Thursday, November 29, 2012

book of the year..if you are a semiotic (re)signing "Bible stud" nerd like me

I love signs.

Visit my famous/infamous collection of funny signs here.

But signs are a serious sign of the times.

In a delightful and deep book about signs (semiotics)
that you should buy yesterday.

the amazing writer Crystal A. Downing,

among other things,

helpfully (re)signs the word "sign."

The book?

"Changing Signs of Truth: A Christian Introduction to the Semiotics of Communication" (most of the first eighty pages is here)

The idea?

We are called to create new signs for old realities.
(see also "How to Pour New Wine into Old Wineskins" and "Old and new hands, wineskins" and "The signs won't look as you expect them to look").

(Re)signation
Read the linked book preview to get ahold of that term.

All pastors...and all Christians..must (re)sign.

And buy this book!
(I think Jesus: A Theography" is probably book of the year, actually. But this one rates!)

Much more to follow, including a full-blown review.

But for now:
Two examples from the book that grabbed me, and got me (re)signing.

1)The sermon:

See her discussion in the excerpt below (pp. 44ff ) subtitled "Pastor(al) ideals"
How do we (or do we? "All American pastors know that the Bible knows nothing of a weekly meeting where a pastor preaches a sermon." ) go about (re)signing the sermon?

2)signs of atonement:

How do we (or how dare we) re-sign the atonement?

This section (pp, 293-298) is not online, but suffice to say it is one of many short sections that are worth the price of the book alone.

For starters, her taxonomy of viewing

Penal substitution theory as a (re)signed version of the satisfaction theorue
Demythologizing theories as (re)signed versions of the moral influence theory
Christus Victor theory as a (re)signed version of the ransom theory

may sound obvious..

..but it's foundational for her endorsement of a holistic approach to atonement theories, a "heteroglossia" ( term borrowed from Bakhtin; she later offers Bakhtins "relational semiotic". I see some studentfans have even created a facebook group called "Crystal Downing: It's not English class. It's heteroglossia, fool!" ).

"Heteroglossia" is of course, a much more cheesy academic a term than McKnight's down-home
"golf bag" metaphor (see "Žižek, metaphor, golfbags atonement fetish")
, but for reasons we'll get to, it may wind up being the best and most practical handle we have for
(re)signing.

--
I really think we need more women writing books like this. Not trying to sound sexist (see
"I need some token women" but so often they are far more creative...and better writers than us male "Bible studs"

U2 Outside Broadcast TV Special complete/"Bono, we want to ask what you believe in."

"To all accusations of egomania: guilty, your honor," pleads singer Bono. "I'm just trying to point out the ridiculousness of being a rock 'n' roll star."

"The more banal the better," The Edge says, expressing a special fondness for the Shopping Channel's ads for cubic zirconia rings. "To make the ring look bigger, they obviously solicit dwarves with teeny little hands, and they all have these false red nails. It's so decadent. That might be pornographic."

link
----

If you've never seen the complete U2 "Outside Broadcast" TV special from the Zoo TV era, like most everything else...inevitably, ironically...it's on YouTube: See the videos marked ZOOTV parts 1-12 here,

or here:
Link

Believe it or not (!!), I haven't seen the whole thing yet ( I need to watch more TV)
But it is a classic over the top capture (of course, it's for TV) of an over the top leg (Outside Broadcast) of an over the top and often misunderstood tour (If you have heard this is the era U2 lost their faith, ask Screwtape what he thinks).

I'll just highlight a few new finds for me in the excerpt below.

"Mysterious Ways" works on so many levels. Beth Maynard calls it a "love song to the Holy Spirit". ( Read Girls or God and sex in elevators (in church about the sexuality/spirituality connection)

" Even as he runs, there is a certain 'She' who “moves in mysterious ways” and who is going to 'be there when you hit the ground.' .

