When is Religion Relevant?

                                                    When is Religion Relevant?

                                                    By Dr. Juan A. Carmona



In some recent essays, I have written about the monotony and tediousness of religion and theology, about how relevant or non-relevant it can be, and how from time to time it just plainly ¨sucks.¨  In this essay, I pose the question, ¨When is religion relevant and useful?¨  There are no easy answers to that question.  People have different views about religion.  There are many who claim to believe in God, but not in organized religion.  There are others who believe that the only way to have relationship with God is by being affiliated with an organized community of faith.  And then there are others who believe that religion is a privatized affair where each one has their own ¨pipeline¨ to God, independent of religious activities or claims.

I personally and humbly submit that religion (some prefer the term ¨spirituality)¨ is relevant when the following is in place:

1.  Transparency- There is nothing worse than when we encounter individuals or faith groups who utilize religion to either hide their true character, or to legitimize an evil system such as colonialism, slavery, and second-class status for a particular gender.  If I hide behind the Bible, or any other sacred text, or behind a set of rituals to project something that I am not, I am not a true practitioner of religion.  Religion, then, becomes a mask behind which I hide in order to obscure my true colors. Religion has to lead us to be genuine and honest, exposing ourselves with our true personality and characteristics, our hangups, quirks, etc.  We cannot ¨B.S.¨ our way through it, otherwise, we will be accountable to God and to each other.

2.  Compassion- When I speak of religion being compassionate, I am not talking about a ¨touchy feely,¨ type of emotion, where we just merely hug and kiss one another.  Compassionate religion is more than a handshake, an embrace, a kiss, or a smile.  Compassionate religion involves commitment to and engagement with those who are in misery and pain, and suffering from whatever their suffering may be called. Religion has to be justice-driven, i.e. motivated by  the desire to do right by people, regardless of their station in life. Compassionate religion seeks to not only criticize and denounce, but also to dismantle all structures of injustice and unfairness, whether within or without the community of faith.

3.  Realistic-  Compassionate religion does not settle for ¨pie in the sky by and by¨ or ¨On the other side of Jordan¨ jargon.  Religion cannot and should not serve as a drug which puts people to sleep, numbing them to the reality of exploitation by keeping people waiting for ¨Jesus to come back.¨ True religion motivates us to say ¨Hell no¨ to unrealistic accommodation and appeasement.  True religion should enable us to confront and deal with the ¨here and now.¨

This writer (yours truly) believes that true religion is practiced when we do the works of dealing with the underdogs and rejects of society. God calls us to solidarity and empathy, not to be spectators in a world of injustice and suffering.  To God be the glory.

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen!

Juan A. Carmona

The Tediousness of Theology

                                                   The Tediousness of Theology

                                                    By Dr. Juan A. Carmona



One the many things that we human beings experience in one way or the other, or at one time or the other is boredom.  We become bored with the routine of things.  We also, from time to time, become bored with our relationships with other people.  We desire and with for something new.  We think that there is excitement in novelty.  But then the novelty becomes old and we end up wanting something in place of the novelty.

There appears to be no end to the vicious cycle of novelty and boredom.  We read books and other literature that we think are exciting and stimulating, but then we experience the syndrome of tediousness when we encounter so much material to absorb and consume.  Sometimes we experience mental bloating, and I would dare to add, intellectual constipation.

Someone once asked my wife,¨Don´t you find Juan tedious sometimes?¨  To this day, I don´t know and do not even care to know what my wife´s response was to that person.  The fact remains that this person thought of me as tedious, and somewhat boring.  Well, believe it or not, I get bored with myself from time to time and long for novelty.  But as soon as the novelty wears off, I go back to my ¨tedious¨ routine.

An example of this is, when I was a boy of five, I had a slipper which I carried in my hand, pretending that it was a train.  I would go around the house, making noises and making imaginary train stops. My parents bought me an electric train which I enjoyed for perhaps two days, seeing it move around the tracks.  But after the second day, it became boring and I went back to the routine of the slipper.

