"Misquoting Jesus"

My most-faithfully-read blog is Andrew Sullivan's. Andrew is interesting. A political conservative (which I definitely am not) who is openly gay, and who voted for John Kerry. I don't agree with Andrew on everything, for sure. Andrew wishes that Bush would have managed the Iraq War more competently. I think a more competent president never would have take us into this war in the first place.

Anyway, Andrew is also a Christian, a Roman Catholic, and he's shown some interest lately in Bart Ehrman's new book "Misquoting Jesus." Today he shares with us a link to this critique of Ehrman by another scholar, Ben Witherington.

Ehrman was an "evangelical" (or maybe, more accurately, a Fundamentalist) educated at the Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College and later Princeton. When he went into the field of textual criticism, his faith in the Bible was apparently shaken. The text was not as reliable as he once believed it was, apparently. So now Ehrman is an agnostic.

This seems to be one of the dangers of being a Biblical literalist--if one's faith is in the text of the Bible rather than in the God of the Bible, one might be setting oneself up for a fall. This is one of the problems of "Bibliolatry"--the making of an idol, or false god, of the Bible. Witherington offers a helpful criticism of Ehrman that might help the lay people who read Ehrman's book from getting too carried away by Ehrman's "revelations"--none of which are new in the field of the textual criticism of the Bible.

"Gospel of Intolerance"

This opinion piece originally appeared in the Washington Post, but when I went searching for it on the web, I found it on a Pakistani Christian website, a fact which itself shows the global nature of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) struggle for dignity and equality.

An on-line Episcopal friend whom I met at a PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) conference keeps me abreast of the LGBT struggle in the Episcopal/Anglican Church. I believe we Methodists have much to learn here. If nothing else, it is instructive how the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) plays a role in stirring the schismatic pot in that denomination as well as ours.

Of course, the United Methodist Church is even more linked to our African Christian counterparts than are the Episcopalians. African United Methodists cast a growing share of votes in our General Conference. This developing situation in Nigeria raises interesting questions. Our United Methodist Social Principles currently support the human and civil rights of LGBT persons. Are African United Methodists willing to stand for this principle in their own lands? Or will they eventually seek to move our General Conference to remove the more "progressive" aspects of our Social Principles' statements on LGBT persons.

Or is it possible that the influence of United Methodist Social Principles might work in the other direction, urging African United Methodists to speak out against the oppression of LGBT persons in Africa? South Africa, for that matter, under its new post-apartheid Constitution, is now one of the most progressive regimes in the world for LGBT persons. It's one of the growing number of countries in the world that recognizes same-gender marriages.

"Claiming the Promises"

I mentioned in the previous post that I attended a different United Methodist Church in Madison yesterday. It is Trinity Church, located in the old residential neighborhood south of the University of Wisconsin Campus. I'll be attending there for at least the season of Lent (and maybe a little longer). They are using the curriculum "Claiming the Promises" published by the Reconciling Ministries Network. Seems to me that the prospects are good that this will become the fourth United Methodist Church (out of eleven) in this small city to openly declare it's openess to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) persons.

"When I fall down on my knees. . .

"When I fall down on my knees with my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me" So goes the words of the old folk hymn. Yesterday I attended another United Methodist Church in Madison--probably one of the oldest Methodist buildings in the city. God bless 'em, they've added a lift which will make the building accessible to our differently abled brothers and sisters! But they have not changed the old communion rails. This may be the only United Methodist Church in the city where one can still receive communion the way Wesley preferred we receive it--on our knees! (Though I will add that Wesley himself describes a communion service he conducted where he allowed communicants to freely choose their posture for reception--even so, he was pleased that the majority chose to kneel.)

Of course, the method of reception of communion has nothing to do with our salvation, but the practice of kneeling slows things down a bit and gives one time to really ponder what it is we are about.