I was introduced to the conceptual dichotomy in the mid-1970's, while I was an Instructor (non-ranked) in Philosophy at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a community college. I had just completed getting an MA in Higher Education at the University of Chicago--taking evening classes. I persuaded the college through the Public Relations Administrator to permit me to edit a journal in higher education that would present the views and ideas of Instructors about teaching I would then try to circulate among other colleges for support. We only had one issue! Anyway, this administrator chose the name for it--Counterpoint. He explained that since it would offer the ideas of those who taught, not administrators and heads of departments in higher education, the title was descriptive. If it were an educational journal typical in the field, he said, he would have recommended Point. Thus, the conceptual distinction: point/counterpoint.
It turns out that society is built on such a distinction. The "point" in the social hierarchy are those who head organizations, such as corporations and governments. They are the CEOs at the very top of the social chain of command. Whereas, the "counterpoint" is composed of members of the mass media to the extent that they offer critiques of the establishment, and would you believe, the religious clerics and leaders, e.g., Jesus; and the social leaders such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm-X--all of whom serve as the conscience of society. The counterpoint's mission is to remind those in control of society to "do the right thing," implying they are privy to ethical and moral knowledge.
It will be seen at once the importance of the distinction. Those in power, wielding enormous control over the rest of society, must be checked. Their power must never become "unbridled." The power of the counterpoint group comes from the people, who upon occasion are motivated to rise up against the established power structure, e.g., during the French Revolution.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Developing the Christian Pragmatics' Theme (CP-4a)
plan version: 4/24/14
I've been away from the field of Theology for some 50 years! Anyway, I have received peer reviews of the 4 items that comprise my initial attempt to develop my own Christian theology; and I've been encouraged enough to go on further with the project!
What I plan to do is offer one application or use of a particular concept within the Christian Pragmatics' theme and then move on to the next concept. So, when the initial version of Christian Pragmatics is completed, it should contain one application of each of the Christian Pragmatics' topics --the project thus surveyed in scope; but no topic covered in depth (which would include more than one application of the concept).
1. The first topic in CP is the religious experience--the application presented--the Eucharist or Mass.
then the other topics or concepts will follow and each offered with an application. I have tentatively identified the topics, but I won't indicate the application in this outline:
2. Religious knowledge
3. Christianity embedded in culture: the social Gospel
4. Our Christian life in the world of the power grid: the Christian's mission
5. CP in contrast to current trends in theology
I've been away from the field of Theology for some 50 years! Anyway, I have received peer reviews of the 4 items that comprise my initial attempt to develop my own Christian theology; and I've been encouraged enough to go on further with the project!
What I plan to do is offer one application or use of a particular concept within the Christian Pragmatics' theme and then move on to the next concept. So, when the initial version of Christian Pragmatics is completed, it should contain one application of each of the Christian Pragmatics' topics --the project thus surveyed in scope; but no topic covered in depth (which would include more than one application of the concept).
1. The first topic in CP is the religious experience--the application presented--the Eucharist or Mass.
then the other topics or concepts will follow and each offered with an application. I have tentatively identified the topics, but I won't indicate the application in this outline:
2. Religious knowledge
3. Christianity embedded in culture: the social Gospel
4. Our Christian life in the world of the power grid: the Christian's mission
5. CP in contrast to current trends in theology
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
I' m introducing, Bishop Dan Edwards
He's Episcopalian bishop of Nevada I've met with him; and I was surprised by his administrative skills. He can save the Episcopal Church in USA. He should be given a leading role in USA church governance. He must go to National Cathedral. Incidentally, can he bring me with him? .
Sunday, April 6, 2014
(CP-4) The Eucharist (or, Mass)
About the Nature of Religion
Emile Durkheim wrote much on this topic. What he could not see in the 19th Century was how religion becomes imbedded in a culture. The prime example is China. There's really no Confucianism today; it's the Chinese Culture! The Chinese just naturally place their passed parents in urns on their mantelpieces all over the country! They live in accordance with the teachings of Confuscius naturally, without thinking about it.
