Live Nativity in front of U.S. Supreme Court

Participants in a nativity scene make their way to the U.S. Supreme Court November 19, 2009 in Washington, DC. The group Faith and Action organized the nativity scene in front of the nation’s highest court to raise awareness of religious freedoms at the start of the holiday season. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Members of Faith and Action participate in a live Nativity scene in front of the United States Supreme Court in Washington on November 19, 2009. UPI/Kevin Dietsch Photo via Newscom

‘One of the most impressive twentieth-century restatements of the doctrine of justification’

Daniel L. Migliore’s Faith Seeking Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Theology (1991) has interested me in part because, at the beginning, he lists three heavy-weight Protestant works as “sources frequently cited” — Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics, John Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion, and Paul Tillich’s Systematic Theology. Here’s an excerpt from Migliore:

One of the most impressive twentieth-century restatements of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith was offered by Paul Tillich in a sermon entitled “You Are Accepted.” “Just accept the fact that you are accepted,” said Tillich, “accepted by a power that is greater than you.”

Uniting Protestants and Catholics with a toast of Irish whiskey

I was recently in a restaurant in Charlotte, catching up with several friends from the Queens MFA program, when I wondered over to Eileen in a high-ceiling bar with warm color tones and slightly dimmed lights.

“What are you drinking?” I asked, almost having to yell because of all the conversations happening around us.

“Jameson,” she said.

So I ordered Jameson, but the barkeep said he would have to go over to the other bar, on the other side of the restaurant.

“I only have Bushmills over here,” he said.

“That’s OK,” I hollered.

He said something back, like, “…religion card…”

But there was no salvaging the conversation within all the noise.

“Bushmills is fine,” I said, waving my hands.

As the waiter turned, Eileen explained. Jameson is the Irish Catholic whiskey, and Bushmills is the Irish Protestant whiskey.

This I did not know.

But with a simple toast of Jameson and Bushmills, we united Ireland and commenced with a friendly conversation about newspaper work and writing — things we share in common.

Scripture and tradition?

From Jaroslav Pelikan’s book, Whose Bible is It? A Short History of the Scriptures (2005):

Writing in the fourth century, the Christian theologian Basil of Caesarea insisted that such pious actions as making the sign of the cross or facing the East when praying, neither of them commanded in the Bible, were not simply popular customs which it was possible for believers to obey or to ignore at will but unwritten traditions that had come down from the apostolic beginnings of Christianity and that were therefore of no lesser authority than the written apostolic traditions which were enshrined in the Bible. It was all normative and binding Christian tradition, regardless of the medium, written and unwritten, through which it was conveyed.

Peace Train rides again? Cat Stevens, I mean, Yusuf Islam hits the road

BOREHAMWOOD, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 12: Yusuf Islam attends photocall at Elstree Studios on November 12, 2009 in Borehamwood, England, to launch his ‘Guess I’ll Take My time Tour’ which starts in Dublin on November 15th. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
Content © 2009 Getty Images All rights reserved.

On having children and students

Advantage: How they describe you to others, sum you up, critique you, and evaluate you provides a picture of who you really are.

Disadvantage: How they describe you to others, sum you up, critique you, and evaluate you glares with irrefutable evidence of who you really are.

Catholic Cardinal helps plant trees in memory of the Reformation

From a Nov. 2 Ecumenical News International article:

A top Vatican official has joined other global Christian leaders in the eastern German town where Martin Luther broke with the papacy, at a tree-planting ceremony that looks to closer ties on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.

The ceremony took place in Wittenberg, the German town known as “Lutherstadt”, 492 years after Luther nailed his epoch-changing 95 theses to a church door there, leading to the breach with the 16th-century papacy

“It is possible for us today to together learn from Martin Luther,” said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity as he planted the first of 500 trees on 1 November in a landscaped Luther Garden, forming part of the celebrations for 2017.

Churches worldwide are being encouraged to adopt one of the trees planned for the Luther Garden and also to plant a tree themselves, to denote a link with the birthplace of the Reformation. Kasper said a tree would be planted at the Vatican in Rome.

Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Orthodox and Reformed leaders gathered alongside Kasper in the Luther Garden in sunny autumn weather.

“This newly planted tree reminds us that Martin Luther’s call for reform in the Church was a call of penitence that also affects us today,” said Kasper at the ceremony, which followed the anniversary of Luther’s action on 31 October 1517 that led to often bitter quarrels between Protestants and Catholics.

Read the rest here. I found it on Kendall Harmon’s blog.

‘Small Kingdoms, Lost and Won’

Rebecca McClanahan was one of my professors in graduate school. It was a huge privilege to work with her and learn from her. For the Spring 2009 edition of Waccamaw: A Journal of Contemporary Literature, she wrote a fantastic essay entitled “Small Kingdoms, Lost and Won.” Be sure to read it.

A fitting event for All Souls’ Day

NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 02: The mother of deceased New York City firefighter George Cain holds up a picture of him as the future USS New York passes lower Manhattan next to where the World Trade Center towers once stood November 2, 2009 in New York City The ship, which is built with 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center in her bow, is an amphibious transport dock ship and will be commissioned during a ceremony on November 7. As the ship entered New York Harbor where dozens of firefighters, family members of September 11 victims and onlookers gathered to watch, a detail aboard the 684-foot vessel fired a 21-gun salute. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Content © 2009 Getty Images All rights reserved.

Four Ways to Celebrate Reformation Day

As always, Reformation Day coincides with Halloween. But as our Catholic brothers and sisters know, Christian celebrations and leftover paganism work together quite well.

Here are some thoughts on how to wed Halloween and Reformation Day.

1. Instead of playing Ring-and-Run, try Nail-and-Run.

You remember the old ring-and-run trick: sneak up to someone’s doorstep, ring her doorbell, run, hide, and watch the hapless lady of the house come to the door and look around.

To celebrate Reformation Day, take a page from Martin Luther.

Instead of ringing the doorbell and running away, nail some profound thoughts to the door and then run away.

2. Give Reese’s Theses to trick-or-treaters.

Using your home printer and PhotoShop, recreate the Reese’s Pieces bag as Reese’s Theses.

Now open a few bags of Reese’s Pieces. Count out 95 candies and insert them in a Reese’s Theses bag. Seal and set by the front door.

Image how cool it will be if someone comes to the door dressed like the Pope.

3. This year, try the un-costume

As many Protestants believe today, robes and mantels and cassocks are all Romish trappings.

Roman Catholic priests wear these offensive costumes of robes as a statement against justification by faith.

There is only one fully adequate, completely satisfactory act of defiance in the face of these vestments.

You guessed it. You must dis-robe. You can’t be justified by boxers — or briefs.

4. Instead of handing out evangelistic tracts, preach sound theology.

When you hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, tell them, “This is an example of unmerited favor.”
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Happy Reformation Day! Happy Halloween!