Anniversary of Auschwitz Liberation

On January 27, 1945--75 years ago today--Allied forces liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau. Later, the United Nations designed January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, to remember the Jewish victims of the Shoah and the millions of other victims of the Nazis.

Here is an article with haunting photographs: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7915119/75th-anniversary-liberation-former-Nazi-Germany-concentration-camp-Auschwitz.html?fbclid=IwAR2VsZoyX2z7vyQl-UXeOxXLHJ7KMYBpbKLgwr81M4-XywVwCFcL2S0Oqv4

This was an interesting article about poetry after Auschwitz: https://www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/impossible-essential-task-writing-poetry-after-auschwitz?fbclid=IwAR31Pk70F6zY_SowcbIDMLRpaVswP2aJcrVQZX2pee4WvWgcXgJ5n8H9eO4

Here are three from among several sites that provide history of the camp.
https://www.britannica.com/place/Auschwitz
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/auschwitz
https://www.timesofisrael.com/timeline-the-history-of-auschwitz-birkenau/

Barth’s Dogmatics, §8, God in His Revelation

In this ongoing project, I am taking brief notes on Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics. My folks purchased the whole English-language set for me forty years ago, and subsequently I wrote my doctoral dissertation on a portion of Vol. III, part 2. See my December 2, 2018 post for Barth's overall plan for his series.

On one level, this is such a nostalgic venture for me, connecting back to my college library (Greenville University) where I first learned about Barth--and then back to my seminary years at Yale Divinity School and its wonderful New England ambiance--and then to my doctoral degree at University of Virginia, where I focused on Volume III Part 2 of the Dogmatics. In this project, I'm enjoying the process of circling back to an area of study that was so important to my "younger days."

Church Dogmatics has 73 sections within 16 chapters, not including the fragment volume. Section 8
begins Part I (“The Triune God,” sections 8-12) of Chapter II, “The Revelation of God.”

Section 8 of the Dogmatics (pp. 295-347) is “God In His Revelation.” Barth’s summary is: “God’s Word is God Himself in His revelation. For God reveals Himself as the Lord and according to Scripture this signifies for the concept of revelation that God Himself in unimpaired unity yet also in unimpaired distinction is Revealer, Revelation, and Revealedness” (p. 295).

In his book An Introduction to Barth’s Dogmatics for Preachers (Westminster Press, 1963), Arnold B. Come writes of this and the next section: "The doctrine of the Trinity is not even part of the Scriptural witness to revelation, let alone revelation itself. But the doctrine, as a work of the church, is a necessary interpretation of Scripture and therefore of revelation and therefore of God himself. The fact that (1) God speaks, (2) in the historical reality of Jesus Christ, and (3) is heard by [human beings], and the fact that this irreducible diversity is represented as the single act of the one God, means that the Biblical witness itself distinguishes among Revealer, Revelation, Revealedness. So church doctrine rightly speakers of one God in three modes of being. Personality in the modern sense belongs to the one God. Yet, since God reveals his self to us, the three irreducible, interdependent modes of his operation, in making himself known must point by analogy to three eternal modes of his being. So God's oneness does not indicate singularity and solitude. Thus the doctrine of the Trinity is occasioned by the church's faith in and proclamation of Jesus Christ as the Word of God (not by the so-called vestigium trinitatis) and rightly stands at the beginning of all dogmatic statement (¶ 8, 9.) (90-91).

In the first part, “The Place of the Doctrine of the Trinity in Dogmatics,” Barth stresses that God revealed himself, through himself (p. 296). The Bible teaches us that God is a triune God, and thus the doctrine of the Trinity must stand at the beginning of dogmatics (p. 303). Remember that Schleiermacher’s Glaubenslehre has the Trinity at the very end.

The second part, “The Root of the Doctrine of the Trinity,” stresses again that “God’s Word is identical with God Himself” (p. 304). True, the doctrine is “a work of the church,” that is, a “record” of how God is self-revealed (p. 308), and “exegesis” (p. 333). But the doctrine is still God’s self-revelation and self-interpretation. The Lordship and deity of Christ is of course a key aspect of the doctrine, as are the three persons (or ways of being, Seinsweisen) of the Trinity.

