Holy Ghost Tees, baby...

Ever wonder why it is that in tongues churches, quite often the "tongues" start to sound the same?

Want proof?

Holy Ghost Tees [link removed, heads to where it should have] will put your particular phrase right on a t-shirt for all the world to see!

I'm hoping this is...ahem...tongue in cheek.

Even it is, the fact that it has reached the level of parody is a statement in and of itself...

Christian Pole Dancing?

The story can be found here.

Of course it makes the news because it's absurd but the fact that it exists at all is telling.

Is it me or are we just legitimizing our self-centered desires? Any kind of music you like? Got that covered. Sports? Covered. Karate? Covered. Yoga? Covered. Porn? Got that covered too.

Just put a "Christian" stamp on it and - Presto! - the guilt is gone.

Since when did Christianity become a brand?

Invisible Christians

The title of the post does not mean relegate your beliefs into the private sphere.

I'm talking about what is now commonly called "marketplace ministry" (which, sadly, sounds too much like "smorgasbord religion"). Maybe I'm just hungry...

Anyhow, whenever the phrase "ministry" enters any discussion I cringe. Ministry sounds like a badge. This is probably due to my years in the Pentecostal circles but to say a person has a "ministry" immediately elevates their status.

It is not necessarily an extension of who they are (i.e. what others call them) but can easily become a title slapped on (a Christian resume builder) to provide a sense of importance. It often seems to imply that they are somehow above those who don't have what they are hocking.

The frame of reference for me in this regard is my years as a social worker. Though my intentions were pure (to help), there was a level of otherness, an arrogance even, when I first started. I thought I had the answers others didn't and in turn placed myself, unknowingly and unintentionally, above them. There was a condescension in this.

Too often, ministers fall prey to the same thing. The reality is that whether a social worker or a minister, when it comes down to it we are all but humans, lost, drifting, seeking, stumbling, moving on. The only difference may be one's title, one's position or one's calling. But that "position" is not the whoness of the person.

To confuse the two is to risk falling victim to the power such a position wields. This is how ministers fall. They confuse the power of the position with their person.

The philosophy at the church I attend is that if you didn't know the pastors were pastors you wouldn't know they were pastors. But you would know there is something different about them. In fact when in public they refer to themselves as something other than a pastor as the term "pastor" almost always puts up walls, whether out of shame or guilt on the person on the receiving end or, in the opposite extreme, the celebrity worship that often follows pastors.

So the title of the post has to do with how a Christian is supposed to live. This isn't "invisible" as in hide in the sense of cowardice. Invisible simply means that the Christian isn't to wear it as a badge. The Christian is called to let his light shine before men.

And that light is something other than the person. That light dims the more the person interferes with it, trying to capture it, manipulate, stamp an agenda on it. No, the Christian is called to be a beacon of light and the way that happens is by becoming more and more invisible.

This isn't the merging into one in the sense of the traditional eastern philosophies or the fana of the Muslim mystic. The person does not disappear but allows what is unique in his life, in his experiences and in his position to be bathed in this light so that others may also bathe in its glow.

This is difficult as it requires surrender. Even though this is removed from its context, it still resonates:

"...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence... (1 Peter 3:15)

'Sanctify' means to acknowledge and 'defense' means to be able to explain. But the key in this is the asking part.

How many of us are living a life that people want to know what it is about us that is different? How many of us just blend in or, on the flip side, are obnoxious about our faith?

Are we so interested in being relevant, in being cool, in not standing out, that we are hindering the light we are supposed to be shining?

Or are we so hung up on feeling pressured to "witness" to others (to earn rewards? guilt assuagance?) that we are hindering the light from shining through us?

Are we more interested in being right than being humble? Do we whip out the battle axe (i.e. Scripture) in an effort to beat down those who argue against us or have different ideas about doctrine?

Just thinking out loud. Again, this started in the context of what is called marketplace ministry. I agree with the idea that being in ministry doesn't mean being behind the pulpit.

