Religio Fall 2011

RELIGIO Drinking From The Chalice

The Body Of Christ

A Witness

THE UNDERGRADUATE JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT AT DUKE

Fall 2011 | Volume 6| Issue 2

Witness to the World

NOTE FROM THE EDITORS

W e are pleased to bring you the tenth issue of Religio examining the issue of witnessing in the world, exploring everything from its discernment to its manifestations.

In the spring of 2007, Religio began as a way for students to read, write, and reflect on the Christian faith. Duke University is founded on the premise that knowledge and religion, eruditio et religio, are fundamental to the development and formation of all persons. Religio strives to bring Christianity into dialogue with the educational and cultural climate of the university. As such, this ecumenical project draws from a diverse range of Christian traditions and fellowships on campus.

This journal is part of a larger initiative called “The Augustine Project” which seeks to establish journals of Christian thought on college and university campuses across the nation.

Our journal is a grateful partner of Duke PathWays, a ministry of Duke Chapel that helps students discover their calling through programs of theological exploration and vocational discernment.

Our writers examine the concept of the Christian witness and what significance it holds in the life of the Church. Indeed, many Christians today locate a core element of their faith in how they represent God, Jesus Christ, and the Church. This ambassadorial mentality incorporates such activities as evangelism, proclamation, and missionary work, but it goes beyond these to also include the position of “works” in the Christian life, the challenges the Church faces as the body of Christ in the world, and what being a witness means for each individual. To some Christians, it is the crucible upon which faith and doctrine rest; to others, it is a rather ritualistic concern that is more a product of belief than a foundational pillar. For all, it is an important part of the Christian tradition that warrants careful thought and reflection.

This semester’s edition of Religio touches on profound issues within the history of the Church. The authors featured in this issue grapple with matters as foundational as the scriptural precedent for witnessing to subjects as complex as the balance between approachability and holiness in the individual Christian life. It is without reserve that the editorial board presents this publication of Religio as an outstanding representation of the tradition of contemplative reflection within the Duke Christian community. We sincerely hope you enjoy reading and meditating on these articles as much as we have enjoyed putting them together.

Religio is accessible online at http://www.duke.edu/web/religio/. You can view this issue and our archives on that site. If you are interested in contributing to our next issue or exploring opportunities on our staff, please email us at religio@duke.edu. We look forward to reading your contribution to Religio Journal.

Walk in Love,

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VOLUME 6 ISSUE 2 Fall 2011

30

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Contents

A Witness Amy Allen

Word and Deed (and Heart and Mind and Soul and Strength): Engaging a Holistic View of Witness Michael Hammett

Approachably Holy Elizabeth Axelson

48

A Great Cloud of (Broken) Witnesses

24

Hannah Peckham

22

The Body of Christ

14

What has God done for you lately?

4

Drinking From the Chalice

Ivy Zhou

Johnathan York Kathleen Perry

58

26

Summer Reflections: 26 12

28

Find the Place of Faith Francis Lobo

Being With at CEF Janet Xiao

Housing for New Hope John McClean

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Drinking from the Chalice: A Reflection on the Witness of the Monks of Tibhirine

By Kathleen Perry

A

sleep, brother?” The opening scene pans across the picturesque Algerian countryside revealing two Cistercian monks digging into a hillside. One pauses to gaze upon the cloudy day, and, as the movie opens, his brother’s admonishment breaks the silence.

Of Gods and Men (originally titled Des Hommes et Des Dieux)1 is a film based on the true story of nine Cistercian monks living in Algeria in the mid 1990s, when the turmoil of the Algerian Civil War erupts. Seven of the 1

Of Gods and Men (originally Des Hommes et Des Dieux), DVD. Directed by Xavier Beauvois. 2011; New York, NY: Sony Pictures Classic, 2011.

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monks are kidnapped and later executed by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), although the cause of their death remains undetermined. Few things could be considered a greater witness to the world than that of a modern-day martyr.

However, the greatest witness of those seven monks who were killed was not the virtue of their deaths, but the rhythms of their life. The harmony of their coexistence with their Muslim neighbors and the authenticity of the monks’ internal struggles was a greater witness than their mysterious deaths. Just as one brother broke another out of his daydreaming gaze, the monks had to be awoken and challenged to recognize the powerful witness that is their way of life, and how that witness alone was enough to threaten

the powers of the world around them.

The brothers’ home is nestled next to a small village that “grew up with this monastery.”

Brother Luc is the sole source of medical care for the village, seeing 100-150 patients a day.

Every morning, flocks of women and children line up outside the gate to be treated. The brothers are invited to participate in important village religious ceremonies and have regular meetings and worship services with the local leaders. We watch as the brothers participate in the life of the community to sell their homemade honey at the village market. As the brothers are subsumed into the community, intimate and authentic relationships develop, reflected in scenes of poignant and personal communication. A young girl in the village facing an arranged marriage asks Brother Luc if he has ever been in love. “Several times,” he replies, “and then I encountered another Love, even greater.”

This greater Love inspires the monks to continue to live their patient witness, even when that witness is threatened by the instability of the outbreak of the Algerian Civil War. Initially, the tiny village is far removed from the distress of war until the GIA massacres a crew of Croatian nationals nearby. Suddenly, the unpredictable violence is on their doorstep.

More than just threatening the monks’ sense of security and peace, the arrival of the GIA forces them to reconsider what type of witness they truly are called to be.

At first, the GIA are viciously portrayed as the ‘other’. The villager’s complaints, the insistence of Algerian army protection, and the monks own fears paint the GIA as ruthless antagonists

willing to slit the brothers throats as easily as they spilt the blood of the Croatians. The first direct interaction with the GIA comes on Christmas Eve. The relationship between the prior, Christian, and the local GIA leader Fayattia starts with friction: Fayattia demands first the services of the monastery doctor, and then the non-existent surplus medication, but Christian refuses to yield. Fayattia’s face softens as Christian recites the Qu’ran in a demonstration of brotherhood. As Fayattia extends his hand and an apology for coming to the monastery on “this night different from all other nights” as a gesture of peace, a gentle point of mutual humanity is formed between the two men. The monks now realize that the GIA can no longer be the ‘other’ that they had demonized. The brothers were forced to recognize and live into their calling: “Our mission here is to be brothers to all.” Soon after, a wounded GIA soldier is rushed into the monastery to be treated, ahead of the women and children waiting in line. Even more of a witness than the simple but powerful one that they had exemplified by living in harmony with their Muslim neighbors, this action is a clear response to love their enemies, to the point that they are no longer their enemies, but their brothers. This is not to say that this type of behavior is without its consequences. After Fayattia is killed in combat, Christian is called in to identify the body. As he makes the sign of the cross in his prayer, the army commander scoffs in impatience at the idea of sorrow over the enemy’s death. To bear that cross of deep friction with their beloved adopted people is their witness, even when it is manifested in sorrow for the ‘other’.

While continuing to live their daily lives in 5 Religio Spring 2011

love, the brothers face serious inner turmoil over whether or not it is best to stay in Tibhirine. The film does not portray them as holier-than-thou saints, immune to the temptation of human doubt. Rather, their raw human struggles are shown as they slowly come to the conclusion that “to leave is to die.” There is no shortage of questioning their purpose in staying in Tibhirine after the massacre of the Croatians, and the tensions in the monastery only grow more strained after the first visit of the GIA on Christmas Eve. The monks agree that no one should seek martyrdom and they know that to stay in the midst of the civil war is to put their lives at high risk. However, there is disagreement over whether it is their witness to be present and in solidarity with the community they live in or whether their witness would be greater used living rather than dead, even if that means having to leave Tibhirine. As one brother puts it, “I became a monk to live, not to sit back and have my throat slit.” There is a witness in their willingness to struggle openly about the decision to leave or stay. One of the younger brothers is perhaps, due to his age, more tormented than the others: “As a kid I dreamed of becoming a missionary,” he confesses to Christian. “Dying for my faith shouldn’t keep me up at nights. Dying here … does it serve a purpose? I don’t know. I feel like I’m going mad.” In the end, the community makes the decision to stay, as each brother raises his hand in favor of the decision around a plain wooden table.

These conscious decisions of the brothers are not a matter of supporting one side over another, but loving in the extravagant 6 Religio Spring 2011

manner of the Savior they follow. They choose the “third way,” the way that points them past sectarian differences to a fellowship through the intercession of Christ with their fellow human. This is not a matter of choosing the right side, as the monks refuse army protection and ban the presence of weapons of both the army and the GIA in their compound. Their choice produced a tension that awakened them to the witness that their actions serve. Do they wish to incite the stares and whispers of the villagers, the ones whom they had lived in peace with for decades? Of course not. But in their striving to love as Christ loved, they must bear the cross that enables this love to be manifest in them.

