GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: wholst@telus.net
My Special Item this week is a book notice for Sightings -
--
My Thoughts:
As I noted here a year ago when we celebrated Marty's 90th birthday* I have been a reader of his books, articles and Context and Sightings newsletters for more than fifty years. Through all that time, he has been been a teacher and guide, as well as one who kept challenging me on. While it did not hurt that he was a fellow-Lutheran pastor, that was not the main reason for my efforts to keep current with him. Indeed he kept me faithful to my spiritual roots when others could or did not.
Truth is divine action entering our lives and creating
the human action of liberation.
- James Cone
--
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love
will have the final word in reality. This is why right,
temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
--
What God may hereafter require of you, you must not
give yourself the least trouble about. Everything he gives
you to do, you must do as well as ever you can, and that
is the best possible preparation for what he may want you
to do next. If people would but do what they have to do,they
would always find themselves ready for what comes next.
- George MacDonald
--
Freedom is not a thing you can receive as a gift. One can
be free even under a dictatorship on one simple condition,
that is, if one struggles against it. A man who thinks with his
own mind and remains uncorrupted is a free man. A man
who struggles for what he believes to be right is a free man.
You can live in the most democratic country in the world,
and if you are lazy, callous, servile, you are not free, in
spite of the absence of violence and coercion, you are
a slave.
- Ignazio Silone
--
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic.
It is based on the fact that human history is a history not
only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage,
kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex
history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst,
it destroys our capacity to do something, if we remember
those times and places – and there are so many – where
people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the
energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this
spinning top of a world in a different direction.
- Howard Zinn
--
Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious,
to believe that the world could still change for the better.
And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold
that one is tempted to say, “What do I care if there is a
summer; its warmth is no help to me now.” Yes, evil often
seems to surpass good by far. But then, in spite of us,
and without our permission, there comes at last an end
to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and
there is a thaw. And so I still have hope.
- Vincent van Gogh
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT - Martin Luther King Jr.
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love
will have the final word in reality. This is why right,
temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
Total class registrations: 42
ST. DAVID'S SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS TOUR, 2019
East Europe and Russia were chosen as our destinations!
We plan a twenty-day tour that combines a focus
on spirituality, culture and the relationship between
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE
Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: wholst@telus.net
This email is sent only to a voluntary subscriber list.
If you no longer wish to receive these weekly columns,
My Special Item this week is a book notice for Sightings -
Reflections on Religion in Public Life from the Martin Marty
Center at the University of Chicago. Last year we remembered
Marty when he turned 90 (see below) and this year we consider a book to which he contributed considerable content. We also learn more about the institute that proudly bears his name.
Readers of Colleagues List know how much Marty has influenced me.
In the spirit of life-long collaboration with him I share the rest of this issue as well, and hope it will be of interest to you.
Wayne
*****
SPECIAL ITEM
Book Notice -
SIGHTINGS
Reflections on Religion in Public Life
(From the Martin Marty Center,
the University of Chicago)
Brett Colasacco, Editor and others
Wm. Eerdmans Publishing Company,
Grand Rapids, MI. January 24th, 2019
$32.00 CAD. Trade Paperback
ISBN #978-0-80287665-2
Publisher's Promo:
For the past twenty years, Martin Marty and the editors
of Sightings, a digital publication of the University of
Chicago Divinity School’s Martin Marty Center, have
published informed, accessible, and witty commentary
on religion in current events. Featuring more than
seventy authors―including Marty himself, Eboo Patel,
and Krista Tippett―this book collects one hundred of
the best essays that originally appeared in Sightings.
Religion in public life fluctuates in temperature, but in
the last twenty years, the religious climate has produced
some harsh and extreme conditions that make the need
for public discussion and understanding of religion more
vital than ever. In this volume writers intelligently engage
and elucidate many critical trends, issues, and practices
of faith in our pluralistic world. Rich food for thought
awaits readers here.
--
Editor's Note/Forward/Introduction:
Center at the University of Chicago. Last year we remembered
Marty when he turned 90 (see below) and this year we consider a book to which he contributed considerable content. We also learn more about the institute that proudly bears his name.
Readers of Colleagues List know how much Marty has influenced me.
In the spirit of life-long collaboration with him I share the rest of this issue as well, and hope it will be of interest to you.
