16AR21-30

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AR 21:30 - Finding faith through science?

In this issue:

HOMOSEXUALITY - is "queer" a clue to where the movement is headed?

KING, KAREN - an update on her "Gospel of Jesus's Wife" fiasco

SCIENCE - rejecting God, but finding faith "through the lens of neuroscience?"

YOGA - finally, a definitive answer to the vexing question: "Is it religious or not?"

Apologia Report 21:30 (1,303)

August 24, 2016

HOMOSEXUALITY

"Out of the Box: 'Queer' has gone from a slur to a radically inclusive term - but if anyone can be queer, does the word lose its potency?" by Jenna Wortham -- helps answer the question: "Where is the gay rights movement going?"

"The speed with which modern society has adapted to accommodate the world's vast spectrum of gender and sexual identities may be the most important cultural metamorphosis of our time. Facebook, which can be seen as a kind of social census, now offers nearly 60 different gender options, including 'questioning' and 'bigender' - or no gender at all. In a new commercial for Calvin Klein, Young Thug, a slender rapper prone to wearing dresses, states that he feels 'there's no such thing as gender.' The Oxford English Dictionary recently added Mx, a neutral replacement for titles like Mr. and Mrs. ... And 'queer' has come to serve as a linguistic catchall for this broadening spectrum of identities, so much so that people who consider themselves straight, but reject heteronormativity, might even call themselves queer. But when everyone can be queer, is anyone?

"The word 'queer' has always contained the shimmer of multitudes; even etymologists can't settle on one origin story. ...

"This halo of negativity began to dim somewhat in the 1970s, when the word was reclaimed by activists and academics. Not only did its deliberate looseness make it a welcome alternative to the rigidity of 'gay' and 'lesbian,' it also turned the alienating force of the slur into a point of pride. (Though it is still considered offensive by some.)"

In 1990, "Queer Nation, a prominent and controversial gay-rights group, put it this way ... Using 'queer' is a way of reminding us how we are perceived by the rest of the world.' ...

"Increased acceptance of queerness has only led to increased commodification. ...

"Someday, maybe we'll recognize that queer is actually the norm, and the notion of static sexual identities will be seen as austere and reductive." New York Times Magazine, Jul 17 '16, pp13-15. <www.goo.gl/PYHgGz>

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KING, KAREN

The Atlantic issued an update (Sep '16, p13) to its story "The Unbelievable Tale of Jesus's Wife" by Ariel Sabar (AR 21:28, <www.goo.gl/OLcMDO>), which concludes: "The Harvard Theological Review, according to The Boston Globe, is not retracting the paper King published about the papyrus. 'The mission of Harvard Divinity School, its faculty, and higher education more generally is to pursue truth through scholarship, investigation, and vigorous debate,' the school's dean, David N. Hempton, said in a statement <www.goo.gl/xo0cLE>. 'HDS is therefore grateful to the many scholars, scientists, technicians, and journalists who have devoted their expertise to understanding the background and meaning of the papyrus fragment. HDS welcomes these contributions and will continue to treat the questions raised by them with all the seriousness they deserve.'"

Sabar, however, notes that the "eminent Harvard historian of early Christianity" Karen L. King "declined to reveal who owned the papyrus, and eventually told Sabar that she hadn't 'engaged the provenance questions at all.'" Right. <www.goo.gl/tJZie4> (mid-page)

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SCIENCE

Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found It Again Through Science, by Mike McHargue <mikemchargue.com> [1] -- the publisher explains that McHargue "draws on his personal experience to tell the unlikely story of how science led him back to faith. Among other revelations, we learn what brain scans reveal about what happens when we pray; how fundamentalism affects the psyche; and how God is revealed not only in scripture, but in the night sky, in subatomic particles, and in us."

Publishers Weekly (Jul '16 #2) adds: "This book chronicles his personal journey through a period of atheist rejection of religion, followed by a return to a very different type of Christian practice. Through the lens of neuroscience, McHargue makes his case for valuing religion not for its factual explanatory power but rather for its ability to give meaning to human existence. Like many personal narratives, this memoir will be most appreciated by readers who share the author’s struggle to square a rational, material understanding of the universe with an irrational yearning for the transcendent." PW concludes that "for those who fear science will rob them of both God and Christian community, this work may offer much-needed hope that Christianity and science can coexist."

What odds for stability can be given when faith finds its origin in something so constantly subject to revision as science?

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YOGA

Here's an ironic solution to the "Yoga: Religious or Not?" controversy. It sure took long enough for someone to apply the obvious conclusion: Yoga, as it happens, isn't religious ... it's SPIRITUAL.

The Path of Modern Yoga: The History of an Embodied Spiritual Practice, by Elliott Goldberg [2] -- "Fitness trainer Goldberg presents a richly detailed examination of modern yoga, beginning on the opening pages with Shri Yogendra and his experience of meeting his guru in 1916 at the age of 18. Goldberg divides the book into three major parts: 'Divesting Yoga of the Sacred,' 'Making Yoga Dynamic,' and 'Making Yoga Sacred Again.' In each section he explores some of the major players (11 in all) who shaped the development of modern yoga, including Yogendra, who eventually stripped hatha yoga of what he called its 'mysticism and inertia' and ushered its conversion from intimate devotion to a single guru into the modern-day class session with a yoga instructor and fellow students. Other luminaries profiled here are Swami Kuvalayananda (who lived with a pet deer), T. Krishnamacharya (a bullying yet 'brilliant innovator'), and the Russian-born Indra Devi (who used yoga to combat anxiety and exchanged her Western garments for a trademark sari). As Goldberg traces yoga's path from sacred ritual to physical exercise to embodied spiritual practice, yoga practitioners and scholars alike will be fascinated by these yogin pioneers and their colorful stories. Goldberg offers a vibrant and accessible study of yoga's history, growth, and transformation." Publishers Weekly, Jul '16 #1

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found It Again Through Science, by Mike McHargue (Convergent, 2016, hardcover, 288 pages) <www.goo.gl/bcxmWH>

2 - The Path of Modern Yoga: The History of an Embodied Spiritual Practice, by Elliott Goldberg (Inner Traditions, 2016, hardcover, 512 pages) <www.goo.gl/djmwFR>

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