In the middle of the film, an Algerian official who is desperately trying to convince the monks to accept military protection warns, “Your sacrifice [their imminent death] will eventually be exploited.” How easy it would be, to hold up these brothers as a trophy of the Christian faith without a look to what their deaths truly meant. They were awoken to the power of their own witness as they were forced, not to choose the “good” side or the “bad” side, but to love in the shadow of the cross. And while that way leads them to their ultimate death, it is in the way that they partake of the “chalice of the passage” that is much as a witness as the sip itself that consummates the final act of their death.

A letter written by Christian on the eve of his death:

“Should it ever befall me, and it could happen today, to be a victim of the terrorism swallowing up all foreigners here, I would like my community, my church, my family, to remember that my life was given to God and to this country.

The Unique Master of all life was no stranger to this brutal departure. And that my death is the same as so many other violent ones, consigned to the apathy of oblivion.

I’ve lived enough to know that I am complicit in the evil that, alas, prevails over the world and the evil that will smite me blindly. I could never desire such a death. I could never feel gladdened that these people I love be accused randomly of my murder.

I know the contempt felt for the people here, indiscriminately. And I know how Islam is distorted by a certain Islamism. This country, and Islam, for me are something different. They’re a body and a soul.

My death, of course, will quickly vindicate those who called me naive, or idealistic, but they must know that I will be freed of a burning curiosity and, God willing, will immerse my gaze in the Father’s and contemplate with him his children of Islam as he sees them.

This thank-you which encompasses my entire life includes you, of course, friends of yesterday and today, and you too, friend of the last minute, who knew not what you were doing.

Yes, to you as well I address this thank-you and this farewell which you envisaged. May we meet again, happy thieves in Paradise, if it pleases God, the Father of us both. Amen.”

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A Great Cloud of Witness

By Hannah Peckham

W

hen Christians look at the great heroes of the faith, including saints, martyrs, theologians, and missionaries, they might be tempted to think that Christianity is a religion for strong people. We ought to combat this misconception forcefully, even though a surface reading of the Bible seems to agree with it. In one of the most famous passages of the Bible, the author of Hebrews defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (11:1),� and then proceeds to provide a catalogue of important figures who demonstrate this faith in the Old Testament through their obedience, including Abel, Abraham, Moses, and Rahab. While people today might be well advised not to follow Abraham by obeying the voice in their head that tells them to sacrifice their children, the stories, good and bad, of the heroes of the Old Testament that are recounted in Hebrews 11 demonstrate to us the importance of obedience. Abraham left his home to go to Canaan, Noah built an ark on dry land, and Moses led his people out of Egypt despite his speech impediment. Their faith, the assurance of things hoped for, was demonstrated in their ac 8 Religio Spring 2011

tions. All of them were relentless in their quest to find and know the unknowable God. These witnesses did not simply talk about their faith, but lived their lives in such a way that they reflected the message they were proclaiming about the nature of their God. In Hebrews 12, we are called to run this race, just like the heroes of our faith did.

But what should we tell Christians who are broken and weary from running the race? Our churches cannot all be filled with people who find following God as straightforward as the author of Hebrews portrays it to be. Of course, the same problem occurred in the Old Testament. Some of the prophets blamed catastrophes like the exile on the disobedience of the people of Israel because they believed that God had made a covenant with them. He would bless them when they obeyed him, and destruction would occur if they disobeyed. But throughout the Old Testament, and into the New Testament, some characters did not find the concept of covenantal obedience fully convincing. The world just seemed too broken for the bargain actually to be true. The author of Ecclesiastes thinks everything is meaningless. Job puts God on trial, complaining:

ses

“I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul” (7:11).

Jacob wrestles God and wins. Habakkuk laments the silence of God in the face of such brokenness, saying, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?” (1:1). The evidence suggested to these authors and characters that a life of faith lived out in obedience to God was not enough to ensure a peaceful life. God did not always show up to defend the innocent and punish the guilty. And while our situations are far different today, we cannot ignore the evil and suffering in the world in an attempt to keep God from looking bad, particularly if we are simply afraid that he will be silent in the face of injustice. Running this race by living as witnesses in the world is a difficult task, and we do the church a disservice by minimizing this struggle.

resource, dedicated to making families better and marriages happier. At worst, Jesus is little more than a nice person who handed out tips on how to be a better businessman. It is easy to see why this is a tempting process in Christian churches, even for people who have the best of intentions.

At their core, Christians are part of the body of Christ. We want to make our faith as attractive as possible to people who might be interested in following Jesus, whether that is through creating ‘contemporary’ worship services that draw in younger people, simplifying Christian theology and language in order to appeal to a broader audience, or constructing a façade behind which we hide our flaws. The production that we as the church put on is our way of witnessing to the transformative effect of Christ’s incarnation and resurrection, hoping that one day the image we project of ourselves and our religion will be the true picture.

While Christians believe we are under the new covenant, demonstrated in the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, perhaps we would do well to hearken back to the message of these more complex characters in the Old Testament. All too often in Christian churches, people think that Christianity exists as a self-help

In an effort to present the gospel as something glorious, we have minimized the trials that will come our way. In the process, we have diminished one of our most important witnesses, for “it is the unwelcome but bracing truth that only in grappling with God is our faith made real and lasting rather than trite and ephemeral. A faith that 9 Religio Spring 2011

doesn’t confront the hard facts of a brutal world - chiefly the hard fact of our stony hearts - is not true faith.”1 In a world where Jesus’ return is not necessarily imminent, what does it mean to live as an alternative community, to preach the gospel in the way we live our lives, to witness to those around us that God possesses the ability to make us fundamentally different? The kingdom of God is at hand, but the world does not reflect that reality. Stigmatizing the depths of our doubts in the fact of this brokenness only demonstrates that it is all too easy to disregard Jesus’ expectation that we will also carry our own crosses.

suffering, any attempt to diminish resulting doubt and lament will simply result in disgruntled Christians, afraid that their disbelief is their own fault, that if they had done more they would feel some sense of belonging. But, as Jesus experienced on the cross, sometimes God chooses not to say anything, and sinners decide to say far too much. “Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.”2 Jesus ran the race perfectly, so let us not lose our faith. That, of course, is easier said than done. It is far too easy to rely on emotionalism and to project an image of wholeness in order to replace a true awe in We do no service to the Chris- the face of the divine silence and tians struggling with their faith over the roar of the crowd. and to non-believers to claim that life with God is always a How then shall we live, as a happy one with all the answers. If cloud of broken and doubtour religion consists of using Je- ing witnesses? The gospel is sus as a self-help resource, we are that Christ became man so that missing something fundamental. we can become like God, as St. We turn the other cheek because Athanasius said. As the author that is what Jesus did. We take of Hebrews makes clear, unlike up our cross because Jesus told the witnesses in chapter 11, we us to. We spend time with people have seen the fulfillment of our who are not like us because Je- faith. The suffering of the world sus poured himself out for people and the brokenness within our that society rejected. That is what own bodies and relationships being a Christian means. When remain constant problems. The Christians are confronted with world was redeemed at the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus 1 Ralph C. Wood, Preaching and Professing (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009), 247.

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2

Hebrews 12:3 (NRSV).

“But for the searching and right understanding of the Scriptures there is need of a good life and a pure soul, and for Christian virtue to guide the mind to grasp, so far as human nature can, the truth concerning God the Word.

One cannot possibly understand the teaching of the saints unless one has a pure mind and is trying to imitate their life. Anyone who wants to look at sunlight naturally wipes his eye clear first, in order to make, at any rate, some approximation to the purity of that on which he looks; and a person wishing to see a city or country goes to the place in order to do so. Similarly, anyone who wishes to understand the mind of the sacred writers must first cleanse his own life, and approach the saints by copying their deeds. Thus united to them in the fellowship of life, he will both understand the things revealed to them by God and, thenceforth escaping the peril that threatens sinners in the judgment, will receive that which is laid up for the saints in the kingdom of heaven.” ~in his conclusion to The Incarnation of the Word, Chapter 9, (9:57)

Christ, is being redeemed now, and will be ultimately redeemed in the future. As Christians, we bear responsibility to participate in this process of redemption. Our witness as broken people in a hurting world paradoxically participates in this process.

When we think of witnessing, it is far too easy to limit our witness to verbal articulations of the message of the gospel. But witnessing to the world should be part of the way we live our lives, particularly in our bodies. A good example of this recently took place. On his television show, Pat Robertson told a man that if his wife had Alzheimer’s disease, it would be preferable for him to divorce her, make sure she was well-taken care of, and get remarried, instead of opting to have an affair. While having an affair is clearly not something that Christians ought to endorse, the problem in Robertson’s comment lies in the assertion that a marriage partner might not need to keep the “for worse” part of his or her vows.

As a commenter on the debacle put it, “The body will decay, and the temple will come to ruins….