Faith, hope and U2: the language of love in the music of U2 « The Institute of Evangelism. http://institute.wycliffecollege.ca/?p=68

Here's what caught me in this version, It's often been suggested that the falsetto part Bono often moved into is intended to be the voice of God/Holy Spirit. Interesting then that part of this section was often:

"ll'll give you roses
I'll buy you thing
show you things
I'll show you places that you've never seen"

This subverts; using the same thoughts that could be used with the dancer for seduction, as God wooing the singer (and dancer?) to a higher, elevated and mysterious place (where streets have no name).
I love how he moves away from the seductress and into the Spirit..but always within the shadow of the dancer that he comes close to (but avoids) touching: "Move, Your Spirit teach me.." (5:34). This, to connect the song to a cousin song, is "Elevation prayer."

Fans will know that the dancer later became The Edge's wife. Here we see a quick interview with her after she comes off stage (6:oo) 'He touched me tonight."

Do catch the bit about: "ads substituting for the product" (8;00, A heavy tip as to the theme of the show), and the Zoo products advertised::

Part 1:
If you've never seen Mirrorball Man, the televangelist, catch him below as he is interviewed onstage with "Bono, we want to ask what you believe in." (2 min mark). Notice a bit before that, an early use of "All of this can be yours." Followed by "I know because I own it." -- related
Beyond The Zoo:
continued

T shirt for NT Wright fans

Buy the shirt already!

Underwater Church Reappears

7 Incredible Drowned Churches

Before-and-After Pictures: Underwater Church Reappears

Video: Madeleine L’Engle on Truth and Fantasy

Eugene Peterson interview audio: practicing resurrection in pastoral life

(audio here)

what a pastor can learn from Monet's waterlillies

ordaining artists

sustaining attentiveness in an itinerant system

swimming as spiritual practice

novelty and repetition in music both get us someplace

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

What is Romans?

Ask ten evangelicals what the book of Romans about, and maybe 11 out of 10 will answer something like :

"Paul's systematic theology on the doctrine of the individual believer's justification by faith (as opposed to the works-righteousness of the Jews)."

More than a few problems with that well-meaning statement

Ask anyone who has...uh, actually read it well..especially a rabbi like The Adam....and you'll; hear that it's about the unity of Jew and Gentile in Christ.

See also Tim Gombis' posts below (He is author of an amazing book on Ephesians, BTW...Ephesians is also largely about Jew/Gentile unity, hmmm...picking up a pattern?? See my video teaching on Ephesians here)
making the case that the Romans is "thoroughly pastoral" (and apocalyptic):

What is Romans?

Paul: Rhe torician or Pastor?

look what a megachurch of 30 can do

Video below; story at this link.
(By the way, if you trip up at me calling 30 people a megachurch.. read this, this, this, and uh, a book called the Bible)

lyric reflection question: "Rejoice"

photo backstory

Anyone familiar with the "official liner notes lyrics vs. what Bono actually sings" syndrome knows well that the printed lyrics often represent an earlier incarnation of the song (form criticism!): "Counting down to the Pentecost" became "Counting down till the pain would stop" by the time"Moment of Surrender" was recorded, etc etc.

I guess I never thought to even check the lyrics in the 2008 remastered edition of the "October" album, especially with the amazing essay by Neil McCormick stealing the thunder (and worth the price of buying a CD you already own)..

But today i caught these lyrics to "Rejoice" in that official booklet:

It's falling, it's falling

And outside a building comes tumbling down.

And inside a child on the ground

Wants out of his playpen.

and

This morning I fell out of bed

When I woke up to what my father said

It was amazing, I can't pretend or lie.

Of course, what the man sings on record is:

It's falling it's falling
And outside the buildings
Are tumbling down
And inside a child on the ground
Says he'd do it again

and

This morning
I fall out of bed when I woke up to what he has said
Everything's crazy
But I'm too lazy to lie

Any thoughts? Pesher?

I can't find my original lyric sheet to October (remember that big fold out lyric poster you had to order through the mail?) to consult. Are the lyrics there the same?

Does the briefcase help?
I find no reflections on this in the fan forums (yet..watch atU2 here)

Reflection, by the way, is a word to ....reflect on.

I also just noticed this lyric in the same booklet, for "I Threw a Brick( a" song that was often very mystical in concert), and reflected on it:

My reflection...as I thought about it

Believe it or not I never noticed the play on words there: to "think about" is to reflect.

I need to reflect on my reflection.

Meditation.

