[Dialogue] A Book Question

[Ken Fisher]

Dear Ken and Bill,

I also enjoyed my reading of Gerard.  I have probably integrated much of what he says into my views and forgotten where I got it.

And I also mistrust the "awe" underlying imperial religions.  That is, I mistrust everything imperial including the whole of civilization, for in its top-down structuring every civilization, even if it is not overly expansive, is nevertheless an empire in its inner structures.

But good religion did appear even in the era of civilization.  The monastic movements of civilization were all revolts against some aspects of hierarchical civilization and/or hierarchical church and a move toward some qualities of a more authentic community.  Moses led a bunch of slaves out of hierarchical civilization into a new sort of tribal society.

And it was Awe in the deep meaning of that word that underlies the courage of Moses, Amos, Jesus, Paul, Augustine, Luther, etc.

I am defining Awe in a very Joe Mathews/Rudolf Otto way as: dread, fascination, and the courage to live those intensities.  In other works Awe is a word that describes a full experience of Reality with a capital "R."  Tea party christianity and all other sick religions actually suppress Awe in order do be devoted to reality with a small "r."  That is, they are devoted to an illusion, to a substitute for Reality.  The Radical Monotheism of H. Richard Niebuhr and the best of Christian Jewish and Muslim heritage is a devotion to the fullness of Realty and therefore to an experience of Awe before a truly Awesome Reality.

This is a brief summary of the direction I believe we must explore to come up with a clarifying philosophy of religion.

By the way I would like everyone reading this message to know that I am inviting all my friends and acquaintances to help me write a book on the philosophy of religion.  I now have 19 chapters of a book entitled The Enigma of Consciousness up on our website ready for download.  All you have to do is go to:

http://www.RealisticLiving.org/PDF/Enigma/

and click the chapters you want to read.   E-mail any responses to me at jgmarshall at cableone.net

For a viable and flourishing humanity on planet Earth,

Gene


On Feb 18, 2012, at 12:09 PM, Ken Fisher wrote:

> 
> 
> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: pvida at WHC.NET
> Date: February 18, 2012 1:04:05 PM EST
> To: "Colleague Dialogue"<dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
> Subject: Re: [Dialogue] A Book Question
> Reply-To: Colleague Dialogue <dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
> 
> Interesting. But my sense of any tradition that claims loyalty and offers meaning with the claim to transcend other loyalties is that it often fits Gerard's analysis.  Scapegoating and 'us vs. them' seems to describe the religion of tea party christianity pretty well.
> 
> Much as appreciate Gene, I mistrust the awe underlying imperial religions.
> 
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID
> 
> 
> -----Original message-----

Bill,

For your consideration:

Adding to this thread, as I recall Gene's response to my Rene Girard enthusiasm, it was:

'Religion starts with awe - not scape-goating and sacrifice.'

Ken





On 2012-02-18, at 9:12 AM, Bill Schlesinger wrote:

I've found the work of Rene Girard very helpful.  Things Hidden Since the
Foundation of the World, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning (both available
from Amazon). 

He developed the theory of mimetic desire (I see you have it therefore I
want it), violence and scapegoating, and the unique role of Judeo-Xn clarity
on the innocence of the sacrifice (vs. justified scape-goating) in
de-mystifying the 'us against them' rationale of power.

Bill Schlesinger
Project Vida
3607 Rivera Avenue
El Paso, TX 79905
(915) 533-7057 x 207
(915) 533-7158 FAX
pvida at whc.net
www.projectvidaelpaso.org

-----Original Message-----
From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Wilson Priscilla
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 6:41 AM
To: Dialogue ica
Subject: [Dialogue] A Book Question

I belong to a women's book study group at Village Presbyterian Church. We
have studied Marcus Borg, Karen Armstrong, Bruce Chilton's Rabbi Jesus,
among others. We are just finishing Brian McLaren's A New Kind of
Christianity. Brian is coming to our church in April to speak. Borg has been
here also.
I consider our church on the edge re mission, pursuing the question of where
the next phase of Christianity needs to take us, etc.

I would appreciate any suggestions for books from any of you. We finish
McLaren in mid-March and haven't decided what next.
Priscilla


Priscilla H Wilson
Pris at TeamTechPress.com
913-432-2107
www.teamtechpress.com







_______________________________________________
Dialogue mailing list
Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
http://wedgeblade.net/mailman/listinfo/dialogue_wedgeblade.net


_______________________________________________
Dialogue mailing list
Dialogue at wedgeblade.net
http://wedgeblade.net/mailman/listinfo/dialogue_wedgeblade.net

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20120218/18ba9609/attachment-0001.html>