In the slow corruption of our flesh, the vow takes on a new dimension, making it possible for us to imitate the sacrifice of Christ’s body through the giving of our own. It is the cross that is the shape of love in a broken world, and it is the cross we must carry in order to love broken bodies.”3 Witnessing in a broken world means that, through the destruction of our bodies, we display the glory of the gospel and the faithfulness of Christ.

these heroes can often seem very distant from ours, particularly when we can no longer present the put-together image we keep trying to project. But Christianity is not meant to be a faith for people who are whole. Jesus consistently criticized the Pharisees, who thought that their great religiosity made them more favorable in God’s eyes than prostitutes were. Widows who gave all they had, no matter how little, found far more approval from Christ than the powerful who gave much. Jesus spent time with the lowest in society, the outcast, and the broken. As Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.”4 Our brokenness and sinfulness do not disqualify us from witnessing to the greatness of Jesus’ resurrection and redemption. In fact, these facets of our existence allow us to demonstrate the power of God in our failures. While we might never be heroes or saints, we will be faithful. At the very least, though, let our faith be honest. Our brokenness is being made whole, so we can bear our scars without hypocrisy and without fear.

The heroes of our faith worshiped God with their actions. The faith demonstrated by 3 Matthew Lee Anderson, Why Pat Robertson is Wrong about Divorce, Relevant. http:// www.relevantmagazine.com/life/current-events/ features/26771-why-pat-robertson-is-wrongabout-divorce

4 Luke 5:31-32.

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Being With at CEF By: Janet Xiao

“And I think that’s what our world is desperately in need of – lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about.”

– Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution

M

y sophomore year, I met Santi, a classmate from UNC, in Bob Korstad and Jim Leloudis’ joint UNC-Duke class on poverty. During class conversations, Santi spoke of “homeless people” not as a nameless, faceless population, but as friends with whom he gossiped and ate and shared dreams with. Intrigued, I asked if I could check out the organization he was involved with, the Community Empowerment Fund. A semester-long commitment turned into a summer of DukeEngage, which is now turning into an additional two years of commitment to volunteering with CEF. A lot of what CEF does really can’t be described in terms of programs or numbers. This summer, I spent lots of time at our office on Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street, where members (our word for “clients”) can drop in at any time to get one-on-one help with job and housing searches, make a deposit in their CEF Savings Account, get connected to community resources, or just catch some AC during a hot day and chat. CEF devotes a sizable chunk of time to building community because we believe that true, meaningful empowerment requires more than dishing out a bundle of services.

It is found in “deep, genuine relationships.” In practice this means just hanging out, catching up, encouraging each other, cracking (sometimes bad) jokes, sharing stories, drinking coffee, partaking in monthly dinners, hosting parties for every occasion imaginable, attending memorials… basically, being a community. Dean Samuel Wells of Duke’s Chapel would call this “being with.”1 1 Samuel Wells and Marcia A. Owen, Living Without Enemies: Being Present in the Midst of Violence (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press, 2011).

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Summer Reflection

Homelessness is no longer just an “issue” for me. When I hear about North Carolina’s education and health care cuts, I worry about one member whose disabled son I met the other day, or about another who relies on Medicaid. The rhetoric of “ending homelessness” no longer means “solving” one of the many “problems” facing society; rather, it means moving my friends into sustainable housing and giving them back their dignity.

In CEF, I believe that I have found what I was looking for: a way to steward the resources that I have been given in a way that brings good to others while simultaneously forming a meaningful friendship that extends so much further beyond a “client relationship.” As one of our first members phrased it, “It’s not about the money. It’s all about the relationships.” This summer, I’ve heard and become a part of stories that inspire and sadden me, I’ve been forgiven seventy times seven, and I’ve witnessed some amazing selflessness and generosity.

Did all of that appeal to you?

Join CEF as an advocate to work closely with one of our members. We are currently working in Durham, and we desperately need advocates (in Claiborne’s words, “lovers”). Check out our website at http://www.communityempowermentfund.org, and email mjx@duke.edu to get plugged in!

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What Has God Done

“When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” ~Mark 16:1-8 14 Religio Spring 2011

“I’m not very evangelical.”

T

hat’s something I hear a lot, espe-

cially in liberal Christian circles. It would seem that some Christians consider their lack of an evangelical drive something to be proud of. However, there is a problem with this nonevangelical pride: Christians aren’t allowed to be nonevangelical.

It’s true, some Christians are more comfortable talking about their beliefs and spreading the story of Jesus than others, but all Christians must be prepared to give an account of their faith, and give a reason for why they believe what they do.1 Even if we don’t like standing on street corners quizzing strangers about their beliefs, if we have friends of different belief systems then our faith is going to be challenged at some point. We’re going to be put on the spot, and it is our duty as Christians to be prepared to testify for our faith when that happens.

1 “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an account for the hope that is in you” -1Peter 3:15

for You Lately?

-Johnathan York

For most of us, it’s scary when people call on us to give an account of our faith. It is not that we don’t believe; it’s just that talking about our beliefs is hard. We never know how the other person will react, so we risk embarrassment every time we try to share our beliefs. Talking about our faith opens us to criticism and humiliation at the deepest level of our being. Frankly, it isn’t all that surprising that most of us 21st century Christians just don’t like talking about God. We’re afraid of what people will think of us.

However, this fear is not a 21st century phenomenon.

The first Christians reading Mark’s Gospel were intimately familiar with our innate fear of talking about our beliefs. These first Christians could typically be divided into two categories: radical Jews and Gentile converts.2 The radical Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah in the first century risked ridicule and even estrangement from their synagogues if they shared their beliefs with the wrong person (or too loudly).

2 For more information on the cultural context Mark was written in, see Part 1 of Luke Timothy Johnson’s The Writings of the New Testament

On the other hand, the Gentile converts were suddenly in the awkward position of having to explain to all their friends and families why they were converting to Judaism. It would seem that no matter what the century, to talk about one’s beliefs is to risk ridicule, sometimes at the hands of those one cares most deeply about. Mark knew this reality well, so well, in fact, that I believe he ended his Gospel with it in mind.

If you open your Bible to the end of Mark’s Gospel, you’ll notice something very strange about it: it has two endings.3 Some ancient manuscripts of Mark’s Gospel have the longer ending, some have the shorter ending, and some have both. More interestingly, neither of these endings is written in Mark’s style and the oldest manuscripts have no ending at all. For this reason, most New Testament scholars believe that scribes copying the Gospel added both the long ending and the short ending later.4 Mark’s Gos3 A “shorter ending” between 16:8 and 16:9 and a “longer ending” from 16:9-19 4 Bart Ehrman’s The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings is an excellent source for more information on the various 15 Religio Spring 2011

pel probably originally ended with verse 16:8: “So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

his Gospel forces us to stop and think: what if they hadn’t? If the women really had let their fear of criticism stop them from telling the story of the Resurrection, there would be no church, The women arrive at Jesus’ tomb to find that he no Good News worth telling, and certainly no RELIGIO magazine. In the dramatic way Mark isn’t there. They’re told he has been raised from ended his Gospel we begin to see the difference the dead and that they should go and tell what God has done, but they don’t. They’re paralyzed that just a few people brave enough to tell their stories can make. Of course, God didn’t stop with fear – our fears: fear of what people will doing amazing things in people’s lives with the think of them, fear of ridicule, and fear of not being understood – and never tell anyone about women at the tomb. the amazing thing that God has done. Mark The Living God is still at work! In the world, ending his Gospel with the words “and they in the church, and in each and every one of our said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” lives, God and His plan for the world are just as forces us to imagine what might have happened vibrant and active as ever.6 Our God isn’t caught if the women hadn’t overcome their fear. If they up in history and Scripture 2000 years old; our hadn’t, the best news any of us will ever hear God is caught up in the here and now. And this would have become the best kept secret in huGod, the God whose kingdom is at hand, has man history, and the Jesus movement would done fantastic things in each of our lives. have died out within a generation.

Undoubtedly, the story of Jesus is far more What a terrible way to end a book! It’s easy to see why the scribes would have added their own, more inspirational, endings. Or is this ending far more inspirational than the scribes saw it to be?

important than whatever God has done for me individually. Jesus’ story is more important than anything else that has ever happened, after all, and telling Jesus’ story and talking about the By the time Mark wrote his Gospel,5 the people Bible are crucial, not only for spreading the good news about God, but for sustaining our he was writing to would have already known own faith. Telling the story of Jesus and having about Jesus’ Resurrection. They would have conversations about faith is how we grow in our encountered early Christian missionaries; they own relationship with God, but it’s important might have even read some of Paul’s epistles, which were written earlier. Even the first readers that we don’t restrict our evangelism to telling of the Gospel would have known that the wom- stories 2000 years old. en must have eventually told someone! Word We can’t forget that “God is still writing the did seem to have gotten out, after all. Everyone Bible.”” I’ve talked to several people who have already knew that Mark’s ending isn’t the end. turned away from Christianity because they Everyone already knew that the women evensee it as being outdated and irrelevant to the tually refused to let their fear stop them from 21st century. The story of Jesus is central to our telling their stories, but the way Mark ended faith – it is the story of our salvation – but some endings of Mark.

