When I began a doctoral degree in New Testament context a couple years ago, I never would have guessed my thesis topic would end up focusing on the role of “Letter Writing” in spiritual formation. Well, here I am reading all kinds of ancient, medieval and contemporary letter correspondences, and really loving it! Along the way … More Letters to a Godson
This Sunday I’m preaching a Pentecost sermon on our divided world, and the need for the church to learn, speak and embody a new language. I’m reposting an old seminary essay from 2004 on the same topic. (This one is for the Bible/Theology nerds out there.) “Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just … More The Church as God’s New Language
“One of the few clear differences between Christianity and Judaism is the former’s entertainment of the idea of singleness as the paradigm way of life for its followers. . . . Singleness was legitimate, not because sex was thought to be a particularly questionable activity, but because the mission of the church was such that … More QUOTABLES: On Singleness
It seems hardly necessary to make an argument for the universally experienced suffering and injustice prevalent in the world. If pain really is God’s “megaphone to rouse a deaf world”, as C. S. Lewis argued, then the message is deafeningly clear and God might consider turning the volume down a bit. What then is the church’s appropriate response to the world’s injustice and suffering? … More A Case for a Cruciform Justice
I wrote this piece 10 years ago! In light of the latest DACA decision and ongoing conversation, I want to repost this today. As a pastor I do not believe its my place to tell folks how to vote on complex political issues, but I am called to help folks think biblically about such matters. … More Immigration Reform & the Tower of Babel
Sovereign Lord: Foolish we are, believing that we can rule ourselves by selecting this or that person to rule over us. We are at it again. Help us not to think it more significant than it is, but also give us and those we elect enough wisdom to acknowledge our follies. Help us laugh at … More Election Day Prayer (Stanley Hauerwas)
“The church exists today as resident aliens, an adventurous colony in a society of unbelief. As a society of unbelief, Western culture is devoid of a sense of journey, of adventure, because it lacks belief in much more than the cultivation of an ever-shrinking horizon of self-preservation and self-expression . . . . When we … More QUOTABLES: Adventurous Colony in a Society of Unbelief
How long, O LORD, must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence? (Habakkuk 1:2-4) He came closer to the city, and when he saw it, he wept over it, saying, “If you only knew today what is needed for peace! But now you cannot see it! (Luke 19:41-42) There … More Cruciform Justice 1: Introduction
I’m preparing a message on the stoning of Stephen this Sunday. Here’s something to ponder from William Willimon in his commentary on Acts: Stanley Hauerwas has written about the mass suicide at “Jonestown” when hundreds of followers of Jim Jones and his “People’s Temple” took their lives and the lives of their children (p. 106). … More A Faith Worth Living & Dying For?
We’re all like lumps of clay that over time have been shaped and molded by dozens of influential hands — and experiences and words and ideas and moments and conversations and books and dreams and successes and failures — but mostly people. I am a firm believer in learning from people of different persuasions, and … More Some Key Influences
“The basis for the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount is not what works but rather the way God is. Cheek-turning is not advocated as what works (it usually does not), but advocated because this is the way God is — God is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. This is not a … More QUOTABLES: The Cost of Following Jesus
Chapter 2 of “Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony” by Hauerwas & Willimon engages the issue of the church’s engagement with the powers-that-be. In typical Hauerwasian fashion, they suggest the church focus it’s energy on being the church — a distinct, alien tribe that remains faithful to it’s own life shaped by in the … More Resident Aliens 2
Already 21 years old, “Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony” is a little book by the Duke duo Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon that purports to offer “a provocative Christian assessment of culture and ministry for people who know that something is wrong.” Two decades later, something is still wrong. This book speaks powerfully … More Resident Aliens 1
I have so far in this series highlighted the inadequacies of two of the key aspects of the popular human system of social ethics: (1) that human beings have the ability to wisely and justly direct the course of history, and (2) that humanly created structures, powers, and programs are able means to bring lasting … More Cruciform Justice 10: The War of the Lamb
As we mentioned earlier, the humanistic optimism that drives the prominent secular theories of government acts as if human beings control the course of history. This is a responsibility too large for any human being and inevitably stirs up within them an overbearing anxiety, fear and despair. Many have therefore painted themselves into a Darwinian … More Cruciform Justice 9: Living Out of Control
Every scholar-teacher has their favorite topic — those aspects of their field of study they are most passionate about. When a student raises a question related to one of your favorite topics, you get instantly energized, your voice gains added force and you launch into lecture mode. In my Bible Studies and discussions with people … More My Top 3: Theological “Hobbyhorses”
“Whatever happens, as citizens of heaven live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that — whether I come and see you or whether I remain absent — I should hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, by contending side by side for the faith of the … More PHILIPPIANS 12: Resident Aliens (1:27-28)
Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed is in the middle of a provocative discussion on the fuller message of the “Kingdom Gospel” found by reading the Bible as Story over and against the more popular, privatized gospel boiled down to a few abstract propositional truths pertaining to individual salvation. McKnight pushes us to a larger, more … More ESSAY: The Church as God’s New Language
Jeremy L. Berg 