The third section takes up the doctrine of the vestigium trinitatis, an Augustinian idea that considers vestiges or analogues of the Trinity within creaturely reality. Not surprisingly, given his aversion to any knowledge of God apart from God's self-revealing, Barth writes that the doctrine is simply the form by which we hear and understand God as triune.

Beethoven 250

The 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birthday is next December. He was baptized on December 17, 1770, and so his undocumented birthday is likely December 16, or perhaps December 15, given the fact that babies were usually baptized when they were a day or two old.

When I was little, I loved the Peanuts comics and enjoyed getting paperback collections of the strips. Nearly every December 16, the story concerned Beethoven’s birthday and Schroeder’s celebration of it. Of course, Schroeder also performed Beethoven sonatas and other works on his toy piano.

Thus inspired by a favorite comic strip, I liked certain Beethoven compositions when I was young. In those days, the Huntley-Brinkley evening news on NBC concluded with the scherzo from Beethoven’s Ninth. I wrote NBC to find out the title and got a letter back! Subsequently, I found a used recording of the symphony at our hometown library’s annual book sale. Eventually, I also found LPs of the fifth and seventh symphonies and some of his named sonatas. I took piano lessons, but somehow never managed the spontaneous, unpracticed skill of Schroeder.

Our library acquired a copy of George R. Marek’s Beethoven: Biography of a Genius (Funk & Wagnall’s, 1969) when it was published or perhaps the following year. I didn't read the whole book but I enjoyed checking it out. I was 12 in 1969, and at 13 and 14 I had unrequited crushes on a couple of girls, which unfortunately aggravated some childhood depression I’d had even earlier. Feeling scarily hopeless at such a young age, I found comfort in the fact that, as Marek discussed, Beethoven struggled for acceptance, too!

Marek’s chapter on “The Immortal Beloved” is interesting. Beethoven's letter to his “Unsterbliche Geliebte,” dated July 6-7 and later analyzed to be 1812, was found among his effects after he died. But who was the woman, to whom Beethoven wrote with such passion? Was the letter returned to him, or did he never send it? Reviewing the numerous women important to Beethoven---like Josephine Brunsvik, Guilietta Guicciardi, Antonie Brentano,, Amalie Sebald, Bettina Brentano, Dorothea Ertmann, and Therese Brunsvik---many scholars argue for Josephine Brunsvik. Marek builds an interesting circumstantial case for Dorothea Ertmann. From time to time I still leaf through my own copy of Marek's thick book, which gives an excellent sense of the composer’s era and life.

In a funny way, Beethoven sticks to my childhood Christmas memories, I suppose because of the
Peanuts paperback collections, some of which I received as presents. I still have them. And, of course, December 16 was, at least for the prodigy Schroeder, a significant day just nine days from Christmas, with a gladness all its own.

All this is to say: I decided to listen to all of Beethoven's words during this 250th anniversary time. Deutsche Gramophone, Warner Classics, and Naxos have all issued collections of the complete works of Beethoven. I wanted to order the Warner Classics because of its beautiful red box, but I couldn't figure out if it has been released or not, and how long it would ship. The DG set has over 120 CDs, with duplicates of classic performances (the nine symphonies conducted by Karajan and also by John Eliot Gardiner), and I decided that was more than I'd realistically listen to. So the Naxos set, with its 90 CDs and ready availability, was the one I ordered. I've quite a few Naxos CDs of other artists.

I'll share some informal notes about Beethoven's works during the upcoming year, concluding (Lord willing) on December 16th. So far I've listened to the first CD, which is Symphony No. 1, in C major, op. 21 (1799-1800), and Symphony No. 2, in D major, op. 36 (1802). As critics point out, these first two continue the Viennese symphonic tradition, while #3, the Eroica, is a bolder work.

Barth's Dogmatics, §7, The Word of God, Dogma and Dogmatics

In this ongoing project, I am taking brief notes on Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics. My folks
purchased the whole English-language set for me forty years ago, and subsequently I wrote my doctoral dissertation on a portion of Vol. III, part 2. See my December 2, 2018 post for Barth's overall plan for his series.

