#progressive theology

[koko-mochi]

I just finished the first season of The Chosen, here are my thoughts...

For context, I have a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard, and I am a United Church of Christ preacher and member-in-discernment.

Overall I am really enjoying the show, I've cried a few times, and it has made my faith feel deeper and made me feel more connected to Jesus. I can't wait to pick up season two from the library on Monday and keep watching.

Here's a list, in no particular order, of things on my mind as I finish season one:

I love the show's portrayal of Jesus. He is welcoming, friendly, funny, and sensitive. At the same time he can be strange and uncanny. Jonathan Roumie absolutely crushes it in this role, and it was easy to think "this is Jesus" instead of thinking it is an actor playing Jesus. I do sort of wish Jesus was a little bit scarier, a little more challenging, but I get the feeling that will come later.

Nicodemus as a POV character is an inspired choice. Much like many modern Christians, Nicodemus struggles to believe what he is seeing, yet he longs to believe anyways. It's easy for me to see myself in him, especially as a highly-educated theologian. Additionally, seeing things from Nicodemus' perspective adds nuance and depth to how we see the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, instead of succumbing to the unambiguous (and grossly antisemitic) villain treatment so many Christians still gleefully participate in on Palm Sunday. And the astute viewer will remember that Nicodemus has a very important role to play at the end of the story, when we eventually get there.

On the other hand, the Romans are cartoonish villains for most of the first season. I started rolling my eyes whenever Quintus appears on screen, eyebrow cocked, wicked sneer on his lips. It sure drives home the point about the Romans being violent colonizers and oppressors, but in a story that presents everyone as redeemable--even tax collectors--the fact that Quintus doesn't seem redeemable stands out. Gaius seems to be quite a bit more nuanced, so I can't help but wonder if we'll continue to see development for him.

I liked the portrayal of Matthew as autistic-coded. To me he doesn't feel like a caricature, I can see myself in him, and I empathize with him. The scene when Jesus asks him to follow really hit me.

Much has been said about this show's portrayal of emotionally-vulnerable masculinity and I strongly agree with it. The men in this show are tender, they're affectionate, they're supportive. They laugh and cry and hug freely. It's probably the best portrayal of masculinity in media that I've seen since Lord of the Rings.

The theology of the show was more progressive than I was expecting, though I didn't agree with everything the writing posits. The show's framing of Jesus' healing miracles as him forgiving the sins of the sick/disabled person grates on me. At the same time, I love how the opening of most episodes present a scene from the Hebrew Bible. It grounds the show's theology and Jesus' ministry in the Jewish scriptures, a thing that I think Christians too often avoid. It also does so in a way that feels connected to the Hebrew Bible instead of being supersessionist.

"Get used to different." What a great line. I wanna use that in a sermon. That's what following Jesus is all about, isn't it? Amen.

[theist-nerd]

Honestly, homophobic Christians are either just lazy theologians or unable to comprehend the vastness of God and God's love. People say "oh well, if you have to jump through all these hoops to make something okay then it's probably not" when what I'm doing is working to understand the history and context of the scripture we've been given. If your Bible tells you to hate, then you too probably need to dig deeper into its history and context. Like do you truly believe that the God that created this entire universe can only fathom heterosexual romantic love? That they only approve of that way to love? If so I pity the versions of God that you have created in your head and backed up with poorly translated texts.

[mr-jackalope]

Migrating from Twitter in case it goes under

Hello anyone who sees this. I'm Marcus (mr_jackalope) from Twitter. I'm a seminarian at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and am pursuing ordination in the United Church of Christ. i have lots of interests but I mostly like to talk about progressive theology and spirituality. I am also newly trained in the Christian folk magic/healing tradition of Pennsylvania German Braucherei and I enjoy talking and learning about folk magic practices in general.

He/Him

[deconstructingtofreedom]

Gloria Steinem has a really great quote in her book “My Life on the Road” that goes something like this, “There are few rewards greater than uncovering a secret that shouldn’t be a secret.”

This is my uncovering.

