In preparation of the upcoming Christ, Kingdom, & Culture conference coming up at Westminster Seminary California, there is an interesting reading list developing. One book is upcoming (David VanDrunen’s) and one I had never heard of before (Idols for Destruction), but I can recommend the others. Check the comments to see if new titles are suggested.
I remember back in March the happy discovery that the New York Times snatched-up Ross Douthat from The Atlantic (read about it). Considering Ross’s excellent op-ed, “Heaven and Nature.”
Contemplating Cameron’s new flick, “Avatar,” and pantheism as a Hollywood darling, he says:
“The question is whether Nature actually deserves a religious response. Traditional theism has to wrestle with the problem of evil: if God is good, why does he allow suffering and death? But Nature is suffering and death. Its harmonies require violence. Its “circle of life” is really a cycle of mortality. And the human societies that hew closest to the natural order aren’t the shining Edens of James Cameron’s fond imaginings. They’re places where existence tends to be nasty, brutish and short.
Religion exists, in part, precisely because humans aren’t at home amid these cruel rhythms. We stand half inside the natural world and half outside it. We’re beasts with self-consciousness, predators with ethics, mortal creatures who yearn for immortality.
This is an agonized position, and if there’s no escape upward — or no God to take on flesh and come among us, as the Christmas story has it — a deeply tragic one.”
Each of the past several Christmases, I usually end up explaining the use of the “X” in X-mas. Generally, opposition comes from well-meaning Christians seeking to preserve the integrity of Christ. I had not seen this background article from R. C. Sproul (“Why is X Used when it Replaces Christ in Christmas?”), but it is very helpful and worth a read. Thanks, Justin, for the heads-up.
Now, aside from the fancy Greek explanation, I still prefer to see the title of Jesus of Nazareth, Christ, writ large!
