The Law of Good Christian Behavior

One of Mockingbird's close friends, Aaron Zimmerman, just sent me a disturbing article about the dismissal of a professor at Wheaton College, a well-known Christian university out near Chicago. Apparently, the basis for the firing was the professor's recent divorce from his wife. Here are some excerpts:

Kent Gramm, a full professor of English at Wheaton College, in Illinois, is amidst two painful separations.

He and his wife are divorcing. And, because he’s choosing not to discuss the terms of that first separation with his employers — to determine whether the divorce falls within what the college considers to be appropriate Scriptural parameters — he’s resigning from Wheaton in what he calls “a mutually agreed-upon separation. And the alternative of it would be to be fired."

Wheaton's policy states: "The college has uniformly emphasized the biblical expectation of marriage to be permanent, a picture of our relationship (the bride) to Christ (the bridegroom)" It states that while it does not consider divorce to be "an unpardonable sin...it takes seriously the high expectation set for those who love the Lord..."

The school provost, Stan Jones, explained: If an employee or applicant's divorce falls outside the acceptable parameters for divorce listed in the policy - desertion or adultery on the part of the partner - a divorce is grounds for firing (or, not hiring). "The policy calls for us to try to make a compassionate, thoughtful evaluation of the circumstances, and we are then in a real bind if a person for whatever reason chooses not to discuss those circumstances,"

Gramm said, it didn't seem appropriate, "to subject your personal life to the judgment of the college administrators."

He continued, "I think the students can be given a false picture of what the proper Christian life should be. Whereas many of these students come from households that have been broken by divorce, and if they conform to the overall population, half of them themselves will be going through divorce. And if they are shown that God doesn't abandon you if you are divorced and they're shown that this is a part of life and that sometimes it can possibly be the right thing or the best thing, not necessarily the desirable thing, to do, then I think that might help them in their future lives."

Gramm concluded that he believes the policy on divorce, while intended to ensure modeling of good Christian behavior, is not a good policy. "It's a complex issue because when a person goes through something like this, getting cut off from their community does not seem like good Christian behavior."

Meet the "New" Boss, Same as the Old Boss

In TIME magazine's recent 10 Ideas That Are Changing the World, number 10 was Re-Judaizing Jesus. In it, David vam Biema writes:

This [idea] is seismic. For centuries, the discipline of Christian "Hebraics" consisted primarily of Christians cherry-picking Jewish texts to support the traditionally assumed contradiction between the Jews — whose alleged dry legalism contributed to their fumbling their ancient tribal covenant with God — and Jesus, who personally embodied God's new covenant of love.

He continues: The shift came in stages: first a brute acceptance that Jesus was born a Jew and did Jewish things; then admission that he and his interpreter Paul saw themselves as Jews even while founding what became another faith; and today, recognition of what the Rev. Bruce Chilton, author of Rabbi Jesus, calls Jesus' passionate dedication "to Jewish ideas of his day" on everything from ritual purity to the ideal of the kingdom of God — ideas he rewove but did not abandon.

There is a lot to be said about this idea, and a lot that has been written (most of it can be found at www.thepaulpage.com), and there is no doubt, as the article argues, that it has been the catylist for a huge re-think in Christian theological circles.

As you can imagine, the fact that Jesus was Jewish is not the crucial revelation; rather, its the shift in the understanding of Jesus' relationship with his Judaism. In the theological world, this idea is known as “The New Perspective on Paul,” and it’s appropriate that TIME magazine gave this “idea” such recognition, because it may turn out that it will have greater ramifications than Luther’s 95 Thesis---but I certainly hope not!

Over my next few posts, I'm going to try to lay out the the"old perspective" in light of the "new" in the hopes of, at least, clarifying the areas of disagreement. This disagreement also exposes the faulty view that academic theological debates have no bearing on "everyday people," as it were. From the para-church to the Pope, anyone who is currently in contact with Christianity--at any level-- is interacting with these ideas, and whether they know it or not, has already been affected in some way .

As the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “. . . there is nothing new under the Sun (1:9)," and the “New Perspective” can be seen as yet another iteration of a misunderstanding of the Gospel based, in part, on a shallow view of the nature of human existence, and the current manifestation of a theological system with too high a view of human freedom and ability, and too low a view of the Cross.

This is by no means intended to be an exhaustive overview, but in light of some of the theological themes we’ve been discussing on this blog, I thought this may be interesting, and is in the hopes that "we won't be fooled again."