We're seeing the same thing in the West. There are Christian nations, the USA being a prime example (the Fundamentalists are right! Really?). A common complaint in Christian nations today is that the religion, Christianity, is waning. No, it's not waning, there's just no need to go to a specific place to practice it. Religious experiences are omnipresent. The preparations for the experience are within the structures of our court system and permeate our governmental, administrative apparatus; our social justice movements toward equality of the races, of the genders--of human being citizens; our outreach through corporate business worldwide, through our military bases around the world; through our cultural extensions to other cultures.
Nevertheless, I hope we always retain moments of the religious experience in our Christian churches, howbeit there be many fewer churches. In my opinion, there's nothing that can approach the Eucharist in the beauty and serenity of the Christian message acted out in this particular parishioner's religious practice. For me, it's the epitome of the religious experience in Christianity.
The Eucharist in its Meta-Elements
1. The Calling by God to worship. At eleven A.M. or so on Sunday morning, the church bells toll. It's time for church service. The organ loudly proclaims God is in on His throne, awaiting us parishioners. Hymns describing God's majesty, our humility are sung as the liturgical procession heads toward the altar, led by the cross of Jesus signifying our dedication to this moment we regard important for guiding our lives.
The priest leads the processional to the altar and declares the Service has begun by saying a prayer, invoking God's presence among those in attendance.
2. The Identity of the called. "Now, hear ye this!" The scriptures are read. God's response to the invocation is to declare to all who are in attendance the delight that He takes in those seeking Him. All those in the church are to listen to His words meant for us. We are the hearers of the Word.
3. The moment of instruction for us, the people of the Now generation. The presiding priest assumes an instructional role at the podium. He delivers the sermon in the service intended to strengthen the relationship between God and man by pointing out how we can improve our communication with God by doing as he, God's representative in the service, instructs us. He exhorts us, as if he were a salesman selling a medical product that would add years to our lives should we buy it and use it asap. And, the product he sells is free! It's our spiritual redemption; the cost only to pledge our souls to serious contractual relationship with God (e.g., the conversion call to the altar) to do God's will in our lives..
4. God's power sought. The parishioners together acknowledge our allegiance to Christian principles in the famous Nicene Creed said in unison. Followed by the Prayers of the People to make especial mention of our needs. Thereupon, we acknowledge our weaknesses and human frailties in the most important and illuminating statement of our humble condition in the world that He has created--the Confession of Sin. We, as parishioners, are sinners who cannot carry out God's plan for each of our lives without continual help that only God can provide to each and every one of us . "Please, Most Holy, Most High, help us!" We need help in dealing with some human malady or disease. We need God's spirit to design our transactions with one another, and in our personal, inner life. Help Almighty One! Give us Thy Spirit; and permit us the partaking in Thy power!
5 God's power received. Acting as God's emissary, the presiding priest conducts the Holy Communion ceremony. The stage is set for playing out the Last Supper of our Lord at the Communion Table. We are to be not only the onlookers to that event in remembrance but become its participants, even as the presiding priest proceeds to obtain for us God's special gift, His most precious body and blood In this way, we exhibit our Godlike being as we communicate with our inner nature of God in us.
We are welcomed at the altar to receive the symbols of God's power severally dispensed to us by the priestly representatives of God. We become recipients of the gifts of God in our hands. He has extended to us the elements of His most Holy Spirit to be retained in our being for a time to come. We feed on these elements in our hearts.
6. We who have received God's gifts express our gratitude. We sing a hymn, the liturgical procession exits; we are left alone in our pew, refreshed and exhilarated. We, the remaining congregation declare in heartfelt gratitude, "Thanks be to God!" 'You've done it again for
each of us!'