And reflect on this "Scarlet" lyric change in the booklet

Blood was spilledWhile we were still looking at each other

The one word--"while"--which is not sung, somehow seems to make all the difference
(Of course, this is not the first time, a one word change is huge..see this).
I get the picture of disciples gathered around the cross (where "blood was spilled"), and not "getting it." Of course they did, eventually at Pentecost ("We were filled with a love")

Reflect sooner than later.
Don'r deflect reflection.
Reflect on select (and elect) reflections.

Mediate on meditations.
And meditate on the meditations

This is of course epistemological: how do we know what we know about what we know..

By the way, I now almost see the narrator of "Moment of Surrender,"who sees the reflection of Jesus next to his own on the ATM as the same guy threw a brick through a window in "Brick."

Sometimes we have to smash/thrash/deconstruct our reflections/meditations/selves..

to see what ..and Who... has been there all along.

As the Irish prophet recently said, "[your] life is forever changed [when} you see something that you can't unsee."

temple tantrum=end of religion

Chris Roth, on the bottom-line reason for Jesus' templa tantrum:

The more likely reason, however, is reflected in the words of the theologian Bishop Leslie Newbigin, "The action of Jesus is more than an example of prophetic protest against corrupt religion. It is a sign of the end of religion." (The Light Has Come, 33). Jesus' actions signal a new reality where the temple has become obsolete. In John's biography of Jesus the clearing of the temple happens right after Jesus' first sign, which is turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. In that sign Jesus uses the water jars for ritual cleansing to make an abundance of wine. The wine was symbolic of the wedding feast of God and God's people being united, finally. The ritual hand washing points to the pollution of the world and our need to control it. The old way was about keeping the pollution out, but the new way is about a new age of celebration because the barriers between God and God's people have been removed. The symbol of the polluted world is overtaken by the symbol of wine that points to a completion- the presence of God and the beginning of a new age- a reconciliation between God and God's people.

Jesus' actions at the temple has a similar effect in signalling a new age. Jesus very deliberately makes a whip and drives the people and animals out of the temple area. He scatters the coins and overturns the tables of the moneychangers. Jesus commands the people to leave saying, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" The overall effect was that all sacrifice stopped. The endless sacrifices the people made to atone for their sin stopped. Symbolically, Jesus stopped the sacrifices of the temple. He symbolically destroyed the temple.

Zechariah 14:21 says, "there shall no longer be traders in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day". Zechariah is referring to the coming new age, when God if fully present with His people. And here Jesus is driving out the traders as Zechariah said would happen on that day. Jesus is declaring that this new age has begun. The presence of God will no longer be based on geography, but on the person of Jesus.

The people then asked for a miraculous sign that would prove he has the authority to do what he just did and Jesus replies, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." Jesus has just equated the temple with his own body. The temple was the place where heaven overlapped with earth. Now Jesus has symbolically destroyed the Temple. Now Jesus' person is the place where heaven overlaps with earth. It is through Jesus that the presence of God is now sought.

Through this prophetic symbolic action Jesus points to the end of the sacrificial system in the heart of Judaism through the Temple in Jerusalem (which was destroyed by the Romans 40 years later in 70 AD). Jesus replaces the temple as the place where the presence of God is sought. Relationship with Jesus, the lamb of God, replaces the need for sacrifices. Jesus' self-offering on the cross becomes the only sacrifice that brings us into right relationship with God. As Christians the temple is now irrelevant- obsolete. The temple expired with the presence of Jesus in the world.

We should be careful not to place boundaries where Jesus removed them. Do you have a Sacrifice? Do you have the temple tax in the right non-Roman coin? Are you a Gentile or a Jew? Male or Female? Adult or child? Are you disabled or blind? Your answers to these questions changed where and how you worshipped in the temple, or if you were allowed in the temple at all. Now, because of Jesus, your answers to those questions don't change how you worship at all. That whole religious system was ended by Jesus. Because of Jesus all we need to do to approach God is to pray. There is no need for a temple anymore. Jesus' action were for our sake. He freed us from that system of sacrifice. His act of judgment and destruction in the temple was an act of grace. It was the destruction of something to allow for something better to take its place. Now, in Jesus' new order, all are welcome to approach God in Spirit and in Truth...LINK< CHRIS ROTH

Friday, November 23, 2012

Jesus goes postal

Great post from Jesus the Radical Pastor! Support this guy!

