{"id":38571,"date":"2024-09-19T19:29:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T02:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=38571"},"modified":"2024-09-19T19:29:50","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T02:29:50","slug":"politics-reconciliation-and-women-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/politics-reconciliation-and-women-oh-my\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics, Reconciliation, and Women… Oh my."},"content":{"rendered":"

As I did a little research and started to read God\u2019s Politics<\/em> by Jim Wallis, I became a little upset because I knew I could not read most of the book. I loved the reviews and wondered, \u201cHow did I not know about this book.\u201d Even the front cover reads, \u201cWhy the Right gets it wrong, and the Left doesn\u2019t get it.\u201d C\u2019Mon Jim! Now that\u2019s what I\u2019m talking about. That\u2019s how you deal with American politics.<\/p>\n

The thesis of his book is found on page three, \u201cThe religious and political Right gets the public meaning of religion mostly wrong-preferring to focus only on sexual and cultural issues, while ignoring the weightier matters of justice. And the secular Left doesn\u2019t seem to get the meaning and promise of faith for politics at all-mistakenly dismissing spirituality as irrelevant to social change.\u201d1 <\/sup>For so long I have been wanting for both Republicans and Democrats to point out where their own party has limitations or is weak or maybe even wrong. This book does that. HALLELUIAH!<\/p>\n

Wallis, a born-again Christian critiques the Religious Right for what he sees as a misuse of Christian principles for political gain. He argues that the Religious Right does not concern itself with issues of poverty, social justice, and the environment.2 <\/sup><\/p>\n

He calls out the Left for ignoring people of faith who have really good solutions for social change. Another pivotal point is encouraging Christians to engage in politics not just from a partisan perspective but through the lens of faith and moral responsibility. I really like moral responsibility because Jesus said, \u201cThe poor you will always have with you.\u201d3 <\/sup>With poverty comes many issues but it is hard to know those issues if we do not focus on the people who we will always have with us.<\/p>\n

A good pivotal point is when Wallis emphasizes that Christian values should guide policy in a way that promotes the common good, addressing issues like economic inequality, war, and environmental stewardship.4 <\/sup>I like that phrase \u201ccommon good\u201d because this means everyone and it takes some emotionally maturity to care for everyone, which includes those with opposing viewpoints. I\u2019ll have to actually read this book at a later date and I am looking forward to meeting Jim Wallis in D.C. My one question for him is based upon his futuristic comment, \u201cMore churches will throw their arms around at-risk kids, but it won\u2019t be enough unless the whole society puts children first.\u201d5 <\/sup>How can the Church work with society to place their arms around at-risk kids in order to bring healing to these beautiful kids?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DREAMING IN BLACK AND WHITE<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I started into Dreaming in Black and White<\/em> by Brett Fuller, my first response was, \u201cNoooooo, not another excellent book that I do not have time to read. Not again!\u201d Yes, again, and I cannot wait to actually read it. I love under dog stories and Fuller\u2019s victories over tough situations were quite inspiring. Overcoming racism is a complex and multifaceted challenge that impacts individuals, communities, and societies on various levels. It\u2019s complex and multifaceted because of institutional barriers, economic disparities, implicit bias, and cultural stereotypes.<\/p>\n

Fuller addresses and poses solutions to the ethnic tension that exist in America. He is working hard toward reconciliation. \u201cReconciliation means expensive change. It means sacrifice. It means extraordinary discomfort. We should know it. prepare for it and understand it all as the necessary price of God\u2019s work on earth.\u201d6 <\/sup>Fuller\u2019s dream to erect a National Enslaved Americans Memorial in Washington D.C. \u201chas been a long arduous journey,\u201d7 <\/sup>but he believes it will bring reconciliation and healing to our nation. I agree because it will acknowledge, thank, remember, and memorialize the millions of men and women created in the image of God who endured such unspeakable tragedy. This leads me to my two questions for Pastor Fuller:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What can we students do to help support and promote this dream?<\/li>\n
  2. What are the specific reasons this dream has been so hard?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \n

    HIGH CEILINGS<\/strong><\/p>\n

    In a world where women have been second rate since time began, it is a blessing to see in the past few decades how this is changing. In High Ceilings: Women in Leadership, <\/em>Brett E Fuller added his \u201cperspective of Scripture to the corporate ideological discussion and thereby enhance the wealth of knowledge\u201d8<\/sup> in the area of women in ministry. The book emphasizes the importance of empowering women and increasing representation in leadership positions in the church.<\/p>\n

    It was new to me to learn his accurate interpretation of I Timothy 3:2, \u201cthe overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife…\u201d9 <\/sup>Fuller brought out that \u201cPaul, unmarried, the finest church governor who has ever lived, was the one who is writing this to Timothy.\u201d10 <\/sup>Fuller believes Paul was trying to prohibit a polygamist from holding office and \u201che did not intend to imply that an elder had to be a man.\u201d11 <\/sup>With all this in mind, my two questions for Navy Seal Fuller are:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Have you lost friends\/colleagues over your high view of women in the Church?<\/li>\n
    2. What has been the benefit of having men and women in leadership in your church instead of just having men in leadership?<\/li>\n
    3. God\u2019s Politics,<\/em> Jim Wallis. 3.<\/li>\n
    4. Ibid. 3.<\/li>\n
    5. Matthew 26:11. New International Version.<\/li>\n
    6. God\u2019s Politics,<\/em> Jim Wallis. 210.<\/li>\n
    7. Ibid. 369.<\/li>\n
    8. Dreaming in Black and White<\/em>, Brett Fuller. 124.<\/li>\n
    9. Ibid. 76.<\/li>\n
    10. High Ceilings: Women in Leadership,<\/em> Brett E Fuller. 1.<\/li>\n
    11. I Timothy 3:2. King James Version.<\/li>\n
    12. High Ceilings: Women in Leadership,<\/em> Brett E Fuller. 39.<\/li>\n
    13. Ibid.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      As I did a little research and started to read God\u2019s Politics by Jim Wallis, I became a little upset because I knew I could not read most of the book. I loved the reviews and wondered, \u201cHow did I not know about this book.\u201d Even the front cover reads, \u201cWhy the Right gets it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[3292],"class_list":["post-38571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02-wallis-fuller","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38572,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38571\/revisions\/38572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}