[thurifer-at-heart]

"Christianity is the only major world religion to have as its central focus the suffering and degradation of its God. The crucifixion is so familiar to us, and so moving, that it is hard to realize how unusual it is as an image of God." Churches sometimes offer Christian education classes under the title "Why Did Jesus Have to Die?" This is not really the right question. A better one is, "Why was Jesus crucified?" The emphasis needs to be, not just on the death, but on the manner of the death. To speak of a crucifixion is to speak of a slave's death. We might think of all the slaves in the American colonies who were killed at the whim of an overseer or owner, not to mention those who died on the infamous Middle Passage across the Atlantic. No one remembers their names or individual histories; their stories were thrown away with their bodies. This was the destiny chosen by the Creator and Lord of the universe: the death of a nobody. Thus the Son of God entered into solidarity with the lowest and least of all his creation, the nameless and forgotten, "the offscouring [dregs] of all things" (1 Cor. 4:13).

—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ (p.75)

[holyandhaunted]

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

-1 John 4:11 NIV

[transienttheologyproject]

listen idk what the etiquette is surrounding posting tiktok-style content on this site or if that’s taboo but like i Don’t Care this is Funny to Me

if you’re a genderqueer christian, if you know & love a genderqueer christian, or if you’re simply interested in learning more about how Christianity and transness intersect with one another rather than contradict each other, then consider checking out the Transient Theology Zine — available now digitally & for preorder through 9/15!

[beloved-of-john]

(I follow from @spocks-got-a-glock)

So I made a sideblog for Christianity stuff.

My religious journey is relatively new and I need a space to talk about it, share my thoughts and potentially reach out to others. I don't think my followers on my main blog are a demographic that would be particularly interested though, so it all goes here from now on. There'll probably be a fair bit of content here about my experience as a trans + gay Christian but I will talk about more general things as well.

Please DNI if:

- you're homophobic/transphobic or align with anything other than Side A of the homosexuality + Christianity debate (I accept side B as a personal choice for LGBT people, though I don't agree with the reasoning, just don't tell others how to live their lives)

- you want to have a debate about my faith or about the existence of God; I'm out of steam

- you're antisemitic or islamophobic, or attack other religions unnecessarily. Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Please DO interact if:

- you're a trans/gay/queer Christian, or an LGBT affirming/progressive Christian

- you want to have deep meaningful conversations about theology (while staring into each other's eyes with homoerotic subtext)

- you want to share your favourite Christian music/books/art/films/TV shows. Tell me more!

- you're just curious or want to chat. I'm friendly :)

[novamonastica]

Nearly everyone believes God is loving, but there is considerable debate over the width, length, hight and depth of his love. For many, God's love is limited and conditional, offered to some but not others... Grace is God's commitment to love us regardless.

If God is Love by Philip Gulley and Jame Mulholland

[gay-jewish-bucky]

Being religious and queer in the west is feeling more comfortable in religious spaces than you do in queer spaces, due to the culture of extremely hostile antitheism in the queer community, forcing you to abandon a major part of who you are to be welcome, meanwhile there is a growing culture of open and joyful acceptance of queerness within increasingly diverse religious spaces, allowing you to be your authentic self

[many-sparrows]

"Autumn why do u cry when you take the church's donations to the food bank" "why do u get so emotional when you sort donations for the congregation's college students" because i was hungry and you fed me. because i was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. because whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me. because in gods kingdom, the last must be put first. because this is the purest religious experience i can have and the most direct communion with the divine.

[rev-krissy]

I got an ask about if having doubts makes you a bad Christian. This human’s last church was one that discourages asking questions. I figure someone else may need to hear this too…

I like questions and curious people. When I hear someone say questions are bad it makes me wonder what they are hiding or of it is really about control.

Thomas doubted, Jesus didn’t condemn him, just showed him what he wanted to see. All of the disciples asked questions and Jesus never condemned any of them!

Jesus told a story, ‘The Kingdom of God is like a man who has two sons and the younger son asked for his share of the property and went to foreign country and spent it all on partying. There is a famine and the only job he can get is feeding pigs and he’s starving. So he goes home. Before he can ask to be hired as a servant his dad hugs him, kisses him, calls for clean clothes and a ring and a party to reconcile the child to the community. Big brother refuses to come in and even questions his father’s love and his father says son everything I have is yours and you are always with me.