Excerpt:

Jesus Goes Postal
What some consider to be Jesus’ most radical, violent action really wasn’t all that violent. After doing surveillance on the Temple the evening

meme from another source. Found via Paul Wilkinson

before (Mark 11:11), Jesus enters the Temple precincts the next day “locked and loaded” with his rich, prophetic heritage. As a one man army, he prophetically acts out and pronounces doom (‘the end is near’) on the existing Temple religious business and leadership.,,

...Exclusion in the Name of faith. The Temple in Jesus’ day maintained a rigid hierarchy of who was closest and farthest from
God. God-seeking Gentiles? Hey, let’s build a flea market in their spot. Never mind there are all kinds of markets already available on the Mount of Olives. Competition is good. Who cares that the traditional laws forbid carrying your wallet into the Temple area? This is AD 33! Get with the times. Your wallet: don’t leave home without it. But, keep the women out. Keep the cripples out. Keep the Gentiles out. Keep the am ha’aretz out! We are Jewish, well-bodied, well-educated, righteous men. We’re in! By his unexpected drama, Jesus declared that the days of exclusion were over. Are Christian gays welcomed into our ‘sacred space’?...

...“Say to this mountain [Mt Zion], ‘Be cast into the sea.’” In 70 AD Titus the Roman General laid waste Jerusalem. The Temple was destroyed and has not been built since. ‘Cast into the sea’ is a metaphor for “your time is up.”A new, mobile Temple, on the 3rd day after being laid waste, walked around and spoke. He is not and never will be for sale. He joyfully welcomes all who come to him, especially sinners. His name is Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, Lord of all. Now that Temple is his second “body”–the church.Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners. LINK

what is a pastor?

HELPFUL POSTS FROM JESUS THE RADICAL PASTOR

Thursday, November 22, 2012

ekklesia NOT "called out" and separate from society

Craig Blomberg on ekklesia:

So what does Jesus promise Peter? He will be the foundation on which Christ will build his “church.” Here is the first use of ekklesia in the Gospels. It occurs only three times, all in Matthew, and the other two references are both in 18:17. Many hold that Jesus did not conceive of establishing a church and that these verses are later Matthean insertions. But the nature of Jesus’ instruction to his community of followers certainly implied their continued existence in some form, even if there is little of an “institution” yet in view. Moreover, the word ekklesia in Hellenistic Greek often simply meant an assembly… The popular view that the church is somehow to separate itself from society, based on the derivation of ekklesia from ekkaleo (to call out) affords a classic example of what linguists call the etymological fallacy. Words often develop meanings over time that differ from their roots. They only sense in which the wordchurch in New Testament times means those who are called out is that believers routinely gather together by leaving their separate places of residence or work. (p 252-53) (italics in original -Craig Blomberg, HT, Alan Knox

Celtic Music as a Path to Reconciliation

Celtic Music as a Path to Reconciliation?: Guest Post by Roger Newton (Part 1)

Celtic Music as a Path to Reconciliation? Guest Post by Roger Newton (Part 2)

Celtic Music as a Path to Reconciliation? Guest Post by Roger Newton (Part 3) – Poetry and Prayer for Thanksgiving

Deep V-Neck Syndrome

Read it here:

Deep V-Neck Syndrome (DVS) The 5 Stages:

Video:

Cheung on the unpardonable sin

"Cessationists are in imminent danger of committing the unforgivable sin of speaking against the Holy Spirit" ;Vincent Cheung

"And this is why pastors should regularly drink in pubs"

link

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The Visual Bible: Matthew

Russell Brand interviews Westboro Baptist Church

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

origin of "avoid it like the plague"

The phrase finds its origin in Saint Jerome ( 345-420 A.D.), who quipped,

"Avoid, as you would the plague,
a clergyman
who is also a man of business,
and rises from poverty to wealth,
and from obscurity to a high position."

-The Prncipal Works of St. Jerome

Bono on Ignatius and epistemology of seeing; "palpable presence of Holy Spirit"

I often wonder who and what Bono has read (some intriguing and obvious answers have been found out; but I still don't know for sure about Brueggemann or Moltmann. .NT Wright is probably a given; since much of his writing remind us of the lack of a line on the horizon)..

