Artifacts of a Life Once Lived

From A Christian Critique of the University by Charles Habib Malik. He writes this in response to some of Socrates' discoursing on the understanding of life and meaning. Being developed in a chapter on the futility of Science to explain the world via materialistic empirical approaches such as the theory of Evolution, Malik demonstrates that Socrates, in his insatiable search for understanding pure causes, knew that physical causes could not explain the supra-natural elements of mankind such as Justice, Beauty, Love, Mind, etc. "Groping for the living God. Considering the existential circumstances under which it was said , and who said it, and who recorded the saying for all time, what Socrates is saying here is probably the noblest intellectual cry that has come down to us from the heathen world. Nothing closer to God then than his cry. There is unutterable, hidden suffering underneath. Total disenchantment with this world. The heart craves, demands, cries for ...

Religious Attractions: THE POWER OF YOU: only in America There is no denying that faiths (plural) evolve, but none is so agile, skilled, and societal-driven as the corporate-christian mentality scattered somewhere between cookie-cutter subdivisions and high-rise foreclosure institutions. This Faith (american religion) super-evolves with the current of popular American culture. Actually, it must, or this Faith will die (that is, that particular "brand" will shrivel as the funding will deplete and the monies find themselves in the pockets of other open-handed religious entrepreneurs). Since most Americans have cast aside any associations to Church Tradition and/ or Church Authority, professing Christian-lites, who are happy to exercise their right to wield the "power of the consumer", shop around until they happen upon "the right fit or feel." Where else in the world would someone travel 30 miles in one direction to a church when there are at least 50 churc...

Devotion of the Crucifix The crucifix, a symbol of sacrifice; the greatest sacrifice, the sacrifice of the divinity of God himself. The mystery of the the cross finds its theological, and thus human significance in this very fact, that God, rather than humanity, offered the sacrifice; in fact it was the sacrifice of his only Son Jesus Christ. Christ's death and suffering, as scripture and the church teach, bore the infiniteness of my sin, and all the sin of those who find salvation in the Christ. The mystery of the crucifix finds its strength in the reality of the event that it calls the penitent to remember. As a present reality of a real past I find freedom to share in the sufferings of Christ, I find comfort and hope for I know the resurrection of the Savior. My sufferings, which cannot compare to Christ's, are contented when I remember the shame of the cross. To find help I reach to hold his pierced and bleeding hands, for I cannot find help except by the power of his hands...

In my circles: What good is your education, when your education alienates you from those your education is meant to serve? Those whom you intend to serve fear the education you have received. Batman Returns said it best, "We fear what we don't understand." It's not supposed to be this way. My education has provided me with the "tools" necessary to encounter a theological and biblical world, but my education forgot to build the "bridge" that was necessary to carry my "tools". I suppose its not entirely the fault of the school. I guess there are opportunities to learn to build that bridge. Yet, education often takes place in a vacuum. It takes place in a theoretical world of minutia, theories, and categories of thought that never quite fit as nicely in the "experiment" as they do in the "textbook." Maybe it's not even the fault of the school. Maybe it's that world in which I was born. A world of divisive bante...

My God, I am dry. Thirst weakens the body; memory dims at the struggle for life; eyes grow heavy at the beating of the exhausting sun; hands cannot grasp life as the forsaking power of death steals my grip. I stagger through a weary land, a land abandoned of compassion, a land of deceiving promises; fervent fiery winds hasten my desperation; the rivers once flowing and deep are now desolate and bare, there is no shade, no tree, no green living thing; all have melted; all have sunken deep into the sands of my fraudulence. Living water, revive my soul that I may return to your merciful land of bounty, into the care of your gracious hand. Grant life into my death through the breath of your moving spirit. In the deserts of self I have wandered long and aimlessly in search of pleasures so futile; only loneliness accompanies my way for I seek my own rather than the kingdom of Christ. In contemptuous pride I have mocked the wisdom of your Word; words that free from the bondage of my own arrog...

a friend wrote : Five walls enclosing A night's just imposing She struggles upon her knees Worlds in transition A profound new position Who'll hear her quiet pleas? Her kingdom was consuming But like a moth to flame She kept burning wings of freedom Unfocused by the pain How could she be so wrong in Bringing meaning to her name? His presence was assurance She'd forgotten why He came His love so astounding His touch all resounding She bends in His majesty He whispers "Beloved" "It's you that I covet" Alone, she's all that He sees And prostrate on the floor her Tears are mingled with belief No slave is more adored tonight through this Master's kind relief "Don't laugh back tears Or hold the crowd You're my Beloved And I'm still proud To cradle you Throughout this fight Which I've long won And made Love right."

