[Oe List ...] order songs

Tue Aug 19 19:01:38 EDT 2008

Jim Wiegel here.  I am not getting a face with your name, not sure if we ever met.  I find myself wrestling with all this, though I never got past a minor in theology as an undergraduate.  I keep thinking the old EI insight, renewal of the local church for the sake of the world, was on target / still is.  I struggle with what seems a passion gap -- seems the more "conservative" take the bible as it stands, use the King James version, etc. has retained the passion to reach out all over, while those of us who grabbed onto demythologized, existential 20th century stuff seem almost as though history passed us by . . .  I struggle with this . . .

401 North Beverly Way 
Tolleson, Arizona 85353-2401
+1 623-936-8671
+1 623-363-3277
jfwiegel at yahoo.com
www.partnersinparticipation.com

One great, strong, unselfish soul in every community could actually redeem the world. Elbert Hubbard

--- On Tue, 8/19/08, R Dean Johnson <deananna2662 at COMCAST.NET> wrote:

From: R Dean Johnson <deananna2662 at COMCAST.NET>
Subject: [Oe List ...] order songs
To: OE at wedgeblade.net
Cc: deananna2662 at comcast.net
Date: Tuesday, August 19, 2008, 6:14 AM

Greetings:
	I doubt that anyone remembers me now, but my wife and I had been sojourners
with EI twice, at Rockford House, Rockford, Illinois, and at Atlanta House
several years later.

	I am a retired Episcopal priest, and over the years had implimented EI
ideas and programs I had experienced in my parishes since then.  Even though
I had not become as adept in these skills as most of the members of EI were,
I believe these methods made a significant impact in each parish I had
since.

	I am now retired in the Diocese of Atlanta. My wife and I are both
psychotherapists, and we have had a small counseling practice in this area
for the past 25 years.  I am also in close association with many of the
local clergy in this area, and have had some of them as counseling clients.
But the most significant accomplishment, I think, is the completion of two
books that deal head-on with the theological issues of the modern church.
Much of Christendom is mired in the theology of the Middle Ages.  While not
espousing it, most skirt around issues in order not to rock the boat.
Meanwhile, the boat is sinking.  Traditional Christianity is having a
difficult time evading the unpalatable distortions of Christianity, because
it has been cast in concrete --- in sentimental themes of hymns, in
scriptures, in creeds.  There seems to be no way to shed the heavy burden of
outmoded theological propositions, without destroying the church and
alienating the faithful --- or so it would seem.

	I have written a couple of books, as yet unpublished, exploring how the
more egregious aspects of Pauline theology have dominated the church.  I
also illustrated how his pharisaic attitudes contradicted the teachings of
Jesus, why Paul thought as he did, and why his ideas  have virtually
eclipsed Jesus himself.  The thinking of Paul seeped into nearly every book
of the New Testament, and hence also creeds and doctrines.  I think if we
continue dancing around this dilemma, Christianity will die.  But I also
think that a Christianity according to Jesus would be infinitely superior to
any of Paul's theories of redemption, retribution, judgment, etc.

	We all know how important nutrition is to our physical health, which is
also true of spiritual nutrition.  But we also know how important it is to
expel what we have ingested.  The church seems to have no way to expel what
is now recognized as contradictory to the thinking of Jesus, and we are
weighted down with medieval concepts and archaic theology that undermines
the dynamic purposes of Jesus, to enlighten his people to become a light to
the world.  I think what most traditional religion needs, therefore, is a
good enema.  Jesus intended us to start fresh.

	I'm having difficulty finding a publisher.  Most religious publishing
houses are committed to the status quo, so I need to look elsewhere, but I
don't want to be outside the house of faith.  I want to find a way to
rejuvinate religion -- such as EI did after WWII so effectively.
It occurred to me that people who understood and worked for that goal would
be potential friends and colleagues, and I believe would be enthusiastic
about this work.  I have been doing research for it since 1954, when a
classmate and I in seminary made a startling discovery regarding a major
tenet of faith.  We concluded that the early Church had it wrong.  Missed
the point. The Dead Sea scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library shed light on a
theory, and pursuing this insight has led to a paradigm shift for me that I
believe could transform a dying church.  I feel the need for colleagues, to
be guided in how to make my contribution to theology positive and helpful,
rather than negative and destructive.

	I don't know who I am writing to, but am in hopes you might pass this
along
to whoever might be interested in this undertaking.  I am also in need of a
copy of some of the order songs.   I've been helping a Unity Church
struggle
to find meaningful music for their services.  They are committed to
fostering spiritual awareness, but are hampered by a hymn book that seems to
have originated in the 19th century, and is very out of touch with
contemporary needs.

	Please let me hear from you,
						Sincerely,  R. Dean Johnson

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