But now (in a speech about which Cathleen Falsani said ,"Something big was happening in the room. You could feel it. A palpable presence. I'd call it the Holy Spirit") he quotes Ignatius:

St. Ignatius, he was a soldier. He was lying on a bed recovering from his wounds when he had what they call a conversion of the heart. He saw God's work and the call to do God's work. Not just in the church, in everything, everywhere. The arts, universities, the Orient, the New World. And once he knew about that, he couldn't unknow it.

It changed him,"It forced him out of bed and into the world. And that's what I'm hoping happens here in Georgetown with you. Because when you truly accept that those children in some far off place in the global village have the same value as you -- in God's eyes or even just in your eyes -- then your life is forever changed. You see something that you can't unsee." link

I love several aspects of that quote...but note how we he channeled epistemology through seeing.
As we found it on the last album, (and in Stephen Webb's classic), a "sound" epistemology is perhaps most fundamental But even though we DO walk by blind faith and not by sight (maybe the sight is via sound):

Once he knew about that, he couldn't unknow it.

You see something that you can't unsee.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

The End of Space and Time? - Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf

Overview

Robbert Dijkgraaf's focus is on string theory, quantum gravity, and the interface between mathematics and particle physics, bringing them together in an accessible way, looking at sciences, the arts and other matters.

Extra lecture materials

PDF Presentation for "The End of Space and Time?"

Listen to the lecture

More on Prodigal Pirates

Video of Kester Berwin, Peter Rollins and Barry Taylor (for context, see previous post:

Prodigal Pirate):

Pirates and Prodigals from Fuller Seminary on Vimeo:
A conversation between Kester Brewin, Peter Rollins, and Barry Taylor on the tragedy of the pirate and prodigal son archetypes and what this means for the future church. The discussion drew from ideas presented in Kester Brewin’s latest book, Mutiny! Why We Love Pirates, and How They Can Save Us.

The Berry Center for Lifelong Learning
andThe Inititive for the Church and Contemprary Culture
present: Pirates and Prodigals

Travis Auditorium
on the campus of Fuller Theologcial Seminary

Saturday, November 17, 2012

William T. Cavannaugh, “A Fire Strong Enough to Consume the House: the Wars of Religion and the Rise of the State”

PDF here

'That's not approval; that's deception"

Morgan Guyton:

a pillar of popular penal substitution theology is that God cannot tolerate the presence of sin. I think it's more accurate to say that sin cannot tolerate the presence of God. The consequence of understanding things the first way is that the cross becomes God's inoculation for His sin allergy. Ironically, one of the main points of Jesus' incarnation was to prove that God is not distant and untouchably pure, but rather someone who "eats and drinks with sinners." Now this doesn't mean that sin is not allergic to God. People reacted to Jesus' perfect love and holiness either by repenting of their sin like Zacchaeus did or by lashing out defensively and crucifying Him like the Pharisees did.

...[In a sermon, Furtick] said that the reason God gives us His "approval" is because He doesn't see us when He looks at us but sees Jesus instead. That's not approval; that's deception. I can't understand how anyone could possibly be encouraged by that. God doesn't need our true selves to be hidden from His view to love us infinitely. His rage against the sin that oppresses us is part of that love. It's true that Paul tells us to "put on Christ" and says that "in Christ we become the righteousness of God," but Jesus isn't a mask that we wear to cover ourselves up; He's a body in which we become ourselves.

..I cannot find anywhere in scripture that makes the Father the primary agent behind the crucifixion of His Son. The closest is the Suffering Servant passage in Isaiah 52-53 in which we read that "it was the Lord's will to crush him with pain" (53:10). First, I would contend that the Suffering Servant passage is primarily about Israel's exile and only secondarily about Christ in His role as the recapitulation of His people's destiny. The description of the Suffering Servant cannot be mapped completely onto Christ without compromising Christ's divinity and the full unity of the divine will. Secondly, in no place does Isaiah 52-53 describe the fulfillment of God's wrath as the purpose of the Servant's suffering. Isaiah 53:5 says, "Upon him was the punishment that made us whole; by his bruises we are healed." In other words, the purpose of the Servant's punishment is our wholeness and healing . It neither serves to fulfill God's ego needs nor some primordial cosmic free market principle of retribution that God is obligated to follow. -Morgan Guyton

was Jesus forsaken by God?

and other posts labeled "death of Jesus" below

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Pete Townsend on anthems, grace and Bono: "I'm not ashamed of praying onstage"

Pete Townshend:

I'm not ashamed of praying onstage.

