000 twisted and misused in the name of evil. people on the street during the 2013 count. “ — President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast, where he re mind ed “This is the same sort of challenge we face Christians that terrible deeds like the Crusades, the Inquisi tion, and all over the country. The numbers tell the slavery have been done in Christ’s name. Some conservatives were story,” McDonough said. “I had no idea incensed that he compared these historical actions to re cent brutali-” anyone gave a damn,” one homeless man ties by Islamic extremists like ISIS (Washington Post, February 8). told the team (SFGate.com, January 30).

PRISON STATE: The highest incarcera- Arab world, according to Gerald have formed a gospel choir that sings tion rates in the United States are in red Russell, a former British and United Hebrew translations of songs like “Oh states, especially in the South, but some Nations diplomat. The majority of these Happy Day,” plus gospel arrangements conservatives are having second thoughts non-Muslims are Christians. It would be of Jewish prayers. The Portugalys about the war on crime launched by a big loss to the Arab world if they all encountered gospel music as students at President Nixon. Among them is Chase were to leave—though many have the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Madar, former Virginia state senator and already done so. Since the failure of and they started their own choir after attorney general who was president of Lebanese Christians to hold onto power being inspired by gospel music in Prison Fellowship for ten years. Madar through force, Christians in the Middle Nigeria. So far, the Portugalys’ choir has was persuaded that a new approach to East have largely become neutral politi- not been invited to sing in any syna- crime is needed by visiting prisoners, see- cally. They often exert a liberalizing gogues in Israel, although they have ing the conditions they live in, and discov- influence in the region, since they don’t sung in New York synagogues (PRI, ering that virtually no rehabilitation of support Shari‘a law, and their schools February 4). criminals is taking place. He now advo- are usually more open to diversity. Their cates the use of restorative justice, a plan presence is a reminder of a time when TIMES A-CHANGIN’: Bob Dylan gave that returns criminals to the communities the Arab world was much more pluralis- a wide-ranging interview to AARP Maga - where they committed their crimes to con- tic (New Statesman, January 29). zine and declared that if he hadn’t been a fess at public meetings and ask forgiveness musician, he would have been a school- (American Conservative, February 3). GOSPEL IN ANOTHER KEY: Israeli teacher, and would likely have taught music teachers Ofer and Iris Portugaly either Roman history or theology (AP). INFERNO: During his only visit to America, theologian in 1962 visited three prisons: Bridewell House of Correction in Chicago, San Quentin in DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & THE NFL California, and Rikers Island in New How should the National Football League handle a player York. He called Bridewell “Dante’s infer- who has been found guilty of domestic violence? no on earth” and said it was a contradic- tion of the wonderful message on the Allow player to return Take no action Statue of Liberty. Barth wondered aloud Ban for life after temporary suspension against player why theologians weren’t denounc ing the ALL Ban for life deplorable conditions in Amer ican pris- 29% 59% 8% ons, calling out in par- AMERICANS ticular (Jessica DeCou, “The First Community: Barth’s Amer ican Prison Hispanic 28% 61% 9% Tours,” in Karl Barth and the Making of Evangelical Theology, Eerdmans). White 34% 55% 8%

CHRISTIAN PRESENCE: More than Black 12% 76% 7% 10 million non-Muslims still live in the Due to rounding, totals may not equal 100%.

9 Christian Century March 4, 2015 PHOTO COURTESY OF ROSS PETERSON ROSS OF COURTESY PHOTO Ministry counselor Ross Peterson The pastor as person

ROSS PETERSON, a minister someday look like they aren’t going to in the Evangelical Covenant Church and happen. a clinical pastoral counselor, is executive director at the Chicago office of Midwest What do you see as trends in seminaries Ministry Development, an organization regarding discernment of vocation? that serves pastors who are wrestling with I see an increasing focus on the pastor please everybody. That is a path to questions about ministry and vocation. as a person—an increasing awareness of destruction. He earned a doctor of ministry degree the importance of self-care and of devel- from Chicago Theological Seminary. oping strong spiritual disciplines. It used When a pastor comes to Midwest, what to be that seminary was a time when happens next? Why do clergy come to Midwest people’s spiritual discipline waned and Most of our work is done in a two- or Ministry Development? their academic discipline increased. Now three-day intensive process. It includes Some come because they know they are in the midst of a significant time of discernment about their vocation: Do I stay in this church? Do I go? Do I move toward a different kind of ministry? I am “When people are working close to their feeling dissatisfaction—what does that sense of call and purpose, they can work mean? Some are referred to us by their really hard without feeling burned out.” denominations; maybe they are strug- gling to be effective in ministry, or there may be some misconduct involved, or fit- many seminaries emphasize integrating inventories that people take on personal- ness for ministry questions might have the spiritual, reflective process with the ity, vocation, and wellness. arisen. academic, which I think is all to the good. These profiles give us a context, but in There are several points in life at order to come to life, they need to be which people come to Midwest. One is We often talk about burnout as a prob- integrated into a person’s story. So most during first call, when people are experi- lem among clergy. How do you under- of our time is spent in individual conver- encing the reality of church life, which stand that term? sation. People often come in with a lot of can be disillusioning. First-call pastors When we see pastors who are experi- anxiety; they may come in guarded and are often trying to understand if they encing burnout, sometimes it is simply defensive. But 90 percent of the time, we made the right decision. because they are working too hard. But find that people want to be understood, At midcareer and midlife, a lot of more often they are doing a lot of things and they want to minister well. Once questions come up. People are asking: that are not central to their sense of call. people engage in the process, they tend Who am I, and is this what I want to be When people are working close to their to be open and reflective and ready to doing? sense of call and purpose and meaning, think more deeply as a person and as a And toward the end of their careers, they can work really hard without feeling person in ministry. people often want to finish well and burned out. But when they are doing a wonder what that means for them. We lot of things that people are telling them Can you describe a success story that often see pastors in their midfifties who should be done or that feel urgent but came out of this process? feel trapped: “I can’t move out of the aren’t close to the heart, that is a strong A pastor who came to us was a hard- ministry because nobody else is going indicator of burnout. driving person and had been successful to want me.” Or maybe their ideas of It’s been said that most pastors are a in pastoral leadership, but she was what they were going to ac complish “quivering mass of availability,” eager to rough on other people and perceived as

Christian Century March 4, 2015 10 being angry and too hard on her subor- Attention to physical well-being is laying off a lot of people. It can be dinates. These problems derailed this important. Getting enough rest, eating depressing. pastor in ministry. well, and exercising—that sounds trivial, But I am seeing a shift. For a long time, In exploring this reality, it became but it contributes considerably to people I saw an attitude of “Our ranks are thin- clear that the pastor was under tremen- managing ministry well. ning, but we are going to keep up doing dous self-induced pressure “to be the Having a workable balance among the same thing.” Now, people are saying, hero.” Every situation was critical, and the dimensions of one’s life is central— “We have entered a new era.” Denom ina - there was no margin of error. She experi- so that one’s personal life and ministry tional structures are being reenvisioned. enced a chronic sense of crisis and strain. life are not at war with each other. At The mission of the church is being separat- Along with that, the pastor had a hidden Midwest, we talk a lot about the bound- ed from the institution of the church. need to be appreciated. Not being in ary and the intersection between one’s Bivocational ministry certainly plays touch with that need, the pastor didn’t personal identity and one’s pastoral into this; it allows a way of doing ministry know how to reach out for it. identity. This is crucial for pastors who that gives the pastor some flexibility. This After an initial and very natural minister in small towns. Wherever they is a time of openness to experimentation defensiveness, this pastor became gen- go, they are still Pastor Jones. Finding that would not have been possible 15 uinely curious: Why am I treating myself someplace where you can just be your- years ago. and other people so badly? self is a health-giving practice. Our recommendations had to do with How does that affect your center? developing more compassion and self- How is the cultural context for Midwest’s The original name for centers like acceptance, which would lead naturally work changing? ours was not “Ministry Development to more compassion and acceptance for The Midwest region of the country is Centers” but “Career Development others. The pastor pursued those traits in an area where churches are dying and Centers.” That was when a pastor thought a number of ways: seeing a therapist, many are in retreat. It’s hard to feel of having a “career” in ministry. People doing some physical activity, and attend- good about your success in ministry if don’t think in quite that way anymore. ing to some family issues. your measure of success is: “I’m not los- Ministry has become less institutional, When we saw this pastor later, we saw ing members as fast as the other church- more of a verb than a noun. a person who had developed a consider- es are.” Denominational structures are — Amy Frykholm able capacity for gentleness and was ready to reenter ministry. Her uncon- scious need to minister in a way that was almost panic-driven had been dealt with. When people begin to understand some Boundary of the unconscious factors that are under neath their call, they are freed up I often arrive at a boundary to manage them well. that leaves me at the gate The dynamic of running on empty and at a time to fish or cut bait then getting angry when no one notices or just wait one’s efforts—I think that dynamic is at the border of this or that common among pastors. for better or worse perform or rehearse What are some of the most helpful begin again or end— practices for clergy who want to stay on my mark to there, effective? at the finish from where. You need to have a good network of people that you can process things with. And that’s when I need Resilience in stress is not a quality that I some now-or-never word, as when have as an individual. It is much more Jesus sat with the woman at the well related to the quality of my relationships. waiting for a snarl of men to stone her, The vast majority of pastors who get into and reach out to her trouble are people who are working in writing something in the sand some kind of isolation or depletion. for her for them and wrote again, Having contexts in which you engage then spoke his boundary-breaking words with colleagues who are supportive is so piercing to the bone life-giving for pastors because they often that would kill their will can’t share what they are going through and let them all go home. in their church or sometimes even in their families. Warren L. Molton

11 Christian Century March 4, 2015 China cracks down on Protestants

rospective Communist Party reach the officially approved Protestant “Party members are banned from members in the region of China churches that are part of the Three Self joining religions,” said Li. “Believing in Pwhere is growing the Movement. communism and atheism is a basic fastest must renounce religious belief, In December, a party-mandated ban requirement to become a party member.” and current party members must write on Christmas celebrations in Zhejiang Li said that Zhejiang authorities letters stating their rejection of faith, was seen as an effort to single out Chris - stressed this basic requirement due to according to a new mandate by authori- tians at a time when Beijing has been pro- the local situation, adding he hopes this ties in Zhejiang Province. moting Buddhist faith. China—which has will set an example to other provinces. The policy comes amid extended and five official faiths, Islam, Taoism, Protes - “This could be a part of efforts against systematic harassment of Protestant tantism, Catholic ism, and Buddhism— the penetration of Western hostile churches in Zhejiang. More than 450 announced last summer that it was creat- forces,” Li said. church buildings have been desecrated ing its own official version of Christian The vetting of new party members or destroyed since November 2013. theology. may also be due to the attractiveness of Chinese analysts quoted in state-run Christians in Zhejiang say the policy Christianity to an urban and educated media say the new vetting of party mem- against them is carefully designed to generation of young Chinese who no bers for religious belief is part of a larger foment a collective psychological taint longer see biblical faith and their campaign in Beijing against “hostile for- on their faith among ordinary Chinese, Chinese identity as incompatible. eign forces” infiltrating China. yet not be so severe as to cause interna- The new Zhejiang policy is “the Wenzhou, the capital of Zhejiang, on tional sanction. newest escalation of the national cam- the prosperous east coast, is sometimes The Global Times quoted Li Yunlong, paign against religious freedom in almost referred to as “China’s Jerusalem” for its a professor from a prominent party col- all sectors of the society in China,” said high number of devout Protestants—at lege in Beijing, who gave his interpreta- Bob Fu, a Chinese-born Christian who least 1 million in a city of 8 million. The tion of the latest move. runs a group in Texas that monitors reli-

area is known for its business acumen LICENSE) COMMONS CREATIVE (VIA LELARD FABIEN BY PHOTO 2006 and overseas population. Officially, Communist Party members have long been expected to embrace atheism and Marxism enthusiastically. But oversight of religious practice has been lax in many parts of China for the past 20 years, and in places like Zhejiang it has been an open secret that some families of party members are actively practicing Christianity. Zhejiang officials spelled out the pol- icy on January 29, according to the state- run Global Times, based in Beijing: “Checking on religious beliefs is the first step towards approving applicants to the Party, and Party members found to have participated in or embrace religions will be required to ‘rectify’ their beliefs.” For the first time, the attack on CHINA’S JERUSALEM: People shop in Wenzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, churches has gone beyond the large which is known as the birthplace of China’s private economy—and for its substantial unofficial “house” church movement to Protestant population.

Christian Century March 4, 2015 12 gious persecution in his home country. and political leaders took a trip into the The report was commissioned by the “The religious freedom of [Communist Congo forest to ask the rebels to end the Mennonite Church USA and Anabaptist Party] members, like any other citizens violence. Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, of China’s society, should be guaranteed Ongwen commanded the deadly Sania Indiana. as enshrined in the Chinese constitution Brigade within the LRA. The LRA, led Goossen conducted dozens of inter- and international human rights norms, by Joseph Kony, a former Catholic altar views with victims who received Yoder’s including rights of choice for religious boy, appeared in northern Uganda unwanted advances as well as with faith and freedom of conscience.” around 1986. Combining African mysti- Yoder’s colleagues, church administrators, —Robert Marquand, The Christian Science cism and , it and those involved in attempts to disci- Monitor fought to replace President Yoweri Muse - pline him. She also had access to docu- veni’s government with a theocratic one. ments previously unavailable, notably In 2008, the LRA left northern church records in the MCUSA archive Uganda, and it is now believed to be and the papers of Marlin Miller, who died Ugandan Anglican bishop operating in a densely forested area in 1994. Miller served as president of between the Democratic Republic of Goshen Biblical Seminary, one of AMBS’s defends rebel commander Congo, South Sudan, and the CAR. predecessor bodies. Those collections are In 1997, northern Uganda religious now in the denominational archive in accused of war crimes leaders formed the Acholi Religious Goshen, Indiana, and open to researchers. Leaders Peace Initiative. Since the ICC Yoder’s personal papers are also in the In its heyday, the Ugandan rebel force indictment, the peace group has been archive, but the relevant files will remain known as the Lord’s Resistance Army calling for a cultural justice system called sealed until 2047. was accused of killing more than 100,000 Mato Oput in place of the international Yoder’s method of operation was to people, abducting 60,000 to 100,000 chil- court. invite women to assist in the exploration dren, and displacing more than 2.5 mil- Mato Oput, which is based on forgive- of a new Christian ethic of sex. With the lion civilians. ness, can achieve more than the ICC, sexual revolution and surging feminism of Yet a retired Anglican bishop in since it aims at healing and transforma- the 1960s and ’70s serving as a backdrop, northern Uganda says he is ready to tion and restores relationships, according Yoder started writing about sex and inti- defend a top LRA commander who was to Sheikh Musa Khalil, a Muslim leader macy, particularly as it related to single accused of war crimes and crimes against in Uganda and vice chairman of the people. Citing Jesus’ interactions with humanity by the International Criminal peace group. —Fredrick Nzwili, Religion women, Yoder, who was married, said that Court in The Hague. News Service “freedom of bodily affection and intimacy Nelson Onono- LICENSE) COMMONS CREATIVE (VIA CRUNKLYGILL BY PHOTO is not necessarily correlated with the sat- Onweng said rebel isfaction of genital drives.” Thus people commander Dom - not married to each other could engage in inic Ongwen was a Report reveals full history sexual relations as an expression of victim of circum- Christian intimacy without it being con- stance, having been of theologian’s abuse, sidered erotic or an act of adultery. abducted at the age Many women refused Yoder’s invita- of ten and trans- institutions’ response tions, and he claimed he always respect- formed into a ma - Nelson Onono- ed their decision. Others initially appre- raud ing killer. Onweng A 73-page report in the most recent ciated an esteemed professor’s “personal “I am willing to issue of the Mennonite Quarterly Review attentiveness,” “friendship,” and appeals go and give evidence at the ICC about provides the first-ever comprehensive to their intellect, according to Goossen. him; I am not afraid,” Onono-Onweng and detailed examination of theologian “A generation later, professionals said. “The world betrayed this child. The John Howard Yoder’s sexual abuse and knowledgeable about sexual abuse state, which had the instruments to pro- the church’s response to it. would label his range of opportunistic tect him, did not. The international com- News of his transgressions first broke approaches as ‘grooming’ behaviors,” she munity also took too long to act [against in 1992, but Rachel Waltner Goossen, a wrote. the] LRA. The world can see how things history professor at Washburn Univer - Many of the women were GBS stu- conspired against him.” sity in Topeka, Kansas, found that Yoder, dents, but at least two were from the Ongwen appeared at the ICC in late who died in 1997, had been “methodical- nearby University of Notre Dame, where January after surrendering to U.S. special ly perpetrating sexual violence” against he also taught. Notre Dame declined to forces in the Central African Republic. women since at least 1973. His offenses comment on Yoder, calling it a personnel He was indicted in 2005, together with included suggestive comments and matter and confidential. three other top commanders. “physical coercion.” While the precise Miller, a former student of Yoder’s at Onono-Onweng said he had met number of those abused is not known, it GBS, began hearing about his mentor’s Ongwen in 2006 when religious, cultural, could exceed 100. extramarital sexual pursuits shortly after