One More From T.S. Eliot

From "Murder In The Cathedral", 1935:

The church shall be open, even to our enemies.
We are not here to triumph by fighting, by stratagem, or by resistance,
Not to fight with beasts as men. We have fought the beast
And have conquered. We have only to conquer
Now, by suffering.

A Few From Freud

"The ego is not master in its own house." (1917)

"The goal of all life is death." (1920)

"Obviously one must hold oneself responsible for the evil impulses of one's dreams. In what other way can one deal with them? Unless the content of the dream rightly understood is inspired by alien spirits, it is part of my own being." (1925)

"Whoever loves becomes humble. Those who love have, so to speak, pawned a part of their narcissism."

"Men are more moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine."

Crime and Punishment

From the NYTimes:

"Many Americans have come to believe, wrongly, that keeping an outsized chunk of the population locked up is essential for sustaining a historic crime drop since the 1990’s. In fact, the relationship between imprisonment and crime control is murky. Some portion of the decline is attributable to tough sentencing and release policies. But crime is also affected by things like economic trends and employment and drug-abuse rates."

In a separate but related article, economist Lew Rockwell seems to be arguing that in fact imputation (people become what they are called) occurs in prison (the kind we don't want) and that is why people so often go back to jail:

"And the communities in which they exist in these prisons consist of other unvalued people, and they become socialized into this mentality that is utterly contrary to every notion of civilization. Then there is the relentless threat and reality of violence, the unspeakable noise, the pervasiveness of every moral perversity. In short, prisons are Hell. It can be no wonder that they rehabilitate no one. As George Barnard Shaw said, "imprisonment is as irrevocable as death."

At its root, this debate is all about how people change. It is another fascinating example of what we've always thought to be true and effective (i.e. punish the criminal, make them an example and they won't do it again and their friends won't be tempted to do it either) not working and in fact the opposite being true. The truth is, when people have jobs they tend not to commit as much crime. And while it may be a stretch to call this an instance of grace working out what the law cannot accomplish, it is definitely grace and not the law (or stronger law) that works in these situations, and I'm not the first to say it (I'm probably the last).

People Getting Punched Just Before Eating

I realize I'm probably slow on the draw again here, but this is the funniest SNL clip I've seen in years, with a sweet MJ reference to boot!

More T.S. Eliot

From The Family Reunion (1939):

"I believe the moment of birth

Is when we have knowledge of death

I believe the season of birth

Is the season of sacrifice"

"There is nothing at all to be done about it,

There is nothing to do about anything"


From The Cocktail Party (1949):

"You will change your mind, but your are not free.

Your moment of freedom was yesterday.

You made a decision. You set in motion
Forces in your life and in the lives of others

Which cannot be reversed."

"Half the harm that is done in this world
Is due to people who want to feel important.
They don't mean to do harm — but the harm does not interest them.
Or they do not see it, or they justify it
Because they are absorbed in the endless struggle
To think well of themselves."

"There is another way, if you have the courage.
The first I could describe in familiar terms
Because you have seen it, as we all have seen it,
Illustrated, more or less, in lives of those about us.
The second is unknown, and so requires faith —
The kind of faith that issues from despair.
The destination cannot be described;
You will know very little until you get there;
You will journey blind. But the way leads towards possession
Of what you have sought for in the wrong place."

"If we all were judged according to the consequences
Of all our words and deeds, beyond the intention
And beyond our limited understanding
Of ourselves and others, we should all be condemned."

Buy "Judgment and Love" via Paypal

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What Have You Done For Me Lately? - The Pope Visits NYC

New York was flooded with excitement this past weekend as Pope Benedict XVI made his first visit to the city. People came from all over the country to be a part of this historic event (and to possibly catch a glimpse of the Pope-mobile!). Benedict used the trip to encourage the Catholics of our nation in their faith, in an almost evangelistic manner. The thing that interested me, however, was the focus of his message.

The Times wrote:
Before a crowd of nearly 60,000 people at Yankees Stadium, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday ended his first visit to the United States as leader of the Roman Catholic Church with a reminder to the faithful that "obedience" to the authority of the church is the foundation of their religious faith.

Obedience to the church as one of the foundations of Catholic faith is not anything new. For centuries the Roman Catholic Church has propagated this message. And let's face it - it often comes as a breath of fresh air, for good reason, to those raised on the endless infighting and revisionism of American Protestantism. But what struck me most was the effect of this message on the people hearing it. The Times quotes some the responses. Here is one that stood out:

Efrem Menghs, a phone company salesman from Columbus, Ohio, said the experience had made him a better person. "I will look back and say I'm glad I came to this event," he said. "I did something for God."