But these slick tags just seem to become "multilevel marketing" efforts with guaranteed sales tactics that will earn gold stars to put on heaven's refrigerator door.

Surrender is so very difficult...

Biblical Criticism and Theology Lite

Of all the scholars working today my favorite is perhaps James Kugel, former Harvard professor, now working in Israel. His books Traditions of the Bible and, most recently, How To Read The Bible, stand as testaments (no pun intended) to holding both religious faith and modern Biblical criticism in check.

There's something quantum in this. I think the struggles many have with this notion is that we like things in black and white, either/or. Nothing in life works that way (until we make a decision, that is...). I'm reminded again of another physics metaphor, that of the Feynman diagram...

Anyhow, we can hold two seemingly opposite things in tension without becoming dysfunctional. Did Moses write the Torah? If he didn't, does that change our faith or just our assumptions? If the events of Genesis did not "literally" happen, does this change our faith or just our assumptions?

Of course, if it's true, what then? Are scholars lying, the whole scholastic enterprise a "secular" plot to destroy faith?

If, if, if...

I'm reminded of the story attributed to Zhuangzi about the fishing net. Once you have the fish, do you still need the net?

So, let's say the Bible brings us to that place where we experience Truth at the deepest level of our being. This isn't Truth experience as sugar coating pain or regret or guilt or the emotional, feel good experience that comes with the rush of a good Pentecostal service.

This is that experience of which all who have experienced Truth just know.

So let's say you've experienced it and have experienced it through Biblical faith. What is the litmus test?

It isn't how much you know. It isn't whether or not Genesis was written by Moses. It isn't whether or not God dictated every jot and tittle of the Tanakh. It doesn't depend on whether or not the Gospels can be harmonized. All these things rely upon faith.

But what if it is true that these things are not factually, verifiably true? Will your faith crumble?

The strange thing about this is that I am coming out of roughly ten years or more of this struggle. And my faith is intact. Granted, there is a Zen-like, quantum entanglement kind of nuance to it, but it is still a strong Biblical faith nonetheless.

What is my litmus test? It isn't what I know. It isn't how well I quote Scripture. It isn't whether I can recite the creeds, pray or speak in tongues or whether I tithe. None of those things are really the fruits of which Jesus (or Paul, for that matter) speak.

No, the litmus test is how other centered we are, not out of lack but out of abundance, out of genuine concern for the others. If we love God, we must love others (even those who rattle us).

That, my friends, is the litmus test.

Any other litmus test is divisive.

(That wasn't where I intended to go with this post...I actually meant to talk about faith in the workplace...)

Hiatus...

Time for some gut level honesty and a reality check.

Need to spend less time externalizing ideals, judgments and illusion and more time living in authenticity through surrender.

In the words of Brueggemann, it is time to "nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us" which is, in his words, the royal consciousness that seeks to numb us.

As Moses freed the Israelites from the royal religion of Egypt, as the prophets sought to awaken the Israelites again from their slumber under Solomon's royal religion, so to do we today, and in every age, need to be aware of the Church today as it is so often part and parcel of the royal religion of Empire which continues to keep us numb.

The reading list:

The Powers That Be: Walter Wink

The Prophetic Imagination: Walter Brueggemann

The Politics of Jesus: John Yoder

How to Read the Bible: James Kugel

And, of course, The Bible, NASB version.

See ya' soon...

Modern Worship and Catholic Theology...

I'm sitting here listening to a 2010 version of the Wow Worship series, that never ending bestseller (reminds me of the South Park episode where Cartman decides the way to selling a million albums is to become a Christian artist...).

Sarcastic undertone aside, many of these songs have a powerful effect on me as these are songs I hear every Sunday at the church I attend played by the in-house musicians (of which my wife is one...). I think that the reason for their power is context. I don't know that they would mean as much outside of the worship service.

In fact, listening to many of these "versions" I feel my age as they are a bit too reminiscent of the rock and roll out of which I have grown, i.e. they are too loud. This isn't a criticism, it's just not my thing.

