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        Here are 19 essays that describe significant interaction between religion and culture, eg religious ethics, education, death, film, music (and others). The essays have a global vision—processes of religion and culture are not the specific property of the west.

        Each part of this volume demonstrates the interweaving of religion and culture, according to three spaces. First, power relationships that deal with issues of conflict, science, sexuality—outlining how religions and cultures create societies and communities. Second, private space where individuals are moulded. Third, the tension between public and private, or political and ethical, eg the public preservation of Elvis Presley’s grave becomes intensely private for individuals on pilgrimage there. The article demonstrates the interweaving of religious and culture eg religion can’t be separated or compartmentalized, operating only within the walls of religious institutions or during religious events and dates.

        I found some of the essays in Religion and Culture more fascinating than others (there were 19 to choose from!). Eg ‘Conflict and Peace Building’. ‘Because religion plays a role in the dynamics of conflict, religion may play a role in peace building as well’ (p 3). We need to clarify whether religion is a cause or a rhetorical cloak.

        The essay on civil religion does a good job of historical examination of the articulation of civil religion. American exceptionalism—that the United States has a unique and/or divinely sanctioned role in the political and social history of the world. Civil religion utilizes practices, symbols, myth, ritual and consecrated time and space that integrate the disparate parts and individuals into a cohesive whole. Religion needs to become an intentional, multilingual conversation of particular traditions and identities (religious and non-religious, theistic and non-theistic) (p45).

        A wealth of detail and reasoned interpretation.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

        Johnson sketches the history of American imperialism, seeing its beginnings in 1898 with the Spanish-American war, portraying its brutal colonization of the Filipinos as ‘divinely ordained racially inevitable and economically indispensable’ (p 43).

        Intellectual foundations of American imperialism replaced the militaristic formulation (eg manifest destiny),reaching new heights(depths?) during WW II. The Korean and Vietnamese wars furthered the spiral.

        Johnson cites three hallmarks of militarism: a withering of the influence of non-military options (eg decrease of the State Department’s influence), increased presence of military officers or representatives of arms industry in high government position, military preparedness becomes the highest priority of the state.

        The United States is ‘drifting away from regarding treaties as an essential element in global security to a more opportunistic stand of abiding by treaties only when it is convenient/ (p 73). President Clinton signed the treaty creating the International Criminal Court, but the Bush administration ‘unsigned’ it.

        Johnson points out that Roman imperial sorrows mounted up over hundreds of years; our experience will lead to lack of resemblance to the country once outlined in our constitution in a much shorter time-frame. First, there will be perpetual war, leading to more terrorism. Second, there will be a loss of democracy as the presidency eclipses Congress. Third, truthfulness will be replaced by propaganda, disinformation and glorification of war, power and the military legions. Fourth, there will be bankruptcy. (p 285)

        These are the lessons learned by the early church as it confronted the empire of its day; Johnson outlines the issues (non-theologically) that the church faces today in an empire given over to militarism.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

        A Spiritual Life is a moving selection of the writings of poets, prophets and pastors who reflect on what makes for a vibrant spiritual life, drawing on a wide spectrum of personal experiences, exposing the reader to a wonderfully diverse group of people with a wide range of Christian experiences. Cole identifies three ways of discerning and living an authentic spiritual life: poets (8 entries), prophets (9), preachers (6). He admits the limits of using these three categories for discerning and living a spiritual life, and many of the articles in this anthology could easily fit any of the three categories.

        A word about some of the entries.

        ‘Spirituality and Chronic Illness’ talks of living with multiple sclerosis. ‘On Spirituality’ emphasizes the community dimension of spiritual formation; spiritual formation is more than private discipline; spiritual formation is an essential concern and a legacy of the community of faith—faithfulness to G-d and service to others’ (p 115). A moving reflection on his baptism—as a four-year old—marks Cole’s written comments (“More religious than Spiritual’). An insightful essay (sermon?) by William Willimon probes the relevancy of his book, Resident Aliens, and the claim that we don’t have to cultivate a tedious set of practices (eg Sabbath) in order to live in G-d’s time ( p 230).

        Cole’s work is a wonderful contribution to daily life with G-d.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

        ‘Something isn’t working in the way we’re Christianity anymore’ (p 9), and here is McLaren’s attempt to identify both what isn’t working now’ and what is needed to make religious faith relevant, based on ten questions.

        The questions probe the nature and authority of the bible: is G-d? Who is Jesus? Can we talk about human sexuality? How should followers of Jesus relate to people of other religions? McLaren tries to identify a passage out of our conventional paradigm and a passage into new possibilities. He points out the extent to which the church functions in a Greco-Roman fashion; ‘what would we call the biblical story line isn’t the shape of the story of Adam and Abraham; it’s the shape of the Greek cultural narrative that Plato taught’ (p 37).

        This Greco-Roman perspective is marked by anxiety (the need to keep on top of things), by vulnerability to paranoia (‘theirs’ and ‘us’), hope for the future (‘they are gone’ and our group is normative’), life is an unending all-out war.