I could say a lot about why I object to the Pope's statement, but this response by Efrem brings up one of the most important reasons I disagree: it makes Christianity all about us. It is about our obedience, our action, our faithfulness, etc. The Law always casts its light on us. It, like Janet Jackson, asks, "What have you done for me lately?" The sad thing is our answer is never enough.

St. Paul writes, For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them" (Galatians 3:10). That is, the Law demands total and complete obedience. It demands perfection. So if it is up to us, as the Pope's message implies, then the result will always be the same; we would be cursed.

Thankfully, St. Paul goes on to explain the true foundation of our faith. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us - for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree" (Galatians 3:13).

In other words, obedience is the foundation of the Christian faith, but it is Jesus' obedience, not ours. That's where our hope lies. The rest is just details...

Post-Apocalypto

I've heard it said a lot recently that we’re living through ominous times. Regardless of whether or not this is true, the theme of impending doom has definitely become a fixture in our cultural discourse of late. The good news is, it has begun inspiring works of post-apocalyptic fiction: novels (The Road by Cormac McCarthy), movies (I Am Legend), comics (Y: The Last Man), television (Battlestar Gallactica), etc.

I could not be more excited about this trend. I’ve always loved dystopian novels (1984) and films (Brazil), with the last-man-on-earth subgenre being a particular obsession, especially when it comes to movies. Sadly, there aren’t that many of them.

Post-Apocalyptic movies are notoriously difficult propositions, elaborate productions that rarely make any money. The genre has frequently served as an outlet for idiosyncratic directors to realize their most ambitious and crazy ideas. So the end results tend to be either amazing or awful and nowhere in between. But even when they’re awful (The Postman), they’re so peculiar as to be fascinating.

I love these films for a couple reasons. For starters, they have a great aesthetic. It would appear that the end of the world produces a lot of cool clothes, funky contraptions and unorthodox hairstyles (not to mention inventive weaponry!). I’m thinking especially of the rough-and-ragged, old-meets-new, makeshift look popularized in the Mad Max movies.

Post-apocalyptic movies also tap into the appeal of the “simple life” in a major way. What a relief it would be if one’s only concern was for survival! It might clarify our priorities and keep things in perspective, right? And who hasn’t yearned for the Bobby McGee-style freedom that an atomic wasteland would offer?! If nothing else, it’s fun to think about.

Mainly though, I sympathize with where these movies are coming from on an ideological level. The idea that the human race will destroy itself – that the human race is destroying itself – may sound cynical, but it is not foreign to Christian thinking. After all, the biblical estimation of human nature is pretty low, and pending the Second Coming, isn’t self-annihilation inevitable? Nothing illustrates that we are our own worst enemies better than, well, nuclear Armageddon.


On the other hand, you’ll notice that these films are rarely nihilistic in tone; there is almost always a redemptive story being told. Which should not surprise us, at least not if we have the Cross in mind. In light of Calvary, we know that the death of all things does not necessarily spell the end of all things. It might even spell the beginning of all things. Seriously! The sweet gadgets are just icing on the cake…

Bottom line is, I find post-apocalyptic movies to be incredibly hopeful and uplifting and cool, and I’m glad more of them are being made. That being said…

Eleven Good Post-Apocalyptic Movies
1. 12 Monkeys
2. The Road Warrior
3. 28 Days Later
4. Planet Of The Apes [The Original. Duh!]
5. Delicatessen
6. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
7. Escape From New York
8. Children Of Men
9. The Stand [TV mini-series]
10. The Omega Man
11. Mad Max

Four Not-So-Good Post-Apocalyptic Movies
1. The Postman [It really is as bad as people say.]
2. The Matrix [The second two are particularly bad.]
3. Doomsday
4. Zardoz

Three Post-Apocalyptic Movies That Could Have Been Much Better If They Hadn’t Been Heavily Edited By Their Studios
1. Southland Tales
2. Waterworld
3. Aeon Flux

Mid-April Playlist

Spring has arrived, and not a moment too soon. Love and pollen are mixing in the air. The mind and soul are distracted by signs of new life and the fuzzy haze of antihistamines. The melancholy of winter is lingering, while the lazy days of summer are ahead. This playlist says it all for me...