Anyhow, at the same time I am reading the Rerum Novarum, a Catholic Encylical on capital and labor. This was prompted by a recent article that ran in Mother Jones (and picked up, in brief, by cnn.com).

It was further driven by a conversation on the subject with a co-worker. He went on a diatribe about how if they are rich and getting richer, all the power to them. His perspective (aside from being a member of the system in which he is one of the privilged ones) was the traditional "Protestant" work ethic that you have what you have because you (must have) worked for it. He is a Christian but it was the regurgitated nature of his response that miffed me. It sounded a bit too, well, Americanized.

It is a very, very difficult thing for those who have been raised systemically within privilege (which includes me) to understand those outside of this system. As the black sheep in the family, my life has taken many turns outside the expected norm and this has guided me to have tasted life outside of this privilege. Doesn't make me an expert but having ruptured that insulated bubble, there is no going back.

It is especially difficult for those who have found a Christianity that caters to this suburban kind of theology where the idea of "mission" often borders on a vacation of the urban slumming variety which becomes show and tell.

Of course this is a bit cynical. As someone who is a bit schizo in my dialectic between difference and structure, I find there is a tendency in much of the modern church, frequently of the "non-denominational" variety, a formulaic throwback to the very same ritual so often criticized. There is a rhythm to the service that is familiar yet it can easily become predictable, dull, repetitive and easy to relegate to nothing more than weekly comfort food.

So I am at once enjoying the music but struggle sometimes with the "popular" Christianity and continually long for something deeper in the vein of the Catholic/Orthodox theology on which, ironically, perhaps, today's Christianity is founded.

There is a double irony in that I am listening to this music while at work having, uh, borrowed it from the Web while I listen to it on a not-so-cheap pair of headphones. I have investments that earn interest. I am far, far from any Gospel ideal. And I supposed that's the point. None of us are there; we are called to be holy, not perfect. We are called to judge our relationship with God on our own, not compared to others.

I constantly have to remind myself of this as quite often my judgments, cynicism, sarcasm and other negative forms of speech have less to do with some kind of objective truth then they do a mirror reflecting back to me issues I am not seeing.

The very same Church so often criticized that has carried the Gospel through the centuries. So no matter what the Church looks like today, the Truth is there where it has always been. And in this there is rest. But it can be a challenge to strip away all those accretions that simply don't matter.

I think that this is seen most clearly when we are better able to understand what life is like on the outside of this system. This isn't really a race, economic, social or even religious thing. It all comes down to power. The Prophets (Jesus included) are a wellspring of insight into the nature of this beast.

And on that note, I am going to go back to listening to my dub techno...Deepchord anyone?

Could've been dead...

While driving home from work Saturday afternoon I hit a patch of black ice and happened to accelerate in my rear wheel drive pickup while on it which sent me careening sideways into a ditch at roughly 50 mph (never thought to take a picture...pretty scary looking).

Miraculously (does this invalidate miracles for those to whom the following doesn't happen?) there was no oncoming traffic so there were no injuries or accidents beyond my vehicle (and my pride). I walked away unscathed but my truck, though driveable, most likely sustained some undercarriage damage.

People were amazingly friendly, stopping to see if I needed help or if I was ok. Two accidents further up the road meant a state highway patrolman (who actually gave me the option of whether or not I got a ticket) and a tow truck driver were there within minutes.

Having limped my vehicle into a parking lot to get off the street, two young men were there hauling firewood and were able, with proper tools, to help me get my spare tire on within a few more minutes. I was able to wobble my vehicle home with hazard lights flashing all the way.

As the day dragged on, it began to sink in just what could have been. So I am grateful to be alive. Though I was quick to realize, even within moments of stepping outside of my vehicle after it happened, that it couldn've been worse, not too long ago I would've been looking at the negative aspect of what had happened. Is it because I see through the eyes of faith or is it because in the end I wasn't too inconvenience?

Of course there are those who thank God (including me) for the outcome but does this mean that if others have results far worse that God was not with them? I suppose that is one of those mysteries of faith we can never know. I prefer to remain grateful to be here and in light of this gratefulness begin to see just how arrogant and proud I can be.

