The (Lieben)GOOD LIFE

Made to Be Priests? Two New Testament texts characterize the ministry and accomplishment of Jesus Christ as enabling us to become priests who offer ourselves in service to God. In fact, more can be said. Given the strategic placement of these two texts in their respective larger literary contexts, both authors seem to suggest that “priesthood” is the core identity and responsibility of those who have been liberated by Jesus and called to join Him in His mission of loving the world. “ As you come to [Jesus], a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2.4-5; see also 1 Peter 2.9) “ To him [Jesus] who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. ” (Revel...

According to Schmemann, our distorted views of what life is for, of what the world is for, derive from an improper understanding of what a human being is for: "The first, the basic definition of man [read humankind] is that he is  the priest . He stands in the center of the world and unifies it in his act of blessing God, of both receiving the world from God and offering it to God--and by filling the world with this eucharist [thanksgiving], he transforms his life, the one that he receives from the world, into life in God, into communion with him. The world was created as the 'matter', the material of one all-embracing eucharist, and man was created as the priest of this cosmic sacrament." (pg.22)  Schmemann looks to the Garden as the archetype for how humans abandoned their first and basic calling as priests: "The fruit of that one tree...was unlike every other fruit in the Garden: it was not offered as a gift to man. Not given, not blessed by God, ...

In 2018, Saint Vladimir's Press re-released a "little book" written by Alexander Schmemann which is now called  For the Life of the World . It was originally written in 1963 as a conference address for students preparing for ministry, but reached wider readership in 1965 when it was published as  Sacraments and Orthodoxy , and World as Sacrament, and then translated into French, Italian, Greek, and Russian. In 1973 it was released as  For the Life of the World, and although it was written from the perspective of the liturgical theology of the Orthodox Church, Schmemann's insights have profoundly impacted Protestant and Roman Catholic scholars and practitioners for nearly fifty years now. In celebration of its re-release, over the next month or so I will be highlighting some of the key contributions that this "little book" continues to make today.  Part 1: What is Life For? As Schmemann notes in his preface to the 1973 edition, For the Life of the World  ...

When you think about the word ‘hospitality’ what comes to mind? Food; a table; a smile and a warm welcome? We have a whole sector of our economy that we call the hospitality industry—hotels, convention centers, restaurants, etc. There are probably a variety of things that we associate with the word ‘hospitality’, but have you ever considered associating the concept of hospitality with God? The Apostle Paul does in his magisterial and  influential letter to the Romans. In Romans 15.7, Paul summarizes all that he has been trying to say for fourteen chapters with this one dense phrase: “ Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you” (NRSV). “Welcome” is a hospitality word; it expresses the foundational action of hospitality—making your resources available for others, allowing them to enjoy your blessings. The word that Paul chose to explain what God has done for us through Jesus Christ, and what we are in turn called to do for others because of Jesus Christ...

Book Recommendations for further study in the relationship between faith, technology, and human flourishing Technology, Science, Faith, Ethics, and Culture Modern Technology and the Human Future: A Christian Appraisal by Craig M. Gay (IVP Academic, 2018) Transhumanism and the Image of God: Today’s technology and the future of Christian discipleship by Jacob Shatzer (IVP Academic, 2019) Technology and the Rise of Transhumanism: Beyond genetic engineering by Michael Burdett (Grove Books, 2014) The Tech-wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Plac e by Andy Crouch (Baker, 2017) The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr (W.W. Norton, 2011) Distracted: Reclaiming Our Focus in a World of Lost Attention by Maggie Jackson (Prometheus, 2018) Abolition of Man by C.S Lewis (Harper, 2009) Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology by Neil Postman (Vintage Books, 1993) God and Gadgets: Fo...

Our provost at LeTourneau University has set forth a compelling vision as he explains what we mean when we say we are "The Christian Polytechnic University". It is a vision for STEM education that includes a robust liberal arts foundation that is shaped and informed by God's self-revelation as the One who holds all things together (Col. 1.17). LeTourneau University has a unique organizational history which positions us to offer a comprehensive educational experience that is deeply rooted in the interface between technology, science, theology, and Christian discipleship which is enhanced by the important contribution of the Humanities. We all (faculty from a variety of  academic disciplines) have something to contribute to this compelling vision. As I mentioned in an earlier post,  we are approaching a "perfect storm" scenario: as we are growing exponentially in our capabilities to change, modify, and manipulate our world, we are also exponentially growing ig...

Class Project: What are the thousand questions that are included in the one question, Who am I? This semester (Spring 2019), I taught a one-hour Honors College seminar entitled "The Future of Humanity". In the course we looked at the way in which emerging technologies are shaping, and in many cases, reshaping the way we think about human nature, human identity, and our vision of the good life. Since it was only a one-hour course, we had to narrow our examination to genetic editing and engineering, and the movement known as transhumanism, which includes but is not limited to radical life extension and radical life enhancement. Of the many fruitful discussions we had in our class, I want to highlight three observations: 1. Narrative and Human Identity . The transhumanist movement is founded on a pre-scientific narrative about what it means to be human, and where the human project is going. As communications professor James Harrick puts it, " mythos precedes logos ...

When I began teaching at LeTourneau University ten years ago I made it a practice to ask my students if they had ever studied a book of the New Testament in depth--that is, front to back, attending to the overall shape of the book, wrestling with the major themes and big ideas. Ten years ago about seventy-five percent raised their hands. In the past four years that percentage has rapidly decreased. This semester in my course on Paul's Letter to the Romans only 2 out of 24 students said that they had ever studied a book of the Bible (let alone the New Testament) in depth. Ten years ago, I could assume that most people were fairly familiar with the main content of Romans, at least the bits about justification by faith. This year, only one person had ever read Romans in its entirety. We have come a long way from our Protestant roots! One explanation for this decline could be that the kind of students we are presently recruiting to LeTourneau are different than the kind of students w...

I've just finished teaching a class on Paul's Letter to the Romans. One of the challenges of reading Romans is not losing the forest for the trees; that is, not losing the aim of Paul's message as we try to pay attention to all the important details of the letter, and the questions that emerge as we do so. At the end of the semester I asked the students to step back for a minute, and look at the letter as whole--to take in the big picture. Then I asked them to think about this question: a ccording to Paul in Romans, What is spiritual formation? Here is a brief outline of what we came up with: 1. Spiritual Formation is narratival formation.  For Paul, you cannot understand who you are and what you are to do in this world without understanding who you are in light of God's story, God's mission in this world. The word Paul uses to summarize this story or mission of God is "gospel". He bookends his letter to the Romans with a call to align your life to t...