13 Christian Century March 4, 2015 succeeding him as seminary president in . Earlier he had coun- SERVICE NEWS RELIGION / NZWILI FREDRICK BY PHOTO 1975. seled Yoder to submit to the church’s dis- Miller later convened seminary cipline. After reading Goossen’s article, groups to engage Yoder, first to discuss he was contrite. the theoretical aspects of his position and “I was wrong,” Hauerwas said. “I just then to discipline him. Furthermore, hadn’t realized the extent of John’s Yoder be lieved that his work was so behavior.” advanced that it was necessary to hide it AMBS is planning a Service of from “those who could not help but mis- Lament, Confession, and Hope and understand this liberty,” Goossen wrote, other events on campus March 21–22 “to quoting Yoder. The secrecy also included acknowledge institutional responsibility PEACE BROKEN: A family before the the destruction of some documents by for the harm inflicted” by Yoder and for war in South Sudan, where fighting has Miller and others at church offices, large- “seminary leaders’ prolonged failure to displaced 2 million people and 50,000 ly at Yoder’s request. intervene effectively.” MCUSA, the suc- people have died. In addition, Yoder invoked Matthew cessor to the Mennonite Church of 18 and demanded to confront his accus- which Yoder was a lifelong member, is that proposes a coalition government. A ers, but none were willing to meet with planning a similar observance during its power struggle between the two sparked him face to face. Yoder would later state convention this summer in Kansas City. the fighting in December 2013. that the inability to meet with them —Rich Preheim, for CHRISTIAN CENTURY Within months, the violence took on denied him the opportunity to apologize. an ethnic dimension, with government By mutual agreement between Yoder troops largely from Kiir’s Dinka tribe and the seminary, Yoder resigned in and the rebels from Machar’s Nuer tribe 1984. Yoder had continued his “experi- South Sudan peace engaging in deadly clashes. ments” in sexual ethics, despite Miller’s Since then, the parties have signed orders to cease, and claimed to be perse- unclear as talks leave and broken six peace agreements. cuted by Miller and those who had made But the peace negotiations leading to accusations. out clergy, other the pacts have concentrated on Kiir and Yoder had joined the faculty at Notre Machar, leaving out religious groups, Dame and asked Notre Dame adminis- key stakeholders nongovernmental aid organizations, and trators to “avoid giving the matter un - community leaders. necessary prominence.” While the parties in conflict in South “As long as the prospects of peace are Yoder served as president of the Sudan signed a recent peace agreement, seen as [the] preserve of the two, then Society of Christian Ethics in 1987–88. it did not include key stakeholders— the prospects of peace will remain Current SCE president William Schweiker faith groups among them—making long- bleak,” Nyabera said. said: “The SCE, as a scholarly society, is not term hopes for peace uncertain. Sixty percent of South Sudan resi- in the position to make judgments about An estimated 50,000 people have dents are Christian, 33 percent follow the lives of past or present members. At died, and 2 million have been displaced traditional African religions, and 6 per- the same time, the SCE cannot and does in the latest phase of fighting, according cent are Muslim, according to the Pew not condone immoral and/or abusive to the International Crisis Group, a think Research Center. actions, and as a society we work tirelessly tank that aims to prevent and resolve South Sudan became an independent to advance the dignity of our members and such conflicts. state in July 2011 after voting to secede the responsibilities we bear as scholars of “South Sudan’s conflict is not getting from Sudan in a referendum. But inde- religion and ethics.” much attention due to shifting interests pendence has not brought stability to the Goossen rejected claims that the dis- towards Islamic extremism,” said Fred region, ICG said in its January 29 report. ciplinary process the Indiana-Michigan Nyabera of Kenya, a social scientist who is According to the South Sudan Conference of the Mennonite Church director of the Interfaith Initiative to End Catholic bishops, the war is about power, undertook, ending in 1996—which in - Child Poverty at the global faith-based not about the people. cluded suspending Yoder’s credentials in organization Arigatou International. “But “The aspirations of individuals and 1992 and urging therapy—was a success- leaving South Sudan alone at this time factions have led to a cycle of revenge ful case of restoration and reconciliation. when the people are trying to define their killing,” said Roman Catholic archbishop Such claims, she wrote, “deflect attention identity and country, under very fragile Paulino Lukudu Loro of Juba in a state- from institutional complicity and reveal circumstances, is to postpone a big prob- ment on January 30. “We say to all who Yoder’s followers’ attempts to explain lem,” Nyabera added. are involved in any way: if you continue away his misdeeds so that they might On February 2, South Sudan presi- fighting, you will finish yourselves and reclaim his theology.” dent Salva Kiir and his former deputy— you will finish the nation. The nation Among those who had called for now rebel—Riek Machar signed a peace needs to be salvaged from this sin.” Yoder’s restoration was theologian agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, —Fredrick Nzwili, Religion News Service

Christian Century March 4, 2015 14 sion,” he said in a statement. “Our Breakaway Episcopalians churches, our diocese, are open to all. It’s Surprise gift largest ever about the freedom to practice and pro- in South Carolina win claim faith in Jesus Christ as it has been for Pittsburgh seminary handed down to us.” major court case The parishes that remain loyal to the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary of national denomination, known as the the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) re - The Episcopal Church lost a major Episcopal Church in South Carolina, ceived a surprise gift of $20.25 million. court battle on February 3 when a South plan to appeal Goodstein’s ruling, with Robert Thomson, an insurance compa- Carolina judge ruled that the Diocese of its chief lawyer, Thomas S. Tisdale, saying ny owner who died in September at age South Carolina legally seceded from the the ruling was expected. 94, did not tell the school about his estate denomination and can retain control of “We have understood from the begin- plans, nor did he place restrictions on the $500 million in church property and ning that this lawsuit was mounted after gift, said William Carl, seminary president. assets. years of planning by individuals who “These are wonderful surprises,” Carl The Charleston-based Diocese of were intent upon taking the diocese and told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “This is South Carolina voted to secede in 2012 its property out of the Episcopal the biggest gift that has ever come from after the national church accused its Church,” spokeswoman Holly Behre anyone, living or deceased, in the over- bishop, Mark Lawrence, of abandoning said. “We have also understood that 220-year history of the school.” the church and taking his diocese with defending ourselves will be a long legal Carl also told the Post-Gazette that him. The diocese said it helped form the process.” Thomson would meet with students at national church in 1789 and was not A separate suit in federal court accus- scholarship dinners and make comments legally bound to stay. es Lawrence of “false advertising” by such as, “I’m so impressed with your stu- Lawrence insisted he and the 38 “continuing to represent himself as bish- dents, impressed with where they’re going parishes that followed him out of the op of the diocese.” to serve in churches and mission fields national church composed the Episcopal A spokeswoman for the national around the country and the world.” Diocese of South Carolina. The 30 denomination, based in New York, The gift allows the seminary to reach parishes that remained part of the declined to comment on either case. its goal early in a $26 million capital cam- national church sued, asking a judge to —Kevin Eckstrom, Religion News Service paign that began in 2010, although the determine which body could legally LICENSE) COMMONS CREATIVE (VIA COPELAND SAUSSURE DE HENRY BY PHOTO school’s board of directors has yet to claim the name “Episcopal” and who determine where to allocate the funds, controlled the property. said Melissa Logan, seminary director of Circuit judge Diane Goodstein ruled communications. that the national church has “no provi- “A gift like this really allows an insti- sions which state that a member diocese tution to think about the future and how cannot voluntarily withdraw its member- to serve the church,” Logan said. ship.” The diocese was chartered in 1785, The largest private gifts in 2013–2014 to four years before the national church. institutions of higher education exceeded “With the freedom to associate goes $50 million, and none were to theological its corollary, the freedom to disassoci- schools, according to the Chronicle of High - ate,” Goodstein ruled. er Education’s website. In a list of gifts of Goodstein’s decision affects the fates that size in recent decades, only three went of some of Charleston’s most iconic to theological schools, with the largest being churches, whose towering steeples and a 1999 donation of $83.3 million to Emory colonial charm helped earn Charleston Univer sity’s School of Theology. (Some do - the nickname “the Holy City.” nations to universities with divinity schools The ruling follows similar decisions in do not specify the nature of the gift.) Fort Worth, Texas, and Quincy, , in Thomson grew up at Shadyside Pres - which judges have ruled in favor of byterian Church, also in Pittsburgh, and breakaway dioceses, even as most courts was a member there until his death, serv- have said that the property of individual ing as treasurer and in other roles. breakaway parishes belongs to the Jackie Spycher, a former youth direc- denomination. tor at Shadyside who studied at Pitts - Lawrence said the national church’s SECESSION: A circuit judge ruling in favor burgh Theological Seminary, remembers decades-long battles over sexuality were of the breakaway Episcopal Diocese of Thom son as being “very active and very just a “distraction” in the South Carolina South Carolina affects the fates of some of present, but in a quiet way. This public fight. Charleston’s most iconic churches, including acclaim is not something he would have “This has never been about exclu- historic St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. sought out.” —CHRISTIAN CENTURY staff

15 Christian Century March 4, 2015 other fields. These working women often England who have lost babies to mito- In Israeli election, ultra- support husbands who devote them- chondrial disease. selves to the study of sacred texts rather Mitochondria are tiny compartments Orthodox women push than paid employment. inside nearly every cell of the body that “Someone successful as a lawyer or convert food into usable energy. They to be on party lists graphic designer could see the Knesset have their own DNA which does not as something women should be part of as affect characteristics such as appearance. A group of determined ultra- well,” Caplan said. But, he said, so far Defective mitochondria is a condition Orthodox women are rejecting the male this is “not a huge phenomenon. There that is passed down only from the moth- monopoly on politics in their community are tens of thousands of Haredi women er and leads to brain damage, muscle as, for the first time, they press to be rep- in the workforce and maybe 50 in the wasting, heart failure, and blindness. The resented on the lists of candidates of the political arena.” controversial new technique uses a mod- Haredi parties running for Israel’s While ultra-Orthodox rabbis agree ified version of in vitro fertilization—the Knesset, or parliament. that women can leave the house to work, process by which eggs are removed from “No one represents us,’’ said Esty serving in parliament is another matter, ovaries and mixed with sperm in a labo- Shushan, head of the No Voice, No Vote they say. Maimonides, the 12th-century ratory dish—to combine the DNA of the group, which is calling for a boycott of Jewish philosopher and jurist, was two parents with the healthy mitochon- ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, parties that against such public roles for women, said dria of a donor woman. The technique do not list women on the ballot. “A man’s Mordechai Bloy, chairman of the Guard has been dubbed the three-parent baby way of looking at things is different.” for Holiness and Education of the technique by the media. While the women concede that only a United Torah Judaism party. The Catholic and Anglican churches miracle will enable them to place a can- “Why can’t a male member of the in England raised concerns about didate in time for the March 17 election, Knesset represent women?” he said. The whether the procedure is safe or ethical, they are breaking new ground in what demand for women’s representation “is not least because one method involves promises to be a long struggle and are all folly and chauvinism.” —Ben Lynfield, the destruction of embryos. staking their claims for future elections. The Christian Science Monitor “The human embryo is a new human “Our goal is to raise awareness,” said life, and it should be respected and pro- Shushan, a mother of four who runs her tected from the moment of conception,” own advertising company and lives in a said Catholic bishop John Sherrington. predominantly ultra-Orthodox area of England debates legalizing “This is a very serious step which Par lia - Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv. “The more it’s ment should not rush into taking.” talked about, the more the social taboo is in vitro technique giving Brendan McCarthy, the Church of broken.” England’s adviser on medical ethics, told Ultra-Orthodox parties, guided by baby DNA of three parents the BBC, “We need to be absolutely rabbis from both the Ashkenazi and clear that the techniques that will be Sephardic communities, have often been England could become the first coun- used will be safe, and we need to be kingmakers in Israeli coalitions, but they try to allow the creation of human absolutely sure that they will work.” were left out of the broad government embryos from the DNA of three people He said the ethics of the issues should formed by Prime Minister Ben ja min to try to eradicate a type of genetic dis- be properly discussed. Netanyahu two years ago. (Ash kenazi ease that has caused the deaths of thou- Anglican bishop Lee Rayfield of Jews are primarily from eastern Europe, sands of babies. Swindon said the procedure was a “mas- and Sephardic Jews are from North “This is world-leading science within sive step,” and some of his colleagues Africa and the Levant.) a highly respected regulatory regime, were concerned about how it was going Now they are eyeing an opportunity and for the many families affected, this is to be regulated once it was approved. to return to power, especially if a rift per- light at the end of a very dark tunnel,” “If the safeguards are there,” he said, sists between Netanyahu and the secular, said Jane Ellison, health minister. “the Church of England will be behind this.” centrist Yesh Atid party of Yair Lapid, Prime Minister David Cameron voted Sharon Bernardi of Sunderland, who which finished second to Netanyahu’s in favor of the technique when members of has lost seven children, supports the new Likud in the last elections in 2013. Parliament approved it February 3, which move. Kimmy Caplan, a specialist in Jewish has provoked fierce ethical debate in “I would ask the Church of England des- history at Bar Ilan University, said the Britain and elsewhere. Senior church fig- perately to please look at the bigger picture demand for Knesset representation is an ures called for the procedure to be blocked. and look at the children who have been outgrowth of a 40-year process in which But with approval from the House of affected by this dreadful disease,” she said. ultra-Orthodox women have gone Lords, Britain’s upper chamber, which is About one in every 6,500 babies is beyond traditional jobs in education to expected, the first three-person baby born with mitochondrial disease, which establish themselves in accounting, could be born as soon as next year. can be fatal. —Trevor Grundy, Religion graphic design, administration, and many The technique could help women in News Service

