The burning of Little Jack (Jacklein) Rohrbach, a leader of the peasants in the Pesent Revolt of (1524-1525) where Luther "was not innocent of the blood [up to 100,000 people] spilled. File courtesy of WIkimedia Commons.
Currently in the UBC Graduate Christian Union we are discussing James Davidson Hunter's book To Change the World: the irony tragedy and possibility of Christianity in the late modern world. I highly recommend the book Hunter argues that current models of how to pursue cultural change in the Christian community are ineffective, that the task of seeking overt cultural-political influence as Christians is fraught with moral ambiguity and that often great evil accompanies great good when the Church is at the forefront of cultural change, and that a new model of cultural engagement that he calls "faithful presence" may provide a way forward to live a Christians today with integrity.
My major reservations about the book are that his view of culture does not explicitly scale to the level of small communities and the incredible influence that they have in many of our lives, and the fact that he believes his presentation of faithfull presence is something new. In some point in my discipleship I was taught, I think by Don Everts, to be very skeptical of any preaching that claimed to present something new. In this case, I do like Hunter's presentation of the idea of faithful presence, but believe he pridefully claims originality when all he is doing is contextualizing basic Christian orthodoxy.
I recently led a discussion during the Graduate Christian Union's fall retreat about Graduate Students and power. I summarize the discussion below, and hope that it is possible for those of you who are not graduate students to contextualize the discussion for your own situation.
We discussed the power that we as graduate students have and the necessity of grappling with the reality of our influence and the possibility for that influence to be constructive in the Kingdom. Hunter put forth five propositions about power that helped frame the discussion: Power is inherently relational and is wielded by all persons who are in relationship; power is inherently asymmetrical -though wielded by all parties in a relationship, the “weaker” certainly has the possibility to affect the stronger and thus has power; power tends to become and end in itself -for example, charities demonstrably put there institutional interests above the interests of those they claim to serve; power generates its own resistance; and finally, power seems to always carry unintended consequences.
As graduate students we have power in the context of a plethora of relationships. In some we are in the position of greater power, while in others the position of lesser power. As a group, we discussed examples of our own power and moments where we recognized that we have abused that power. We have power as authors, as people with unparalleled access to material resources, as TA’s and as peons in the institutions of our departments and universities we perpetuate, defend, and legitimate the power of these institutions.
If we believe Hunter’s assertion that the only way to avoid power is to become a hermit (and that even then we will be exercising power in our relationship with the physical world and will have influenced many interpersonal relationships by cutting ourselves off from them), then we must wield power. Hunter also makes a theological argument that we must wield power by proposing “the Creation mandate” where we are called to exercise influence in our relationship with physical world (eg to till and to keep), relationships within the body of Christ (eg Colossians 3-4) and in relationships with those outside of the faith (eg the great commission). Hunter frankly acknowledges that “the call to be in the world but nor of it is a call to abide in the will and purpose of God in the present would disorder with integrity... knowing that failure is inevitable, forgiveness is ever available, and the work of the Holy Spirit to transform and sanctify our efforts is always at work” (p. 183).
With the risk of arriving at a simplistic answer we asked: what hope does Gospel have to give to us who inherently have and will abuse power? How ought we, as broken people in a sinful world, wild the power that we have? We have hope that as we enter into a relationship with Christ and allow ourselves to be transformed by him our relationship with power and "the powers" is transformed. We have hope that we are bieng shaped into the likeness of Christ who related to power in the following ways (Hunter pp. 188-193):
~ Christs power is derived from intimacy with and submission to the Father (this is a blessing from the trinity that we are given such an example of submission)
~ Christ rejected status and the power and privilege that accompanies them
~ Compassion defines the power of the Kingdom
And so I must now ask, what does this mean for us as graduate students? How can we submit to Christ? What does it mean for us to actively pursue compassion in each of our power relationships? And, perhaps the crux, how can we rejected status and the power and privilege that accompanies them while pursuing excellence and leadership in our fields?
4 Red Breasted Nuthatches at once!
Here is an overview of the vegetable garden. It was designed with inspiration from both the French Biointensive school of thought and the Permaculture school of thought. Permaculture has certainly been the primary inspiration for my overall sight design.
Leeks
Swiss Chard
Radishes in need of thinning.
The pea harvest is just beginning.
This mini-greenhouse has allowed me to get some peppers (already!) and should help with some of my Basil and Tomato harvest.
A Jalapeno!
An experimental Tomatillo.
At the edge of the garden is an herb spiral. It is a beautiful permaculture design element that provides a large variety of soil moisture and microclimite conditions in a very compact area. At the top it is hot and dry, at the back left it is cool and wet, and at the front it is warm and wet. It is planted with Sage, Oregano, Rosemary, Tyme, Lemon Verbena, Fennel, Chives, Garlic Chives, Parsley, Peppermint & Spearmint.
The larger landscape has been designed to maximize food production and wildlife value. A pond, hummingbird feeder, nestboxes (unfortunately unoccupied), and bird feeders are elements that the local wildlife enjoy. As a side note, the gentle gravel beach at the top right portion of the pond is critical for birds to enjoy it. There is almost always a bird bathing or drinking there. Before I constructed it there was nearly no bird activity.
