Return of the Blogger!

Sorry to everyone for letting the blog sit dormant for over 6 weeks. I can't believe how quickly time passes.

Today's class was a good one. We finished our series on Christianity in America in the 21st Century. We had a great discussion on the "Heart of Christianity," and specifically about Marcus Borg's desire to boil Christianity down to a fundamental essence. According to Borg, here are the five fundamental tenets of Christianity, or the "Heart of Christianity":

The reality of God.
The centrality of the Bible.
The utter centrality of Jesus.
A relationship with God is known in Jesus. Christianity is not primarily about believing; a relationship involves a much deeper part of ourselves than simply the content of our minds.
A concern for the transformation of ourselves and of society.

We discussed in class whether Borg's project was laudable or misguided -- should we boil Christianity down to five principles, or is it far more complicated than just these five principles? I think we can all agree that the early church fathers and mothers sought to do essentially the same thing in the creeds. The Apostle's Creed is the same sort of statement, but different for a variety of reasons. The most important difference, according to Borg, is that Borg's "Heart of Christianity" relies not on intellectual assent to doctrinal statements but rather trust in the person of Jesus Christ. Christianity, according to Borg, is about being a part of the "way" of Christ, not about rigid belief systems.

Ultimately, we all decided that we liked Borg's project, but felt that new Christians or the unchurched might not really get an understanding of some of the more important parts of Christianity if he or she was to just read these five fundamentals. While I am not suggesting that Borg has left the church out of his five statements (read The Heart of Christianity to see for yourself), there is nothing specific about the church in the five statements. For me, I think the fact that the church is the continuing presence of Christ in the world is an essential component of Christianity today. I also think that we lose sight of something crucial in Christianity if we hurry past the cross and the resurrection without considering whether they were necessary. Jesus' life was important, and manifests the "way" in which we should live. But in his death and resurrection, I do firmly believe that something was accomplished in history that was unique and unquestionably necessary for us to be in relationship with God.

For those of you still interested in definitions related to Christianity in America in the 21st century, we will be watching Adam Hamilton's video series over the next 3 weeks which discusses different denominations. On the 24th of August, we'll have a joint class with Discovery to discuss Pentacostalism. I hope those of you who grew up Pentacostal like me will be at the class. It should be very interesting.

Starting on the 31st of August, we will begin discussing storytelling and listening as an act of love, which just so happens to be the name of a book that we are now reading. If you are interested, check out the book (Listening is an Act of Love) before we start the class series on the 31st of August.

A few more points before I sign off. First, although I agree that we need to understand the early Christian church in order to get a better understanding of who Christ was, I am not convinced that everything after the early church is inauthentic Christianity. I think we have learned a lot in the last 2000 years, and while not perfect, neither was the early church.

Second, here are a few links for your edification over the next week. The last one is a great article from the New York Times about a group of people who read to those who no longer can read for themselves. Proof that there is still good in the world!

www.anevangelicalmanifesto.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPmPsTAMZKM (Marcus Borg discussing the way)

http://www.brianmclaren.net/ (emerging church issues)

http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/denominations.htm (chart of denominations)

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE6D6113EF932A35751C0A961948260&scp=9&sq=reading%20elderly&st=cse

Happy reading, and have a blessed week.

Bryan