5 Bart Ehrman estimates Mark’s Gospel to have been written roughly around 66-70 CE.

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6 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand…” –Mark 1:15

people have no interest in hearing a Bible verse, most of the people who are likely to challenge our beliefs have no interest in hearing about what God did 2000 years ago at all. So tell them about what God has done in your life today! In many ways, testifying to God’s action in your own life can witness to God’s presence and power in the world in ways no Bible verse can.

However, telling those stories of what God has done in our own lives is just about the hardest thing imaginable for us “nonevangelicals” to do.

Telling the amazing story of the things God has done for us is terrifying. In our modern society people usually can’t start talking about what God has done for them without getting strange looks.

It’s so easy to let fear of that judgment paralyze us, but ultimately, we, like the women at the tomb, can’t let our fear keep us silent forever. In the ending of Mark’s Gospel, we can find the courage to fight the paralyzing power of fear. In Mark’s ending, we find inspiration to fight the temptation to “say nothing to anyon,” we all know so well by being forced to consider what might have happened if the women had let their fear silence them. In Mark, we don’t find a dark

view of how easily the Jesus movement could have died out, but a call to action, an illustration of just how important it is that we tell what God has done and will continue to do, and a reminder of just how great an impact the words of just a few brave witnesses can make.

Telling our stories is hard and takes a lot of courage, it always has, but you never know when your story might be exactly what someone else needs to hear. You never know what effect your story might make on those who here. Our lives should be testaments to the reality that the God who raised Jesus from the dead is still alive and well, working in plain view for all to see.

However, should we choose to yield to our fear of judgment and keep our stories to ourselves, Mark has shown us that the consequences can be catastrophic. For this reason, I hope you find strength in the startling way Mark ended his Gospel, and I hope that the next time someone asks you to give an account of your faith, you remember the women’s bravery, and tell them about Jesus, but don’t forget to also tell the amazing, miraculous story of what God has done for you lately.

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Word and Deed...

(

By: Michael Hammett 18 Religio Spring 2011

and Heart and Mind and Soul and Strength

T

he early church provides an incredible demonstration of God’s transformative power. In Acts 2, we read that on Pentecost, the day where the Holy Spirit came to dwell on the apostles, a mere fisherman gave a moving sermon, and thousands were baptized. God was moving and active in the church.

spoken nature of Christian witness in the world, whereas “deed” ministry refers to the practical endeavor of living out the Gospel through good deeds and social action to feed the hungry, help the homeless, and support the downtrodden.

Living out one’s Christian faith in deed is best exemplified by the quote attributed to St. But when we look forward to 2011, we Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel; when see a different picture. The percentage of necessary, use words.” Living out one’s faith those identified as non-religious in any way in deed means that we live out the Gospel in America is rising. According to the 2006 through charity and good works, and that we Faith Matters Survey conducted by Harvard live out our lives as a sermon to the world. We University, we see that while in 1960, the recall the words in Micah 6:8 where God calls number of Americans who self-identified us to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly as having no religion was around 5 percent, with our God.” We remember the words of in 2000 that number had risen to about 25 Christ in Matthew 25:41 where we are called percent.1 Moreover, the rise in affiliation as to care for the weak, hungry, naked, and sick, being non-religious has not led to an overall for “just as you did for the least of these who rise in secularism. Americans still consider are members of my family, you did it to me.” themselves to be spiritual, but not necessarily Moreover, we remember in James 2:26 that religious.2 More importantly, the zeal of God’s “just as the body without the spirit is dead, so church has stalled to a point where many see faith without works is dead.” The Christian’s God or religion as irrelevant to daily life. witness in the world seems incomplete What happened? The God we serve is still the without this emphasis on serving the poor and same, transformative God we’ve always served needy through practical, charitable avenues of expression. Tim Keller writes that “God and the Gospel is the same Gospel. Then is angry when we have one face for him and why is the church perceived as declining? Is another for the needy… Jesus can say in effect, our power of witness in a pluralistic society ‘I am the homeless person on your steps— becoming less effective? In reality, the answer how you treat her tells me what you are really appears to lie in how we view the concept like.”3 of “Word and Deed.” “Word” refers to the On the other side of the spectrum, displaying 1 Robert Putnam and David E. Campbell, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites the Gospel in word focuses on the message we Us (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010), 123.

2 Robert C. Fuller, Spiritual, but Not Religious (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

3 Timothy Keller, Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road (Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 1997), 40.

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are called to verbally proclaim. According to J.D. Greear, using the axiom “‘Preach the Gospel; when necessary, use words,’ is like saying, ‘Tell me your phone number; if necessary, use digits.’ Our Gospel is a gospel of words. It is an announcement of what Jesus has done, not a model about how we are to live.”4 We receive the call to declare the Gospel in Word from no less a source than Christ himself. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus tells us to “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and in Romans 10:14-15, Paul says, “But how, are they to call on him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim to them?” The verbal aspect to living out the Gospel seems clear.

It is this balance between Word and Deed that seems to largely dominate the Christian life. The call to live one’s faith in Word and Deed is a biblically warranted.

More than that, the Bible seems clear that both are a necessary component to the Christian life. Focusing too much on the Word aspect without thinking of Deed often neglects physical needs and realities. This runs the risk of viewing people solely in terms of Christian and non-Christian and fails to truly endeavor towards relationships. On the other hand, focusing too much on Deed neglects to tell people of the one who compels such deeds. It focuses on meeting temporal needs without pointing to the one who 4 J.D. Greear, “Love in Action is the Greatest Apologetic,” JDGreear, December 7, 2009, http://www.jdgreear.com/my_ weblog/2009/12/love-in-action-is-the-greatestapologetic.html.

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can fulfill their ultimate needs. Certain groups may fare better focusing on one more than the other, but both are called for and the Christian life cannot consist in one or the other.

But even an approach that balances word and deed perfectly is flawed if it neglects the love with which we are supposed to go into the world. Word and Deed as a philosophy is biblically warranted, but unless it also represents a response to the Gospel it gets caught up in itself.

The key to the church reclaiming its zeal lies, therefore, in reengaging Word and Deed not as a philosophy or approach, but as a response to the grace of God. This response to God’s grace goes back to the basics of the Commandments. More specifically, we reference the Greatest Commandment in Luke 10:27: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Our call is not merely to help the homeless (although we do help the poor), and our duty is not merely to verbally display the Gospel (although we ought to be aware of and seize opportunities to verbally communicate the Gospel with others). Our call is first and foremost not instructional, but spiritual. Our call is to love God above all else, and to love others as a result of God’s overwhelming love for us. Word and Deed is not meant to be only a philosophy that focuses on instructions and details. Its preoccupation is ultimately with how we do ministry and how we conduct ourselves in the world.

In contrast, Word and Deed as a response of the heart loves God and loves people.

This response focuses on our driving force and our goals before we follow our instructions, and addresses why we even go into the world as witnesses. The Word and Deed philosophy falls short of the Christian’s call, which is holistic. The Word and Deed philosophy and the Word and Deed response may accomplish the same things in action, but a response to Word and Deed captures the love and spirit that Word and Deed as a philosophy sometimes neglects.

37) and that 3,000 were converted and baptized that very day. The early church also lived out their faith in Deed. They “would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need” (v. 45), and “awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles” (v. 43). The early church understood the importance of both word and deed.

But most important to reclaiming the heart of Word and Deed, we see that the spirit among the early church was one of true, abiding love. We are told in But what does a holistic Word and Acts 2:42 that the early church “Devoted Deed response look like? What does it themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to look like to have a response to the love fellowship, to the breaking of bread and of God dictate our witness in the world? the prayers,” and in verse 46, “Day by day, To see this, we turn back to Acts 2. as they spent much time together in the The dynamism of the early church can, temple, they broke bread at home, and ate I believe, be attributed to a responsetheir food with glad and generous hearts, oriented view of witness. praising God and having the goodwill of The church of Acts 2 did it all. They lived all the people.” The spirit of love increased the numbers of the church daily and was the Gospel in Word. In Acts 2:14-36, focused on loving other believers and the Peter gives one of the most compelling world around them. The early church lived sermons on record. He presents the a Word and Deed lifestyle as an outward Gospel clearly and succinctly, saying, growth from an inward spirit of love.

“Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made Word and Deed must reclaim its spirit if him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus, the church is to regain its zeal. The holistic whom you crucified … Repent and be view of our witness in the world thus baptized, every one of you, in the name begins with a call to our roots. It begins of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be when we stop focusing on the specific forgiven; and you will receive the gift of instructions alone and instead remember the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you, why we are called and who is calling us. To for your children, and for all who are far reclaim the spirit, we must let a response away, everyone whom the Lord our God to the Gospel guide us in word, deed, calls to Him.” The chapter tells us that heart, mind, soul, and strength. those listening were “cut to the heart” (v.

21 Religio Spring 2011

The Body of Christ....?

By: Ivy Zhou

I

n the Christian church, when people disagree or differ, we like to make the analogy of the body, based on Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 12. Although that particular passage refers to spiritual gifts, I think sometimes we try to make sense of the different denominations that way, too. To generalize: “Pentecostals remind us of the importance of the Holy Spirit, Presbyterians emphasize the truth of the Word, Baptists are all about the individual’s experience of intimate relationship with God, Methodists evidence God’s justice by their concern with social justice, Catholics remind us not to be prideful in our individualism, but to trust that God speaks through tradition.”

Different gifts, different functions, one body— right? It is as if grace, holiness, humility, and all the other virtues of Christian theology have been divvied up between the various denominations, and that somehow makes it okay that the church is so divided. But if we tried to piece all the denominations together, we wouldn’t have one body of Christ so much as a zebra’s leg glued to an elephant’s body, with a sheep’s head and a lion’s tail Velcro-ed on the back. We are one church, but with some irreconcilable differences.

This truth was crystallized for me last summer in the Pathways House. Eight undergraduate student interns of different campus fellowships and different spiritual histories lived under one roof, for the purpose of intentional Christian community and vocational discernment. We 22 Religio Spring 2011

were Catholics and Protestants, Baptists and Presbyterians, high church and low church. We prayed together and worked separate jobs in the community. Perhaps most importantly, we discussed theology.

And we disagreed. The members of the House who were more social justice-oriented challenged those of us who had always considered the individual relationship with Christ to be the focal point of the Gospel. They considered social justice and bridging socioeconomic gaps to be a requirement for our response to the Gospel.

While all parties agreed that works, even caring for the poor, are not requisite for salvation, it was jarring to feel so much emphasis diverted from simple faith. Someone said if a calling does not directly involve rectifying socioeconomic divides, one must question the validity of the calling and one’s devotion to Jesus. Others have cited Jesus dividing the sheep from the goats, sending to Hell those who saw Him hungry and did not give him food. They saw the American Bible as being cut to tatters and full of holes because of all the Biblical texts on poverty that we ignore.1 As Kevin Deyoung writes, “It’s the difference between saying ‘Here’s what God may be calling you to do in the name of love’ and saying ‘Here’s what God says you must do if you are to stop sinning.’” 2 1 Courtney Joseph, Amazon book review, “The Hole in Our Gospel” by Richard Stearns. Accessed October 23, 2011. http://www.amazon.com/Hole-Our-GospelExpect-changed/dp/1596440279/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=131 8300672&sr=8-1

2 Kevin Deyoung, “A Brief Wrap Up On the Poor and Social Justice”, August 5, 2010. Accessed

We disagreed about whether the emphasis of the Christian doctrine ought to be on sin and grace or Jesus’ love for people. I wondered if I was being an ungracious, un-Christlike Christian by believing that sin couldn’t be ignored—whether sexual, spiritual, active or passive. Was I a selfish, prideful Christian to believe that God dealt with me personally about the small sins of my heart that lead me to refuse to serve my roommate or to not keep Him in perspective? Was my view of Christianity too small because I focused on God making me holy instead of God’s restoration of the world? Would Jesus call me a Pharisee? Would He condemn my church as legalistic, formal, and unwelcoming to the poor? Would He be ashamed of the emphasis we put on how much God the Father longs to hold us in His arms and tell us that we are loved? I wondered if my evangelical tradition had gotten it wrong.

These are not only interdenominational arguments, but the denominational aspect made the disagreements cut deeper. If there are different denominations representing parts of the Christian church to the world, and they disagree, then who is the world to believe?

Which denomination has the “truer” witness in the world? Which face ought the church put forward, when we are internally inconsistent?

To be honest, I left the Pathways House confused. I felt like we all called ourselves Christians, but we effectively believed in

October 23, 2011. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/

kevindeyoung/2010/08/05/a-brief-wrap-on-the-poor-and-socialjustice/

different Gods. I felt like the God I believed in, the Christianity I believed in, may not actually be what I had thought. I disagreed with some people, and then wondered, if Jesus walked into the room, would he be fonder of those people than of me? I was scared of how much of my “beliefs” in God were not truth, but the interpretations of my denomination—people making God in their own image. Have affluent, “middle-class” churches simply made excuses for their comfortable lifestyle by claiming a God who affirms all callings? Have happily married, homophobic, politically conservative Christians cast out the people who offend them by creating a righteous God who hates homosexuality? Is it just an evangelical construction, to believe in a God who loves us intimately as a Father, who wants to communicate with us and comfort us? I found myself both judging and clinging to what felt familiar. I felt like a prophet with a newfound message from God, and then I felt like a self-deluded Pharisee. I found myself going into the new school year unable to pray, because I was afraid that in the silence I would imagine an answer that came from me and not from God. I second-guessed things that I once took comfort in.

Although the pressure was undoubtedly unintentional, it was hard to be an evangelical (in the loose, slightly political sense of the word) in the House. I felt steamrolled by the evidence of tradition and social acceptability. I often felt like the Christians who stood for social change offered a much more palatable Gospel 23 Religio Spring 2011

message than those who focus their preaching on repentance and freedom from sin. Perhaps we live in a world where it is okay to care about systemic injustice, but a message of personal sin and personal grace is unwelcome. Regardless of anyone’s feelings, there is an absolute truth out there somewhere, and that is God. Christians, in this eschatological time, have the dual burden of figuring out who Jesus is to us and who we must in turn be to the world.

The truth is that the world does not look at us and see one church, displaying many facets of God’s holiness, love, and grace. It looks at us and sees fragmentation. It also sees hypocrisy, sheltered people, too much politics, lack of intellect, and a history of oppression and judgment. How could one truthful message possibly come from such a fractured and broken church? And how should I live my life as a Christian? How do I relate to God again, amidst all these brambles?

Maybe I could start by trying to find a balance in my own views. I’d always known that Jesus loved the outcast, but Pathways made me question whether or not I could please God with my life if I did not refuse a well-paying job, live in a low SES neighborhood, and thus be an incarnational witness. The other option was foreign missions. It was a mindset that left little room for an “impractical” college education, aesthetic enjoyment, aiming for material comfort, or even bettering the lot of my ethnic group in America. It made me paranoid of wealth and judgmental of Christians who did not live simply.

grace, and a hardhearted refusal to enjoy the world God has gifted to us. We are called by the Gospel to be free, free from legalism, free to have abundant life. It used to be so hard to draw the line—how much should one sacrifice before it is enough? God does not call us all to the same life; He calls us all to be faithful to what has been revealed to us. Yes, Jesus said it was hard for the rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

But Levi the tax collector still retained a house, rich foods, servants, and enough tableware to host a party, after he chose to follow Jesus. I think it is fair to say that all Christians ought to live sacrificially and that the church should display the unity that can only be in Christ. But it would be unfair of Christians to imply that a calling cannot be valid unless it directly involves social or economic reconciliation. I think that spiritual salvation-centric churches and Christian fellowships have something to learn from those that are more social justice-oriented, but a balance needs to be struck. Jesus was certainly not a mere social activist, but He was also more than just a spiritual doctor. As Christ’s body, being daily sanctified and persevering in our faith, we are free through the Gospel to work towards God’s Kingdom on earth. The change in our heart necessitates and empowers the action of our hands and feet.

Above all, some things remain true. God’s grace covers me in my post-“enlightenment” confusion just as much as it catches me in my unknowing sins. If my past experiences with God were valid, they are valid now. Furthermore, on the grand scale of things, I am no further to understanding God than I was when I started. The beauty of I now feel that Christians are called to joyful, Christ is that whether I am in actuality more obedient trust in God’s provision and radical enlightened or more deluded now about the true following in Christ’s footsteps. It is the difference nature of God, He has it all taken into account. between giving sacrificially while trusting in His He knows that our human understanding was 24 Religio Spring 2011

bound to fail, and nothing about Him or the Gospel depends on us. Do I not believe that God fully estimated the frailty of our human intellect, when He chose to reach out to us?

He knew that we could not rebuild the broken world without Jesus. He knew that we would fail to love Him, so He loved us first. He knew that we would misinterpret His Word, so He gave us the Church. He also knew that people are fallible, so He gave us His word and the Holy Spirit. Just as God opened my eyes to some things this summer, He is doing so throughout His whole church.

I am thankful for Christians who care deeply about the church loving the poor, because Jesus loved the socially marginalized, the ones forgotten or trampled on by the world.