Wayne
*****
SPECIAL ITEM
Book Notice -
SIGHTINGS
Reflections on Religion in Public Life
(From the Martin Marty Center,
the University of Chicago)
Brett Colasacco, Editor and others
Wm. Eerdmans Publishing Company,
Grand Rapids, MI. January 24th, 2019
$32.00 CAD. Trade Paperback
ISBN #978-0-80287665-2
Publisher's Promo:
For the past twenty years, Martin Marty and the editors
of Sightings, a digital publication of the University of
Chicago Divinity School’s Martin Marty Center, have
published informed, accessible, and witty commentary
on religion in current events. Featuring more than
seventy authors―including Marty himself, Eboo Patel,
and Krista Tippett―this book collects one hundred of
the best essays that originally appeared in Sightings.
Religion in public life fluctuates in temperature, but in
the last twenty years, the religious climate has produced
some harsh and extreme conditions that make the need
for public discussion and understanding of religion more
vital than ever. In this volume writers intelligently engage
and elucidate many critical trends, issues, and practices
of faith in our pluralistic world. Rich food for thought
awaits readers here.
--
Editor's Note/Forward/Introduction:
This book contains a sample of the roughly two thousand columns that Sightings has published over the past two decades -both as a semi-weekly email newsletter and on the website of the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
(This product could not have happened without the inspiration and guiding light provided by the indefatigable Martin Marty, who has authored every other Sightings column for the publication's first twenty years. We decided to blend Marty columns with others who have used the model he established. He himself wrote 31 of the 100 columns appearing in the collection.)
(Marty, it has been an honor to serve as your editor. The original organization Marty worked with was the Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion, which evolved into the Martin Marty Center. When he retired in 1998 the new name was given, and its bi-weekly columns of Sightings were written by Marty or others associated with, or invited by, the Center.)...
Religion is not dying. If there is anything that scholars of religion have learned from the demise of the once powerful secularization thesis, it is that religion does not go away easily. In fact, it does not go away at all, and neither does it let itself be domesticated, or compartmentalized in convenient or easily digestible ways... The religious landscape is constantly in flux... so one could perhaps speak of a religious "climate change" problem (but not its disappearance.)
While Martin Marty is no doubt unique, over the years there have been others who embody that same rare combination of deep knowledge and ebullient social communication... who combine expertise in specialized knowledge and applied science... Marty straddles that double focus effortlessly, not only graciously but above all effectively. It is not that he transcends the divide; it just does not seem to affect him. He makes it clear that religion is not just a factor, but an actor; that it matters - to the academy, to our private lives, to politics and the economy, to society at large. He demonstrates that there is not only a place for the public discussion and understanding of religion, but a need for it.
Truly, we continue our earlier tradition today - we seek to bring to light and interpret the forces of faith within a pluralistic society.
To all of this, Martin Marty continues to call our attention.
(some editing here)
(some editing here)
--
My Thoughts:
As I noted here a year ago when we celebrated Marty's 90th birthday* I have been a reader of his books, articles and Context and Sightings newsletters for more than fifty years. Through all that time, he has been been a teacher and guide, as well as one who kept challenging me on. While it did not hurt that he was a fellow-Lutheran pastor, that was not the main reason for my efforts to keep current with him. Indeed he kept me faithful to my spiritual roots when others could or did not.
At the same time, he always encouraged me wherever I found myself - serving as a pastor, teacher, or bridge-builder. I consider him one of my most loyal supporters during the full length of my career.
And now this collection of 100 columns, 31 of which he authored. Many, if not most of the essays are written from within and speak to the American context. If I have any bone to pick with the editors, it is that they tend to be quite America-centered in their themes and their assumed audience. Marty was never like that. I found much of what he wrote about over the years appealed to me as a Canadian. He helped me make the connections with my own culture and church.
I encourage everyone to read these essays, but would suggest that future collections seek to appeal to the wider world, because that is the way the world is heading. We no longer look to America automatically for guidance. We have discovered many worthy resources within our own spiritual settings and also from the greater world of faith out there.
Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
https://tinyurl.com/ycefcbr6
*Please read my tribute to Marty on his 90th birthday,
Colleagues Listii
February 4th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y82w95jm
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMUNICATIONS
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Web Log,
January 24th, 2019
"Reading Life Below the Surface"
https://tinyurl.com/y9bxq8kn
--
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog
January 18th, 2019
"The Opening Act"
https://tinyurl.com/yca8my2a
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
January 21st, 2019
"Snake Bitten..."
