"Respond to this statement:..."

I am somewhat frequently interviewed by students here at MVNU for Research Writing projects, Public Speaking presentations, or Christian Life and Ministry papers. Tonight I was interviewed by Daniel Coutz. It was one of the more thoughtful interviews that I have experienced and I appreciated the approach. The conversation went something like this:

Daniel: "Respond to this statement: The United States is a Christian Nation."

Travis: "No earthly empire is distinctively in keeping with the way of Jesus. Those who claim the United States to be a Christian nation need to enroll in a post-reformation church history course that discusses the period of American colonization. Also helpful would be a study in theology and philosophy to explore the definitions of theism, deism, and idolatry.

Daniel: "Do you feel the American flag should be displayed in churches? Why or why not?"

Travis: "No. The church is laced with a history of symbol and icon for visual engagement in worship and when one considers what the American flag represents I would have to question what one is worshiping. I would have no problem with displaying a flag in a church if it was displayed beside every other flag of every other nation so long as the symbol is understood to represent equality and unity.

Daniel: "Respond to this statement: The loyalty of a person belongs first to his country."

Travis: "Why would one view an earthly empire as something to which giving loyalty is necessary or a priority? My suggestion is that most would give said loyalty due to an enculturation that promotes a sense of loyalty as nessecary. I would also suggest it has something to do with the supposed 'safety' provided by the military branch of a certain country's government. Fear would be that which fuels loyalty to an earthly empire."

Daniel: "Respond to this statement. Christians living in the United States should be patriotic about the United States."

Travis: "One's definition of patriotism would be primary. I find it problematic for a follower of Jesus to pledge his allegiance to an earthly nation. So in the sense that the recitation of the 'Pledge of Allegiance' is patriotic, then patriotism may be considered contrary to 'worshipping no other gods.'"

"Emerging" and "Emergent"

Tony Jones was asked a question that I continually hear: "What is the difference between 'Emerging' and 'Emergent?' I have never had a very good response for all of those who seek my opinion/input about issues of ecclesiology but Tony has an :: OUTSTANDING reply :: that I suggest all read. Thank you Tony for giving my reply that I could not articulate.

Volf, Dawkins, Wright, Smith, Derrida, and Tim.

My friend Tim Barenscheer and I have been highly involved with each other's development as we journey through our philosophical wonderings and thoughts on the Kingdom of God. It's a beautiful thing having a contemporary and friend with whom honesty and vulnerability exist genuinely without pretense. I've been sharing my thoughts with Tim about my "Premodern, Modern, and Postmodern Philosophy" course including readings from Roxburgh's The Sky is Falling: Leaders Lost in Transition, Dawkins' The God Delusion, and James K.A. Smith's Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church. Tim has been conversing with Caputo's What Would Jesus Deconstruct?: The Good News of Postmodernism for the Church and has given me two of N.T. Wright's volumes, Jesus and the Victory of God and The New Testament and the People of God, that I've been wanting and will work through this summer following my course. I gave Tim Miroslav Volf's The End of Memory. Anyone desiring to have a greater understanding of Jesus, culture, and the Kingdom of God may want to check out any or all of the aforementioned texts.

Serving and Controlling.

"One who would be a leader, I am cautioned, has a greater weight of responsibility to honor the despised, share his earthly possessions, model interdependency, and encourage the use of gifts concealed in the unlikeliest among us. To the leader, then, the gift of humility is offered - the gift is the salvation of the proud, which comes from great difficulty from learning to receive from those who are least on Earth, yet greatest n the Kingdom.
:: Robert Lupton: "Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor."

Deconstructing Orthodoxy?

A friend of mine recently created a blog that he entitled "Deconstructing Orthodoxy." The definitions provided for each term in the title are as follows:
Deconstruct (de·con·struct): 1. to take apart or examine in order to reveal the basis or composition, often with the intention of exposing biases, flaws, or inconsistencies.
Orthodoxy (or·tho·doxy): 1. a belief or orientation agreeing with conventional standards.
I have spent a fair amount of time with Derrida, Raschke, Brueggemann, and Ward "deconstructing." Not much time or energy is necessary to initially recoginize the biases, flaws, and inconsistencies of the systems and standard of church. Only in one's own recognition of the brokenness and messiness of church is the ideal community actually discovered. I don't agree with the "conventional standards" of American "church." However, I would propose that orthodoxy is not what needs deconstructed when considering that orthodoxy in its truest, most unadulterated state is the standard set by Jesus. Unfortunately, the way of Jesus is not the standard so to deconstruct orthodoxy may, in fact, be appropriate and necessary.
Visit www.deconstructingorthodoxy.blogspot.com. The author is constructing a life in the way of Jesus.