A Slight Delay

We’ve never suffered from a dearth of books on Christianity. Even leaving aside the Bible, books on all things Christian–apologetics, fiction, inspirational tracts, and even books that take on Christianity from an atheistic viewpoint–have never been in short supply. The Christian publishing industry takes in revenues in excess of billions of dollars per year, much of it spent preaching to the converted, and much of the rest attempting to convert the rest.

What we don’t see nearly as often are books that unearth the other Christianities, those that have existed side-by-side with orthodox Christianity, or that show us the Christianities that might have been. Sure, The DaVinci Code created a flurry of interest in all things Gnostic, but there are a plethora of other possibilities that blossomed in the early years of the religion, many of them never to come to full flower. One such “alternate” Christianity is outlined in Martin Palmer’s The Jesus Sutras.

As we’re still reminded on a nearly daily basis, cultures and religions seem more likely to clash than collaborate. Palmer’s great gift in this book is to show us that it wasn’t always, and need not always, be so. (more…)

Robert McElvaine is one pissed-off individual. It’s hard to escape the conclusion, all the way from the cover to the very last page of his Grand Theft Jesus: The Hijacking of Religion in America. On the other hand, all the old saws about not judging a book by its cover aside, once you get to the contents, it’s easy to see why he might be–ahem–slightly perturbed.

The author’s interest is in those who’ve read the New Testament so closely that they can’t see the forest–in this case, Jesus’ teachings and central message–for the trees (i.e. the individual, highly legalized, very specific and often very specious focus on certain bits that make the more difficult bits of Jesus go down easy). To say that he’s disturbed by the shape of the religious landscape in this country would be putting it mildly. Writing of those he calls “Lite Christians,” he says:

They’re all about having fun, spending money, and seeking pleasure, but when it comes to the fundamental teachings of Jesus, they take a pass. Turn the other cheek? Self-sacrifice? Help the poor? Nonviolence? That shit’s too hard!

And, as it turns out, McElvaine’s in a target-rich environment. (more…)

One of the many arguments over Prop 8 comes down to theology. Many who oppose same-sex marriage, or even just homosexuality in general, argue that it’s not only against nature, but against God. By now, anyone with a television has seen Fred Phelps and company marching with their “God Hates Fags” signs, or has heard from other, less hysterical, quarters that homosexuality and Christianity are inherently at odds. While I’ll throw in (yet another) disclaimer, this time that I’m not a theologian, I’d have to say that this is one scriptural analysis with which I’d have to disagree.

Let’s start from the assumption–a relatively uncontentious one, I’d hope–that if one is a Christian, the New Testament has a primacy of sorts over the Old Testament. With that as our starting point, then, there are four passages in the New Testament that are widely taken as evidence that homosexuality is anti-Christian. I’ve quoted those passages at length after the jump.

It should be noted that the passages below are all from epistolatory writings. The Pauline epistolatory material, it should be noted, was just that: a pile of letters. A wide spectrum of Biblical scholars (that is to say, we’re not just talking about the Jesus Seminar here) would readily concede that these weren’t written, or intended to be taken, as scripture. Each of them was written to address specific issues faced by some of the many churches the apostle Paul set up during his wanderings in Asia Minor and North Africa; one suspects that if he were writing scripture, or knew that his writings would later be construed as such, they would have had a much different tone. Additionally, some of the later epistolatory material—like Timothy, which is quoted below, and 2 Corinthians, which isn’t—is now widely regarded to have been forged.*

On the other hand, you’ve got the Gospels, and Acts, which I lump in with the Gospels, since they were probably penned by the same person who wrote the Gospel of Luke. The Gospels, which purport to tell what is known of Jesus’ life and ministry, do not mention homosexuality. At all. (more…)

Another post that I came across at random, this time from Ever Looking Upwards, who asks, “Are you a fan of the ‘patchwork’ Gospel??” She asserts:

If you don’t consider scripture to be the inerrant Word of God (and thus above the words of anyone on this earth including the Pope!), and you feel that it’s been changed over the years by the multiple translations and rewritings etc, so you figure you can’t accept it as it’s provided, but would still call yourself a Christian, then you are also a fan of the “patchwork” Gospel, whether you realise it or not.

And this is a problem why, exactly? (more…)

I’m generally pretty neutral on Starbucks. Sure, I cringe at the thought of paying $24.75 for a tall soy mocha latte. On the other hand, I don’t think they’re the root of all evil (a distinction that clearly belongs to Wal-Mart). So I’m amused to find out that a group of supposed Christians are calling for boycotts of the chain. Their reason? Nothing to do with fair trade beans, soy milk, or snooty baristas. Apparently the coffee chain’s mermaid logo is showing too much skin for their taste.

The boycott comes from a group calling itself The Resistance Manifesto, which also devotes a fair amount of space to 9/11 “truth” screeds, and rants against celebrities. To quote from the little missive they sent out to publicize their boycott:

(San Diego, CA) Starbucks has recently introduced a new version of their logo which features a topless mermaid with her legs spread, which has caused outrage from a nation wide Christian media watchdog organization. The Resistance, with [sic] has over 3000 members nationwide, is boycotting Starbucks across the country saying their new logo is inappropriate.

“The Starbucks logo has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute,” explains Mark Dice, founder of the group. “Need I say more? It’s extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves, Slutbucks.”

Okay, I admit that I’m not up on mythical beasts, much less their mating habits. The best I can remember, though, mermaids don’t have legs. But that’s not the least of it. First off, if you think someone’s going to get their kicks off a badly-drawn cartoon mermaid, you’ve got more issues than Time magazine. Second, what next? The Coppertone logo? Products like Naked Juice, or Bear Naked granola?

And finally, with all the more pressing issues facing the world–poverty, starvation, warfare, race and class strife–the best you can do is a outrage over a fucking mermaid? Somebody’s priorities are seriously ass-backward if they think this merits a second look, much less a boycott.

On the brighter side, maybe if they get worked up enough about the mermaids, they’ll keep their mouths shut about gay marriage for a change. That would be progress.

Blogs on religion proliferate like weeds on the web. Unfortunately, they all too often settle into trite cliches, facile dogmatism, and sloppy theology. A refreshing exception comes to us courtesy of Amicus Dei, a blog written by Pastor Chuck Warnock. Once you’ve read his writing, both there and on his other blogs, such as Confessions of a Small-Church Pastor, you come to realize that any preconceptions you might’ve had about Baptist pastors pretty much go out the window. At least mine did. (more…)