Now we know the Trinity through our religious experience: God the Father, creates us according to His design, God the Son establishes for us a way to gain knowledge of His design for us; and God the Holy Spirit enables us to carry out God's plan for our lives through the continuing inflow of God's power and might into our being through partaking in the religious experience.
Emile Durkheim wrote much on this topic. What he could not see in the 19th Century was how religion becomes imbedded in a culture. The prime example is China. There's really no Confucianism today; it's the Chinese Culture! The Chinese just naturally place their passed parents in urns on their mantelpieces all over the country! They live in accordance with the teachings of Confuscius naturally, without thinking about it.
We're seeing the same thing in the West. There are Christian nations, the USA being a prime example (the Fundamentalists are right! Really?). A common complaint in Christian nations today is that the religion, Christianity, is waning. No, it's not waning, there's just no need to go to a specific place to practice it. Religious experiences are omnipresent. The preparations for the experience are within the structures of our court system and permeate our governmental, administrative apparatus; our social justice movements toward equality of the races, of the genders--of human being citizens; our outreach through corporate business worldwide, through our military bases around the world; through our cultural extensions to other cultures.
Nevertheless, I hope we always retain moments of the religious experience in our Christian churches, howbeit there be many fewer churches. In my opinion, there's nothing that can approach the Eucharist in the beauty and serenity of the Christian message acted out in this particular parishioner's religious practice. For me, it's the epitome of the religious experience in Christianity.
The Eucharist in its Meta-Elements
1. The Calling by God to worship. At eleven A.M. or so on Sunday morning, the church bells toll. It's time for church service. The organ loudly proclaims God is in on His throne, awaiting us parishioners. Hymns describing God's majesty, our humility are sung as the liturgical procession heads toward the altar, led by the cross of Jesus signifying our dedication to this moment we regard important for guiding our lives.
The priest leads the processional to the altar and declares the Service has begun by saying a prayer, invoking God's presence among those in attendance.
2. The Identity of the called. "Now, hear ye this!" The scriptures are read. God's response to the invocation is to declare to all who are in attendance the delight that He takes in those seeking Him. All those in the church are to listen to His words meant for us. We are the hearers of the Word.
3. The moment of instruction for us, the people of the Now generation. The presiding priest assumes an instructional role at the podium. He delivers the sermon in the service intended to strengthen the relationship between God and man by pointing out how we can improve our communication with God by doing as he, God's representative in the service, instructs us. He exhorts us, as if he were a salesman selling a medical product that would add years to our lives should we buy it and use it asap. And, the product he sells is free! It's our spiritual redemption; the cost only to pledge our souls to serious contractual relationship with God (e.g., the conversion call to the altar) to do God's will in our lives..
4. God's power sought. The parishioners together acknowledge our allegiance to Christian principles in the famous Nicene Creed said in unison. Followed by the Prayers of the People to make especial mention of our needs. Thereupon, we acknowledge our weaknesses and human frailties in the most important and illuminating statement of our humble condition in the world that He has created--the Confession of Sin. We, as parishioners, are sinners who cannot carry out God's plan for each of our lives without continual help that only God can provide to each and every one of us . "Please, Most Holy, Most High, help us!" We need help in dealing with some human malady or disease. We need God's spirit to design our transactions with one another, and in our personal, inner life. Help Almighty One! Give us Thy Spirit; and permit us the partaking in Thy power!
5 God's power received. Acting as God's emissary, the presiding priest conducts the Holy Communion ceremony. The stage is set for playing out the Last Supper of our Lord at the Communion Table. We are to be not only the onlookers to that event in remembrance but become its participants, even as the presiding priest proceeds to obtain for us God's special gift, His most precious body and blood In this way, we exhibit our Godlike being as we communicate with our inner nature of God in us.
We are welcomed at the altar to receive the symbols of God's power severally dispensed to us by the priestly representatives of God. We become recipients of the gifts of God in our hands. He has extended to us the elements of His most Holy Spirit to be retained in our being for a time to come. We feed on these elements in our hearts.
