In Advent, we await the gift of God to
us. We wait even in the midst of the signs around us. And we wait with patience
and hope, for the Maker of heaven and earth is faithful. Our Father will keep
the promises made to us in Jesus Christ. The Son of Man will come and bring
justice to that which has been made ‘dia Christou.’
Even our mother earth groans in travail
as she awaits the redemption of the children of God. Perhaps this Advent we
can appreciate even more the coming glory of God. And of his Kingdom there
will be no end. The earth waits and we wait with her for our redemption.
The contemporary church suffers from
what Adrio Konig calls The
Eclipse of Christ in Eschatology. 80 years ago Barth wrote in his Epistle
to the Romans that if christology is not eschatology then it is not christology
at all. Today we might say that if eschatology is not christology then it
is not eschatology at all. The popular eschatology of the Christian churches
suffers from a lack of coherence. God is good at the beginning, he is good
in Jesus but at the end he is one bad mutha. ‘God’ (presumably
the Father) is the bad cop over against Jesus the good cop. In the typical
doctrine of election or atonement, God is nothing more than an alcoholic in
the sky. It makes no sense from the viewpoint of the gospel to import violence
into eschatology, but from the perspective of the scapegoating mechanism it
makes perfect sense. Popular apocalyptic is the closure of the myth of sacred
violence and the justification for all of the violence done ‘between
the times.’
We have tried to show that when the Synoptics
(and Paul) utilize apocalyptic constructs, they may retain the frame but they
entirely alter the structure and substance of apocalyptic. We believe this
can adequately be traced back to Jesus, but this last argument is not necessary.
Furthermore, it would appear that an anthropological reading of apocalyptic,
that is a hermeneutical ‘reading from below’ has far more congruity
not only with the gospel message but perhaps also with the greater work of
the Spirit in our world as we have seen in Native American prophecy or as
Rene Girard sees in Shakespeare, Proust and Dostoievski. A text like this
can illumine in many directions.
Some sermon ideas….
At the turn of the millennium, we were
treated to a multitude of movies with strong apocalyptic themes. Two of them
were centered on asteroids that threatened the existence of life on Earth.
One of them was a wonderful hero-myth in which the hero sacrifices himself
to save the planet, the other was an insightful look into the dissolution
of human culture when it becomes plain that disaster cannot be averted. (Deep
Impact)
In this second movie we encounter characters
who face the end with utter terror and remarkable courage. The only real difference
is the belief in something that makes survival a less-than-ultimate “Good.”
It isn’t necessary to believe that
the havoc we wreak on the environment is a sign of the coming “end”
to see that our lesson for First Advent asks us to choose which side of the
line we’ll stand on when things turn chaotic in our lives.
For those of us caught up in the “mimetic
web,” the chaos of these times threatens, even if it doesn’t entirely
create, the battle of “all against all” that the pillars of culture
are designed to prevent. We will, as did most of the characters in Deep Impact,
lay hands on whatever resources are at hand, ripping them from the hands of
our neighbors, determined to survive.
For those of us who are caught up in
the “web” of the Gospel, these events provoke compassion, but
not fear. We do not fear the chaos, because we have seen beyond it, to the
restoration of all Creation promised in Jesus.
The contrast of “terror”
and “confidence” seems an apt image for a country engaged in a
“war on terror,” or, in other words, a country determined to fight
mimetic violence with mimetic violence.
The temptation to castigate the purveyors
of this violence is great. As preachers, we are called to preach Gospel, and
so we are encouraged here to call our congregations to a place of confidence,
a place from which to name (in love) the violence that possesses our neighbors
without judging its victims. We stand unafraid, and speak without stridency
or rancor because we do not fear even the apocalypse.
Preach peace!
Reading a text like this is a bit of a
mind blower. It is the testimony of the last generation of humans that will
dwell on the face of the earth. It appears to be cosmic in character but is
in fact describing in singular fashion the fate of the earth. It has a beginning,
with the destruction of the temple prophesied and it has a time span, the ‘times
of the Gentiles.’ It has a characteristic, Jerusalem will be ‘trampled
on by Gentiles’, and it has the final signs, the changes that occur in
the natural world.
We must observe that nowhere is God mentioned
as the cause of these cosmic signs. The text does not indicate the origin
of these signs. What are they? First, signs in the sun, moon and stars. Second,
nations will be in anguish and perplexity over what will be occurring in the
oceans. Third, people will be scared like they could never imagine in their
worst nightmares.
Regarding the first, signs in the sun,
moon and stars. There is a Native American prophecy on the end regarding ‘the
night of the red stars.’ It is a sign of the impending end and new beginning.
What, we wondered, could possibly occur that would cause people all over the
planet to perceive the stars as red? How about the dust thrown up into the
atmosphere by a couple of countries using nuclear weapons on each other? The
second sign? What if the earth were to warm up and begin to melt the polar
ice caps? How much more water now becomes ocean? How much of the polar ice
caps do we need to melt before there is more water than we can handle? Ever
hear of global warming, or the loss by melting of the north polar ice cap,
or the growing number of icebergs being calved off the Antarctic ice shelf?