Christian Century March 4, 2015 16 Growth, while also serving as scholar in res- New York City, Townes delivered a talk People idence at Peachtree Presbyterian Church. at Riverside Church that became the He was named president in 2009. basis for a groundbreaking article, “The Deborah Flemister Mullen, dean of Convergence of Science and Religion,” faculty and executive vice president of which appeared in the IBM journal CTS, remembered their partnership as THINK and later in an MIT magazine. president and dean. That article, according to the Temple - “Steve was not only my closest col- ton Foundation, “established Townes as a league on the administrative staff, he was unique voice, especially among scientists, a beloved brother in Christ and my that sought commonality between the two friend,” she said. “The seminary is a very disciplines. Long before the concept of a I Stephen A. Hayner, 66, president different place because of Steve relationship between scientific and theo- emeritus of Columbia Theological Hayner’s gifts of life, especially his com- logical inquiry became an arena of investi- Seminary and a national leader in cam- mitment to God’s wide welcome of gation, his nonconformist viewpoint jump- pus ministry, died January 31 in Decatur, everyone to the table.” started a movement that until then few Georgia, less than a year after being diag- M. Craig Barnes, president of Princeton had considered.” PHOTO COURTESY OF COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY nosed with pancreatic cancer. Theological Seminary, who had been He went on medical leave as presi- friends with Hayner for nearly three I Richard McBrien, 78, a theologian at dent this past summer while undergoing decades, noted in a September article for the University of Notre Dame and liber- treatment. the CHRISTIAN CENTURY that Hayner al commentator, died January 25. He had Born June 23, 1948, Hayner held “signed his letters with the word joyfully been in poor health for several years. degrees from Whitman College, Harvard before his name” and that he approached McBrien joined Notre DAME NOTRE OF UNIVERSITY OF COURTESY PHOTO Divinity School, and Gordon-Conwell dying as he approached living: “In his latest Dame in 1980 and be - Theological Seminary. e-mail he wrote, ‘Both grief and joy knock came a standout for the In 1973, Hayner was ordained and us about like outsized ocean waves. The theology department. In installed as university pastor at University waves take us by surprise but also remind media punditry and a Presbyterian Church in Seattle, where he was us of what it means to be human—and pur- weekly column that ran involved with students and faculty. The cam- sued by grace.’” —Michael Thompson, Colum - in some diocesan newspa- pus ministry, which started with 17 students, bia Theological Seminary; added sources pers, McBrien argued for quickly grew to over 1,200. During two sab- the ordination of women, optional celibacy, baticals, he completed his Ph.D. in Hebrew I Charles Hard Townes, a Nobel laure- and birth control, among other things. and Semitic studies at the University of St. ate who helped invent the laser and a “At his peak in the 1980s and ’90s, it is Andrews in Scotland in 1984. pioneer in the dialogue on science and arguable that McBrien had a higher Hayner served as vice president of religion, died January 27 at age 99. media profile than anyone in the Catholic student affairs at Seattle Pacific Townes, professor COMMONS WIKIMEDIA VIA PHOTO church other than Pope John Paul II,” University until 1988, when he became emeritus of physics at wrote the National Catholic Reporter, president of InterVarsity Christian the University of Cal- where McBrien was a regular contributor. Fellowship (USA), a nondenominational ifornia, Berkeley, also “He was . . . knowledgeable, able to ministry to students on college campuses won the $1.5 million express complex ideas in digestible sound across the country. Templeton Prize for bites, and utterly unafraid of controversy.” “Steve brought pastoral care, healing, Progress toward Re - McBrien wrote 25 books, among them and hope to an InterVarsity community search or Discoveries Catholicism, Lives of the Saints, and that had undergone much trauma in the about Spiritual Realities for 2005. Lives of the Popes. 1980s,” said Alec Hill, current InterVarsity Upon receiving the award, Townes McBrien was born in 1936 and grew president. “He is one of the kindest and said, “I believe there is no long-range up in West Hartford, Connecticut. He most authentic people I’ve ever known.” question more important than the pur- was ordained in 1962 and went to Rome Hayner also was an adjunct professor pose and meaning of our lives and our to study for a doctorate in theology at of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell universe,” according to a statement from Gregorian University. Theological Seminary, Regent College, the John Templeton Foundation. In a 2008 interview with the Boston and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Townes, who grew up as a progressive Globe, McBrien was asked why he never In 2001, Hayner returned to parish min- Baptist in South Carolina, attended First left the church over his differences with istry as a pastor at High Point Church and Congregational Church in Berkeley for official teaching. at the Fountain of Life Family Ministry decades. “I have affirmation from so many Center, both in Madison, Wisconsin. Townes shared the 1964 Nobel Prize good people,” he said. “I feel that I have He moved to Columbia Theological in Physics with two Russian scientists for a responsibility to them to continue Seminary in 2003 to become the Peachtree the invention of the laser. In 1964, while working at it and doing the best I can.” Professor of Evangelism and Church a professor at Columbia University in —David Gibson, Religion News Service

17 Christian Century March 4, 2015 a detail, like the name of the slave Malchus in John 18. Does it March 8, Third Sunday in Lent give us a more vivid sense for the scene? Who knows? John 2:13–22 It is what Jesus does with the cords that is of the most inter- est, and it is this moment in the narrative that painters like to WHAT IS JESUS so mad about? He has recently portray. Most famous is El Greco’s depiction: Jesus standing in been to a family wedding, a joyful event, where his mother the center with a whirl of people around him as he flails away, imposed on him to help out with the wine. Now he goes to in almost the same stance as Michelangelo’s Jesus in the Last Jerusalem after a few days at home with his mother, brothers, Judgment from the Sistine Chapel. The chaos all around is and disciples. Is he upset with his family? worth examining. In the version of the painting at the When the disciples try to explain Jesus’ wrath, they quote Minneapolis Institute of the Arts—one of several that exists— Psalm 69:9, “Zeal for your house has consumed me.” John neg- El Greco does not include big animals, only doves. And unlike lects to include the verse just before it, however: “I have the money changers, those selling doves don’t seem to be the become a stranger to my kindred, an alien to my mother’s chil- objects of Jesus’ wrath. They know they will be sent out as well, dren.” Is Jesus suffering rejection from his family, or maybe but they do not face the full brunt of Jesus’ fury. more likely a sense that his calling is separating him from them? What we see in the painting is the distress of the people on His mother seems to have annoyed him just a bit by asking him Jesus’ right being forced from their work, with their tables to do something about the wine shortage in Cana. And why flipped over and the resultant chaos. To his left are the scribes does John take the story and put it at the beginning of Jesus’ looking on, trying to deduce what Jesus is up to. One can see ministry and not toward the end, as the synoptics have it? by their gestures that they are puzzled by his actions. Could this be more like Jesus coming to take up his identity In the scribes’ reaction we see that their reality and Jesus’ as the son of his father, as well as that of his mother Mary and reality are completely out of sync. The scribes appear to be living his family? There is a faint echo of the young boy Jesus astounding the elders in the temple at the age of 12. He knows the temple is his because, as he thunders, it is As the Passover lamb, Jesus knows animal his father’s house; he knows the business he must be about. From this view, Jesus’ sacrifice will no longer be necessary. rage at the sellers of sacrificial animals and the money changers takes on a richness. As the Passover lamb, in a kind of spiritual flatland, one that John is always exposing in which he will be at the end of John, he knows that animal sacri- his Gospel. (Edwin A. Abbott’s little classic Flatland: A Romance fices will no longer be necessary. of Many Dimensions is well worth reading or rereading to help For those of us who are accustomed to walking into temples one think about the two realms of John.) Jesus says they can and finding them quiet, clean, and awe-inspiring, the brawling destroy the temple and in three days he will raise it up. This, of scene Jesus confronts—the caterwauling of the sacrificial course, bewilders them. “This temple has been under construc- beasts, their waste, the chaos of the exchanges between buyers tion for 46 years,” they say, “and will you raise it up in three and sellers—would be beyond distressing. Most of us live far days?” It is almost funny. John has to explain that Jesus is talking from the barnyard today, but if you have ever spent time about the temple of his own body, not the temple where they are around oxen, you know that these big animals, while docile, are standing. The disciples do not understand it either; they only hardly prospective church members. Neither are bleating remember it later, after Christ’s resurrection, when they believe. sheep, live Christmas pageants aside. This is a wild and clam- Christ has come to bring the heavenly kingdom near. orous scene. Prayer would seem to be the farthest thing from Christians, especially preachers, are called to bring that heaven- these people’s minds; it would be for most of us. At least, that ly reality into the very plodding reality of daily life. This account is what Jesus sees. should help us tune our ears to catch the miraculous reality of Jesus drives this bawling mass of creatures out with a an incarnate God walking among us, trying to put things right, whip—one he makes out of cords, the appropriate material for giving us a new reality—as he moves from his mother’s world of dealing with animals. The reference to the cords is one of those flesh and family into taking charge of his father’s house. His vivid little details that make us say, Huh? Wouldn’t just men- presence brings a new dimension into our ordinary lives of buy- tioning “a whip” be enough? It is typical of John to give us such ing and selling. Everything is new and changed.

Christian Century March 4, 2015 18 Reflections on the lectionary

poem is filled with fear and terror, something that is gnawing March 15, Fourth Sunday in Lent at the public psyche today as it hasn’t so much before. John 3:14–21 Nicodemus’s visit with Jesus makes more sense in this con- text, I think. HERE BE DRAGONS, as the old map says. John The good news in Jesus’ contrast between darkness and 3:16 may be well-charted territory, one of the most memorized light is that it does, in fact, have to do with us. The whole drama verses among Christians—all good news. But this week’s of salvation is that God has come into this world to find us and Gospel reading starts back with Moses and the brass serpent give us meaning. God, the God of all, is going to do everything (or dragon) and then goes on to talk about those in darkness to bring us into the light. The incarnation is about us. This is and those who are or are not condemned. By the time we hear what the whole project is about, to bring us into the light, into all Jesus has to say, even Nicodemus himself has disappeared communion with God. into the darkness whence he came. I often feel I am living just at the edge of Patchen’s “roary The binary world of John’s Gospel is well drawn in Jesus’ night.” Is that the darkness Nicodemus feels trapped in? Has talk here. But it is troubling to people who have been raised on he glimpsed some beam of Jesus’ light and felt drawn toward uncertainty principles, who hate bright lines. Bright lines are it? Artist Henri Lindegaard draws Nicodemus with horizontal fundamental to understanding this lesson. That God loved the lines and Jesus with vertical ones. The light floods down from world enough to give the only begotten Son is good news, but heaven to Jesus; he is free to go up and down. Nicodemus, how- we don’t always focus on this news. We prefer being in the ever, looks to be caged in his earthbound reality. Jesus is the place of the decider, not the decided upon. Thus we are wor- man from above, the one who can bring new birth and light to ried about the darkness and the unknowns that frame the us. After we see the light and walk in it, like the Samaritan verse. How could a God of love condemn people? What does woman whom Jesus will soon meet, we begin to understand it mean to be in darkness? what the darkness was and that we were trapped in it. Here is where the dragons be. The map ends here. In this From the darkness we are drawn to the light. It naturally region, there are things we do not know—truly uncharted ter- draws us toward itself, as Jesus says he himself will do. Once we ritory. It is the nature of darkness to be frightening. It cannot have seen it, how can we want anything else? Like the be charted, because we cannot see what is there. So instead of thinking of others lost in the night, maybe we could put ourselves After we see the light and walk in it, in Nicodemus’s place and think what it is like to be in the dark and truly lost. We we begin to understand what the know such feelings from our childhood, if not now. It’s scary out there, as poet darkness was. Kenneth Patchen (1911–1972) writes in “All the Roary Night”: “All around us / The footprints of the Israelites bitten by snakes in the wilderness, we cry out for sal- beast . . . / Of something above there / Something that doesn’t vation. Life is found by looking at the image of the very thing know we exist.” This poem—from the point of view of an air- that kills. plane pilot or space voyager trying to make contact—gives The glory of this discourse is that now, because of Christ’s flesh to our fear of the dark. We don’t understand it because journey to bring divinity to us in our own shape, we have seen we can’t see, yet people seem to be filled with a kind of name- a reality and a life so compelling that we must tell others. As less dread or anxiety. We know something is out there—some- Peter says in Acts 4, “We cannot but speak of what we have thing, maybe “the footprints of the beast.” seen and heard.” Light is like that; it will be shared, not kept We have all looked out at space and realized our insignif- under a bushel basket. This is the urge behind what missionar- icance. We may know that we are not very significant in the ies do—they go not to create clones but to show others this face of the entire universe, which “doesn’t know we exist.” shining light, this new reality that could change everything. (Is this why Nicodemus came to see Jesus?) We may even have an inkling that there is heartbreak out there, as Patchen The author is Gracia M. Grindal, professor emeritus of rhetoric at Luther goes on to say. It feels hopeless, and we feel meaningless. The Seminary.

19 Christian Century March 4, 2015 Fred Craddock in retirement The people’s preaching class by William Brosend

SOMETIME IN THE late 1980s I was presenting a pected that he was being called to be a minister, but like pastors paper on my dissertation when I noticed that the most impor- and priests before him he could not imagine that it was his call. tant person in postwar American preaching was sitting in the The ministerial task that he feared the most was preaching. first row. I had the opportunity to meet Fred B. Craddock later, The call to ministry turned out to be stronger than his resist- and that day changed my life. ance, and there was a small college in the family’s tradition— During the 1960s and ’70s Fred Craddock reshaped preach- Johnson Bible College (now Johnson University)—that, like ing in mainline pulpits through two of his books: As One the better-known Berea College in Kentucky, allowed him to Without Authority (1969) and Overhearing the Gospel (1978). pay for his tuition, room, and board by working on the college The world of homiletics has embraced, resisted, and grudging- farm. Berea was only 19 miles farther away from Humboldt, ly revisited the message of these books. They remain among but “geographical fright”—crossing the state line, something the most important works on preaching in the last 60 years, and he had never done—kept him from considering it. their wisdom undergirds most of today’s best preaching. He thrived at Johnson and went on to Phillips Seminary, the A few months ago I went to Cherry Log, Georgia, to talk Disciples of Christ school in Enid, Oklahoma. He graduated in with Craddock and find out what he has been doing since his 1953 and went to Vanderbilt Divinity School to earn a Ph.D. in retirement from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. I also wanted to find out about the work of the Craddock Center, which was established to carry on his passion for preaching the gospel in words and deeds. Craddock’s homiletic is based “What was your vision for the Craddock Center when it was created?” I asked. on communicating what can’t “We did not have any vision,” Craddock said. “It was all by accident, by need.” be communicated directly. He told me about his life growing up in Humboldt, Tennessee, and about the impact of the Great Depression on New Testament. His dissertation on Colossians was written anyone born into rural poverty. He tells this story in under the direction of Leander Keck and Lou Silberman. He Reflections on My Call to Preach. His preaching, he says, has returned to Phillips to teach. always been “semiautobiographical.” Where in all this was Craddock the preacher being formed? “Ours was a family of words,” Craddock told me. “There As sometimes happens in small denominational seminaries, were three books in our home: the King James Bible, The Billy Phillips Seminary asked Craddock to teach outside his field— Sunday Story: The Life and Times of William Ashley Sunday, and in this case, a course in preaching and the literary criticism of Shakespeare’s works. My father was a storyteller, and the lan- the New Testament. Craddock admits that the class was a fail- guage of Shakespeare thoroughly infused his speech. My moth- ure. The students complained that at the end of the class they er set the world to music, making up songs and ditties, accompa- were further away from the pulpit than when it started. The nied by her guitar or harmonica—that softened the hard edges class he taught on the subject was the first class in preaching of our lives. My oldest brother Bill was the editor and publisher that Craddock had ever been in. of two newspapers in Tennessee; Alvin worked as layout editor for the Journal of the American Medical Association; Roland raddock took a leave at the University of Tübingen, started as a reporter in Memphis, with a colleague across his with the aim of studying preaching. “As you can imag- desk who wrote the novel True Grit. Words everywhere.” Cine,” he said, “it did not go well.” “In high school I wrote a 75-page paper on Shakespeare. It Professor Hermann Diem at Tübingen, on learning that wasn’t for a class; I just wanted to write it. The teacher asked Craddock was there to study preaching, told him to go home why I did it, then handed it around and said, ‘Look at this, a stu- dent who knows what he wants to do.’” William Brosend is an Episcopal priest. He teaches homiletics at Sewanee, But Craddock did not know what he wanted to do. He sus- University of the South.

Christian Century March 4, 2015 20 “If the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others, might that not be a proper starting place for the proclamation of the Son of Man?”

