eChurch Blog

Cross-post by Dr. Calvin L Smith (Principal of King’s Evangelical Divinity School)

Today’s online Guardian has a lengthy article criticising the Jewish settler presence in a district of East Jerusalem by the Egyptian novelist and sometime champion of the Palestinians Ahdaf Soueif. It concerns archaeological excavations on the Ophel Ridge (the Silwan district of Wadi Hilweh), which is the location of the original Jebusite city which David made his capital in approximately 1000 BC.

Reading her article, one is struck by how one side (Soueif echoes the position taken on this issue by various pro-Palestinian solidarity groups) has so woven events to create a narrative which is in direct contradistinction to that of the other side, the Jews for whom the Ophel Ridge (the original Zion) is representative of ancient Israel’s nationhood. Soueif’s piece presents as fact several points which, for those who know something of the district’s recent history and situation, do not quite bear up to scrutinty. For example, her article details how Elad  (the Israeli City of David organisation which is developing the area) turfed out an Arab family from their home in 1991 and today continues “to acquire more Palestinian property: to date Elad has gained control of a quarter of Wadi Helweh”. The distinct impression is a total land grab, with destitute Arabs cast out on to the street while settlers take over their homes. Now it is true that as one walks through the neighbourhood, down the ridge along the Kidron Valley towards Siloam, various houses formerly owned by Arabs are now inhabited by religious Jews and fly the Israeli flag. But what Soueif fails to tell her readers is that some of these houses were bought up from their Arab owners with the help of Jewish religious organisations and foundations for very large sums of money. For example, two brothers sold their home to Jewish settlers for nearly a million dollars. Meanwhile, her article does not detail how militants  allegedly target fellow Arabs who sell their homes to Jews. One of the two brothers detailed above was eventually murdered in Jordan, while those who sell their homes usually find it impossible to remain in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, one might be forgiven for assuming from Soueif’s article that settler activity and excavations are a cynical political ploy to take over an area where there is actually no historical evidence of a longstanding ancient Jewish presence. She writes:

Most scholars agree that, to this day, no evidence of the presence of Kings David or Solomon has been found at the site. But our group of elderly American tourists are spellbound by the stories they are hearing from Elad’s guides, stories which are conjecture, projection and myth.

Actually, this is somewhat disingenuous. It is quite one thing to point out how controversial minimalist archaeologists are not even convinced David existed as a real historical person, but whether by accident or design, quite another to give the impression to readers that the ridge has no Jewish historical or religious significance whatsoever. This is, of course, nonsense. Whether Warren’s Shaft, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, Siloam, the Gihon Spring, the unearthed Jebusite city walls, or other excavated remains, the Ophel Ridge’s connection with Jewish ancient history is undeniable. Though not quite echoing the lie which is Temple denial, Soueif arguably comes close to employing a similar strategy when she states at the end of her article; “The Jewish story in Jerusalem is indivisible from the Roman, the Byzantine, the Arab, the Muslim, the Christian”. Actually, as the Old Testament makes abundantly clear, the Jewish history of Jerusalem precedes all these later civilisations, and attempts to quell the unearthing of a distinct Jewish history is nothing less than an ideologically-driven ploy.

Religious Jews have every right to excavate, protect and promote their religious history. After all, the Ophel Ridge is the ascent leading to the Temple after which the famous Psalms are named. Ophel is also the original Zion. To be sure, it is quite one thing to buy up Arab properties, quite another – indeed a travesty – to rid people of their homes and land using obscure and ancient property laws to do so. There have been such incidents, and Christians who support such actions are, I believe, on dangerous theological ground. Taking over the home of an innocent family, especially in peace time, surely cannot be justified. By the same token, Christians who put themselves on the side which denies a Jewish historical presence in the area, allying themselves with minimalist archaeologists who deny Scripture or militant temple deniers, are on equally theologically dangerous ground.

