One of the most pervasive images of salvation in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament is that of a marriage, with God as a bridegroom making the faithful his bride. Marriage, of course, means something quite different in our context than it did in the Ancient Near East or classical Mediterranean world. In … Continue reading A Marriage Made in Heaven (A Reflection on Revelation 19.1-10)
The previous post in this series on using linguistic analogies to understand religious differences talked about the idea of language games. You may have noticed that in that post I only talked about differences within a particular religion, and not differences between religions. This was intentional. While intellectually speaking, engaging with a completely different belief … Continue reading Interfaith Learning as Foreign Language Acquisition (Languages of God, V)
I have a friend who enjoys freaking out his friends by smilingly saying “My marriage is my martyrdom.” I have to admit, the looks on their faces were pretty priceless. It’s such a shocking turn of phrase to the ears of people whose ideas of love and marriage have been shaped primarily by happily-ever-after Hollywood … Continue reading Witnesses: For All the Saints (A Reflection on All Saints Day)
The previous post in this series talked about typology. One typological system that’s been influential in theological circles over the past few decades has been George Lindbeck’s model of how doctrine and dogma function (see The Nature of Doctrine (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1984).). This typology distinguishes communities based on the attitudes of adherents … Continue reading Anguagelay Amesgay (Languages of God, Part IV)
I was thrilled to read last week about the opening of a Big House in Bella Bella, off the coast of British Columbia. The last Big House in the community was destroyed 120 years ago under suspicious circumstances, likely as a part of Canada’s attempted cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples. The event was a joyful … Continue reading Nostalgia the Joy-Killer (A reflection on Ezra 3.1-13)
Matthew Root 