https://tinyurl.com/y7ozeoqg
--
Philip Yancey,
Colorado
PhilipYancey.com
January 22nd, 2019
"Aging Gracefully"
https://tinyurl.com/y79kguc3
*****
NET NOTES
CANADA NOW BRINGS IN
MORE REFUGEES THAN THE USA
Big Changes in American Policy
Macleans,
January 23rd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y8pf4vc2Ã
--
FRANCIS SAYS FEAR OF MIGRANTS
MAKES US CRAZY
Building Walls as a New Refugee Group
Heads Northward to US Border
Religion News Service,
January 23rd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y7mkmawg
--
CANADA RANKED THIRD BEST COUNTRY
IN THE WORLD TO LIVE IN - and for the
Fourth Straight Year it is Tops in Quality of Life
Global News,
January 23rd, 2019
Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
https://tinyurl.com/ycefcbr6
*Please read my tribute to Marty on his 90th birthday,
Colleagues Listii
February 4th, 2018
https://tinyurl.com/y82w95jm
*****
COLLEAGUE COMMUNICATIONS
Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC
Web Log,
January 24th, 2019
"Reading Life Below the Surface"
https://tinyurl.com/y9bxq8kn
--
Mark Whittall,
Ottawa, ON.
Sermons and Blog
January 18th, 2019
"The Opening Act"
https://tinyurl.com/yca8my2a
--
Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX
Personal Web Site
January 21st, 2019
"Snake Bitten..."
https://tinyurl.com/y7ozeoqg
--
Philip Yancey,
Colorado
PhilipYancey.com
January 22nd, 2019
"Aging Gracefully"
https://tinyurl.com/y79kguc3
*****
NET NOTES
CANADA NOW BRINGS IN
MORE REFUGEES THAN THE USA
Big Changes in American Policy
Macleans,
January 23rd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y8pf4vc2Ã
--
FRANCIS SAYS FEAR OF MIGRANTS
MAKES US CRAZY
Building Walls as a New Refugee Group
Heads Northward to US Border
Religion News Service,
January 23rd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y7mkmawg
--
CANADA RANKED THIRD BEST COUNTRY
IN THE WORLD TO LIVE IN - and for the
Fourth Straight Year it is Tops in Quality of Life
Global News,
January 23rd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y9ws63yz
--
"WE THE PEOPLE" - A TED TALK
BY INDIGENOUS AMERICAN MARK CHARLES
(Presented in an American Context)
Recommended by Brian McLaren
January 25th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y8g2l89y
--
FORMER FUNDAMENTALISTS DESCRIBE
THE TRAUMA OF LEAVING THEIR FAITH
Retreat Provides Opportunity to Share Struggles
United Church Observer,
January, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/yazvl629
--
PROVOKED BY TRUMP, THE RELIGIOUS LEFT
IS FINDING ITS VOICE IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE
Progressives Drawn Together to Challenge Threats
National Public Radio,
January 24th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y7z7q49q
--
A GRIM ANNIVERSARY OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
80 Years Ago Dietrich Bonhoeffer Returned to Germany
from America. He Went to Support the Confessing Church
Religion News Service,
January 18th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y7fw4v
--
EGYPT COMPLETES LANDMARK COPTIC CATHEDRAL
BUT SMALLER CHURCHES ARE SLOWER TO OPEN
Government Tries to Respond to Religious Violence
La Croix International,
January 22nd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/ybg793h2
--
GOD IN THE QU'RAN IS MORE MERCIFUL
THAN THE GOD OF THE HEBREW/CHRISTIAN BIBLE
Jack Miles' Issues New Book on God in Sacred Scriptures
Religion News Service,
January 22nd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/ycg9k5t6
--
TIBETANS GET HOME AND TEMPLE DECOR ORDERS
TO REPLACE DALAI LAMA WITH CHINESE PORTRAITS
Another Sign of Growing Pressure on the Tibetan People
UCA News,
January 22nd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/yca2jg5y
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof onlne:
God is here. We are loved. It is enough.
- Kate Bowler
--
--
"WE THE PEOPLE" - A TED TALK
BY INDIGENOUS AMERICAN MARK CHARLES
(Presented in an American Context)
Recommended by Brian McLaren
January 25th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y8g2l89y
--
FORMER FUNDAMENTALISTS DESCRIBE
THE TRAUMA OF LEAVING THEIR FAITH
Retreat Provides Opportunity to Share Struggles
United Church Observer,
January, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/yazvl629
--
PROVOKED BY TRUMP, THE RELIGIOUS LEFT
IS FINDING ITS VOICE IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE
Progressives Drawn Together to Challenge Threats
National Public Radio,
January 24th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y7z7q49q
--
A GRIM ANNIVERSARY OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
80 Years Ago Dietrich Bonhoeffer Returned to Germany
from America. He Went to Support the Confessing Church
Religion News Service,
January 18th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y7fw4v
--
EGYPT COMPLETES LANDMARK COPTIC CATHEDRAL
BUT SMALLER CHURCHES ARE SLOWER TO OPEN
Government Tries to Respond to Religious Violence
La Croix International,
January 22nd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/ybg793h2
--
GOD IN THE QU'RAN IS MORE MERCIFUL
THAN THE GOD OF THE HEBREW/CHRISTIAN BIBLE
Jack Miles' Issues New Book on God in Sacred Scriptures
Religion News Service,
January 22nd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/ycg9k5t6
--
TIBETANS GET HOME AND TEMPLE DECOR ORDERS
TO REPLACE DALAI LAMA WITH CHINESE PORTRAITS
Another Sign of Growing Pressure on the Tibetan People
UCA News,
January 22nd, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/yca2jg5y
*****
WISDOM OF THE WEEK
Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof onlne:
God is here. We are loved. It is enough.