Exterior photo © Jimmy Emerson (via Creative Commons license) and read Kierkegaard. In those days, Craddock said (quoting by saying that “narrative preaching is taking on water”—but the great biblical scholar Ernst Käsemann), “preaching was then proceeded to tell stories that argued otherwise. mocked as a ‘bastard discipline.’” He directly challenged the quotation from Kierkegaard that Craddock did read Kierkegaard, and he was struck especial- inspired Craddock: “There is no lack of information in a ly by this line from the 19th-century Danish theologian: “There Christian land.” In our day, it can be argued, there is a wide- is no lack of information in a Christian land; something else is spread lack of biblical and theological knowledge. lacking, and it is something one person cannot communicate Nevertheless, the second half of the quotation remains un - directly to another.” This theme became the center of what challenged—“something else is lacking, and it is something one became Craddock’s Beecher Lectures in Preaching at Yale, person cannot communicate directly to another.” Craddock’s which were published as Overhearing the Gospel. homiletic is based on communicating—through story, anec- Craddock’s point was that preaching should focus not on dote, and questions—something that cannot be communicated preacher, text, or sermon, but on the listener and on “gaining a directly, and that insight remains crucial. hearing” for the gospel in a culture that thought it already knew what the gospel was about. He argued that the way to raddock’s limitations as a preacher are well document- gain a hearing for the gospel is by communicating indirectly. ed. He is famously not tall, his voice is too high-pitched The “something lacking” in a Christian land is “something one Cand only gets higher, and he refuses to leave the pulpit. person cannot communicate directly to another.” Preachers His gestures consist of knocking the pulpit once or waving his were invited to shift from trying to prove a point to putting the hand over his head and saying, “Whew.” listener in a dynamic conversation with the text. There was How did he become a towering figure in preaching? He room for the preacher to ask questions—and room for the lis- mentioned to me three things that I think answer this ques- tener to draw his or her own conclusions. tion—tradition, liturgy, and character. As one just beginning to preach Sunday after Sunday in His preaching is first of all biblical. “I never stopped being those days, I found Craddock’s move from deductive, exposito- a student of the New Testament. All through my career I ry preaching to inductive, narrative preaching to be a great worked on something that was different from what I had personal blessing. The move probably saved preaching from done before. I stepped out of the grasp the apostle Paul had irrelevance. on me in graduate school by studying John. Then I concen- Not all experts on preaching today endorse Craddock’s trated on the parables. I always kept some kind of little approach, but their own preaching style often gives them away. exegetical fire going, because I never knew where it would For example, when Thomas Long, who holds the same chair in take me.” preaching at Candler that Craddock did, gave the DuBose Tending the exegetical fire, reading deeply, doing more than Lectures at the School of Theology, Sewanee, in 2012, he began preparing the next sermon was to Craddock “not really a

21 Christian Century March 4, 2015 method, but a discipline. A discipline of study that allowed the that the church has work to do. “The question,” Craddock has method to more or less take care of itself.” It is a discipline he often said, “is not whether the church is dying, but whether it is has not abandoned; he is still working daily in his study even giving its life for the world.” though he’s decided at age 86 that his preaching and teaching Character is an obvious but tricky characteristic. On this will likely be in print, not in person. point Craddock turned to Pope Francis and toward the every- The context of the liturgy is a second characteristic of day work of ministry. He expressed the hope that we are near Craddock’s preaching. He comments, “I was walking down a the end of the era of the “church of Oprah,” with its focus on sidewalk in Decatur, Georgia, on the way to the church where I was to preach when I met an acquaintance sitting at an out- door coffee shop. We chatted and she asked me to join her, but I said that I needed to get to church. I invited her to join me, After retiring, he wanted to but she held up her Sunday paper and said, ‘This is my Bible,’ teach people who couldn’t and then her coffee cup, ‘This is my communion.’” “I think the days of that nonsense are ending. I believe that afford to go to seminary. our traditions are going to return with strength, both to the Eucharist and to carefully crafted sermons that will demand to be published and reread after they are heard.” He knows that the inner life of the believer, and “back to a focus on the love of coffee and the Sunday Times are not sufficient. He also knows God and love of the neighbor.” Oprah Winfrey’s personal example includes starting schools in Africa and other notable acts of charity and generosity, but the church of Oprah begins and ends with self. “If the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others,” Craddock asks, “might that not be a proper There was silence in heaven for starting place for the proclamation of the Son of Man?” Craddock’s answer to this question led, after retirement half an hour from Emory, to his desire to teach preaching to people in —at a writing retreat Appalachia who could not afford to attend seminary. When he The full inhalation and his wife, Nettie, moved to Cherry Log, Craddock let the before the coming of the kingdom.

Pencils scuttling over legal pads, hands whispering in beards.

Friend, I know the sound of your water bottle flipping open.

Brother, I’ve memorized your bare feet on wooden floors.

One of you runs a bath upstairs, a year of sorrows draining down. One of you spreads out a manuscript, SHARE pages setting sail in your fingers. The lake sobs on the shore. all CENTURY Rain perpendiculars the panes,

Beloved, and you stretch articles online your knuckles to the ceiling. Visitors to christiancentury.org can now read a few articles of their choosing each month, without subscribing. So when you read an arti- The golden censer of thunder shudders just above the shingles. cle you find useful, you can e-mail it, tweet it or share it on Facebook—and your friends and colleagues will be able to read it, too. We pass around a bowl of candy, Learn more at holding each other’s breath. christiancentury.org/share Tania Runyan

Christian Century March 4, 2015 22 word get out that he would be available at no charge for a weekend of preaching and teaching in the small towns of North THE CRADDOCK CENTER Georgia, East Tennessee, Western North Carolina, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Only those without a seminary diploma he idea for the Craddock Center began when a Head Start staffer in should attend. Ellijay, Georgia, called Cherry Log Christian Church and spoke to These sessions would start, he said, TFred Craddock. “with a scripture and a sermon by me. “I hear you care about poor people,” she said. Then [participants] would tear it apart, “Well, yes, we do,” Craddock replied. and we would talk about how to put it “I have a woman here with four children, another one on the way, and no back together—what had I missed in the place to stay and nothing to eat.” biblical text, or what had they missed or “I’ll come down.” regretted in my sermon. Then I would The poverty in the nine counties of Georgia, Tennessee, and North preach it again, and as likely as not they Carolina that are served by the center is immense. Craddock realized that would say, ‘I really liked it better the first children need to have their basic needs met and that they need something time.’ I would use some of those methods more: they need to be delighted, to laugh, sing, and dance. And they need a in my teaching today if my life was going book of their own. in the other direction.” Under the leadership of Julie Jabaley, executive director, the Craddock When the Craddocks were planning the Center provides services to 1,100 children each year, mostly pre-K to second move to Cherry Log they had not taken grade. The public schools have no music programs, so the center sends some- into account a search for a church home. one each week to teach songs. They also send Story Express, a bookmobile There was no church in their tradition any- with a difference—the children can pick out a book to keep. The center stuffs where nearby, and while they enjoyed vis- backpacks with snacks for the weekend and coordinates “seamless summers” iting the Methodists or Presbyterians, they of meals (funded by a federal government program) at Camp Craddock did not find a home among them. Eventu - (Craddock is said to hate the name). In the basement of the center, people ally some people in the area from the can find used furniture and warm clothing, including caps knit and crocheted Disciples tradition asked Craddock if he by volunteers. The center also supports a food program in Ellijay. would lead them in worship. One service After years of teaching preaching, Craddock now limits his appearances led to a service once a month, then to ser - to the Preaching Day held on the first Mondays of March and October at the vices every other Sunday until eventually Cherry Log Christian Church. Free and open to all, the Preaching Day has Cherry Log Christian Church was found- welcomed preachers such as Tom Long, Amy-Jill Levine, Will Willimon, and ed. It was easy to draw a crowd—the Barbara Brown Taylor. —WB church put up signs on the highway in the old Burma Shave style, “Fred—Crad - CENTER CRADDOCK THE OF COURTESY PHOTO dock—preaching—this—Sunday.” Form - ing a church was something else again. “Anybody can draw a crowd,” Craddock said. “But to what purpose?” The Craddock Center was founded in 2001 to meet the needs of the children in a nine-county area. Its work, said Craddock, “turned Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs at least sideways, if not completely on its head.” It assumes that children need books and music as well as food and shel- ter (see sidebar). Craddock’s legacy is not just the Cherry Log Christian Church, the Craddock Center, and his many articles, books, ser- mons, and presentations. That part is obvi- ous. A less obvious part is the impact that is being made by the thousands of preach- ers who have read his works, heard his preaching, listened to his lectures, and sought to pass on in their own way his wis- BOOKS AND MUSIC: The Craddock Center seeks to enrich the lives of people dom and delight in preaching. in southern Appalachia through programs of service and cultural enrichment.

23 Christian Century March 4, 2015 The politics of a higher law Religious violence? by Ted A. Smith

THE GRAPHIC KILLINGS, captured on video cruelty,” he wrote to the mayor and city council of Atlanta in and posted for the world to see, are horrific enough—and they September 1864, “and you cannot refine it.” only begin to tell the tale. The insurgent force known as ISIS, When Sherman’s troops left Atlanta two months later, they ISIL, or, as it now demands, the Islamic State has slaughtered burned much of the city on their way out of town. Winning the more than a thousand civilians and practiced ethnic cleansing war, Sherman had come to believe, required the destruction of on a massive scale. Leaders of the Islamic State have justified anything that could be used to support the enemy’s war effort. these acts as part of the process of establishing what they have Whether these tactics met the threshold for “total war” or declared to be a caliphate, a political entity governed by a suc- were, as Mark Grimsley argues, merely a form of “hard war,” cessor of the Prophet and ordered by Islamic law. In the name they clearly went beyond established constraints on violence. of this higher law, the Islamic State has committed acts of vio- But Sherman’s goal was not to make the South conform to a lence that seem to know no limit. higher law but simply to win the war and enforce the rule of From crusaders to colonizers to bombers of abortion clinics existing federal laws. It was ambivalent, this-worldly pragma- to revolutionaries of many kinds, people who declare their loy- tism that pushed violence to new levels. alty to a higher law have been responsible for terrible violence. To justify their actions, they may appeal to Christianity, Judaism, Islam, or other religious traditions or to traditions that are not usually identified as religious. What they share is a Appeals to a higher law need commitment to some code that stands above the established laws of the land. not lead to violence. This long history of violence has led many people to reject any kind of appeal to a higher law. Andrew Delbanco, a schol- This pattern of escalation exposes a fault line in Delbanco’s ar of American literature and culture, criticizes what he calls argument about the higher law and violence. Rejecting all talk the “abolitionist imagination” (in reference to some fervent of higher law does not necessarily prevent the emergence of 19th-century Americans’ effort to abolish slavery). “All holy something close to total war. Furthermore, when political wars,” he writes, “whether metaphoric or real, from left or from processes refuse talk of higher laws, the prevailing laws and insti- right, bespeak a zeal for combating sin, not tomorrow, not in tutions can become insulated from a thoroughgoing critique. due time, not, in Lincoln’s phrase, by putting it ‘in the course of They can attain what the German critic Walter Benjamin called ultimate extinction,’ but now.” “mythic” qualities. They can begin to appear natural and neces- Delbanco recommends instead a posture of “articulate sary. The work of preserving these existing laws and institutions ambivalence,” which involves a little less conviction and a little then assumes something like an ultimate importance, and this more patience. He would turn our gaze from higher laws to the presumption of ultimate importance can justify even extreme slow, difficult task of working with others to improve the laws violence so long as it is done by agents who are authorized by that exist. existing laws to preserve the order created by those laws. Delbanco assumes that a politics oriented toward a higher law is more likely to produce violence. This line of argument artin Luther King Jr. named these dynamics in his has intuitive appeal: it seems commonsensical that holding 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” King addressed firmly to ultimate values is likely to lead to ultimate violence. Mthe letter to moderate white religious leaders who And this can happen, as in the case of the Islamic State. But displayed all the virtues of Delbanco’s articulate ambivalence. Delbanco ignores the ways that ambivalent, pragmatic, earth- As tensions rose in Birmingham, eight leaders of Protestant, bound convictions can also lead to violence without limits. Catholic, and Jewish communities in Alabama wrote a public Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman, for instance, had nothing like an abolitionist imagination. He refused both Ted A. Smith teaches at the Candler School of Theology. This essay grows out the narrative that made war into a theater of glory and the of his book Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics invocation of higher laws that sustained that narrative. “War is (Stanford University Press).

Christian Century March 4, 2015 24 letter they dubbed “A Call to Unity.” The authors of the letter For if the higher law is something like the perfection of public were not fanatical segregationists. On the contrary, all eight of policy, and if fulfillment of the law is earthly conformity to this them had signed an earlier public letter condemning the heavenly rule, then believers in the higher law can understand extremism of Governor George Wallace. On April 12, 1963— themselves as called to violent action to establish this state of Good Friday—they again called for moderation and the rule of affairs. The logic of code is the logic of theocratic violence. law in a letter criticizing King and other leaders of the Christian ethics is steadily tempted by such theocratic logic. Birmingham civil rights campaign. Positioning themselves When Christian ethics sees its task as discerning God’s code against the “extreme measures” of both Wallace and King, the for ordering the world, devising a set of policies that approxi- white moderates expressed their sympathy for “the natural mates that code, and figuring out ways to realize and enforce impatience of people who feel that their hopes are slow in them, a theocratic logic is at work. being realized.” But they termed the demonstrations “unwise This logic sits uneasily with commitments to democratic and untimely.” They counseled patience and respect for the laws of the land. King, on the other hand, displayed an SING A NEW SONG THIS YEAR! abolitionist imagination. Responding to the moderates’ call for law and order, he argued that working for justice might require breaking some earthly laws and accepting the penalty that came with such actions. Just laws deserved to be obeyed, but unjust laws had no authority. “How does one determine when a law is just or unjust?” King asked. “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.” Such laws, King wrote, citing Augustine, were “no laws at all.” Justice as defined by the higher law required immediate action. African Americans had already waited, King wrote, for more than 340 years. He called for justice in the very time frame that Delbanco says defines the abolitionist imagination: “not tomorrow, not next year, but now.” King saw the need for a politics of the higher law. Appealing to a standard above the established law of the land has the power to break the hold of an “Glory to God is destined to be unjust order on moral imaginations. King’s definition of a just higher law one of the finest hymnals could end up legitimating violence—if it of the early 21st century.” was pried out of King’s larger gospel —C. Michael Hawn, Perkins School of Theology, SMU vision. As this example shows, what we need is not a ban on appeals to a higher law but the capacity for critical, theological 9LHZWKHFRQWHQWVDQGÀQGLQIRUPDWLRQDERXWSURGXFWV conversations about the form of the high- SULFHVDQGIUHHUHVRXUFHVDWZZZJORU\WRJRGK\PQDORUJ er law and its relation to earthly politics. )DFHERRNFRPJORU\WRJRGK\PQDO References to a higher law often Twitter:#JORU\JRGK\PQDO regard it as the same kind of thing as pos- Phone: 1-800-533-4371 itive, earthly law. That is, the higher law is frequently presented as a code involving obligations and prohibitions. These codes are phrased in the imperative mood; they are commands. And these commands offer mythical legitimation for violence.

