Apocatastasis

Back in the Seventies and Eighties there was a good deal of speculation in the WCG diaspora about “universal reconciliation.” My memory is hazy, but some prominence was given at the time to publications from Concordant Publishing Concern, a non-COG ministry that, apart from producing an unreadable literal translation of the New Testament, championed a conservative Protestant view of universal salvation. Someone may remember whether this was a particular interest of Ernest Martin's... it was a long time ago.

These days the diaspora has ballooned out to tens of thousands, and the interest on unitarian-universalist matters has shifted to the unitarian end with Ken Westby and others pushing a “One God” teaching. The universalist strand remains however, even if it has gathered dust for a while. Back in the pre-reformation WCG a version of universalism was popular, based on the idea of three resurrections (Wayne Cole, for example, expressed the view that the number of those who would eventually wind up in the Lake of Fire would be the merest handful.) Many members found this one of the most attractive elements in Armstrong theology. The genocidal Calvinist god, like “predestination”, is a monster concocted from well down the reptilian brain-stem. Calvin, however, was simply standing on the shoulders of one of the truly dark influences in the history of Christendom, Augustine of Hippo, author of the Confessions and the man who put the book of Revelation in the Western canon, laid the groundwork for persecution of heretics, invented the “just war” theory, and cooked up the dismal dogma of predestination in his spare time. The Protestant tradition owes much to Augustine (Luther started out as an Augustinian monk), which may explain why apocatastasis now seems a novel idea. Augustine was also a relentless self-promoter and personal myth-maker, which has long protected his reputation (the biography by James O'Donnell goes a long way to correcting this.)

So I feel a bit of an idiot to have only recently stumbled over this thing called apocatastasis, courtesy of a reference by - of all people - Bob Thiel. This is an admittedly obscure term, but it describes a view, or speculation, that is perfectly acceptable both in Roman Catholicism (despite Augustine) and the Eastern Orthodox churches. In simple terms it means universal salvation.

Some of the great luminaries of early Christianity taught that all people would ultimately be saved: notably Origen (who took the position that even Satan would ultimately be reconciled to God) and Gregory of Nyssa. That much I already knew, but assumed it had been declared heretical long ago. Not so; and I was completely ignorant of the fact that one of the most significant Catholic theologians of modern times, Hans Urs von Balthasar, also advocates a version of universalism. While apocatastasis is not a sanctioned teaching, neither is it a heresy in the Catholic and Orthodox communities.

So Herb Armstrong wasn't all that unique after all. Mike Feazell – who seems to lean toward a similar reconciliation position – isn't a heretic.

As they say, “live and learn.”

Inspired Forgeries?

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but did imitation take a step too far into outright fraud and forgery in the New Testament?

There certainly were forgers out there. Two documents claiming to come from the Apostle Paul are obvious examples: Third Corinthians and an alleged exchange of letters between Paul and the philosopher Seneca.

These guys could be tricky. A text emerged in the fourth century claiming to be written by the original apostles. Called the Apostolic Constitutions, it brazenly advises its readers to avoid reading books that make false claims to apostolic authorship. Talk about chutzpah!

But what about the documents that made the final cut for the New Testament? There are at least six books claiming to be written by Paul that display the tell-tale marks of being pseudonymous (a scholarly way of saying forgeries.) The suspect letters fall into two groups: the Deutero-Pauline epistles (2 Thessalonians, Colossians and Ephesians), and the Pastorals (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus.)

That means, of the 13 letters attributed to Paul, nearly half are thought to be fabrications. That just leaves us with Romans, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon and 1 Thessalonians as genuine.

What about Hebrews? It's not by Paul either, but then it doesn't claim to be. Although it was included in the canon on the false assumption that Paul wrote it, it can't be considered a forgery as it makes no pretense to be from Paul (or any other apostle). Church father Origen wrote about the identity of the author: "God only knows." James was a common name at the time, and the letter bearing that name nowhere claims to be by the brother of Jesus; hence not pseudonymous. Revelation is in a similar category: John the apostle? Not likely. The Gospel of John is famously unconcerned with the end of the age, quite unlike the Apocalypse. While it's true that these books made it into the canon largely on wishful thinking about authorship, there's nothing in the way of such extravagent claims within these documents.

But there certainly do seem to be flagrant forgeries in the Pauline corpus. Unfortunately there's more. Chalk up 2 Peter as pseudonymous, along with Jude. Questions need to be asked about 1 Peter as well. The letters of John are also dubious affairs, most scholars optimistically attributing them to a later disciple of John.