For her part, I think Soueif’s and others’ calls of foul concerning excavations would be taken far more seriously if they would have been equally vociferous in their denunciation of the archaeological vandalism carried out on the Temple Mount some years ago to make way for an underground mosque.

UPDATE: Bishop Nick Baines shares his thoughts on this Guardian article and touches on the dangers of polar extremist views, as Calvin does above, albeit, from a different vantage point.

Bishop Nick Baines – Digging for truth?

Quite coincidentally, whilst reading a World Council of Churches press release entitled; Call on Holy Land pilgrims to work for peace, I noted an apposite little blog post by Solomon:

World Council of Churches: What Flavor Do You Prefer Your Anti-Zionism?

They have both Arab and Jewish anti-”Zionism”. The World Council of Churches has a funny way of celebrating a “World Week for Peace”: Palestinian and Jewish Activists to Discuss Occupation and Dispossession

Speakers:

Hazem Jamjoum
Communications officer of the BADIL Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights and editor of al-Majdal Quarterly Magazine

and

Caroline and Nathan Finkelstein
Geneva-based members of Urgence Palestine and of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network…

I would suggest that hosting yet another event on how to smash the ZIonist entity is probably not a great step forward for the cause of peace.

Whilst engaging in the sometimes depressing activity of monitoring Christian persecution in Islamic lands, a recurrent theme is the antecedent persecution of the Jewish remnant. Today Bataween over at the Point of no return Blog, picks up exactly this theme in relation to Egypt.

When fundamentalism takes root in a country, the trouble always starts with the Jews – but it never ends with them. Now Egypt’s Copts have been the target of intensifying attacks and persecutions just as Jews were. The Wall St Journal is one of the few news media to sit up and take notice. Yesterday it published this letter from JIMENA co-founder Joseph Abdel Wahed: (With thanks: Independent Observer)

Where is the outrage at the abuse of the Copts?

Moheb Zaki’s op-ed Egypt’s persecuted Christians (May 18) reminds me of what our Coptic Christian neighbors told us as Egypt’s Jews were being ethnically cleansed beginning as early as 1945: “After Saturday comes Sunday.” What this saying meant was that once the Muslims get rid of the Jews, the Christians’ turn is next.

The good news is that Egypt’s radical Muslims will not be able to expel seven to eight million Christians as easily as they did Egypt’s 80,000 Jews, including my family. Hopefully, the world community, the United Nations, human rights organizations and the world’s churches will lobby Egypt’s leaders. That is more than they did for the one million Jews who were kicked out of nine Arab countries and Iran, leaving behind most of their property, starting in the late 1940s and 1950s, after the foundation of the state of Israel. In 1967, at the start of the Six-Day War, the few remaining adult male Jews in Egypt were rounded up and imprisoned.

That is why I object strongly to our president’s speech in Cairo when he made the unbelievable statement that “Islam and America share the same principles of justice and tolerance.” Nonsense. Our values include religious and political freedom, respect for women, the rule of law and democratic ideals. Not so in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran, Somalia and in other places dominated by radical Islam such as Gaza.

Joseph Abdel Wahed
Moraga, Calif.

I found this quite surprising, however, personally I found the bus adverts war between some Christians and Humanists rather silly anyway.

British Humanist Association

An advertisement campaign run by the Christian Party, declaring “There definitely is a God. So join the Christian Party and enjoy your life”, has not only topped the Advertising Standards Authority’s Top 10 of most complained about adverts in 2009, it is one of the most complained about non-broadcast adverts ever. The adverts were on the sides of buses, deliberately mirroring the British Humanist Association’s high-profile “Atheist Bus Campaign” from earlier in the same year.

Continue Reading

Ekklesia have picked up on this also and they conclude:

The religion and society think-tank Ekklesia suggested last year that while encouraging people to think about their convictions concerning the meaning and purpose of life was a good thing, pro-god and anti-god propagandists might be better spending their money on benefiting people and planet, and on finding ways of working together across boundaries of faith and belief for human good.

