Marc's Messages 3.0

Adam's Return: male spirituality

In the left margin of my blog you find links to some of the books I read recently. One I'd like to point out specifically is 'Adam's Return. The five promises of male initiation' by Franciscan author Richard Rohr. He touches on several issues related to shift/reformation that I raised on my blog before, like the need to 'rediscover' a male spirituality, and the role of liminality in our spiritual formation. You might want to check out Rohr's website and this excerpt of an interview with him for an Australian radio station. Some spicy quotes:

Going takes away our fear

Brother Andrew is a Dutch pioneer evangelist (and I'd say also a prophet) who boldly goes to places where most people wouldn't be eager to go. In an interview with Christianity Today he challenges Christians to pray for bin Laden. "That question shocks a lot of us. Of course we haven't prayed for him! That is why he is what he is. We have an evangelical black list of people we don't want to see in heaven and put bin Laden on top. Saddam Hussein is probably second. In my 50 years of ministry, my biggest meetings have been always in the Muslim world. Why are we so timid? Why are we so afraid? They barely let me speak at my own evangelical church in Holland! I'm being sarcastic, but it is the truth. I find it easier to get speaking engagements with the Taliban than with my own evangelical church."

Jesus has left the building

In Greece I read Paul Vieira's challenging book 'Jesus Has Left the Building'. Paul relates his own journey out of organized religion, and gives some excellent examples of biblical precendents where God is challenging and even destroying the organized religion of Israel (like the times of the exile). Overall it's a highly prophetic book that speaks to the heart of an emerging generation to really be the church where it matters most: right in society.

Rodney Stark on Early Christianity

Alan Hirsch published a highly interesting interview with Rodney Stark on his weblog. Stark is a sociologist who calls himself an agnostic, but nevertheless wrote the fascinating book 'The Rise of Christianity: How the obscure, marginal Jesus movement became the dominant religious force'. The interview offers many eye-openers, as to how Early Christianity changed the very set-up of society. "What Christianity gave to its converts was nothing less than their humanity," says Stark.

Revolutionary life together

I have to admit it's refreshingly uncomfortable to my western mindset and lifestyle - the way Gene Edwards and Dietrich Bonhoeffer describe genuine church life.

In 'Life Together. The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community' Bonhoeffer states that Christian brotherhood is not the same as an extraordinary social experience. "Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize, it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. It is a spiritual and not a psychic reality." Creating a community on human notions, picking the people you like, is not just creating a dreamworld, it's even a hindrance to genuine community in Christ.