A Must Read

As some of my friends know, the only thing that kept me from swimming the Tiber a while ago was Pope Benedict XIV: he seems often to want to reverse the progress that the Catholic Church made at Vatican II. That having been said, his latest encyclical, "Caritas in Veritate" is a must read, and some of the best Christian Social Thought I've read to date:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html

Important Thoughts on a Critical Topic

A few months ago, Leah Ward Sears' name had been tossed around in the speculation of who would be President Obama' first nominee to the Supreme Court. Today, I was shocked to learn that she has stepped down from her position as the Chief Justice of Georgia's State Supreme Court. Her explanation of why she made that decision, as well as great commentary on marriage and divorce, are here:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/07/02/sears.family.divorce/index.html

Great website

As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of the controversial Bishop of Durham, N.T Wright. If you want an introduction to his thought that won't require the 700-800 pages of reading each of Jesus and the Victory of God or The Resurrection of the Son of God, then this website has a collection of really great essays by Wright:

www.ntwrightpage.com

Reinhold Niebuhr quote of the day

It's been a busy week here in Beantown, so I haven't had a chance to write part 3 to my thoughts yet. In the meantime, enjoy this passage from a Niebuhr essay entitled "The Christian Church in a Secular Age" that I read last night.

"It was Roman law, the pride of all pagan civilization, and Hebraic religion, the acme of religious devotion, which crucified the Lord. Thus does the cross reveal the problem of all human culture and the dilemma of every human civilization...the truest interpretations of the Christian faith have come in moments of history when civilizations were crumbling and the process of history and the judgments of God had humbled human arrogance."

Urbi et Orbi,
TBG

Of Mice and Ministers, Part 2

Continued from Saturday...

So what happened? I think the answer lies in one saying of Jesus: "My Kingdom is not of this world."

I'm of the opinion that this verse is directed squarely at the Church as we follow Christ as His disciples. As the subjects of the King, we are the representatives of the Kingdom to this day and age. We cannot allow the way we do Kingdom work to reflect a World of which we aren't a part. The Church is not simply an institution, a charitable organization, or a social club. It's not a part of your cultural heritage, a cornerstone of the community, or the preserver of moral values. And it's most definitely not a political organization. We are a people, a Kingdom, and our only purpose is to worship and serve our King.

And that's precisely where I think the SBC has tripped up: they have earned their reputation as being culture warriors. And it's not just the Baptists, it's the American church as a whole. We are anti-gay, anti-abortion, pro-gun, pro-supply-side economics, etc., and we represent ourselves to the world as such. For quite some time, we have been a wing of the GOP. We've confused America with the Kingdom. We've spent too much time fighting against Mickey Mouse and not enough time fighting against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We've run our churches as if they were a part of this World.

Michael Spencer, better known as the iMonk, is one of my favorite bloggers. He's written a compelling analysis of the problems in the SBC entitled "Change or Die". I encourage you to read it here: http://www.patrolmag.com/times/1694/change-or-die . The most telling thing Spencer reports, to me, is that the SBC simply doesn't have any money allocated for sending out new missionaries. From a theological tradition that has long been at the forefront of missions and evangelism, that strikes me as an incredible tragedy. We cannot fight for political control of our nation while we leave lost souls to die without hearing the Gospel. That amounts to a fundamental betrayal of the Great Comission.

As the Church in America, we must refocus. We must repent of our lust for political influence and remember that we are called to make disciples, not Republicans.

That having been said, are we to leave politics and the culture war completely neglected?

Part 3 tomorrow...

Of Mice and Ministers: Southern Baptists and the State of American Christianity, Part 1

The Berean Gadfly's been neglected for many months now. I sincerely apologize for that. The demands of law school were all-consuming for much of the past 6 months. I will post regularly for at least the rest of the summer, and we'll re-evaluate the time commitment after that.

"That's gay!" When I was in middle school, it was the one-size-fits-all insult. The kid in school you didn't like? Gay. Algebra teacher assigned a ton of homework? Gay. Your favorite punk band sold out to the man? Flaming homosexuals. In the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade we had our own version of the Salem witch trials, only the subject of our inquisition was anything that "batted for the other team." There were gay things under every rock and tree. It was always especially bad at PE, when physical prowess was the only sure-fire proof that you were straight. The poor kids at school who were just bad at sports got called "gay" more often than Elton John.

Fortunately, when I entered high school, my insult repertoire grew enormously, as did my understanding of how sensitive a topic sexuality is. I've often wondered, though, if many in leadership at the Southern Baptist Convention ever quite moved on from middle school: prominent SBC ministers have made plenty of headlines over the past few decades for things like accusing tele-tubbies of being queer or starting a new boycott of Disney every other day for some new non-hetero infraction. The news media has never failed to pick up on one of these stories, and over the years there's been plenty of opportunities for journalists to make Christianity out to be a never-ending scene from my eighth grade gym class.

I thought about all of these things this afternoon when I read a story MSNBC has posted on their website: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31447763/ It seems there's a decline in Southern Baptist membership. In addition, stats like "new baptisms" are down. This is leading to a bit of an identity crisis in the nation's largest protestant denomination. Some members are wanting to eschew politics, others want to stay the course, still others just want to invest more money in foreign missions.

In some respects, the SBC is just late to the party: Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Methodists denominations have been in decline for decades. But in other respects, things are different for the Baptists: this wasn't supposed to happen to them. Baptist thinkers such as Al Mohler for years have claimed that the decline in the so-called main line denominations was due to liberal theology. The reasoning went something like "if people don't see their own sinfulness, they won't see a need to keep coming to church." If only Baptists stayed faithful to orthodoxy, they would continue to grow. Thus in the 80's and 90's there was a purge: moderates and liberals were forced out of SBC leadership as Mohler forced them out of professorships at Southern Seminary in Kentucky, the denomination's flagship ministry school. Things were looking good for the ol' boys down south.

So what happened?

Continued tomorrow.

Urbi et Orbi,
TBG

Insert your own metaphor...

I promise I will get to another missions post soon. In the meantime, enjoy this link:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/west/view/2008_11_21_Sarah_Palin_pardons_turkey_while_others_slaughtered_during_interview/

I love it. Palin pardons turkey. Palin turns around to give interview. Turkey farm continues to slaughter turkeys in the background. This is a great metaphor for...well, any number of things. Have fun!

Urbi et Orbi,

TBG