25 Christian Century March 4, 2015 process. It also sits uneasily with commitments to a pluralist institutions but the constriction of the imagination, the reduc- society that involves people who would resist the implementa- tion of beatific visions to policy proposals, the loss of the abili- tion of the divinely sanctioned code. Both of these commit- ty to think of a higher law as anything but a better code. ments require amendments to the theocratic impulse. One strategy for managing the violent potential of the high- want to take seriously the danger of violence in the name er law joins great confidence about the ability to know the of a higher law. But the answer to that problem is neither higher law with a principled refusal to do violence for the sake Ito refuse all talk of higher law nor to write a code with bet- of fulfilling that law. This strategy informs much of contempo- ter content. What is needed is a better and deeper understand- rary Christian ethics, which often joins theocratic logic to ing of the higher law. something like a rider clause forswearing violent action out- This better and deeper version of the higher law is marked side the law. by four qualities: an indicative mood that serves to negate But this strategy still assumes that the higher law takes the absolute obligations in this age in ways that invite a free form of a code that requires some kind of violence for its ful- response in history that is permeated by the presence of God. I will focus here on the first two qualities. Understanding justice as an indicative rather than an imper- ative detaches the higher law from its alliance with violence. Jesus does not offer a plan An imperative usually calls for enforcement. An indicative, on the other hand, just is. An indicative higher law would require to bring God’s reign; no more enforcement than the law of gravity. A higher law in he announces that it’s here. the indicative mood would still give a picture of justice, a vision of relationships in the New Jerusalem, but it would not demand that we take action to establish that city. fillment. It typically assigns that violence to the state. Even if it Just so, Jesus does not give people a plan for bringing in the would limit violence in wars abroad and criticize excessive vio- reign of God but announces that the reign is at hand. Mary lence in enforcing policies at home, this ethics still presumes a does not return from the tomb waving a list of things to do but necessary role for state violence in establishing and maintain- proclaiming that Christ is risen. Paul writes that God was in ing justice. And it is just that notion of “necessity” that opens Christ, reconciling the world to Godself, naming the indicative the door to mythic justifications of violence. quality of a past event that continues into the present. The When the higher law is reduced to a code, we are left with a great creeds of the church are entirely in the indicative. choice between a higher law that legitimates variations on holy We can, of course, fashion imperatives from these indica- war, on the one hand, and on the other, a flat, immanent prag- tives. But they are derivative and constructed. The higher law, matism that legitimates a stealthier form of mythic violence. the new commandment, is not first of all a code we are called The poverty of these choices reveals the real cost of secular- to enforce. ization: not the declining numbers of members of religious The indicative of the gospel relates to the world as negation. It shatters the structures of obligation of earthly laws not by proposing better content for those laws but by declaring a ful- fillment in Jesus Christ that undoes the absolute quality of the whole category of earthly law. The proclamation that the reign Pearly everlasting of God is at hand does not bring with it a new set of impera- (Anaphalis margaritacea) tives, for such imperatives would betray the gift they announce. The proclamation of the reign of God instead relativizes the Are you really? Underneath the snows full spectrum of this-worldly obligations. Because God’s reign of winter, do you blossom on and on? is at hand, obligations to Caesar, to families, and even to one’s Do the pocket gophers crave you, own life lose the sheen of absoluteness. tunneling beneath that blanket, And because the sign of the reign is the cross, new obli- pray to enter your secret chambers, gations do not arise to fill the gaps left by the old. On the rest inside your open gates? cross Jesus does not squeeze himself into Caesar’s throne. He does not offer a new and improved edition of Roman I see your flowering, fruiting law. The indicative of the higher law breaks the absoluteness clusters, hanging on into October, of every earthly imperative without establishing a new one leaning into the open path, in its place. making way, ushering whatever is holy Because the reign of God is always already among us, like a into the presence of things that stay. seed growing secretly, this dynamic is always at work. But sometimes it becomes more visible to us, as it did in the mass —Ross Lake National Recreation Area civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham. They shattered the facade of legitimacy that sustained the laws on the books of the Paul Willis city as policed by Bull Connor. The words of King and other

Christian Century March 4, 2015 26 leaders made the case. And those words were sealed by the tes- itics. Christians too believe that God has relevance for how timonies of thousands of people willing to defy unjust laws, humans order our lives together. even in the face of dogs, truncheons, water hoses, imprison- Moreover, banning theological reasoning from politics con- ment, and worse. Their actions made plain the indicative state- tributes to the conditions in which the secular state can ment that was already true: the laws on the books of become absolute in itself. Ironically, it takes a dose of political Birmingham were no laws at all. And the use of force to sustain theology to preserve the secularity of the secular. those laws was mob violence in uniform. The question is not whether theology should shape politics, The shattering of that old order makes possible a differ- but how. The theology I have sketched here would not ent kind of politics—but it does not determine the form denounce the Islamic State for looking to a higher law. It those politics must take. King’s letter from Birmingham jail, would argue instead with the Islamic State’s interpretation of like the actions of the protesters, did make positive claims Shari‘a as a code that could and should be imposed by vio- about the nature of God’s justice. But if we read those claims lence. It would seek out Muslim allies who think of Shari‘a in about justice as divine legitimation for a new code, we per- other ways. And it would not propose some rival Christian, petuate the old pattern by which revolutions devour their secular, or cosmopolitan code that should be imposed instead own children. of Shari‘a but in the same way that the Islamic State imagines. We should rather see these claims as destroying the legiti- For even if the content of that code stressed democracy, macy of one order and opening up space for the free pursuit of human rights, and peaceful coexistence, regarding the code as a different kind of life. This freedom has direction: it is for pol- a divinely sanctioned imperative would authorize ideological itics that are not bound to the project of sustaining racial hier- escalations of violence—as we saw in the administration of archy. But it is still a freedom to create a life together and not George W. Bush. merely a command to bring the world into conformity with a A better understanding of the higher law would reveal the code, even if that code is just. It therefore locates temporal violence of the Islamic State to be fitful and fruitless, a real but authority and responsibility in human choices. It does not pre- not ultimate threat. It would break the spellbinding quality of tend to offer divine sanction for violence. the Islamic State’s terror, refusing the sleight of hand by which This vision of the higher law makes possible a messianic it becomes an evil so evil that it justifies limitless violence in politics that is an inversion of theocratic politics. For theocrat- response. It would reject both the fantasy that violence can cre- ic movements, politics are prior to the fulfillment of a higher ate a final peace and the destructive, reciprocal violence of an law. They seek to make the world what a divinely given code eye for an eye. It would make different kinds of responses pos- says it should be. Politics—with words or weapons—is the sible, including nonresistance, nonviolent resistance, and even means to make the world correspond to the standard set by the limited violence in defense of life. And it would remind code. When that correspondence has been achieved, politics Christians that the event that most demands a response from comes to an end. us is not the rise of a terrorist movement but the fulfillment of If, on the other hand, the higher law is an indicative that the law in Jesus Christ. has already been fulfilled, then these patterns are reversed. Such fulfillment does not prescribe the content of every The fulfillment of the law precedes politics. Fulfillment faithful response. It does not become a new code, not even in undoes the need for violence. But it makes possible new kinds the purified form of a principled or the chastened of collective deliberation about the nature of a free and faith- form of a realist ethics. Instead, its breaking of the spell of ter- ful response. ror creates freedom for a range of responses—and for collab- The richest forms of political life are possible only when oration in and dialogue about them with Muslims, Jews, secu- people are free to do more than conform their societies to pre- larists, and other members of a plural society. The messianic existing codes, whether those codes claim to be set by earthly fulfillment of law is the beginning of politics. or divine powers. Because people are born into a world already ordered by Two Food and Faith Seminars in Asheville, North Carolina codes of many kinds, some kind of eman- cipation is necessary for political life to begin. If talk of “divine violence” makes A NNewew Heaven,Heaven, A NNewew Earth any sense at all, it is only to describe this €€ ‚ƒ„ †‡ˆ, ˆ‡€‰€Š‹, Œ Žˆˆ‰Œ †€ shattering of the mythical pretensions of June 15-19, 2015 AND, NEW THIS SUMMER: earthly orders. And, as Jesus and King saw, such shattering does not require the This experiential learning course will feature Re: Generate morning lectures with Revelation scholar food, creation care, and bioregional leadership shedding of blood. Dr. Barbara Rossing, plus afternoon workshops This account of a politics of the high- on food justice and permaculture, common A six-day fellowship for young religious leaders meals, and time for worship and renewal. working in the areas of food justice, agriculture, er law suggests some ways that health, or climate change. Apply today! Christians might make sense of the Islamic State. Christians have no reason to join those who criticize the Islamic www.divinity.wfu.edu/food-and-faith/ State simply for mixing theology and pol-

27 Christian Century March 4, 2015 Gardening in a time of climate change Carbon and compost by Norman Wirzba

WHAT IF ONE of the most compelling responses to vores have been taken off the land and put in confinement the overabundance of carbon in the atmosphere is to restore where, instead of aiding soil fertility, they contribute to the pro- the carbon in the ground beneath our feet? And what if the duction of greenhouse gases (methane and nitrous oxide). The best inspiration and model for this carbon-restoring work is to result: it is estimated that industrial agriculture alone con- be found in the life of a gardening God? tributes 30 percent of the greenhouse gases that are warming Like a good gardener, God loves compost because compost the planet. is the basis for fertility and fecundity. It is where carbon takes Like many others, I find it overwhelming to try to wrap my some of its most dense and complex forms. mind around planet warming and all that it means: ocean levels In his lovely book The Gardener’s Year, the great Czech rising and coastal developments drowning, springs and rivers writer Karel Cˇ apek says that heaps of compost are the primary evaporating, species losing their homes and dying, regions burn- monuments that gardeners love to build. If such a gardener could have been at the Garden of Eden, he or she would have sniffed excitedly and said, “Good Lord, what humus!” God Humus is a stable place loves the rich layers of organic matter and the billions of microorganisms, fungi, bacteria, and earthworms that move to store carbon. through soil because it is in their movement that terrestrial life’s richness is found. Healthy soil comes first. It is quite literally the ing up and drying out, people fighting over scarce water, extreme foundation upon which our life rests. No humus, no humanity. weather destroying homes, and coastal residents becoming People having become almost exclusively the shoppers refugees. And this is just a partial list! No wonder more and more rather than the producers of food, soil is easily forgotten or people are saying that climate change represents the single taken for granted. But the story of scripture and the story of our biggest threat to life as we know it that humanity has ever faced. lives speak an essential truth: soil is precious because it is the Is the American dream over? Is capitalism finished? Can I keep material medium of God’s life-giving and life-nurturing love. In my iPhone? its degradation all creatures suffer, and God is dishonored. The temptation is to stick our heads in the sand and pretend Having made the first human from the ground, God then that global warming isn’t happening. But if we take the idea of instructs this earthling to take care of the garden. This work is not God the Gardener seriously, the better response is literally to a punishment. It is, rather, an invitation to the human to partici- work our hands into the soil, commit to the soil’s healing, and pate with God in the work of caring for soil and feeding creatures, in that action contribute in a major way to the cooling and and thereby also coming to understand and appreciate God’s nur- healing of our planet. How? By advocating for a better agricul- turing life and the character of the world. It is an invitation to ture that returns atmospheric carbon to the ground. become smart and sympathetic in our life on the land and with other creatures. Working with God, we have an opportunity to arbon dioxide is not evil. It is a vital player in ecosys- learn the habits and refine the gardening skills of attention and tems and biophysical and meteorological processes. The care. One could argue that our divinely appointed vocation to Ckey is in the proportions. Too much carbon in the care for the garden is really God’s way of saying, “Understand the atmosphere and we all overheat. Too little and we freeze. carbon cycle that makes all life possible, and then figure out how Without carbon dioxide, vegetative life is asphyxiated. Plants you can be a nurturing and harmonious member within it.” breathe in carbon dioxide as food and breathe out oxygen for Anthropogenic climate change is the clearest indication creatures like us. We then get to eat the plants (and, if you are that people have forsaken their gardening vocation. We have a carnivore, the herbivores that eat the plants we can’t). It real- not attended to the balance of carbon in the ground. We see ly is a magnificent, awe-inducing arrangement. this in much of today’s agriculture where vast fields of one crop What does soil have to do with any of this? A lot. What has (corn, soybeans, rice, wheat) are grown, thereby degrading the soil with regimens of plowing and the steady application of Norman Wirzba teaches at Duke Divinity School. He recently wrote Food fossil-fuel-derived fertilizers and herbicides. Meanwhile, herbi- and Faith: A Theology of Eating.

Christian Century March 4, 2015 28 not been appreciated well enough is that healthy soil stores car- like Monsanto, Cargill, and ADM seek to intensify our reliance bon. The carbon cycle works roughly like this: sun energy shines on chemical inputs and toxins that destroy the microbial life that on the plant, enabling it to photosynthesize or digest atmospher- makes soil healthy. This is a double whammy: industrial tech- ic carbon dioxide. Oxygen is released back into the atmosphere, niques degrade the soil’s ability to absorb and hold carbon, and but the carbon is synthesized into the glucose that feeds the they burn ancient carbon from the ground to fuel the whole plant (and eaters like us who then eat the plant). Through a com- process. The clear sign that this agricultural method is in trouble plex process of chemical reactions, this glucose is then resynthe- is that it burns rather than restores carbon to boost fertility! sized to make various carbohydrates, proteins, and oils—all car- bon compounds. From the standpoint of addressing climate aomi Klein is correct in saying that climate change change, the truly exciting thing is that a considerable amount of “changes everything,” because it challenges to the core this glucose carbon—between 30 and 40 percent—travels Nthe economic system and the civilization that have been underground, leaking into the soil through the plant’s roots. waging war against the planet for centuries. Insofar as people When underground, this carbon feeds the soil microbes that commit to the care of the soil, not just agricultural practice but contribute to soil fertility and to vibrant plant life. In a process also new cultural forms and priorities are going to have to be called humification, complex molecules made up of carbon, developed in politics, economics, education, and our social insti- nitrogen, minerals, and soil particles form to make humus. tutions. Why? Because to become the kinds of people who are Humus does not decompose much, making it a stable store of attentive to the nurturing of soil means that correlative sympa- carbon that remains locked in the ground for a long time. thies and dispositions will have to extend into all other aspects The key to carbon sequestration is to promote the soil of our economic life too. microbes that make soil thrive. For that to happen, a vigorous This essay is not a recommendation for everyone to become and deep plant root structure needs to develop. When that hap- a farmer. The farmers we need in the future will be very special pens, even more carbon is taken out of the atmosphere, rainfall people, committed to refining the knowledge, skill, and inven- is absorbed and retained, and the land becomes more produc- tive powers that relatively few people have. What the great tive. In other words, when people commit to the building of com- majority can do is figure out how to be the farmers’ moral and post and the care of the soil—that is, when they work to promote economic support. Can we demand from our politicians that vigorous plant growth and deep root structures—they will not they give us a farm bill that directs tax dollars to a healing and only grow more nutritious and flavorful food, but there will be regenerative agriculture? Can we develop and financially sup- less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. By some estimates, a lot port local food economies that honor good work and good less. According to scientists, if we could increase by just 2 percent food? The choice is made every time we sit down to eat. the carbon content of our soils, we could bring carbon dioxide Churches need to be the champions of growers and nurturers, levels in the atmosphere down to levels that have made the life showing how their work is a participation in God’s own healing we now know possible. ways with the world. Churches should make their landholdings We need to pause now to let that bit of information sink in. and their finances available to gardeners and farmers who want to Insofar as people become good gardeners and farmers by 1) do this work. The time is ripe, even urgent, for a new kind of nurturing soil, 2) building compost, 3) drastically reducing the CSA—church supported agriculture—in which the faithful follow application of poisons, 4) stopping unnecessary tillage, 5) stimu- God to the soil, grow nutritious food and beautiful flowers, and lating deep root growth, and 6) taking herbivores out of confine- thereby contribute to the healing and the cooling of the world. ment and returning them to the land (where their manure can That we worship a gardening God means that we are not further aid soil fertility), a truly major step can be taken toward doomed to a warming, dying planet. The inspiration, the reversing the buildup of carbon in our atmosphere. We don’t tools, and the knowledge we need to care for soil are already need to mount the hugely risky geo- engineering feat of spraying our atmos- phere with sulfate aerosols to create a The First Presbyterian Church of “global dimming” effect. What we need SENIOR PASTOR Greenwich, CT seeks a dynamic to do is accept the work that God daily Senior Pastor to lead our congregation performs and has called us to from the in worship, to help us build a friendly beginning: take care of the soil. church community and grow spiritually. It sounds simple enough, but it is a Our new Senior Pastor will work with huge and revolutionary task. Major the staff and congregation to encourage our younger families and youth, support financial players have been and are con- wide-ranging mission and lead our tinuing to promote an agricultural sys- church’s growth while managing our tem that degrades soil. Moreover, in the governance processes. We encourage form of the farm bill, the U.S. govern- you to visit and explore our suburban ment seems committed to the perpetua- church close to NYC. Interested tion of production practices that com- individuals can reach out to promise natural fertility. Billions of dol- First Presbyterian Church, [email protected]. Greenwich, Connecticut lars hang in the balance as companies

29 Christian Century March 4, 2015 CLICK THROUGH TO AMAZON FROM CHRISTIANCENTURY.ORG BUY BOOKS (OR ANYTHING ELSE) THE CENTURY EARNS A SHARE THANK YOU! by M. Craig Barnes