Despite the special pleading of latter-day apologists, "forgery was almost universally condemned by ancient authors." The exception was in schools of philosophy where it was considered a bit of an art form to place your thoughts in the mouth of a great teacher of the past.

Bart Ehrman comments: "Many scholars are loath to talk about New Testament "forgeries" because the term seems so loaded and suggestive of ill intent. But... [it] is striking that few scholars object to using the word "forgery" for books, even Christian books, that occur outside the New Testament."

The beginning of wisdom in tackling the scriptures, whether the Old Testament or the New, is honesty. These ancient books are many things, but inflating their value by misrepresentation can serve no useful purpose.

8 Tribes

This is especially for the Kiwi readers of this blog - all 3 of you ;-)

Which tribe do you belong to? No, that doesn't mean Ngai Tahu or Tuhoe. We're talking North Shore (achievers), Grey Lynn (intellectuals), Balclutha (staunch rural), Remuera (entitled), Otara (community), Raglan (free spirits), Papatoetoe (unpretentious) and Cuba Street (avant-garde).

Harry Potter needed a sorting hat, but all you need do is answer a few searching questions with a modicum of honesty.

My results indicate that I should never try to cross the Auckland Harbour Bridge again!

Ekklesia and Linux Theology

Bill Ferguson points out that his Ekklesia site is still online, though inactive. BUT...

"Quango.net is about to be completely revamped with an Ambassador Report WIKI, a web board with RSS feeds and chat site. "
Good news. Check out what's available right now at www.quango.net. The pseudonym Qua Ngo shouldn't put you off! Among the site's drawcards are the writings of Bob Brinsmead, an ex-Adventist who put the proverbial cat among the Sabbatarian pigeons twenty five years ago. Try accessing the 1981 essay Sabbatarianism Re-examined. If you find that stimulating, Jesus and the Sabbath will be helpful too. I've yet to meet any Sabbath observer who can adequately deal to Brinsmead's arguments.

From Brinsmead to Don Cupitt, the British radical theologian who wrote the passage in the last post: one further quote.

"[There is] a distinction between 'Microsoft theology' and 'Linux theology'. In Microsoft theology the operating system - the set of beliefs and practices - that you live by and work with is 'proprietary': that is, it is tied to a particular institution and its power structure. Somebody owns the rights, and demands his or her cut from you. But the newer Linux theology is 'open source' ... Nobody has been granted the franchise for it."
It's an interesting metaphor.

Changing of the guard?

Stan Gardner is another talented blogger who richly deserves a mention and a link. His blog is called Ambassador Reports, and I'm not sure why I hadn't much noticed it before. Stan has some fascinating material, including data on PTM finances. Another must-have URL for your favorites list.

Every few years there's a changeover in what's available in the ex-WCG online world. In ancient times (i.e. more than 7 years ago) the shakers and movers were Mark Tabladillo's site (inactive), Bill Ferguson's Ekklesia (gone) and The Painful Truth (which is still with us.) In recent history there was (ahem) the late AW site, a rambling love-it-or-hate-it affair (I started off loving it but ended up hating it.) These days the center of gravity is changing yet again, and I notice that Gary Scott of XCG and the Most Reverend "Kscribe" are both making noises about winding their sites back. Stan, "J", Felix and others are going to be busy.

Recently I was encouraged to put the old AW (passed away December 2005) back online in archive form, hosted in the US. I thought about it for a day or so, and even got as far as copying the files onto a CD and slipping it in a mailing envelope before sanity reasserted itself. The site would need extensive editing, and, well, there are other fish to fry at the moment. Some material may start to reappear - selectively - later in the year, but then again, maybe not. I find it hard to even look at some of that stuff now, like re-reading those ghastly yellowed school reports your mother turns over to you on your eighteenth birthday: "could try harder."

Unrelated: here's a quote that struck me between the eyes today. Next time I'll provide the source and some comments, but for the moment, considering "the Church" here refers to Christianity in general, what do you think? Agree or disagree?

"... the Church is not and perhaps never was chiefly for people who have a deep and serious intellectual interest in religion. On the contrary, the Church is for people who want to keep up comfortable old habits and associations, who want a feeling of reassurance and self-righteousness, and are happy to live by a ready-made Truth. They are content to go on slumbering peacefully. They want to be delivered from the extreme terrors and joys of real religious thought, and nothing is so effective a protection against religious terrors as conforming church membership."