Paragraph 7 of the Dogmatics (pp. 248-292) is “The Knowability of the Word of God.” Barth’s summary is: "Dogmatics is the critical question about dogma, i.e., about the Word of God in Church proclamation, or, concretely, about the agreement of the Church proclamation done and to be done by [humans] with the revelation attested in Holy Scripture Prolegomena to dogmatics as an understanding of its epistemological path must therefore consist in an exposition of the three forms of the Word of God as revealed, written, and preached" (248).

This paragraph concludes Chapter 1 (The Word of God as the Criterion for Dogmatics) of Church Dogmatics. 

In his book An Introduction to Barth’s Dogmatics for Preachers (Westminster Press, 1963), Arnold B. Come writes of this and the previous paragraph: "It is, of course, [human beings] who hear and know God. But the capacity is not to have or to hold God's Word but to acknowledge him. And this capacity is given [us] in the event. God's acknowledgment of [us] empowers [us] to acknowledge him. 'The possibility of the knowledge of the Word of God lies in the Word of God and nowhere else... This miracle is faith.' (I-1, 255.) It is a product not of a prior likeness between God and [us] but of the free event in which God chooses and establishes [human being] as an 'I' in relation to his own 'Thou.' [Our] acknowledgment is always incomplete and imperfect. It is the task of dogmatics to test [our] acknowledgment against God's acknowledgment. This means to listen to the Trinitarian God. To listen to him means to listen to the Bible against all human philosophies and sciences, even against all the deliverances of the church (¶ 6, 7.) (90).

Section 1, "The Problem of Dogmatics," is sharply critical of Modernist Protestantism as well as Roman Catholicism--the former, because it focuses the norm of faith, and the latter, because it focuses upon the development of truths through the church's teaching office. Both, he believes, overlook "the will of God whose acknowledgment or non-acknowledgment in the Church's proclamation is something that should truly unsettle the whole church" (p. 274). Dogmatics must be pursued out of obedience.

In section 2, "Dogmatics as a Science," Barth describes scientific dogmatics as inquiring "into the agreement of Church proclamation with the revelation which is attested in Holy Scripture. This is what we called the meaning and point of dogma in the first sub-section" (p. 283).

Finally, in section 3, "The Problem of Dogmatic Prolegomena," Barth turns to the task ahead: dogmatics "would e left strangely in the air if finally and supremely the Word of God itself and as such were not also raised again in a completely new way" (p. 289). The correspondence between the Word of God as scripture and as proclamation--the fact that "God reveals Himself" (p. 291) will continue to be investigated in the sections ahead.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Today is the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/week-of-prayer

Tomorrow is World Religion Day, which in the Baha’i faith is dedicated to the oneness and unity of faiths in the world. The day happens on the third Sunday in January, was established in 1950 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is in the US.

Snowmaggedon, 26 Years Ago

We lived in Louisville during the '90s. Three inches were forecast but, as this says, sixteen inches fell, paralyzing the city and county for several days. Daughter Emily was little and loved it! I had forgotten about the bitter cold.

https://www.wlky.com/article/archives-26-years-ago-unforgettable-snow-shut-down-louisville/30562805

Spending Time (Matt. 11:28-30)

A week late, here is my devotion for our church's devotional series, for the first Sunday of January/last Sunday of Christmastide.

Spending Time
Matt 11:28-30


“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).

This would be a wonderful verse to memorize, or to keep handy on your phone or on a piece of paper.

And yet I have trouble thinking how best to put this teaching into practice. A simplistic response would be, “Well, we should spend more time with Jesus.” But that word “should” introduces a joyless quality into Christian faith, turning it into a list of dos and don’ts--which is the very thing Jesus criticizes in the religious teachers of his time. Some of the most fervent Christians I’ve known were also the biggest scolds.

A clue to these verses comes in the passages before and after. In Matt. 11:2-27, we learn that so many people didn’t “get” Jesus: John the Baptist, Jesus’ generation, and the cities of Galilee. Those who did “get” Jesus, though, were those who know their need for God and who receive Jesus’ message humbly. It’s still true. To these, Jesus assures that he is gentle and loving. Rather than giving these folks more reasons to feel inadequate, he offers his help and his acceptance (11:28-30).

