Erasmus Intensive Programme: Epistemological meandering

Watch this very humorous clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpoP8lDelFs

Here is where we start our exploration and I suggest 3 points on the map.
Point 1:
If we had to add labels to aspects within the clip ensuring that ‘truth’ is one of those labels, what would that look like?
Point 2:
If we paused the clip just before the crocodile emerged, how would your labels change?
Point 3:
How would the buffalo who changed his mind, convince the next buffalo of his ‘truth’?

Pause here and set off on your journey. It would be great for us then to compare our journeys.

My reflections (write down questions and thoughts as you read):
I would label the conversation as ‘truth’ or might even ask the question where, if in fact it is actually possible, truth is found? For some, truth is an entity. This entity is for some is fragmented within all the created order. Naturalism will therefore argue that this entity can be discovered in all things in many ways. For others, the fragmented entity within us recognises the entity around us and the source of that revelation as a divine spark. It therefore in such action validated and adjudicates itself as ultimate reality and the entity of truth. Foundationalism argues we then build our knowing, brick by brick, into an unquestionable and fundamental truth.

In the clip, the discovery of the crocodile as the image of a log is an example of naturalism. The crocodile is and always will be a crocodile, even if it appears as something else. If the crocodile was ‘truth’, ‘truth’ in this case would be absolute…the crocodile is always a crocodile. But if the experience of the cartoon for all concerned was ‘truth’, the experience of discovery, of making meaning, emerges only based on the actual experience. In other words, if the crocodile did not move (and eat the buffalo), the buffalo would believe the log indeed was a log, which of course it was not. This raised questions about the consistency of truth or the qualities or characteristics of truth. Interestingly, in the clip, if the buffalo knew the ‘log’ was a crocodile and therefore knew the nature of the crocodile i.e. it eats buffalo that jump onto its back, why did he jump onto the crocodile? This raises questions about the motives of belief and knowing. Did the buffalo really believe? Or did believing and the feeling of arrogance and pride (the power of knowing what others don’t) in knowing, blind the buffalo into its own ‘truth’ so much so that it was actually consumed by its ‘truth’. Could this be called fundamentalism?

It is here that I think ‘truth’ takes on a different nature, a different concern, namely that of love or ultimate concern. Hopefully the second buffalo, now believing the log is indeed a crocodile, having witnessed the truth, will not convince others by sacrificing himself to the ‘truth’ nor withhold the ‘truth’ and so endanger his fellow community of buffalo. It is here that truth becomes human, becomes more than static allegiance. It is here that ‘truth’ takes on a radical conversation and interaction; a radical ethical responsibility and radical co-existence.

Journal of Adult Theological Education - Reflection

http://essential.metapress.com/content/cj53045p55vw4l31/

A Religion of One's Own (2014) by Thomas Moore

Page 1 'In one way or another, religion has always been a part of my life, and that, too, is changing in ways I couldn't have predicted ten years ago. The question is: should I try to live without it? Should I resist change and keep my religion traditional? Or should I rethink what religion is all about?' Indeed, welcome to crossingthebar!

Faith Priority

I had a Skype call with a friend recently. I have not spoken with him in almost a decade. When I was a youth worker/missionary, I use to meet for prayer with this man who was an elder in the church. Weekly we would pray together. We always seemed to talk and pray about wanting to be more faithful to Jesus, to be more radical for Jesus, to be more...well more anything, as long as it was more. He is now a pastor of a church and told me all about it. He was encouraged by its growth because the church was busy and Sunday attendance was growing. I found myself while listening feeling annoyed and angry at his news. This bothered me and I reflected upon this for the next few days. Yes I recognise I am no longer in the same place as what he most likely remembers but nonetheless the penny however finally dropped as to why I felt like this when I read a chapter from Orthodox Heretic by Peter Rollins. Jesus never favoured Samaritans and tax collectors as a distinctive group but rather favoured these groups because they were on the margins of society, the then untouchables, the dregs of society. My friend the pastor is part of a church (I do know the church) that will frown upon people being gay for example, and who will not agree with gay marriage. For them in the expression of their faith they will reject people in the same way as people were rejected in the time of Jesus. Furthermore, they will emphasise the religious aspects of their expression which speak little of the kingdom here, for all. What I did want to hear was how the church was making an impact on the vast disenfranchised poor that is still so rife in South Africa. What I wanted to hear about was how this church was lavish in their grace and love, welcoming all regardless of colour, creed, gender or even sexual orientation. What i wanted to hear about was how busy they were facilitating soup kitchens, educational programs, rehabilitation and how in order to do these things, changing the cogs of society many were pursuing careers in politics, education and economics so as to inspire real change that impacted upon all in society. I was frustrated because it is not the kind of faith I believe in, not the kind of faith I practice, not the kind of faith that represents me at all.

