Kim Shay > Recent Status Updates

Beautiful so far. She is so poetic and eloquent.

Evangelical Christianity has not taught us well when it comes to the created order. Kimmerer is helping me look at it in a new and beautiful way.

This is a great book so far. Lambert expresses a lot of the thoughts I had while attending seminary.

"Paul's thinking is complicated, and what he says about the Law predictably fills floors of libraries, keeps young doctoral students busy and paranoid, and can get you pummelled in the dark back alleys of academia."

Enns has such an fantastic sense of humour.

"Ambiguity in the Bible isn't a problem to be solved. It is a self-evident reality."

"one third of Canadians we interviewed named (without prompting) the idea of decolonization - the undoing of colonization and its legacy, closely linked with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada - as a significant component of deconstruction. In fact, at least one person we spoke with insisted that there is no deconstruction without decolonization." p. 100

"The historical review of evangelicalism defines it as biblicism, crucicentrism, activisim, and conversionism, but this is what those deconstructing notice: sprawling megachurches and para-church agencies, with celebrity preachers, rigid conservative ethics, popular culture spin-offs, political ambitions, nationalistic pretensions, and an embattled religious mentality."

This is going to be good. The authors use the term "undone" to describe those who are "deconstructing." And this is the first book on the subject I've read where the origin of the word "deconstruction" is addressed.

The subtitle includes the phrase "quiet deconstruction," which is an allusion to the Quiet Revolution of Quebec in the 1950's.

"By the 1890's, evidence was emerging that instead of helping combat the tuberculosis in First Nations communities, the schools were spreading the infection."

The apathy toward the spread of TB in First Nations communities was a direct result of a pre-supposition that Indigenous peoples are sub-human. There is no way white children would have been so poorly treated.

This is often a difficult read; and not because of the writing. For a government commissioned work, it's very readable. What is hard is hearing about the arrogance of the Canadian government in administering residential schools. These schools were just another form of slavery.

"I am pastor, and yet that hope of trying to find hope in the walls of the church still sent a shudder down my spine. Four decades of involvement in multiple churches and denominations -- two decades of which were spent in staff and pastoral roles -- had convinced me that the church would probably the last place I would find a path forward for my faith." p. 65

"Evangelical theology was meant to punch hard and leave a mark. The trick was to come away from it without too many bruisees."

Re the Indian Act:

"Despite movement toward reconciliation this colonial legislation continues in force, like some Victorian spectre rattling its chains on Indian reserves across the country."

Even if one doesn't completely agree with everything presented in the IFS paradigm, the chapter "Unburdened Faith" is worth the price of the book. If you grew up in a church that was works oriented while claiming it wasn't, this chapter will be a series of relieving epiphanies.

So much of what I experienced in my former church was "spiritualizing," not faith.

In the IFS model, our hurts create "exiles" who bear our pain and trauma. To protect our core selves, "managers" arise. There are many managers. One is "Pleaser/Server."

"More than anything, Pleaser/Server needs others to be happy with it so it feels loved. And wanted. And needed. So that is has a place and a reason to exist."

For women, this is what is expected of us. To please. No wonder this manager thrives.

I wish this book had been around 20 years ago.

The church needs to listen to therapists who find ways other than "You're a sinner" to help those with mental health issues or basic struggles.

Riemersma asserts that pain is a good thing because it highlights that there is something wrong. The notion that we must be happy-clappy all the time is unhealthy.

I'm on page 126 of Five Little Indians. This is a gripping book, but at the same time, extremely sad. It's sad, because the stories of these residential school survivors while fiction, are based on real experiences.

One thing that is notable is how when one of the characters returns home from the school, the family has difficulty being together again. The scars of the survivors are felt by the whole family.

"Racism is designed to be invisible to white people -- this is just the way things are, or this is the "right" way to do tings -- so when they are confronted with the reality of racism, it can offend their sense of personal innocence. There is no way around this feeling. You have to go through a process of deconstructing the ways white supremacy has skewed your perception . . . "

I love this commentary series. It has academic rigour, but it's not dry. Nijay is such a good communicator. I'm on the launch team, and we had a Zoom call yesterday. He talked about differing views of justification, and I was able to hear other views from someone who has thought deeply about it and isn't afraid to confront differing views.

This is a fantastic book so far. Tisby is knowledgeable and articulate. He discusses our racial identity development, which is really important. Whites don't identify themselves by race to the extent that Blacks or other minorities do. But it is important for us to understand our own racial identity and development, as it impacts how we see other races. I'm reading this on Scribd, but I will likely buy a hard copy.

"Christian America likes its leaders to be demi-gods . . . "

Shannon Harris talks about how during her "courtship" with Joshua Harris, the rules of conduct were even stricter for the two of them than Joshua outlined in his book on courtship; because Christian leaders want demi-gods.

This is one of the worst things about evangelicalism.

"Alas, Franke never gives us a clear definition of what inerrancy is, only descriptions of what is supposedly does."

Kevin Vanhoozer critiques John Franke.

I have noticed that both Vanhoozer and Mohler especially (big supporters of the Chicago Statement on inerrancy) frequently resort to this critique: that their opponents haven't defined inerrancy. Which means they haven't defined it the way they do.

"When notions of inerrancy are connected with the idea of absolute truth as a single system of doctrine revealed by God that can be grasped by human beings, the result is conflict and colonization." (277)

In John Franke's contribution, he highlights something I've seen over the years: Evangelicals want to create one single doctrinal system for all. There is no room for mystery in evangelicalism.

Peter Enns, Mike Bird, and John Frankie all provide rebuttals to Mohler which explored my own concern: Mohler seems to put the Chicago Statement on Inerrancy on par with the Bible.

I'm reading Al Mohler's contribution to this volume. I will be upfront: I do not like Mohler. He's pompous and doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. In his contribution, he relies heavily on the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. He depends on it as if it's a sacred document. One has to wonder where is loyalties actually are.

"The church has -- unintentionally or sometimes intentionally -- adopted an idolatrous view of marriage and sex, one that leaves single people in the dust, wondering if they're incomplete as image bears of God. The marriage-is-necessary-to-survive narrative is fuelled by an unbiblical theology that suggests Jesus himself is doing something wrong."

Yup.

The chapter where Sprinkle addresses the argument that Jesus never mentioned homosexuality was disappointing.

Sprinkle speculates about which Jewish group Jesus was aligned with Hillel or Shammai. He gave no citations for this or scholarship to illuminate this assertion.

I feel like this issue comes down to whose speculations are more appealing.

Sprinkle often reads like a surfer dude with a PhD, which is weird.

So far, this is a clear, accessible treatment of complex issues. Sprinkle is gracious and fair. He acknowledges when the opposing view has a point.

That said, anyone reading this has to be aware that Sprinkle's pre-supposition is that the Bible is completely inerrant. This is where the rubber meets the road: all of the solid arguments won't guarantee a change of view if the individual questions inerrancy.

I wish I'd read this book years ago, though I may not have appreciated it.

"Conversion is more than just an event; it is a process. Like wisdom, it takes a lifetime. Conversion is a lifelong series of gentle (or noisy) nods of the soul. The question of when someone is converted is much less important than that they are converting."