Spirit Scholars

A Remarkable Voice Rises from Michigan ... Linking Christians Around the World

Friends of Spirit Scholars -- Mark Your August Calendars for 10 a.m. Sunday August 12! If you live anywhere in southeast Michigan, and you aren't preaching from your own pulpit that morning (we know that we have a good number of clergy among our readers) -- you will want to be at Newburg United Methodist Church in Livonia to hear one of the greatest preachers of our age. The church is at 36500 Ann Arbor Trail, Livonia, MI 48150.

  Now, we know that, here at Spirit Scholars, we tend to be overly enthusiastic about some things -- but, in this case, we mean this most sincerely:

The Rev. Grace Imathiu, a Kenyan-American Methodist preacher, is one of the great, spirit-filled voices of our age. Normally, she is booked to preach at major conferences around the world -- and her home parish near Milwaukee graciously allows her to circle the globe doing this work. But, she'll be in metro-Detroit for one Sunday morning this year -- and Newburg Church in Livonia has her that day for this special visitors-welcome service.

Grace will preach in a special festival service that morning, collaborating with Newburg's pastor, the Rev. Marsha Woolley, who will help Grace plan and lead the service.

This is all part of a growing United Methodist connection in metro-Detroit with an area of Kenya where Grace's father retired-Bishop Lawe Imathiu (shown at right) is involved in a series of innovative projects -- building schools, a library, supporting various institutions for young people. At least two Michigan United Methodist churches -- the Newburg church and the First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor -- have established major, ongoing ties with Kenya.

In addition, Grace has agreed to collaborate with Ann Arbor-based Beth Miller, the youth director at the Ann Arbor church, and with other local Methodists -- as well as with Spirit Scholars editor David Crumm -- in launching an innovative book project, "Letters from Africa." The book, which will be published in 2008, will be the first inspirational book for American Christian readers to give voice to ordinary Kenyans, telling their stories of life and spirit in an inspirational format that people can "read along" for a month at a time. (Stay tuned for more details on the eventual launch of that book. You won't want to miss it!)

But, rather than run on here at Spirit Scholars about Grace, here are links to let you "meet" Grace online -- in person.

Our favorite online link to Grace's work is this one -- it's a sermon she recorded for a Chicago television project, co-sponsored by an ecumenical group in Chicago and a local PBS station. This video sermon -- which should stream on your computer screen (if you have the appropriate video software installed) is a beautiful meditation on the nature of "Joy" based on Grace's memories of life in Kenya.

Then, here's another one, again courtesy of this Chicago group and PBS station. Click here to see this second meditation on "Living the Prodigal Life."

Want more Grace? "Day 1," a site that collects and offers audio sermons -- free through online links -- offers a series of Grace's audio sermons, including one formatted as a Podcast. Click here to find the Day 1 collection of Grace audio links.

Now, you still may be sitting there saying to yourself: Woah, these Spirit Scholars folks are going overboard in their praise. So, here's another online site, where as recently as June 12, someone else was singing Grace's praises. The site is run by the Rev. Elizabeth Quick, a young United Methodist pastor in Oneida, New York. Beth Quick is an example of a pastor who, just a few days ago, heard Grace at a national festival and was so moved that she wrote about Grace's preaching, in part: "I can count on my hands the number of times I've been moved to tears by preaching, and this was one of them." Click here to go read Beth Quick's entire commentary on Grace's very recent appearance at the Festival of Homiletics.

And, then -- Then, mark your calendar and show up at 10 a.m. Sunday August 12 at Newburg United Methodist Church -- in the heart of Livonia, Michigan, for a service you'll remember for a loooong time that will enlarge your vision of the world.

In Finally Throwing Open His Attic Door, Gunter Grass' Tragic Past Becomes a Hopeful Coda

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.
(from Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield")

When Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, "Tell us ... what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" And, Jesus answered them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Messiah!' and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet."
(from Matthew 24)

"Hans left home on his own ...
Went into the world alone."
(a German nursery rhyme popular in the 1930s)

As children of conflict, how can we even dream of peace? That's the haunting question gnawing at some of the world's greatest minds these days as our tiny planet rumbles further into this era of seemingly endless wars -- and rumors of wars.

And, right now, that question is painfully clawing its way to the surface of one of our greatest minds: the Nobel Prize-winning German author Gunter Grass, who 10 months ago revealed that his own wartime service in the 1940s, as a teenager, was actually in the dreaded Waffen-SS. For years, he had vaguely dismissed his wartime years as virtually irrelevant to the German war effort. (That's Grass at right in the black and white photo in 1944, temporarily in the uniform of German Labor Service.)

Grass' reflections, just published in English, are not only an important landmark in the public understanding of Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, but they're also like peering through a skeleton-key hole into the long-locked-away artifacts in a grandparent's attic. Fascinating, dusty stuff -- but also, in many cases, deeply disturbing in their implications. And, even more than that, this little memoir is likely to rank with Stephen Crane and Erich Maria Remarque as required reading for years to come in courses on the global literature of war and peace.

If you aren't a regular reader of the New Yorker, we strongly urge either finding a copy of the June 4 issue with Tony Soprano on the cover -- or Click Here to read the online text of Grass' memoir of those years, "How I Spent the War: A Recruit in the Waffen SS."

Unfamiliar with Grass?