An overview of the front yard, where much of the smaller fruits are planted.
A Fig (desert king).
Red Currents forming.
Grapes.
Kayak Staging Grounds
Waiting for the hand off from the Mountain Bike Leg
Approaching the Beach. You can see the bow of a Kayak that paralelled me for the entire race. I barely met my goal of holding the team's place, passing 14 boats and being passed by 12. I also maintained the rule set for me by teammate (Road Bike, Gaining us 50 places!) and buddy Brian Russel: don't let anyone in a Sit on Top Ocean Kayak pass you, no matter how burly s/he is!
Ringing the Celebratory Finish Bell. You can see our time. 8 hours, 58 minutes, 29 seconds! At nearly 3 hours behind the leader, that was good enough to put us into 204th place (out of 464 teams). Full results are here if you enter team no 150.
Celebrating after the finish with team Captain and Mountain Biker Ben Muller (Top) and Family (Below).
Colfax Peak and Mout Baker from the high? point on Heliotrope Ridge
Soundless woods in a snowstorm on the approach.
Our tracks and ski tracks onto the moraine at the edge of Coleman Glacier
Lunch overlooking the Black Buttes (Colfax an Lincoln)
A Storm Clearing in the Early MorningThe Vatican : John Paul I's Message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, October 22, 1996 "Magisterium Is Concerned with the Question of Evolution for It Involves Conception of Man."
"In his Encyclical Humani generis (1950), my predecessor Pius XII had already stated that there was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith about man and his vocation, on condition that one did not lose sight of several indisputable points (cf. AAS 42 [1950], pp. 575-576).".....
"In order to delineate the field of their own study, the exegete and the theologian must keep informed about the results achieved by the natural sciences (cf. AAS 85 [1993] pp. 764-772; Address to the Pontifical Biblical Commission, 23 April 1993, announcing the document on The interpretation of the Bible in the Church: AAS 86 [1994] pp. 232-243)."...
"How do the conclusions reached by the various scientific disciplines coincide with those contained in the message of Revelation? And if, at first sight, there are apparent contradictions, in what direction do we look for their solution? We know, in fact, that truth cannot contradict truth (cf. Leo XIII, Encyclical Providentissimus Deus)" "Today, almost half a century after the publication of the Encyclical, fresh knowledge has led to the recognition that evolution is more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory."
From Tim Keller's The Reason for God "Despite widespread impressions to the contrary, both inside and outside of the church,, modern Creation Science was not the traditional response of conservative and evangelical Protestants in the nineteenth century when Darwin's theory first became known. There was widespread acceptance of the fact that Genesis 1 may have been speaking of long ages rather than literal days. R.A. Torrey, the fundamentalist editor of The Fundamentals ... said that it was possible "to believe thoroughly in the infallibility of the Bible and still be an evolutionist of a certain type (quoted in Mark Nol, Evangelical American Christianity: An Introduction [Blackwells, 2001], p 171). The man who defined the doctrine on Biblical inerrancy, B.B. Warfield of Princeton (d. 1921) believed that God may have used something like evolution to bring about life-forms."
Frances Collins (from a scientific viewpoint). "This narrow interpretation is largely a creation of the last hundred years, arising in large consequence as a reaction to Darwinian evolution."
St. Augustine in Genesis 19:39"usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth... and this knowledge he hold to as being certain from reason and experience.
How, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show a vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn.
The shame is... that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. It they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are the going to believe those books and matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learned from experience in the light of reason?"
The ACG Affiliation of Christian Geologists:
"Statement on the Physical Age of the Earth and Universe"
The Affiliation of Christian Geologists is committed to the historic Christian faith and to its meaningful integration with the best available science. This effort reflects our desire to serve God with all our minds. Data from science also help us to serve our neighbors and to care for God’s creation. Investigations of the Earth and the universe have been ongoing for hundreds of years using such scientific methodologies as:
-astronomical data from telescopes and satellites
-observation of the physical makeup and arrangement of earth and extraterrestrial materials
-chemical and physical analytical study of rocks, sediments, soils, water, air, ice, and meteorites found on Earth as well as lunar and Martian materials
-experimental synthesis to determine the origins of earth and extraterrestrial matter
-analytical determination of absolute ages of natural materials, and
-mathematical and computer modeling of the above observations and processes.
Beginning in the mid-1600’s, geologists and astronomers (including many Christians) have consistently found that the scientific evidence clearly favors a vast age for the earth and the universe. Current scientific calculations indicate that the universe began about 13 billion years ago and the earth about 4.6 billion years ago. These conclusions are based on cumulative evidence and are refined with each new study. All scientific knowledge is constrained by the limitations of the methods of inquiry and discovery. We are limited and sometimes mistaken in our understanding of both nature and Scripture, but ultimately the two must not conflict, both coming from the same Creator. Although Scripture contains essential information on origins that gives meaning and perspective, technical details of the method and timing of creation are not major concerns of the Biblical text, and many orthodox theologians do not see a conflict between the Bible and an old creation."
Gary B. Ferngren writing for The American Scientific Affiliation on CS Lewis
The American Scientific Affiliation: on Science and Faith
