Á Wild Goose Festival í sumar hlustaði ég tvívegis innlegg frá Darkwood Brew, sem er nokkurs konar netsjónvarpsþáttur um kristna trú, sem blandar saman helgihaldi, guðfræðiumræðum, tónlist, viðtölum við merkisfólk og margt margt fleira. Darkwood Brew er sent út á netinu á sunnudagskvöldum kl. 23:00 að íslenskum tíma.
Tag: christ
Hamfarir, reiði, hatur og náð
Flutt á fundi AD KFUM fimmtudaginn 20. október. Fundarefni á fundinum var frásögn af “Hamförunum á Haiti.”
Mig langar að vera tillitssamur, réttsýnn, bjartsýnn, almennilegur, hreinskiptinn, einlægur og ekta. Ég heyrði í vikunni prófessor kvarta undan fjórða boðorðinu á málþingi í Háskólanum, hlustaði á kollega minn í kirkjunni kvarta undan hvað það sé flókið að boða náð Guðs og hlustaði á meðvitaðar vinkonur fordæma syndaskilning kristninnar fyrir að brjóta niður sjálfsmynd ungra stúlkna.
Galatabréfið 2. kafli
Kaflinn virðist byrja á lýsingu Páls á Postulafundinum og hvernig hann sættist við lykilmenn í hópi gyðingkristinna um skilning á fagnaðarerindinu. Hann segir þá sammála um að lykilatriðið í boðun kirkjunnar sé að minnast hinna fátæku, sem andsvar við náðargjöf Guðs. Hins vegar má líka vera að hér sé ekki um hinn formlega fund að ræða sem átti sér stað 48 e.Kr. Fullyrðingin um einkafund bendir til þess að hér sé jafnvel um að ræða samtal sem Páll tók þátt í fyrir árið 48 e.Kr.
Continue reading Galatabréfið 2. kafli
Hvað er sannleikur?
Prédikun upphaflega flutt í Hjallakirkju í Kópavogi í september 1998.
Lokum augunum og reynum að sjá fyrir okkar lítið myndbrot. það er snemma morguns, við stöndum í stórum, tignarlegum salarkynnum þar sem ekkert virðist hafa verið sparað til að gera allt sem glæsilegast. Continue reading Hvað er sannleikur?
Jóhannesarguðspjall 2. kafli
Hvenær er minn tími kominn?
Þegar ég les um brúðkaupið í Kana er tvennt sem togast á í huga mér. Mikilvægi þess að þekkja tíma sinn og stöðu, vita hvenær á að bregðast við og hvenær ekki. Continue reading Jóhannesarguðspjall 2. kafli
Opinberunin
Opinberunin, ef hún þá er til staðar, er opinberun á Kristi sjálfum, miklu fremur en opinberun þeirrar kennslu sem hann veitti. Sú trú sem fyrstu áhangendur hans töldu sig frelsast vegna, var ekki byggð á samþykki á staðhæfingum um Jesús sjálfan eða samþykki á öllu því sem hann hafði kennt í orðum um Guð og mannkyn, þrátt fyrir að það sé órofa hluti trúar þeirra. Trúin sem þau töldu veita frelsi var persónulegt traust á persónulega nálægð Jesús, kærleika hans og kraft. Kenningar og játningar gegndu mikilvægu hlutverki í að benda á hann, í trausti til hans sem veitt hafði áhangendum sínum frið. Kenningarnar og játningarnar voru ekki sjálfar opinberunin, heldur vörður sem leiðbeindu að þeim stað þar sem opinberunina var að finna. (William Temple, Nature, man and God; MacMillan & co. 1940: bls. 311-312)
Þýðing mín frá 1996.
For Those Speaking (and listening) on behalf of God
A prose from The Grand Inquisitor by Fyodor Dostoyevsky which the enlightened atheist Ivan shares with his younger brother and monk Alyosha.
He came softly, unobserved, and yet, strange to say, everyone recognised Him. That might be one of the best passages in the poem. I mean, why they recognised Him. The people are irresistibly drawn to Him, they surround Him, they flock about Him, follow Him. He moves silently in their midst with a gentle smile of infinite compassion. Continue reading For Those Speaking (and listening) on behalf of God
Why I Hang in There
I hang in there for several reasons. First, if I want to be affiliated with any group of human beings, sooner or later I will be associated with bigotry, intolerance, violence, stupidity, and pride. In fact, even if I stand alone, distancing myself from every other group, I know that within me there are the seeds of all these things. So there’s no escaping the human condition.
Second, if I were to leave to join some new religion that claims to have – at last! – perfected the way of being pristine and genuine through and through, we all know where that’s going to lead. There’s one thing worse than a failed old religion: a naïve and arrogant new one. In that light, maybe only religions that have acknowledged and learned from their failures have much to offer.
From My Take: Why I support Anne Rice but am still a Christian – Religion – CNN.com Blogs.