The yoke is a harsh image—a way that domestic animals are led through the fields. I remember a horse collar that my grandparents used in earlier times. It was padded, to be more comfortable for the horse. I prefer the image of Jesus guiding me by the hand or holding me around the shoulder, but the idea is the same. Jesus’ guidance is something very precious, and he guides us with compassion and understanding

Importantly, this passage is followed by Jesus’ teachings about the Sabbath. As modern Judaism teaches, too, human need takes precedence over religious observance. God rested on the Seventh Day so that people—and even animals—could have a happy day of recuperation and blessing. There is no “to do” list on the Sabbath, other than spending time with family and with God!

That brings us to the theme of this sermon series: The Time of Our Lives. Our lives are limited by time, and we spend a great deal of energy trying to fill our time. But then we end up tired and feeling that we have fallen short. I’m very guilty of this.

My own solution is to try to approach spirituality with a sense of enjoyment and spontaneity. If a particular way of serving the Lord isn’t rewarding, for whatever reason, try something else! Not everything in discipleship will be stress-free, but certain things will give you a sense of satisfaction in spite of the stress. Remember that Jesus wants you to have “rest in your soul.”

During this new year, brainstorm some ways that you’d like to learn from Jesus that gives you a new sense of peace, blessing, and relief!

The Funny Company

When I was about seven years old, my dad built a shed for his tools in the backyard. I appropriated the small building as a clubhouse.

During that mid-1960s time period, there was a cartoon show that featured a very cool clubhouse, with a barrel for an opening, and an adjacent tree that was part of the clubhouse. The name of the show had faded from memory, and I didn't remember enough even to do an internet search.

But serendipity!  A Facebook friend commented that she had the theme song of this show stuck in her head--and that she had forgotten the racist depiction of the Native chief whose voice was a train horn.  Then about a week later, another Facebook friend posted something about the show.

According to imdb.com, "The Funny Company" began in 1963. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299913/) Here is an article about the show by a WGN-TV watcher. The show had been created to fill a dearth in educational programs for kids. I never would've remembered that. I liked the clubhouse---a social precursor to the man cave or the she shed.

The Baptism of Our Lord

I’m thinking about the Baptism of the Lord, which in some churches is celebrated on the Sunday following Epiphany. Of course, Jesus approached John to be baptized, and according to the scriptures the Spirit appeared like a dove and proclaimed the blessedness of Jesus, who came to John not to be served but as a servant.

When I was a kid, my relatives who belonged to a denomination that practices only adult-baptism by submersion saw in this story proof of the correctness of that rite. Jesus came up out of the water; John didn’t sprinkle him!

Also, my relatives cited this verse in Colossians:

…when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead (2:12).

When we’re buried, we’re not buried with a little dirt on our heads. We’re buried all the way under!

I disliked that argument but didn’t know why. I was relieved when a United Methodist pastor pointed out that the thief on the cross was not baptized by any mode and yet was promised salvation. Eventually, I read a little further in Colossians:

[W]hy do you submit to regulations, “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”? All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings. These have indeed the appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence (2:20b-23).

While I wouldn’t call baptism a “human command,” the author worries (in this and the whole section 2:8-23) that we need to be careful not to substitute the living Christ for rituals and practices---not to substitute the goal for the means to the goal, so to speak (see also Gal. 5:16-26, 6:14-15).

But my older relatives are long passed away. I’m not sure I could’ve argued doctrine with them anyway, for they were quite set in their views, and I’m not really a debater.

One of my great-aunts expressed mild horror when we joined the United Methodist Church---a “sprinkling” denomination! I wonder what they’d think if they knew I was enjoying an Orthodox Christian prayer book this feast day.