The whose who in the zoo and just what kind of animal are you? Phyllis Tickle 'Emergence Christianity'

So what kind of church do you go to? Are you a Christian...a Bible believing Christian (as opposed to a ...)? We love wearing labels in a sense of self assurance and identity (I'm in...even if in means the rebellious out) and we love placing these labels on others as a sense of security (deciding whose in and whose not). Phyllis Tickle in her book Emergence Christianity published in 2012 now reveals that there is a fork in the emergence tree. Before those who sought to break away from stale institutional forms of church in their theology and ecclesiology motivated by a sense of mission and incarnational gospel would label themselves 'progressive' or 'emergence/emerging/emergent' or 'fresh expressions/pioneer'(the latter now being associated more with institutional churches like Methodist and Anglican). This general tree has now developed a spilt.
Lecturing in 2011 on hermeneutics and 'postmodern' responses to this in church forms, students studied the emerging church associated with Brian McLaren, Rob Bell and others. As I researched material for the students to use in their critique I came across a scathing clip by Mark Discoll on the matter: CLICK HERE I was surprised at the names associated with each and suprised that Mark would be so disapproving of Brian and Rob. I was also fascinated at how he defined 4 streams within this emergence philosophy. Another exposition of the movement was by an insidious summary by Piper concerning Brian and others posted in 2010: CLICK HERE.
What a zoo and what wild animals!!!
Both Discoll and Piper refer to MacKnight (author of the Jesus Creed...a good book) as a former supporter of Brian who now no longer supports Brian and both make some really outrageous claims about people and the movement as a whole. Tickle helpfully sheds light on these matters in her book. Indeed after MacLarens 'A New Kind of Christianity', MacKnight produced an article 'Here I stand' as a critique of Brian and which now serves as the point and manifesto of the split in the branch (p.156). This resulted in Emergent church/Christianity associated with names such as MacLaren, Bell etc. and Emergence Christianity/Church associated with names like MacKnight and Driscoll (p.142-143). Tickle insinuates that this split in Protestant Evangelicalism considering the neat divide already mentioned has also given rise to a New Calvanism in the likes of Piper and Discoll (p.190).
"Whenever one speaks of anything,one speaks from a particular point of view. When one speaks of religion, one speaks from more than a point of view; one speaks from a lifetime investment in a canon or particular explication of truth" Tickle, p.208

