A Conversation

Back in my senior year at Colgate I took a Senior level seminar, Philosophy and Faith. Much of the material was centered on Liberation Theology, Feminist Theology and other such theologies. I have to admit, for someone coming from the Orthodox Christian tradition the content was tough for me to embrace. To this day, I believe that the focus of these theologies stray from the"seek ye first the Kingdom" guidance we are given in Matthew. That being said however, my viewpoint was formed growing up white in what would have to described as a "privileged" upbringing. In A Jeremiad for the Reverend Jeremiah I commented on the great disservice rendered to the public by our Media, when discourse is limited to 20-30 second sound bites that lack context and are continually repeated to provoke emotional responses from the audience.



Compare the handling of the Rev Jeremiah Wright story by our major news organizations with the way Bill Moyers conducted his interview with the Reverend last week. I have had several people comment to me recently about how upset they are by the Wright issue and how this somehow reflects poorly on Barrack Obama. It's pretty obvious that there is so much more to Reverend Wright than can be gathered in those 20 second sound -bites. Watch and listen to the interview.

Here's the other sad thing--- the almost total literary and biblical ignorance of the population. I wonder how many people are even vaguely familiar with what Wright is referring to. Here's a little help:

Psalm 137 (Greek Numbering 136)

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
7 Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down," they cried, "tear it down to its foundations!"
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy are those who repay you according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy are those who seize your infants and dash them against the rocks.