Correspondence
BART, ROBERT & LEIPER, PATRICIA M. & KRAMER, MARILYN
Correspondence The bear facts Ithaca, N.Y. To the Editors: In your Nov. 19 editorial "Why the Voters Were Freezing" you asked "Must our safety be built on the anxiety of the Russians?" The...
...The current spate of sociobiology writings on humankind's selfishness and self-deception notwithstanding, I believe we are approaching the point in our self-understanding where we can begin to answer these questions...
...Both are in the divine image...
...And herein lies the problem...
...17], regarding the power of God somewhat confuses me, also a woman and mother...
...MARILYN KRAMER Divine machismo...
...It might be more to the point to be awed at the power which God did decide to share with us through Jesus Christ and the love behind the decision...
...Do these conditions perhaps constitute the common good...
...The divine "forays into history" are not necessarily macho, whatever that is supposed to mean...
...Perhaps Christians should start asking them...
...As I read Genesis 1:27, male and female, both are equally mankind, man and woman...
...Not only did God choose to have people work with the divine activity, but to go even further, people were given power to choose, free will...
...They would rather bury their heads in the sand of a nuclear freeze movement that would in fact increase the possibility of nuclear war...
...3], Robert N. Bellah argues persuasively "that only the church as a type of Christian social organization can effectively combat the radical individualism and the managerial manipulativeness of modern society...
...But, now, somehow the church has to find a way to restore hope that change is possible by restoring faith in humankind's capacity to set aside self-interest honestly, to discern the common good with the compromise and sacrifice of narrow concerns cooperation requires...
...Why "to save God's goodness and God's existence" do "we have to sacrifice God's power...
...John Barron, Senior Editor of the Reader's Digest, revealed to some extent the influence the Soviets have in the nuclear freeze movement...
...What conditions enhance the possibility of such change...
...Paul believed it is possible to put on the "new man...
...How can we change our underlying self-oriented grasp of reality to an other-oriented perspective honestly without self-deception, without manipulation of self-interest through fear of punishment or promise of reward, without subservience...
...George F. Kennan notwithstanding, the Russian bear is indeed "hovering hungrily over Western Europe" and other non-Communist nations as well, as indicated in the Soviet press...
...To whom are the miracles of spiritual and physical healing to be attributed...
...Sacramento, Calif...
...As a result, many despair of the future because they have come to believe that all caring is basically self-interested, that we are doomed because we are not capable of anything but self-interest...
...It is not enough for the "church as the body of Christ to remind us that we will survive only so far as we care for one another...
...Throughout history, theologians have struggled to clarify the issue...
...To the Editors: In his article, "Religion and Power in America Today,'' [Dec...
...There is much danger, and nonsense, in becoming too hung up over the male/ female issue in connection with the identity of God...
...But that the church "must be complemented by a new understanding of citizenship and the common good in political life...
...Again in John 15:6: "Apart from me you can do nothing...
...Today we desperately need to understand how this flip-flop in consciousness from self to other happens - what makes it happen - what prevents its happening...
...Voters who favored a nuclear freeze were not very well informed and allowed their emotions rather than their intellect to rule...
...ROBERT BART From self to others Wausau, Wis...
...The final solution still lies ahead...
...If we are partners and co-creators with God, that is because God has chosen to operate that way...
...PATRICIA M. LEIPER...
...Too many, especially the young, are cynical about Christianity because they see how often Christians have taken God's name in vain by using their dedication to God to justify acting in narrow interests...
...It was necessary to recognize the depth of human self-interest and the extent of our self-deception before change could take place...
...Radical individualism has stripped away much of the self-deception that disguised self-interest and so often made us appear more other-concerned and self-giving than we really are, leaving us naked in our self-interest...
...The question, however, is invalid as the Soviets are the ones causing anxiety by their unwarranted military buildup...
...PATRICIA M. LEIPERon...
...In Mark's Gospel at the conclusion of the episode of the rich young man (Mark 10:17-27), how then do we explain the words of Jesus,' 'With God all things are possible...
...The escape from slavery which is the foundation of the Judeo-Christian tradition...
...Both are partners of one another in Genesis 2:18, equality in humanity if not in the mathematical sense of sameness...
...Any good that we are and good that we do we owe to the activity of God in us, also known as divine grace, or the indwelling of God...
...To the Editors: The letter of Marjorie Reiley Maguire, [Dec...
...The trouble is that liberals do not want to hear such information...
Vol. 110 • January 1983 • No. 2