- Kate Bowler
--
I don’t know a perfect person. I only know flawed people
who are still worth loving.
who are still worth loving.
- John Green
--
Truth is divine action entering our lives and creating
the human action of liberation.
- James Cone
--
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love
will have the final word in reality. This is why right,
temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
--
What God may hereafter require of you, you must not
give yourself the least trouble about. Everything he gives
you to do, you must do as well as ever you can, and that
is the best possible preparation for what he may want you
to do next. If people would but do what they have to do,they
would always find themselves ready for what comes next.
- George MacDonald
--
Freedom is not a thing you can receive as a gift. One can
be free even under a dictatorship on one simple condition,
that is, if one struggles against it. A man who thinks with his
own mind and remains uncorrupted is a free man. A man
who struggles for what he believes to be right is a free man.
You can live in the most democratic country in the world,
and if you are lazy, callous, servile, you are not free, in
spite of the absence of violence and coercion, you are
a slave.
- Ignazio Silone
--
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic.
It is based on the fact that human history is a history not
only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage,
kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex
history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst,
it destroys our capacity to do something, if we remember
those times and places – and there are so many – where
people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the
energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this
spinning top of a world in a different direction.
- Howard Zinn
--
Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious,
to believe that the world could still change for the better.
And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold
that one is tempted to say, “What do I care if there is a
summer; its warmth is no help to me now.” Yes, evil often
seems to surpass good by far. But then, in spite of us,
and without our permission, there comes at last an end
to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and
there is a thaw. And so I still have hope.
- Vincent van Gogh
*****
CLOSING THOUGHT - Martin Luther King Jr.
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love
will have the final word in reality. This is why right,
temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
(end)
*****
For those interested:
ST. DAVID'S ACTS WINTER MONDAY NIGHT BOOK STUDY
A Ten Week Series January 14th - March 18, 2019
Monday Evenings, TM Room 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
"THE GREAT SPIRITUAL MIGRATION"
Monday Evenings, TM Room 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
"THE GREAT SPIRITUAL MIGRATION"
How the World's Largest Religion is
Seeking a Better Way to be Christian
Author: Brian D. McLaren
Registration/Hospitality and Book: $60.00.
Book only: $20.00
Seeking a Better Way to be Christian
Author: Brian D. McLaren
Registration/Hospitality and Book: $60.00.
Book only: $20.00
45 copies of the book were made available for sale.
All but 2 are now sold. Total on-site registrations: 40
(plus 3 on-line participants). Grand Total: 43
Here are power point notes and videos from each session:
https://tinyurl.com/ycz5wf72
Book Description - https://tinyurl.com/ybeaaceq
(plus 3 on-line participants). Grand Total: 43
Here are power point notes and videos from each session:
https://tinyurl.com/ycz5wf72
Book Description - https://tinyurl.com/ybeaaceq
--
Some stats:
Autumn, 2018 Program -
Some stats:
Autumn, 2018 Program -
Total books sold: 57
Autumn/Winter 2018/19 Program -
Total class registrations: 82
Total books sold: 100
***
***
ST. DAVID'S SPIRITUAL TRAVELERS TOUR, 2019
East Europe and Russia were chosen as our destinations!
This will be our fifth Spiritual Travelers Tour, with a
group emerging from St. David's but very open to others.
The Tour is entitled: "From Vienna to Moscow"
We plan a twenty-day tour that combines a focus
on spirituality, culture and the relationship between
religion and politics. The tour will run from April 26th
through May 16th, 2019.
https://tinyurl.com/y834742f
A beautiful brochure with trip cost, itinerary, and
many helpful travel hints has been published.
https://tinyurl.com/y7j55gym
Our trip sale reached an important milestone
as 38 persons registered, helping us to surpass
our
https://tinyurl.com/y834742f
A beautiful brochure with trip cost, itinerary, and
many helpful travel hints has been published.
https://tinyurl.com/y7j55gym
Our trip sale reached an important milestone
as 38 persons registered, helping us to surpass
our