Colleagues List, November 3rd, 2019

Vol XV. No. 17

GLOBAL AND ECUMENICAL IN SCOPE
CANADIAN IN PERSPECTIVE

Wayne A. Holst, Editor
My E-Mail Address: waholst@telus.net 


This email is sent only to a voluntary subscriber list.
If you no longer wish to receive these weekly columns,
write to me personally - waholst@telus.net
 
*****

Dear Friends:

A number of you tell me you could not open the link
to last week's issue. Thanks for telling me and I hope 
this link works:

Colleagues List, October 27th, 2019
https://tinyurl.com/y24wne64

My Special Item is a book written about Jesus and
Christian faith by a skeptical journalist. I hope you 
find it interesting.

Hopefully too, you will discover other helpful items 
here this week.

Wayne
 
*****

SPECIAL ITEM

Book Notice -

JESUS SKEPTIC
A Journalist Explores the
Credibility and Impact of Christianity
by John S. Dickerson

Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI
October, 2019. paper. 301 pages.
$20.00 CAD. Kindle $10.00 CAD.
ISBN #978-080194-330

Publisher's Promo:

A first-of-its-kind book in a new generation, Jesus Skeptic
takes nothing for granted as it explores whether he
actually lived and how his story changed our world. You'll -

- learn what heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. and 
     Harriet Tubman believed about Jesus
- discover how Jesus inspired women's rights, education
     rights, and modern hospitals
- see visual proofs of Jesus's impact, never before compiled
     in one place
- be inspired to continue Jesus's fight for human rights,
     justice, and progress

Jesus Skeptic unveils convincing physical evidence that will enlighten seekers, skeptics, and long time Christians alike.

In a generation that wants to make the world a better place, we can discover what humanity's greatest champions had
in common: a Christian faith.

--

Author's Words:

We all hunger to answer these same questions -
Who am I?
What am I worth?
Where will I belong and be safe?
Why do I exist?

I have seen that a person's answers to these questions
will shape the course of their life - for better or worse
leading to a life of freedom and joy or a life that seems
continually smaller and emptier.

I have seen firsthand that a person can be a world-
famous millionaire but still be restless and unfulfilled...
I have also seen that a person can be poor and unknown
but entirely fulfilled.

(As an investigative reporter I have seen how Jesus
and s belief in God has had considerable influence on
the way many people live.)

Even if Jesus was a myth, the recurring evidence of
changed lives was something I had to consider... many
of them demonstrated peace, significance, joy and
selflessness - all qualities that are exceptional across
the human spectrum...

(many factors led me) to set out to consider this Jesus.
I wanted to know if he actually lived and I wanted to
know how his followers had impacted Christianity...

Because I am an investigative reporter I applied a
factual and skeptical approach to investigate Jesus.
The result is a book that includes a variety of images
and hundreds of irrefutable facts. It is a resource that
is unlike anything I encountered in my study of Jesus.

I wanted to summarize academic and historical records
in a way that makes this information available for
everyone. Through it all, I never took off my skeptics hat.

This journey has taken me more than ten years and
has covered everything from ancient manuscripts to
modern individuals who claim to have been radically
transformed.

- copied and interpreted from the Preface.

--

Author's Bio:

John S. Dickerson is a respected journalist,
a Millennial, and a bestselling author. His writing
has appeared in the New York Times and USA
Today and has earned dozens of honors, including
the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, given
by Tom Brokaw of NBC News and Christiane
Amanpour of CNN and ABC News.

Now convinced that Jesus launched the greatest
movement for social good, John has given his life
to join the cause. Today he serves as Lead Pastor
at Connection Pointe Christian Church in
Indianapolis.

Learn more at JohnSDickerson.com

--

My Thoughts:

A few things need to be said from the outset.
This book is published by Baker Books,  an
American house with conservative evangelical
leanings, but it also publishes for what I might
call "thinking evangelicals."
 
By that, I mean mainly conservative Protestant
American Christians who are not satisfied with
pat answers to old questions.

