Last night I watched The Fog of War, in which Robert McNamera reconsiders his participation in LBJ’s escalation of the Vietnam War by the addition of ground troops to the campaign of air bombing approved by JFK. Of course, there’s a lot more to the film than that, but that’s the crux: What would have happened if JFK hadn’t been assassinated. According to McNamara, Kennedy would have seen that Vietnam was an unwinnable ground war and would have pulled out... Read more
Garret asks a good question in regards to Who Decides Orthodoxy? Tony, Thanks for asking good questions and getting us to think. I deeply appreciate it. Maybe another part could be added on to your statement discussion and consensus on orthopraxis… and using new media mobilize communities to common places of action. And this is being spoken on behalf of my brother with Down’s Syndrome, who has little use for intellectual debates on the internet, but a deep need for... Read more
Several readers, when considering the Trinity, Mormonism, and orthodoxy, are wondering about the authority of Nicaea. Master Doyle: The two arguments I’ve heard most often to explain why Mormons aren’t Christian are 1) they believe in extra-Biblical scriptures, namely the Book of Mormon, and 2) they don’t believe in the Nicean creed. Isn’t this ironic, believers in one extra-Biblical document shun those who believe in a different extra-Biblical document. HiveRadical: I never understood how the Creedal view on the trinity... Read more
Over at Experimental Theology, Richard Beck has responded to Keith DeRose’s post, “Really Believing in Hell.” Money Quote: Going back to Keith’s post, my hunch is that hell is most terrifying for children in the Concrete Operations stage. In this stage children have the concrete, logical ability to work out the calculus of salvation and damnation. Abstractions such as grace are beyond them, cognitively speaking. A concrete punishment/reward calculus better suits the cognitive stage they are in. And by doing... Read more
Yesterday I posted about the optionality of the Trinity. A good debate ensued, which is exactly what I hoped. And that brings me to my thought for the day: I think those of us committed to the social web will become the new magisterium. Church historians will tell you that we had The Apostolic Period (29 – c.100) The Patristic Period (c.100 – 325) The Conciliar Period (325 – 787) The Holy Roman Empire/Scholasticism (754 – 1309) Babel Prior to... Read more
Seth R., a practicing Mormon, weighs in on the Trinity and, in particular, my chosen trinitarian formulation: Tony, it’s interesting in the same article where you conclude that Mormons are not Christians, you admit that you yourself are a “Social Trinitarian” in bent. You ought to check out Mormon scholars like Blake Ostler and David Paulsen. Their central argument and thesis is that Mormonism is actually social trinitarian. They make a pretty compelling case based on Mormon scripture in the... Read more
Scot had a nice post on blurbing last week. My own endorsement requests have dropped significantly of late. I guess “blogger” doesn’t have as much cache as “national coordinator of Emergent Village” on the back cover. In general, I agree with Scot: don’t summarize the book; don’t over-blurb; etc. However, I disagree with him on the advice about not endorsing books with which you disagree. One of my prouder blurbs sits on the back of R. Scott Smith’s Truth and... Read more
After his much debated post, The Bible & Homosexuality: Enough with the Bible Already, Adam Walker-Cleaveland is now tackling Jack Roger’s book, Jesus, The Bible, and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church chapter-by-chapter. (Rogers is a polarizing figure in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Adam is still Presbyterian, though he works at a Methodist church and the Presbyterians have thus far refused to ordain him.) You can follow his chapter-by-chapter review at Pomomusings. Read more
Over the holidays, my mother was attempting to explain Mormonism to a 14-year-old boy who lives with her and my dad. He’s got a Mormon friend and he was wondering about that faith, especially because he’s in confirmation class this year and learning more about Christianity. My mom looked at me and asked, “Are Mormons Christian?” It’s interesting that she didn’t ask if, in my opinion, Mormons are Christian, but more as a matter-of-fact. This, of course, opens that millennia-old... Read more
A fine dissent from Mike to my still-debated post, How I Went from There to Here: Same Sex Marriage Blogalogue: I think the conclusion from this is that you have “caved to the mushy inclusivity of pluralized nothingness” from the simple basis that you have provided no theological reasons in support of your stance at all. The only reference to any content in the bible is found in your statement “I’ve always thought that all persons should be afforded the... Read more
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