Since my mid-teenage years, I have obsessed with theology and with theological issues.  Whenever I acquired on a certain issue of Scripture and/or theology, I thought that I had reached the apex of theological knowledge and thought that I was an ¨expert.¨  I would debate with friends and associates in the church.  Sometimes the debate or dialogue would entice other people to join the conversation, and at other times, it would alienate people from me.

Because my wife is my biggest cheerleader, we often talk about theological concerns and issues.  She has a keen and very open mind, and likes to ponder on these things.  We ¨kick¨ issues back and forth.  But then I sense that she finds the discussion heading in the direction of tediousness, and then we change the topic of discussion.  We then begin to talk about family, friends, and social issues.

How do we solve the tediousness of theology (God-talk)?  Do we discard it altogether?  Do we relegate it to secondary status among other topics?  Do we shelve it for another occasion?

As a person with an inquisitive mind, and who suffers from the syndrome of ¨the need to know,¨ I would not advocate or promote dropping the subject altogether.  Neither would I advocate for making it of secondary concern.  Theology (God-talk) is my passion.

I am more inclined to integrate theology with life.  In other words, I always pose the question, ¨what, if anything, does God have to do with this?"  If some day you wish to join me in theological chit-chat, I would be most happy and grateful.  Let´s talk about God.  What do you say?

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen.

Juan A. Carmona

Thinking Outside the Religious and Theological Box

                             Thinking Outside the Religious and Theological Box

                             By Dr. Juan A. Carmona

 

One of the many things that we are challenged to do in our day and age is to ¨think outside the box.¨ This means that we are asked and invited to give room to the possibility that there are other beliefs and ideologies that might be as true and valid as the ones we hold to.  In other words, the challenge is for us to attempt refraining from being ¨dogmatic,¨ ¨closed minded,¨ and ¨opinionated.¨  We are also challenged to question our assumptions and presuppositions behind our opinions and tightly-held beliefs.  This is true in the area of religion/theology and political ideology.

While I would be among the first to advocate for open-mindedness, I would also be the among the first to ask the question, ¨If we succeed in thinking outside our box, do we then go into another box or frame of reference?¨  In other words, do we replace one box of belief and ideology with another box?¨ Is it possible to go ¨boxless?¨

In the area of religion and theology, these are difficult questions.  One of the many things that make it difficult to answer these questions is that we strive for deeply-held convictions with the hope that what we believe and think is precisely what God wants us to believe and think.  In other words, we want to align our thinking with what we believe is God´s thinking.  Instead of allowing the voice of God to say ¨my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts,¨ we prefer to reverse the batting order and say ¨my thoughts are the same as God´s thoughts.¨

Are there particular things that God wants us to believe?  Is there an enclosed set of beliefs that God expects and requires us to subscribe to?  In the final analysis, does God really care what we believe?

This writer (yours truly) does not believe for one single moment that God relates to us on the basis of belief and ideology. The God of Scripture and the Judaeo-Christian-Islamic tradition relates to us on the basis of how we treat one another, and whether or not we strive to insure justice for all.

In my years of work as a prison chaplain, I discovered the joy of transcending religious ideology by working together with chaplains and residents of different faith groups.  The presence of God was there in our meetings and joint task with the residential community.  We were there as agents of God´s liberating activities first, and then Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or whatever second.  We not only thought but also acted ¨outside the box.¨  

The box that God invites us to is the box of compassion, integrity, justice, and love.  God is not concerned with dogma or ¨theological correctness.¨  God calls and invites us to participate in the construction of the Beloved Community. May we be moved to join God in this process.

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen

Juan A. Carmona

The Word of God: Is it Limited to the Bible?

                                                   The Word of God:  Is it Limited to the Bible?