Well, for Baby Boomers coming of age on college campuses in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Grass' sprawling, satyrical, surreal novel about Germany's descent into Fascism, "The Tin Drum," was a cultural watershed. The tale is written as the memoir of the war-traumatized dwarf Oskar Matzerath, who winds up locked away in an asylum, reflecting back on the decades in which the Nazi Party rose to power and devastated Europe. The novel skewers and screams at readers on a whole host of social and moral issues, but the central themes cluster around the absurdity, cruelty, selfishness and blindness of most of the adult authorities in the world.

Grass seemed to argue that only Outsiders, especially artists and musicians, could hope to rise above the powerful desires that lead to the insanity of global conflict. Like Thoreau, Grass argued for beating a different cadence even in the face of mortal danger. The novel's title refers to Oskar's prize possession, a bizarre little "tin drum" that he plays compulsively and that comes to embody his life's vocation as an angrily prophetic artist.

That summary barely captures the energy of the novel, which later was turned into an Oscar-winning film in 1979 by German director Volker Schlöndorff. But, perhaps the summary suggests why it captured the creative imagination of a restless generation of American college students, disturbed by the Vietnam War, depressed about the lingering Cold War and generally eager to rush to the creative barricades in the hope of carving out a new world.

And, now?

Now, safely settled in a new millennium and approaching his ninth decade of life, Grass finally is admitting the shockingly high stakes of his creative strategy. We now realize that much of the passion in his novels and political activism was fueled by his personal guilt and shame over the moral failings of his teenage years. His fierce creativity as an adult now looks much like a flight from the humiliating blindness of his youth.

But the next question is: How different was Grass from millions of other youth? Many American World War II veterans still are coming to terms with their own youthful wartime experiences. The critical success of Clint Eastwood's twin films about Iwo Jima -- one from an American perspective and one from a Japanese perspective -- spring from the same half-century-long trauma that yawns like a Grand Canyon between the 1940s and today.

To his credit, Grass seems to realize that he now is draping his life across a public window frame -- and that his admissions are, indeed, guilty. No, he never so much as fired a shot at another human. No, his service never took him to concentration camps. But these admissions are of guilt, nonetheless.

For example, he admits in his memoir to having been part of the hazing of a German boy who apparently was a member of a pacifist religious minority -- a hazing so terrible that the boy was repeatedly beaten and eventually was sent to a concentration camp.

Overall, this memoir is a costly admission, even late in Grass' life. After years as an international symbol of the post-war search for peace and political reform, Grass' bombshell about his wartime record has been savagely skewered by many of his critics. The most frequently quoted critique came from German journalist Joachim Fest, frequently one of Grass' conservative political foes, who declared before his own death late last year: "After 60 years, this confession comes a bit too late. I can't understand how someone who for decades set himself up as a moral authority, a rather smug one, could pull this off."

And that was among the milder critiques!

But there's one more question worth raising -- and it is the reason we so strongly recommend reading Grass' memoir: If someone so blinded by the mists of war as young Gunter Grass could emerge from that youthful era of morally repugnant self interest to become a prophetic and hopeful voice for an entire generation, then cannot we, too, rise above our moral failings to become something resembling Our Better Selves?

Even if we're often, deep inside, toggling together those Better Selves with duct tape, glue and staples to hold together our fractured skeletons? If this thug of a youth can emerge as Gunter Grass, can't we, too, help to build better people of ourselves?

With this  memoir, Grass is throwing open the attic door and letting us glimpse the fractures and failings gathering dust for so long. "What I accepted with the stupid pride of youth I wanted to conceal after the war out of a recurrent sense of shame. But the burden remained, and no one could alleviate it. ... I will have to live with it for the rest of my life."

But, please, read his story for yourself. If you're a already a reader of Grass' novels, you'll find tantalizing clues to some of the most powerful metaphors in his fiction. And you'll find an old man honestly admitting how a tragically blind and bull-headed youth once set out to make his way in a war-torn world -- and wound up inflicting scars so deep that their pain would resonate for good and for ill around the world.

East-West Tours with a Fresh Perspective on the Need to Hear Global Voices

The East-West Center, the international scholarly group with headquarters in Washington D.C. and Hawaii that promotes understanding between the U.S. and Asia, is crisscrossing the United States currently with a group of Asian journalists.

They recently toured southeast Michigan. (The image at top, taken by photographer John Hile, shows the group gathered with a number of religious leaders from metro-Detroit at a dinner hosted by the American Jewish Committee's Michigan Director Sharona Shapiro.)

The visiting journalists' conversations with Michigan journalists raised a couple of cutting-edge issues that will interest a much wider audience, so Spirit Scholars will highlight 2 of those issues here:

First, one of the visitors was Malu Cadelina Manar, a well-known journalist from the Philippines who currently is Program Director for radio station DXND in Kidapawan City. (That's Malu in the center of the photo at right with long dark hair and a blue outfit. You can enlarge most photos on Spirit Scholars by clicking on them.) DXND is part of the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation, a Catholic-sponsored network in the Philippines that tries to exemplify the kind of culturally sensitive evangelization efforts that the Vatican has been talking about for more than a decade now. Among the major themes highlighted on the network are peacemaking strategies and an overall approach to journalism that's increasingly being called "Peace Journalism" in the UK and some areas of Europe and Asia. This evolving concept of "peace journalism" is not widely known among American reporters and editors, so far, partly because American news operations have been closing down foreign bureaus and have scaled back their global reporting resources in recent years.