Love as Eros, Philos and Agape by Paulo Coelho on April 5, 2013 In 1986, when I was on the road to Santiago with my guide Petrus, we passed through the city of Logroño while a wedding was taking place. We ordered two glasses of wine, I prepared something to nibble on, and Petrus discovered a table where we could sit down together with the other guests. The wedding couple cut an immense cake. “They must love one another,” I thought aloud. “Of course they love one another,” said a man in a dark suit sitting at our table. Have you ever seen anyone get married for any another reason?” But Petrus did not let the question go unanswered: “What type of love do you mean: Eros, Philos or Agape?” The man looked at him without understanding a word. “There are three words in Greek to designate love,” Petrus said. “Today you are seeing the manifestation of Eros, that sentiment between two persons.” “The two seem to love one another. In a short time they will be fighting alone for life, establishing themselves in a house and taking part in the same adventure: that’s what makes love grand and dignified. He will pursue his career, she probably knows how to cook and will make an excellent housewife because since she was a little girl she was brought up to do that. She will accompany him, they will have children and they will manage to build something together, they will be happy for ever.” “All of a sudden, however, this story could happen the other way around. He is going to feel that he is not free enough to show all the Eros, all the love that he has for other women. She may begin to feel that she has sacrificed a career and a brilliant life to accompany her husband. So, instead of creating together, each of them will feel robbed in their way of loving. Eros, the spirit that joins them, will start to display only his bad side. And what God had meant to be man’s most noble sentiment will begin to be a source of hatred and destruction.” “Notice how odd it is,” continued my guide. “Despite being good or bad, the face of Eros is never the same in all persons.” Then he continued, pointing to an elderly couple: “Look at those two: they haven’t let themselves be affected by hypocrisy, like so many others. They look like they are a couple of farm workers: hunger and need have obliged them to overcome many a difficulty together. They have discovered love through work, which is where Eros shows his most beautiful face, also known as Philos.” “What’s Philos?” “Philos is love in the form of friendship. It’s what I feel for you and others. When the flame of Eros no longer able to shine, it’s Philos who keeps couples together.” “And what about Agape?” “Agape is total love, the love that devours those that experience it. Whoever knows and experiences Agape sees that nothing else in this world is of any importance, only loving. This was the love that Jesus felt for humanity, and it was so great that it shook the stars and changed the course of man’s history.” “During the millennia of the history of civilization, many people have been smitten by this Love that Devours. They had so much to give – and the world demanded so little – that they were obliged to seek out the deserts and isolated places because love was so great that it transfigured them. They became the hermit saints that we know today.” “For me and you who have experienced another form of Agape, this life here may seem hard and terrible. Yet the Love that Devours makes everything lose its importance: these men live only to be consumed by their love.” He took a pause. “Agape is the Love that Devours,” he repeated once more, as if this was the phrase that best defined that strange type of love. “Luther King once said that when Christ spoke of loving our enemies he was referring to Agape. Because according to him, it was impossible to like our enemies, those who do us harm and try to make our daily suffering all the worse.” “But Agape is a lot more than liking. It is a sentiment that invades everything, fills all the cracks and makes any attempt at aggression turn to dust.” “There are two forms of Agape. One is isolation, life dedicated only to contemplation. The other is precisely the opposite: contact with other human beings, and enthusiasm, the sacred sense of work. Enthusiasm means trance, ecstasy, connecting with God. Enthusiasm is Agape directed at some idea, something.” “When we love and believe in something from the bottom of our soul, we feel stronger than the world and we are imbued with a serenity that comes from the certainty that nothing can conquer our faith. This strange force makes us always make the right decisions at the right time, and we are surprised at our own capacity when we fulfill our objective.” “Enthusiasm usually manifests itself in all its power in the early years of our life. We still have a strong tie with the divinity and we give ourselves with such zeal to our toys that dolls take on a life of their own and little tin soldiers manage to march. When Jesus said that the kingdom of Heaven belonged to the children, he was referring to Agape in the form of Enthusiasm. The children reached him without paying any attention to his miracles, his wisdom, the Pharisees and the apostles. They came happily, driven by Enthusiasm.” taken from THE PILGRIMAGE http://paulocoelhoblog.com/ I like the term Love that Devours. I like the idea that one can love and be loved with such passion that you are over-taken, over-come, devoured by it. And if it is the kind of love that enhances life and causes one to feel like a hero, like a god because you are so loved, then why not experience such love, why not allow it devour you. It is like the love one has for your children. It is a love that will cause me to anything for the sake of my daughter, even death. It is a love that compels me to keep investing in it for love will have it no other way. It is a love that devours me in the giving of it and it is a love that devours me in the recieving of it. It is a love that will devour me in the losing of it. It is a risk. The more you love, the more you feel at loss when you are not in the presence of the beloved. The more you pursue in enthusiasm, the more you are tormented when contrained due to circumstances you would not wish on your worse enemy. To love with a love that devours is the most dangerous risk you take in life.