Indeed….

Just for a twisted laugh OK.

Daily Shame:

Satan promises to crack down on charitable acts

A spate of charitable acts in the kingdom of Satan has resulted in a crackdown from the Dark Lord himself. Satan yesterday pledged to do his utmost to bring to a halt this ‘worrying trend’.

Three more charitable acts were reported yesterday, bringing the total number of SBO’s (Social Behaviour Orders) to 50 over the month of May. Persistent offenders have been told that they face expulsion from Hell.

“Listen, we all like to muck around every now and again,” said the Dark Lord in an interview last night on ITV with best friend, Piers Morgan. “But there’s a fine line between having a bit of fun and being a do-gooder. Only yesterday, I had to intervene directly when one sinner tried to pull another out of the River Styx. What is the underworld coming to? You fall in the River Styx, you stay in the River Styx. That’s the way it’s been for tens of thousands of millenea, and all of a sudden, that changes?”

“You come to hell, you play by the rules. That’s the way it’s always been, and if I have to start enforcing the rules, then so be it.”

Continue Reading

I have embarked upon reading Diarmaid MacCulloch’s seminal work, ‘A History of Christianity.’

I’m only 145 pages in to this book of over 1000 pages, but my initial thoughts are that this is generally a super read. MacCulloch subtitles his book; “The First Three Thousand Years” which gives you an idea of the breathtaking scope of the work. One word of caution however, is that MacCulloch is not a believer and he does make this clear at the outset, and in some ways it is beneficial for this work that he is not a Christian, however, the drawback is that MacCulloch identifies many serendipitous happenstances, that we believers would perceive as the hand of God working through humans.

For example, MacCulloch identifies the ruination of the Jewish Temple in Israel by the hand of the Romans (AD 70) as “accidental”, whereas, we would tend to view this as a foreknown and forewarned prophecy fulfilled. The same would apply to the Christ believing Jews who fled the city of Jerusalem as the Romans surrounded. The drawing together of Canon and creeds, doctrines, the ascension of the Pauline works, and many other suchlike events, are also viewed as solely human activity, without the insight and discernment of God at work.

Many times MacCulloch questions the authorship of the Scriptures and the dating of said work, and perhaps he is right to do, however, alternative positions are not adequately presented in my opinion, that said, it is early days.

MacCulloch presents Christianity as primarily a “personality cult” and affirms future growth and survival. He draws together factors such as linguistics, politics, culture and philosophy to chart the growth and divisions of Christianity in a novel and refreshing way. MacCulloch also highlights the reactionary development of Christianity in terms of other religions, internal disputes and existential threats, which demonstrates aptly the adaptability, survivability and transformative nature of our faith.

MacCulloch says of himself and his motivations:

This is emphatically a personal view of the sweep of Christian history, so I make no apology for stating my own position on the story: the reader of a book which pontificates on religion has a right to know. I come from a background in which the Church was a three-generation family business, and from a childhood spent in the rectory of an Anglican country parish, a world not unlike that of Rev. Samuel Crossman, of which I have the happiest of memories. I was bought up in the presence of the Bible, and I remember with affection what it was like to hold a dogmatic position on the statements of Christian belief. I would now describe myself as a candid friend of Christianity. I still appreciate the solemnity of religious liturgy as a way of confronting these problems. I live with the puzzle of wondering how something so apparently crazy can be so captivating to millions of other members of my species. It is in part to answer that question for myself that I seek out the history of this world faith, alongside those of humankind’s countless other expressions of religious belief and practice. Maybe some familiar with theological jargon will with charity regard this as an apophatic form of the Christian faith.

Anyway, that’s enough for the moment, I may post more on this book as I work my way through and the mood strikes. In the meantime I leave you with this quote by Maurice Powicke, from the ‘The Christian Life’ in The Legacy of the Middle Ages (Oxford 1926), cited at the beginning of MacCalluch’s book.