Malu's radio station, in English, is dubbed "Radio for Peace" and, during her tour of the U.S. with the East-West Center, she says, one of her primary interests is exploring just how far this concept has spread in the U.S. (The simple answer is: Not far.) And she's also been talking with American journalists about how the principles behind this movement might mesh with the rising American trend of journalism that focuses on the lives of "real people" and "local communities." (And to that question, our Spirit Scholars answer is: There's a big potential for dialogue here that could lead to a recognition of common ground in these approaches to journalism.)

Since most Americans know little about this ongoing discussion among European and Asian journalists, here are some resources to explore:

First, the global discussion of "peace journalism" is about 10 years old and stemmed from a 1997 conference in Europe. A Web site called "Reporting the World" is coordinated by advocates of this approach. If you visit the site, click on the link to "Peace Journalism" and there's a pretty good overview of the concept.

Then, there are two names you should know in relation to this discussion: Two of the biggest international advocates of this strategy are British journalists Annabel McGoldrick and Jake Lynch. Within the "Reporting the World" site, you can find a 10-minute video-news report by McGoldrick on a complex collision of business, culture and activists groups in the Philippines that McGoldrick and Lynch regard as an example of this kind of reporting. Warning if you click on it! The video link starts with a 30-second advertisement that you must watch, first, and then the video-news report loads very slowly. But it is available to view, if you want to see what such a story might look like on television.

This team also has produced a 2005 book on the whole emerging dialogue, called "Peace Journalism." You can visit a Web site they've set up to promote that book by clicking here.

For teachers, discussion leaders and writers, there's also a free PDF of a 106-page workbook-guidebook produced by Jake Lynch about this strategy in reporting. You can find it through the "Reporting the World" site -- OR, if you want to check out the book directly, click here. This is an intriguing work-in-progress from Lynch that could spark a lot of thoughtful dialogue among students -- or could even wind up as a resource for adult discussion groups in congregations.

In a nutshell, this strategy's advocates argue (quite persuasively, we think here at Spirit Scholars) that too much global reporting focuses on violence, horrific details of conflict and descriptions of clashing forces that tend to demonize all sides. This new strategy amounts to a Call to Peace, urging journalists to focus on aspects of reporting that actually are not much different than what American journalists are already trying to do these days. In other words, both the new strategy -- as well as the prevailing American approach to journalism these days -- focus on reporting stories about "real people" and stories that examine the nature of our communities. Advocates of "peace journalism" are arguing, essentially, that we need much more of that approach on a worldwide scale.

Here at Spirit Scholars, we're not sure that a phrase like "Peace Journalism" is the most helpful banner to fly over this campaign. The phrase sounds activist in nature, when -- at its best -- this important critique of journalism could wind up finding common ground with powerful media strategies already emerging in the US. In the end, we all should be able to agree on the need to report more on "real people" and "communities."

Finally, while Malu was visting Detroit with the East-West tour, another strategy for raising American awareness of global voices that was discussed among journalists is a project developed by the Harvard University Law School library. This is a wonderful, cutting-edge effort in which library-sponsored Web editors try to identify and "amplify" voices from parts of the world rarely reflected in American media.

It's called Global Voices and you'll quickly discover its value by surfing to the site and poking around among the many offerings there. Here's a SURFING TIP: Once you reach the site's home page, click on the links for "Topics" and "Countries" at the very top of the site -- and you'll quickly see a fascinating visual "map" of materials available through the site.

  Here's how Global Voices' staffers describe their mission: Global Voices seeks to aggregate, curate, and amplify the global conversation online - shining light on places and people other media often ignore. We work to develop tools, institutions and relationships that will help all voices, everywhere, to be heard. With tens of millions of people blogging all over the planet, how do you avoid being overwhelmed by the information overload? How do you figure out who are the most influential or respected and credible bloggers or podcasters in any given country, especially those outside your own? Our international team of volunteer authors, regional blogger-editors and translators are your guides to the global blogosphere.

To that we say: Bravo!

As Our World Gets Smaller, Is It Time to Celebrate ... or Recoil in Fear?

Do we fear our world? Or do we celebrate its interconnection as God's Creation and seek ways to learn more about the gifts we can bring to this colorful mosaic of the human family?

As simple as that may sound, this intertwined question seems to be the defining line between violence and hope these days. Recently, we've spotted several creative efforts to push people toward the latter, compassionate conclusion.

The first is a new book by Yale University Press, called, “Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers and Warriors Shaped Globalization,” by Nayan Chanda, the Director of Publications at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. (See a mini-review of his book in the right margin of this site and click on the title to jump to Amazon, if you'd like to grab a copy immediately. And, frankly,this is a book well worth grabbing.)

Despite its high-brow publishing pedigree (it's from Yale University Press), this book is intended for a general audience. It's an easily accessible, compellingly written overview of the world's increasing interconnections over many centuries. One of Chanda's main goals is dispelling conspiracy theories about globalization that keep popping up among fearful people who seem to be searching for some ultimate Boogey-person behind the continual interconnectedness of the human family on our planet. Chanda argues throughout the book that no one person or group has brought us to this point. Rather, a huge range of people with an equally broad range of motivations have shaped our mosaic.

