#derek flood

[digitalpreacher]

[parisacmsiggraph]

Synopsis: Une jeuine fille doit aider un minuscule pilote à s’envoler avant qu’il ne soit trop tard … En savoir plus sur http://www.cheeky.fr/blog/2015/12/14/soar-animation-alyce-tzue-pixar-miyazaki/#sV6UuwgbyOYwcTZL.99 Crédits: Written and Directed by Alyce Tzue – alycetzue.com Music by Jack Gravina – jackgravina.com Produced by Anson Yu – [email protected] VFX Supervisor Derek Flood – imdb.com/name/nm0282541 Created at the Academy of Art University – academyart.eduVisit soarfilm.comEn savoir plus sur http://www.cheeky.fr/blog/2015/12/14/soar-animation-alyce-tzue-pixar-miyazaki/#sV6UuwgbyOYwcTZL.99

[zoeperissos]

Real Life Radio: Episode 002 - How to understand the Bible, and exposing the greatest lie about the Cross [Podcast]

Real Life Radio: Ep. 002 - How to understand the Bible, and if God wasn't killing His Son on the Cross, then what really happened there? [Podcast] NEW BLOG

  In Episode 001 of Real Life Radio, I was interviewed by my friend Jamal Jivanjee. The conversation evolved into a discussion about some wonderful topics, such as Fellowship in the Divine, and inclusion in the Love of God. Jamal and I both received some terrific dialogue from those who listened to the conversation.

“I just listened to half of the conversation and had to stop. Something deep…

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[bananena]

In reality the Bible contains a multitude of conflicting and competing voices, articulating opposing perspectives in the form of an ongoing dispute contained throughout its pages. More concretely, we find an ongoing dispute within the Old Testament between two opposing narratives: The first is a narrative of unquestioning obedience that condemns all questioning (often enforcing this through threat of violence). This is the narrative Maher has zeroed in on. But within those same pages of the Hebrew Bible there is also a persistent opposing counter-narrative that confronts that first narrative as being untrue and unjust, and that upholds questioning authority in the name of compassion as a virtue. Jesus and the New Testament as a whole are an extension of this second counter-narrative of protest. But what is truly remarkable is that these conflicting voices were included side-by-side within in the Hebrew canon itself. The Old Testament is a record of dispute which makes room for questions by its very nature. Because of this, it calls us to enter into that dispute ourselves as we read. ...Now is that cherry-picking? No, it's not, and I'll tell you why: Cherry-picking is when you misrepresent the evidence by referring to only the good parts as if they are representative of the whole, while ignoring the bad parts as if they were not there. It's not about choosing the good over the bad; it's about giving a false impression that it's all good and there is no bad. I'm not denying that there are bad parts, and I'm not trying to justify or downplay them. On the contrary, I think it's imperative that we confront them. That confrontation is in fact modeled for us within the pages of the Old Testament, and expanded on further by Jesus who follows in that same prophetic tradition of faithful questioning.

DEREK FLOOD

I saw this on the UCC's FB page and really appreciated his perspective. It's a good thing to bring up with New Atheists convinced that non-fundamentalist religious people are "cherry-pickers." And the principle behind it is definitely consistent with my mega n00b understanding of the Jewish tradition: that the writers of the books are themselves wrestling with questions as they write, and Jewish people are in constant dialogue with the texts, with God, and with one another in a space filled with opposites, tension, conflict, and transformation. I know, for example, that my readings of the stories of Job and the binding of Isaac have changed and expanded as I approached them with this in mind. They're stories that are supposed to make us uncomfortable--stories that make us want to argue with the text and ask questions. Like Jacob, Abraham, Job, etc., we have to wrestle, and the texts are asking us to wrestle.

