Q & R: Greek philosophy
Here's the question ...
Hi Brian,
I was wondering ... do you find it concerning that everything we think we know is in one way or another founded on Greek philosophy? I was stunned last night when I remembered that everything from our perceptions about the divine, the way we approach reading and learning, our understanding about heaven and hell all hang by my best estimation on either Greek or Greco-Roman philosophies ... and in theology, Plato seems to have am especially wide influence that is buried down to the level of what I think are our basic assumptions.
Sorry to just throw that at you point blank like this, but it's kind of freaking me out. Just wondering if you know of anyone, or have had any experience with this? My knee jerk reaction is to try and throw as much of the Greek philosophy relating to God and the bible out the window as I can ...
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Response after the jump ...
0 Comments3 Minutes
Q & R: Systems inside us …
Here's the question:
Hello Brian,
You must get hundreds of these emails, so I'm guessing that you are overwhelmed and wanting more ease and freedom to do other things?
I just finished reading "everything must change" after having read and loved "The Secret Message of Jesus". I have been moved and excited after reading both books, as much of what you say and the style in which you say things seems to resonate as true for me.
I am wanting to contribute to the continuing dialog encompassed by your work as it applies to my passion, which is the use of language for the purpose of connection between people. In your book "everything must change", you describe three systems as if they are external to us -- which they are -- but there is something about those systems which also lives within each one of us. You and I were created with a need for security, a need for equity and a need to consider each other's needs and share in the joy of meeting them (i.e. prosperity). While I do believe that the three systems you present are real, I realized that there are others, which not only help us to meet our basic survival needs, but there are ones that help us to live life to its fullest! A couple of examples are "Beauty," "Learning" and "Community". As a society, we have built tremendous infrastructures around those needs, and they influence how we live and share life on the planet.
So, the systems outside of us have formed because we were created with something within us that requires fulfillment in order to sustain life and to enjoy a life lived to overflowing. In my discipline of compassionate communication, I strive to bring these internal "heart needs" outside and directly into dialog as a means of connection. "Connection" is a something special which happens as empathy and honesty are present in a dialog...
I hope that you are intrigued by what I have said so far. I would enjoy hearing if anything I have said has stimulated something within you.
Response after the jump ...
0 Comments4 Minutes
“With a little hope …” – A Sunday Meditation
In my travels, I get to meet so many wonderful and amazing people doing truly beautiful and good things around the world. One of them is Jodi Mikalachki. She is a volunteer with Mennonite Central Committee in Burundi, where she works with The Christian Union for the Education and Development of the Underprivileged, a tiny Burundian NGO that helps the Batwa (or Twa people). She teaches and trains teachers at the Hope School of Nyangungu. After the jump, you can read her recent newsletter (shared with permission). It gives a window into what it looks like when people live Jesus' gospel of the kingdom of God (which was the main subject of my books SMJ and EMC) in the nitty gritty of human lives and communities. In addition to the beautiful stories themselves, you'll enjoy Jodi's obvious talent as a writer. Quotable quote:
Peace is precarious here, domestically and nationally, and sometimes I feel that I’m walking like a privileged idiot through a minefield. But I am deeply grateful for the ways people are allowing me into their lives, not just as an outside “fixer,” but as someone who is part of a community working things out under difficult circumstances. May you all be so blessed where you are.
0 Comments16 Minutes
Ah, a Methodist Who Speaks His Mind …
What happens when a theology professor at a respected Methodist seminary speaks his mind about seven things he hates in his denomination? We'll see in the weeks to come! In the meantime, read his refreshingly frank posting here. And consider speaking your mind about your tribe too - not nastily, not polemically, not aggressively, just with vulnerability and frankness, as in this good example.
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Pope Benedict Gets It Right
Jim Wallis has provided a helpful summary of the Pope's encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). The subtitle explains the subject more clearly -- "on integral human development in charity and truth" -- and the timing of its release (coinciding with the G-8 summit) suggests something about its purpose: to challenge the leading economic powers (and all the faithful) to see the current economic crisis as "an opportunity for discernment, in which to shape a new vision for the future" - a future focused on "justice and the common good."
Of particular interest to me is his strong endorsement of the key concepts behind the sustainability and fair trade/ethical buying movements. These related movements help us see that the economy is an important sphere where we can, in a sense, cast votes with every dollar we spend, literally loving our neighbors (or not) by the way we buy (or don't buy) groceries, clothing, corporate shares, and so on.
In a recent book, Adam Werback (who in 1996 became the Sierra Club's youngest president -- at the age of 23) defines sustainability in terms of four bottom lines instead of one (short-term profit for investors/owners):
True sustainability has four equal components:
-- social, to address conditions that affect us all, including poverty,
violence, injustice, education, public health, and labor and human rights
--economic, to help people and businesses meet their economic needs—for
people: securing food, water, shelter, and creature comforts; for
businesses: turning a profit
-- environmental, to protect and restore the Earth—for example, by
controlling climate change, preserving natural resources, and preventing
waste
-- cultural, to protect and value the diversity through which communities
manifest their identity and cultivate traditions across generations
With each dollar we spend, we can vote for companies that do good business, that respect the planet, that treat their workers well, that promote the social common good, and that preserve and enhance cultural health and diversity. With communism dead and buried for nearly twenty years now, it's time to realize that "capitalism without a conscience" may be our new greatest threat. People of faith - from the Pope to you and me - can play a role in the reinvention of our economics in the years to come.
In the past, our economies depended on slavery and child labor to survive. People who called for reform were labeled as unrealistic and anti-business. Those of us who work to "shape a new vision for the future" will similarly be mocked, opposed, and ignored today and in the years to come. But in the end, we will see breakthroughs because, as Dr. King said, there is a moral arc to the universe, and it tends towards justice. That's as true in economics as it is in politics, thanks be to God.
0 Comments4 Minutes