Tag: Church
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The Gospel and Church
For many people, the church has not shared or offered good news. It has been persistently judgmental, accepting only people who fit a certain idealized “norm,” too moralizing, and too demanding. Churches often require adherence to inconsistent behavioral standards, affirmations of beliefs that must be accepted as unquestionable, promote values which sometimes are at odds…
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The Power of Doubt
In Paul Tillich’s retelling of changing culture and dominant human anxieties since antiquity, he emphasizes that modernity introduced, for the first time in human consciousness, the self-understanding of the person as an individual. Our identity is no longer merely as part of a collective mass of humanity, of some tribe or people, but we think…
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Our Shifting Anxieties
In The Courage to Be, Paul Tillich offers his overview of three ages of Western thought and the cultural shifts these eras produced. His purpose is to explore the nature of Christian faith in each time, and so he identifies the nature of the fundamental human fears during those periods. Antiquity, he claims, was characterized…
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True Separateness
Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you.” 2 Corinthians 6:17 Paul is not quoting a single passage here, but offering a summary of a message of separateness from the Hebrew Scriptures. A similar statement that we often hear…
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Misplaced Hope
David makes a timeless declaration about hope, faith, trust, and where we put our confidence. He could not be any clearer or relevant. We can either trust God or worldly power and might, but not both. The horse and chariot meant military power, but also speaks to technology. When the Israelites were coming into Canaan…
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Violence and the Jesus Way
Those who lack the incomparable energy of love and the strength of moral clarity, who neither pursue nor value virtue, who do not hold to the inherent and sacred dignity of all people, use violence as a tool for their own ambitions. Theirs is an intentional choice to further pursue and consolidate the power they…