Peace On Earth, Goodwill To All

As we take a short break for the Holiday Season,you can look forward to some of our upcoming posts as previews of 2011, the year of the deluge.

Coming shortly, we look at Obama at Half Time, an assessment of his accomplishments to date,which are quite a few. We also urge Obama to go Big in order to get the political lift he will need to soar past the "revitalized" GOP. While persistent in his attempt to secure real change, the President needs to articulate the Big Picture and try to outline his own mythic American dream for the future. This would help put his brand on the era.

Our third post will look at what the GOP plans for 2011, both in terms of changing House rules and policy priorities. There will be many traps laid for Obama over the next year but none that are insurmontable.

Also, the last gasp at stimulus, we look at the last arrow in the quiver--building a new infrastructure. But, it's got to be new, not simply an improved old infrastructure.

And, sadly, we look at the implications of the recent DOJ rulings on the Gitmo detainees and the crusade to get Julian Assange.

In our reading corner, we examine Richard Hughes' two books--Christian America and the Kingdom of God, and Myths America Lives By. Inspired by Martin Marty and Robert Bellah, Hughes dissects our civil religion and walks us through the centuries' old attempts by evangelicals to get America called a "Christian" nation and why that would not be a good idea for all those involved.

Supporting Hughes' concern about the Religious Right is James Carroll's DVD documentary Constantine's Sword, which is a terrific expose of Christianity's deep-rooted anti-semticism and how Christianity, after three centuries of being a non-violent movement, became identified with war. Carroll, a former Catholic priest and the son of an Air Force General, frames his film with the intense efforts by evangelicals to proselytize at the Air Force Academy.

And as a mind experiment, you might want to look at the Christmas story as a prime example of an anti-imperialist narrative. Richard Hughes brought this up in his discussion of how divergent American 21st Century Christianity is with the original. In Divinity School, we would look to the Jewish tradition for the titles of Jesus--Lord of Lord, King of Kings, Redeemer, Son of Man, etc. But we were missing the game--all the honorifics also applied to Augustus Caesar. And I'm more persuaded that this was the origin--not the Hebraic titles. The Kingdom of God naturally clashes with the Kingdom of the World. And the Gospel created by the early Christian movement was clearly aimed at opposing the Empire. I guess the National Security Council under George W. Bush didn't catch this when they talked of the American empire.

Have a Happy Holiday and A Healthy, Fruitful New Year.