Animosity?

Our new friend this month is Obadiah, a prophet who was probably writing around 580BC although my KJV Study Bible indicates a possible alternative date of ca 848BC.

The Bible mentions the name Obadiah 20 times, but all but two of these refer to other chaps, not our prophet.

Mr. Obadiah has an arresting opening paragraph:

The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. (Obadiah 1:1 KJV)

The NLT translates the Hebrew text like this:

This is the vision that the Sovereign Lord revealed to Obadiah concerning the land of Edom.

We have heard a message from the Lord that an ambassador was sent to the nations to say, “Get ready, everyone! Let’s assemble our armies and attack Edom!”

The reader of this short book will note a focus on the country of Edom*, located south of the Dead Sea. Wikipedia gives a "theoretical" map - reproduced below.

A short video explaining the topography of ancient Edom (now part of Jordan) is helpful. It's pretty rugged terrain and it was roughly 110 miles (117 kms) north to south. (As a comparison, the distance from Brisbane CBD to Maroochydore is about 103km.) 

So, why the animosity between two neighbouring countries? Why did Edom’s trust in the following (noted in my Study Bible) irk Israel?

• 1.    Geographical security (vv. 3-5)
• 2.    Diplomatic treaties (v. 7)
• 3.    The counsel of her famed wise men (v. 8 & Jer. 49:7)

One recent writer gives the reader something to hang on to when reading this rather difficult book:

“It helps to understand that [the Minor Prophets] were writing in deeply distressing times, when they believed that the life of their people was at stake.” (See "Obadiah—Spiritual Forth-teller" by Michael William Hamilton in The Christian Science Journal May 2008).

As I ponder how animosity can arise between neighbours, relations, and neighbouring countries, I am reminded of something written by Mary Baker Eddy:

Nothing will be lost, however, by those who relinquish their cherished resentments, forsake animosity, and abandon their strongholds of rivalry.
(The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 40:11–14)

Julie Swannell

*Edom is mentioned 97 times in the Bible – more research opportunities!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edom#:~:text=Edom%20(/%CB%88i%CB%90d%C9%99,century%20BC%20by%20the%20Babylonians.

The case for Christian Science

I have raced to finish The New Birth of Christianity in this final week of October. Here are some of the ideas I've found of interest. 

Chapter 3: THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND RELIGION

Nenneman makes the case that the physical sciences and religion are not opposed and that "scientific knowledge [has not] diminished the sphere of religion" (p. 37).

4: THE EARLY CHURCH 

I enjoyed this chapter. The author observes: "What is clear is that from the small band of apostles and lesser followers of Jesus, a vital religious movement was quickly established. At the start this movement had a minimum of form, but it must have been strong on content--that is, it must have had an inner vigor--to have grown as quickly as it did" (p. 56).

We learn that the number of people living in the Roman Empire at Jesus' time was 50 million, of whom approximately "7 million ... were Jewish" (p. 57). And of course, "Christianity was preached first to the Jews" (ibid). Nenneman suggests that one reason for the remarkable growth of Christianity during these early years is that it was a "system based on love for one's fellowman" (p. 58), a system which "cut across class lines" (ibid). Another reason was its healing of physical and mental diseases.

However, around the third century, things started to change, until there was "a distinction between clergy and laity" (p. 60) and an "encoding of dogma" (p. 61) at Nicaea in 325. Nenneman observes that Christianity had become "a spiritual and a temporal power able to wield its authority over much of the world" (p. 66). 

5: THE NATURE OF DISCOVERY

This chapter deals with discovery; in particular, Mary Baker Eddy's use of the term. 

6: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY BACKGROUND

This chapter analyses Puritanism, transcendentalism, hydropathy, homeopathy, spiritualism, mesmerism, Calvinism and the work of magnetic healer Dr. Phineas P. Quimby. 

THE METAPHYSICS OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

I liked this: "The metaphysics [of Christian Science] must be practiced with singleness of thought" (p. 128). 

THE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

On page 154 Mr. Nenneman shares his own healing and the healing of the practitioner who treated him. 

The Christian Science Monitor: Most helpful was his explanation of why Mrs. Eddy founded a newspaper. Regarding why he thinks students of Christian Science need the Monitor, he writes: "there [is] no clear stopping place in thought between the individual and his society" (p. 172). 

AFTERWORD

I liked that it is "essential to restore the elements of a pure, practicable, healing Christianity..." (p.183). 

I also heed this warning: "One of the challenges Christian Scientists themselves face is avoiding practicing Christian Science partly from a sound metaphysical basis and partly from the inheritance most of us have in some degree today of a psychological approach to problem solving" (p. 184). 

Mrs. Eddy's statement on page 457 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures comes to mind: "One cannot scatter his fire and at the same time hit the mark."

Julie Swannell

Whirlpools of silence

 Nenneman's book, The New Birth of Christianity: why religion persists in a scientific age, is not an easy read. But nothing that's worth it is easy, right? Hmm. I've now read through to Chapter 5. 

Chapter 2, "Americans and their religious beliefs and practices at the close of the twentieth century", aims to give us a picture of how "religion endures" (p. 13) despite huge changes in material circumstances. Here are some points I found interesting.

CHURCH-GOING AFTER WW2

Nenneman writes: "After the Second World War, a generation of Americans wanted to forget both the war and the Depression that preceded it; they wanted to establish the outward symbols of stable living once again, and the church was one such symbol... The fifties were a decade of substantial increase in churchgoing and church membership. The content of that activity is another matter; but the façade looked stronger than ever" (p. 17).

THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN RECENT TIMES

Three developments -- Nenneman uses the word "forces" (p. 18) -- appear to have "weakened" (ibid) the role and influence of the church:

1. Secularization, i.e. "the process of modernization that has crept over the Western world for at least two hundred years" (p. 19). This includes "modern technology and Western business organization" (ibid) and an "insistence on objectivity and measurement" (p. 20).

2. Privatization, i.e. the separation of "public and private activity" (p. 20), the result being a tendency towards inwardness (self) and the diminishment of the public or communal role of church in nurturing "ethics and morality", "concern for one's less fortunate neighbours" and opportunities to "tame the passions" (p. 21-22). As one commentator observed: "the family and the church have been 'the two strongest supports which traditionally undergirded people's private lives and tied them into a wider public world'" (p. 22).

3. Pluralization, i.e. "extension of choice" or the proliferation of diverse ways of thinking which "compete for our time and thought" (p. 22), including "mass movements" (p. 23) which sweep the public up in their arms.

On the other side of the coin, Nenneman notes that Americans in the 1990s (when his book was published) were still sticking to their religious beliefs, even though  the majority relied "on themselves to solve their problems rather than an outside power" (p. 27). Additionally, he observed a "yearning for spirituality", quoting a British Broadcasting Corporation spokesperson who said: "In the noisiest society the world has ever known, people are creating whirlpools of silence" (p. 28).

Isn't that lovely?

Julie Swannell

PS For me, the highlight of this chapter is the reference to Severin Simonsen (p. 21), a Methodist minister who became a Christian Science practitioner after a wonderful healing in the late 1890s. We read Mr. Simonsen's book in Jan 2018 - check out the blog posts back then. I love his book.