And speaking of mosaics? Have you stumbled into the growing online project produced by frequent National Geographic photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand? It's called "6 Billion Others" and it's a mighty cool experience of global diversity "up close" on your computer screen. We recommend this site mainly for people with faster Web connections, although the site claims to have options for slow-speed surfers.

Arthus-Bertrand's greatest creative gift, which he showcased in his earlier "Earth from the Air" exhibitions and resulting coffee-table book, is to use his photographic talents to help people "see" in new ways. In "Earth from the Air," his creative idea was the perspective of height. His photographs showed us everything from farmers' fields to geographic landmarks to housing developments from new perspectives, forcing us to think about them in fresh ways.

Then, as he explains on his Web site, one day a few years ago, his helicopter was out of service for a day and he simply began interviewing ordinary people about their daily lives. He asked them about what makes them laugh, what makes them cry and what hopes carry them through each new day.

With a high-speed internet connection, his work-in-progress becomes a moving mosaic of men, women and children -- their faces popping up almost life size as they greet us with brief comments about their corners of the globe.

Finally, another educational approach to these issues is waiting for you right now at: "Understanding Race." It's a vast site that's been launched by the American Anthropological Association with support from the Ford Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

Teachers? Listen up! If you haven't discovered this site, you should check it out soon! Plan on surfing for a while in this site because there are so many aspects of it. For instance, there's a Game of Life Experience that's an interactive series of choices about everything from education to health care to law enforcement -- organized by your likely "life experience" if you fall into various racial groups. Want to know more about the history of racial attitudes? There's an interactive timeline with lots of background material to explore. Plus, there are specific lesson plans, recommendations on additional reading and all the other nuts and bolts that educators will find useful.

Beyond that, though, like Chanda's new book and Arthus-Betrand's "6 Billion" project -- there's also a sense of pure, creative, compassionate wonderment in this site. Check it out and you'll likely come away feeling just a little more hopeful about our colorful mosaic here in this neighborhood we call Earth!

Feeling the "Merchants of Immortality" Breathing Down Our Wrinkly Necks

"We're going to fall prey to the merchants of immortality."
(From a recent talk by Dr. Thomas R. Cole, the Beth and Toby Grossman Professor and Director of the McGovern Center for Health, Humanities and the Human Spirit at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.)

Dr. Cole warned us earlier this month about the spiritually high stakes of aging in a landmark address he delivered at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, northwest of Detroit.

"People now can buy an awful lot of anti-aging stuff that may not be good for them, and they may not even know it," Cole said. If people remain fearful about aging, he said, "we're going to fall prey to the merchants of immortality."

Welcoming the aging process as a natural part of life, rather than fearing it as an embarrassing problem, is the key to a more meaningful life, Cole said. (Click here to read the entire story about his recent visit via the Detroit Free Press Web site.)

Then, anyone who picked up the Sunday New York Times this morning must have sensed the prophetic nature of his voice.

The Page 1A Centerpiece of the Times was a deeply troubling investigative report by Charles Duhigg, headlined: "Bilking the Elderly, With a Corporate Assist."

The story reported: "Telemarketing fraud, once limited to small-time thieves, has become a global criminal enterprise preying upon millions of elderly and other Americans every year, authorities say. Vast databases of names and personal information, sold to thieves by large publicly traded companies, have put almost anyone within reach of fradulent telemarketers."

But, America's elderly are especially vulnerable, Duhigg reported: One cynical vendor was hawking a database of 4.7 million "Suffering Seniors" -- people with cancer or Alzheimer's disease. Another database vendor was selling access to 500,000 seniors who were prone to gambling offers, promising, "These people are gullible. They want to believe that their luck can change."

Ironically, as readers leafed through the Times' A-section today, page A9 was a full-page advertisement for Lamcome's latest high-priced line of age-defying products: "Secret De Vie." And, if you're looking for "dramatic, long-lasting results" in making your skin look "softer and visibly more radiant" -- why, the price tag for 1.7 ounces of "Ultimate Cellular Reviving Cream" is only $225.

According to UNICEF's current appeals on behalf of needy children around the world, $500 will buy 1 full year of anti-AIDS drugs for an HIV-positive child in Africa. In other words, two tiny jars of cream to combat anxiety over the effects of aging are nearly the dollar-equivalent of another year of reasonably healthy life for a child in danger of developing full-blown AIDS.

These are challenging times as Cole pointed out last week. Full of anxiety. Full of tough spiritual choices about our own future -- and the future of our global family.

Searching for Prophets in Troubled Times? A Flash of Wisdom Arrives 77 Years Later

Since Friday, we've received a number of Emails discussing John Dominic Crossan's provocative new book, "God and Empire." Click here to jump back and read our review, if you missed it.

First, we're proud to say that given the civil community we've gathered here at Spirit Scholars -- several Emailed comments have been critical of the very idea of this book -- and several Emails have been highly pleased with it. In fact, at least 2 readers have told us that they've already purchased copies of the book, since Friday!

Mostly, the critics seemed weary of such painful controversy. We won't name names here, but one note said, "I love a lot of things on this site ... (but) ... More inspiration. Less politics." Another note said, "We don't need one more theological critic ... like this, do we? People need faith."