(But then this same Native tradition also spoke of ‘holes in the sky’
before we knew about the effects of industrial pollution and chloroflorocarbons
on the ozone layer.)
Regarding the third sign, according to
the Bush administration we live in terrifying times (see Vice President Cheney’s
speech before the Heritage Foundation Oct 10, 2003.). And we do. The possibilities
of what may occur in the light of what has occurred since Sept 11th 2001,
are both frightening and real and the policies of the Bush administration
have only exacerbated the problems. But the real terror is yet to come. We’re
just watching the trailer now, wait ‘til the movie starts.
It has been twenty centuries since ‘the
times of the Gentiles’ began. And here is the news you need to know:
humans have permanently altered the natural environment. In the past two hundred
years humans have signed their death warrant. We have polluted the planet,
and ravaged eco-systems and species so much so that many aspects of the natural
world are no longer as they were created. Now they are created in our image.
(Bill McKibben, The
End of Nature).
When we look at ‘the times of the
Gentiles’ through the lens of mimetic theory what we see is a history
of warfare. It is not possible to describe human history other than in terms
of conflict. So the ‘apocalyptic discourse’ is fundamentally an
anthropology in the gospel tradition. It describes the human predicament as
conflict and it moves to the eventual consequences of such a developing orientation
for the human race. In this regard, it has similarities to the night of the
red stars Native American prophecy. Both are oriented in their criticism of
humanity as conflictual, consumerist and destructive of the natural world.
Both develop similar ecological consequences. We saw this when we looked at
Mark 13 in Year B.
The phrase ‘times of the Gentiles’
is certainly a Lukan redaction and probably reflects the Pauline conception
of history (as found, e.g., in Romans 9-11). If so, Paul and Luke have carefully
retained the anthropological cause of apocalyptic, which for both begins with
the crucifying of Jesus and the beginning of the end of the Powers.
The prevailing understanding of apocalyptic
in popular Christian discourse, especially of the Evangelical variety (across
the denominations) does not begin with the Cross of Christ. The Cross does
not function as a hermeneutical principle for Evangelicals. It is the place
where the price was paid, where the wrath of God was poured out. It is the
violent sacred. In short, the Cross of Jesus is ‘mythologized.’
Now, the construct of the sacralized victim ends up in Evangelical eschatology
because it was not dealt with in their christology. The eschaton is the (ritual)
separation of the victim from the community, the good from the bad, the just
from the unjust. The end is the scapegoat mechanism in full fury. It is not
Gospel.
This, of course, translates into the
rhetoric of politics, and viola! we have the Christian myth beating at the
heart of the American government. And this myth is the model/obstacle of the
American way of life. When apocalyptic is read through an anthropological
lens, that is, through a theology of the Cross, then it is clear that the
prophetic quality of the Lukan text may well ring true. Furthermore, it is
not too much to say that the planet is manifesting the damage we humans have
done to her but we are only seeing the first effects. Don’t ask what
this will mean for you in your lifetime. Ask what will this mean for your
grandchildren.
An excellent ‘reading from below’
of the book of Revelation is William Stringfellow’s An
Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land. Written at the
height of the Vietnam War, it profoundly sees the United States in ‘Babylon.’
If anything, it is more true today than before.
Working with the hypothesis that Luke used
Matthew as his major source, it is interesting to observe two things with regard
to Luke 21. First, that the author uses Matthew 24 in both Luke 17 and 21. Second
are the places where Luke has omitted material from Matthew and third are those
places where we have specifically Lukan material. Here is what we observe:
1) in 21:24, it is the collective ‘ethne’
that will trample Jerusalem; in 21:25b the ‘ethne’ will experience
the breakdown of creation. These are Lukan additions.
2) Luke ‘historicizes’ Matthew’s more generic apocalyptic
description. That is, for Luke the recent (to him and his readers) destruction
of Jerusalem was an event of cataclysmic proportion. It had to be interpreted.
3) Luke interestingly omits Matthew’s ‘ap arxe kosmou’ (Lk
21:23 = Mt 24:21) and changes Matthew’s ‘thlipsis’ to ‘anagke.’
4) Angels, which have such a prominent feature of the Lukan narrative are
omitted from the eschatological picture (Lk 21: 27 = Mt 24:31).
5) Luke omits the saying of Mt 24:36, where Jesus asserts that only the abba
knows the hour of the end.
6) Luke adds 21:34 as his summary statement. [Note the three things that weigh
our hearts down: dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life. This
is descriptive of a culture which is oriented to a) partying, clubbing, chillin’;
b) addicted to substances (pharmaceuticals) and c) concerned about their paychecks,
jobs, social status, etc, etc. Sorta sounds like the good old U.S. of A? ]
Points 1 and 2, as well as the word change
in point 3 all point to Luke’s more universalistic outlook. That Luke
historicizes events should not at all surprise us. Not only is it good writing,
there is a certain ‘pesher-like’ quality to it. Luke is absolutely
astounded at the entrance of God into space, time and history in Jesus Christ.
Luke looks back barely 70 years, sees an event that changed everything and
writes about it. Think about it. It is 2003. 70 years ago Hitler came to power.