John Henry Newman sets out to defend the idea of Liberal (when I say "liberal" it is in the sense of a Liberal Arts degree)University for the training of young men. (His book is aimed at men and for the purpose of men... I don't know if the education of women at that time was still frowned upon). Within a series of nine discourses (which he initially delivered at the inaugural year of the University in Ireland)he sets out to defend his picture of what a University education should look like. Newman's arguments are logical and well defended with the arguments building, like a tower is built, upon one another. Each discourse takes up a specific thesis and is defended in the following pages. He first demonstrates that Truth is One, that is composed of one overarching, interrelated matrix. There are many systems of thought that are at play, but nonetheless, all Truth is delicately intertwined so that if you neglect one aspect of the Truth in essence you are unraveling the...

John Henry Newman sets out to defend the idea of Liberal (when I say "liberal" it is in the sense of a Liberal Arts degree)University for the training of young men. (His book is aimed at men and for the purpose of men... I dont know if the education of women at that time was still frowned upon). Within a series of nine discourses (which he initially delivered at the inaugural year of the University in Ireland)he sets out to defend his picture of what a University education should look like. Newman's arguments are logical and well defended with the arguments building, like a tower is built, upon one another. Each discourse takes up a specific thesis and is defended in the following pages. He first demonstrates that Truth is One, that is composed of one overarching, interrelated matrix. There are many systems of thought that are a play, but nonetheless, all Truth is delicately intertwined so that if you neglect one aspect of the Truth in essence you are unraveling the binds...

Who "Owns" the Scriptures? A Brief Consideration from a Roman Catholic Perspective: ** Was the Church justified and repressing the translation of the Ancient Scriptures into the Vulgar Tongues of the common people? "This is always a difficult subject—mostly because students of history have to wrap their heads around one very important consideration (before launching off into the analysis mode of “persecution and power”). That consideration is the issue of “ownership of texts” before copyright law. If one once understands that, it makes things a little easier to put in proper perspective. A few hundred years from now, when studying history, I wonder how students will view the draconian copyright laws of the 21st century. Perhaps they will, in that later age, view it as “persecution” that men and women were fined huge sums (or even put in jail) for pirating copies of films, musical pieces, etc., and for selling them on their own, etc. Perhaps they will look at copyrigh...

These are lines from Goethe's Faust : (A young moldable student approached Dr. Faust to learn to speak well) Wagner: Forgive me, But I thought you were declaiming. Been reciting some Greek tragedy, no doubt; I wish to improve myself in this same art; 'Tis a most useful one. I've heard it said, An actor might give lessons to a priest. Faust: Yes! when your priest's an actor, as may happen. Wagner: Oh! if a man shuts himself up forever in his dull study; if one sees the world never, unless on some chance holyday, looks at it from a distance, through a telescope, how can we learn to sway the minds of men by eloquence? to rule them, or persuade? Faust: If feeling does not prompt, in vain you strive, If from the soul the language does not come, but its own impulse, to impel the hearts of hearers, with communicated power, in vain you strive -- in vain you study earnestly. Toil on forever; piece together fragments; Cook up your broken scraps of sentences, and blow, with ...

I picked up this book upon a recommendation from a friend, once I started I couldnt stop. The life presented in this book is mine in another mans body. Knowing that another soul has gone through such a similar experience breathed life into my soul and I will be forever greatful to Dr. Balmer. Upon finishing the book I was so astonished I had to write Dr. Balmer and thank him. Dr. Balmer has also produce a telling video documentation called " Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory " which every thinking Christian should watch and understand.

A Short Review of Quentin J. Schultz's. Televangelism and American Culture: The Business of Popular Religion. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2003. The frightful backdrop of American cultural values gleams through in Televangelism and American Culture as the essay portrays a quintessential description of the purely American phenomenon of televangelism and similar media-based contraptions. Quentin Schultze brilliantly dissects the under girding values of televangelism and compares them to the American cultural values of entertainment, materialism, spirituality, consumerism, narcissism, personality cultism, etc. Schultze has become a student to popular American culture and as a result he is wittingly able to describe the ironically unfortunate situation; his astuteness is vivid and cunning as is demonstrated by the fact that he perceptively adds the subtitle to the book “business of popular religion.” In reviewing Schultze’s work I will attempt to answer two questions: How d...

ethereal and earthly in discombobulation This is the world I know. I know of no other sphere of being outside that which I have experienced. What have I to rest my time upon, if that which is like me has no foundation of being either? My being is contingent upon the order of the universe. I cannot survive unless that which I know remains as such. If man is responsible for the world as it is then I have man to thank for my existence, but I cannot find another who will claim that man is the foundation of my existence. What I have experienced is that my sphere of life commonly yearns for a life that is beyond this life, we cannot be satisfied with fullness even of the earthly type. If my life is the determination of a man then I ought, in common sense, to simply desire all that which man has created in its purposes; this is not my experience. I wish for the higher and realer, that which hard, bright, clear, and whole. I wish for that which man cannot provide, ever. This world smells of...