1. (Crazy For You But) Not that Crazy – The Magnetic Fields
2. You Are My Favorite Song – Chris Mills
3. Drops In the River – Fleet Foxes
4. For Emma – Bon Iver
5. Baker Lake – Sera Cahoone
6. You’re the One – Sandro Perri
7. Heaven – The Swimmers
8. I Can’t Remember your Name – Aram with the Watson Twins
9. See These Bones – Nada Surf
10. Go Places – The New Pornographers
11. Southern Glass Home – Grand Archives
12. This Is Not A Test – She & Him
13. Feet Asleep – Thao
14. Second Chance – Liam Finn
15. Heart Made of Sound – Softlights
16. Lull – Andrew Bird
17. Ask Her to Dance – Coconut Records
18. A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off – The Magnetic Fields

Check comments for Playlist link.

The Same Word

At the Mockingbird Conference a couple of weeks ago, Dr. Mark Mattes made the statement that ministry involves speaking "the comforting word to the afflicted and the afflicting word to the comforted." Initially, I was a bit worried by this, especially the part about delivering an "afflicting word" to people. Chalk it up to my people-pleasing tendencies, but I do not like giving bad news. In light of Dr Mattes' comment, I found myself trying to determine exactly what the two words were and who needed to hear which and when. I was confused.

After thinking about my own experience with hearing the Gospel, Dr. Mattes' statement began to make more sense to me. I was threatened when I first heard the Gospel. The message that I could not do anything to help myself was an attack. I thought God wanted and expected me to do my part, and I thought I was doing pretty well. It was a two-way street in my mind. The Gospel, however, smashed through these preconceived ideas. It exposed the fact that I thought pretty highly of myself and that as a result, I had a lower view of what Jesus did for me. In other words, it afflicted me.

Then something changed. The message of God's one-way love began to sound like good news. My resistance had been slowly broken down and, more accurately, put to death. Instead of feeling attacked by the idea that it was all up to God and I was a passive recipient, I was relieved. It was really comforting.

Dr. Mattes wasn't making a statement about the word itself, as much as he was making a statement about the people hearing the word. The word itself never changes (Heb 13:8); we just hear it differently, depending on where we are in life. When we are weighed down by problems and affliction(s), it comforts. But when we are comfortable or self-satisfied, it afflicts. And it does this so that we might be truly comforted - by the promise that God has already accomplished everything through Jesus, and all that remains for us is true hope and real freedom.

Not Just Luther

Some scholars of the Protestant Reformation fault Luther’s psychological insecurities for his obsession with grace and Christian freedom. The implication is that Luther reinterpreted grace as a means of self-medication. Consequently, we must be skeptical of Luther and other Reformers who advocated the primacy of grace.

Yet, this is far from the case. The Reformers were not the first! Augustine of Hippo, who predates Luther by over 1,000 years, was hot on the same trail. Augustine was adamant that people are completely helpless apart from God. So just a little help, a few instructions (aka the “law”) to live morally and to be better people isn’t enough. We need something, someone far greater (aka “grace”) to do what we cannot do. Some see this kind of dependence as weakness, an affront to the American value of the “self-made person.” I think it’s freeing.

Here’s an excerpt from Augustine’s On the Grace of Christ:

Thus the law and grace are so different that the law is not only useless but actually an obstacle in many ways unless grace assists. This shows, moreover, the function of the law: it makes people guilty of transgression and forces them to take refuge in grace in order to be liberated and helped to overcome evil desires. It commands more than liberates; it diagnoses illness but does not cure. Indeed, far from healing the infirmity, the law actually makes it worse in order to move a person to seek the medicine of grace more anxiously and insistently, because “the letter kills but the spirit gives life” [2 Cor. 3:6].

Judgment And Love

Introducing our first-ever publication!

"Judgment and Love" is a collection of twenty-two short autobiographical stories that consider the primary role these two forces play in everyday life. Together, the stories illustrate a simple truth: judgment hurts and love heals. This little book seeks to uncover how we experience this truth, how it shapes our faith and affects our relationships. Get your copy today!

Each copy is $10, shipping and handling included. To order, contact Sean Norris at sean.r.norris@gmail.com . [Paypal capability coming soon.]

And now, back to our regularly scheduled blogging...

WSJ: Protestant, homeschooled, and dating

"Betrothal is spreading among fundamentalist Protestants, particularly homeschoolers."

Full article here.

Conference Book Table

As promised, here's the full inventory of what we had on offer last week. It's by no means an exhaustive or definitive collection, just what we were able to gather up in time for the conference. They're listed in order of author, with links to where you can purchase them. They all come highly recommended!