On the other side of the spiritual-political aisle, people were happy that Crossan had drawn a bright line from the extremely challenging teachings of Jesus about the way our communities should behave -- and the tragic way that our world is behaving these days.

So, Thank You to all our readers -- Spirit Scholars is, at its core, an always-hopeful experiment in community -- as we share viewpoints from traditionalist church member to cutting-edge mystic about the role of religion in our world today.

And - this is a great opportunity to explain why Spirit Scholars occasionally mentions fascinating items we've spotted in the pages of The Atlantic. If you're not a regular reader of The Atlantic -- please, consider supporting that 150-year-old institution by subscribing. We've got fewer and fewer journalistic institutions like this left in the U.S. with each passing year.

One of the smartest things The Atlantic staff did in recent years was the decision to occasionally publish landmark articles from the Atlantic's long history in American letters.

A couple of years ago, the editors published an essay written 77 years ago by American theologian the Rev. Reinhold Niebuhr, who Michigan readers should immediately recognize as a one-time prominent Detroit pastor (his church was in the New Center area of Detroit).

In 1930, in the pages of The Atlantic, Niebuhr wrote an essay, called "Awkward Imperialists," which we think should be required reading in every course in American History and Political Science these days. Frankly, all John Dominic Crossan's new book has over Niebuhr's 1930 essay is that Crossan connects more of the analysis with recent historical insights into the life of Jesus himself. And Crossan's book, of course, is far longer -- and more specific about recent historical developments.

But The Point made by Niebuhr, in many ways, underlines the point made by Crossan. So, critics of Crossan? This kind of analysis has a long, proud tradition in American religious thought. And Crossan isn't the first one to reach such provocative conclusions.

You can find complete copies of this Niebuhr essay various places online. If you're a teacher or student, check with librarians and they can locate the entire text for you. But here are a few haunting excerpts of this lengthy essay. The following are just a few of Niebuhr's words:

Our … imperial power is administered with singular awkwardness. We hear of the rising tide of resentment against us with a mingled feeling of incredulity and injured innocence.  … We are a business people who know nothing about the intricacies of politics, especially international politics, and in the flush of youthful pride we make no calculations of the reactions to our attitudes in the minds of others. …

Our lack of imagination is increased by the fact that we have come into our position of authority too suddenly to adjust ourselves to its responsibilities and that we are geographically too isolated from the world to come into intimate contact with the thought of others. … We hold ourselves aloof from international councils because we feel ourselves too powerful to be in need of counseling with others, but we are able to practice the deception of imagining that our superior political virtue rather than our superior economic strength makes such abstention possible and advisable. …

We were cradled in Puritanism. Our prosperity has gradually dissipated the individual virtues of self-discipline which Puritanism once inculcated, but we are not yet rid of the Puritan vices, particularly the lack of social imagination. We have a Puritan penchant for oversimplifying moral and social problems. …

It has always been the habit of fortunate people to ascribe their luck or their fortune to their own moral qualities rather than to any inscrutability of history, and our fortune-favored nation has developed this habit with the greatest possible consistency. …

The fact is that our political naïvete betrays us into sentimentality, and sentimentality always looks like idealism from an inside perspective and like hypocrisy from an outside one. ...

But such evidence as is available certainly does not encourage the faith that we shall develop a political genius equal to the responsibilities thrust upon us by our imperial power.

A Prophetic New View of Jesus' Preaching that Slices to the Heart of our World

The good news, as ... seen from Jesus and Paul, is that the violent normalcy of human civilization is not the inevitable destiny of human nature. Christian faith and human evolution agree on that point. Since we invented civilization some 6,000 years ago along the irrigated floodplains of great rivers, we can also un-invent it -- we can create its alternative. In the challenge of Christian faith, we are called to cooperate in establishing the Kingdom of God in a transformed earth. In the challenge of human evolution, we are called to Post-Civilization, to imagine it, to create it, and to enjoy it on a transfigured earth.
(John Dominic Crossan in "God and Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now")

If this doesn't sound like your typical Bible-study book for general readers, that's because this culmination of Crossan's more than 20 volumes on biblical scholarship starts with a summary of the past -- but then quickly picks up speed and thrusts itself from the pages of the Bible 2,000 years forward into the heart of our contemporary world.

"God and Empire" reads as though, at age 73, Crossan is just hitting his stride.

One great argument that there are certain spiritual gifts that accompany the aging process can be found in recent books by Crossan and his close friend Marcus Borg. Both men seem to be continually distilling their decades of biblical scholarship to draw ever-more courageous and hopeful critiques of the contemporary world.

Borg's "Heart of Christianity" is frequently quoted from church pulpits these days for its optimistic assertion that the pure core of the 2,000-year-old faith is as relevant today as it ever was -- and for Borg's compassionate appeal to people who felt isolated from American expressions of Christianity to reconsider the true faith.

But, Borg didn't stop there. He went on to write his much more ambitious, "Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings, and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary." And, along the way, Borg and Crossan co-authored a shorter, easy-to-read guide to the end of Jesus' life, "The Last Week," a chapter-by-chapter examination of the final passages in the gospels.

Here at Spirit Scholars, we've made reference to all three books over the past year -- as have a host of pastors and other writers nationwide.

