There aren't many news outlets with religious writers these days, so I'm grateful that the National Post has Charles Lewis on staff to shed light on the religious life and experiences of Canadians. I appreciate particularly that Charles seems intrigued by The United Church of Canada.
Intrigued but also seemingly puzzled by a church that refuses to enforce a single “orthodox” point of view. In his eyes, I suspect, we appear to be going out of our way to raise questions that ought not to be raised, or provoke arguments that should be nipped in the bud.
Jesuology, Jesuolatry, Christology, Christianity and Christianisms. It's odd that I find kinship with a such a conservative theologian as Hodge when he warns against "bibliolatry" while at the same time having sympathies for the most liberal of Christians: Shleiermacher and Spong.
Two points have driven my recent thinking (which is, in fact, quite recent as I've avoided theologising for about a year):
1) We cannot continue to confuse our descriptions of divine work with the divine itself (that would be idolatry) and
Fundamentalism is very controlling, but sometimes just out of sheer ignorance--when I learned to read, I was an insatiable reader. I read anything left in my reach, so I read a lot--no one stopped me; the problem though was that there was nothing to reach for. I do remember there was a book by John Ruskin on my fundamentalist grandparents' shelves. My non-religious grandparent had a whole room of books, but I was not allowed in there. Too bad. It was a nice sunny room with a view.