        McLaren sketches what pluralism means; there is a way to be a committed follower of Christ that doesn’t require you to be flatly and implacably against other religions’ (p 223); ‘Jesus didn’t come to save us within the terms and limitations of the Graeco-Roman framing story.’

        He sketches what we can gain by a faith consciously acknowledging the insights of the Celts, of St Francis, of the Anabaptists, of Wesley, the ongoing human quest that Paul witnesses to (Acts 17). He lists four global emergencies we face (p 253): the prosperity crisis, the equity crisis (income disparity), the security issue (violence), the spirituality crisis (religion’s failure to confront these issues).

        A powerful book with emphasis on the history of faith characterized by ‘repentance, rethinking and quest’ (p 259).

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

        Religious affiliation is dropping, and yet interest in spirituality is on the rose. Bass offers a fresh interpretation of the ‘spiritual but not religious’ trend. Some commentators say we are undergoing yet another revival; others say Christian belief and practice are being replaced by new ethical and religious choices.

        But Bass claims we are in a new spiritual awakening, a new kind of post-religious faith. She references the episodic American religious ‘awakenings’ (the first in 1740; the second, 1800-1830; the third, 1890-1920). The first marked the end of European styles of church organization; the second ended
        Calvinistic dominance and introduced new perspectives on free will; the third was marked by the social gospel movement and by Pentecostalism. She believes the fourth is marked by the end of Christian dominance in the United States, as emerging forms of pluralistic religions emerge and new institutions embody the new spirit.

        Citing pollsters’ analyses, she sees American faith as having undergone profound extensive reorientation away from internalized religion toward internalized spiritual experience; the Unites states is caught up with the throes of a spiritual awakening, a period of ‘religious and political transformation’ (p 5).

        Her book is a sustained reflection how religion has changed. Where Christianity is now vital, it is not really a religion but a spiritual thing (p 7). (Intriguing is her utilization of Bonhoeffer for chapter introductions, Bonhoeffer who in another culture and value system shares her analysis.)

        Her listing of 15 descriptions of spiritual with their religious counterpart reinforces her analysis (p 69). She claims that the spiritual dimension of faith is belonging (community), behaving (ethics), belief (trust) (p 124). This is in contrast to the priority usually given in the religious spectrum to belief (doctrine) as the first step in revitalization. ‘Every spiritual awakening seeks to make visible G-d’s dream for G-d’s creation (p 269).

        A wonderful treatment of a Faith Awakening!

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

        Barthal and Edling work with Peacemaker Ministries, immersing themselves with the conflict and distress of entire congregations, becoming channels of G-d’s reconciling grace. Their model for redeeming church conflict is based on Acts 15, a recounting of the conflict in the early church; the model articulates four core principles: perspective, discernment, leadership, biblical response (p 19).

        Getting help by involving others outside the immediate problem areas is not always done; conflict tends to isolate people; many times we need to ‘get help’ by involving ‘assisted peacemaking responses’ (mediation, arbitration, accountability); they present a suggested four-step process: glorify G-d, get the log out of your own eye, gently restore, be reconciled. Dealing with conflicts in the life of the congregation is not so much about resolving specific problems as about seeing conflict as a means by which G-d is growing us into true children of G-d.

        Key to dealing with conflict is to recognize that the presenting issue is seldom the real issue: understand not only what people want but why. The writers give helpful suggestions about how to determine the best/real question in the situation (p 92). Essential in dealing with conflict is the need for congregational leaders to model shepherd leadership (p 138) and developing a caring/serving community (p 158).

        The writers focus on the myth of neutrality (p 188), that is often an excuse for ‘loveless apathy’. They emphasize the practise of confession and develop a seven-step guideline. Confrontation and forgiveness are sketched, and the best use of a third party consultant (p 233). The writers share examples of interventions (good and bad), and keeping Acts ch 15 central.

        A helpful book for a healthy congregational life that seeks unity of life and mission.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        Brian McLaren identifies five themes in Hardin’s book: who is Jesus? What is the message of the bible? What is a relevant atonement theory? Is there an approach to violence and peacemaking? What kind of G-d do we believe in? (xiii) Hardin treats these themes, drawing especially on the work of Rene Girard (p 160); it is violence done to an innocent victim that is the key for interpreting the Bible!

        Hardin comments on the Emmaus bible study (Lk 24:13-33); it was the forgiveness expressed by G-d in this resurrected Jesus that collapsed all the previous theological ideas and assumptions. Their theologies dictated a violent or retributive response by G-d (p 28). We need to read the bible from the perspective of Jesus, Hardin pleads, and Jesus talks of a relational G-d, not a retributive G-d: relation to Abraham, to Israel, to Jesus.

        Hardin points out that Jesus’ parables emphasize this relational G-d, for whom perfection is not about holiness (temple institutionalism) but about mercy for those on the outside (p 75). Hardin talks of three principles of biblical interpretation: the powerlessness of G-d (dying on the cross), Jesus as the lens, the non-negotiable aspect of love (mutual interpenetration). But key for Hardin is the atonement, the non-violent perspective; he does a good summary of the Anselmic theory that holds Jesus ‘paid the penalty’ (p 102).

