Along the Way 1-7-11 | Along the Way

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Along the Way 1-7-11

I enjoy The Christian Century, a progressive bi-weekly magazine featuring religion news, thought-provoking editorials, and a variety of columnists, book and movie reviews and articles addressing a wide range of religious issues. This week’s edition (January 11, 2011) is loaded with stimulating material. Here’s a summary of what I read today:

*Barbara Brown Taylor (“The Muslim Jesus”) described a course she taught at Piedmont College comparing the Koran and the Bible and how each describes Jesus. Taylor writes that “...in the Koran Jesus is the Messiah born of the Virgin Mary, ascended to heaven and expected to return near the day of judgment to help defeat the forces of evil…but he is not (in the Koran) son of God, not crucified or resurrected…not divine and therefore not essential to salvation.”

*Timothy Renick (“Pursuing Happiness”) reviewed two books exploring the relationship between happiness and faith. Some excerpts from the article:

	+People are very often very poor judges of what will make them happy.

	+Though the standard of living in the US has improved markedly over the past 50 years, average levels of happiness have not.

*Steven R. Guthrie (“United We Sing”) portrayed the relationship between singing hymns in church and the unity we have in Christ, making the point that the combining of many congregational voices in surrender to a common tempo, structure and rhythm is one simple, significant way the church learns what it means to be the Body of Christ.

*Douglas John Hall (“Against Religion: The Case for Faith”) wrote provocatively about how Jesus came to bring an end to religion: “We are permanently in danger of abusing Jesus by stating that he is the founder of a new religion, and the bringer of another, more refined, and more enslaving law. And so we see in all Christian churches the toiling and laboring of people who are called serious Christians under innumerable laws which they cannot fulfill, from which they flee, to which they return, or which they replace by other laws. This is the yoke from which Jesus wants to liberate us. These laws subject us to religion. Jesus frees us from religion. We call Jesus the Christ not because He brought a new religion, but because He is the end of religion, above religion and irreligion, above Christianity and non-Christianity.” You may have to chew on this one for awhile!

This might be more than you wanted to ponder on a lovely Friday afternoon, but I found each of these articles worthy of consideration. What are you reading or approaching this year that will stretch the way you understand and relate to God, others and the world?

Creede Hinshaw