Gospel as a threat
As I looked through my stuff, there are lot of interesting things that might as well go here on ispeculate.net. When taking a class about Urban Ministry in Detroit, I attended few lectures by Dr. James W. (Jim) Perkinson. Dr. Perkinson was in his lectures focused on the reading of the Bible as a response to the Empire. Continue reading Gospel as a threat
Finding our way into the future
Unless we are able, as Christians, to discover ways of conducting our life and our mission that differ radically from the Christendom form of the church that has dominated throughout most of Christian history, we shall be doomed in the future to be part of our world’s problem, and not its solution.
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Perhaps if ecumenism was less concerned about the union of tired, old institutions and more concerned about the calling of the Christian movement in the world as a whole, ecumenicity itself would be more vital to all who take this faith with some degree of seriousness.
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We Christians, who have imposed ourselves and our faith on so many, for so long, must now earn the right to explain the reason for our hope.
The Historical Jesus and Christian Theology
I suggest in short, that the Temple and YHWH’s return to Zion are the keys to gospel Christology. Forget the titles, at least for a moment; forget the pseudo-orthodox attempts to make Jesus of Nazareth conscious of being the second person of the Trinity; forget the arid reductionism that is the mirror-image of that unthinking would-be orthodoxy. Focus instead, if you will, on a young Jewish prophet telling a story about YHWH returning to Zion as judge and redeemer, and then embodying it by riding into the city in tears, by symbolizing the Temple’s destruction, and by celebrating the final Exodus. I propose, as a matter of history, that Jesus of Nazareth was conscious of vocation, a vocation given him by the one he knew as “Father,” to enact in himself what, in Israel’s scriptures, Israel’s God had promised to accomplish. He would be the pillar of cloud for the people of the new Exodus. He would embody in himself the returning and redeeming action of the covenant God.
via The Historical Jesus and Christian Theology by N.T. Wright.
N.T. Wright gives an example of how we can look at Jesus from Nazareth. Another article by N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Identity of God, addresses Christology or the notion of Jesus as God.
Vocabulary: Dispensationalism
The believe that God acts differently towards God’s people and different time in History. This is usually connected to an understanding of different covenants between God and God’s people throughout the Bible. This understanding of dispensationalism is important for many Christians to make sense and even predict the end of times as we know it.
Some kind of dispensationalism is contained in all Christian interpretation, due to God’s salvific work in Christ. An historical event which, according to most Christians, changed the way God and God’s people relate.
The mission of the Church …
“The mission of the Church is to love Jesus Christ. Everything else is just strategy.” Mark Allan Powell
The History of the icon of Panagia Soumela – Pontos World
The existing icon of Panagia Soumela was iconographed by the Evangelist Luke who was both a physician and an iconographer. According to tradition, whenever Luke drew icons of Panagia, the Holy Mother was very pleased and blessed his works. Furthermore, she encouraged him to draw more icons. When Luke died, his disciple named Ananias, took the icon and transferred it to the Church in Athens dedicated to Panagia. The icon was venerated as Panagia Athiniotissa.
via The History of the icon of Panagia Soumela – Pontos World.
Jesus through Muslim eyes
I was in the beginning, and in the beginning was Poverty.
I died that bread may be eaten in my name; that they plant me in season.
How many lives will I live! For in every furrow of earth
I have become a future, I have become a seed.
I have become a race of men, in every human heart
A drop of my blood, or a little drop.
After they nailed me and I cast my eyes towards the city
I hardly recognised the plain, the wall, the cemetery;
As far as the eye could see, it was something
Like a forest in bloom. Wherever the vision could reach,
there was a cross, a grieving mother
The Lord be sanctified! This is the city about to give birth.
A Jesus Manifesto
A Jesus Manifesto is formed by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola. A reminder of Jesus as a person, not a cause or project.
“Who Do You Say that I Am”
“Jesus said unto them—“Who do you say that I am?”
And they replied:– “You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of an interpersonal relationship.”
AND JESUS SAID UNTO THEM: “WHAT?”
via “Who Do You Say that I Am”.
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Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of an interpersonal relationship.”
And Jesus answered him, “WHAT???”
Who Do You Say I Am?
“You are my Oppressed One, my soul’s shalom, the One who was, who is, and who shall be, who has never left us alone in the struggle, the event of liberation in the lives of the oppressed struggling for freedom, and whose blackness is both literal and symbolic.”
Elska til Guðs
Gestapistill frá Torfa Stefánssyni.
Að öllu jöfnu eyði ég ummælum sem snerta ekki viðkomandi færslu. Þessi skrif Torfa Stefánssonar um að greina á milli elsku Guðs og elsku til Guðs er hins vegar að mínu viti gagnleg og mikilvæg og eru því birt hér.
Ég vil benda ykkur annálslesendum á grein sem Steindór J. Erlingsson skrifaði í Fréttablaðið í dag, 5. febrúar 2008. Þar gagnrýnir hann með réttu sr. Maríu Ágústsdóttur fyrir fullyrðingu hennar í predikun sem birtist á tru.is, reyndar fyrir nokkur síðan eða í október á síðasta ári. Continue reading Elska til Guðs
Christa
Í tíma í Systematic Theology II barst bronsstytta Edwina Sandys í tal, en hún vakti upp mikil viðbrögð þegar hún var sýnd, styttan þ.e., í St John the Divine kirkjunni í New York. Styttan er nú staðsett í Yale Divinity School.