'UBUNTU' in the Xhosa culture means: "I am because we are"…

An anthropologist proposed a game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the kids that who ever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run they all took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said: ''UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?''

'UBUNTU' in the Xhosa culture means: "I am because we are"

In a Western culture where religion and faith become just another commodity that we own, possess and consume, the term Ubuntu is a huge challenge as to what it means to have a faith and how that faith impedes, impacts and informs us as humans within humanity as a citizins. In many ways what it is we believe as individual holders of truth is irrelevant if that truth has no positive, loving impact on us as citizins and as a result a positive loving impact upon the communities we act in as a citizin. The true test of how these views hold us and us them in community is when we are confronted with those who oppose us and or who stand in opposition to what it is we hold. Such complex inter-plays of ethics, faith, morals and values are not always straightforward or simple but are vital in creating an existence that can live together in harmony for the future and generations to come. The acts in many parlaiments regarding same sex marriage, future concerns of the reduction of food and water and the destruction of natural resources are just some of the complex issues and discussions that will test the views we hold and how we act as citizins in community. How can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?

Jesus in Disneyland by David Lyon

p43 Beliefs and practices that once were sealed within an institutional form now flow freely over foremerly policed boundaries. p47 Modernity made a lot of the mind, especially as a means of controlling and regulating the body, but in a postmodernizing world, the body itself becomes a site of consumption, of controversy, and of conflict. What Lyon suggests on p43 is what I would consider the conditions for the expansion of knowledge and epistemology. Although orthodoxy may provide a superficial sense of confidence and security, it does not allow experience and epistemology through reflection and enquiry to continue to shape and reconfigure habitus and praxis (by implication). What the postmodern condition allows or gives permission to, is to venture beyond the boundaries of orthodoxy (defined and set by people relative to a context and motivation therefore calling into question the very understanding of orthodoxy) and explore other ways of being, seeing and knowing. It is an epoch in time which could lead to a new reconfiguration of belief and faith. Related to this permission giving is the context in which this new exploration can take place in that it is not focussed around the mind solely but incorporates the body as well. The holistic exploration beyond boundaries is where we now found debates regarding the human genome and same sex marriage.

Rev Cynthia Park Retirement Service

The closing words from the last sermon of Cynthia at Dorset Gardens Mathodist Church: I saw a vision - it was last Thursday at 11 o'clock in the morning. I was standing at the top of the stairs, looking down over the city and the bright blue sky broke open over my head and the Spirit of God breathed on my eyes and my eyes were opened: I saw Brighton, the holy city, coming down out of heaven shining like a rare jewel, sparkling like clear water in the eye of the sun from Shoreham to Peacehaven, from Hangleton to Moulsecoomb, and all the sickness was gone from the city, and there were no more suburbs and squats, no difference between Hove and Whitehawk. I saw the sea running with the water of life, as bright as crystal, as clear as glass, the children of Brighton swimming in it. They had no more bruises to hide. And the Spirit showed me the tree of life growing on the Old Steine. I looked out and there were no more homeless people and crowding into our shelters. There were no more women working the streets of St James; there were no more drunks throwing up in London Road; HIV and AIDS were things of the past. There were no more crack pushers; there were no more racist attacks, no more attacks on gay people. No more rapists, no more stabbings, no more Nazi graffiti because there was no more hate. And I saw women walking safe at night and the men were full of passion and gentleness and none of the children were ever abused because the people's lives were full of justice and joy. I saw an old women throw back her head and laugh like a young girl. And when the sky closed back her laughter rang in my head for days and days and would not go away. That is what I saw, looking over the city, looking up from the place of sorrow, and I knew then that there would be a day when the kingdom will come. Yes, I know, God's kingdom will come.

