Atonement Theology

Our discussion group meets this Wednesday again (November 7, 8:00 pm, House of Aromas on Clinton St. downtown), and we'll definitely be fulfilling our founding mandate to discuss "relatively controversial" issues. This time we're looking at a recent development among Trinitarian theologians: a closer look at the nature of Christ's atonement. This group raises serious questions about the common tract formulation that on the cross, Jesus took upon himself the Father's just wrath for the sins of humanity. Instead, these thinkers propose that Jesus' sacrifice was not a penal or juridical substitution that frees us of responsibility, but an act that subverted the entire system of retributive violence and scapegoating upon which humanity had come to depend. Instead of replacing us on the cross, then, Jesus was inviting us into our own risk-taking revolutions, that we too might overcome the temptations of vengeance.

Open Theism

We will meet at 8 pm on Oct. 3 at the downtown House of Aromas (118 S Clinton, near Washington) to discuss different views on the way that God relates to the time and space to which we are accustomed. We will revisit the traditional Reformed debate, often labeled "Calvinism vs. Arminianism", and look also at a possible third alternative.

With apologies that I did not offer this sooner, I will point you to an article here that introduces Open Theism. Please feel free to stop after the short paragraph on page 6, and only glance at the subject headings in the rest of the article to be familiar with some of the questions Open Theism seeks to answer, as well as some potential problems it raises.

So ... What is church?

Exploring a tributary of a question raised in an earlier discussion, our next meeting will focus on what it means to be the church. We have a change in venue, for those who have joined us at House of Aromas, and now meet in the back room at Fair Grounds Coffeehouse at 345 S. Dubuque St. There is plenty of free parking, as it is housed in a building shared by a 3-tier parking ramp. Since the first Wednesday of July falls squarely on Independence Day, we will instead meet the following week on July 11 at 8 p.m.

Some of you have expressed interest in continuing to have an article made available that will help give some direction and structure. If this is helpful, I would direct you all to a membership statement listed at the Ekklesia Project (the link to follow), a non-profit organization in fact designed to renew our idea of what church is. I will caution that this in not the membership statement of our Vineyard community, and has not, to my knowledge, been associated with the broader Vineyard movement. The reason for it's inclusion here is that is seeks to address some of the same questions that will be relevant to us as we define "church", the "body of Christ" and seek understanding of our identity in that context. Keep in mind that we will not use this article as an outline. In fact, we encourage all of you to come ready to ask a question related to this topic, and feel free to post your questions to this page in the comments section as you think of them.

Article:
Church Membership: An Introduction to the Journey by John McFadden and David McCarthy

Does Matter Matter? by IAIN PROVAN

We will meet at 8 pm on Wednesday, June 6 at Fair Grounds (345 S. Dubuque St., near Burlington) to discuss the lecture Does Matter Matter?: Gnosticism Old and New by Iain Provan.

Dr. Provan is the Matthew Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies (OT) at Regent College in Vancouver, BC. He is also ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. He co-authored the book A Biblical History of Israel published in 2003.

Roads to Paradise and Perdition: Christ, Evolution and Original Sin by GEORGE L. MURPHY

We will meet at 8 pm on March 7 at the downtown House of Aromas (118 S Clinton, near Washington) to discuss the science of human origin and the implications for a Christian worldview.

We will specifically discuss the following article by George L. Murphy:

http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2006/PSCF6-06Murphy.pdf

For further reading:
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dlamoure/DebateHANDOUT.pdf
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1993/PSCF9-93Miller.html
http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/Evolution/index.html
http://www.talkorigins.org/origins/faqs-evolution.html

Christian Nonviolence and the Response to Just War Theory

Due to Holiday scheduling conflicts, we will not be meeting on Wed., Jan. 3rd.

We will meet at 8 pm on Feb. 7 at the downtown House of Aromas (118 S Clinton, near Washington) to discuss the following selections on the questions raised by Nationalism and war. Specifically we will be looking at the applied ethics of justice, peace and force within the context of international conflict.

John Howard Yoder's response to traditional Just War Theory published in 1991.


A representative article on the modern Just War position by James Turner Johnson.


A transcript of the brief oral response to September 11th of Stanley Hauerwas.

November Meeting

We will meet at 8 pm on Nov. 1 at the downtown House of Aromas (118 S Clinton, near Washington). If you need a copy of the text we will be discussing, or have any other questions, please email me at arlynjj@gmail.com.