They show God’s power to turn the world order upside down with His love. I am deeply thankful for Christians who struggle to include and affirm the gay community. Whether they are still wrestling with homosexuality as a sin or trust that a good God makes no mistakes with his creation, these Christians experience the gifts of the gay community and enter into their pain as God does. I am also thankful for Christians who care about doing youth groups well and teaching the Word as faithfully as possible. I am thankful for international missionaries, as well as people who reach out to their neighbors. It is vital that the church not forget about the Gospel of a holy God dwelling with an unholy people.3 That is a spiritual truth: Jesus did not only come to alleviate poverty or instate social justice. I am thankful for racial reconciliation and ethnicspecific ministries. Heaven contains a multitude of races, languages, and faces, but one uniting song – the glory of God. Fortunately, the Gospel is not about how

3

Kevin DeYoung, “A Brief Wrap Up.”

much we can do for God, or how well we can do it. The Christian witness is a testimony of brokenness. So perhaps God calls us to remain faithful to what He has revealed to each of us. Maybe we make interpretational mistakes, whether as individuals or as churches or as whole denominations. But though these mistakes may be huge, God is always bigger and more glorious, more loving and ever more gracious.

I’d like to close with a passage from Josh Harris’s book Dug Down Deep. In it, Harris writes that the only person who will be right in Heaven is God. We are all right in some ways, and all wrong in a million other ways – so we are called to witness to one another and the world in love and humility.

“At the end of every conversation, we’ll agree that when we were back on the old earth, we really had no idea how unmerited that grace really is.

We called it grace, but we didn’t really think it was totally grace. We thought we’d added just a tad of something good. That we had earned just a bit. We’ll realize to our shame that to differing degrees we trusted in our intellect, our morality, the rightness of our doctrine, and our religious performance when all along it was completely grace.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).4 --Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris, page 229.

4 Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters (Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah, 2010), 229.

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Finding the Place of Faith in a Secular En

By Francis Lobo

N

eutral-colored walls, closed office doors, ringing phones, and open laptops. It was almost surreal as I walked into the office my first week and realized that I was employed in the real world, a place where religion is a tabooed discussion subject and office politics are as thick as the coffee sitting in the breakroom. I was a part of the Duke Chapel’s Summer Internship Program, which brought eight students together so that we could forge a Christian community and grow in faith as we worked at servicerelated placements. While most of the other interns worked for faith-based organizations, I found myself as an intern at Duke Medicine’s Division of Community Health wondering how I could possibly marry the lessons I was learning about vocation in a secular environment.

At first, I didn’t know how this location would further my goals. I had hoped spending time learning about chronic disease management and health education in the city of Durham would show me the intersections between faith and health. However, I quickly realized that living my faith in such a secular environment required initiative and constant awareness.

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I remained content as an office intern and did not venture mentioning faith save the weekly reflection meetings I had with my supervisor, a woman with a golden heart and a strong faith, Mrs. Kim Nichols. Her openness, wisdom, and discipleship provided me with a model of Christian living in a secular environment. I saw how Mrs. Nichols didn’t hide the symbols of her faith around her office. She wasn’t afraid of the walls of society; rather, she boldly acted around them without infringing upon the respect owed to others. She remained an open book, eager to discuss her faith with anyone and passionate about sharing the love of Christ with others. Her example challenged me to break down my own walls which kept me comfortable and made me re-exam-

Summer Reflection

nvironment ine what being “open” about my faith actually meant.

Our discussions and her example made me realize this: you do not need to say you are a Christian for people to recognize Christ within you. In the same manner, you do not need to talk openly about your faith around the office for people to see what kind of faith you have. Anyone interacting with you should recognize the peace within you during a trying time or the genuine concern you show them when they are troubled. Through little actions which openly reflect a love for your neighbor, you reveal Christ’s presence and love to those around you.

Throughout my eight weeks working for the office, I met men and women of faith employed in the fields of mental health and public health, people who had permitted their beliefs to transcend the seemingly rigid boundaries between home and the real world and make an impact on the lives of others. They were not part of faith-based organizations. Instead, they chose to participate in careers of service and remained motivated to put others before them. These people did not compartmentalize their lives: instead, they derived meaning from work in the health field through recognizing the presence of Christ in each patient they encountered. I realized that by putting God at the center of my relationships and at the heart of my motivations, I could embody my faith, become a new creation, and thus, witness to God in all that I do.

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H

ousing for ew ope

N H

John McClean 28 Religio Spring 2011

Summer Reflection

H

ousing for New Hope is a nonprofit organization operating in Durham and Orange counties with the mission of “preventing and ending homelessness, one valuable person at a time.”1 The people working there minister in four ways: 1) Outreach teams seek out individuals living on the streets and in the woods to begin meeting their needs in their current state of life, 2) They provide temporary housing for homeless men and women with a history of substance abuse, 3) They provide permanent subsidized housing for individuals and families with little to no income, and 4) They work with other nonprofits and government agencies to advocate on behalf of homeless people who have been marginalized and pushed to the edges of society.

I had the privilege of interning with Housing for New Hope this summer through the Duke Pathways Program. I spent the majority of my internship working very closely with the “least of these”2 as a part of an outreach team. While on the outreach team, I saw that this organization 1

“Housing for New Hope: Quick Facts,” accessed October 21st, 2011, http:// housingfornewhope.org/who/quick_facts 2

Matthew 25.40, NRSV

offers people not only the hope of living in a home again, but also the hope of once again being surrounded by a community that cares for them.

Our work included reaching out to people from all walks of life. Several of them were brilliant and incredible artists, but, due to different kinds of brokenness in their lives and various medical conditions, could not cope with the pressures of everyday living. Other work included mediating conflicts between housemates that we housed earlier in the summer. Since I was not qualified to do very much in the way of counseling, medicine, or administrative paperwork, I also joined the other outreach team members in engaging our clients in conversation—a meaningful way to be with people who are used to being disregarded and ignored. Their faces lit up as their lives began to come together in ways they (and we!) could not have anticipated.

Everyone faces discouraging challenges, especially in today’s economy, but by participating in these people’s lives, I felt the hope of the Gospel in action as I saw God building his kingdom here and now.

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By: Amy Allen

Witness to the World

W

hen someone tells you that you should be a witness to others, what exactly does that mean? It is easy to misinterpret a word like ‘witnessing,’ particularly because it has been overused. More importantly, we need to determine if witnessing is an exclusively verbal action or if it is much more. If we fail to understand this, we will misunderstand the depth and character of being a true witness of the Gospel.

Whether you are a Christian or a nonChristian, your first concept of witnessing likely has to do with words. Luke 8 tells the story of Jesus healing Legion, a man who had suffered from demons. After healing Legion, Jesus says, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” Legion then goes throughout the whole city to proclaim how Jesus had healed him. Similarly, once Christians come to know Jesus, they are called to tell others about what Jesus has done for them. Witnessing through words simply means sharing the Good News of the Gospel. By telling others what you believe—that Jesus died to save us from our sin—they will hear truth and have knowledge of Jesus. In order for someone to become a Christian, they must understand the claims, beliefs, and purposes of Christianity. Without first hearing this, no one will be able to come to Jesus.

The Great Commission is Jesus’ command to His disciples to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Even just this short sentence tells us much about the act of witnessing. The word “therefore” il-

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lustrates that telling others about Jesus is a result of another event. We are only able to share the Gospel with others after we have experienced its meaning in our own lives. Jesus gives the Great Commission right after the disciples witness His resurrection. At that point, they begin to understand that Jesus has defeated the power of death. Jesus was the sacrifice for their sins, and because of His resurrection, they worshipped Him upon first seeing Him. Only after we know Jesus and worship Him can we share that joy with others.

Jesus also says “all nations” in His Great Commission. He tells the disciples that the message should be sent to all people of all nations. Witnessing to others means telling all people about Jesus, not just certain nations or certain groups of people.

Witnessing through words is an opportunity to use Scripture as a way of encouraging others and drawing them towards God. By sharing Scripture, we can be confident that we are sharing truth and knowledge that will advance God’s mission rather than words that will serve our own purposes. That being said, we must also be honest when talking about our own sin. To proclaim the Gospel to others without admitting our own sin would be only a half-truth. Non-believers must understand why the Gospel is needed and why our lives are not always wholly reflective of the Gospel. Every person is affected by sin, and humans cannot be separated into the good people and the bad people.

Because of the presence of sin, we all make mistakes. To admit this is to take hold of Jesus’ promises to us and to encourage

others to do the same.