Joseph Fletcher

Situational Ethics Christian moral judgements are decisions, not conclusions p12 Love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed p17 If actions are right only because they are loving, then thy are only right WHEN they are loving p25 These quotes resonate with hearts and worlds crushed by moral pronouncements lacking in any love. The true description and demonstration of love is love measured in justice. I'll sign up to that.

The risen Christa

http://www.edwinasandys.com/
A female representation of the Christ from feminist theology

The Lake of Galilee

There are times when by the lake, you stop; no noise, no words, no nothing, just silence and peace. No rush, just stillness. And at that time, understand and reflect on this new way, this touch of love. Rush and you miss it; speak and you won't hear it. Love just waits for your response.

Further Reflections

Viewing and visiting the sites of Jerusalem I ponder that some add layers to protect the sacred while others seek to remove these layers in order to find the sacred, including the layers of religiosity.
...to be in-step with God or with religion, for one I must choose and with one be -out-of-step...

Reflections on Jerusalem

How strange that as I look over all the temples, churches, shrines and sites of man-achievement laying claim to God, to their version of God, to their God, fighting to lay claim to God and their religious heritage that it is actually God who is the one that fights for and over us and lays claim to us.
How strange that we compete against each other for His attention (with bells, calls to prayer and so on) when it is He who competes to get our attention and therefore has to compete with our distractions of bells and calls to prayer and so on.
In many ways Jerusalem is like a snow-globe, a microcosm of humanity; its passions and possessions, its fervour and ferocity. A city built on religious fault-lines; religion, identity and politics that can erupt into devastating destruction at any moment. Dividing walls separating communities and families, each claiming possession and heritage. All symbols of the best and worst of humanity. To pray for the peace of Jerusalem is not only about the literal city but also about the microcosm of humanity that it represents.

Clergy vs Laity

The Abolition of the Laity by R. Paul Stevens
'...in the 2nd and 3rd centutries a definite clergy-lay distinction arose largely from three influences: (1) imitation of the secular structures of the Greek-Roman world not unlike the professional-lay distinction in the modern world; (2) the transference of the Old Testament priesthood model to the leadership of the church; (3) popular piety which elevated the Lord's Supper to a MYSTERY which required priestly administration' (p39)

VS

Priests in a People's Church by George Guiver et al
'When Christian ministers lead us in the Eucharist, they are leading us into MYSTERY...' (p29)

Paul Tillich

'ectasy of being grasped unconditionally' (1948, p81)
Faith is not technological realism, where in order to discover the really real, it is objectified into something that can be measured and expressed in human reason
NOR
is faith mystical realism, where in order to discover the really real, one has to escape the 'now' seeking 'the inner power of things beyond, essence and intuition
BUT
rather faith is historical realism, where the really real is asked for in time and space.
And when the unconditional reveals and transforms the conditional, a state of ectasy or faith occurs as it is grasped by the unconditional, as it is contemporeous to the 'here and now'.
True ectasy is united with faith, and faith transcends what seems to be real, because it is in the presence of the really, the ultimately, real (p80).
The man today who feels separated by a gulf from the theistic believer, often knows more about the 'ultimate' than the self-assured Christian who thinks that through his faith he has God in his possession, at least intellectually (p82).

Lord save us from your followers

Watch this trailer: click here

The alchemist

It's not love to be static like the desert, nor is it love to roam the world like the wind. And it's not love to see everything from a distance, like you do (the sun). Love is the force that transforms and improves the Soul of the World...when we love, we always strive to become better than we are...

The boy turned to the hand that wrote all. As he did so, he sensed that the universe had fallen silent, and he decided not to speak. A current of love rushed from his heart and the boy began to pray. It was a prayer that he had never said before, because it was a prayer without words or pleas. His prayer didn't give thanks for his sheep having found new pastures; it didn't ask that the boy be able to sell more crystal; and it didn't beseech that the women he had met continue to await his return. In the silence, the boy understood that the desert, the wind, and the sun were also trying to understand the signs written by the hand, and were seeking to follow their paths, and to understand what had been written on a single emerald.

The ultimate religious sacrifice is to give up God

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come on, it is good!

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