Lone leaders

PASTORS OFTEN TALK about their loneliness, is filled with examples of women and men who had a vision even though in their work they’re surrounded by many people. from God and knew they had to throw their lives into fulfill- What pastors mean by loneliness is not what most people think ing it even if it meant leaving town in a shower of rocks. It’s of it as. And it’s not unique to their calling. hard to find a prophet, apostle, or Jesus in search of a grand According to more than one editorialist, President consensus. Obama has given up on building a grand American consensus I understand that crazed suicide bombers also listen to voic- and is now focused on what he always wanted to do as a es in their heads. But that involves mental illness. And I know leader. His old slogan “Yes we can” has become “I’ll figure that many churches have been devastated by a messianic, nar- out a way.” cissistic pastor. But these abuses of power cannot prevent a This makes me wonder exactly what goes on in the mind of congregation from living out of a vision from God. There is a leader who tires of building consensus and just strives to get nothing in the history of Christianity to support the “best prac- things done. Americans have never agreed about anything. So tices” principle that a vision arises from a strategic planning our greatest presidents eventually found ways to be loyal only retreat. to the still small voice that kept whispering in their ears, “You What we’ve always needed is a visionary leader, someone know what you need to do.” who hears the still small voice and is made lonelier because of This is how Washington found himself leading a revolution, it, but who understands what God means by a “calling.” It’s how Lincoln got us through the Civil War, and how Roosevelt more than a bureaucratically sanitized job description. It’s a pulled the nation out of a depression. They were never leading holy passion that overtakes your life. a parade. I often have the opportunity to talk to young adults about Opponents threw everything they could at them. All of their calls. Some are clear about what they must do and just these presidents had flaws that made them easy targets for gos- need advice on how to do it. Others struggle with the whole sip. And the politics of accomplishing their goals were stagger- notion of calling. They talk in circles, show me their journals, ing. At the end of every long day they were completely alone, and offer exegesis of their Myers-Briggs personality patterns. but they kept moving in the right direction, haunted by a still We pray. But they leave my office without either of us getting a small voice that would not let them stop. glimpse of a burning bush. Then it occurs to me—they have no The most striking portrait of John F. Kennedy depicts him visions worthy of their lives. standing alone in the White House with his head bowed down, Every leader has to begin with a passion for at least one or lost in a ponderous thought. I think he’s arguing with the still two great visionary ideas. In time the ideas will mature, and small voice. I can hear him saying, “They will never buy it.” But offer strategies for a focused leadership. But we don’t shop for the voice just kept pushing him into his lonely convictions these holy ideas. They seek us. about leadership. A vision from God doesn’t have to arrive through a super- It doesn’t matter if you are leading a nation, company, con- natural revelation. The call can be stuck in a theology textbook gregation, school, or family—a time comes when you just have that was abandoned after a final exam. It can arise through a to do what you believe to be right. You give up on consensus, late-night conversation with friends or on a trip to the West being admired, or even appreciated. It’s the inner voice you Bank. My wife once heard Nat King Cole singing “O Holy have to serve. Night” on the radio. When he came to “till he appeared and the This is never how the leader begins. Even the process of soul felt its worth,” she couldn’t stop crying. Heaven is inflam- being chosen implies a contract to serve those who made the ing bushes around us all of the time. The question is, are we choice, and all leaders assume that means figuring out a way to paying attention? bring everyone together around a spectacular dream. But it I am certain that we must. There is no such thing as a vibrant just doesn’t work out that way in the end. We shoot our dream- congregation without a leader who’s been called to burning ers. Sometimes literally, but always metaphorically. bushes and great ideas and is willing to surrender everything to There is something in our ever-so-democratic, antihierar- them. chical, big-on-transparency, questioning-the-process affec- tions that make us resist this core of leadership. But the Bible M. Craig Barnes is president of Princeton Theological Seminary.

31 Christian Century March 4, 2015 Baptizing empire

by Randall Balmer

arry S. Stout’s monumental his- were ceded to the United States, the The Cross of War: Christian tory of religion and the Civil Spanish-American War lasted only ten Nationalism and U.S. Expansion HWar, Upon the Altar of the months. Although no casualties should in the Spanish-American War Nation, has prompted other historians to be taken lightly, the toll of the war was By Matthew McCullough write about the often vexed and compli- relatively modest. According to the University of Wisconsin Press, cated relationship be tween faith and Department of Veterans Affairs, 385 218 pp., $29.95 paperback warfare. Recent contributions to this Americans died in battle in that war, long-neglected genre in American reli- compared with more than 53,000 in gious history include works by Thomas S. World War I; according to historian J. itary victories, ministers began to ascribe Kidd and James Byrd on the American David Hacker’s recent estimate, perhaps their success to divine providence and the Revolution, by Jonathan H. Ebel on 750,000 people died as a result of the obvious superiority of American—that World War I, and by Rick L. Nutt on Civil War. is, American Protestant—righteousness Vietnam. By the end of the 19th century, over the “barbarism” of Catholic Spain. In this important contribution to the McCullough argues, Americans were Just as providence had sent favorable conversation, Matthew McCullough taking a keen interest in world affairs, winds to help the British defeat the argues that the Spanish-American War partly because of robust missionary Spanish Armada in 1588, so too the signaled a crucial turning point in activity on the part of American Almighty had superintended American American self-understanding and self- Protestants. Although the perception— victories in the Spanish-American War, justification. Although it was relatively not unfounded—of Spanish misrule in especially George Dewey’s rout of the brief in duration and occurred between Cuba might have predisposed religious Spanish fleet in Manila. two much larger conflicts, the Civil War leaders to action on humanitarian Soon, perhaps inevitably, rhetoric and World War I, the Spanish-American grounds, Mc Cullough finds that they ini- about American destiny emerged. The War saw the emergence of what Mc - tially resisted calls for military action in United States is “a Christian nation,” Cullough calls “messianic intervention- response to the Maine disaster. Methodist minister James King de - ism” to justify an increasingly imperial When President William McKinley clared. The war with Spain was not pri- foreign policy. Religious leaders, he declared war, however, these same lead- marily a military confrontation; it was a contends, played a crucial role in this ers climbed aboard the bandwagon, ini- “contest in which the character of civi- transformation. tially framing their reason as “concern lization and the interpretation of the McCullough makes a persuasive case. for oppressed humanity.” As the Chris - Decalogue and the Sermon on the Whereas the Civil War was inward look- tian Standard opined, any war “should be Mount are involved.” ing and fought in order to resolve a in behalf of the weak against the strong, How did Roman Catholics in the domestic crisis, Woodrow Wilson defined to secure liberty for the down-trodden of United States respond? In one of the the nation’s task in World War I in far the earth.” book’s most fascinating passages, Mc - more global terms: “making the world Once aboard the bandwagon, Protes - Cullough finds that the “Americanist” safe for democracy.” How did we move tant ministers began spinning out theo- bishops, led by John Ireland, resolutely from A to B? logical justifications. The United States lined up with the American cause. “No What McCullough describes as “an was both the Good Samaritan and the true American Catholic,” Ireland de - often forgotten little war” would seem an Crucified One. Henry Van Dyke of New clared, “will think of espousing the unlikely proving ground for messianic York’s Brick Presbyterian Church cause of Spain against that of this coun- interventionism. From the mysterious declared that the heavy cross of war destruction of the USS Maine in “must be carried in the same spirit in Randall Balmer is the chair of the religion Havana’s harbor on February 15, 1898, to which Christ bore his Cross and fought department at Dartmouth College. His most the Treaty of Paris, in which Cuba, his battle on Calvary.” recent book is Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines As the United States scored quick mil- Carter.

Christian Century March 4, 2015 32 try because the former is a Catholic nation.” Having rationalized the use of military Who’s Afraid of Relativism? force, the clergy turned their attention to Community, Contingency, GOING DEEPER CLERGY SPIRITUAL LIFE AND LEADERSHIP a justification of imperialism. The United and Creaturehood States itself had moved from adolescence By James K. A. Smith to what one minister described as “a glo- Baker Academic, 192 pp., $19.99 paperback rious manhood,” and so Amer ica, the font of liberty, had an obligation to pass liber- ames K. A. Smith is a philosophical ty along to others. Indeed, the rhetoric of Jtheologian concerned about truth. In development and coming of age pervades this simply structured and transparently the era. “We have come to our maturity argued book, he suggests that the work and take our place as a power,” the of Richard Rorty can be a source of United Presbyterian an nounced, “and we renewal even though it makes many con- do so, not in the spirit of conquest or servative Christians shrink in horror. aggrandizement, but for humanity and Hating Rorty, on the other hand, reveals right, for God and his truth.” In Mc - the shortcomings of people’s theological Cullough’s words, “a mature America led assumptions. by the providence of God now embraced Smith perceives the preponderance of Enrolling Now a responsibility to extend that freedom to American Christians as people bent on Application Deadlines: 3/15 & 5/1 others.” security, comfort, and autonomy—func- 17-Month Program Starts in July Not everyone jumped at the U.S. offer tional deists and practical atheists whose of freedom, of course, as indicated by the vision is shaped by ideals of independ- Philippine-American War—and by not a ence. Such ideals trigger a Promethean Deepen your spiritual life and open few interventionist wars since then. project of making themselves direct, yourself more fully to God Religious leaders cast the American rational, individual knowers whose status Lead from your spiritual heart and a annexation of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the and knowledge cannot be subverted by revitalized sense of call Philippines as a reluctant duty, a varia- unpredictable changes in circumstances. Discover an inspiring faith community tion of the “white man’s burden,” neces- For such Christians, truth is equated with of peers sary because the people there lacked the terms like absolute and objective, words moral character to govern themselves. that turn Christianity into a mechanism K`Yd]ek[gfl]ehdYlan]][me]fa[Ydhjg_jYe It’s impossible to read The Cross of for achieving all-seeing impregnability. supports spirit-led leadership in both you and War without discerning the long rhetori- In order to preserve the power and priv- your congregation. Two formational seven-day cal, theological, and ideological shadow ilege such a perspective is designed to residencies are held in a retreat center outside that the Spanish-American War cast over secure, it’s necessary—at all costs—to Baltimore, MD. successive American military engage- hold on to representational notions of ments. When Wilson initiated a series of truth by which one’s interior impressions Shalem Institute has been at the forefront of sup- interventions in Latin America, for precisely mirror external reality. porting and integrating deep interior experiences instance, particularly the Mexican Ex - But once it’s acknowledged that and spiritual community for over 40 years. pedition of 1916, he explicitly invoked Ludwig Wittgenstein was right and that the precedent of the Spanish-American language is a game that explains how War. Further along, the parallels between rather than an arrow that identifies what, A^]]ddac]AeZY[caflgm[`oal`eqkhajalmYd McKinley’s statement that he “went the whole edifice of solitary, independent `]Yjl?g\khj]k]f[]&  down on my knees” for guidance and knowing is in danger. If knowledge is George W. Bush’s declaration that God control, then saying “it depends” is more told him “to go and end the tyranny in or less the same as saying “it’s not true.” Iraq” are difficult to miss. Hence the fusillade directed from con- Although McCullough mentions servative quarters at Rorty and his prag- 20th- and 21st-century wars, his analysis matic companions. is not heavy-handed, and he wisely As Smith acutely points out, this proj- avoids the trap of presentism—he allows ect is powerful and widespread—but it the reader to connect the dots. The isn’t Christianity. What is Christianity? Spanish-American War and successive Christianity is a form of life in which the rationalizations for both violence and www.Shalem.org imperialism have much to teach us Reviewed by Samuel Wells, vicar of St. Martin-in- 301-897-7334 about the malleability of theology to jus- the-Fields, London, and author of Learning to tify bellicosity. Dream Again (Eerdmans).

33 Christian Century March 4, 2015 conditions of our knowledge are coinci- that the conservative gospel has become grand purposes simultaneously. The most dent with our status as material, contin- one of individual escape rather than enjoyable parts of the exposition are gent, finite, created social beings. Thus the ecclesial solidarity—is, of course, very Smith’s absorbing narrations of films pragmatism of Wittgenstein, Rorty, and familiar. And the remedy—the cultural- that illustrate and are made intriguing by Robert Brandom, far from undermining linguistic model of Lindbeck—is not new. the arguments of each philosopher. any aspiration to truth, offers guidelines Smith does not develop Lindbeck’s These accounts are beautifully done. about where that truth is to be found. model beyond the broad terms its author Two other agendas are playing out here. It turns out that Christianity is pretty offers. What’s remarkable about Smith’s One is Smith’s larger project. He writes, “I much everything George Lindbeck said book is that it takes a notorious enemy— hope this brief primer on pragmatism can it was in his landmark work The Nature relativism—and makes it a friend. This be received as the philosophical spring- of Doctrine 30 years ago. God is not dis- displays the right kind of confidence, a board for understanding postliberalism, tant, independent, and absolute. And sal- humble faith that’s not looking to make which is, in many ways, an embodiment of vation is not about displacing God and itself impervious to threats but that lis- the religious and theological implications becoming all-powerful beings ourselves. tens attentively to its critics and realizes of pragmatism.” He imagines his book as Instead, in the incarnation and crucifix- that they have the key to its own renew- “the long-lost prequel” to Lindbeck’s ion we see God in Christ, who enters our al. In this sense Smith admirably prac- Nature of Doctrine, charting a philosophi- contingent existence. Human flourishing tices exactly what he preaches. cal path to Lind beck’s theological commit- lies in interdependent communities The style of writing is that of a rest- ments. Smith’s larger “cultural liturgies” where growing in faith is like learning a less, energetic, infectious college teacher. project is concerned with exploring the language and where life together is made Each philosopher discussed gets a chap- hinterland of Lindbeck’s cultural-linguistic up of practices of grace and worship. ter, and in each case one key book is model and contrasting the character- This compelling thesis is especially identified and expounded on, with key forming significance of secular conscious electric because it was composed by a phrases repeated often. Frequently the and unconscious liturgies with that of professor at Calvin College and is thus a language spills over from the introducto- Christian ones. Thus this book is an extend- critique written within, not just about, ry to the advanced, exposing the difficul- ed footnote to Smith’s larger vision. evangelical culture. The broad outline— ty of fulfilling the book’s modest and The other agenda involves a rhetorical

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Christian Century March 4, 2015 34

3:38 PM contest for the mainstream of postliberal- ism. Radical orthodoxy has consumed a lot of theological oxygen at conferences Medicine and Religion: and among those pursuing doctoral stud- A Historical Introduction ies in theology. Smith is making it clear By Gary B. Ferngren that his notion of truth is different from Johns Hopkins University Press, 256 pp., that of some of truth’s fashionable advo- $24.95 paperback cates. Smith sees Platonic notions of truth—where there are “forms” of good- he Cincinnati hospital where I work ness, truth, and beauty that govern Twas founded in the 19th century by meaning—as rationality from above. By women of the Episcopal diocese to pro- contrast, Smith sees his version of prag- vide medical and surgical care for local matism as very much a form of rational- children, but it has since become a large, ity from below. Plato’s philosophy looks secular research facility. Internationally suspiciously like a different form of the known for its subspecialty research and same all-seeing impulse to know every- practice innovations, the hospital re - thing from a distance—the accusation ceives referrals from around the globe. I Smith has against conservative, almost have yet to meet a patient who came for Gnostic, independent seers. In this sense the spiritual environment, though the what is latent in the book is the ancient hospital’s pastoral care division employs tension between Plato and Aristotle, and chaplains of various faiths and denomi- Smith is upholding the Aristotelian flag nations who are highly trained in theol- and aligning it, as others have done, with ogy, counseling, and the use of sophisti- both the philosophical school of cated assessment tools. Although some Join your prayers Wittgenstein and the theological school families develop therapeutically valu- of Karl Barth. able relationships with pastoral care with others Reading Lindbeck’s Nature of Doc - staff, what gets them in the door is our trine was a threshold moment for me. It clinical competence in the applied sci- housands of individuals and didn’t cause a conversion; it gave me a ence of medicine. Every thing else is churches — moved by God’s structure and vocabulary for a transfor- value-added. Tgrace in Jesus Christ — have mation that had taken place in me over Gary Ferngren’s handy new volume pledged to engage in ongoing the previous two years. Smith’s book is on the history of religion and medicine in prayer as part of Bread for the aimed at students who are more evangel- the West reminds the reader how new World’s campaign to end hunger ical, more moviegoing, more sophomoric and odd this is. From the time of the by 2030. (Smith’s word) than I was. But it could ancient Near East until very recently in Inspired by the Lord’s Prayer, have the same effect on many. And in the the economically developed countries of this free pocket-sized resource process it makes a large step toward incudes a prayer for each day of claiming Rorty as a fellow traveler for Reviewed by Brian Volck, a pediatrician in the week along with passages Christians open to a humble view of Cincin nati, and coauthor of Reclaiming the from scripture. truth that emerges in community. It is no Body: Chris tians and the Faithful Use of small achievement. Modern Medicine (Brazos). You may order free copies of Daily Prayers to End Hunger at 2015 Annual Gathering: www.bread.org/store “Transforming Congregations or call toll-free 800-822-7323 Through Spiritual Practice: Creating a Discipleship Community”

