Links and such

Camassia on heaven. This paragraph’s a gem:

For another thing, saying, “You’ll be rewarded for being good by going to heaven after you die,” is only a recipe for complacency if you subscribe to a certain idea of “being good.” Certainly the Mennonite concept of what it means to follow Jesus in this life is not simply to approve of the status quo. That’s why I don’t like the sort of either/or option that Hugo offered: either you believe kingdom is something we create here, or you believe it’s totally unrelated to anything going on here. This dichotomy does not make sense to me. All those Jesus parables about the kingdom being something that starts small and grows into magnificence suggest that regarding the kingdom as either fully here, or fully not here, is missing the point.

I think it’s a handy rule of thumb that when we start to see two very important things as being in a kind of zero-sum relationship (life beyond death vs. justice here on earth, faith vs. works, justification vs. sanctification, etc.) there’s a good chance our theology’s gone off the rails somewhere.

The wisdom of Polycarp and Calvin on the Magnificat at Siris.

Lutherpunk has an appreciation of Johnny Cash. I agree with LP that “Big River” is one of the best Cash songs.

Melancthon (the blogging version) on natural theology.

Russell Arben Fox on crunchy cons.

Millinerd on inter- and intra-religious conflict.