(Sidenote: I also like how Derek Flood doesn't imply that the New Testament is deeper or in any way superior to the Hebrew Bible because a lot of Christians tend to do that unconsciously (I see U, Peter Rollins) (lov u tho), and given the history of Christianity--including the history of the NT itself--it seems that that kind of thinking is inevitably antisemitic. :'( )

Love,

bananena

[herefordianyouth-blog]

Paul’s conversion from religious violence to the way of grace in Christ became the interpretive lens through which he subsequently read all of scripture. This enabled him to sort through the Hebrew Bible’s competing narratives, rejecting the way of violence he had formerly held, and zeroing in on the scriptures that pointed to God’s grace revealed in Christ. If we wish as Christians to adopt Paul’s way of interpreting scripture, then we need to learn to read our Bibles with that same grace-shaped focus. This is not a matter of picking and choosing which verses one likes, but rather of coming to have the mind of Christ—spending time with Jesus, and growing to care about the things he cares about. Through this relational formation—not only studying the words of Jesus, but living them—we learn to recognize what reflects Christ and Jesus’ way of cruciform love. To those of us who have found ourselves troubled by divine-sanctioned violence in the Bible, this is good news. Wrestling with scripture in this way may not be an expression of doubt at all, but an act of faithfulness—both to scripture and to the God revealed in Christ Jesus that it points to (Romans 10:4).

Derek Flood 

[gospelofthekingdom]

Walter Bruggemann states that 'Israel characteristically retold all of its experience through the powerful, definitional lens of the exodus memory.'  N.T. Wright similarly states that 'it is hard to overestimate the importance of the exodus story within the historical, political, and theological worldview of Second Temple Judaism.'  Consequently, the language of salvation, redemption, and ransom, found throughout the biblical narrative, all have deep roots pointing back to the central defining event of the exodus out of slavery, and forward to the hope of deliverance from oppression and the restoration of God's rule. So when Jesus speaks of his life being a "ransom," this does not merely refer generically to purchasing a slave's freedom, but would have almost certainly been immediately understood in the Jewish context of God ransoming Israel from bondage in the exodus.  Paul's term 'redemption' likewise would recall the exodus story of Israel's redemption from slavery. Even when the New Testament speaks of 'payment' in reference to our salvation, this is always framed in the context of being ransomed out of slavery and bondage: 'You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings" (1 Cor 7v23).

The self-identity of the Jewish people throughout the entire Old Testament was one of a people longing to break free from oppression, of a people crying out for justice--for things to be made right.  Today we too live in a world filled with suffering and injustice, with broken lives and abusive relationships.  We are bombarded on the nightly news with images of war, starvation, and terror until we to cry out like the psalmist, "How long, Lord?  How long?"  

This cry for justice and liberation is the central theme of the prophets and the ground from which the messianic hope sprang.  The Messiah would be the one to come and set things right, restoring justice, liberating the people from bondage and oppression, and establishing God's reign.  That is what the messianic hope is about: not merely a change in politics or individual fate, but for God's loving justice to rule both inside and out, for the whole world to be made well again. Derek Flood, Healing the Gospel

[gospelofthekingdom]

Paul is arguing against that view of justice, saying it leads to death and condemnation, and instead proclaiming God’s superior way of restorative justice in Christ.  Paul then goes on to explain how God’s restorative justice in Christ comes about:  God acts in Christ to make us good.  A key concept here is ‘justification’ which normally refers to legal acquittal, i.e., declaring a person innocent in court, and has often been mistranslated as such in Romans.  But if that were the case then Paul’s entire argument would fall apart.  He is arguing that it was just for God not to punish sinners as his audience wished.  If his only reason was that God had declared these sinners to be innocent, this would have been seen by his audience as a profound injustice—the acquittal of the guilty.  Read within the larger context of his argument in Romans we can see that Paul instead is creatively re-appropriating the term in its literal sense to mean ‘making righteous.’  God brings about true justice, Paul tells us, by making sinners into saints.  This act of redemptive transformation is nothing short of a miracle and happens through relationship—through being loved by God, and God’s goodness making us good.  Paul goes on to explain in Romans 7-8 that as God’s Spirit indwells us, as we experience Christ’s indwelling love, we are relationally transformed into his likeness.  This way of the Spirit brings life, Paul says, but the way of law (i.e., the way of retributive justice) brings death.

Derek Flood, Healing the Gospel

[gospelofthekingdom]

Jesus' entire ministry of healing the sick, caring for the poor, and forgiving sinners can be said to be a demonstration of restorative justice.  The hallmark of his moral teaching--love of enemies--likewise acts to overturn the way of retributive justice with restorative justice:  "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'  But I tell you, do not resist an evil person' (Matt 5:38-39).  'You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I tell you:  Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you' (vv. 42-44).

Derek Flood, Healing the Gospel