Something Wiki This Way Comes

Russell Miller and the "J Source" have teamed up, and the Herbolatrous remnant should be quaking in their boots: it's a team to compare with the Two Witnesses.

Okay, so that may be taking poetic license a step too far, but this latest project by two talented and articulate ex-members documenting the Armstrong enterprise shows great promise. You can read about it here. Russell is a man of forthright opinions (he contributed several items to the old AW), and "J" (whoever he or she might be) operates a blog that has my nomination for best new COG commentary site.

We all have a stake in making sure that the facts don't conveniently go away, and this Wiki project may play a big part in that. One thing is for sure, Stephen Flurry and his ilk can't be allowed to get a free ride in whitewashing the history of the WCG.

Give generously

The Good Lord takes care of His own, and He's certainly taking care of Greg Albrecht.

Brother Greg is being blessed to the tune of $160,000 clams every year. Hallelujah!

That information comes from The Journal online, you can check out the details yourself.

I have no idea how that stacks up against the average ministerial salary in the US. How much does your average Seventh-day Adventist pastor get for example? Or what about a mainline minister with a degree (a real one)? You know, the sort of minister who visits the sick, volunteers on community committees, supports the parishoners in time of need. Does Greg do any of that stuff?

Y'know, it must take a lot of donations from little old ladies to cover Greg's generous stipend. The kind of people who give to ministries like Greg's aren't usually among the wealthy. For every dollar sent to PTM how many cents go straight into his paycheck? And that's before we factor in Monte Wolverton's $98,000.

These seem to be 2005 figures. You've got to wonder how much of an increase the lads have garnered since then. Not that I begrudge Monte his 98k, all artists - and especially cartoonists - deserve to be paid so well. Dear old Ron Dart only gets 92k: truly a paragon of self-control (and remember, he has his NRA subscription to keep up!)

We're not privileged to know how much Rod Meredith pays himself, let alone Gerry Flurry or Big Dave Pack, but I'm guessing it's over the existing Albrecht high-water mark in each case. Such talented servants of the Lord indubitably deserve a double portion, don't you think? Dig deep brethren, the Lord loves a cheerful giver.

Same old Spanky

From Roderick C. Meredith to his client sheep:

Many of our ministers and leading brethren have sensed a spiritual "malaise" coming over quite a number of our brethren. Since nothing shocking seems to be happening on the surface—though much is happening just underneath the surface in world affairs!—some are letting down spiritually! Fervent prayer and real Bible study are lacking. And no doubt partly because of this, some brethren are losing their spiritual focus and are beginning to feel that God is "far off," that nothing much is happening in world affairs and that it is not really important that we are all truly committed to being part of the Work which Christ is using us to do.
Translation: Income is down.

They don't realize that we are being used in a unique manner to truly "warn" our peoples of the Great Tribulation and also to genuinely "feed" God's people with the "whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). Many "little groups"—here and there—have part of the Truth and are doing a "little" part of the Work. But where is Christ primarily working and where are His eyes focused today on the Church He is using to prepare for the coming Kingdom of God? Most of you understand.
Translation: Members are slipping away to competing tithe-croppers.
But some of our people are confused and weak, and some are also discouraged that several of our brethren are becoming seriously ill with various forms of cancer, heart disease, etc.
Translation: I'm not feeling all that well myself.

So our Headquarters team unanimously agreed that we should call a Church-wide fast for the Sabbath of August the 4th!
Translation: All my Yes Men nodded when I told them.


Read the whole thing here - minus the helpful but speculative attempt at translation - if you dare.

Poor old Rod. Every time something goes wrong, guess whose fault it is? Yes, you brethren have been getting Laodicean! Notice that the Grand High Poobah doesn't include himself in the backsliding. My question would be whether the saintly Presiding Evangelist will himself be fasting on the 4th. Obviously he doesn't seem to think he needs to, and longtime observers will remember Herbert Armstrong's reputation for drinking coffee on the Day of Atonement, which he shrugged off with a "well, I always said there was no nutritional value in cup of coffee!"

July 4th is Independence Day in the US (have a good one y'all!); maybe August 4th should be Spiritual Independence Day for those of us with a background in Armstrongism, a day to feast heartily in celebration of the freedom from abuse members of Meredith's sect have yet to embrace.

Mad Dogs and Englishmen...

Here I am complaining about a spot of winter drizzle while the British Isles have been receiving a pummeling from the weather gods. English weather has long been the subject of general hilarity in the rest of the world, but there's nothing even faintly funny about people losing their homes and even lives.