Now, as if Crossan wants to keep pace with his good friend, he is back in bookstores with his own "more ambitious" book, "God and Empire." As in Borg's recent book on "Jesus," Crossan summarizes his scholarly assumptions about the historical Jesus -- distilling much of the biblical scholarship he spread out in far greater detail in his earlier books.

But, like Borg's "Jesus," this is a book that's far more than history. In fact, Crossan's "God and Empire" is a provocative political manifesto, chiefly aimed at the range of evangelical Christianity that celebrates everything from Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" and the "Left Behind" series of novels to the pious proclamations of many supporters of President George W. Bush's foreign policy.

Before he finishes, Crossan even offers a several-page critique of C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia" that is likely to make Lewis lovers at least stop and think twice about why we enjoy these novels so much. We're not saying we agree with him completely -- especially on Lewis -- but Crossan is raising a prophetic series of arguments that are fascinating and helpful to consider.

If you're looking for a study-book, say, for an adult-education program in your parish, we can guarantee you one thing: Readers will have a whole lot to say about a lot of passages in this book. In fact, as much as we've demonstrated ourselves, here at Spirit Scholars, to be appreciative readers of Crossan-Borg's work, we'll admit that we've got a few passages in "God and Empire" that leave us wanting to talk over a few things with the author, come to think of it!

So, we heartily recommend "God and Empire." Mired as we are -- as a nation -- in the seemingly endless mists of war, shouldn't we -- as people who care deeply about faith -- examine the ways our culture and our political leaders manipulate God to shape our American responses to the world?

To give you an even better feel for some of Crossan's arguments -- here's another short passage toward the end of the book in which he examines the biblical context of empire and the modern one as well. He writes:

"I have spent the last 35 years thinking about early Christianity -- from the historical Jesus, through the birth of Christianity, and on to the apostle Paul -- and attempting to live within its visionary program for our world. Earliest Christianity arose within the Old Roman Empire, and America, we are told, is the New Roman Empire. Three questions are then obvious for anyone who is both Christian and American today:

"How is it possible to be a faithful Christian in the American Empire?

"How is it possible to be a nonviolent Christian within a violent Christianity based on a violent Christian Bible?

"How is it possible to be a faithful Christian in an American Empire facilitated by a violent Christian Bible?"

Intrigued? Infuriated? Interested in reading this new book for yourself? Well, we've got a mini-review in the right margin of this Web site. Click on the title of the book, you'll jump to Amazon -- and you can order a copy right now.

"Amazing Grace" Sunday is Loaded with Amazing Resources for the Struggle

A couple of hundred churches across Michigan are expected to participate in "Amazing Grace Sunday" on February 18, a remarkable cross-promotion of a politically charged film, a historical reflection on the end of the British slave trade 200 years ago -- and a plea for renewed efforts to combat modern forms of enslavement.

One regret we have, here at Spirit Scholars, is that this movement was organized along such limited Christian lines. Of course, John Newton, the author of the "Amazing Grace" hymn, and William Wilberforce, the courageous British crusader who led the political charge against slavery, were motivated by an evangelical Christian faith. But this seemed to us like a wonderful opportunity to link hands across religious boundaries to combat an evil that's virtually guaranteed to spark fresh political energy, especially among younger Americans.

Evidence of the broad appeal of this issue is the fact that, just one week ago, Rabbi David Saperstein and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism issued a tough new "open letter" on the problem. (The Religious Action Center is the Washington office of the Union for Reform Judaism that represents 1.5 million Reform Jews across North America.) Saperstein's letter said, in part: It is our responsibility to protect the rights of those victimized by human trafficking and help them to reclaim their dignity and independence. Our Jewish tradition teaches, “One who saves one life, it is as if he saves an entire world.” We recognize the divine presence in each and every victim of human trafficking and welcome the additional federal resources now being committed to ending trafficking and prosecuting those responsible.

So, here at Spirit Scholars, we're a little miffed that the organizers of this immense "Amazing Grace" effort didn't seize opportunities to link arms with a broader religious community.

Nevertheless, wherever you find yourself these days -- YOU can educate yourself about the problems of human trafficking and figure out your own avenue into this global effort. (Note on Accompanying Photos: At left is a painting of the real William Wilberforce. Below is actor Ioan Gruffud portraying him in the film with actress Romola Garai as Barbara Spooner.)

OUR SPIRIT SCHOLARS RECOMMENDATIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

No. 1: BUY a copy of David Batstone's terrific (and deeply troubling) book, "Not for $ale," and after you've read it, turn to the appendix about various resources for getting involved in the struggle. There's something in the book's long list of resources to suit almost anyone's preferences for involvement. (SEE the mini-review of the book in the right-hand margin of this Web site and click on the title to jump to Amazon. That way, you can buy the book right now!)

No. 2: CHECK out the three main Web site for this campaign. They're jammed with multi-media resources and web links. Yes, this particular set of Web resources is aimed at Christians, but there's an impressive array of material there. The effort is worth observing, even if you're not Christian to see how an effort like this can be staged. CLICK here to jump to the main Sunday-campaign Web site. OR, CLICK here to jump to the main Movie-related Web site. OR, CLICK here to jump to the main political-action Web site.