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35 Christian Century March 4, 2015 T h e MarTin e. MarTy LEGACY CIRCLE

“Ever since 1952 as a reader and 1956 as a contributor and an editor, I have looked forward to each new issue of the CENTURY to inform, stimulate and challenge me—as it has many thousands. To assure that generations to come can profit from this unique theological journal, I happily lend my name and support to the Legacy Circle and urge you to join me.” —Martin E. Marty

To become a member of the Martin E. Marty Legacy Circle, designate a bequest of any amount to the CENTURY from your estate. Call your lawyer and name “Christian Century Foundation” with our IRS tax ID #36-2167022. Then let us know so that we may add you to a growing list of Martin E. Marty Legacy Circle supporters. Thank you! the Global North, the categories we now formity across and within these cultures. call religion and medicine were intricate- If he perhaps devotes excessive attention ly related and often inseparable. But to to distinguishing between “religious,” HOW MY the degree that the relationship between “magical,” and “natural” medicine—as if religion and medicine was acknowledged such categories are unproblematic, trans - MIND HAS during my undergraduate and medical historical, and transcultural—he never- CHANGED education, it was viewed as a tale of sci- theless demonstrates that ancient medi- entific progress triumphing over reli- cine was more than just charms and Essays from gious obscurantism. Using considerable incantations. the Christian recent scholarship that calls that Whig - Ferngren identifies fifth-century BCE gish narrative into question, Ferngren re - Greece as the location and moment Century veals a richer, more interesting story. when medicine became a science as well Before surveying 40 centuries in a as a craft. Greek medicine and syncretis- geographical area stretching from Meso - tic polytheism dominated the Hellenic, po tamia to North America, Ferngren an - Hellenistic, and Roman Mediterranean. nounces that his book is “neither a histo- Another critical point came with the ry of medicine nor a history of religion, advent of Christianity, which built on a ... but rather an introduction intended Jewish understanding that all humans for nonspecialists.” As such, the book are created in the divine image and that serves the interested novice while leav- service to others—especially the poor— ing much for scholars to quibble with. is a religious imperative. Ferngren What Ferngren does well is consider- demonstrates that Christian philanthro- able. He recognizes that the “imagina- py, from the founding of the first true tive gulf” separating us from our prede- hospitals to Christians’ life-saving minis- cessors obscures continuing challenges trations to plague victims when wealthy that technology and scientific control non-Christians (including the famed are unlikely to eliminate or solve: our physician Galen) fled for their safety, own pain and suffering, our response to transformed the way persons in late 13 prominent such things in others, and the question antiquity understood what we might now Christian theologians of how to make meaning in the pres- call access to health care. speak of their ence of bodily limitations. Yet he also A chapter on medieval European journeys of faith knows that most of what we moderns medicine debunks several myths: that and of the questions consider universal attitudes toward suf- Chris tian Europe primarily saw illness as fering and care are, in fact, historically divine punishment or the work of that have shaped contingent. demons, that the church banned scientif- their writing and Ferngren begins his survey in the ic dissection, and that Christians system- scholarship. ancient Near East with the civilizations of atically de stroyed ancient medical texts Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, and the that were considered pagan. Hospitals “This illuminating volume, the Hellenistic period. Buttressed by written and centers of learning thrived in the most theologically diverse in documents and archaeological evidence, Christian East, and monasteries were the the series, is a compelling and his narrative stresses complexity over uni- conduits and repositories of medical worthy successor to the five that preceded it.” an ecumenical center for retreat & vacation —Gary Dorrien, Union Theological Seminary Ring Lake Ranch Dubois, WY • www.ringlake.org • 888.458.5253 • [email protected] “These essays will light the reader’s path through his or her own struggles with continuity and change.” —Richard Lischer, Duke Divinity School

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37 Christian Century March 4, 2015 texts, learning, and practice in the West American developments, with brief con- until the formation of the first European siderations of Reform Judaism, renewed medical schools around 1200. Human interest in miraculous healing among A Political Theology dissections were documented by the end some Protestants, novel ethical chal- of Climate Change of the 13th century. lenges, and the growth of a secularized, By Michael S. Northcott Ferngren’s treatment of Islam, with- professionalized, and bureaucratized Eerdmans, 345 pp., $30.00 paperback out which any history of Western science health-care system. Ferngren then offers or medicine is woefully incomplete, is brief reflections on his whirlwind tour of magine the homes and cities of nearly informative if far too short, sacrificing four millennia in an epilogue, which Ihalf of the world’s population under depth for scope. If Ferngren wants to includes the most tantalizing evaluations water; the Amazon rainforest turned into leave his readers wanting more, he’s suc- in the volume. Here he writes: a desert; and most of the western United cessful in general, but particularly here. States, Mexico, North and South Africa, When he returns to Europe to discuss Compassion is a quality that is fully southern Europe, and Australia rendered early modernity, he relies heavily on the compatible with scientific medicine uninhabitable and useless for agricul- Reformation as his unifying conceptual and with progress in medical technol- ture. This is not the background of the theme, conflating Protestant Reformers ogy, but it is not one that grows natu- latest Hollywood blockbuster, but a col- with humanists (like Erasmus, a Cath - rally out of either. It is the desire to lection of predictions shared by many cli- olic) and early modern scientists (like treat the sick patient, not in a medical- mate scientists and discussed in a major Coperni cus, also a Catholic), regardless ly competent and professional man- World Bank report titled Turn Down the of confession, ecclesiology, or motiva- ner alone, which was the Greek prac- Heat, published in 2012. tion. When Ferngren considers Catholics tice, but knowingly and tenderly as a Given the contested nature of climate as such, as in a brief section on Tridentine human being who bears the image of change science in the United States and Catholicism, his focus is on institutional God. the deeply politicized nature of related responses to Pro testantism. The Enlight - public policy, many Americans dismiss en ment comes al most as an afterthought. Ferngren may be on to something, and these reports as sensationalized attempts Although I understand that an author I would like to see him better develop at fearmongering. Christian ethicist must make compromises when covering this idea, building it up from the histori- Michael Northcott sees the use of apoca- so vast a history, in this discussion I cal record—including primary sources— lyptic imagery in the climate debate very found myself more frustrated than newly rather than merely asserting it in an epi- differently. informed and desiring more. logue. Once again, he leaves the attentive Northcott highlights how “climate The chapter on the 19th and 20th cen- reader wanting more. I hope he provides apocalyptic” serves three functions simi- turies concentrates increasingly on North that in subsequent work. lar to those of New Testament apocalyp- WHO’S BLOGGING AT CHRISTIANCENTURY.ORG?

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Christian Century March 4, 2015 38 tic. First, it unveils or demonstrates the and that their generation will have to fig- emitted carbon dioxide. Debates about ways in which humanity’s actions are ure out how to pick up the pieces of a how to mitigate the damage of fossil fuels influencing and reshaping the natural world that is falling apart on our watch. sidestep the more fundamental question world. Second, it warns that although In 1992, on the eve of the world’s first of whether we should continue to use changes in the planet and its atmosphere Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, then them and how we can create viable may have a disproportionately damaging president George H. W. Bush famously national and international plans that tran- impact on the world’s poor and the mar- declared: “The American way of life is sition us to social, cultural, and economic ginalized, they will also harm the world’s not up for negotiation. Period.” This models that are not dependent on fossil elite. Third, it is a call and an opportuni- determination not to make lifestyle fuels. The debates over mitigation also ty for moral and political transformation. changes is widely shared not only by divert the public’s attention from deeper Northcott’s starting point is the pro- many Ameri cans, but by people living in ethical questions about how we are order- foundly political reaction to the scientific developed countries who have designed ing our lives in the 21st century. consensus on climate change. He argues their lives, livelihoods, and communities Northcott’s book examines the ways in that this political reaction is due to the around a deep and abiding dependence which our philosophical orientation fact that the scientific evidence regarding on fossil fuel. toward self, others, and the divine shapes the causes of climate change points clear- This dependence is not limited to the our worldviews and how these worldviews ly to industrial economies’ dependence developed world. It is being exported to the shape our perceptions of the crisis and our on fossil fuels as the primary culprit. He Global South, where countries are encour- response to it. The neoliberal worldview remarks that climate scientists have been aged to develop industrial economies as the that underlies and supports industrial eco- surprised to find themselves accused of path toward human flourishing. nomic development is a logical extension “anti-capitalism, corruption, fraud, per- Among government officials and of the Enlightenment attitude that fidy, and selfishness” in political attempts economists who acknowledge the threats humans are free to shape the world and to discredit their findings. posed by climate change, the political our destiny as we see fit. Northcott argues These attempts to discredit the climate debate tends to focus on the relative mer- that the belief that we as humans control scientists and challenge the anthro- its of carbon taxes versus cap-and-trade our own destiny and future is a theological pogenic origin of climate change are policies, or on how to capture and bury flaw that must be overcome. funded largely by energy companies and others who hold a deep financial stake in the continued maintenance and growth of industrial capitalism. Given that trillions of dollars in fossil fuel reserves of oil com- panies currently show up on the balance sheets of corporations and investment portfolios across the world, the morally necessary decision to leave those remain- ing fuels in the ground would undoubted- ly wreak havoc on the global economy. Northcott argues that impending cli- mate change poses an apocalyptic moment of judgment on the present form of fossil-fueled consumerist civi- lization. This claim is made terrifyingly ominous by climate scientists’ estimation that the 4-degree Celsius (7.2-degree Fahrenheit) rise in temperature that would prompt a radical reshaping of the planet will arrive by 2070. No wonder my 14-year-old daughter, like many teens and young adults, is obsessed with the dystopian literature and films that cur- rently permeate popular culture. Young people fear that this will be their future

Reviewed by Rebecca Todd Peters, professor of religious studies at Elon University, whose lat- est book is Solidarity Ethics: Transformation in a Globalized World.

39 Christian Century March 4, 2015 Given the interdependence of the nat- In the moral arena, Scruton cites with ural world, mitigating climate change must mixed appreciation Freud’s view of the be a planetary enterprise. The only course The Soul of the World incest taboo. Evolutionary explanations of action that will save the planet and not By Roger Scruton of taboo relate to an intense desire not to merely retain a place for postapocalyptic Princeton University Press, 216 pp., $27.95 do something, but the incest taboo arises human survivalism is for us to overcome from a primal disgust, like aversion to our current Enlightenment-inspired cul- hilosopher Thomas Nagel has point- certain smells. For Freud, incest is taboo tural narrative of human domination and Ped out that a complete scientific because we have an intense desire to control and listen to the wisdom of the description of the world would identify engage in it; however, the taboo forbids natural world alongside the wisdom of the all the objects, forces, and laws of motion it. Taboo is thus a negative moral injunc- sacred traditions of Christianity—includ- but fail to address one important ques- tion against a particular type of conduct ing covenant theology, justice in distribu- tion: Where am I in that world? Roger for which we have a natural desire. tion of the fruits of the earth, respect for Scruton cites Nagel with approval, and Morality asks for reasons, not causal ecological limits, and attention to asceti- his point is the basic theme of The Soul explanations. The moral inquiry, “Why did cism. This sort of paradigm shift will of the World: “Science cannot tell who I you do that?” requires me to give some require the development of new narra- am, let alone where, when, or how.” reason for my action. When you ask me tives that can reshape our cultural, reli- The book is based on the Stanton for a reason, you probably want to under- gious, and social understanding of our Lectures that Scruton delivered to the fac- stand my action, not to hear me explain it. relationship with nature from one of con- ulty of divinity at the Univer sity of Cam - “I felt like doing it” may explain my trol to one of partnership. bridge in 2011. The location is worth not- action, but it does not make my action Northcott does a better job at demon- ing. Cambridge philosophy has been reasonable. Reasons are more than strating the nature and scope of the haunted for years by Ludwig Wittgen stein, reminders about how one happens to feel. problem and analyzing the intellectual a specter not uncongenial to Scru ton’s own The dialogue of I and you creates the history and politics of the climate crisis style of philosophy: Scruton’s presentation world of morality, beauty, and religion—a than he does at offering a path forward, is marked by allegiance to Wittgenstein’s world in which humans are active partici- but he does end the book with a discus- espousal of “ordinary language.” Because pants, not merely scientific spectators. sion of the Transition Movement, which lectures on divinity easily fall into insolu- Scruton’s position is dualistic, resting on a focuses on the necessity of working ble profundities, this ordinary-language sharp distinction between the world of sci- together in communities of resistance take on traditional issues is refreshing. entific explanation and the Lebens welt— and solidarity to build alternative Nagel considers the question of how or life world—of human reasons and economies and social structures that are we use the words I and you. I address understanding. Having affirmed dualism, consistent with continued human life on you, I implore you, I promise you: these Scruton is at pains to note that this is a the planet. Regardless of how much we are basic moves in any dialogue of moral cognitive, not an ontological, dualism. The humans neglect our sacred duty to care responsibility. In the language of science, human soul and the “soul of the world” for God’s creation, the creation will sur- addressing, imploring, and promising are are not separate entities—the human soul vive our folly. The question is whether we nonstarters. But I-you moral dialogue is as some “ghost in the machine” or God as will be able to honor the gift of God’s not rooted in science. a supernatural cause. Supernatural cause wisdom, given to us in the form of the In his initial chapters Scruton consid- is a contradiction, Scruton argues; a cause imago Dei, and reimagine our under- ers several sophisticated arguments that is a natural event by definition. God arises standing of human flourishing in ways seek to undermine the integrity of moral in the Lebenswelt. that reflect our interdependence with the discourse. Critics want to dismiss morali- Scruton goes on to examine how the rest of creation. ty as the outcome of natural causes. distinctly human world reveals itself in Darwinists hold that supposed moral the human face, in sexuality, and in archi- SUBMISSIONS altruism is a genetic strategy for the tecture, music, and religion. In a chapter preservation of the species. Modern titled “Facing Each Other” he elaborates If you would like to write an article for brain science claims to locate morality in on our perception of soul. “When I con- the Century, please send a query to synapses related to pleasure and disgust. front Mary face-to-face, I am not con- [email protected] or Scruton rejects all such arguments as fronting a physical part of her. . . . I am to Submissions, the Christian Cen- examples of what Mary Midgley calls the confronting her, the individual center of tury, 104 S. Michigan Ave., Suite fallacy of “nothing buttery”: altruism is consciousness.” Regarding the other as nothing but a ploy for survival of the soul, as an embodied subject, is “a well 1100, Chicago, IL 60603. Allow four species; moral discourse tells about noth- founded phenomenon,” he writes. On to six weeks for a response from our ing but my brain. Scruton contends that the other hand, failure to see the other as editors. We do not consider un - not only is moral discourse more than a soul distorts sexuality to “the pursuit of solicited manuscripts for our regular natural reaction, language cannot be pleasure in the private parts.” The fact columns or book reviews. causally explained because it has inten- that much pop culture accepts sex as tionality. It is about something. nothing but pleasuring is an example of

