{"id":1929,"date":"2012-08-15T11:33:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-15T11:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/08\/conserve-or-transform-religions-dilemma.html"},"modified":"2012-08-15T11:33:00","modified_gmt":"2012-08-15T11:33:00","slug":"conserve-or-transform-religions-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/08\/conserve-or-transform-religions-dilemma.html","title":{"rendered":"Conserve or Transform: Religion&#8217;s Dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>\u201cRadicalism,\u201d particularly in the context of religion, evokes ambivalent if not conflicting reactions. On the one hand, for many, religion provides a sanctuary from the \u201cSturm und Drang\u201d of dramatic change and discontinuity, as well as feelings of security rooted in the anticipation of continuity. On the other hand, our Abrahamic traditions all embrace narratives of dramatic change, both for the individual and for the world. Personal salvation, in different formulations in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are important components of the religious narrative. Looking ahead to a radically transformed world in messianic or millennial formulations is likewise a significant part of all of our religious narratives. Reaching inward, finding comfort and security in one theological formulation or another is appropriately in tension with the obligation to reach out and change the world and to transform ourselves as well.<\/p>\n<p>Writing on the op-ed page of the New York Times just a few weeks ago, Ross Douthat quoted approvingly the first lady\u2019s expression of this tension. Addressing a conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Mrs. Obama stated: \u201cOur faith journey isn\u2019t just about showing up on Sunday. It\u2019s about what we do Monday through Saturday as well. \u2026 Jesus didn\u2019t limit his ministry to the four walls of the church. He was out there fighting injustice and speaking truth to power every single day.\u201d In this appropriate characterization of Jesus\u2019 ministry, Mrs. Obama was placing Jesus in the direct line of prophetic religious radicalism, in the tradition of Isaiah, Amos and Jeremiah, both conserving tradition but also calling for radical change. Eliminating the radical voice of religion, retaining only the conservative dimension of theological doctrine and ritual scrupulosity, it would be difficult if not impossible to defend the role of religion in human affairs.<br>Read the rest <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/david-m-gordis\/religions-dilemma-conserve-or-transform_b_1753658.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cRadicalism,\u201d particularly in the context of religion, evokes ambivalent if not conflicting reactions. On the one hand, for many, religion provides a sanctuary from the \u201cSturm und Drang\u201d of dramatic change and discontinuity, as well as feelings of security rooted in the anticipation of continuity. On the other hand, our Abrahamic traditions all embrace narratives [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Conserve or Transform: Religion&#039;s Dilemma<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;Radicalism,&quot; particularly in the context of religion, evokes ambivalent if not conflicting reactions. On the one hand, for many, religion provides a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/08\/conserve-or-transform-religions-dilemma.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conserve or Transform: Religion&#039;s Dilemma\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;Radicalism,&quot; particularly in the context of religion, evokes ambivalent if not conflicting reactions. On the one hand, for many, religion provides a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/08\/conserve-or-transform-religions-dilemma.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-15T11:33:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andre E. 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