Organized Christianity came into existence, and exists, to preserve a treasure, a command to be executed, a promise to be repeated, a mission to be fulfilled. This treasure belongs to past, present, and future; it is potential, yet active; an object of contemplation, yet the inspiration of right conduct. An unfathomable mystery, it must be related to all knoweldge. And in their endeavours to guard and transmit their trust, its guardians have raised the most preplexing issues. They have caused endless destruction of life in the name of universal peace. They have built up the most realistic of political systems in the effort to establish a kingdom not of this world. In the exploration of the recesses of the soul, they have developed the arts and sciences, and constructed theories of the universe. And, in their desire to satisfy the deepest needs of mankind, they have raised up against themselves the visions, prophecies, and extravagences of excitable and obstinate men, and the dislike of many sensible men.

The treasure which has caused all this activity was cast into the world with a few simple sentences. ‘Thou shalt love the Lord your God and thy neighbour as thyself. What shall it prosper a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own sould?’ And again, ‘God so loved the world the he have his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everalsting life. No one cometh to the Father, save by Me. Take, eat; this is my body.’ And again, ‘Go and preach the Kingdom of God. Feed my sheep. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church. Peace I leave you, my peace I give unto you. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.’

Oh this is wonderful news folks.

These two courageous Iranian girls (Maryam Rostampour and Marzieh Amirizadeh) who are Islamic converts to Christianity and spent more than 250 days in jail for their belief and refused to recant their faith in front of Iranian judges, have been officially cleared of all charges against them. They have also been allowed to leave the country.

Please click here and here for background reading:

The Christian Post

Maryam Rostampour and Marzieh Amirizadeh were cleared of apostasy, anti-state activity, and participating in illegal gatherings, reported Elam Ministries, an Iran-focused ministry that has followed the case since the beginning. But Iranian authorities warned them that they will face serious consequences if they continue their Christian activities in Iran.

The founders of Elam Ministries, Sam and Lin Yeghnazar, received the two young women Saturday at an airport in an undisclosed country. The name of the country was withheld for security reasons.

“It was very emotional when we first saw them,” said Lin Yeghnazar. “Now, we want to see them rest and recover.”

Rostampour and Amirizadeh were arrested in March 2009 on charges of anti-state activity and for “taking part in illegal gatherings,” or in other words, for participating in house church activities. They were detained in the notorious Evin prison, a facility known for its human rights violations and capital punishment, while their trial took place in Tehran.

The young converts suffered psychological abuse, including sleep deprivation and intense hours-long interrogation, during their detainment. They also suffered from health problems but were denied medical attention.

In prison, the two were also pressured to renounce their new Christian faith and to return to Islam. But they repeatedly refused.

During an Aug. 9 court hearing, they told the judge, “We love Jesus,” “Yes, we are Christians,” and “We will not deny our faith.” Then in October they learned that a third charge was added – apostasy.

They were conditionally released on Nov. 18, but updates on their condition in April revealed that the two were still in frail physical condition.

“We are most grateful to everyone who prayed for us,” said Amirizadeh in a statement Saturday. “I have no doubt that God heard the prayers of His people.”

Rostampour also thanked Christians worldwide for their prayers, which she credits for sustaining them throughout the ordeal. She said eventually they would like to share what occurred during their detainment, but they wanted to pray and “seek the Lord for His will.”

In Iran it is illegal for Muslims to convert to Christianity, although Christians are allowed to convert to Islam.

Over the past year, authorities have shut down at least three churches and accused them of converting Muslims. None of the three churches have been given permission to reopen yet.

Further link:

Baptist Press: – Iran’s apostasy charge dropped against 2 women

These two girls are an example to us all.

This is truly a miracle….Thanks be to our faithful God…..