Books:
1. Fear, Love, and Worship - C Fitzsimmons Allison
2. The Reformation Essays of Robert Barnes - Robert Barnes
3. Law and Gospel - Werner Elert
4. A More Radical Gospel - Gerhard Forde, edited by Mark Mattes
and Steven Paulson
5. On Being A Theologian Of The Cross - Gerhard Forde
6. Christian Theologies Of Scripture - Justin Holcomb
7. The Reconstruction Of Morality - Karl Holl
8. The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis
9. The Ragamuffin Gospel - Brennan Manning
10. Beyond Deserving - Dorothy Martyn
11. The Role Of Justification In Contemporary Theology - Mark Mattes
12. Judgment And Love - Sean Norris [More info coming soon!]
13. The Complete Stories - Flannery O'Connor
14. Luther For Armchair Theologians - Steven Paulson
15. Handling The Word Of Truth - John Pless
16. In Christ Alone - Rod Rosenbladt
17. The Great Short Works Of Leo Tolstoy - Leo Tolstoy
18. Sermons From The Cathedral Of The Advent - Paul Walker
19. 2000 Years Of Amazing Grace - Paul Zahl
20. Grace In Practice - Paul Zahl

CDs:
1. High Street Hymns - High Street Hymns
2. Alex Mejias - Alex Mejias

You'll notice that a couple selections are not widely available (Elert, Holl, Walker, etc). We may be able to help you find copies; drop us a line if you're interested.

The Conference!

A week has passed and I can still hardly believe how well the Conference went! Sean and I want to thank everyone who came, and everyone who helped make it happen. It was an experience we will definitely keep with us for a long time to come. For those of you who couldn't make the trip, here's how it all went down:

[Note: we've whittled down the size the mp3s from the previous post so that they'll take up roughly half as much room on your hard-drive.]


On Thursday evening April 3rd, we convened at St George's Episcopal Church for the official Mockingbird Commissioning Service. Paul Walker, our board president, preached a powerful sermon about our mission. If you've ever wondered what Mockingbird is all about (I know I have!), take a listen here. And if you've ever wondered what Paul looks like, wonder no more:


Friday morning, we had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Mark Mattes speak to us about the theology of the Cross, using Martin Luther's Heidelberg Disputation as a guide. To get the full effect, download his talk, his outline and a copy of the Disputation.

Next, we broke up into smaller groups for breakout sessions, including one on Preaching and Worship, lead by Paul Walker, Alex Mejias and Jacob Smith, the audio for which is available here. Check it out!


After lunch, Dr. Paul Zahl, aka Dad, spoke with characteristic passion on the subject of The Gospel and Reality. It was truly a talk for the ages - be sure to get your copy here, and don't forget to grab the accompanying handout. Dr. Zahl also treated us to an important, enlightening Q&A, which further fleshed out the themes of his talk. We then enjoyed some much-needed down time...


...before dinner!


Saturday morning Dr. Mattes somehow managed to top himself, giving an inspired lecture on the distinction between Law and Gospel. And the Q&A that followed was brilliant! Do yourself a favor - here and here. We also have his outline, as well as both the handouts he referenced, one and two. Many, many thanks to Dr. Mattes!


To close the Conference, we held a short worship service, where Sean and I gave our closing remarks, which you can download - you guessed it - here. If you'd like to download everything in one big file (115mb) click here. Before we left, we also made sure to take the first official photo of the Mockingbird Board and Staff:


Thanks again to everyone! And praise God! I think it's safe to say we'll be doing another one next year. Stay tuned for a post about the book-table...

Conference Recordings

A full conference round-up is in the works, but for now, the recordings are all available for (free, legal) download here, thanks to our amazing sound engineer/guru, Matt Veligdan. We'll work on getting the larger files down to a more manageable size later this week. Enjoy!!

Mark Mattes - Conference Quote

"God is so for you as your defender that he is against himself as your accuser."

Captain Eo

In 1986, Michael Jackson collaborated with George Lucas on a short 3-D film for Disney World called Captain Eo. I remember visiting the Magic Kingdom shortly after its release and deciding not to wait in the incredibly long line, opting instead to take a second ride on those lame rocket ships... What a short-sighted 7-year-old I was! Watching it on youtube yesterday, I realized that it sums up many of my hopes and dreams for this week's Mockingbird conference. Here's part 1:



And part 2: