09AR14-40

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Apologia Report 14:40

October 29, 2009

Subject: Examining The Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda

In this issue:

CULTS, AFRICA - the religious aspects of the history, strategy, and tactics of the Lord's Resistance Army

NEW TESTAMENT CRITICISM - "an overview of the most useful, most recent, and most contentious issues" surrounding noncanonical texts

SCIENTOLOGY - its surveillance methods and quest for power

SPIRITISM - "the first book in the English language on the subject of spirit mediumship" in Vietnamese communities

THEOLOGY, GENERAL - funny dictionary actually makes good sense

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CULTS, AFRICA

"The Lord's Resistance Army: Millennialism, Violence and the Timeless Dream" by Jeffrey Kaplan -- the LRA, led by Joseph Kony, has brought untold grief to multitudes in East Africa yet is little understood. Kaplan, an associate professor of religion at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, fills in many gaps.

The abstract reads: "This essay examines the history, strategy and tactics of the Lord's Resistance Army, a millenarian terrorist group that originated among the Acholi tribe in Northern Uganda. Today, its operations focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo, but it is active in Uganda, the Sudan and the Central African Republic. The LRA is composed of approximately 90% kidnapped child soldiers and as a result of its depredations, almost 90% of the Acholi and other northern Ugandan tribes live in squalid IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camps in Uganda. ... The article focuses in particular on the religious aspects of the LRA and on its metamorphosis from a local to a regional and ultimately into an international security challenge." Religious Studies and Theology, 28:1 - 2009, pp95-127. [4]

Kaplan is also the author of the forthcoming book Terrorist Groups and the New Tribalism: Terrorism’s Fifth Wave [1], which features a chapter on the LRA.

(Note: The LRA should not be confused with another violent Ugandan cult, the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, which made international news in March of 2001 when a series of mass murders by its leaders was discovered.)

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NEW TESTAMENT CRITICISM

"Noncanonical Texts: The Da Vinci Code and Beyond" by David Landry -- the author begins: "Noncanonical texts (especially gospels) have experienced a renaissance ... that almost no one would have predicted. ... This resurgence in interest owes itself to three main factors: archaeology, theology, and popular culture." Landry reviews the highlights in each area, explaining: "This essay aims to provide an overview of the most useful, most recent, and most contentious issues in the field today." Along the way, he makes some significant remarks.

The Jesus Seminar, and specifically John Dominic Crossan, "suggested that readers would need every one of [the Seminar's own collection of 16 noncanonical gospels] to empower their own quest for the historical Jesus. But few today would share that enthusiasm. Mark Alan Powell [Professor of New Testament at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH] recently wrote that the noncanonical gospels 'seem to have worn out their welcome among many scholars who think that their significance for historical reconstruction was exaggerated.' ...

"Leaving aside for a moment [Dan] Brown's false claims [in The Da Vinci Code] that the noncanonical gospels are earlier than their canonical counterparts and that they are 'unaltered,' while only the four biblical gospels were substantially rewritten, the further question is whether he is even reading the Gospel of Philip correctly ...." (Landry has created a web site named "What's Wrong with The Da Vinci Code" at <www.tinyurl.com/yz5x4q2>.)

In a lengthy discussion of the best-known noncanonical forgery, The Secret Gospel of Mark, Landry notes that "Forgery was epidemic in ancient Christianity." He also mentions The Greater Questions of Mary, "allegedly discovered in 1958 by Columbia University professor Morton Smith."

Last, Landry reviews the National Geographic debacle over The Gospel of Judas, with which Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels likely wish they never got involved. Landry's conclusion speaks volumes when he writes that "it is fair to say that some scholarly reputations are going to emerge with permanent damage" when all is said and done. Word & World, 29:4 - 2009, pp367-379. [7]

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SCIENTOLOGY

"Surveillance in a New Religious Movement: Scientology as a Case Study" by Susan Raine -- the abstract reads: "Contemporary discourse on surveillance tends not to account for the types of surveillance and security measures that both traditional and alternative religions adopt. Certainly, many religions have for centuries recorded, and thus, monitored, the lives of their followers. English parish records noting lives, baptisms, deaths and so forth is one such example originating in the sixteenth century. When one thinks of contemporary surveillance, however, more sophisticated strategies involving new technologies typically comes to mind. This article offers an examination of the numerous traditional and newer surveillance techniques of one particular new religious movement - Scientology. This movement employs a variety of stratagems in order to preserve a high level of secrecy regarding both its central doctrines and some of its activities. This article suggests that Scientology’s surveillance methods are driven not only by the group’s desire to protect its interests, but also by the quest for control (and hence, for power) that the group’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, sought throughout his life and left as an institutional legacy after his death." Religious Studies and Theology, 28:1 - 2009, pp63-94. [4]

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SPIRITISM

Possessed by the Spirits: Mediumship in Contemporary Vietnamese Communities, Karen Fjelstad and Nguyen Thi Hien, eds. [2] -- reviewer Alexander Soufy reports that this is "the first book in the English language on the subject of spirit mediumship in Vietnam." The book's focus is on "spirit possession rituals called len dong," the study being taken up by a "new generation of scholars" and introduced via this collection of essays.

Ngo Duc Tinh "provides a useful overview of the mother goddess religion in Vietnam of which len dong is a central ritual. [Unfortunately, nothing is mentioned in this review suggesting the uniqueness of the beliefs studied here in relation to other world religions or worldviews. - RP] Pham Quynh Phuong then looks at how the mother goddess religion is merging with the cult of the historical figure Tran Hung Dao, reminding us that popular religion is fluid and constantly changing. ... From there the book covers several topics, [including] the transplant of len dong overseas, the importance for spirit possession as a means to deal with mental illness, votive offerings and the complicated relations within and between different groups of practitioners. The book ends with an essay by Laurel Kendall, who has worked primarily on Korean shamanism. Her essay serves as a conclusion, drawing out some of the themes that emerged in the essays and usefully contextualizing them within the broader study of popular religion in East Asia.

"There are a number of themes that work through the chapters, including the religious resurgence in Vietnam, [and] religious syncretism...." Studies in Religion, 38:1 - 2009, pp169-170, [5]

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THEOLOGY, GENERAL

Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms, Rolf A. Jacobson, ed. [3] -- Dave Kirk brings applies his own crazy definition of "review" to begin his analysis: "An article that takes 2 minutes to read, took 2 hours to write, required 2 days of preparation, and barely summarizes something that took 2 years to produce." Kirk finds that "Crazy Talk is amazingly funny. And the best part is that, unlike some of the other funny theology books on the market, this one was meant to be funny. For example, Jacobson's team defines 'baptism,' in part, as 'the only rinsing your soul will ever need.' Another excellent example of their wit is found in their definition of 'heresy' as 'The official teaching that there are unofficial teachings that are officially contrary to the official teaching of the Christian faith.'"

Kirk is impressed because many of the definitions are neither brief nor "glib." Instead, "the book goes much further, adding detail to the definitions that, while witty, still get to the heart of the matter. Using ... common ground, Jacobson and team then help define heresy in terms anyone can understand: 'A heresy is, at heart, really a wrong way that leads to a bad destination. That is, it is an alternate route that takes you someplace you don't want to go.'"

The impression is given that Crazy Talk provides an opportunity to come at understanding through the back door. It may not be anyone's primary authority, but Crazy Talk can help win interest and lead to greater comprehension. Kirk explains: "It is wonderful when a book can enlighten and still be light-hearted, and this one succeeds very, very well in that realm." Trinity Seminary Review, 30:2 - 2009, pp128-129. [6]

(Confession: I added the "required 2 days of preparation" phrase to the above definition of "review." Having written my share of them, the summary just didn't seem complete without doing so.)

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Sources, Monographs:

1 - Terrorist Groups and the New Tribalism: Terrorism’s Fifth Wave, by Jeffrey Kaplan (Routledge, February 2010, hardcover, 272 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/yft454a>

2 - Possessed by the Spirits: Mediumship in Contemporary Vietnamese Communities, Karen Fjelstad and Nguyen Thi Hien, eds. (Cornell Univ, 2006, paperback, 194 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/yfzjrb9>

3 - Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms, Rolf A. Jacobson, ed. (Augsburg Fortress, 2008, paperback, 160 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/yl5wvr>

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