|
|
 |
I welcome comments on this blog or your
reactions to my site.
Click here to e-mail your comment
My Blog
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
A Few More Reactions
Dr.
John Ridgway, an Australian physicist turned missiologist, comments on my book, What About the Cross?
"This book has stimulated me to think afresh about God's ultimate purpose for humankind and how it will be fulfilled.
Whether or not one agrees in full or in part with Scott's model of the Atonement, his insights are very thought-provoking
and will deepen any reader's spiritual journey."
Dr. Bishara Libbus,
formerly of Lebanon, now a genetics consultant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, writes, "Waldron Scott is not content with
surveyng earlier Christian thinking on the Atonement, though he does that insightfully. He strives to articulate a new
synthesis incorporating insights from sience and evolutionary theory. What About the Cross? does not
comfortably accommodate the weary or timid mind, but richly rewards one who actively engages with it."
And Dr. S., a Malaysian
mission entrepreneur active in a large Asian country: "Late moderns and postmoderns who embrace both evolutionary theory and
personal faith in a Creator will find this new exposition of the Gospel enlightening and mind-enlarging. Scott's model
of the Atonement is an apt capstone to an exceptional missionary career."
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Amazon Alert
Amazon.com has just notified me that What
About the Cross? is now available from their online site -- in case you prefer ordering from Amazon rather than Barnes
and Noble.
For a few more days I will be touting the
book here; then we'll move on to other things. The Christian doctrine of the Atonement is at the heart of the Gospel,
but is also the source of increasing controversy today. What about the Cross? traces the history of the doctrine and
argues for a new model better suited to the late madern and early postmodern mentalities.
In the book I first examine the relevant New Testament
texts (Part I) which, while presenting no formal theory of the Atonement, nevertheless provide the "seed bed" from which a
dozen theories would sprout during the next two thousand years. Next, I explore in detail each of the historical theories
that have emerged during the past two millennia (Part II) before briefly describing some contemporary theories (Part III)
such as Rene Girard's. In the final chapters (Part IV) I offer my own model, one distinctive feature of which is how
the theory of evolution illuminates the doctrine.
Monday, October 29, 2007
The Passaic River
My pastor, Dr. John
Algera, loves to fish in Colorado (left) and loves to kayak on the Passaic River, which rises in central New Jersey and flows
through and around Paterson before emptying into New York Bay below Newark. Two hundred and sixteen years ago,
when Alexander Hamilton founded Paterson as America's first industrial complex, he never envisioned the thousands of tons
of garbage that would one day polute the Passaic River. The huge underground pipes that empty storm water into the river
were not designed to divert garbage and other debris. So one of the better things that is happening in Paterson these
days is that 33 large steel mesh nets are being constructed at discharge points along the river. Thirteen have already
been installed and our river is noticeably cleaner and safer.
Pastor Algera says
of my book on the Atonement, "The first three Parts alone are well worth the price of the book, and Part Four, while
controversial, stretches one's mind rewardingly." He says "controversial" because my conclusions about the breadth of
the Atonement challenges traditional evangelical thinking.
9:35 am edt
Saturday, October 27, 2007
For those of you
interested in buying my book on the Atonement, I have discovered that, contrary to what I have told some of you, Barnes and
Noble (bn.com) gives quicker service than Amazon at the moment. On the bn.com page, type in What About the Cross?
An odd bunch of books appears, but What About the Cross? shows up five or six items down the page. Delivery time is
three business days or sooner. (At the moment, on Amazon.com, you are asked to sign up on a "notify me when available"
list. I don't know what that it the case. The publisher should have seent books to both B&N and Amazon simultaneously.
Alternatively, you can phone 1-800-AUTHORS to place an order.
My friend John Ridgway
is preaching in Wichita, Kansas this week. Wichita has long been one of the most convervative evangelical cities in
the U.S. Wichita Christians vote Republican, but today they, and other white evangelicals in America, long considered
to be "the Republical party at prayer," are disillusioned. Their leaders -- Jerry Falwell, Jim Kennedy, James Dobson,
Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins -- thought that by re-electing George W. Bush in 2004 they were about to make America a truly
Christian nation: anti-abortion, anti-same sex marriage, pro-prayer in schools, etc. Instead they got a quagmire in
Iraq, a huge national debt, and little or no cultural change. To add insult to injury, they can't agree on a successor
to Bush. Romney is a Mormon, Guiliani is thrice-married, McCain is detestable, and Thompson is lackluster. The
only Republican candidate that agrees with evangelicals on cultural issues is Mike Huckabee, a one-time Baptist pastor, but
he can't raise money and is assumed to be unelectable.