Christian Century March 4, 2015 40 what Scruton nicely labels “the charm of also from God?” Surprisingly, Scruton ed by nothingness is just a given; it is disenchantment”—the urge to be “real- turns to Jean-Paul Sartre, whose Being absurd. But we may also regard the given istic” that leads one to shoddy thought and Nothingness he describes—correctly, as a gift. Even an atheistic Sartre might and equally shoddy behavior. to my mind—as “a great work of post- regard personal life as a gift within which In The Soul of the World, Scruton reca- Christian theology.” It may be the case we advance the human project. In any pitulates views on the human meaning of that music transports us to another version of life as gift, we bear the respon- our built environment that he expressed world, but real life ends in death and sibility to honor that gift; wasting it is sin. some 35 years ago in The Aesthetics of nothingness. In Sartre’s novel Nausea, a In an interpretation of Abraham’s Architecture. He extols the traditional character claims that Chopin had been a willingness to sacrifice the gift of Isaac, “orders” of column, lintel, and arch that great consolation after the death of her and of the cross as God’s gift of Godself once gave a human scale to architecture, husband. The Sartrean narrator com- to humanity, Scruton offers a final contrasting that classical style with the ments, “What fools human beings are.” account of faith and religion—not, in his glass facades of contemporary office tow- Music is no consolation for the nothing- mind, the same entity! His answer to ers. The glass tower is faceless, glazed. It ness of death. Religion also attempts that Larkin: “The idea of salvation . . . in no has no base or capital, moldings, or orna- consolation. Does it suffice? Scruton way requires eternal life. . . . It does ments. “It escapes upward as though flee- offers no easy answer; he quotes Phillip require an acceptance of death, and in ing. . . . It concludes in nothing.” The glass Larkin, who writes that religion is “that the sense that in death we are meeting tower is not a place of human habitation, vast, moth-eaten, musical brocade / our creator, . . . to whom we must so the workers flee their functional cubi- Created to pretend we never die.” account for our faults. We are returning cles for an ever-expanding exurbia. In Scruton interprets Sartre’s stark vision to the place from which we emerged and contrast, a truly human city is founded on that we come from nothing and go back hoping to be welcomed there.” and centered in the temple, a place where to nothing as a doctrine of creation. As I- The Soul of the World is a short book the people’s gods abide, thereby granting you we are created, unique beings that that contains many insights about classic authority to settle rather than wander in cannot be explained as instances of the religious concerns. Clearly written and the desert—or in the decentered world of species. The self is a creation ex nihilo. carefully argued, the text is rich and sub- global commerce. For Sartre our radical uniqueness round- tle, well worth reading and rereading. In the penultimate chapter, “The Sacred Space of Music,” Scruton says, with Rilke, that music is a “godly home.” Why? John Scotus Eriugena wrote (as Scruton appreciatively quotes): “We do not know what God is. God himself does not know what He is because He is not anything. Literally, God is not, for He “Peer Power: Cultivating Clergy transcends being.” How can something that is not, and is beyond anything we can Communities of Practice and Training know, be real for us? Scruton suggests for Peer Group Facilitators” that music is just such a reality. “Music is a movement of nothing in a space that is Why are pastors who are members of peer learning groups more nowhere, with a purpose that is no one’s, effective leaders? Join us and explore these questions. in which we hear a nonexistent feeling the object of which is nobody.” If we apply “nothing buttery” to music, it would be nothing but one sound after another. But “musical culture . . . requires us to respond to a subjectivity that lies beyond the world of objects, in a space of its own. . . . Music addresses us from beyond the borders of the natural world.” In the final chapter Scruton asks the ultimate question: “Is the sacred merely May 5-6, 2015 a human invention, or does it come to us at the Mercy Center near San Francisco, CA

Reviewed by Dennis O’Brien, who lives in To register, go to www.PastoralExcellenceNetwork.org and select “Events.” Middlebury, Vermont, and is author of The Church and Abortion: A Catholic Dissent The Pastoral Excellence Network at Christian Theological Seminary is funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. (Rowman & Littlefield).

41 Christian Century March 4, 2015 Notes from the Global ChurCh

“What happens when you look at Christianity outside its Euro-American framework?

“That question becomes pressing when we look at numerical changes in the churches today—when, for instance, we realize that Africa will soon be home to the largest population of Christian believers on the planet.

“Although I describe my area of study as Global Christianity, that’s a flawed phrase: if it’s not global, is it really Christianity?”

Philip Jenkins’s The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity is a land- mark book for understanding contemporary global history. Publishers Weekly called it “a clarion call for anyone interested in the future of Christianity.”

Philip Jenkins writes Notes from the Global Church for the Christian Century. © 2014 WARNER BROS. PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. RIGHTS ALL PICTURES. BROS. WARNER 2014 ©

Sheepdog or sheep?

n a scene in American Sniper, Chris at home, flinching at noises and nearly Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is told by his attacking the family dog. Kyle’s PTSD is Ifather (Ben Reed) that there are mild compared to that of many others, three kinds of people in the world: There but it extracts a serious toll on Kyle and are sheep, helpless and clueless. There his family. WITHOUT A DOUBT: Sniper Chris are wolves, dangerous and predatory. When Kyle dies, his funeral is held at Kyle, played by Bradley Cooper, didn’t And there are sheepdogs, who protect the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium. The film question the American mission in Iraq. the sheep from the wolves. The father’s shows his coffin set over the Cowboys’ story serves as a justification for the star and a bugler playing. We get it: this is Yet the film raises questions. In one career of the “most lethal sniper in U.S. an American hero. We are the sheep he scene Kyle meets his brother on a tarmac military history.” protected. in Afghanistan. On the surface, Jeff Kyle In the opening scene, an Iraqi child is This unabashed patriotism has made (Keir O’Donnell) appears far more trau- running toward a unit of American sol- for great ticket sales—$169 million after matized than Kyle. “Fuck this place,” he diers with a grenade in his hand. Will two weekends. At my local theater the says. Why are we here? The question Kyle kill the child and protect his line wrapped around the block on open- remains unasked and unanswered, but friends? Director Clint Eastwood cuts ing night. Cooper is magnificent. He still hovers. away, leaving us in suspense. becomes Chris Kyle. I am sensitive to And when people fight and kill for The suspense works. This is a riveting how often southern accents are done “our freedom,” who is the “we” they film. Every war movie is in essence a pro- badly in movies, but Cooper’s clipped defend? Those who serve in the armed war movie, even when it tries to be against twang is so spot-on Texan that I quit forces are often greater servants of our war. The depiction of soldiers suffering on thinking about it after one scene. society than those of us who ask the ques- behalf of a nation makes us accept sub- While the sheepdog metaphor serves tion. Their lives are on the line, while the consciously the rationale: this is a great as a justification for Kyle’s actions, his rest of us question the meaning of war sacrifice for a great cause. The young men motivation has darker layers. He places a from our safe homes, listening to NPR. and women going door-to-door looking skull insignia from a graphic novel every- Yet in this movie soldiers ponder for bad guys in Fallujah or Sadr City are where he goes—a sign of the Punisher, a whether they are sheepdogs or sheep. taking terrible risks on our behalf. It must character from the Marvel universe who Are those they kill deserving of death? be justified. keeps score of wrongs and avenges them. In one scene a group of angry Iraqis cries Kyle is no ordinary sniper. He has 160 Kyle is more judge, jury, and executioner out, “This is a good man you killed.” The “confirmed kills,” and in the book on than sheepdog. His other insignia is a marines drive away, perplexed, unsure, which the film is based, Kyle claims hun- crusader’s cross. This not-so-subtle sign and even disgusted by the sudden ambi- dreds more “unconfirmed kills.” “Aim plays right into the worst stereotypes of guity. When you are the punisher, the small, miss small,” his instructor says. “Aim America’s role in Iraq and Afghanistan. avenger, even the protector, you fire first big, miss big.” Aim for a shirt button and Kyle never questions the premise that and ask questions later. Or never. hit the shirt. Aim for the person, and you the world needs sheepdogs. While he’s Christians tell a different story. There miss altogether. Kyle never misses in this home on leave he receives a letter from a is one shepherd. We are all sheep. The film. And everyone he hits “had it com- friend expressing fear and anxiety about thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. ing.” He becomes famous for his exploits. his role in the war. Soon afterward the But the shepherd comes to give life. When he finds the job too safe, he volun- friend dies. “That letter got him killed,” How can we square this with the sheep- teers to go door-to-door with marine units, Kyle pronounces with shocking certainty. dog story? I don’t think it can be done. who lionize him for his expert protection. Questions should not be asked. Doubts But Kyle’s work comes with costs. As should not be raised. Kyle does not think The author is Jason Byassee, senior pastor at he piles on tour after tour, Kyle’s relation questioning merely wrong; he thinks it Boone United Methodist Church in Boone, to his family deteriorates. He is irritable deadly. North Carolina.

43 Christian Century March 4, 2015 Read Stephanie Paulsell @ Faith Matters “We need places to pray as if someone were listening, to study as if we might learn something worth writing on our hearts, to join with others in service as if the world might be transformed. Churches are places to learn to practice, with others, a continual conversion of life, a permanent openness to change.” (from “Soul experiments,” Faith Matters) CHURCH in the MAKING by Carol Howard Merritt

t a meeting of ecu- menical leaders work- Shut up and learn Aing on church plant- ing and evangelism, I noticed was hesitant—as most church “but they just don’t know it ed by handing over the work that the room collectively planters are—to talk about yet.” to the community. leaned in and listened carefully strategy, and he quickly dis- The ELCA has set up a “That’s what we’re doing,” whenever the moderator spoke. missed the idea that he him- process by which men and Duran said. “We are getting He was Ruben Duran, the pro- self is a moving force in what women who have the gifts people from the community gram director for new congre- is happening. and skills for ministry but to do that type of work. We gations in the Evan gelical “There are no formulas. who haven’t attended semi- are looking for the Greek Lutheran Church in America. It’s about listening and con- nary can be full-time pas- widows.” Under Duran’s leadership, necting.” Then, like most peo- tors—“lay mission develop- A great deal of the the ELCA has started an ple who are really good at ers”—serving with the bless- ELCA’s work has been fo - impressive array of worship- starting new churches, Duran ing of the community and the cused on urban areas. While ing communities in homes began to explain his strategy, bishop. the movement of young and bars and on the streets describing how the ELCA Duran has also worked adults into the city certainly and in train stations. These works to connect neighbor- with his own alma mater, makes this emphasis impor- communities have found dif- hoods, denominations, and Pacific Lutheran Theological tant, I wonder what can be ferent entry points into con- seminaries. Seminary, to set up Theo - done in suburban and rural versations with their neigh- “Luther says we live in and logical Education for Emerg - areas, especially as some bors, gathering around eco- through our neighbor,” Duran ing Ministries. The TEEM minorities are moving to the logical issues, or concerns explains. “Most of our congre- program allows students to suburbs in response to urban about paycheck lending, or gations were planted for the take classes on campus two gentrification. the need for day care. The neighborhood.” But when times a year and learn with a Duran’s energy seems Denver area alone has 48 neighborhoods changed, con- pastoral mentor while they boundless, but he admits to new ELCA communities, and gregations often resisted remain in ministry. The pro- being overwhelmed. I cannot nationally 352 new communi- trans formation. Members be - gram has 140 students. tell if this sort of work could ties are being developed. gan commuting to attend “Seminaries are shifting be done without such charis- The burgeoning ministries church. Then, Duran said, “the very quickly,” Duran said, as matic leadership. Duran has are ethnically diverse. Though neighbors became the object he described online courses great humility, even as he the ELCA has strong ties to of the church’s ministry rather that allow students to stay understands his unique posi- people of European ances- than the subject.” Duran rooted in the communities tion. “I’m very blessed that try—especially Norwegians, wants the neighbors to be the they serve. I’m able to test the waters. We Swedes, Germans, and Finns subject again. Duran points to a story in have become a laboratory of —Duran reports that people The church’s strategy is to Acts 6 about the early church ministry exploration.” of color lead 56 percent of the “shut up and learn”—to that inspires his work. When “The Book of Acts was new communities. Instead of listen and reconnect with Greek widows saw that named incorrectly,” Duran reflecting the established de - diverse neighborhoods, in - church leaders were giving said. “It was the Acts of the nomination, these communi- cluding the working poor and Jewish widows more food Apostles, but it should have ties look like the neighbor- young adults who grew up in than they gave to the Greek been named the Acts of the hoods in which they are the suburbs but are now relo- widows, they organized and Holy Spirit. And right now, planted. cating in cities. “There are so pointed out the unfair treat- the Holy Spirit is writing a When I telephoned Duran many people in our neigh- ment. The disciples respond- new chapter in Acts.” to find out how the denomi- borhoods who are doing nation is doing so much, he God’s work,” Duran said, Carol Howard Merritt’s Church in the Making appears in every other issue.

45 Christian Century March 4, 2015 C LASSIFIED rAteS: $1.75 a word, ten-word minimum. Phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and urLs count as two words; zip codes count as one word. All ads must be prepaid; deadline is four HUNGER weeks prior to issue date. Please send ads to [email protected] or Classified Depart- ment, the Christian Century, 104 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 1100, Chicago, IL 60603. to inquire READS about display ads or online advertising, contact the advertising department at (312) 263-7510, x229, or [email protected]. AVAILABLE THE CHURCH LOANS from Everence, a lender with extensive experience working with congregations. Let us help you fund your vision, with mortgage loans for new purchases and refi- nancing. Call (800) 451-5719 ext. 104 for more information. POSITIONS AVAILABLE MORNING RETIRED CLERGY AS VOLUNTEER MINISTERS for English language congregation in Bali, Indonesia. [email protected].

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Christian Century March 4, 2015 46 HIP / ART RESOURCE, NY RESOURCE, ART / HIP

Christ Driving the Money Lenders from the Temple, by Ippolito Scarsellino (called Scarcella)

his painting of Christ driving the money lenders from the temple, by the Late Renaissance painter TIppolito Scarsellino, depicts a story told in all four Gospels. In John’s Gospel, the event occurs near the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry (John 2:13–22). Jesus is immediately identifiable slightly to the left of center in the painting, with arms raised and wearing a pink gown and green mantle. He has removed his belt and made it into a flail. The scene takes place on the porch of the temple in Jerusalem with the Solomonic twisted column clearly visible as one of the money changers grasps it while he stoops to collect the basket of coins he has spilt onto the ground. Sheep, birds, cattle, and horses are all present in the painting, echoing details of John’s version of the incident and indicating that the temple has become a marketplace where sacrificial animals are sold and money is exchanged. One of the birds has escaped, and a young boy, oblivious to Jesus’ actions, tries to trap the bird on a stick. Two women rush off while attempting to regain the attention of a child who is enthralled by what Jesus is doing. During the Catholic Reformation (the time of this painting) this scene, also known as the Purification of the Temple, was used to illustrate the church’s need for reform.

Art selection and commentary by Heidi J. Hornik, who teaches in the art department at Baylor University, and Mikeal C. Parsons, who teaches in the school’s religion department.

47 Christian Century March 4, 2015 Cosponsored by the CHRISTIAN CENTURY and the Wisconsin Council of Churches

Join us for four and a half days of ecumenical wor- ship, plenary presentations, discussions, spiritual renewal, and recreation in an idyllic setting off the coast of Door County, Wisconsin. WASHINGTON ISLAND FORUM Reappropriating June 22–26, 2015

the Word The Curse of Literacy: Most Christians in every age have either been unable to read scripture or have not had access with John Bell to a Bible. Yet these people have much to teach us about scriptural literacy. In this series of talks, John Bell will go beyond a Retell Me the Old, Old Story: Some of the most familiar Protestant preoccupation with “what the Bible really biblical texts fail to excite, incite, or bless us because the way means,” focused on a “right answers” mentality. Bell they’ve been commonly read and expounded owes much to the cultural norms of a previous era. will open up a more holistic appreciation for the Word of God that values its intentionally diverse character Missing Women: Finding a monogamous Jewish patriarch requires almost as much work as finding a virtuous woman and is informed by his interactions with scripture in in the Hebrew scriptures. Why is this and can the situation be contexts of social deprivation. redeemed?

Registration: $299 The Importance of the Imagination: The imagination is sometimes seen as the bogus gift of the Holy Spirit. Without it, our understanding of scripture will most certainly John Bell, from Scotland, is a member of the be diminished. Iona Community. He is a liturgist, preacher, and collector and composer of church music. His work takes him frequently to Eastern Europe, What Shall We Tell the Children? Are there other perti- Asia, Africa, and Australia. He is well known in nent scriptures to teach young people besides Moses in the North America from numerous speaking tours and musical compositions published by GIA. bulrushes, Daniel in the lion’s den, and the Baby Jesus asleep in the hay?

For more information go to wichurches.org and look under “events.” Or call Wisconsin Council of Churches at (608) 837-3108.