The questions continue though: would I have been so grateful had my truck been totaled, had I been injured or had someone else gotten hurt...or worse? Would I still "praise God" in light of such an outcome?

Is our faith really deep enough?

Was Jesus trilingual?

So it's Christmas and Jesus is on the minds of many. At my folks' house we were talking about languages and somehow Latin came up. So I posed the question:

"Did Jesus know Latin?" After all, when Pilate spoke to Jesus it would most likely have been in Latin.

My daughter responded: "Of course he did, he's Jesus."

Though the scholar in me cringed, I couldn't help but smile.

A soft spot for Islam?

You may notice if you've read through these posts that Islam takes up a lot of space.  I spend a lot of time defending it in the light of the stereotypes and lack of understanding or willingness to accept any old thing said about it and the unwillingness to investigate any deeper than finding those things that reinforce what we already believe.

But I am not soft on Islam, in general.  In fact, one of my greatest peeves about its missionary work is the ignorance Muslims (intentionally and knowingly or not) spreads about Christianity as viewed through a missionary Muslim's perspective.  The information they often spread is just as bad as the information Christians often spread about Islam. 

Here are some books of this variety.  One is a "Saudi" version of the Qur'an that is given away in mass.  I picked up my copy while contemplating conversion and spending a weekend at a mosque in Falls Church, Virginia.  These are what are given out to those interested because they are readily available and they are free.  This is one particular translation into English from a very particular point of view.

Two of them are reviews about such information as put out in books by Christians who have converted to Islam.  These are books that spread a particular kind of information.  It is "rooted" in other things published but it often borders on the fringe, at best, and conspirational at worst.  Granted, I too am coming from a particular point of view so take these reviews as well formed opinion but opinions nonetheless.

However, I would certainly not base one's eternal salvation upon what these authors say.   But I do recommend reading them, though, if only to understand. 

The Qur'an - translation by by Abdur-Rahmaan Abdul-Khaliq, translated with commentary by Mahmoud Murad.

The Cross & The Crescent - Jerald Dirks

A Muslim Study of the Origins of the Christian Church - Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood

They are authors, all entitled to their views.

I am simply defending education.

If you want opinions on some good, balanced works, drop me a line. 

Colonialist Christianity...

I belong to this amazing website that sends daily literary emails that tackle a range of subjects, almost always something interesting.

Today's seemed relevant to this blog:

"In today's excerpt - efforts by Christian missionaries in the 1800s to convert the largely rural Chinese to their faith stumbled badly, amid cultural dissonance, social and political maneuvering, and libelous claims and counterclaims. But British economic and military superiority soon made it advantageous to for Chinese to convert:"

Read more here. 

I highly recommend signing up.  It's free of cost and free of spam.

You may not read every email but you'll be glad you have the option to read them when they come.

The Zen Trinity...

Lately I've been on a Zen kick.  The Zen/Dao thing has been a constant in my life.  In many ways I am a Daoist Christian.  My Bible is marked at certain passages (especially in Ecclesiastes) with a 'DDJ' indicating parallels with the Dao De Jing.  It was in the context of the Dao that my spiritual awakening first began. 

Anyhow, there are a series of 'comic' books of Chinese philosophy by illustrator Tsai Chih Chung and translated by Brian Bruya that are brilliant in their simplicity.  They are, ironically enough, very Zen.  One of them, Zen Speaks, was, aside from the Dao De Jing, my first book on Zen/Daoism.  It's a first edition and, though a bit beat up, I still leaf through it on a regular basis. 

I find that Zen provides some penetrating insight into Christian theology without having to compromise.  In fact, in meditating upon this in church today I realized that it is possible to parallel the Trinity in Zen thought.  Granted, there is the "personal" or "relationship" element in Christian theology that is lacking in Zen.  In Zen there is no "person" with Whom to have a relationship as in Christian theology.