Following on from my blog post last week, charting the potentially historically momentous ‘thawing in relations’ between the Catholic and Orthodox church, it would appear that there is also some ‘thawing’ of inter-Orthodox relations:

ENI

A visit by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I of Constantinople to Moscow underscores a thawing in relations after decades of tension during the Soviet era and post-Soviet geopolitical turmoil – writes Sophia Kishkovsky.

Bartholomeos arrived in Russia on 22 May 2010 and took part in a service the following day – Pentecost Sunday – with Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church at the centuries-old Holy Trinity St Sergius Lavra church near Moscow.

They will concelebrate again on Monday 24 May at Christ the Saviour Cathedral opposite the Kremlin in the Russian capital, and then hold talks the next day at Kirill’s residence outside Moscow.

The Russian Orthodox Church is the world’s largest Orthodox church. The Ecumenical Patriarchate is regarded as being the most important symbolically, but Moscow has chafed when the Istanbul-based Patriarch of Constantinople is described as an Orthodox equivalent of a Roman Catholic pope.

Andrei Zubov, a historian and director of a centre for the study of the church and international relations at MGIMO, the Russian foreign ministry’s university, told ENInews that Patriarch Kirill is working to overcome the legacy of the Soviet past inherited by the Russian church.

“Patriarch Kirill came to his throne, to his position, with the idea of sharply improving relations both with Constantinople and with Rome, and he is very active in these two directions,” said Zubov in a 21 May interview.

Kirill, who was enthroned as Patriarch in February 2009, visited Bartholomeos and the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul in July. There the two patriarchs spoke of the need to cast differences aside and present a united Orthodox front against secular evils.

The visit by Bartholomeos to Moscow comes after a mission to the Vatican by Metropolitan Hilarion, Kirill’s successor as chairperson of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations. Hilarion is also a composer and his visit included a 20 May performance of a symphony by him called “A Song of Ascent”, attended by Pope Benedict XVI.

While in Rome, Hilarion said that it is his goal for Patriarch Kirill and Pope Benedict to meet.

Attempts to organise a meeting between Pope John Paul II and Kirill’s predecessor, Patriarch Alexei II, failed. Relations between the two churches in the 1990s were marred by disputes over Ukraine and about Russian charges that Catholics were proselytising – seeking converts – in Russia, something denied by the Catholic Church.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, intra-Orthodox conflicts over jurisdictional allegiance have flared in Estonia and Ukraine as some Orthodox groups sought to break free of Moscow as their countries gained independence. Similar issues have arisen in other European countries in recent years, with an influx of Russians leading to divided parishes and property disputes. Some of those disenchanted have turned to the Ecumenical Patriarchate as a refuge against the Moscow Patriarchate’s growing strength.

Moscow and Constantinople also have a longstanding dispute over Moscow’s authority to grant autocephaly, or self-governing status, to the Orthodox Church in America in 1970.

“Bad relations with Constantinople and bad relations with Rome were a mandatory condition of Soviet church ideology,” said Zubov, the Moscow historian and analyst. “The Moscow Patriarchate was restored in its day by Stalin in 1943 with the goal of counteracting the Vatican and Constantinople as centres of Christianity not controlled by the Soviet regime.”

The Russian church was influenced for decades by this way of thinking, he said.

“Two generations of Russian bishops and Russian theologians were raised with this psychological heritage,” Zubov stated. “So what is happening now is namely the overcoming of the Soviet, KGB heritage, the Soviet control of the church … This is the restoration of normal, natural relations between the churches after the unnatural relations of the Soviet period.”

Sandro Magister (writing for chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it) has written on the thawing of Orthodox and Catholic relations, in a piece provocatively entitled: A Holy Alliance between Rome and Moscow Is Born:

There is much ecumenical activity behind the scenes currently between the Orthodox and Catholic church, which has the potential to unify the largest churches on earth into full communion for the first time since the “Great Schism” nearly a thousand years ago.

I love juxtaposing articles that I find online and this one’s a beauty.

First I came across this article in the Sunday Standard entitled; Is it time to qualify soccer as a religion?

