Sublime

black insurrection in Detroit in the summer of 1967. I had moved the year before to teach in Adrian, Michigan, just seventy miles from Detroit. I remember the feeling of dread and absurdity as I asked myself, What has all this to do with Jesus Christ—his birth in Bethlehem, his baptism with and life among the poor, and his death and resurrection? I

The underlying reason is that the wrong questions have been asked, by “liberals” and “radicals,” by “conservatives” and “orthodox” alike. Questions have been asked of the gospels that they were not written to answer; and the questions the gospels were addressing—questions as much political as theological—have been ignored. It is time for a fresh lo

Religion is a kind of glue that holds the functions of a society and the actions of individuals together. Durkheim wasn’t concerned with whether religions actually attended to a real God, encountering divine action. Rather, he focused only on religion’s social function.

Angrily bound in the immanent frame, a group of pastors and professors decided that the only way to deal with a secular age was to destroy it. Returning to the fundamentals—to the sources (the Bible and creeds) before the immanent frame challenged them—they

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What Jesus did and said in relation to the symbols of Jewish identity grew not from an intention to propagate a system of religion or ethics, certainly not from an ‘opposition’ to ‘Judaism’ conceived as a ‘religious system’, but from the conviction that the climax of Israel’s history was dawning, bringing with it great opportunity and great danger.

‘Eschatology’ here means, not the end of the world, but the rescue and renewal of Israel and hence of the world. ‘Ethics’ here means the god-given way of life for those caught up in this renewal. Elevate either beyond that, and tension will result; keep them within historical bounds, and they belong together. Indeed, they demand one another.

When we scratch a little deeper, we quickly recognize that the power of the professional office of pastor rests not in a divine order or a disciplined will (bound to education) but solely in the strength of the institution.