Does that sound like condemnation? It sure doesn’t sound like that to me.

John 3:17 is so much more important than it’s more famous companion “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

Also, just consider that Israel means “strives with God” Jacob literally wrestles with God… Abraham and Moses both argue with God and get God to change their mind. From the ancient rabbis to the modern day all progress, and not just in theology but certainly there too, has been sparked by questioning, by wonderments, and doubts and experiments.

Keep asking questions and expressing your doubts, God is a big God and can certainly handle it!! If a church or pastor tells you it is wrong to ask questions run fast and run far!!!

Hugs to all that need them!

[saintmachina]

One million dollar question: is it true that the Bible condems homosexuality? I had a discussion with two conservatives who sent me some verses that seem to confirm that but i don't know much about the context although i know this is important too

Let’s start here: why is this the million dollar question? Why does it matter what the Bible has to say about sex, or love, or human relationships? At the end of the day, it’s just a book, right?

Oceans of ink (and blood) have been spilled over not only what the Bible says, but what it does, how it functions. The course of empires, nations, and families have been shaped by the contents of this book, and from a historical and cultural perspective, it holds a lot of weight. But you didn’t ask about the sociological, you asked about the theological, so let’s explore. 

Different Christian traditions vary in their approach to scripture. For example: some Protestant denominations believe that the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and infallible. In this paradigm, God is the ultimate author of scripture working through human hands, and the resulting text is both without error and in no way deceptive or mistaken. Similarly, The Second Vatican Council decreed that “the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation.” When a member of the clergy is ordained into the Episcopal Church they swear that they “do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation.”

Can you see how many of these points of doctrine overlap yet seek to distinguish themselves from one another? Theologians have spent lifetimes arguing over definitions, and even when they manage to settle on solid teachings, the way that the teaching is interpreted by the clergy and incorporated into the lives of the laity varies WIDELY. As much as systematic theology may try, humans aren’t systematic beings. We’re highly contextual: we only exist in relation to others, to history, to circumstance, and to the divine. We simply cannot call up God to confirm church teaching, and I think a lot of people cling excessively to the Bible as a result of the ache (dare I even say trauma) of being separated from God via space and time in the way we currently are.

God is here, but God is not here. God is within us, God is within the beloved, God is within the sea and sky and land, and yet we cannot grasp God to our bodies in the way we long to. In this earthly lifetime, we are forever enmeshed in God, yet forever distinct, and that is our great joy and our great tragedy.

So barring a direct spiritual experience or the actual second coming, we're left to sort through these things ourselves. And because humans are flawed, our interpretations will always be flawed. Even with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives guiding us.

When engaging with any sort of Biblical debate, it is essential that you have a strong understanding of what the Bible means to you, an an embodied individual living a brief little awful and wonderful life on Earth. Otherwise it's easy to get pushed around by other people’s convincing-sounding arguments and sound bites.

Here’s where I show my hand. As a confirmed Episcopalian I believe that reason, tradition, and scripture form the “three-legged stool” upon which the church stands, interdependent and interrelational to each other, but I’ve also like, lived a life outside of books. I’ve met God in grimy alleyways and frigid ocean waters and in bed with my lovers. So my stool is actually four-legged, because I think it’s essential to incorporate one’s personal experience of God into the mix as well. (I did not invent this: it’s called the Wesleyan quadrilateral, but the official Wesleyan quadrilateral insists that scripture must trump all other legs of the table in the case of a conflict which...*cynical noises*)

Please do not interpret this answer as me doing a hand-wavey "it's all vibes, man, we're all equally right and equally wrong", but I do absolutely think we have a responsibility as creatures to weigh the suffering and/or flourishing of our fellow creatures against teachings handed down through oral tradition, schisms, imperial takeover of faith, and translation and mistranslation. Do I believe the Bible is sacred, supernatural even, and that it contains all things necessary to find one's way to God, if that is the way God chooses to manifest to an individual in a given lifetime? Absolutely. Do I believe it is a priceless work of art and human achievement that captures ancient truths and the hopes of a people (as well as a record of their atrocities) through symbols, stories, and signs? Unto my death, I do.