No. 3: WHOEVER you are, and whatever your background, you'll want to get your facts straight and the U.S. government provides an excellent resource in this regard. The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons offers an overview of the problem, plus a "downloadable" copy of its Year 2006 report on the global problem. Click here to jump to the State Department's site.

No. 4: GO SEE THE MOVIE! (NOTE on Accompanying Photos: At left is the real John Newton, who wrote the "Amazing Grace" hymn, and next to that is Albert Finney who portrays him in the film.) The movie opens on Feb. 23, but we've previewed it already. You're likely to see mixed reviews on the 23rd as critics weigh the film from a whole variety of perspectives. But -- in light of this campaign -- we give the movie highest praise! It was directed by Michael Apted, the near-legendary British director who is responsible in his long career for everything from a James Bond blockbuster ("The World Is Not Enough") to the landmark documentary about aging, called "7 Up." Woven among Apted's commercial projects over the decades are smaller films focused on a broad array of social issues from the concerns of Native Americans ("Incident at Oglala") to the plight of Chinese activists in Tiananmen Square ("Moving the Mountain"). The new film, "Amazing Grace," has the aura and pacing of a "Masterpiece Theater" production, so -- no, there are no edge-of-your-seat thrills here. What there is, instead, is a beautiful articulation of the way that young William Wilberforce channeled his youthful idealism for both faith and politics into a hard-as-steel strategy for pursuing an achingly slow campaign that would eventually change the world.

Now, WE KNOW! We realize that we're sending you away from Spirit Scholars with all these suggestions for further reading, viewing and links to jump elsewhere. But, hey, there's a World to Change Out There! So, Get Going!

Ernie Pyle Report 01: Learning to Live in the Face of Death

DATELINE: FROM the FRONT LINES OF RELIGIOUS CONFLICT -- Spirit Scholars is launching another ongoing feature, which we're calling the Ernie Pyle Report in honor of the remarkable war correspondent who gave his life in World War II to capture snapshots of human life in the face of horrific violence.

To read more about Ernie Pyle and figure out why we're invoking his name in this particular feature, you might enjoy reading his biography (recommended in our book reviews in the right margin of this Web site). Or, to learn more RIGHT NOW, simply click on the link to Ernie Pyle in our handy "Read More" list in the left margin! (If you click on Ernie in the "Read More" list, you'll find links to several cool Ernie Pyle Web sites, plus we've included a copy of Pyle's most haunting dispatch from the front lines. Take a look!)

But, why should we spend any time reporting on religious conflict? Isn't it better to ignore that anxiety-producing side of spiritual life?

Well, earlier this month, the Detroit Free Press convened its 2nd Annual New Year's Forum on Religion, featuring seven men and women representing a broad range of religious traditions. Participants were asked to identify trends we'll see in this new year and one of their "Seven Things to Watch in '07" was this: "We will see more violence perpetrated by people claiming to have religious motives. That's one reason leaders in all the world's major faiths will talk more about calming violence."

Spirit Scholars isn't interested in picking fights. We try not to be partisan. Our goal is clarity in sorting out the religious influences -- good, bad and sometimes bizarre -- in the rapidly changing culture that's swirling all around us.

But, sometimes, that means we've got to climb down into the trenches as well as scan the horizon. So, like Ernie Pyle, we're going to occasionally report on Spiritual Life in the Face of Conflict.

To kick off this occasional series, we're posting a two-part article.
FIRST, you can continue reading this story, if you want to learn more about how this theme plays out in several of the Oscar-nominated movies this year.
And, SECOND, if you're weary of conflict and you're ready for some inspirational reading, scroll down to the next article, "A Prayer for Peace: If You're Willing for a Child-Like Dare." That prayer we're offering to our readers is a wonderful oasis, provided by a local pastor in metro Detroit.

NOW, in this first article, you may wonder why we're suddenly talking about movies, again. Why? Because, it's clear that, even beyond Michigan's circle of religious leaders, people all around the world are worried right now about the cost of violence. And, artists as well as religious thinkers are searching for spiritual strategies for living in an era of deadly conflict.

This weekend, we "studied up" on the current crop of Oscar nominees, getting ready for the Rev. Rod Quainton's innovative "Jesus @ The Oscars" series at First United Methodist Church of Birmingham. (Check out our new calendar for Rod's dates and times, including an opportunity to hear from Spirit Scholars Editor David Crumm at the Feb. 15 program in the series.)

Working hard, visiting theater after theater in our research this past weekend, we located three important movies that you're likely to skip this year, because they're challenging to locate in local theaters and they're equally challenging to watch. BUT, we strongly urge you to seek out these films.

Here goes ...

VISION 01: Through the Looking Glass; Troubling Glimpses of Iraqi Justice and Britney Spears' Poor Judgment

If we didn't think the world was Upside Down already, all it took was today's Top-of-the-Front-Page headline, shown at right (you can always click on images in Our Spirit to enlarge them, if you wish). As stunning as it may sound, Times Baghdad correspondent Marc Santora reported that, on Christmas Day, our Coalition forces in Iraq attacked an Iraqi police station and destroyed it -- as the only reliable strategy to prevent kidnapping and torture of innocent Iraqis by the police themselves.