But there are deeper reasons for the present evangelical dilemma. Grass-roots evangelicals themselves are
changing and, with few exceptions, their leaders are increasingly out of step with them. In their place a newer generation
of white evangelical leaders such as Bill Hybels, left, whose Willow Creek Association now includes 12,000 evangelical churches,
and Rick Warren, author of the hugely popular 40 Days of Purpose program, are interpreting the Gospel in much more holistic
fashion -- something people like Ron Sider, Jim Wallis and myself have been urging for decades. I am one who welcomes
this long-overdue change and believe it bodes well for our society.
12:22 pm edt
Thursday, October 25, 2007
What About the Cross?
I am happy that
this book is finally on the market. If you go to www.Amazon.com and type in What About the Cross? in the New Search box, the
book will appear immediately at the top of the page. If you type in Waldron Scott, it will appear on the first
page, but ten or eleven items down. (This is because this latest book is listed below other books by me [Bring
Forth Justice, and Karl Barth's Theology of Mission] and by a couple from a certain Scott A. Waldron, whose name is the
reverse of mine.)
I don't particularly
recommend that you use Barnes and Noble online (www.bn.com). At this early point, typing What About the Cross? doesn't produce a result, although typing Waldron
Scott will bring up the book on the first page but, again, a few items down the page, after those by Scott A. Waldron.
Apparently it takes
some time for the publisher to get the actual books to online warehouses, so you need to sign up for Amazon or Barnes
and Noble to notify you by email when the book is available. If you don't want to wait, you can phone in an order
to 1-800-AUTHORS, which is the publisher's number.
5:34 pm edt
Monday, October 22, 2007
Exactly one hundred
years ago Walter Rauschenbusch, left, published his Christianity and the Social Crisis, the seminal text of
the Social Gospel movement of the early 20th century. Martin Luther King, Jr. was greatly influenced by it, and so was
I, although I was more influenced by the writings of the liberation theologians of the 1960s and '70s since they were closer
to my time. Both the social gospelers and the liberationists outlined in clear form the holistic implications of the
gospel, the very theme I was trying to master in mid-life, and which resulted in my writing Bring Forth Justice (Eerdmans
1980; Paternoster 1997).
Celebrating the
100th anniversary of Christianity and the Social Crisis provokes a strong sense of irony in me, however. For
in my lifetime the evangelicals who have responded most vigorously to the call for Christian involvement in public reform
are those, like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and James Dobson whose idea of public reform is far different than my own.
My Bring Forth Justice asserted that God was more concerned with social justice than private morality. Falwell, Robertson,
and Dobson assert the opposite and, further, seem to put the welfare of America above the welfare of all the world's
peoples. This may not be a total perversion of the gospel but, to my mind, it comes close.
1:11 pm edt
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saltshaker
I spent Friday evening
and all day Saturday -- along with 250 other people -- at a Saltshaker Conference led by Rebecca Pippert, left. Pippert
is the well-known author of Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World. The conference was essentially about
evangelism, particularly how laypersons can effectively witness to their faith in the workplace and in their neighborhood.
I attended with a friend, a new Christian I have been discipling. Although much of the material was "old hat" to me,
my friend found it inspiring and helpful at a practical level, and I look forward to helping him integrate some of the
better ideas into his daily routine.
9:07 am edt
Thursday, October 18, 2007
An American Exception
Last December the
United Nations took up a resolution calling for the abolition of "life imprisonment without parole" for children and young
teenagers. The vote favoring abolition was 185 to 1. Guess who the exception was? The United States of America!
As Adam Liptak reports, the U.S. stands alone in the world when it comes to convicting adolescents as adults and sentencing
them to live out their entire lives in prison with no possibility of forgiveness or parole. There are 73 American citizens
currently serving such sentences for crimes they committed at age 13 or 14 or younger.
I wrote about this
situation earlier this year, but I write again because I simply can't understand it. Is is simply a matter of American
arrogance to see juvenile crime differently than every other country in the world sees it? Or is it a rational philosophical
position? If the latter, how can this be in a country where evangelical Christians purport to comprise 25 or 30 percent
of the population? Prosecutors say that these children are incorrigible. But the Christian gospel assumes the
possibility of life-change and redemption for everyone. Why aren't evangelical Christians up in arms about this injustice?
