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Apologia Report 20:5 (1,234)
February 5, 2015
Subject: A deep divide in American Buddhism
In this issue:
BIBLICAL CRITICISM - mapping "the host of answers pestilential in their effect on many people's faith"
BUDDHISM - Patheos notes "a deep divide between native-born American converts and Asian immigrants"
NEOPENTECOSTALISM - Charisma magazine explains how to "have a difference with Almighty God and get what you want"
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM - a growing rejection of evangelicalism?
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UPDATE ON OUR TROUBLED EXPERIENCE WITH AR DELIVERY LAST WEEK
How do I simplify the complexities of spam detection and misidentification? That seems to be the most significant conflict that lies behind the failure of AR getting delivered properly to many of our readers. We're not sure that there is a workable solution at this point. However, should you ever need a back issue, your best bet remains <www.j.mp/ar-chive>, the Apologia AR-chive.
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BIBLICAL CRITICISM
Pandora's Box Opened: An Examination and Defense of Historical-Critical Method and Its Master Practitioners, by Roy A. Harrisville [1] -- Robert Gundry likes this mapping of the "host of answers pestilential in their effect on many people's faith in the Bible as God's Word."
Referring to the backlash against historical criticism of the Bible, Gundry explains that in some circles "pre-modern interpretations are touted as superior to modern interpretations arising out of historical criticism." In others, "theological interpretation of the Bible in the form of commentaries written by contemporary theologians rather than by biblical scholars is increasingly in vogue. ...
"Harrisville defends the historical-critical method on the ground that biblical religion arises out of God's dealing historically with humankind. ... So if we are to make sense of the Bible, whether or not we believe in its divine inspiration, it behooves us to ask of it historical questions, and to answer those questions. Thus the subtitle, in part, of Harrisville's book: An Examination and Defense of Historical-Critical Method."
What drives the book? Harrisville reports that "there is no longer any agreement on method among biblical interpreters." He describes the broad range of issues involved, and Gundry catalogs them to give "some notion of the breadth of discussion."
Gundry adds that "The subtitle's remainder, and Its Master Practitioners, telltales the main structure of Pandora's Box Opened. After comparatively brief treatments of interpretive methods in ancient history, the Reformation era, and the period of Protestant orthodoxy and Pietism, Harrisville pays most attention to the Enlightenment [up through] the 20th century. ...
"Harrisville has provided such a feast of information and argument ... that it would be churlish to fault him for ommissions." Yet Gundry cannot resist the urge to "compliment" Harrisville and list areas that deserved "some attention." Still, Gundry finds that this "dense and learned discussion deserves a close reading by every serious biblical scholar, church historian, and theologian." Books & Culture, Jan/Feb '15, pp24-25.
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BUDDHISM
"Turn, turn, turn: What is Buddhism's appeal for contemporary Americans?" by Richard Ostling -- reports that "The over-all U.S. context is a deep divide between native-born converts ... and Asian immigrants, also American Buddhists but not new 'converts.' Richard Hughes Seager of Hamilton College calls this split 'the most prominent feature of American Buddhism' during recent decades. ...
"The American Religious Identity Survey <www.goo.gl/3zmGqd> in 2001 sampled 50,000 Americans and projected there were 1.1 million adult Buddhists, and later added children for an estimated 1.5 million. The World Christian Encyclopedia [2] listed 2.45 million U.S. Buddhists including children but didn't count 'new religions' like Japan's Soka Gakkai that others consider Buddhist. Experts have said Asian-American immigrants are something like three-fourths of U.S. Buddhists, and by outdated guesses there may be as few as 100,000 non-immigrant converts or as many as 800,000." Patheos, Dec 30 '14. <www.goo.gl/lIJgjL>
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NEOPENTECOSTALISM
"Illegal Prayers" by Bob Sorge -- presenting "a different way to pray" when you're in need of an urgent reply, Sorge teaches that "you can have a difference with Almighty God and get what you want." That last line comes from the sidebar, "When You Need Wine *Now*" (p58), missing from the online version of this article.
Sorge gets his thinking from the New Testament account of Jesus attending the wedding in Cana. Here Mary chose to "leverage her relationship with Jesus." Sorge encourages you to do the same; as he reads the passage, "Jesus' earthly mother and heavenly Father were at odds." And in her drive to replenish the wine which had been run out at the wedding she "put pressure on God's timetable" to initiate "something that God had no intention of doing."
He adds that as a result, "She actually activated the advent of Christ's supernatural ministry. And what's really stunning is that she triggered it *before its time.* ... What Mary did here was epochal. She initiated, through her audacity, a new era in God's calendar."
In his article (retitled online "How to Pray With Life-Changing Boldness") Sorge continues with the concept of relationship leveraging: "Build relational equity with God *now,* so that when the crisis hits, you have a friendship to fall back on. ...
"How should we respond when God says, 'Not yet'? Jesus' counsel ... is stunning: 'Push back. Challenge God's sovereignty.' ... Jesus invites us ... to challenge God's sovereign timing. ...
"There is a kind of praying that receives today what God was intending to do tomorrow." The arrogance and self-centeredness of Sorge's approach is breathtaking: "What good is a relationship with God if you can't lean on it in your time of need?" Does the poor guy have no experience with raising teenagers? Charisma, Dec '14, pp56-65. <www.goo.gl/lIJgjL>
For much better counsel on effective (and biblically faithful) approaches to intercession, we recommend Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God, by Tim Keller [3].
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SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISM
"The Season of Adventists" by Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra -- "One of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's most famous sons, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, is seeking evangelical support for a likely 2016 presidential bid. But the global leader of his church worries that the thriving denomination is becoming too mainstream.
"In 2014, for the 10th year in a row, more than 1 million people became Adventists, hitting a record 18.1 million members. Adventism is now the fifth-largest Christian communion worldwide, after Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and the Assemblies of God." (Zylstra offers no complementary data on the many who are leaving the movement, as a review of membership statistics covered by the decade from 2003 to 2013 indicates an actual increase of only 5 million.)
This leaves SDA president Ted N. C. Wilson "concerned about assimilation." Many of his concerns seem "aimed at the global church's North American Division (NAD). (Though only about 1 million Adventists live in North America, they send out nearly half of the church's missionaries and operate 13 of its colleges.) Many NAD members are seeking more dialogue with mainstream evangelicals. The NAD has also overwhelmingly approved women's ordination, despite a global denominational ban.
"Some Adventists worry that changing worship styles mean the denomination is moving toward evangelicalism, acknowledged Garrett Caldwell, public relations director for the world church. But though the church is indeed trying different strategies to reach the culture, it won't be joining the National Association of Evangelicals anytime soon, he said. ...
"Its belief that God began judging Christians in 1844 and its reverence for [Adventist founder and prophetess] Ellen G. White's teachings have led to a rocky relationship with evangelicals. Adventists explored joining the World Evangelical Alliance in 2007, but the groups could only agree 'to cooperate, where advisable, in areas of shared interest.'
"'There has been a continuing tension about whether [Adventists] see themselves as distinct, or as one among many evangelical denominations with a few special emphases,' said David Neff, former CT editor and a former Adventist minister. 'There's a dynamic that moves back and forth between those poles.' ... "The tension over separation or collaboration recalls other religious movements founded in the early 1800s, such as the Restoration Movement, said LifeWay Research president Ed Stetzer. Also known as the Stone–Campbell Movement, it eventually fractured into congregations that engaged evangelicalism more (Christian Churches) and less (Churches of Christ)." Christianity Today, Jan/Feb '15. <www.goo.gl/GoMP4J>
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - Pandora's Box Opened: An Examination and Defense of Historical-Critical Method and Its Master Practitioners, by Roy A. Harrisville (Eerdmans, 2014, paperback, 376 pages) <www.goo.gl/0yzCwh>
2 - The World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions in the Modern World (2 Volume Set, Second Edition), by David B. Barrett, George M. Kurian, and Todd M. Johnson (Oxford Univ Prs, 2001, hardcover, 1,700 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/ygn3rcr>, and <www.tinyurl.com/yf77r6e>
3 - Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God, by Tim Keller (Dutton, 2014, hardcover, 336 pages) <www.goo.gl/LiNF0t>
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