6. We who have received God's gifts express our gratitude. We sing a hymn, the liturgical procession exits; we are left alone in our pew, refreshed and exhilarated. We, the remaining congregation declare in heartfelt gratitude, "Thanks be to God!" 'You've done it again for
each of us!'
Now we know the Trinity through our religious experience: God the Father, creates us according to His design, God the Son establishes for us a way to gain knowledge of His design for us; and God the Holy Spirit enables us to carry out God's plan for our lives through the continuing inflow of God's power and might into our being through partaking in the religious experience.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
(CP-3) Religious Significance of the Gospels
The Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, John contain a certain degree of historical record but interpreted by believers who wanted to cherish the life of Jesus remembered in oral sayings and print. As such these Gospels are testimonials to the power of Jesus, if He so willed it. These writings are like the testimonials at AA meetings, if you will. They contain reference to what God through Jesus, His Son, has done in the lives of those early-on Christians; and attests to the power of God in Jesus.
But some ministers of the Gospel today claim that the Gospels contain promises of what God will do in the life of the believer who simply requests that God through Christ Jesus act on his behalf. They cite such references as Matthew 7 to claim that God will grant the believer riches galore, e.g., money, a job; if only he ask of God to work miracles in his life. However, such references must be placed in the context of Jesus' own life. He was not rich; He dealt with sinners and even Samarians, i.e., non-Jews, as if they too could be among the believers in His Kingdom of God.
The critical writing in Matthew that places all such promises in perspective is Matthew 26, where Jesus and God are alone together. "Oh My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me!" Then, knowing that He ought not be in charge of events on earth, but His Father only, Jesus adds, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou will!"
It is in our critical relationship of man to God that our religious response to God's calling occurs. We are to pursue relationship with God; so as to know Him and come to recognize our part in His plan.
If this be the basis for our relationship to God through Jesus--that is, to know God so as to know what we must do to further His kingdom--then at once the teachings of Jesus are instructive of how we can improve in our knowing God; and thereby partaking of His Power and Will in our lives. That, translated to the whole of the Gospels means, we are to take those teachings as instructions to walk "nigh with God" in order to align ourselves with His power and His will for our lives; and thereby benefit from our relationship cultivated through our interactions with Him The religious value of the Synoptic Gospels is to enable us to know God through Jesus; and to create a lasting relationship with Him throughout all of our experiences on earth. HIS WILL BE DONE THROUG OUR LIVES!
'
But some ministers of the Gospel today claim that the Gospels contain promises of what God will do in the life of the believer who simply requests that God through Christ Jesus act on his behalf. They cite such references as Matthew 7 to claim that God will grant the believer riches galore, e.g., money, a job; if only he ask of God to work miracles in his life. However, such references must be placed in the context of Jesus' own life. He was not rich; He dealt with sinners and even Samarians, i.e., non-Jews, as if they too could be among the believers in His Kingdom of God.
The critical writing in Matthew that places all such promises in perspective is Matthew 26, where Jesus and God are alone together. "Oh My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me!" Then, knowing that He ought not be in charge of events on earth, but His Father only, Jesus adds, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou will!"
It is in our critical relationship of man to God that our religious response to God's calling occurs. We are to pursue relationship with God; so as to know Him and come to recognize our part in His plan.
If this be the basis for our relationship to God through Jesus--that is, to know God so as to know what we must do to further His kingdom--then at once the teachings of Jesus are instructive of how we can improve in our knowing God; and thereby partaking of His Power and Will in our lives. That, translated to the whole of the Gospels means, we are to take those teachings as instructions to walk "nigh with God" in order to align ourselves with His power and His will for our lives; and thereby benefit from our relationship cultivated through our interactions with Him The religious value of the Synoptic Gospels is to enable us to know God through Jesus; and to create a lasting relationship with Him throughout all of our experiences on earth. HIS WILL BE DONE THROUG OUR LIVES!
'
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