                                                    By Dr. Juan A. Carmona

This essay is designed to stimulate us to ponder on how much, if at all, God is limited.  In this case, we ask the question if God´s self-disclosure is limited to that sacred text that we call the Bible.  Is the Bible the exclusive Word of God?

I will begin by saying, much to chagrin, I´m sure, of many of my Christian sisters and brothers, that I do not believe that the Bible, in and of itself, is the Word of God.  Say what?  You might ask, ¨How can a Bible teacher, minister, and theologian make such an affirmation?¨  My response is that I believe, like theologian and pastor Karl Barth, that the Bible is a witness to the Word of God, which is Jesus the Christ.  Without this witness, the Bible would be like any other book on the shelf. To the extent that the Scriptures witness to
God´s self-disclosure through Christ, they become the Word of God to us.

The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century brought to the forefront the belief in ¨Sola Scriptura,¨ the notion that the Bible is the only rule of faith and practice.  In the Catholic and Orthodox churches, there is the belief that tradition and experience carry as much weight as the Scripture for the simple reason that in a sequential sense, they preceded the Scriptures.  Some Protestant churches believe in the concept of ¨Prima Scriptura,¨ i.e. the notion that the Bible is the primary, though not the exclusive rule of faith and practice. Those who believe in ¨Prima Scriptura,¨ believe that tradition and experience are secondary sources of belief and practice in Christian theology.

This writer (yours truly) is more inclined to the notion of ¨Prima Scriptura.¨  I believe that the Scriptures, along with tradition, experience, and other branches of human knowledge ( humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences) establish the foundation for Christian belief and practice.

Aside from the role of Scripture, we deal with the issue of whether God´s self-disclosure is mediated through the sacred scriptures of other traditions.   Can we find the Word of God in the Hindu Scriptures (Bhagavad Gita, Vedas, and Upanishads), the Islamic Scriptures (the Holy Qua´ran), etc.?  Many, if not most Christians, I believe, would say a resounding ¨No!¨ due to their belief that God´s self-disclosure is only and exclusively found in the Bible.

This Christian writer is of the persuasion that God´s revelation is and cannot be restricted to one book.  There are various reasons for that, of which I will name but a few.

1.  The biblical doctrine of divine sovereignty- The Scriptures, both Old and New Testament emphasize that God is a sovereign being who does what, when, and how He/She wants and is not subject to the whims of human expectations.  The God of Scripture operates outside of the realm of human volition and occasionally surprises us by what He/She does.

2.  The biblical emphasis on a universal God- While the Scriptures do make mention of a God who chooses a certain group of people to be in a covenant relationship with Her/Him, they also emphasize that this choosing is geared towards making the knowledge of God a universal phenomenon.  I think that it would be very arrogant and presumptuous on the part of us Christians to deny that God´s self-disclosure would be mediated via the scriptures of religions that are much older than the Judaeo-Christian tradition.

3.  The fact that the Scriptures, while sacred to us, reflect divine revelation coming through fallible, frail, imperfect, and weak human beings who can only give us a glimpse of the reality of God. To say that the authors of the Bible had it ¨äll together,¨ and had a much bigger understanding of the reality and actions of God than their predecessors leaves room for the development of Christian imperialism, something which the God who speaks through Christ and through the Scriptures never intended.

I could continue to add other reasons for my belief that God´s self-disclosure is not limited to our sacred text, but I will limit myself to the three mentioned above in order to leave room for conversation and dialogue. The readers are welcome to share their comments, views, and perspectives.

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen.

Juan A. Carmona

Deconstructing Myths About the Bible

                                                  Deconstructing Myths About the Bible

                                                  By Dr. Juan A. Carmona


The title of this essay might just possibly ¨turn off¨ some readers and make them inclined to not even want to be bothered with reading the rest of it.  Some people cringe at the mere suggestion that there is something mythological in or about the Bible.  The term ¨myth¨ simply scares the living hell out of them.

