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By Jeff Gang, February 17, 2012 4:31 pm

A quote to begin the Sabbath:

     Jewish religious philosopher Abraham Heschel, in his meditations on the sabbath: ‘The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time.’ Whereas we move about in space in order to win space through the use of technology, and in order to deal with the ‘thing- ness’ of space, the goal in the realm of time is not to have but to be. The religions of ‘the nations’ concentrate on sacred places and sites. But ‘Judaism is a religion of time aiming at the sanctification of time’. The sanctification of time is not a disparagement of space. Both the conquest of space and the sanctification of time are part of the task assigned to human beings. But the sanctification of time has to be a commandment of its own, since it does not impose itself of itself, like the conquest of space. It is the necessary counter-weight to the life that usurps space, because it calls a halt to the threatening enslavement of the human being to technological civilization. So on the sabbath the tools which can so easily be beaten into weapons are laid aside, money dealings are avoided, and in the midst of the struggle for existence which seems so omnipresent, we can find an island of peace in which to live [emphasis mine].

- Prof. Bernd Wannenwetsch, University of Aberdeen
Political Worship : Ethics for Christian Citizens, p. 349

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By Jeff Gang, January 27, 2012 2:55 pm

A quote to begin the Sabbath:

     If we ask what the sabbath is there for, we are asking about two different things. It is one thing to ask about its function, and another to ask what is meant by its ‘blessing’. (It is only in this sense that we can ask about a commandment.) What does it mean for us when God ‘blessed’ the seventh day? In the way the story of creation is told, it may first of all strike us that the human being celebrates the first sabbath before he himself has performed any work. So he shares God’s rest, not like God, by ‘celebrating from his (own human) works’, but by celebrating with God ‘from his (divine) works’. For the human being himself has as yet no works which he could contemplate. This relativity and relatedness remain the secret of the sabbath even after the human being has gone to work himself. The sabbath does not acquire its meaning from the act of working. It does not just belong to the people who have work. It belongs to all human beings. On the sabbath, human beings do not look at their own work, at least not primarily. Every sabbath is supposed to be like the human being’s first sabbath, when he had as yet no work of his own at which he could have looked back. The rest which is meant for human beings is to be found in the contemplation of God’s works, from which they live. If a person looks at these, his gaze becomes free. It is neither drawn downwards, because it is fixed on the part-work of his own hands, nor upwards at the success of his work, which elevates him above other people. It is not the fragments of what he does that he sees, and not the question of how he could perfect them; what he has before him are the perfect works of God.

- Prof. Bernd Wannenwetsch, University of Aberdeen
Political Worship : Ethics for Christian Citizens, p. 347

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By Jeff Gang, December 14, 2011 11:47 pm

Last month I attended the annual gathering for the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature
in San Francisco (AAR/SBL). One of the highlights at AAR/SBL are the books, books, wonderful books! Each year dozens and dozens of publishers, small and large, display their wares in a large exhibit hall. Resistance was futile the moment I walked into the room. So here’s a list of the damage I did this year:

1. Who is Christ for Us by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Facets (Fortress Press, 2002))
Contains choice excerpts from Bonhoeffer’s Christology Lectures in 1933, with some good essays by Renate Wind and Craig Nessan. The full version is available in Berlin: 1932-1933 (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, vol. 12).

2. Discipleship (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, vol. 4) by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Fortress Press, 2003)
A Christian classic and one of Bonhoeffer’s early works. It is slow reading and few people get past the first chapters (myself included). One of my 2012 resolutions is to read the book entirely (Check back with me at this time next year).

3. Ethics (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, vol. 6) by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Fortress Press, 2005)
I am growing increasingly interested in ethics, so I bought another Bonhoeffer classic, which is even more challenging to read than Discipleship. Hope to begin reading this one soon.

4. I am Bonhoeffer: A Credible Life-a Novel by Paul Barz (Fortress Press, 2008)
The description of this book piqued my curiosity: “From deep immersion in Bonhoeffer’s own papers and the scholarship about him, Barz’s narrative imagines Bonhoeffer’s looking back to his childhood and family; his education and turn to theology and ministry; his travels to Spain, America, and London; his leadership of the underground seminary at Finkenwalde; his growing opposition to the Third Reich; and his decisive involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler.” I am reading this one now!

5. Bonhoeffer and King: Their Legacies and Import for Christian Social Thought edited by Willis Jenkins and Jennifer M. Bride (Fortress Press, 2010)
A book about two of my favorite preacher/theologian/activists! What’s not to like? Current leaders in Christian social thought reassess these two giants lives, by addressing their thinking on race, reconciliation, nonviolence, political violence, Christian identity, and ministry. Another one I am reading now.

6. Eating and Drinking by Elizabeth Groppe  and Parenting by David Jensen (Fortress Press, 2011)
These two books are part of Compass: Christian Explorations of Daily Living. Fortress Press was offering a two-for-one deal so I chose these two from the series. Each book is trying to do accessible practical theology. Other titles include, working, shopping, and playing. I love the idea!

7. Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics edited by Joel B. Green (Baker Academic, 2011)
A must have reference book on Christian ethics for students, pastors, and scholars. Baker Academic hasn’t released the book yet so I am happy to have obtained an advance copy through AAR/SBL.

One last note: You can probably see a major theme in my list, i.e. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. While I already own a copy of Discipleship, my goal is to collect all fifteen volumes of the recently completed Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works series by Fortress Press, a monumental achievement in Bonhoeffer scholarship, with some of Bonhoeffer’s writings that have never been available in English until now.