Dan with some more excellent stuff on Paul. I think that perhaps my next set of theological reading must be on Paul (I have two books in my stack,  one by Harink –which I think I will like most,  and one by Crossan that has a lot of archeological and socio-political background.  I anticipate that I will feel similar to Dan about some of Crossan’s semi-snarky comments (which I haven’t run across as of yet) re: beliefs about the resurrection,  but I have heard Crossan on NPR before,  and was impressed with him (I think I heard him just after I bought his In Search of Paul book.  I am especially intrigued with this idea:

I am not convinced that Paul was so sure that the world was coming to “The End” as some of these scholars assert. We must remember that for Paul, as a faithful Jew, the “end” of the world was really about the remaking of the world. Therefore, if, after the resurrection and Pentecost, the Pauline churches found themselves living in a time when the future was invading the present, it seems to me that they would have had an express interest in beginning to embody the new creation as it applied to all areas of life. Consequently, far from encountering a conservative Paul, I am inclined to discover a “subversive” Paul.

That phrase, “beginning to embody the new creation ”  is a hefty theological manifesto;  an apt description of the purpose of the church.  I absolutely love it.  Thanks Dan!  BTW,  read Dan’s entire post. 

Dan’s closing question is a direct response to the question,  what constitutes this embodiment? 

In light of these things, my question is this: how do we begin, like Day, to follow Jesus and confront the slaveries, and slave-traders, of our day, in order to do away with all forms of slavery?

Jesus’ first proclamation,  in Nazareth:  “He has called me to proclaim liberty to the captives,  recovery of sight for the blind, and set at liberty those who are oppressed”.

poserorprophet: Three Angles on Slavery: Dorothy Day, Rudolph Bultmann, and Luke’s Jesus