Let me begin by saying that it is not my intention to denigrate or speak against the message of Scripture in any way.  I would hope that just the opposite would be true, i.e. that the reader would be strengthened in embracing the message. I am a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ, and by His grace, a Minister of the Gospel.  Because of this calling, I find it my duty and responsibility to point out certain things relative to that sacred book that we consider to be either the sole, or at the very least, primary authority or source for what we believe and practice.  I think that I would be remiss and derelict in my duties and responsibilities if I failed to bring these things to the forefront.  In that spirit, then, with humility, fear and trembling, and all due respect for the reader,  let me point out that there are certain erroneous ideas and myths that some of us may have about the Bible.

1.  The Bible was written in Heaven and thrown down to Earth.  Nowhere in the Scriptures we will find any indication or even implication that there was an ink blotter in Heaven that God used to write the words of Scripture, and then cast them down to the Earth.  The variety of literary styles and the different issues that are addressed in Scripture make it very clear and plain that human hands played a role in the formation of this sacred text.

2.  The Christian Scriptures (New Testament), especially the four Gospel accounts, reflect the words of Jesus as recorded by His disciples who followed him around with a tape recorder, jotting down everything that He said and did.  Nothing could be more preposterous and further from the truth.  Biblical scholarship has demonstrated without the slightest shadow of a doubt that there is a big time gap between the earthly ministry of Jesus and the time that the Gospel accounts and other books of the New Testament were written. Subsequently, we would be deluding ourselves if we were to think that we have the words of Jesus verbatim in our sacred text.

3.  The various translations of the Bible are divinely inspired, inerrant, and infallible just like the original autographs were.  This problem is two-fold.  First of all, the affirmation that the original autographs were divinely inspired, inerrant, and infallible is an affirmation of faith, because none of us has even seen or will ever see the original autographs.  Secondly, the different versions and translations of the Bible have enough contrasts and variety among themselves so as to create the question of which ones most accurately reflect what the original autographs contained?

4. The only way to read and understand the message of the Bible is to take it literally.  Again, the variety of literary styles in Scripture make it clear that this is not possible.  It also makes it clear that this was not God´s intention in giving us the Bible.  The best way to affirm divine inspiration and the authority of Scripture is to acknowledge the sovereignty of God working how He/She wants.  This would allow for God to speak through actual historical facts, through allegory, metaphor, and even fiction, legend, and myth.

It is my hope and prayer that this essay will stimulate the reader to have not only a different, but a broader perspective on her/his reading of the Bible.  I also invite you, the reader to comment on this essay.

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Juan A. Carmona

Theology: Top Down or Bottom Up?

                                                 Theology:  Top Down or Bottom Up?

                                                 By Dr. Juan A. Carmona, 

Several questions are asked about the theological enterprise.  Some people may ask as to whether theology is a worthwhile task engaging in.  There are people who consider it a waste of time, an exercise in mental gymnastics or as James Cone would call it, ¨intellectual masturbation.¨  Others consider it irrelevant to life, because there are more ¨important¨ things that we should devote our attention to.

As a person who believes that theology (God-talk, or a discourse about God) is important, I am more concerned with whether theology should emerge from the ¨experts¨ in the field, i.e. those who have advanced degrees and specialization in theology, or whether it should emerge from the average person sitting in the pews, and partaking with the working class to make a living. 

To begin with, I strongly believe that theology is important because it is an attempt to help us make sense out of what we believe relative to God and to God´s dealings in human history.  Through theology, we seek to articulate our understanding of God´s self-disclosure throughout history via the prophets, the traditions, the Scriptures, and from a Christian standpoint, through Jesus of Nazareth.  Through theology, we also seek to determine how our understanding of God establishes the foundation as to how we should live in relation with God and with each other.  