Religion is described as a “Way of life” or a “Life stance” of a particular group of people who are loyal and devoted to a belief of a superior god or gods. With the turn of events in this world, it would be perhaps more accurate to say that soccer should now be qualified as a religion because of the affection and devotion expressed by the soccer fans to their beloved sport worldwide.

Once upon a time, the essential Sunday activity was going to church in the morning but now things have changed; the essential activity is watching soccer matches in local stadiums and Sunday night soccer fixtures on television.

In Gaborone, you see the soccer fans in their blue wigs, with blue and white painted faces, going to attend matches when the national soccer team, the Zebras, is on duty.

It’s surprising that Christianity, which has more than 2 billion believer’s worldwide, ranks second among the major religions of the world. The game of soccer has a large following that attends the Church of Soccer.

It may sound as an exaggeration to call soccer a religion, but it is obviously more than a game.

If you go to the Catholics, they know well their Christian Calendar Events like Lent, Easter, Christmas. The same applies to any believer of the Word of God; they know full details about the Lord Jesus Christ.

The same devotion is found in most soccer fans, they know everything about what’s happening in the world of soccer.

[.....]

Like any other social group or religion, tribalism exists among the soccer fans, more passionate than you’d find in even most organized religions. Most religious leaders at least pay lip service to the brotherhood-sisterhood of those who follow other faiths or teams. But the single-minded tribalism among football fans is overwhelming. Other teams are generally considered “the enemy,” sometimes literally.

[.....]

The world of soccer is slowly turning into a religion and, surprisingly the best advocates are both men and women, which is a little bit different with other religions.

There are passion killings in some societies because of misguided devotion and soccer fans are prepared to die for game results; what difference is there now?

It cannot be denied that soccer fans have declared their players their gods, for they believe in them so much.

Read All

And then this from the Church of England website entitled; The Church of England offers prayers for the World Cup:

As England face Mexico with less than three weeks to their opening match against the USA in South Africa, the Church of England has published three prayers for the World Cup: two for the teams, the hosts and the fans – and one for those not interested. The prayers ask for blessings on all those involved, for generous sportsmanship and for the competition to be a source of celebration.

Read All

The prayers on the Church of England website are in themselves largely agreeable and not partisan, however, should we embark on prayer for these sorts of occasions, especially if it could be persuasively argued that soccer has in fact become akin to a new religion?

Or what happens if both sides are praying to the same God for their respective teams? What does God do in these instances, or is it more likely that God would not care either way?

There is more about this over at the Telegraph.

UPDATE: believe it or not, this has actually made news in the US.

USAToday: Bishop cheers — and writes prayers — for World Cup soccer

UPDATE: Bishop Nick Baines has himself blogged on this:

Prayer for the World (Cup)

Cross-post Rosh Pina Project:

From the Jewish Chronicle:

The controversial founder of Jews for Jesus, Moishe Rosen, has died from prostate cancer, aged 78.

Mr Rosen was the most famous Jewish evangelist; having “found Jesus” aged 21. He and his wife made it a life-long mission to convert Jews to the teachings of Jesus. He died at his home in San Francisco, California.

Born in Denver, Colorado, Mr Rosen was rejected by his Jewish family after his decision to leave Judaism.

He became an ordained minister and founded Jews for Jesus in 1973 to train missionaries to preach to Jews. He was known for his larger-than-life attitude and a zealous personality, calling himself a “Messianic Jew”.

Mr Rosen wrote numerous books on converting Jews, including “Christ in Passover” and “Share the New Life with a Jew”.

The movement has followings in 11 countries, including the UK and Israel.

[...]

Mr Rosen continued his mission to convert Jews after his death, with a message he requested to be posted on his website after his death.

He wrote: “I hope I can count on you to show love and respect for the Jewish people, but Jewishness never saved anybody. Judaism never saved anybody, no matter how sincere.

“Within Judaism today, there is no salvation because Christ has no place within Judaism.”