However, there is a parallel that can be made.  Instead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in Zen there is the One, the Sage (or, perhaps, Mind) and the idea of 'emptiness' that is the essence of Zen practice.  In this emptiness is everything, the "insight" that comes in a flash causing us to act according to our original nature.  One who has reached this level of understanding is a Sage, persons who, over time, have become mythologized.  In the One is the origin of everything, from which everything flows.

This parallel is obviously sorely lacking in the person of Jesus but as Christians are to be Christ-like and Christ is a 'Sage' in the sense of acting according to his true nature, so too is the person who practices Zen attempting to be Sage-like in his actions, operating not according to self but acccording to 'emptiness' and thus his original nature.  The parallel is that a Christian in surrendering his everything allows the Holy Spirit to act through him, much like emptiness in Zen allows the person to operate in the manner of ziran (tzu jan), self-so or operating according to the way it is.

Again, this is not an exact parallel.  In Zen there is no purpose, no goal to achieve, no concern with accomplishing God's will or such "personal" notions.  These things, if operating in this emptiness, will occur naturally and thus according to the way they are supposed to be.  No higher purpose just the way it is.

I would, however, make the case that when we operate according to God's will we are acting in the way it is supposed to be.  This is the way it is.  All that means is that it is not forced, it is not polluted by the imposition of our will or selfish motive on our part.  It may not have the glory of attributing something to a personal God who we believe cares rather than the more impersonal approach in Zen.

Having walked these two paths in some parallel over the past fifteen years has enabled me in many ways to be open to Christian doctrine, especially when it comes to things (e.g. the Trinity) that don't at first make sense.  But by being open, empty if you will, I have come to a deeper understanding of the Trinity that is theologically correct. 

Zen is a mindset and one that might benefit many a Christian who tries to "force" his or herself to accept propositions that simply do not fit thus leading to a spiritual walk that is less than peaceful.  I wouldn't tag myself a Zen or Daoist Christian as a badge, no matter how much this may (or may not) be true, but I find nothing wrong with investigating other truth claims.

"But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good..." (1 Thessalonians 5:21, NASB) 

In context this probably applies to truth claims of Christian doctrine but expanding this beyond this particular context it easily extends toward any truth claim.

Burn The Qur'an Day...

...represents fear on every level.

In summation, the terrorists are winning.

What Is Up With Patriotism These Days?

As the most recent "rally" held by Glenn Beck shows, the idea of patriotism has become religious.  I'm not talking about a "Christian" or "Judeo-Christian" America.  No, I'm talking about America as a religion.  C. Eric Lincoln called it Americanity and he was prophetic in this regard.

America is the religion being preached; Christianity (in all its varieties) would thus fall under its banner.  Manifest Destiny or whatever its called means that the creation of America was God's purpose and Christiaity the means toward its creation.

It is really beginning to frighten me.  On the surface, "conservative" values are preached but if we are not careful we will contiue to see the emergence of a police state based not on laws but on ethics and "spiritual" values that have been legislated. 

And, just for the record, this stuff we see all over the headlines isn't news.  It is fast becoming (or perhaps it's too late) nothing more than tabloid entertainment.  Come to think of it, the National Inquirer won a prestigious award for busting Jon Edwards.  The line has been crossed.

Just my two cents...

Vladimir Lossky, Henry Corbin and "Eastern" spirituality

Over the past several years, "Western" Christianity has left me a bit hungry, and jaded, seeming to be something of an amalgam of Christianity conflated with the "American" spirit, as if the two are directly connected, that God somehow favors America.  I won't go there but let me just say that God does not play favorites - God isn't interested in nation building.

Anyhow, this, along with the often baffling theology of Christianity, caused me to search out Islam as a viable path.  It's an old story on this blog but it led me to Henry Corbin's writings.  It also led me to the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition.  It was through reading Vladimir Lossky's works, specifically The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, that I began to get a good grasp on the Eastern church's theological perspective.  I find, in many ways, my Christian thought life aligning with this view.