Having said that, I hold firm to what my theology professor said while I was in seminary, i.e. all theology is tentative. In other words, since theology is a human construct, no theology can claim to be either complete or infallible. All theology is subject to critique, questioning, correction and revision.  No theology can claim to have the ¨final" answer to the issues of God and life.

To the question of whether theology should be a ¨top down¨ or ¨bottom up¨ task, I can only respond that the theology of the first-century Church was a ¨bottom up¨ expression of the Church´s self-understanding of God and of its mission.  Its theology did not emerge from the academy or from the comforts of an air-conditioned office. The Church´s discourse about God emerged from its life of the combat against heresy on the one hand, and experiencing persecution on the other.  The Christian Scriptures (New Testament) are reflective of a Church ¨on the run,¨ if you will.  Its theology was not forged by experts in the field, but rather by people who practiced their faith in the midst of ¨dungeon, fire, and sword.¨

It was after the Church became co-opted by the Roman Empire and had its faith compromised and diluted, that its theology began to be handed down by those who held the reigns of power.  Eventually, the theology of the Church was aligned with Greek philosophy as the Church sought to make it look intellectually respectable and appealing from a scholarly point of view.

In the late 1960´s and early 1970´s, a new way of doing theology emerged from the countries of the so-called ¨Third World,¨ especially from Latin America.  This new approach was referred to as ¨Liberation Theology,¨ which emerged, not from the comforts and luxury of academia, but rather from the oppression, poverty, and suffering experienced by the vast majority of people in these countries. This theology is a ¨bottom up¨ theology which threatens those in power in both the Church and the society. It is a denunciatory and prophetic theology which calls into question the assumptions and presuppositions of the ideologies that reflect the interests of the dominating parties.

This writer (yours truly) invites you to examine this way of doing theology, not because it is a fad or a fashion, but rather, because it affirms you and every other member of the community of faith as a theologian.  It is a theology which makes us aware that the community of faith is a movement established, not to be self-centered or self-engrossed entity, but rather to be an agent of God´s liberating activities in the world through Yeshua Hamaschiach (Jesus the Messiah).   All aboard!

In the Name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer. Amen!

Juan A. Carmona

Religion Sucks, Doesn´t It?

                                                   
                                                  Religion Sucks, Doesn´t It?

                                                  By Dr. Juan A. Carmona, Pastoral Theologian


Karl Marx, the author of the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital said that religion is the ¨opiate of the masses.¨ It seems that for Marx, religion was one wayof duping people into a false sense security, giving them ¨spiritual¨ anesthesia, numbing them to the harsh realities of life, including, but not limited to, exploiting the living hell out of them in the work place.  In Marx´s point of view, the numbing them consisted of promising people a hereafter life in Paradise, so that they would not have to worry about the harsh and difficult conditions in the present. In this manner, the oppressors would give them a pacifier that would prevent them from waking up, smelling the coffee, and possibly even rebelling. If, in fact, this is true, it really sucks, don´t you think?  Damn!  Ouch!

The other problem that this minister/theologian (yours truly) sees with religion, is that even within the context and framework of each faith community, there is the notion that one faith community has a monopoly on divine truth.   Their belief is that they and they alone have the truth, and all other faith communities have only a partial knowledge of the truth, if that.  Again I say, damn and ouch!  What arrogance and presumptuousness, no?  And I am not even talking about Christian vs. Muslim, or Jewish vs. Buddhist, etc. I am talking about Christian vs. Christian, and even furthermore, Baptist vs. Baptist, Pentecostal vs. Pentecostal, Presbyterian vs. Presbyterian, etc.  What a helluva of a conundrum, no?  A helluva confusion!

Add to that, how religion has been used to justify slavery, subordination of women to men, acts of terrorism and counter-terrorism, the notion of racial superiority, institutional and systemic racism, etc., etc. Damn!

People might ask me, if you feel that way about religion, why are you in it?  They might even ask me, why are you a minister?  These are valid questions, and the answers that I can give are only imperfect and tentative answers.

