On Vacation...

I'm actually on vacation right now, so I'm just going to write something I heard the other day:

Two people talking about heresy, apologetics, and atheism;
"If Richard Dawkins had been in Geneva with Calvin, it'd have been the stake for him."
"Yeah, but probably for Ken Ham, too."

Boethius gives me comfort...

Boethius: "My life sucks. I've lost it all, nothing works right. Me has an emo."

Lady Philosophy: "That's not tragic. You know what's a tragedy? That someone like you is throwing a pity party. Now get off your butt and focus on the endgame."

Thinking about Demythologization

(side note: Hey, I'm managing to blog more often than once a month!)

Something I've been considering lately is the idea of demythologizing the concepts of the Bible. If we follow Bultmann, we demythologize the kerygma and the setting of the New Testament - Bultmann wanted to make the whole package palatable. That's clear. Personally, though, I think Bultmann reduces everything to an abstract existential decision - you can read Heidegger here for sure.
But if we reject Bultmann's interpretation of history, if we say we have a God who does act in history, who was incarnate, who did atone, why do we keep the part of Bultmann's program dealing with the rest of the package? What Bultmann has to say about myth is interesting, and in some areas he's even right - but how do we justify rejecting his interpretation of the cross and the kerygma but swallowing the whole thing when it comes to the supernatural, to a devil and demons, to angels, etc.?
Are we so worried that it "makes no sense to the modern man" that we become cowards about it? Or do we see "evil" as abstract and impersonal because we have been convinced that it is so?

Personally, I'm not convinced. I've yet to encounter an argument about, say, the reality of a literal Satan that wouldn't require interpreting Christ the same way. I do admit, even as a person of the century of social networking and smartphones, that I believe there is a devil, roaming about and seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8 my paraphrase), and we'd be fools to ignore that.
Laugh if you will, but I'd rather be prepared for a threat that turns out to be false than to ignore a real one because I'm to "modern" to believe it is there.

Expatriate Musings on an American Holiday

Today's the 4th - but since I don't live in America, for everyone around me, it's just another Monday. I'm going to go to work as normal, and, due to my schedule, probably not do anything special tonight.

Now, I love my country, but being outside of it for an extended period of time changes one's perspective.

Sometimes I'm embarrassed by how my fellow Americans act, both when they're here in Europe, and back home. Some of the crap we pull, and worse, some of the crap we American Christians pull, makes me ashamed.

Another problem I have is that I find a lot of American Christians act the way they are named - Americans first, Christians second (if at all). Our willingness to accept injustice and attitudes towards the disadvantaged and hurting are too often the result of our Faustian deal with free-market economy rather than an outgrowth of Christian character - and it shows.

Given that I'm personally torn between Just War and Hauerwas-style pacifism, America's military present and history can be a rough point for me. The Just War arguments are good - good enough to stick to when I feel like I would be betraying servicemen and -women, good enough to stick to when the other option is to admit that the Revolutionary War was inexcusable...but am I convinced? I don't think about it too much, because I'm scared of the answer.

In a "post-American" age, are we as Americans allowed to have issues about being American? Or do we all have to still pretend it is the 50's?