This blog is five years old this month. It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been keeping this blog for nearly my entire adult life, and I have no intention of ever shutting it down. It’s also been a pleasure to have friends (Aaron, Daniel) join me in posting here as they are able.

Blog Stats

According to my WordPress dashboard, there are currently 1,837 posts and 6,599 comments, contained within 46 categories (some of which I don’t really use much). Akismet has protected this site from 208,670 spam comments, though it’s only been active since late 2005, so I’ve probably received quite a bit more than that. Comment IDs are in the 178000 range now, and I think that’s because previous anti-spam plugins I used gave an ID to potential spam comments, but Akismet does not (or else the IDs would be well over 215,000). Also keep in mind that this site has only been powered by WordPress since mid-2004; before that, I used Blogger Pro (and have the hoodie from when Google bought them to prove it) and Movable Type 2.x.

I don’t like “best of” posts, so I won’t do one, but I’d just like to thank you for being a part of this journey.

As you may have noticed, I don’t update this site anywhere close to daily, so you might want to subscribe to the email updates (see sidebar widget thing) or the RSS feed. There are also category RSS feeds if you’d prefer to follow only some of my topics.

Here’s to five more years.

Eliacin tagged me (though actually Steve beat him to it), so here goes. Exclusion and Embrace was the closest book; here’s page 123, 5th-8th sentences:

Forgiveness is no mere discharge of a victim’s angry resentment and no mere assuaging of a perpetrator’s remorseful anguish, one that demands no change of the perpetrator and no righting of wrongs. On the contrary: every act of forgiveness enthrones justice; it draws attention to its violation precisely by offering to forego its claims. Moreover, forgiveness provides a framework in which the quest for properly understood justice can be fruitfully pursued.

While I tend not to tag people, let’s try Helen, Jimmy, Aaron, and Daniel. Steve has already tagged Eugene, Eliacin already tagged Pat, and Pat already tagged Thomas.

Our current book group is studying Miroslav Volf’s 1996 book Exclusion and Embrace, and though I’ve only read the preface and introduction, I’m impressed.

Volf is a Croatian-born theologian who currently teaches at Yale. Hailing from a country torn by ethnic strife, he writes with a deep understanding of the concept of “otherness” and difference. From p. 20:

…”tribal” identity is today asserting itself as a powerful force, especially in cases where cultural heterogeneity is combined with extreme imbalances of power and wealth. It may not be too much to claim that the future of our world will depend on how we deal with identity and difference.

That’s certainly enough to keep you reading. Volf goes on to point out that, while societal conditions are surely relevant factors, he will focus on “what kind of selves we need to be in order to live in harmony with others” (p. 21).

Now, since Volf teaches at Yale, and has been cited by more liberal-leaning types for quite some time now, I was expecting a pretty touchy-feely-can’t-we-all-just-get-along volume of wishy-washiness. But that’s not at all what Volf delivers. Even before chapter 1, he delves into the question of the cross: “…what does it tell us about the character of the Christian self in relation to the other?” (p. 22). He cites Moltmann’s “solidarity” theory of the cross:

The sufferings of Christ are not just his sufferings; they are “the sufferings of the poor and weak, which Jesus shares in his own body and in his own soul, in solidarity with them” (Moltman 1992, p. 130). …On the cross, Christ both “identifies God with the victims of violence” and identifies “the victims with God, so that they are put under God’s protection and with him are given the rights of which they have been deprived (131).”
…
The theme of solidarity with the victims (129-131) is supplemented by the theme of atonement for the perpetrators (132-38). Just as the oppressed must be liberated from the suffering caused by oppression, so the oppressors must be liberated from the injustice committed through oppression.
…
As God does not abandon the godless to their evil but gives the divine self for them in order to receive them into divine communion through atonement, so also should we–whoever our enemies and whoever we may be. p. 23

This attitude toward our enemies is difficult to develop, especially in situations where our enemies are killing us. More on this soon.

Yes, you read that right: Emergent is promoting a contest to encourage creative thinking and expression about various theories of atonement.

Tony Jones explains:

We decided it would be fun to propose a contest to the highly creative Emergent Villagers out there, and Lent seems like the perfect time to do it. So we’ve collected an august panel of judges (who will remain anonymous), and we’re asking you to get creative:

• Think about the saving power of the cross and the resurrection.
• Maybe read one or two of the books mentioned above, or others, on the atonement. And try the Bible — it’s full of great stuff!
• Develop a written, graphic, video, or song depiction of your metaphor.
• Submit it by March 7 (that’s one month from today) to atonementmetaphors@gmail.com.

Sounds like a good exercise for Lent.