While not radically different than that of the Christian West, specifically the American West, it is different.  More intellectual, more reasoned and less emotionally driven than the Christianity I am familiar with, it provides a solid foundation and helps me to understand more deeply Christianity as it evolved.

Henry Corbin, on the other hand, while not denouncing Christianity, as such, providse a more 'gnostic' view, giving approval to the "docetic" view of Christ (though understanding his definition of docetic is key to understanding what this means).  Yet in reading his writings and those of Vladimir Lossky I have come to realize that there is common ground here, there are similarities, even if certain theological constructs are different.

Though I have only begun to research this, there is a similar approach to God's communication in the world in Lossky's dissection of God's "essence and energies" and Corbin's fascination with the "emanation" and "angelology" present in 'gnostic' Christianity as well as in the Shi'ite/Isma'ili variations within Islam.

This isn't to elevate Corbin or Lossky's writings to authoratative.  Accepting the basic premise of "People of the Book" no one's writings achieve this status.  However, it does reveal to me that there is something similar in Eastern Christianity and that of the Islam that evolved in the lands of the Eastern Church.  To what extent one influenced the other is difficult to say and it's quite possible that "causality" is an oversimplification of a worldview that is inherent in the people who populated this region.

I don't know that Corbin rejected Christianity wholesale or embraced Islam or if he just lived out his own faith that he had carved.  But it's interesting that in trying to present an alternative "Christian" spirituality via Islam, Corbin has stepped writing into the spiritual universe of the Orthodox Church.  It seems, in preliminary thoughts, that the two would find much to talk about were they to have ever met.

Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth and Henry Corbin

I went through a Joseph Campbell stage of my faith walk, an intellectual freeing that enabled me to see something beyond what I thought was just crazy belief.  It was this book that opened my eyes to the power of "myth" (not in the sense of make believe but in the sense of symbol pointing to a deeper reality).

However, there was one sentence I remembered and it only came blazing into my brain after becoming immersed in the world of born-again Christianity and Islam.  Campbell completely, at least in this book, overlooks, ignores, and is even ignorant of, the power of these traditions in the lives of the faithful. 

"MOYERS: Is there something like this common in the experience of our culture? I'm thinking particularly of the born-again experience in our Southern culture.

CAMPBELL: There must be. This is an actual experience of transit through the earth to the realm of mythological imagery, to God, to the seat of power. I don't know what the born-again Christian experience is...."

Now, I'm not sure if he ever discusses the born again Christian experience anywhere else in his writings but this little statement is a powerhouse.  Granted, the man could not be expert on every religion everywhere ever but this little lacunae is significant.

I've noticed also that in all the pleading in Henry Corbin's writing and those who interpret him (e.g. Tom Cheetham), he too seems unaware of the born-again Christian's emphasis on living in the "spirit".  Those things he pleads for are in fact sought by born-again Christians. 

It's an interesting parallel worth looking into.  I am hoping to continue this line of thinking as I finish Tom Cheetham's remarkable Green Man, Earth Angel.

The Spirit bloweth where it listeth...

As much as I am not a fan of interfaithism, that all religions are the same mantra of the post-modern world, in studying "other" religions it can be an astounding thing when a particular piece of Scripture opens the spiritual eyes, awakening the soul from slumber.

"Time and time again My messages were recited to you, but you turned arrogantly on your heels, and spent the evening making fun of [the Qur an]." (S 23:66-67, Haleem trans.)

"Time and again were My messages conveyed unto you, but [every time] you would turn about on your heels [and,] impelled by your arrogance, you would talk senselessly far into the night." (Asad trans.)

One of the things that often troubled me about Islam was its ban on music. I understand the dangers to the faithful as the 'spirit' that drives musicians is often far from edifying to the soul. But to ban it outright? That's silly as it takes away man's freedom to choose.

However, while reading the passage above I realized the "meaning" behind the prohibition. It wasn't something new; it merely reinforced what I already know. I have found that the Qur'an speaks on this level; it points out what is already there.

I do understand context and the historical setting of each revelation. But there is often something universal about particular situations.