Even if one eliminates
the spiritual dimension, the injustice remains, for studies have shown that the human brain is not fully developed before
the late teens. Adolescents often make decisions that are irrational, even evil. But as they mature, even in prison,
their ability to think and behave rationally increases. Research has also shown than most violent crime is committed
by persons under age 25. By the time a person reaches age 30-35 the likelihood of that person murdering someone else
is virtually non-existent. Thus a sentence of 20 years for a 15-year-old with possibility of parole thereafter is not
only humane, but reaonable.
9:24 am edt
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Honorees
Dorothy and Harry Westra,
left, are a couple about my age. They were honored last night at the 10th anniversary of the Madison Avenue Crossroads
Community Ministries (MACCM) -- the service arm of our local church. Georgia is a board member of MACCM.
For more than 20 years they have, as laypersons and volunteers, generously supported MACCM and other ministries in Paterson,
including our own Holistic Ministries International. Harry is a hard-working "tiler" (bathrooms and such); he donated
the tiling for the first 50 Habitat for Humanity homes built here in Paterson.
10:22 am edt
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Muftis Call
Sheik Taj Aldin Alhalali, Australian mufti
Peter Graff, a Reuters
correspndent, reports that 138 muftis (Muslim scholars) from around the world have called for peace and understanding
between Islam and Christianity. The list of signatories included notables from the Sunni, Shi'a and Sufi sectors of
Islam, including a number of Grand Muftis (leaders in a given nation.) They addressed their call to Pope Benedict and
other Christian leaders.
The letter noted
that "the very survival of the world itself is perhaps at stake," but that finding common ground between the world's two biggest
faiths was "not simply a matter for polite dialogue between religious leaders." That may be true. Nevertheless,
polite dialogue is a necessary beginning, and many, perhaps most, American Christians have no idea of how to dialogue with
their Muslim neighbors. That's one reason I am impressed with the efforts of my Malaysian Navigators friend (whom I
will not name here) who is currently studying at Hartford Seminary precisely for the purpose of learning how to dialogue more
effectively.
9:29 am edt
Monday, October 15, 2007
40 Years Later
Forty years ago
New Jersey suffered great racial unrest, not only here in Paterson but especially in nearby Newark. The old photo at
left shows Newark police arresting an already bloodied black man. Though some African Americans will disagree with me,
my own impression is that racial tension in New Jersey has abated much over the last four decades, though individuals will
experience discrimination more often than we would wish. In place of black-white antipathy, today we see more black-on-black
violence, the latest being the cold-blooded murder of four African American college students in Newark by a small
black gang intent on robbery. Jesse Jackson was in Newark this weekend promoting a renewed effort to get guns off the
street -- something our church has been working on here in Paterson the past year.
10:20 am edt
Friday, October 12, 2007
Affordable Cars
We've had quite
a bit of rain here in Paterson the last couple of days. Welcome rain, I must say. Today it's sunny, breezy, temperature
in the low 60s.
The average price
of a car in the United States now is about $22,000, though many pay $32,000 and up. So it's intriguing to note that
in India, where whole families pile on to Honda motor scooters to get around town, some families are buying Honda automobiles
for a mere $5,000. Moreover, Honda promises a $3,000 four-door sedan for India by the year 2009 (see photo above).
Honda is not the only car company to invest in the huge Indian market; Renault-Nissan and Toyota are doing the same.
Even America's Ford motor company is contemplating the idea. Now -- if we could only see a $3,000 car available here
in the U.S.!
10:38 am edt
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Generation Q
I'm not a big fan
of the New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, left. Several decades back he wrote insightfully about the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. In recent years, however, he has become enraptured with the phenomenon of globalization and I have found him
predictable and somewhat boring. Once in a while, however, he grabs my attention. Such is the case today with
his column on "Generation Q."
Generation Q --
the Quiet Americans -- is what he calls the current cadre of university students. Apparently Friedman has two daughters
in college just now. He finds them admirable in many respects, but worries that they are too quiet, not actively engaged
in the burning issues of our time. "Generation Q wuld be doing itself a favor, and America a favor, if it demanded from
every [political] candidate that comes on campus answers to three questions: What is your plan for mitigating climate change?
What is your plan for reforming Social Security? What is your plan for dealing with the [national] deficit -- so
we all won't be working for China in 20 years?" He has a point.