However, I am wary of making an object of human creation, God-breathed though it may be, into an idol, and trapping God in its pages like God is some sort of exotic bug we can pin down with a sewing needle.

Finally, we have reached the homosexuality debate. One of my favorite sayings of Jesus is Matthew 5: 15-17: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit." In other words: look at what religious teachings have wrought in the world. When I look at homophobic interpretations of the Bible, I see destruction, abuse, suffering, neglect, alienation, spiritual decay, and death. When I look at theology that affirms the holiness of LGBTQ+ relationships, I see joy, laughter, community building, thoughtful care, blooming families, creativity, resilience, and compassion. I see the love of Christ at work in the world. I see the hands of a God who chose under no duress to take up residence in a human body, to drink wine with tax collectors and break bread with sex workers and carry urchin children around on his shoulders. That's my limited little pet interpretation, but hey, that's all any of us really have, at the end of the day.

So, I am absolutely happy to do a play-by-play breakdown of why those passages you were given (we queer Christians often call them "clobber passages" or "texts of terror") don't hold water in a theological, historical, and cultural context. We can talk about Jesus blessing the eunuch and the institution of Greek pederasty and Levitical purity laws and Paul because I've done that reading. I've spent my nights crying in self-hatred and leafing through doctrine books and arguing with my pastors and writing long grad school essays on the subjects. Send me the verses, if you can remember them, and I'll take a look. But it's worth noting that out of the entire Bible, I believe there are only six that explicitly condemn homosexuality AND I'm being generous and including Sodom and Gommorah here, which is a willful and ignorant misreading if I've ever seen one.

In the meantime, I recommend books by people smarter than me! Try Outside The Lines: How Embracing Queerness Will Transform Your Faith by Mihee Kim-Kort, or Does Jesus Really Love Me by Jeff Chu, or Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians by Austen Hartke!

And take a breath, dear one. Breathe in God, in the droplets of water in the air and in the wind from the south. Breathe in the gift of life, and know that you are loved, now and unto the end of the age and even beyond then.

[fierysword]

[wrestlingwithtorah]

All are welcome! Jewish! Not Jewish! Kind of Jewish! Jewish-adjacent! All are welcome!

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In Jewish Tradition, the concept of 'sin' doesn't necessarily mean what you think it means: and it can be a transformational concept that helps us to become better versions of ourselves.

In Hebrew, the words often translated as "sin" does mean all of the negative things our culture associates with the word, but it also means so much more. Everything from a "misstep" or an "oops," to a spiritual moment to make amends and learn from this particular experience.

Come join Rabbi Gischner as we begin the spiritual process of reflecting on our year as we celebrate the first of Elul together, to reflect on who we have been and who we are becoming as we enter the new year of 5784 together.

[thurifer-at-heart]

Rachel Held Evans on "reading Scripture with the prejudice of love"

The truth is, you can bend Scripture to say just about anything you want it to say. You can bend it until it breaks. For those who count the Bible as sacred, interpretation is not a matter of whether to pick and choose, but how to pick and choose. We’re all selective. We all wrestle with how to interpret and apply the Bible to our lives. We all go to the text looking for something, and we all have a tendency to find it. So the question we have to ask ourselves is this: are we reading with the prejudice of love, with Christ as our model, or are we reading with the prejudices of judgment and power, self-interest and greed? Are we seeking to enslave or liberate, burden or set free? If you are looking for Bible verses with which to support slavery, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to abolish slavery, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to oppress women, you will find them. If you are looking for verses with which to honor and celebrate women, you will find them. If you are looking for reasons to wage war, there are plenty. If you are looking for reasons to promote peace, there are plenty more. If you are looking for an outdated and irrelevant ancient text, that’s exactly what you will see. If you are looking for truth, that’s exactly what you will find. This is why there are times when the most instructive question to bring to the text is not, What does this say? but, What am I looking for? I suspect Jesus knew this when he said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

If you want to do violence in the world, you will always find the weapons. If you want to heal, you will always find the balm. With Scripture, we’ve been entrusted with some of the most powerful stories ever told. How we harness that power, whether for good or evil, oppression or liberation, changes everything.

—Rachel Held Evans, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again, p.56-67