Pause on Trump and Johannine Literature (aka CofE this week)

Partly or even mostly because of time I need to not attempt a post this week which would be part 2 on a mini series on "Trump and Johannine Literature." This is possibly not a bad thing as the fuller disclosure of the current mode of Trumpianism is being made as [pop your own adjective in here] nominations for senior cabinet office or ambassadorships are made. Suffice to say for now that Trumpianism's (core?) business of creating chaos is unabated and, in my view, no voter for Trump should oppose what is now happening. You shouldn't have voted for him in the first place ...

Further, it is not appropriate this week to write no words about the resignation of Archbishop Welby as the first Archbishop of Canterbury to resign for reasons other than retirement or simply closing out the role in order to do other things.

What to say?

I want to say very little. What do I need to offer when so many things are being said by others?

So, I advise heading to Thinking Anglicans which, as always, offers a great round up of news and views (across more than one post, so keep scrolling down).

I also think worth attention is watching this interview with Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley (Newcastle). +Helen-Ann is direct, clear and concerned for survivors. She also has interesting comments on the extent to which "careerism" may be affecting some bishops through a season such as this. (Finally, she is asked about assisted dying legislation in the UK, and in her answer references her experience of similar legislation here in NZ.)

Trump and Johannine Literature (1)

 After such great comments through the past week on my last post on John's Gospel, I can scarcely not continue to think out loud about John's Gospel.

After Trump's election, I can scarcely not comment on it.

Might the two topics come together?

Definitely if we consider Johannine Literature, i.e. move more widely from John's Gospel to John's Revelation (yes, I know likely two different Johns are involved) and Trump. Next week's post has just about written itself in my mind and the key word is "madness." Perhaps a second key word is "false" and its synonyms.

How about John's Gospel and Trump.

First, a few thoughts about John's Gospel, working from some of the comments made below to last week's post.

It is a stretch to see John's Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels as equally "histories" of Jesus of Nazareth. Sure, if the Synoptics have access to historical facts about Jesus then John's Gospel likely also had access, and potentially to historical narratives of Jesus based in Jerusalem and surrounds compared to the heavy emphasis in the Synoptics on Galileee-based narratives. But the resulting histories of Jesus read quite differently - despite some important common ground re matters as diverse as the centrality of Simon Peter among the twelve disciples, miracles such as the feeding of the 5000 and healing of a blind man, and importance of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. John's Jesus talks differently to the Synoptics' Jesus - so differently that he comes across in the former more as sophisticated Jewish theologian with mystical interests, occasionaly performing dramatic miracles compared to the latter where he comes across more as a wise Jewish teacher frequently communicating through parables and performing numerous miracles, including exorcisms. By contrast no exorcisms appear in John's Gospel. Notwithstanding the robust comments made through the past week, I still think John's Gospel is well explained (if not best explained) by presupposing that John knows the Synoptics and uses their stories of Jesus, along with some of his own, to compose a theological history of Jesus which has more theology than history in it.

I agree that the history of Jesus is important: The word became flesh in a specific individual, Jesus of Nazareth. His words and deeds are God speaking and God acting in a manner which is different in important ways from whatever God spoke through (say) Moses and did through (say) David or Elijah. Not least we say this because the death of Jesus matters for our salvation in a way in which no other death of a human being makes one iota of difference, salvifically, to you or to me.

Each gospel is, of course, an interpretation of the significance of the death of Jesus because the death of Jesus by itself is just a bare fact of human history: Jesus was crucified by Roman authority, as so many thousands were in the era in which Jesus lived. Paradoxically, the death of Jesus is important for salvation not because the death of Jesus itself conveyed any message about its significance but because God revealed its importance to us, partially through Jesus' own words (e.g. Mark 10:45) and more fully through other human beings (notably through Saul of Tarsus, but also through John the Evangelist).

John's Gospel is, ultimately, a revelation of the truth about Jesus which no mere history of Jesus could give - though words of Jesus give us many clues as to that truth. Even Jesus himself does not disclose that he is the word made flesh (John 1:14).

What then can we say about Trump from a Johannine perspective?

Here is a thought: he is a kind of incarnation - an embodiment of words (to be very clear NOT an embodiment of THE WORD!!). That is, and not the first politician to be such an embodiment, he is seen to embody an extraordinary collection of policies and proposals ...

- someone who will galvanise business in the USA (and make America great again = MAGA), despite wishing to impose tariffs etc which potentially will contribute to inflation, and despite proposing tax cuts which will make the rich richer while the poor will pay the tariffs;

- someone who will uphold free speech, undoing perceived censorship controls from left-wing do gooders (and MAGA), despite also threatening to "go after" various critics of himself;

- someone who will save (conservative) Christianity in the USA (and MAGA), despite being a man of very low morals, convicted as a felon, openly not a churchgoer and, in all likelihood, an intentional manipulator of voting Christians (e.g. note how he changed his tune on abortion going into this election);

- someone who will save Americans from their (deep state, inimical, ordinary people hating) government by becoming President (and MAGA) and essentially maintaining the apparatus of government.

Themes of "Saviour" and "Messiah" emerge from the list above!

But Trump is not the Saviour, not the Messiah, and not the Incarnate Logos. He is a very naughty boy ... If anything he is the antitype of Saviour, Messiah, Logos.

And that takes us to the Book of Revelation ... more next week.

 

Theological shifts in John's Gospel relative to the Synoptic Gospels

For the past 25 years I have had a deeper interest in the four gospels than in my preceding years of adult engagement with faith, theology and spiritual life in Christ. 

Among questions significant for me to explore has been the question of the relationship with John's Gospel to the Synoptic Gospels. (That is, to Matthew, Mark, and Luke which have their own differences from each other, but have much common material, and essentially present Jesus in a similar manner, as a wandering Galilean rabbi who is only engaged with Jerusalem at the end of his life.) 

There are many differences between John and the Synoptics - so many that many scholars think John's Gospel was composed without knowledge of the other three gospels. My own estimation is that, actually, John did know at least one of the other gospels well, and is precisely different because he chooses to be different - different through theological/christological/pneumatological development of ideas and themes in the Synoptic Gospels so that a deeper meaning or (taking up an ancient word used to describe John's Gospel in distinction from the other gospels) or a spiritual meaning is presented in John's narration of the story of Jesus' life and teaching.

Some of this development is pretty obvious as we read through John's Gospel. For instance, within John 3 we encounter the last times the phrase "the kingdom of God" is used, henceforth to be replaced by the phrase "eternal life." In John 6 there is teaching on the meaning of the bread and wine of communion to an extent and to a depth found nowhere in the Synoptics. Throughout the whole Gospel, the meaning of the relationship between Jesus the Son and God the Father is a recurring theme, presented in a variety of ways, well beyond any talk in the Synoptics of Jesus as "the Son of God", God as "Father" or "Our Father", and Son in relationship to Father and vice versa. The whole of the Gospel of John, from the perspective of Father/Son is a development of a verse common to Matthew and Luke (Matthew 11:27/Luke 10:22).

Recently I thought of another shift. (I am not claiming to be the first to have thought of this shift - only claiming it is the first time I have thought of this particular shift.)

That shift is from Jesus talking in ways which categorise his disciples as "servants" (we could think, for instance, of passages such as Mark 10:33-37 // Matthew 18:1-5 // Luke 9:46-49; Matthew 25:14-30 // Luke 19:11-27) to "friends" (John 15: 13-15). This shift is reinforced by Jesus having special friends: Lazarus (John 11:3, 11) and "The Beloved Disciple" (John 13:23 etc).

This shift to talk of the disciples in more intimate human relationship terms than "servant" is at one with the themes in John's Gospel of the intimacy between God and Jesus (Father/Son) and the role of the Spirit as indwelling the disciples.

And, for me personally, I have been gently challenged: do I think of myself as a "friend" of Jesus (and vice versa) rather than as a "servant"?

Conferencing to encourage our living faith

Between a lovely day off on Monday (public holiday here in NZ) and a busy day yesterday (travelling to Auckland for a day and evening meeting) this week's post is delayed till ... it's Wednesday already!

On Saturday we held a day long diocesan conference with the theme, Living Faith.

About 400 people participated (thanks be to God) and we heard from a variety of plenary speakers and panellists, the lead three of whom were Bishop Eleanor Sanderson (Hull, England, formerly of Wellington, NZ), Dallas Harema (Christchurch), and Grant Norsworthy (Nelson, with music background years in Australia and the USA).

 Everyone was great; the music was excellent, the organisation was superb; the venue was amazing (CBHS auditorium) ... and the weather was lousy (wet, cold, miserable) but at least no one was sitting there thinking about what they could have been doing in the garden (Labour Weekend being an excellent time in Christchurch for planting things outdoors such as tomatoes). Again, thanks be to God!

What were the takeaways from the conference? There were many but they (in my summary view) boiled down to this: all we have to offer a questioning, cynical, indifferent community beyond the church is our Jesus-shaped lives. Discipleship - discipleship which multiplies - disciples making disciples - Jesus-shaped people encouraging Jesus-shaped people is critical to the present and future of the church.

We who have a living faith long to see others also have what we treasure and what shapes our lives for good. When we look to Jesus to see what he did, we see Jesus making disciples who make disciples.

Let it be so.

Using my reserved right to write about cricket ... and some serious religious stuff

What a weekend just past: NZ won the America's Cup [yachting] - not unexpected; and our Silver Ferns [netball] team beat the Australian Diamonds [it does happen]. But the "blows me away" factor for the weekend are two amazing cricket victories, happily, one for our women and one for our men.

The White Ferns beat South Africa to win their first ever T20 World Cup competition - and all the more surprisingly because in the run up to the tournament the team had lost 10 matches in a row!

A mere 10 or so hours before this wonderful triumph, the Black Caps beat India, in India, their first victory over India in India for 36 years (and just third victory there ever). Again, a very unexpected result, not just because a long time coming, but because recently, elsewhere in the Asian region [cricket pitches generally being a bit different there to here, favouring spin bowlers], the Black Caps had just lost two tests to Sri Lanka (not world champions, unlike India).

So, lots to smile about, read about and generally delight in.

Perhaps not quite the same if we look at religion in Aotearoa New Zealand through a "win/loss" lens.

On Saturday our local paper, The Press published an article on the currently rapid decline in religious allegiance as declared through the census. (See also here.) We are now at more than 50% of the population declaring they are not religious. The first two sentences of the article put the state of affairs bluntly:

"The deep Christian roots of New Zealand are disappearing, new census results show.

Aotearoa is becoming a more secular country as more Kiwis abandon the church."

The churches have known this for some time since our own attendance figures show decline.

If religion were a sport, the churches are currently on the losing side.

There is some news, we might call it "good", that religion may be being "replaced" by spirituality, including a new civic spirituality.

But, for Christians, who love our Lord Jesus Christ, that is not the Good News - not the news of the love of God experienced through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

We are in a tough period in our history. Whether or not this is the toughest time to be a Christian (aside from actual persecution), this is a new era for Christians, the post Christian era in which Western society, but very noticeably our Kiwi society, is collectively saying about the Gospel, "Been there, done that, no longer interested or bothered about matters of eternal significance."

From a different part of Western society, I noticed this on X/Twitter over the weekend:

The background here (I assume, as the article by Ross Douthat is behind a paywall) is the new interest in belief in God a la Tom Holland, Jordan Peterson, Russell Brand, and co. Even as "religion" declines, there can be a longing for what is lost ("a vague nostalgia for belief") but that - the argument appears to be - is insufficient for reclaiming what has been lost. [UPDATE: thanks to a correspondent I can now offer a link to another media site where the article is carried, here. At this point in time I have no time to engage with a very well considered reflection by Douthat.]

Either way, whether I am second guessing what Douthat is on about or not, there is plenty to think about in this article by Luke Bretherton.

One thing to think about is to be committed, through thick and thin, to the basics of the Christian life, including basic worship action: turning up to church regularly, which, for clarity, I propose is "at least weekly."

I suggest a challenge, putting all articles linked to here together, is whether we see the future of the church as the church - as the body of Christ, as the people of God united by belief in Christ and commitment to follow Christ - or as something else (for example, as keepers of a certain past of our society, or as useful guides and helps on the way to a new spirituality emerging).

Domestic bliss?

I had a lovely week on annual leave last week. Lovely because (a) the weather was good (b) I got to stay in comfy accommodation (c) I enjoyed some physical exertion (d) I achieved some goals. Or, in other words, I stayed home and sorted out some things that needed doing in the garage and garden :). But it was truly lovely - relaxing, undemanding, and with plenty of time to do what needed to be done.

Meanwhile, the world is burning up - with wars (nothing improved in the Middle East yet, nor Ukraine, nor Sudan), and with climate change (albeit the "burning" in the news was Hurricane Milton's devastation). And news for those with eyes to see and ears to hear on the NZ economic front is just terrible: ballooning government debt (despite best attempts to reduce spending) because, not to put too fine a point on it, we are not growing our economy so not growing our tax take. Singularly unhelpful for those of us who stay in NZ: increasing attractiveness of Australia as a place to live/work/make money and, one news item I listened too, the full, attractional effects of Australia's now easier path for Kiwis to secure Australian citizenship making their mark.

Last week, in my relaxed state of mind, with warm spring sunshine, there was no place I would rather have been, other than heaven itself - which is not to diss Australia (I have enjoyed every visit I have made there), just to say, I feel no pressing need to migrate. 

Funnily enough, at the end of this week of "domestic bliss" I came across this quote of C.S. Lewis on X/Twitter:

So, from that perspective, maybe the NZ government is doing its job :).

Clearly this is not the way the whole of the world is - not even the whole of NZ. There are many challenges to be overcome to ensure "domestic bliss", a la C.S. Lewis, for all citizens of our planet.

Of course, my domestic bliss, with a garage and garden to potter around in, may not be your domestic bliss, which may require the sea to sail in, mountain tracks to cycle on, theatres to see plays performed, or just a friendly neighbourhood pub where the darts fly well, the beer is fine, and the All Blacks always win on a Saturday night test. So, politicians have more than, say, provision of good housing for all, to aim for, and thus complexity in political life is introduced by our diverse wishes for the good life.

In this mixed bag of a world, the call of God to people is to seek more than domestic bliss, it is to seek eternal bliss in the presence of God. The church or gathered people of God are called to witness to the goodness and grace of God and to the permanence of God's faithful, everlasting love for God's people. For a large section of the world, the Western world, God's call on our lives is demanding because, despite our grumbles about our lives and our governments' deficiencies, we typically live a life of material, physical (good health) bliss, for a long number of years, beyond the wildest dreams of, say, our forebears just over a century ago. Hearts are hardened to the gospel message: why bother with God when the surf is up, there is snow on the slopes and my body feels fine?

Some recent published census stats about NZ religious allegiance (i.e. my willingness to not only attest in a census to generally being religious but to identifying as "Anglican" or "Catholic" or "Baptist") show further rapid decline in specific Christian identification in our nation.

As Christians we must be thankful - and there is much to be thankful for as we live lives of material, physical contentment - but as Christians we also cry out to God, When will revival of love and appreciation for the goodness and grace of God as both Creator and Redeemer come on our nation?

7 October 2023 - A Difficult Anniversary

Today is 7 October 2024, the anniversary of the attack on Israeli citizens (and other citizens of other countries) by Hamas terrorists on 7 October 2023. Terrible things happened that day and understandably, Israel retaliated against Gaza.

Harder to understand is why Israel's retaliation has involved killing, wounding and maiming so many Palestinians, including children. Similarly, since it was Hamas terrorists from Gaza who cruelly killed, wounded and raped people on 7 October 2023, it is difficult to comprehend why the West Bank has also suffered excursions and exploitations by Israel.

Now, Gaza is almost lost from the news as the conflict in the Middle East embroils southern Lebanon as the IDF engages with Hezbollah. Again, while this conflict is understandable (Hezbollah has rained down many rockets on northern Israel for a long time), innocent Lebanese people are suffering.

Somewhere in all the events, before, on and after 7 October 2024, Iran is a "great power" behind the attempts to obliterate Israel from the map, and Israeli Jews from existence. Can Iran be held to account?

What are we to say today? And, when we live far from the conflict zones and/or we as individuals feel literally powerless in the face of the real powers involved (e.g. nations supplying weapons), is there anything we can say which amounts to more than handwringing in the face of horrible, terrible, tragic human suffering?

Via a friend I have received the following talking points, provided by Palestinian Anglicans - the full set can be found here. There first three are:

I do not ask readers here to agree or disagree with these talking points in all their nuances and emphases: for example, on 7 October itself, we might put more emphasis on Israel's suffering a year ago, and on the continuing holding of hostages from that day.

Nevertheless, I am sure we all as Christians are concerned to stand with all people suffering in the Middle East (each is a person made in God's image) and to pray for peace which is lasting and genuine and thus can only be a peace which involves justice. (Our own "peace with God" always rests on God's just resolution of our conflict with God due to our sin, and resolved through Jesus' death on the cross. There is no peace which is actual peace without justice.)

Something often said is apt: there are causes in the world worth dying for, there are no causes worth killing for.

Can any of us say that true peace with justice in the Middle East is nearer because of the death and suffering these past 366 days have involved?