10:44 am edt
Monday, October 8, 2007
Evangelical Lunacy
Halo 3 is the most
popular interactive video game circulating these days -- and one of the most violent. Players have access to a dozen
lethal high-tech weapons which they use to blast their enemies to smithereens. Possibly because the Halo saga is based
on a putative religious war instigated by aliens from out space, evangelical youth ministers across America are sponsoring
church events in which young people gather to play the game and then discuss ethics and other spiritual matters.
What lunacy!
The game is so violent it is sold only to people 18 years old and older, yet most of the youngsters playing the game within
church parlors are under 18. The violence, centered on killing, is rampant, yet youth ministers justify it as affording
an opportunity to engage youth is serious discussions. By the same token, it would be justifiable to introduce pornographic
videos into the church since they, too, offer plenty of room for ethical discussion. Or again, to center youth discussions
around listening to the vilest of certain rap-artists who demean women and glorify rape.
In their effort
to relate to pop culture, evangelical youth ministers (and their supervisors) have succumbed to that very culture. This
is upside-down evangelism. The scourge of the world today is unremitting violence. We should not be encouraging
it even as we claim to criticize it.
9:57 am edt
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Plight of the Mandeans
The gnostic
sect of the Mandeans -- commonly known as the Marsh Arabs -- is about to become extinct. Saddam Hussein drained
the wetlands of southern Iraq in which they lived (see photo), forcing most of them to flee to Jordan and Syria. The
remainder are being persecuted and killed during the present American occupation of Iraq by Shi'ite extremists.
According to Nathaniel Deutsch, a Swathmore College professor, says that "the best hope for their ancient culture to survive
is if a critical mass of Mandeans is allowed to settle in the United States, where they could rebuild their community and
practice their traditions without fear of persecution."
The Mandeans, who
number perhaps 70,000 worldwide, are the only surviving Gnostics from late antiquity. They have their own language
and literature, which combines elements of Zoroastrianism and Judaism. They revere John the Baptist as the last of God's
prophets. Baptism is their primary religious rite. Unlike Christian refugees fleeing Iraq, the Mandeans do not
belong to a larger religious community that can provide them with protection and aid. They are alone in the world.
Without such protection and aid, Professor Deutsch notes, individual Mandeans may survive for another generation, isolated
in various countries around the world, but the community and its culture may disappear forever.
1:59 pm edt
Friday, October 5, 2007
Extended Summer
For the first time
since I've lived in Paterson, summer has stretched without interruption well into October. This is not the usual October
Indian summer, but the unexpected extension of our regular summer. It's 85 degrees fahrenheit today and this warm weather
is expected to continue for several more days. I'm quite happy with the situation, for I prefer warm weather to cold.
But it makes me wonder: Are we destined for a very cold winter? Average annual temperature vary only a degree or two
over a century, which means cooler temps are needed to average out these higher than normal temperatures. We will see.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Why Some Muslims Choose to Follow Jesus
Dr. Dudley Woodberry,
left, is a long-time missionary to Muslims and now, in his senior years, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary.
He reports (in a current Christianity Today article) that a questionaire filled out by 750 Muslims who had decided
to follow Jesus. The respondents were from 30 countries and 50 ethnic groups.
The most oft-given
reason for deciding to follow Jesus was the lifestyle of the Christians they knew. The next most important
influence were the answered prayers, physical healing, and release from demonic powers they experienced after they
began to consider Jesus. Next in frequency was a general dissatisfaction with Islam. One-fourth of the
respondents cited visions and dreams as major factor. The Christian message, with its assurance of
salvation, and its revelation of God's unconditional love,was another major contributor. In many instances (Woodberry
doesn't give the percentage here) they were attracted to the loving community we call the church.
Christians most
often attempt to convert Muslims by preaching to them. Woodberry's survey would seem to indicate otherwise. As
St. Francis Assisi once said, "By all means, proclaim Christ. If necessary, use words."
5:40 pm edt
Monday, October 1, 2007
Ramadan
The visit from David
Bok this past weekend was very stimulating. David is an expert in dialoguing with Muslims and has many opportunities
to do so, in Asia as well as here in the U.S. Saturday evening Georgia and I took him to dinner at a local Arabic restaurant
filled to overflowing with Paterson Arabs breaking their daily Ramadan fast. (For you who may not be familiar with Ramadan,
it is the month in the Muslim calendar when families fast from from dawn to dusk for 30 days.) The fast is broken when
the sun sets which, on this particular day, happened to be at 7:21, I think. We were the only non-Muslims in the restaurant
and had some difficulty being served as waitresses scurried around like wet hens trying to keep up with the famished fast-breakers.
9:36 am edt
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