We know -- It's Through the Looking Glass, but apparently it's true: This particular unit within the Iraqi police, supposedly trained and supported by the Coalition (at least in theory), was called the Serious Crimes Unit. However, instead of solving Serious Crimes, these so-called police were committing them. The troops liberated about 100 severely tortured and abused prisoners from the facility. They were so concerned that these so-called police might return to their nefarious deeds that they leveled the facility.

And, as we move through the holiday season, the training and equipping of Iraqi police and soldiers is emerging as our country's major strategy in the war-torn country in 2007. Let's hope we're not training more of these Serious Crimes Units, which we'll likely have to blow up a year from now.

The Spirit Scholars theme here?
VISION
It's so difficult to see the world, not only because of the haze of war and war-time propaganda, but because of what Mary describes in her great hymn of praise in the Nativity story:  We are "lost in the imaginations of our hearts."

And, what does that often-overlooked gem in the midst of Mary's song really mean? Well, as lifelong media junkies, we LOVE the final days of each year when one magazine after another offers its year-end assessment of what 2006 really MEANT -- and what we SHOULD DO in 2007, as US News & World Report's current cover story puts it "to Improve Your Life."

We think there's no better illustration of the tragedy Mary describes in that one haunting line than the front cover of the current "US" Magazine, a People Magazine clone that screams at customers from the check-out aisles of Target and grocery stores coast to coast this week with a headline of such global urgency that, here at Spirit Scholars, we are stopping everything to ponder it: "BRAD's JOY, JEN's PAIN: Aniston's heart breaks as Angelina reveals more details of her dream family life with Brad and how they fell in love. 'It's killing her,' says a pal."

NOW, you're probably shaking your head already at this Year-End assessment of the Big News in the World, but, before you scoff at the folks at US, the editors explain the spiritual linkage between that enormous front-pae headline and OUR life on page 32 in another big headline that proclaims: "STARS -- They're Just Like US!" To prove the point, this double-page spread includes a photo of Jane Fonda eating a candied apple, Minnie Driver cruising down a street in her neighborhood on a bicycle and Prince William throwing darts.

But the single biggest exercise of Global Vision -- the Summing Up 2006 Headline that dominates the cover is: "US Year-end Wrap Up: BRITNEY: Worst-Dressed Star of 2006!" Or, actually UN-dressed star is the leering point of the cover story. And lest we're tempted to pour scorn on US Magazine for pointing out this milestone in American cultural history in such a prominent way -- we've noticed this particular story in a host of national publications, including the Times itself. (In case you've been living in a G-rated bubble in recent weeks, the story involves Ms. Spears' apparent disdain for underwear and the fact that she's been photographed on several occasions "flashing" the general public -- and we're not talking about a slip of a neckline here. This is a seriously disturbed young woman, it seems, who has lost all sense of social propriety. (AND -- don't worry -- the photo of Britney at right with this article is strictly PG-rated.)

BOTTOM LINE HERE: In this week of special Spirit Scholars reflections on Vision, we ask: While Ms. Spears' strange behavior apparently is newsworthy -- is that where our Vision should be directed? It seems to us that it truly does become a Spiritual issue when Life & Death, Good & Evil are turning head over heels in corners of the world for which we hold a major responsibility, like Iraq.

So, we invite you to check back this week for daily doses of VISION-starters from Spirit Scholars.

AND HERE's a great place to start: Foreign Policy Magazine. This summer, we had a chance to travel in Asia on a special reporting project through the East-West Center with Foreign Policy's Managing Editor Will Dobson -- and we can affirm from personal observation of Dobson's work in Indonesia and Bangladesh that there's hardly a sharper set of eyes to be found in American journalism.

Rather than serving up one more list of the Year's Top Stories, Dobson and his staff are offering us "The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2006." And these are humdingers. They're all social and political in nature, which is Foreign Policy's forte. But, here at Spirit Scholars, we suggest that you Click Here to Read Foreign Policy's List. Because, we believe this is one way to Re-Focus our Vision -- by looking for things we may have missed the first time around.

(AND, we'll also insert a plug for the Detroit Free Press here. If you're interested in this kind of issue, make sure you don't miss the final Our Spirit column of the year in the Saturday December 30 issue of the Free Press, which will report a remarkable story from that Asian reporting project.)

From Foreign Policy's year-end perspective, one intriguing example is Overlooked Story No. 7: The Gender Gap is Narrowing Globally. That's not something we expected to read -- but there's evidence to support this claim. Here's a quote from FP's No. 7 item to get you thinking: "It was a good year for women in politics. Female heads of state took office in Chile and Liberia, and Hillary Clinton and Ségolène Royal set tongues wagging in Washington and Paris over their own presidential prospects. But it was also a great year for future female leaders, especially those in poor countries. ... The gender gap in secondary education is closing or has closed in most developing countries. Particularly in Latin America and Asia, girls are attending school at the same rate—or higher—than boys. In 1990 in China, for example, 75 girls attended secondary school for every 100 boys. Today, that figure is 97."

So, please, check in with us here at Spirit Scholars this week. It should be a fun, mind-stretching look at the Spirits of the Year that is Past -- and reflections on the Spirits of the Year Yet to Come. Post a Comment here with your own reflections -- or click here to drop us an Email with your thoughts.

And, if you're new to Spirit Scholars, cruise through our other stories on the site, check out our Categories in the left-hand margin of the site -- or use our Search box in the upper right corner to find subjects that interest you. Read ON!