In a sense, we discovered the rock anthem through that.

At the end of Tommy, there's a prayer to a higher power--"Listening to You, I get the music" and "See me, feel me, touch me, heal me." Rock audiences of the late Sixties would always stand up. They would suddenly feel, "Ah! I see, we're gathered here in order to lose ourselves in this plea for grace." And that's what the rock anthem is. Bono might think he's rallying the troops or something, but he's aware of the power of the congregation. -PETE TOWNSEND, Q &A: Pete Townshend, Rolling Stone, 11/8/12, p.22

Terry, Bono, T Bone and Bruce: the power of introduction

Terry Mattingly one tipped Bono off a young singer named Bono to a (necessarily) short list of recording artists who were Christians (not Christian recording artists) whose music was not Christianese or cheesy;

artists of honest and thoughtful faith and art that journalist Mattingly was pretty sure Bono would appreciate.

To say he was right is an understatement.

T-Bone Burnett and Bruce Cockburn were of course on the list (if not the whole list).

It is well-known that Bono not only soon after searched out Burnett's music, but Burnett himself.
Who knows the depth of the stories behind the note of thanks Bono once included in U2 liner notes, thanking Burnett "for the truth in the dark." The two even wrote together, including a purplehearted song with some of Bono's best lyrics... and non-lyrics/wordless prayerwails. The relationship survives to this day.

But how much Bono and Cockburn have connected over the years is not as well-known.

Most readers will remember that Cockburn is namechecked...well, without the name; as 'the singer on the radio'... in the lyric of U2's "God Part II."

And U2 has made no secret of being profoundly influenced by Cockburn's "Rocket Launcher,"
a video of which I recorded in Fresno appears below:

The Canadian documentary about their native son, Bruce Cockburn, Pacing the Cage opens with the following scene
(Does anyone have video link to this?):

Bono facing the camera and quietly [quoting "Rocket Launcher'],

“Here comes the helicopter - second time today

Everybody scatters and hopes it goes away.

How many kids they've murdered, only God can say.

If I had a rocket launcher...I'd make somebody pay."

Closing his sequence, Bono adds jealously,

“If I had a rocket launcher, he wouldn’t have written those songs!” (link)

Tony Campolo, who has several stories on Bono, and once told me a salty one,

recounts that while at Greenbelt (the UK alternative Christian festival), and in disguise , Bono even volunteered to direct traffic!

More of the story of Bono at Greenbelt told on a new article by Darrel Walker
And why was Bono smuggled into Greenbelt?

Walker reveals that: To see, on Mattingly's recommendation, an amazing Godhaunted singer named:

Bruce Cockburn.

Walker prods Cockburn to find just how much "Rocket Launcher" influened U2' "Bullet the Blue Sky".
The answer/non answer is cryptiic and intriguing.

But all this (a brief encounter when an American journalist offered an Irish singer a mixtape that included a bit of a Candadian artist; a discussion between two performers...one in disguise..backstage about rockets and El Salvador and other everyday stuff ) stirs up six degrees of separation, and changes life direction.

Who told you about

U2?
Cockburn?
Burnett?
Jesus?

AND if you are just learning about one of the above for the first time:

You are welcome.

--
Related:
Other posts on Cockburn

I

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

"Cloud Atlas"

Well, with the "progressively transgendered" Larry Wachoswski now going by Lana (see Lana Wachowski Reveals Suicide Plan, Painful Past in Emotional Speech Exclusive Video),
they are officially no longer The Wachoswski Brothers (They actually now go by The Wachowskis or Wachowski Starship). But the madgenius creators of The Matrix trilogy have now teamed with a third director to film "the unmakeable fim":