Religion

Atheist: Perspectives on Death – Part 5/6

July 1, 2012 By Daniel Im

This fifth post of my series summarizes the atheist’s view on death and tragedy.

For an atheist, death is final, so when Rebecca Hensler’s infant son died, remarks such as, “He is in a better place,” “God has a plan,” or “Now he’s an angel,” did not make sense for her. “Grief Without God is a Challenge for Atheists” is an article that describes how atheists are finding comfort with one another as they look for a way “to process grief and sorrow without the trappings – or support – of religious ritual and belief.”

Religious Faith: Perspectives on Death – Part 3/6

March 6, 2012 By Daniel Im

This third post of my series highlights one of the most recent deaths that have not only impacted Western culture, but also our global culture because of her widespread fame and music – Whitney Houston’s death.

The third perspective on death that I am going to be exploring is the religious response.

Due to Whitney Houston’s widespread fame, there have been countless tweets, blogs, and news reports regarding her death and the response of individuals to her death. For example, Jessica Simpson tweeted, “I found my voice singing Whitney Houston’s music. Today I lost my idol.” Rosie O’Donnell tweeted, “Dear God … There is a grief that can’t be spoken.” And Busta Rhymes tweeted, “Can’t believe we’ve lost another 1 of our Royalty. Sister Queen Whitney Houston. God Bless on ur journey as u now stand with the Most High.”

These are artists and celebrities, who are not known for their faith convictions, but still seemed to express their grief through a lens of faith, whether it be genuine or merely language.

Due to Whitney Houston’s Christian background, her funeral, which was broadcasted live over the Internet, was probably one of the most Gospel and faith filled funerals that many non-Christians would have ever witnessed. From Newark’s Mayor Cory Booker addressing the crowd with these words, “We are here to mourn our loss, but to celebrate her life. God is in heaven, and with him is one of our angels, Whitney Houston,” to Christian songs, Scripture, and a sermon, her funeral depicts the way many in our culture are able to process tragic death through religious faith.

Join me next time as I explore another one of our culture’s perspectives on death.

Loving and Destroying Community

January 26, 2012 By Daniel Im

“People who love community always end up destroying community. People who love relationships always build community.”

– Ronald Rolheiser

Book Review: The Next Christendom – Philip Jenkins

August 22, 2011 By Daniel Im

The following is an analytical book review of Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom.

Philip Jenkins, the author of 24 books, and 120 book chapters and refereed articles, has been on the faculty of Pennsylvania State University since 1980, and in 2007, he was appointed as the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History and Religious Studies. He completed his undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral work all at the University of Cambridge, but it is not his work in global Christianity that got him on the faculty of Penn State. He began as an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice in 1980. In fact, his early work consists of history, criminology, and pedophilia. It was not until his publication of The Next Christendom that his reputation as an expert on global Christianity came to the forefront. Since then, he has spoken widely around this topic of global Christianity (http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/p/jpj1/vita.htm).

The thesis of this book is that the center of Christianity has shifted southward to Africa, Asia, and Latin America (Location 36). As a result, in spite of the seeming decline of Christianity in the western world, Christianity is actually growing and flourishing in most areas around the world (Location 992).

Book Review: The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission – Lesslie Newbigin

August 14, 2011 By Daniel Im

The following is an analytical review on Lesslie Newbigin’s The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission Revised Edition.

Leslie Newbigin (1909-1998) was a theological missiologist/missionary and a missiological theologian. There are over six decades worth of his writings on mission theology and practice. Thus, he is considered to have had one of the greatest influences on the theology of mission in the twentieth century. Furthermore, Newbigin was a scholar practitioner since his works were always rooted in his living relationship with Jesus Christ; after all, he modeled what he wrote. He was also a Western missionary to India from 1936-1974, and upon returning to Great Britain, his missionary focus turned to the West (Shenk 1998).

The thesis of this book is that Christian mission is an open secret. It is open in the sense that the gospel is proclaimed to all without any boundaries, but it is a secret in that “it is manifest only to the eyes of faith” (Location 2556). As a result, mission cannot be relegated as a side task of the church, but it is the central calling and purpose of the church, yet the church does not own the mission, the mission is God’s (Location 256). Newbigin’s prophetic call to the church is for it to reemphasize its missionary character “to bring all things to their true end in the glory of the triune God” (Location 2556).

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