A Brief Theology of the Academic Vocation

Over at Intervarsity's Emerging Scholars Network I've written an article about the purpose of academic work, and about how that work is informed and influenced by the Christian understanding of the glory of God. Check it out! http://blog.emergingscholars.org/2014/01/a-brief-theology-of-the-academic-vocation/

The Joy of The Gospel: Pope Francis' Missionary Exhortation

I've been reading through the Pope's recent exhortation to the Church, The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium in Latin), and have been refreshed at every turn.  It's a long document (something like 250 pages), but Francis has written an exhortation that can be taken into consideration not only by Catholics, but by all who call themselves followers of Jesus.  How dangerous would it be if we refused to hear wisdom simply because of it's speaker's denomination (1 Corinthians 1:10-18)?  The exhortation is full of scripture and, as far as I've read, contains nothing that a Protestant might find unorthodox.  To be quite honest, this is, at its core, an evangelical document.  It is an exhortation to the Church to preach the Gospel to all, to do everything in love and mercy and truth for the sake of making Jesus known to all people, especially the poor. This is my favorite quote so far:

48. … We have to state, without mincing words, that there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor. May we never abandon them.
49. Let us go forth, then, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ. Here I repeat for the entire Church what I have often said to the priests and laity of Buenos Aires: I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and which then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures. If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life. More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: “Give them something to eat” (Mk 6:37).

Edit: At the end of the exhortation Francis includes his prayer to Mary.  I do understand that we all have our differences, but the prayer that Francis includes goes above and beyond devotion, and elevates Mary to a recipient of the praise only due the triune God.  Especially when the New Testament is read as a Jewish document, which it certainly is (Jesus was, in fact a Jew), to praise Mary to the degree that Francis does is certainly not biblical.

Pope Francis I: Time Magazine's "Person of the Year"

This morning, Time named the Pope the "Person of the Year." While Time admittedly is just a magazine and publisher, this decision is remarkable. Since when does the leader of the Catholic Church win the top spot on a pop-culture list of the best people ever? Since this morning, I guess.

What's most amazing to me is not that a Pope won this contest, but that this Pope did.  Apparently the attributes of Jesus Christ are, even after 2,000 years of human failure in his name, still desirable to our culture. A few weeks ago Francis I wrote an eighty-something page document called "The Joy of the Gospel." In it he emphasizes and reemphasizes his desire for "...a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security."  Yes.

If this man does what he says he'll do, if he continues to change the face of the Church into one of kindness, humility, and self-sacrificial love, while holding fast to the principles of God's created order, he's my man of the year, too.

On the controversial issues, the Time article had this to say of the new Pope:

And so Francis signals great change while giving the same answers to the uncomfortable questions. On the question of female priests: “We need to work harder to develop a profound theology of the woman.” Which means: no. No to abortion, because an individual life begins at conception. No to gay marriage, because the male-female bond is established by God. “The teaching of the church … is clear,” he has said, “and I am a son of the church, but”—and here he adds his prayer for himself—“it is not necessary to talk about those issues all the time.”

And to the divorced and remarried who have been disallowed the sacrament of Communion in the Catholic Church, Francis says this: Communion "is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak."  Wonderful.

As Anthony LeDonne said in his post on this same article, "...I care that the Pope is attentive to the longstanding portrait of a humbled and humbling Jesus."

Here's to the Pope.