Thoughts on Christianity and Culture
Back in the early 60’s Bob Mosher came to dinner at my parents’ invitation. He worked with my father at J. Walter Thompson in New York but had subsequently moved to California where he created the hit show, Leave It to Beaver.
He brought with him autographed studio head shots of both Wally and the “Beav” for my 3 siblings and me. We were thrilled. (Naturally, we all lost them over the span of years!)
Continue reading “Overreach and the Imperative of Ever-Greater Fluidity”
Back in the 90’s I came across a historian who discussed the lifecycle of civilizations and societies. He cited the post-WWII period in the United States as an example of a civilization at its peak.
American society was cohesive. That is, we agreed on the basic goals for our nation. Our disagreements had more to do with how to achieve them. Continue reading “Beyond the Twilight of the Gods”
Contemporary American society is suffering from an epidemic of guilt, yet another side-effect of our culture’s loss of faith.
Part of Christianity’s genius is not only its perspicacious diagnosis of the human condition (sin as an inescapable fact of life), but its revitalizing remedy for this universal malady of the soul.
And that remedy is confession and forgiveness. We are assured that when we earnestly acknowledge our moral shortcomings, God forgives us. Continue reading “The Loss of Forgiveness”
Beginning in earnest with the Enlightenment but gaining speed in the 19th century, Western culture pretty much decided that God was no longer indispensable. With newfound confidence in the power of reason and science, the idea was that human beings finally could solve life’s most vexing problems.
No longer held back by primitive beliefs and mystical obfuscations, humanity was now in a position to uncover the hidden secrets of the universe previously obscured by the prejudices and ignorance of the past. Continue reading “Utopia”
Attempting to make our world a better place is about as natural for us as springtime follows winter. Yet this was not always so.
Israel’s contribution to religious sensibility is generally thought to be confined to their belief in monotheism (one God) and/or their identification and codification of ethical norms (the Law). Neither, however, was unique to them. Continue reading “Exiled”
Okay, I’ll admit it. As part of a family that’s belonged to the UCC (or what eventually became the UCC) for close to 300 years, I have an ongoing ‘family quarrel’ with it.
By way of explanation, I once watched an interview with a local pastor on community access TV. Something he said really struck me, both for its brevity and its unassuming truth.
“The problem with the mainline church,” he said, “is that it sought to befriend the world and in the process became the world.” Continue reading “Should We Then Do Nothing?”
“Don’t ever take a fence down,” wrote John F. Kennedy, paraphrasing the great Christian apologist (explainer), G.K. Chesterton, “until you know why it was put up.”
The actual quote from Chesterton is this: “In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them…The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to [the fence] and says, ‘I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.’ Continue reading “Fences”
Some years ago, in a little history book published by the United Church of Christ (UCC), my grandfather, as editor of the German Reformed publication the Messenger, was listed as a leader in the movement to merge that denomination with the German Evangelical Church, a merger that occurred in 1934. It became known as the “E&R” Church.
Three years later, in 1937, the Congregational Church (of the Pilgrims fame) and the Christian Church joined to form the “C&C” Church. Finally, in 1957, the C&C and the E&R combined to form the UCC, the denomination in which I was ordained and served as pastor. It also is the one denomination closest to my ancestral roots. Continue reading “East of Eden”
When I arrived in New Haven I was in no mood for all that “church-y” stuff. I looked at my fellow students and marveled at how they could be so narrowly focused. On Christianity, that is.
I didn’t see myself as bound to just one singular, outward manifestation of religious expression. I had concluded that all religions were blinkered attempts to grasp a greater truth, one that lay hidden at the core of human existence. Continue reading “Original Sin”
Ravenna, Italy (6th century)
I was crossing the street one day at around noon to get some lunch at McDonald’s. I was in my mid-20’s and working a temp job as a “service writer” at a BMW dealership, of all things. In truth I can barely tell the difference between a piston and a gas cap.
In any event, I looked up the hill to see if any cars were coming when suddenly the scene was transfigured. It had spiritual content. On the face of it, this moment was about as mundane as any you might imagine. But in the blink of an eye it became infused with a luminous power. I was stunned, and decided it was God.
Not that I was looking for this sort of thing. If anything, it was just the opposite. Continue reading “New Beginnings”