In the pursuit of God, music can easily be a distraction, sensual pleasure, though not necessarily "harmful" as such, something that keeps us lulling about from the task of pursuing God. So what is a prohibition in our best interest, when legislated, can become an enslaving tool.

But it hit me as I drove in to work this morning while listening to my tunes that I wasn't necessarily "into" them; they didn't speak to me as they used to. No, my soul was longing for something that wasn't there. So as I drove it became more and more of a distraction, my soul longing for something deeper, my "soulical" nature clinging to the sound of the music.

And again:

"But there is the sort of person who pays for distracting tales, intending, without any knowledge, to lead others from God’s way, and to hold it up to ridicule." (S 31:6, Haleem)

"But among men there is many a one that prefers a mere play with words [to divine guidance], so as to lead [those) without knowledge astray from the path of God, and to turn it to ridicule..." (Asad trans.)

And, of course, to read The Noble Qur'an as promoted by the Saudi Arabian promoted translation:

"And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music, singing, etc.) to mislead (men) from the Path of Allah without knowledge, and takes it (the Path of Allah, or the Verses of the Qur'an) by way of mockery."

And the hadith to justify this translation:

"Narrated Abu 'Amir or Abu Malik Al-Ash'ari that he heard the Prophet saying, "From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments, as lawful. And there will be some people who will stay near the side of a mountain and in the evening their shepherd will come to them with their sheep and ask them for something, but they will say to him, 'Return to us tomorrow.' Allah will destroy them during the night and will let the mountain fall on them, and He will transform the rest of them into monkeys and pigs and they will remain so till the Day of Resurrection." (Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 69, Number 494) 

I'd rather not go into the hadith thing but this is a spirit killer.  It removes personal choice from the matter and becomes a weapon to wield in the eyes of those who uphold the Law.

I'll stick with the Haleem/Asad translation and follow the Traditionalist school of Islam 'cause the "traditional" school of Islam is a death sentence.

Eastern Christianity and Islam

More thoughts on visiting Islam...

I was recently asked to revisit a piece that was submitted in my local newspaper. It was a good opportunity as the original piece was quite sanitized of any attempt at critique. A local newspaper is not the place for such a piece. So I highlighted the positive aspects of my experience, a bit glowing, perhaps, but still true.

In retrospect, my conclusions remain. I have recently been re-reading the Qur'an and am still moved by its power. Yet that critical view returns instantly. I am unable to surrender my Biblical context and thus the Qur'an seems skeletal in light of the Biblical stories and their variants laced throughout the pages of the Qur'an.

The Bible tells stories; the Qur'an makes statements. The Bible gives the characters life; the Qur'an does not. I think it is this that is so troublesome.

The Islam I grew to love was the Islam of Western scholars, usually of a more "gnostic" bent. Scholars such as Henry Corbin and Peter Lamborn Wilson (aka Hakim Bey) dig into the "heretical" stream of Islam and it is here that I find great power and beauty. In fact, I find this one of the strengths of the Islamic current through history.

The power is found in the way the "heretical" strains of Christianity made their way East and would interact with Muslims as they moved out of Arabia and created a very fertile and living tradition that falls outside of the pale of both Christian and Islamic orthodoxy. It's more fun there.

I say this with a caveat: I'm quite "fundamentalist" in what is considered Christian orthodoxy. This isn't in a militant sense as I'm not about to argue with someone about orthodoxy or condemn alternative views.

But I can't embrace what are, from this orthodox perspective, many of the "new age" or "me-centered" Christologies so rampant and popular in today's media. They seem sappy when compared to the deeper things of Christian theology.

As for "my" Islam, it is probably because I maintain an intellectual distance from "actual" Islam that I am able to absorb some of it into my current spiritual path, not as a hybrid or in a syncretist fashion but as an appreciation, a little flavoring, if you will, to my current path. It still provides a viable critique to the excesses of modern day Christendom. Even the "free" worship style of non-denominational churches becomes, after a while, ritualistic.