Just speaking the truth in these ways is not a complete way to witness; we must use our actions to point to Jesus. In Luke 6, Jesus tells a parable of the man who built his house on the rock and the man who built his house on the sand. The man who heard Jesus’ words and acted on them was the man who built his house on the rock—his house stood against the flood. However, the man who heard Jesus’ words but did not act on them is like the man who built his house on the sand—when floods came, the house immediately fell and was swept away. By using our actions to speak to others, we demonstrate a more complete picture of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Throughout the Bible, we see Jesus showing His sacrificial love for others by serving them—He washes feet, He feeds the hungry, and He heals the sick. By spending time with others, serving in the community, and going to church, Christians illustrate that God’s mission is worth their time. Not only do they profess a belief in Jesus, but they also dedicate their lives to following Him. They trust that God’s will for their life is much better than their own will. It is a much more convincing witness to marry your actions with your words. One without the other is incomplete.

actions to tell of their faith, one risks being mistaken as a “good person” rather than a believer. If someone does not know that you are a Christian, they may just believe that you have strong character and are trustworthy, faithful, or are generally a positive person. They will not hear about the change that the Gospel has brought to your whole life and character.

By dedicating both your words and your actions, you are illustrating your devotion to the mission of the Gospel and your belief in its truth. Believing in the Gospel causes a deep change of heart, not just a surface or behavioral change. It is not a way of making yourself a better person, but rather a re-orientation of your life for a greater purpose and meaning.

This change happens as a result of God first loving us, not an effort of our own accord to be better people.

When Christians understand what God accomplished on the cross, they begin to grasp why we witness. Dietrich Bonheoffer’s argues in his book Ethics that we have fallen away from our origin. Man was made in the Garden of Eden, fully reliant on God and His knowledge. Once man sinned, he was separated from God; man knew of good and evil, and so he was no longer dependent on God’s knowledge. Before sin, man was confident in God’s love for him and God’s caring for him: God had chosen man. After sin, man became aware of the possibility of not being chosen

by God. Bonheoffer says, “Instead of knowing himself solely in the reality of being chosen and loved by God, he must now know himself in the possibility of choosing and of being the origin of good and evil”.1 We were made to

Only by joining together one’s words and actions can one become a witness for the Gospel. If only words are used, one is perceived to be a hypocrite or to have a fair-weather faith. The Gospel becomes a “back-up plan.”

The “words-oriented” believer does not trust God’s plan for salvation enough to give their whole life, but just in case it is true, they agree to it. On the other hand, if one relies on only 1

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1955), 23.

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be in communion with God and to be fully dependent on Him. When we sin and become aware of our separation from God, we realize that we are lacking something. That which we were created for is what we are lacking.

Even if we frequently fail to explain what we lack, we know that we are missing something and find ourselves asking for more in life. People often turn to things of this world to fill this void. Romance, money, power, and success are common goals for people that are searching for purpose. We fool ourselves into thinking that those things will give us satisfaction and contentment.

The problem is that none of these things will bring lasting and true satisfaction. There is no guarantee that the romance will not fade, the money will not run out, the power will not be overthrown, or the success will not come to a downfall.

Only the promise of salvation from Jesus will last through the trials of this world. God is never-changing, never-failing, and we can have absolute hope in Him. This is the Good News that the Gospel proclaims: God’s Kingdom is one where God has chosen us, and His work is complete. Bonhoeffer claims, “He [man] no longer stands as the chooser between good and evil, that is to say, in disunion; he is the chosen one, who can no longer choose, but has already made his choice in his being 32 Religio Spring 2011

chosen in the freedom and unity of the deed and will of God”.2 Revelation 21 speaks of a new heaven and a new earth, where “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” This new earth fulfills the hope for which we have been longing. This is a promise that does not fade, and establishes a kingdom that will not change.

In the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “Thy Kingdom come.” We are asking God to bring this Kingdom to earth, to fulfill this promise in which we hope. Being a witness is simply participating in the bringing about of God’s Kingdom. It is telling others about this new heaven and new earth, inviting them to share in it with us. We are called to “proclaim good news to the poor…liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”3 When God’s Kingdom comes, we will finally be reconciled with our origin. This is why Christians are called to witness to others. It is not to increase the numbers of our ministries, to gain more power, or to be successful at what we do. Rather we witness because we can do nothing else. We have heard the Good News, and we cannot help sharing it with others.

2 3

Ibid., 37.

Luk. 4:18 (ESV).

Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s final written work, the posthumously titled “Ethics” is widely regarded as one of the seminal works in Christian in the last century. The book was written while Bonhoeffer stayed in Germany during World War II. Written chapter by chapter while his home was under Nazi surveillance, the chapters were purportedly hidden all around his house, behind flower pots, under rocks, and the like.

The book is structured systemically and the ideas in it anticipated many of the shifts theology would make in the coming decades. The book is currently being read by a small group of students in the Chapel Conference room on Monday afternoons. Email Adam Hollowell (adam.hollowell@ duke.edu) for more information.

We want those around us to be able to share in this hope and this peace. We want them to know Jesus and to have their lives transformed because we know how it has changed our lives.

discovered unity, reconciliation, is now the basis of the discussion”.5 As we know Jesus more and more through the study of Scripture, prayer, worship, and fellowship with others, we come to understand what it means to be conformed to His

This is why Christians are called to witness to others. It is not to increase the numbers of our ministries, to gain more power, or to be successful at what we do. Rather we witness because we can do nothing else.

This brings us to the question of what witnessing actually looks like in someone’s life. Jesus gives no checklist, and the Bible contains no list of steps to take in order to be a good witness. Instead, we are called to imitate Jesus. Bonhoeffer says, “This metamorphosis of man can only be the overcoming of the form of the fallen man, Adam, and conformation with the form of the new man, Christ”.4 By conforming to the form of Christ, we avoid distilling Him into a set of actions. It prevents us from copying certain aspects of His character that we like and then leaving out the rest. In order to follow Jesus, we must copy every part of His form. We cannot choose to be loving and generous, but decide not to be joyful and patient. Bonhoeffer describes conforming to Christ as “Not man’s falling apart from God, from men, from things and from himself, but rather the re4

Ibid., 42.

image. Yes, it includes giving to the poor, loving others, and telling those around you about Jesus, but it also is so much more. It is a character of living rather than a set of actions or a script of words. Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” The process of becoming like Jesus and the act of witnessing to others is preparing the Church as the bride. By bringing forth God’s Kingdom, we are preparing ourselves, as well as those around us, for the day of the marriage supper, when the Church is finally reconciled with Jesus.

5

Ibid., 30.

33 Religio Spring 2011

Approachably Holy By: Elizabeth Axelson

C

hristians have a special role on this earth to fulfill, one that Jesus expresses in His last words on earth: “be my witnesses” before all people1. But, now, without Jesus’ physical presence, we, the church, are His Body within this fallen world. In order to be His witnesses, we are called to be holy2, loving to all people3, and selfless, just as He was4. It is important to possess all three of these qualities, among many others, in order to represent Christ here on earth. As Christians, we bear His name whether we wear a cross, have “Christian” written on our Facebook profile, are a member of a campus ministry, or just simply call ourselves Christian. It is a family name we carry, one that we do not deserve but have been given by grace. For Christians, it becomes important to follow in Jesus’ perfect footsteps, walking that fine line of being both approachable to the world and set apart from it.

and many friends fall prey to the idol of peoplepleasing. In my own efforts to make sure that everyone likes me, I often forget that God has already declared His approval over me. Instead, I focus on being accepted by everyone to avoid judgment for my faith. At times, I hesitate to say what I actually think on an issue or simply just go with the flow of the world, even if the current pulls me away from my convictions. However, Christians are not called to be like everyone else; we are called to be holy, set apart and different. Paul says in Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed any longer to the patterns of the this world...” (NRSV) So, how do we live in this world, approachable and present to those who do and don’t share our faith?

The command to witness through holy living is not just a New Testament problem; the Israelites in the Old Testament were also called to be a holy nation and priesthood, set apart In college, and for the rest of our lives, it can be as God’s chosen people. The Hebrew Bible, for easy to blend in with the crowd, and to do what instance, is filled with commands of how to act, seems cool or acceptable, even if it goes against speak, live and worship in order to be separated what the Bible says or our convictions. We are from the surrounding peoples. Proverbs, one obsessed with, dare I say idolatrous of, having of the more practically applicable books of the our lives together. In my life, I have seen myself Bible, is full of wisdom about how a faithful person should act. It extols the importance 1 Act. 1:8 2 1 Pet. 1:16 of a good name, approachability and having 3 1 John 4:12 favor, while also insisting on a life that reflects 4

John 15:13

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righteousness, wisdom and the trust in and fear of the Lord. Proverbs gives us lots of ideas as to how to achieve actual holy living beyond the typical “Christian to-do list” that witnesses to our faith and keeps us actively involved with others: walk with integrity5, choose your words carefully6, do not be prideful7, be slow to anger 8 , be a loving and loyal friend9, be heedful of instruction and advice10, stand up for justice11, and be disciplined and self-controlled12. These are only a mere few of the lessons Proverbs offers us, but if we truly lived this way, people would see something different; that difference would be Christ working in us, showing us the only way to live a holy life.

songs and encouraging others is important, but blasting praise music for a friend who just wants to talk and cry is not the right thing to do. In John 11, Jesus took the time to weep when Lazarus died rather than rushing in and fixing the whole situation, as He eventually did. First, He needed to be with His friends, joining them in their mourning because that was what they needed. Witnessing to our friends in the midst of their needs can be a powerful testimony to the beautiful way God comforts us through our darkest moments and can start life-altering spiritual conversations. However, first we must be present with our friends, which can be the hardest part of witnessing in a school culture so grounded in busyness. Forming relationships that allow people to approach you in moments of need takes time, but in my experience, it is well worth the effort.