Marsden, like many other devoted American evangelicals who have grown up within the conservative movements of protestant theologies, was a man of considerable spiritual appetite. Marsden tells his story, as do hundreds of other like-minded Sunday school fed followers, about the world in which he grew up. His story trots a path somewhat like this, though I have filled in the details where it might be necessary. “I grew up in home where the bible was the center of our daily living regiment. My parents, though well meaning and often bullishly honest, were under the strictest conviction that the world was haven of brooding rebels of the fantastic sort, enigmatically labeled as harbingers of destruction. It was not as if they viewed the delinquents, the hoodlums, and violators of societal law as the culprits; no, quite the contrary, it was the good citizens; the democrats especially, the university professors, the bartenders, etc. who were to be feared at utmost precaution. After all, thei...

One of the strongest catalyzers of the missions movement during the twentieth century has been the idea that in taking the gospel around the world we are actually shortening the time of Christ’s return. That is, we believe that we can somehow, in our schemes “hurry up” or “hasten” the coming kingdom of God. Is God on our timetable? Does God actually have some plan where once the gospel has reached this last place He will commence the apocalypse? If this were so why wouldn’t we just do a massive airdrop of literature with airplanes all over the world, that would seem to solve the problem, right? If all that God is interested in is making a necessary stop on the last island of Iwo Jima why don’t we just send a group over there, do a mass evangelistic campaign, and if nothing comes of it than nothing comes of it, but we have taken the gospel there, and that’s all that matters because we are that much closer to bliss. Now I have a difficulty with this mentality. There is no love in this sc...

My difficulty in coming to terms with the idea of a secret rapture finds itself in the very ideology of life that I am attempting to expose as purely individual and self-serving. In the light of the fact that the scriptures speak so little on such a significant topic, I am dumbfounded at my once unapologetic acceptance of this undoubtedly European doctrine. In trying to come to grips with the scriptural and historical evidence for understanding a secret rapture, I have found little support. The doctrine itself represents a world of science more than it does a world of biblical perspective. The scientists of the early 18th and into the 19th have suggested that all truth when scrutinized under tooth and scalpel is able, with pinpoint precision, to be exposed in unified propositional statements. The idea of Christian prophecy lends itself to this pursuit of scientific discovery, especially in the community of Protestantism in the early modern period. In seeking the biblical understanding ...

This is how the world ends. This is how the world ends. This is how the world ends. Not with a bang but with a whimper.

The Life Long Learner: "The habits of thoughtful reading, careful research, dialogue that is more than just talk, writing, critical thinking and analysis, reflective practice, conceptual reasoning, spiritual reflection, the ability to ground knowledge in a disciplined theory base, the ability to access and use resources, communication, social interaction, justice and reconciliation, and so on, are the habits of a lifetime." She continues... "Embracing lifelong learning as normative for theological education is actually consistent with the deepest values and commitments of Christian faith. Many academic habits and artifacts were, for the most part, created by the forces of institutionalization, rationalism, and professionalism and not the values of Christ and the gospel. Conventional curricula, educational forms, assessment processes, and credentialing are largely inadequate to serve the mission of the church in the world. If Christians, committed to what Nietzsche descri...

The world is going to hell in a hand-basket. I’m not really even sure what they are talking about when they say a “hand-basket.” I guess its just something you carry stuff in, but nonetheless, what kind of attitude is this to promote ill-will and harshness on a world of seeming hopeless futures. I guess Christians are guilty to. Guilty because we have obsessed ourselves with Raptures and Apocalypses and Millenniums and Anti-Christ’s. We are obsessed with End-Time Left-Behind marketing schemes to the degree that we get so lost in the ideas that have scarce witness in the text of the Christian Canon. We have it all figured out, we have our charts and interactive CD-ROMS, we have suspects and villains of hellish-birth, we have credit cards for marks that are implanted in our skin so that we become the devils if we drink in the modern economic market, but we have forgotten one thing. The kingdom of God is caring for the poor and the providing justice for the fatherless and widows. The king...

The Role of Theological Education: Theological Education ought , in partnership with the Church, to train leaders through holistic formation, critical instruction, and competent enhancement, and to disseminate those leaders into the church with the intent to engage the world with the truth of Christ. Being overly simplistic, three general schools of thought have existed concerning the role of theological education (theological education refers to the theological institutions separate from the body of the church), however before each is investigated it must be understood that within these three schools of thought lay very different assumptions concerning the nature of theological education. This is particularly important for it must be admitted that ones view of the nature of theological education will directly effect how that person views the role of theological education. The first school views the nature of theological education as formative to the learner both mentally and spiri...