Four songs, pastor steps out and gives a little "oomph" to worship more, the greeting/guest book, one more song during the offering and the message followed by an altar call and prayer. Same series of events every Sunday. It too is a ritual, safe, comfortable and yet still a ritual. It's the nature of any organized body and is a grounding element in the lives of human beings. Otherwise, you have chaos (and even chaos will, as science has shown, reveal patterns over time).

So Henry Corbin's Cyclical Time and Ismaili Gnosis and Peter Lamborn Wilson's Sacred Drift or even Muhammad Asad's Message of the Qur'an will continue to enlighten in a way that very few Christian books are able to, perhaps because it brings into sharper contrast the Christ of faith, thus making it more clear what is chosen when maintaing a more "orthodox" Christian faith.

Revisiting Islam

I was asked to offer up reflections of my article that was published in my local newspaper, to add more depth and lessons learned of the experience. It has taken me right back to that time, perhaps the last time I can truly recall being spiritually on fire.

This isn't to say that I am not working on developing my faith, deeper and more practically in my life. But I miss the adventure, the excitement, the thrill of discovery and the opening up of my heart, mind and soul. For as confusing as that time of my life was, in hindight it was a time of great learning and growth.

I was talking with a guy I work with who was intrigued with my adventure and he made the comment that he was told that Muhammad was angry. Interesting perspective. I suppose we could easily find verses or traditions, isolated in their context, to support that view. We could just as easily find verses that show Muhammad to be quite passive. Context, baby.

I noticed also the fuss about building a mosque around the site of Ground Zero. We have made an idol out of 9/11. This isn't to dismiss the tragedy. This is to put it in a larger context. Other places around the world have experience tragedies to greater degrees.

But a bunch of militants penetrating right into the heart of America and destroying one of its prominent symbols of power or, if you will, hubris. Considering America's place in the world over the past hundred years or so, no murderous event in recent memory has been as symbolic, on many levels. Even the Oklahoma city bombing, by one of America's own, lacks the significance due not only to power of the imagery but to the religious ideology that has been laid on top of the act.

So a mosque at Ground Zero? Religiously, I have no problem with it. This isn't the controversy. The controversy is the politicized nature of the act. On one hand it is an attempt to heal this rift between Islam and the West; on the other hand, it reveals a certain insensitivity to the symbolic nature of what happened and shows a lack of awareness at the seething rage that lies under the surface of many Americans.

I say move it forward, see what happens. America is a free country. We are free to build a mosque at Ground Zero; we are free to debate it and argue against it. Such is the nature of the freedom granted in the ideals of America. If America is going to become a Muslim nation it is going to become Muslim. Whatever happens is going to happen exactly as it is supposed to happen. If it does become a Muslim nation it is because no other ideology is strong enough to unify the citizens of the United States.

Don't blame Islam; look in the mirror.

Baraka: The Other Soundtrack

This was originally posted at another blog of mine that was recently deleted by Google.

The film Baraka is easily in my top five films. My journey (though a bit longwinded) of discovery with it, if you’re interested, can be found here.

The novelty and naïveté has worn off but this film always take me back to that original burst of spiritual awareness that burst forth that year.

Anyhow, if you’ve watched the film and listened to the soundtrack you’ll notice immediately that the soundtrack is sorely lacking.

These are songs not included on the soundtrack and extended versions of some of the tracks from the soundtrack.

Add these songs to the soundtrack and you’re close to the soundtrack as it’s meant to be. You can find a straight audio rip of the DVD here.

The only thing not included here, and unavailable outside of the tidbits found on the soundtrack, would be the score by Michael Stearns (with an uncredited appearance by Lisa Gerrard during the scoring of one of the film scenes).

The Blu-Ray is available and it is, hands down, one of the best - if not the best - Blu Ray discs I've ever seen.  I've seen this on the big screen (though I can't say it was in its original 70mm format or not...was kind of stoned at the time...) and have seen it on video and DVD.  But the Blu-Ray...don't wait and don't settle for a bootleg from the web.
Part1//Part2