        Hardin writes compellingly of this love as expressed in Isaiah, and then sketches atonement theology of Paul and of the gospel writer, John. A short essay on the centrality of Jesus in revelation, love and forgiveness, by Walter Wink, closes this powerful and evocative book.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

        Corinthian Christians did not automatically abandon the culturally accepted ways of doing things in Corinth. Paul was in Corinth for about eighteen months; why didn’t he respond to many initial issues only after they were raised by letter or verbally, from Corinth?  He had shared instructions (‘traditions’, 11:23, 15:1-4, and commended the Corinthians for following them (11:2).  Yet the Corinthians found it necessary to write Paul about six matters on which they lacked clarity (7:1,25; 8:1; 14:1; 16:1,12).

        These are basic issues readily faced after conversion to Christianity. Winter’s book reflects his convictions that Paul did not deal with many of the issues reflected in 1 Corinthians because they had not risen during his time there, or they had done so in a way different from that in which they were now encountering them.

        As a Roman colony, Corinth was highly susceptible to changes or trends in Rome itself.  Three major changes took place in the CE 50’s that had consequences for the social life after Paul left Corinth:  the creation of a federal imperial cult, the Isthmian Games (with the temptation to join in the eating festivities in pagan settings), severe grain shortages.  These changes occurred after Paul left Corinth.

        Of major import was that relating to eating meat. When Paul was present in Corinth, the Jewish community had special market privileges of buying kosher meat, meat which was then accepted by the Christian community because it had not originated from pagan settings. There is some evidence that this privilege was cancelled by Roman diktat and that the Christian community now had to buy its food supplies from sources that might have originated in pagan temples. Paul, having left Corinth, needed to give an urgent apostolic ruling.

        Winter’s book encourages us to see how our present day perspectives impact on the Christian community.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

        This is an incredibly rich collection of perspectives of the church and its relation to society, the relationship of Christian faith to politics. For some, ‘America is the New Empire, an incarnation of the empire of the apocalypse, the whore that deceives. For others, especially for those who take a Constantinian approach, the American Empire is salvation (p 12).

        This book reaction will touch on a few of the insightful perspectives given by the 14 contributors. Constantinianism is the commitment to the conviction that the state appropriately holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence, that Christians should work within the structures of their legitimately violent states, taking up arms when called upon to do so and that history is best read through the eyes of people in power.

        Craig Carter writes about liberalism in the new Constantinianism characterized by four central concepts (freedom but from, not for, as Bonhoeffer develops it in Creation and Fall), desire (the quest for more), consumption (work as a necessary evil), progress.

        Sharon Baker develops a powerful metaphor of keys to the kingdom of G-d:  love, forgiveness and reconciliation. She points out what happened to the church as it accepted the empire’s keys: from restorative to retributive justice, from love rather than judgement, from fellowship to protection.

        Even believer’s baptism may reflect Constantinianism when it is far too often merely the fulfillment of a social expectation and is disconnected from discipleship (p 205), ‘a gate-keeping ceremony initiating the baptized not into a life of discipleship but into the next developmental stage in communities when joining the church demands no social distancing from the mainstream’ (p 207).

        A wonderful anthology that focuses on the peace Jesus gives.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

        Martin Luther claims both scripture and ‘clear reason’ as the foundation of Christian faith (LW 32:112-113). Hearing the Word is an attempt to foster healthy conversation as it comments on the meaning and authority of scripture for Christian life and discipleship.

        Scripture is the living word which seeks to bring together in conversation both past and present (perhaps future, too!); it is not only a historical record of personal beliefs, but a record of G-d’s intent that ‘circumscribes us’ (p 9). Scripture brings together the experience of the writer and of the reader; experience reflected on is both the content and intent.

        Luther’s concept of the orders embedded in creation (priest, civil body, church and marriage) called for legitimation of the sword (LW 48:261-262).  (This is an issue I don’t follow: his use of Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 are not legitimation of the state but of the basis of civic order.  But this illustrates the need to clarify our concepts of hermeneutics.)

        Erick Heem’s essay articulates changes in Lutheran interpretation in the twentieth century:  ‘demise of biblical civilization; historical criticism, and liberal/conservative perspectives. He also cites some statistics (22% of Lutherans hold to an inerrant view of scripture) (p 51). Mark Powell speaks to social locators contributing to the hermeneutical grid (age, gender, intent of the biblical writer), strategy (is the passage read as pericope or part of a larger story, empathy choice).

        Lutheran hermeneutics  focuses on the priority of ‘the plain sense of scripture’; all scripture is to be seen through the lens of the gospel (what it says about Jesus), a community understanding (not private interpretation).

        An excellent treatment of Lutheran hermeneutics that is a paradigm for the larger church. (PS  I’m not Lutheran, but a Mennonite teaching in a Lutheran seminary.)

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.