Whether I agree with the result or not, I tip my hat to
a publisher whose books ask hard questions and is
not satisfied with easy answers from any source.
A book like Jesus Skeptic is part of a long tradition
of evangelical books written by people who were
not trained in traditional theological language but
who claim to want "just the facts, ma'm." That is,
the journalistic approach.

Such books from professional journalists have
been part of the evangelical repertoire for several
generations now. I like the idea because
journalists can report on reality as they see it
in ways that theological thinkers might miss.
That leads me to suggest that the author may have
a different understanding of such terms as facts, or
myths. Also, the weight he gives to the historical
record. People of different theological perspectives
place different meanings and emphases on all three
of these terms. It is worthwhile to study these
differences.

So, if I have a few reservations about promoting this
book from a theological perspective, why am I sharing
it with you?

Essentially, it is because I believe that the truth shared
here is worthy of consideration. It is worthy of debate
and deeper reflection.

A commitment to tell the story and proclaim the Good
News as the author understands it is reason enough
for my telling you about it.

I also consider it an honour that I continue to receive
requests for reviews from a number of evangelical
Christian publishing houses.

---

Buy the book from Amazon.ca:
https://tinyurl.com/yy84uhyo

*****

COLLEAGUE CONTRIBUTIONS

Jim Taylor,
Okanagan, BC

Personal Web Log
October 27th, 2019

"Impeachment and schadenfreude"
  https://tinyurl.com/y2qeabwm

--

Elfrieda Schroeder,
Winnipeg, MB

In Transit
October 28th, 2019

"Old Things"
  https://tinyurl.com/y2xvhllp

--

Ron Rolheiser,
San Antonio, TX

Personal Web Site

"The Frustrating Struggle for Humility"
  https://tinyurl.com/yxn9or5t

*****
 
NET NOTES

SHUNNING RELIGION
Attempts to Politicize the Amish

Sightings,
October 28th, 2019

https://tinyurl.com/yxpxdp5h

--

SYNOD OF AMAZON CLOSES
Bishops Request Some Married Priests

Religion News Service
October 26th, 2019

https://tinyurl.com/y63u9zh2

--

HAS HUMANITY'S HOMELAND BEEN FOUND?
Expanding the Argument of Africa as Source

The Atlantic,
October 28th, 2019

https://tinyurl.com/y3axxcvt

--

REFORMATION ENCOURAGES ACCOUNTABILITY
Five Hundred Year Old Tradition Still Relevant

World Communion of Reformed Churches,
October 30th, 2019

https://tinyurl.com/yxlhsusp

--

A CAUTIONARY TALE ABOUT JERRY FALLWELL JR.
Something is Not Quite Right at Liberty University

Christianity Today,
October 21st, 2019

https://tinyurl.com/yymp8fdy

--

WOMEN FACE BACKLASH AT WESTERN WALL
Jewish Conservatives Oppose Women Reading Torah

Religion News Service,
October 30th, 2019

https://tinyurl.com/y4yo823b

--

NO RESPITE FOR INDIA'S PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS
Attacks Have Increased During the Last Five Years

La Croix International
October 31st, 2019

(Registration may be required)

https://tinyurl.com/y2tmfp6z

--

MIDEAST CHRISTIANS MAY NOT
RECOVER FROM PERSECUTION
Faithful in Iraq and Syria are Hardest Hit

Catholic Register, Toronto
October 28th, 2019

https://tinyurl.com/yytulha9

--

WHEN I LOST MY BELIIEF IN HELL
MY FAITH BEGAN TO UNRAVEL
Eternal Punishment Had Been a
Big Part of Being a Christian

Broadview,
November, 2019

https://tinyurl.com/y6mnfabu

--

AFTER 200 YEARS, THE BAHA'I PROPHET,
THE BAB, HOLDS PROMISE FOR THE WORLD
Adding New Dimension to Inter-Faith Dialogue

Religion News Service,
October 28th, 2019

https://tinyurl.com/y3l8peom

*****

MOMENT IN TIME

Globe and Mail,
October 30th, 2019

HENRY TUDOR CROWNED KING OF ENGLAND

Oct. 30, 1485: Before his son beheaded two wives and
severed England from the Roman-Catholic Church, Henry
Tudor enjoyed a relatively peaceable 24-year reign.