In addition to teaching us practical ways for walking on the straight and narrow, the Bible talks about the importance of applying the right godly attribute to the right situation at the right time. The author of Proverbs writes, “Whoever Living holy lives based on grace is important to sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes witnessing as a Christian, but deeply relational off a garment on a cold day”13. Ouch. Singing witnessing, encouragement and evangelism can 5 Pro. 10:9 only happen if we have friends with whom we 6 Pro. 10:19-21, 15:4, 21:23 can share the gift of life. The most basic way 7 Pro. 16:18, 26:12 that this happens is by being approachable from 8 Pro. 16:32 the start and by demonstrating to the world 9 Pro. 17:17, 18:24 10 Pro. 19:20 the faith that has inwardly transformed us, so 11 Pro. 29:7 that people see something desirably unique in 12 Pro. 29:11 us that they want as part of their lives, too. I 13 Pro. 25:20 35 Religio Spring 2011

think this is the Proverbial concept of ‘favor’ or a ‘good name.’ Proverbs 3:4 says that if you have “steadfast love and faithfulness,” you will have favor from both God and man. In addition, Proverbs 22:1 says that “a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.” Money can’t buy you friends, opportunities to share your faith or to be witnesses, and it certainly cannot buy salvation. In all our striving for the grades, the jobs, the life paths and the social circles that we may yearn for, have we ever thought about simply protecting the name of Christ that we bear? Have we sought to apply faithfulness and love to our friendships or do we seek to gain other’s approval by changing ourselves for people or acting out of obligation, guilt or dependency?

Cultivating true friendships based on the good character that the Lord provides sets the stage for witnessing throughout the friendship. If we are not approachable to non-believers (or even to believers), how can we expect people to respond to the good news we have to share with them? Why would they want anything we have, namely Christ? The purpose of cultivating a spiritually focused life is to embody the transformation of the Spirit so that we can be blameless and upright followers of the Lord and faithful witnesses to the ends of the earth, or at least on Duke’s campus right now.

One of the harder parts of witnessing, of being set apart yet among the world, is the expectation of consistency. In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls His followers “the salt of the earth,” which becomes worthless if it loses its taste. When considering how to act in a certain situations, I ask myself: would this make me lose my saltiness? Would it take away some of my Christian flavor that 36 Religio Spring 2011

makes me unique from others? Salt brings out other foods’ flavors, accentuating the best when used in the right amount, and it was also hugely significant in preserving foods in biblical times. Christians, too, are in a way, preservers of God’s culture on earth, and they should bring out other people’s best qualities because they see God in each person. Christians should be unique just as salt is unique from the other spices, they should be flavorful and well-received when their witness is applied in the right amount. Too much salt is overpowering, yet too little is bland and unappetizing. I believe that the right amount of holiness and approachability is what makes a Christian witness successful.

If our witnessing loses its saltiness, it becomes worthless. This is a strong statement, but it makes me incredibly grateful for the grace we have because God knew we’d be imperfect at carrying His name to the ends of the earth. In fact, that grace is part of what is compelling me to go.

The Galatians, like most Christians, struggled with the balance between living in the world and living out Christianity, and the more internal battle of legalism versus grace. In Galatians 4:8-9, Paul writes, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?”

Before becoming true Christians, regardless of whether we grew up in the church or not, we worshipped other things besides the one true God, whether it was popularity, grades, sports, relationships or our families. Now that we have been transformed through faith, we are to look

to God Himself and to turn away from our previous idols. We are to be different than we were. Our sins have been paid for and forgiven, and that is grace that sustains and continues to change and sanctify us.

was a way for the Galatians to earn God’s favor and show their election as the people of God. Circumcision is an interesting parallel to things with which Christians struggle today. In one sense, circumcision was the cool thing to do, something that everyone else had and to not At one point, before we were saved by grace, we have it made you inferior. I’m sure we can all were all slaves to this world. Our faith makes relate to feeling that way about things like us no better than anyone else, but only allows good grades at Duke, what to do at parties or us to become vessels of God’s grace. Still, sin having a certain number of friends. However, captures and ensnares us, often making unaware circumcision was also a mark of the religious, that we are even living in sin, and I think few something which all the Jews had, proving would argue with the fact that sin is indeed in their faith, just like belonging to or leading in a this world14. Christians are to be separate from Christian ministry, reading the Bible or praying this darkness, having been freed from sin and a lot might be to us. Those things may help the power of this non-Christ-centered world, prove genuine faith, but what God really longs but yet we live here. We are not transported for is a renewed heart and mind that witnesses up to heaven the second we become Christian externally to the internal transformation His because God intends to use us as a part of His Spirit is doing within. Motives matter with God. beautiful plan for the redemption of the world.

Part of that plan requires remaining distinct and I mentioned Romans 12:2 earlier, but only 15 pure from the world’s influences . The Galatians the first part. The full verse is: “Do not be were having trouble staying distinct from the conformed to this world, but be transformed world; they were going back to their old patterns by the renewal of your mind, that by testing of thinking and acting, seeking the passions you may discern what is the will of God, they had before being found by God. Similarly, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” It is I find it easy for me to slip into old routines through this inner transformation that we are or thought patterns. However, I am comforted able to know and do what is good and holy. It that we have been called to greater things: to be is through asking God to continually change us witnesses for Christ. to make us more like Him that our real witness is revealed, and only then through the power The Galatians also struggled with the concept of the Holy Spirit and not through our efforts of legalism, which has always been hard to measure up to a standard, either worldly for me as a Christian. Galatians 5 discusses or religious. Let us be faithful witnesses that circumcision, which the Galatians viewed as balance Jesus’ approachable living in the world something they needed to be holy and right with His holiness that shines out from us for the with God, but it was something Paul argued world to see. against because it was a sign they did not understand the new covenant. Circumcision 14 15

2 Cor. 4:4 Jam.1:27

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Meet Our Authors: Elizabeth Axelson is a Trinity senior from outside Washington, D.C. majoring in Religion and minoring in Psychology.

Interested in pursuing mission work after graduation, Elizabeth also plans on attending nursing school and is a member of CRU, Zeta Tau Alpha and Something Borrowed Something Blue, Duke’s Christian a cappella group.

Amy Allen is a senior from Lynchburg, VA, majoring in Civil Engineering with a certificate in Architectural Engineering. She enjoys playing tennis, tap dancing, and spending time with family and friends. On campus, she is involved in Reformed University Fellowship, On Tap, and Zeta Tau Alpha.

Hannah Peckham is a Trinity senior and is double majoring in history and religion. She enjoys studying American Christianity, although her thesis is currently taking over her life. If she did have spare time, she would probably spend it reading or wandering around Durham with friends. Hannah is a Chapel Scholar.

Ivy Zhou is a junior majoring in Public Policy and minoring in English. She loves doing all sorts of creative things, having deep conversations, and enjoying the weather. She is currently serving as prayer coordinator for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

38 Religio Spring 2011

Kathleen Perry is a sophomore at Duke majoring in religion and also studying global health. She is a PathWays Chapel Scholar and an active member of the Duke Wesley Fellowship and a Yankee, although she’s working towards repentance. Her favorite pastimes include finding new ways to make caffeine tasty, reading dead theologians and laughing uncontrollably.

Jonathan York is a Trinity first-year from Statesville, NC. He is active with the Episcopal Center and PathWays ministries, and is always open for a discussion. He hopes to become a Chapel Scholar later this year.

Michael Hammett is a Trinity junior from Wake Forest, North Carolina. He is majoring in History and minoring in Religion, and enjoys studying the Protestant Reformation and early modern Europe. He is currently a Peer Minister with Duke Lutherans and is a Chapel Scholar.

He is also the President of the History Union and enjoys coffee, theology, and teaching with Duke’s Talent Identification Program.

&&Contributions

Credits

managing Editor Harrison Hines

Editorial Board Jenny Denton Michael Gay Kathleen Perry John McClean Johnathan York Amy wigger Janet xiao

Publication Board Michael Gay Kathleen Perry Janet Xiao Sam Zimmerman

Staff Advisor

Dr. Adam Hollowell

Harrison Hines and Matthew Gay 39 Religio Spring 2011