Bože! independent catholic ideas, identity & theology
OC/IC Issues
Hateful “Prayer”?
Faithlab has this interesting snippet about a fundamentalist in California who is openly “praying” for the death of President Obama. They observe (I think correctly) that this is contrary to Jesus’ own example. What is “prayer”? If we accept that it is that dialogue we have with God throughout the day – then is it [...]
Religion & LGBT Youth
Given the referendums in the US, and the rise of violent (even deadly) attacks on LGB folk here in the UK this examination of the relationship between religion and LGBT youth appeared to be rather timely. I was not aware for example, of the high percentage of homeless teens who identify as LGB folk. Moreover, [...]
ReX – Notes On Religious Share Index
“Alternatively, if one denomination unexpectedly adopts an aggressive policy of buying shares in another, then the resulting volatility will make it hard accurately to assess the underlying reality.” Mark Vernon’s essay in the Guardian Online playing with the imagery of possible parallels between the language, dynamic, and psychology of the eddies of spiritual and religious [...]
Mapping Faith
Here’s an interesting article about a recent study in religous trends. I’ve not actually had time yet to look at the study itself (still reminding myself that I do indeed speak English after 2 weeks of intensive French) that’ll have to wait for a few days. But I invite you to get a head start [...]
New Indie Book Now Available
Siobhan’s newest book, the product of her Phd work, is of interest to “Indie-philes” as it is a historical exploration of the links between Western esoteric Christianity and the Independent Catholic movement. Priests, Gnostics & Magicians traces two particular streams of esoteric links in the indie movement, first the link with French Gnostic movements, Martinism [...]
Exaltation of the Cross
Today we celebrate the two fold recovery of the cross. Firstly when St. Helen found the cross under the temple of Aphrodite (built by Hadrian over the site of Golgotha) in AD 324. There were all three crosses, that of Christ and the two thieves. According to tradition, St. Helen was at a loss as [...]
What Makes “Sacred Space”?
I watched this vid from Religion & Ethics News Weekly this morning and it reminded me of the work I did when studying at Oxford on the features and functions of “Sacred Space”. What constitutes “Sacred Space” will vary from one person to the next – from one group to the next – I realised [...]
Myth-making 101
This essay in Religion Dispatches is really compelling. The politics of the impending health care reform in the US, while fascinating, is of no interest to us here (if you’re a regular you’ll know we don’t do anything but indie thinking and issues), rather the discussion about how a mythology takes shape. The “key” feature [...]
Maximos the Confessor
Maximos was a noble who served the imperial family as private secretary. However, as the monothelite controversey arose (promoted by the emperor and the then Patriarch Paul), Maximos became an outspoken critic of the new teaching. Unable to persuade the imperial court and the Patriarch, Maximos left the city for the Monastary at Chrysopolis – [...]
Matthias
Matthias was chosen by lot to replace Judas (Acts 1.15-26). The use of “lots” to discern the will of God was an ancient practice – see for example the numerous references to the Urim and Thummim in the Old Testament; and not exclusive to Judaism or early Christianity. What is interesting in the narrative of [...]
Celebrating The Diaconate
Today we commemorate the deacons Prochor, Nicanor, Timon, and Parmenas mentioned in Acts 6.5. They were chosen by the community to serve the social ministry needs of the community so that the Disciples could maintain their focus on teaching and study. According to tradition two became bishops (Prochor and Timon), the other two – it [...]
No Paint No Gain – Update
A few weeks ago we had a thread going based on some reading I had done about how Liberal churches were sabatogeing themselves. Chris Tessone posted some thoughts on the thread and I’ve finally responded. You can see the entire thread by clicking here. Tweet
No Pain No Gain
“Liberal” churches may be sabotaging themselves by reducing the commitment of their members – so suggests a recent report in New Scientist. The persecution of early Christians may have had a dramatic effect on the spread of Christianity because the sacrifices of martyrs and confessors instilled in others the idea of sincerity: “few would willingly [...]
It’s All In The Numbers
This morning’s rounds turned up two curious pieces of news. Firstly, FaithLab reports that Daniel Akin, the president of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary wants Baptists to have more babies – in order to numerically overwhelm the growing Muslim population in the US. Europe – he suggests, will be taken over by “the Muslims” without [...]
Fear & Friendship – Breaking Barriers of Isolation
We’ve often talked about the ideas and images of what constitutes “church” many converts to the indie life inherit or bring with them into the community. Tim Cravens has just posted a reflection on one aspect of this – the sense of embarrassment many indie clergy feel over not having our own buildings, salaried clergy [...]
What Do You Want?
While making my rounds yesterday I fell into this essay “What Do Converts Want?” – written from a conservative Eastern Orthodox position. Reading the essay got me thinking – and asking the question (again) what is it that attracts folks to our OC/IC tradition – that is to say: what do OUR converts want? Today [...]
Thinking Outside the Box – About the Constrictions of the Box
I read with interest this article by Dr. Murdo MacDonald Policy Officer for the Society, Religion and Technology Project for the Church of Scotland on that church’s stance on stem cell research. I then started asking about how this, and issues like it, are being explored in OC/IC communities. However, I have as yet, seen [...]
Ethics, Food & Theology
I fell into this article this morning while making my rounds. It highlights the impending arrival of Earth Day, and notes the rising number of religious communities reflecting on the links between ethics, environmentalism, our food, and our theology. Today we take our food very much for granted. But this little article was timely not [...]
“Obey”! – being accountable, being in community.
This series of three short posts by Bp. Alan Wilson (Anglican) is well worth reading and sitting with. We talk alot both here, and amongst ourselves in other places about the longevity of OC/IC communities – what it means to be “in community” and how we can re-vision some of our ideas about being ekklesia [...]
Make Disciples of All Men
There has been a small flood of articles on “conversion” in today’s religious news round-up. The two that caught my eye are a BBC report (here) on the Church of England’s consideration of a motion re-emphasising its explicit aim of converting people to Christianity; and Andrew Brown’s post (here on Guardian CIFBelief) reflecting on “evangelisation” [...]
Theology – The Voice of the Church
Theology is the dialogue between the tradition, and an individual’s experience of the faith. This is a slightly altered summary of Berger, Questions of Faith. It is nothing new – but gave me a moments thought yesterday. Those following on Twitter/Facebook will know about this. Today – however, I was struck by the idea of [...]
The Spiritual Life – Backbone of Community?
Last week Lyngine commented: “I’m leaning towards the idea that it may hinge on teaching/helping individual clergy and laity to cultivate a strong, grounded spiritual life and how to sustain that as an OC/IC priest or lay person in the midst of isolation—ministry then flows from that—-if the strong spiritual/religious grounding isn’t there or can’t [...]
Hopping & Zapping: The Numbers Don’t Add Up
We’ve talked about the “numbers game” in relation to notions of “success” in ministry (here). There is however, another branch of this “game” which we often bemoan, and joke about behind the closed doors in OC/IC circles; but rarely, constructively, in the open. For lack of a better term I’ll call this “High-speed Zapping”. High-speed [...]
The Numbers Game
Last week Lyngine observed: “. . . the focus isn’t on numbers, but on living out one’s faith in a particular way and then inviting others to share in that if it fits them.” It made me think of how certain trends and even established ideas in the wider Christian community can be a trap [...]