The man perhaps better known as King Henry VII was
the first of the House of Tudor to be crowned monarch –
a dynasty that includes Elizabeth I, Edward VI and, of
course, Henry VII’s notorious son Henry VIII. But that
house’s ascent to the throne was one forged in the fires
of war. Henry Tudor became king after his army slayed
his predecessor, Richard III, in the culminating battle of
the decades-long Wars of the Roses. Two months later,
on this day in 1485, the crown jewels of England were
handed to Henry, marking the end of years of civil conflict
that displaced the ruling house. In an attempt to both
solidify his status as the rightful ruler of England and
unite the divided nation, Henry VII married Elizabeth
of York, one of Richard III’s nieces whom Henry’s forces
had detained after the battle that ended Richard’s life.

Henry and Elizabeth ruled England from 1485 to 1509,
during which time Henry stabilized England’s shaky
finances by instituting major tax reforms and other
economic initiatives.

– K.C. Hoard

*****

WISDOM OF THE WEEK

Provided by Sojourners and the Bruderhof online:

Lands of great discoveries are also lands of great injustices.

- Ivo Andric

--

A person who thinks only about building walls,
wherever they may be, and not building bridges,
is not Christian. This is not in the Gospel. 

- Pope Francis

--

If you dare to struggle, you dare to win. If you dare
not struggle, then damn it, you don't deserve to win.

- Fred Hampton

--

This is what you shall do: Love the earth and the sun
and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone
that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your
income and labor to others, hate tyranny, and argue not
concerning God.

- Walt Whitman

--

What the world expects of Christians is that they should
speak out, loud and clear; that they should voice their
convictions in such a way that not even the slightest doubt
could arise in the heart of the simplest person.

And more: that they should get away from words and
abstractions and confront in their deeds the bloodstained
face of history.

- Albert Camus

--

Being an artist means: not numbering and counting,
but ripening, like a tree which doesn’t force its sap,
and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not
afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does
come. But it comes only to those who are patient,
who are there as if eternity lay before them, so
unconcernedly silent and vast. I learn it every day
of my life, learn it with pain I am grateful for:
patience is everything!

- Rainer Maria Rilke

--

It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious
philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society.

It would be more honest to blame religion for its own
defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted,
but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive,
insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed,
worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis
of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past;
when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living
fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of
authority rather than with the voice of compassion –
its message becomes meaningless.

 - Abraham Joshua Heschel

*****

CLOSING THOUGHT - Madeleine L'Engle

Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies
and ambiguities and sudden, startling joys.

(end)

*****

For Those Interested - 

ACTS Ministry at St. David's Calgary -
A listing of our programs  https://tinyurl.com/y57jjssb

--
 

Some Examples:

ST. DAVID'S ACTS  AUTUMN MONDAY NIGHT BOOK STUDY

A Ten Week Series September 16th - November 25th, 2019
Monday Evenings, TM Room 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

"HOLY ENVY" Finding God in the Faith of Others

Author: Barbara Brown Taylor
Registration/Hospitality and Book: $60.00.
Book only: $25.00

38 copies of the book were made available for sale
before the study began at St. David's. These books

have sold out, with 38 registrations to date.
 
Book Description - https://tinyurl.com/y37g93rg

--

Some stats:
Autumn and Winter Series (2018-19) -
Total class registrations: 87 (2 series)
Total books sold: 102
Average weekly winter class attendance: 34

***

ST. DAVID'S ACTS THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY

Our theme this autumn: "The Book of Revelation"
Ten Study Sessions - Thursday mornings,
September 26th-November 28th, 2019

During the second half of the course, we will do
apocalyptic book comparisons between the Hebrew
Bible "Daniel" and the Christian Bible "Revelation".

Gathering at 9:30 AM in the St. David's TM Room
and meeting 10:00 - 11:00 AM.

12 persons comprise our core study group.

Study resource:

"The DK Complete Bible Handbook"
  Edited by John Bowker

http://tinyurl.com/odxlv7q

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