A former Honors College student who is now a Byzantine Catholic nun commented on Facebook about the beauty of prayers in the Eastern tradition. Unfamiliar with that aspect of the tradition, I asked her for a recommendation of a prayer book and she recommended The Festal Menaion. This edition is translated by Mother Mary of the Orthodox Monastery of the Veil of the Mother of God, Bussy-en-Othe, France, and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware of the University of Oxford: South Canaan, PA, St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 1998. For the past few days I've loved exploring this beautiful book with its Orthodox liturgical texts, and praying some of the prayers during personal quiet times.

My most recent post had to do with the symbolism of water and sea, a coincidental serendipity. In Benjamin Britten's operas, returning to the sea becomes symbolic of the cycles of life, the redemption of returning to waters, the vast unknown into which we’re ultimately cast. As I delved into this prayer book, I thought more about water---the reality of God's power over water, God's presence in the power of water itself, the scriptural connections of water with salvation, and water's significance in the rites of churches----as I encountered several readings and tones for the Eastern feast of The Holy Theophany (January 6). These scriptures give me much to reflect upon in the overall context of Christ's baptism:

*  The power of the sea over the Egyptians, who perished once the split sea returned to natural course (pp. 339-340).

*  The day the Jordan River split, allowing dry ground to form as the Israelites with Joshua crossed over into the land, and they “were passed clean” (Joshua 3:7-8, 15-17: p. 341).

*  The power of Elijah’s mantle that also split the Jordan, allowing him and Elisha to pass on dry ground (2 Kings 2:6-14: pp. 341-342).

*  The story of Naaman, the captain of the Assyrian armies, who through the miraculous power of God evoked by Elisha, could bath in the Jordan and become clean from his leprosy (2 Kings 5:9-14: pp. 341-343.).

*  The saving waters of the Nile that carried the ark containing baby Moses to safety (Ex. 2:5-10: 344-345).

*  The dew that appeared on Gideon’s fleece, signifying God’s favor (Judges 6:36-40: p. 345).

*  The story of Elijah soaking the altar and its trench with abundant water, which would not quench the heavenly fire (1 Kings 18:30-39: pp. 345-346).

*  The healing of the waters by Elisha at Jereicho (2 Kings 2:19-21: pp. 346-347).

*  The blessing of water in the post-exilic prophesies of Isaiah (55:1-13: pp. 349-350).

*  Paul’s connection of the waters of the rock at Meribah in Exodus 17, and Christ the Rock with his spiritual drink (1 Cor. 10:1-14: pp. 350).

After thinking about these readings, I loved this prayer for The Holy Theophany by Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem (pp. 353-355). Here is a portion:

“O Trinity supreme in being, in goodness, and in Godhead, almighty, who watchest over all, invisible, incomprehensible, Maker of spiritual beings and rational natures, innate Goodness, Light that none can approach and that lightens every [one] that comes into the world: Shine upon me Thine unworthy servant….

“Today the glittering stars make the inhabited earth fair with the radiance of their shining. Today the clouds drop down upon making the dew of righteousness from on high. Today the Uncreated of His own will accepts the laying on of hands from His own creature. Today the Prophet and Forerunner approaches the Master, but stands before Him with trembling, seeing the condescension of God towards us. Today the waters of the Jordan are transformed into healing by the coming of the Lord. Today the whole creation is watered by mystical streams. Today the transgressions …. are washed away by the waters of the Jordan. Today Paradise has been opened …. and the Sun of Righteousness shines down upon us. Today the bitter water, as once with Moses and the people of Israel, is changed to sweetness by the coming of the Lord…..

"Today earth and sea share the joy of the world, and the world is filled with gladness. The waters saw Thee, O God, the waters saw Thee and were afraid. The Jordan turned back, seeing the fire of the Godhead descending bodily and entering its stream. The Jordan turned back, beholding the Holy Spirit coming down in the form of a dove and flying about Thee. The Jordan turned back, seeing the Invisible made visible, The Creator made flesh, the Master in the form of a servant. The Jordan turned back and the mountains skipped, looking upon God in the flesh; and the Light of Light, true God of true God. For today in the Jordan they saw the Triumph of the Master; they saw Him drown in the Jordan the death of disobedience, the sting of error, and the chains of hell, and bestow upon the world the baptism of salvation….” (pp. 353-355).

(A post from 2013)