You Can't Say That

Sort of a companion to the previous post. When my mom told me I shouldn't say "Jesus Christ," she was referring to the use of that name as some sort of epithet or swear word. Apparently somebody else's mom didn't explain that lesson so well.

According to the story, Ms. Vosper (why would you call someone who explicitly rejects a personified divinity "reverend," anyway) has written a book which was published in Canada March 18, called With or Without God. Her argument is that the church has to leave behind pretty much everything that's made it the church for 2,000 years. OK, I'm simplifying. A little. She thinks the sum total of the Christian message is "Love one another," and unless the church reduces its core message to that, it's doomed.

Ms. Vosper's theme is familiar, especially to those who suffered through John Shelby Spong's Why Christianity Must Change or Die. One need not have read that book to have heard this before, though. The upshot of these thinkers is this: In order to survive, the last thing the church can be -- as well as the first thing it must stop being -- is the church. One might note that Mr. Spong's book was published in 1998, and the church seems to have neither changed nor died in the intervening decade. Perhaps someone had a defibrillator handy.

In a quote from Ms. Vosper's book on its publisher's page, she says

I know this book is difficult. I know it will cost you much.

Specifically, it will cost you $29.95 Canadian, or $29.42 US on March 29. She continues:

But I hope you agree that the price is not too high..

Alas, Ms. Vosper. I'm afraid that in this case, I'll have to disagree with what you probably believe St. Paul never said anyway, and state that this particular hope will indeed disappoint. That $29.95 Canadian converted into "Brett dollars," also known as "Cash that the cheapskate Brett will actually part with" is a paltry $0.00, and somehow I don't think that's going to cover shipping.