We all know what Spanky and Six-pack Gerry will say about such calamities: God is teaching the godless a well-deserved lesson. The Big Bloke in the Great Beyond has a short fuse, and every now and then the temperamental old sod lets fly with a hissy-fit. Flood, famine, tsunami, itchy boils... the god of Big Dave and the Herbal pretenders is anything but subtle.

Surprising then that a bishop in ye olde Church of England is prattling about the same thing. Under the previous Archbishop of Canterbury, reputed to be a hyper-conservative Evangelical, the bishoprics of the land were filled with card-carrying members of the so-called "evangelical" wing of the C of E., which is a large part of the reason the current archbishop, looking thoroughly frazzled, made the cover of Time a week or so back. Perhaps the former incumbent thought a theologically stiff upper lip might arrest the decline in attendance. If so, he was dead wrong.

In any case "the Rt Rev Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle," (the frocked fellow in the photo) has entered the fray with a word of divine consolation for the sodden citizenry worthy of Monty Python, as reported by the Telegraph.

"This is a strong and definite judgment because the world has been arrogant in going its own way," he said. "We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as the environmental damage that we have caused."

How Meredithesque!

"We are in serious moral trouble because every type of lifestyle is now regarded as legitimate," he said.

"In the Bible, institutional power is referred to as 'the beast', which sets itself up to control people and their morals. Our government has been playing the role of God in saying that people are free to act as they want," he said, adding that the introduction of recent pro-gay laws highlighted its determination to undermine marriage.

"The sexual orientation regulations [which give greater rights to gays] are part of a general scene of permissiveness. We are in a situation where we are liable for God's judgment, which is intended to call us to repentance."

The Telegraph reporter notes that the bishop is "a leading evangelical." Well, whatayaknow! Dow even goes on to compare the wicked world of today to the Roman Empire: "people should heed the stories of the Bible, which described the downfall of the Roman empire as a result of its immorality."

Well, shucks, where did I put that Ambassador College booklet The Modern Romans?

But here's my constructive suggestion. If the troglodyte bishops of Britain are going to steal COGdoms finest ideas, it's only fair if Rod, Gerry, Dave and the boys steal the Anglican regalia. Can't you just see Rod in a dress holding his staff with manly firmness? Or Gerry with a Roman collar and silly hat?

We might have to modify those religious titles though, "Right Reverend" just won't cut it in our tradition. How about "Right Rabid" instead?

Winter's blast

Alright, so you Northern Hemisphere types can smile, but in the great Down Under it's winter, the days are short and the audible pitter-patter of rain is persisting on the roof as I sit here at my tidy desk - despite having Beethoven's Choral Symphony turned up several notches above normal. Well, I mean, what else is there to do on a Sunday like today other than wander around looking for jobs to do indoors while listening to music?

And might I add that the news out of Valencia isn't helping things either. Half a world away New Zealand is engaging the Swiss in the Americas Cup. Staying awake till ungodly hours to watch the coverage is demanding enough, but those balmy Spanish temperatures and sunshine are cruel and unusual punishment at 2AM. To rub salt into the wound, the Swiss - or rather the rebel Kiwi sailors who went over to the Swiss - are doing far better than they deserve. By the time this goes online it may be all over, but for the moment the quislings still have to win one more.

Biased? Who, me?

Then, the cruelest blow of all, the All Blacks went down to Australia last night. Do I need to explain that the ABs are the national Rugby team, that Rugby is the national game, and that Australia is the ancient foe?

The yachting provides an analogy for this blog: which is just as well seeing it isn't providing much good news otherwise. Since AW reappeared in this form a bit over a year ago, both it and I have been "tacking away" from a tight WCG/splinter focus to something a bit broader. The current "series" of the long-running COG "soap" is, after all, but a pale imitation of seasons past.

Today's highlight (apart from the pleasure of discovering a desktop under piles of paper and coffee mugs) was getting notification of passes in the two theology papers I took last semester. No rest for the wicked, however, and tomorrow night the first audio-conference is scheduled for semester two's Dead Sea Scrolls paper. Among the set readings is one from someone called James Tabor titled "Patterns of the End: Textual Weavings from Qumran to Waco." I just bet it'll be heavier going than his blog entries...

On an unrelated note, New Zealand WCG member Dennis Gordon has an excellent article on Genesis and Creation in the latest issue of WCG's Odyssey magazine, well worth checking out!