TheWitness.org is the online continuation of The Witness, the superb social justice journal that was for years a ministry of the Episcopal Church (and that now finds new life in the Episcopal Peace Witness).
Follow the following links to my columns for TheWitness.org and for the Episcopal Peace Witness. Various columns concern current issues of theology and practice (especially sexuality) in the Episcopal Church (where I am a priest); larger issues of justice and culture as seen from a theological perspective; the Christian teaching on "just war" (so often misunderstood!); Western attitudes toward Islam; and the disastrous effects of U.S. policy toward Haiti, among other themes.
Neil's Contributor page at The Witness
Columns
On political responsibility
"Praying Our Vote" (2008) It's unfortunate that some of the most thoughtful and principled Christians are actually opposed to taking part in elections. In this column published in the Episcopal Peace Witness (scroll to page 10) I address reasons Christians should vote--and (to quote Mother Jones) get on with "fighting like hell for the living."
The Responsibility of the Christian Left
(2004) Amid a lot of careful talk about "God's politics" not being
partisan, I appeal to a strong tradition of Christian (and particularly
Anglican) advocacy and militancy that (whatever else we want to call
it) is far to the left of our present ecclesiastical politics. (I'm
reminded of a famous quip by John Dominic Crossan: "If you want to know
God's politics, remember that Scripture says Jesus is at the right hand
of God. So begin with the politics of Jesus, and then go left: that's
where you'll find God.")
On Islam
"There shall be no coercion in matters of faith." (2006) A response to the furor over Pope Benedict XVI's comments, given at an academic conference at the University of Regensburg, regarding Islam and "reasonable religion" . . .
Crusader Theology: the Fallout from Kingdom of Heaven (2005) Widely excoriated as an exercise in "political correctness," too critical of bloodthirsty Christian Crusaders and too sympathetic to the principled conduct in war of Suleiman the Magnificent, Ridley Scott's film actually hews pretty close to the historical record.
Useful Fundamentalists (and the "Problem with Islam") (2005) Playing on Lenin's concept of "useful idiots," I note that some of the language used in U.S. and think-tank policy documents about Islam relies on stereotyped notions of "fundamentalists" and erases the disturbing historical question of just who organized the mujahedin in the first place.
On homosexuality in the Bible and Episcopal teaching
(see also my Publications and Presentations page)
"Peace! Be Still!": Marching Orders from General Convention (2006) The Episcopal Church's General Convention 2006 produced some powerful mixed messages regarding the place of gay and lesbian persons in our common life and in our clergy; here I try to parse the consequences.
Moving Beyond the Magic 8-Ball™ Approach to the Bible: Reflections on the Statement To Set Our Hope on Christ
(2005) The Presiding Bishop asked a group of theologians and Bible
scholars to respond to the Windsor Report's recommendations--read
through much of the Anglican Communion as a gigantic censure of the
U.S. church for consecrating a gay man as bishop. There's much to
commend here in the forceful candor with which the authors articulate a
very Anglican argument from experience and in the clear articulation of
the insights of biblical scholarship. Less successful is the
implication that the authors found their answers just by opening up the
Bible.
The Apostle Paul on Sexuality (2003) Everyone seems to know that whether you're "for" gay rights or "against" the "gay agenda," the Bible is clear and unequivocal in its condemnation of homosexuality, and that the insurmountable obstacle to the acceptance of homosexuality is Paul's diatribe in Romans 1. Actually an even moderately attentive reading of the passage--giving attention to the apostle's rhetoric and to his echoes of contemporary events in the first century--reveals that Paul isn't talking about what we call "homosexuality" at all. A recent Newsweek article cited my book The Arrogance of Nations (2008) as making this case; I made it earlier as well, in Liberating Paul (1994). Here's the quick version.
On the Church's teaching regarding war and peace
Can the Church Afford This "Political Subsidy"? (2005) An Episcopal priest spoke against the Iraq war and brought IRS investigators to the church's doorstep. Just what does it cost us to maintain our institutional exemption from property taxes? William Stringfellow had the answer decades ago.
Reclaiming the Christian Just-War Tradition (2005) Everybody talks about this tradition but very few people seem to understand it. Surprisingly, churches seem loath to teach forcefully this fundamentally Christian theological tradition that sets clear limits on what may be countenanced when nations prepare for war or engage in warfare. As John Howard Yoder demonstrated so well, if mainstream Christians actually lived up to the "just-war" tradition, most of the time they'd be lining up with pacifists in the anti-war cause.
Revisiting Augustine & Just-War Theory
(2004) The bishop of ancient Hippo is almost universally cited as the
fountainhead of so-called "Christian just-war theory." But a quick
review of his argument in The City of God shows that Augustine has been misunderstood. He wasn't articulating a Christian view of the good war; he was pointing out that even wise pagans
know that war outside certain moral limits is indefensible. How much
more should Christians--citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem--forswear
the ways of violence!
On Eucharistic theology
Real Absence: The Eucharist, the Johannine Christ, and the Life of the World (2006) Like many Christians, Episcopalians (and Anglo-Catholics especially!) tend to emphasize the doctrine of Christ's "real presence" in the Eucharistic meal. But the Fourth Gospel seems concerned to dislocate the presence of the "bread given . . . for the life of the world" away from the disciples' table and out in the world where people experience real hunger.
On the anti-democratic nature of U.S. policy toward Haiti
Three columns address one of the most brazen coups d'etat in
contemporary history (2004), in which the U.S. overthrew a democratically
elected government in broad daylight--and was applauded for its
efforts.
Where Freedom Talk Rings Hollow: The Attack on Democracy in Haiti (2005)
Haiti: Both Church and State Must Answer (2004)
U.S. Is Complicit in Haiti Crisis (2004)
On current events seen from the perspective of Christian moral teaching
The End of Empathy? Negotiating a Moral "Public Health Crisis" (2005) The political and media circus surrounding the end of care for Terri Schiavo provides an important--and disturbing--example of Lawrence Kohlberg's "stages of moral reasoning." The fundamental ability to empathize with others seems to be increasingly rare in U.S. culture.
Seeing the Crucified in the Real World (2005) The photos from Abu Ghraib show not just the improper conduct of "a few bad apples" but a fundamental disorder that Christians must speak against clearly and forcefully. The tolerance of torture is beyond the pale for those whose commitments are to the God who raised Jesus, the victim of torture and crucifixion, from the dead.
Comments