The Political Bible

Check out the first two parts of this series on the political nature of the Bible and its role in Britain.

Political Bible - Part 1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/aug/09/politcal-bible-british-attitudes?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Political Bible - Part 2
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/aug/15/political-bible-justice-king-not-king?CMP=twt_gu


Of particular interest to me was the discussion of the contrasting authoritarian and libertarian emphasis in different parts of the Bible. This 'messy' combination of what we would ordinarily view as incompatible positions does set up a dauntingly complex picture of the what the Bible says to us about politics. But since one of our aims with Metanoia is to explore God's ideas about politics, we shouldn't be too daunted. Why not use this series to raise some questions about that we can discuss here? Enjoy.

Supply Shocks in the Delta and the Desert - the Economics behind the Passover

One could argue that the political and economic situation in Egypt at the time of Moses had reached an equilibrium. The Israelites found themselves stuck as victims of extreme oppression, including brutal slavery and genocide (Exodus 1:8-22). Despite their numbers, it is unlikely that they would have had the military might to launch a successful revolution and any attempt to do so would have risked making their plight even worse (suggested by the events of Exodus 5). Moreover, unlike in today’s world, there was no international community to put pressure on Pharaoh politically or militarily. Perhaps their only chance of salvation was to wait until the death of the current Pharaoh and hope that his successor might show more mercy. So what a time for the God of their fathers to reveal himself as a force to be reckoned with, overthrowing the oppressors and coming to the rescue of his people. In the language of economics, he did this by instigating a succession of supply shocks.

Ash Clouds and Magic Mushrooms - the Science behind the Passover

The Passover is one of the most important festivals in the Jewish calendar as it marks the chain of events that led to the liberation of Israel and its establishment as a sovereign nation. It was during this period that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (who identified himself to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM”) revealed his power in a succession of signs and wonders on a scale not seen since the Great Flood. In my next post, I will discuss how this divine intervention was necessary to shift the economic equilibrium and bring about sustainable political change. But, for now, I want to consider whether the phenomena we read about in the first half of Exodus (including the plagues, the parting of the Red Sea and manna in the desert) were truly “Acts of God” at all.

Time for a stock-take

Over a year has passed and more than thirty posts have been written since we launched the Metanoia blog. Andy, Stephen and me (Nathan) thought it would be wise to take stock, pausing to consider what is working and what is not; thinking about the potential of Metanoia, and crucially, what we need to do to realise that potential. So below is a summary of our discussion, including a first stab at a vision statement. We decided to post this summary on the blog so that followers can see where we are up to in our thinking. As ever we appreciate your comments and invite relevant input.

Draft vision statement:

Our vision for Metanoia is that it becomes a place where Kingdom thinking is cultivated, a space where we can think and dream in the freedom that honesty with accountability bring. Our focus is on how the Bible relates to everyday life, all sectors of society and our culture; in order that we may discover more of God’s plans for our world and to create and innovate with Him to these ends. We affirm the importance of creative thinking – learning to imagine what could be in a renewed and resurrected world. But we long for these thoughts and dreams to become manifest in concrete change. Therefore our vision is that our learning, dreaming, dialogue finds creative expression in tangible outcomes; in short, that Metanoia’s contributors live out the values and challenges we discuss. As we do this, we aim also to invite others to collaborate with us and challenge each one to incarnate kingdom thinking too.

What could be:

We posed the following scenario as we thought about what Metanoia could grow to become in the next 12 months.

It’s June 2012. 30+ people are regularly engaging with Metanoia as contributors and/or commenters. Two well attended events (15+ people) have been successfully run. 2-3 outcomes have been identified and are being worked towards and roll outcome is complete. What did we do to get there?

Events are the gateway, so they will be the primary way of attracting new contributors/commenters/followers. Consequently we plan to have two events, the first one in late September/ early October 2011, to coincide with the return of students. From these events, interest and numbers of participants will grow. A larger core team will emerge, helping to create the ‘critical mass’ needed for the think-tank element of Metanoia to take off and to generate relevant, realistic outcomes.

We then started the process of moving from what could be to what will be: Defining what steps we need to take and who will take them.

The following list is incomplete and will be added to shortly:
• Metanoia needs to come on to the radar of St Thomas Church Philadelphia senior staff: Arrange meeting with Marjorie and/ or Nick Allen.
• Our advertising media needs to be ready: Blog/facebook/twitter all need to be up-to-date and full of relevant, current content. Paper media, including flyers need designing and a logo is needed to brand material across media.
• Decide on a topic for the first event. Identify the area of most current interest/controversy. Provisional idea is a debate on Rob Bell’s ‘Love Wins’, with invited guest speaker(s).
• Following on from the first event, identify more people who could be invited in to the core team. Start identifying outcomes (eg written/video resource, presentation, reports, and advocacy).
• Second event for spring term.

The Crisis in Egypt - The Role of Governments

In my last two blogs on the famine in Egypt, I discussed what this story has to teach us about the need to save for the future and how we form our expectations about the future. In this final blog examining Joseph’s governorship of Egypt (Genesis 41-47), I consider whether saving for the future is a responsibility of governments or the private individual.

Let’s start by envisaging the hypothetical situation that Joseph consults a panel of economists before proposing his plan to Pharaoh.

Why I will be voting Yes on Thursday

What does God think about democracy? The kingdom of Israel, as described in the Old Testament, was anything but democratic by modern standards. Nevertheless there are clues that suggest that God preferred a style of government whereby the governors were favoured and endorsed by the governed. In 1 Samuel 8, the elders of Israel decided they wanted a king. God made it clear through his prophet Samuel that he thought this was a bad idea but, if they wanted a king, they would get a king. God led Samuel to anoint Saul as king. He was presented to the people (i.e. most likely the tribal elders) and they were happy with the selection (1 Sam 10:24). This was hardly a free and fair election and Saul’s appointment certainly wasn’t unanimous (1 Sam 10:27) but, in a primitive form at least, this was a democratic process.

The Crisis in Egypt - Rational Expectations versus Prophecy

When making economic decisions, expectations are very important. We expect to retire at some point in the future and therefore we set some of our income aside for a pension. Similarly, we expect to earn a certain level of income over our career so we take out a mortgage based on the expectation that we will be able to repay it. There are also many things that we expect won’t happen but realise that there is a probability that they may occur (e.g. being made redundant, becoming seriously ill or having one’s car stolen). Unless these eventualities are covered by government provision, we can make provision for these risks through purchasing insurance or “saving for a rainy day”.

Joseph based his expectations on a prophetic dream.