I begin by responding that for me religion (not organized or institutional) as an attempt to have a relationship with God, is not in and of itself, something bad.  In its historical manifestation, it has proven itself to be both demonic and oppressive.  However, in terms of its original intention, it can be seen as an agent and mechanism of liberation, if understood and practiced correctly.  If our faith leads us to be committed to the task of justice, then we are ¨right on track.¨  If our faith (whatever one we profess) impels us to be involved in the quest to construct the Beloved Community, then we have discovered the necessary ingredients for practicing it.  If our faith drives us to tear down the barriers that divide us, then the true essence of religion is discovered and comes alive.

I invite you to join the movement whose quest is a healthy relationship with both God and our neighbor.

In the Name of the Creator, Liberator, and Sustainer.

Juan A. Carmona

Theology and Life: Who Really Cares?

                                                   Theology and Life:  Who Really Cares?

                                                   By Dr. Juan A. Carmona, Pastoral Theologian


I would like to bring the focus on Racism Within a Biblical and Theological Framework to a temporary halt for the purpose of focusing on the importance or non-importance of the theological enterprise.  The purpose of this essay is to stimulate the reader and all of us, for that matter, to focus on the question of whether theology is or is not important in our lives.  There are two questions that I will address in this essay. They are:

1.  Does God really care what theology we subscribe to?  Does God really give a damn whether we are Arminian or Calvinistic in our thinking?  Does He/She get easily upset because we are not subscribing to the ¨right¨ theology?  While I would be the last person to say that theology is not important, I would also venture to say that I do not see anything in the Scriptures or in the Christian tradition that even remotely insinuates that having a ¨correct¨ theology is a guarantee of having a right relationship with God.  Granted, that in order for us to attempt to have a relationship with God, we need to construct a theology that reflects what a relationship with God consists of, and how we go about establishing that relationship.  However, thatt does not mean, by any stretch of the imagination, that our relationship with God is contingent on our theological orientation.  We have encountered, I´m sure enough people who appear to have a ¨screwed up,¨ theology, and who nonetheless are sincerely committed believers.  On the other hand, we have dealt with people who appear to have a ¨sound¨ theology, and yet have chaotic lives.  What do we do, then?

2.  Does theology have any relevance for people struggling to survive with dignity?  I humbly and respectfully submit that people who are ¨on the run,¨ because of governmental persecution or in risk of any degree of terrorism do not have either the time, the interest, or even the luxury of speculating as to which theology is the ¨right one.¨ Furthermore, I would add that people who are striving to ¨get the cheese off the truck¨ (struggling to pay rent/mortgage and other debts) are not concerned with theological speculation.  A victim of rape or police brutality is not engaged in neat theological formulations, and neither should he/she be.  What then, is the answer to this conundrum?

As one who thinks and operates within the framework of Liberation Theology, I strongly believe and am convinced that a valid theology should emerge from the experience of suffering.  As African American theologian James Cone would say, any theology which is constructed independently of the oppression and suffering of humanity is not a valid or relevant theology.  I would add that any theology which does not even bother to address these issues, is a wasteful exercise in which is good only for the trash can.  Theology should not only be a conversation about the poor, but also a conversation with the poor that reflects our solidarity with them. It is very, very easy to do theology in the comfort of our air-conditioned offices, and even from the comfort of our homes.  But true theology takes place where there is identity and solidarity with the underdogs and rejected of society. Anything other than than, is mental gymnastics and intellectual masturbation.  I invite you to the forum where true theology is taking place, i.e. in the midst of the hungry, the unemployed, the underemployed, the exploited working class, the homeless, those caught up in the vicious cycle and maze of prostitution, the addicted to alcohol and drugs, and, en fin, where people´s asses are being kicked for the hell of it.  This is where Jesus is.  This is where true and relevant theology is taking place.

In the Name of the Creator, Liberator, and Sustainer. Amen.

Juan A. Carmona