Did that change anything? So, for Luke, there is a bigger picture of something
going on in Jesus than many are willing to acknowledge. Luke, thankfully,
was no modern historian, buried in data, searching for cold hard facts like
needles in a haystack (as though the haystack wasn’t important). The
facts of this life, the life of Jesus, were salvific, they meant something
very important and something very, very good.
Either
this page has not yet been completed, or we have not found any significant textual
issues in the lectionary texts for this Sunday.
Introductory Articles
We will add articles as we are able,
or as users of the site request them, so if you have suggestions for additional
pieces, please write to us!
"Introduction
to Mimetic Theory"
"Mimesis"
"The
Scapegoat"
"The
Pillars of Culture"
"Jesus"
"The
Four Gospels"
A Brief Introduction
to Luke
What's New: (Hover your mouse over to pause cycling)
Two New Pages!
The
Biblical Testaments: Rene Girard and Biblical Interpretation
A
Brief Introduction to Luke
Jer 33:14-16
Ps 25:1-10
1 Thes 3:9-13
Lk 21:25-36
(Jeremiah 33:14-16)
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise
I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at
that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall
execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be
saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it
will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness."
(1 Thessalonians 3:9-13)
How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel
before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we
may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith. Now
may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And
may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for
all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts
in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming
of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
(Luke 21:25-36)
"There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the
earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son
of Man coming in a cloud'with power and great glory. Now when these things
begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption
is drawing near." Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig
tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves
and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking
place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation
will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will
pass away, but my words will not pass away. "Be on guard so that your
hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries
of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will
come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times,
praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will
take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
Occasional Articles
As with the Introductory Articles, we
will add other articles as time permits or as our readers request. If you
have a suggestion for anything, please let us know.
Michael Hardin
Is the Apocalypse Inevitable?: Native American Prophecy and the Mimetic Theory presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
Michael's Essay for a Celebration Volume honoring Rene Girard
Michael's Response to Willard Swartley's Covenent of Peace at the November Colloquium and Violence Meeting
Does
Peace Make A Difference? - Michael's essay in response to Rick
Warren's P.E.A.C.E. plan (which somehow never mentions peace).
An Analysis of Rick Warren - Michael's response to "The Purpose Driven Life."
"The
God of Pat Robertson" - a response to Pat Robertson's words
to the people of Dover, PA.
"A
response to Charles Stanley's "A Nation at War"
"Must
God be violent? A Diagnosis and Prescription for Modern Christianity"
The
Scapegoat: Christologies in Conflict - A Study in Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Biblical
Testaments as a Marriage of Convenience: Rene Girard and Biblical Interpretation
Finding
Our Way Home: A Brief Note On The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture
"Does
The Passion of the Christ Preach the Gospel?"
A
sermon for the holiday devoted to Dr. Martin Luther King. (requires
Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
GRASPING
GOD: Philippians 2: 1-11 in the Light of Mimetic Theory
Rene Girard and the Recovery of Early Christian Perspectives (Brethren Life and Thought)
The Dynamics of Violence and the Imitation of Christ in Maximus Confessor (St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly)
"EcoSpirituality"
Or What Happens When You Sit Down With A French Literary Critic
Jeff Krantz
Mighty
One or Crucified Messiah? Competing Christologies and the Chiastic
Structure of Mark's Gospel
There's
No Such Thing as the Rapture - A sermon preached at the Church
of the Advent, Westbury (requires Acrobat Reader)
Holy
Scripture and the Consecration of Gene Robinson - a response
to the request of the Windsor Report for a Scriptural rationale. (requires
Adobe's Acrobat Reader)
Worship - The Redemption of Desire by Jeff Krantz
Myth
and Film - a piece written for the City of Angels Film Festival
The Stations of the Cross - Rewritten by Jeff Krantz
A Dramatic Presentation of the Stations of the Cross for Youth by Barb Fabijan-Waddell
Escaping
the Power of "My" - A NonViolent Approach to Stewardship
Preaching
Peace in Hollywood: The Theologies of Terminator, Lord of the Rings, and the
Matrix
V
for Vendetta - The Name Says It All A review of the movie.
Essays, Sermons and Liturgical Pieces by Friends of Preaching Peace
"Jesus and the Gibeonites: Reading the Bible from the Perspective of the Hidden Victim" by James Warren.
Mark Heim's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement
Kate Layzer's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement (and inspiration for Mark Heim's hymn!)
Alan Cork, "Transformation" in L'Arche: A Mimetic Account presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
"The Wisdom of God's Peace" a sermon by Jim Amstutz, co-pastor of Michael's church.
Girard's Christology - Per Bjornar Grande
Violence, Anarchy and Scripture: Jacques Ellul and Rene Girard - Matthew Patillo
Comparing
Plato's Understanding of Mimesis to Girard's - Per Bjorner Grande
C. Frank Terhune, an Easter Sermon: "God's Big But" (no kidding!)
Gerald Biesecker-Mast's paper from Theologia Pacis on Pacifist Gospel Epstimology.
An essay by the Rev. John Hill on Mimetic Theory and Catechesis
