- Christian Vegetarian Association Update Newsletters


	2012 Newsletters

CVA Weekly Newsletter
February 15, 2012

Activist Feedback

Soul Vegetarian Cookbook

Vegan for Lent

Essay: What is the Logos?

This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman

1. Activist Feedback

Super activist Rick Hershey writes: I handed out 875 booklets most to kids in this unforecasted bitter cold weather for Acquire the Fire at Kemper Arena this evening. After straightened out the First Amendment at this venue last year, the same police sergeant stopped me again this year. Fortunately, it was not until I was almost done anyway.

Roman Rupowski writes that he and fellow activists have distributed thousands of CVA booklets (Polish Edition) in POLAND last year. These booklets were printed by arrangement with the CVA in March 2009.

2. Soul Vegetarian Cookbook

Some people had trouble with the link. Here is a link to Soul Vegetarian restaurants, where the book is for sale: https://christianveg.org/up-20120208.htm

3. Vegan for Lent

Hello to everyone at CVA,

I created for Christians interested in eating vegan or vegetarian for Lent. As a follower of Jesus and vegan, I know these worlds are usually far apart, and I'm grateful for a chance to bring them together.

Here it is: Vegan for Lent: A Guide to 40 Days of Plant Based Eating
http://joytienzo.com/?p=745

It has 60+ recipes, daily scripture meditations, and information on eating out. Anyone can download it easily, free from cost or obligation. I hope you find it useful!

Thanks for your continued commitment to peace and justice,

Joy

4. Essay: What is the Logos?

The Gospel According to John begins, “In the beginning was the Word [Greek: logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…” What is the logos?

Ancient sources use logos in a variety of ways, including to denote “word” or “speech.” The context of the writer of John’s Gospel suggests to me that this writer used logos in the sense that the Greek philosopher Heraclitus (ca. 535-475 BCE) used it. For Heraclitus, logos was a general concept – a principle of order and knowledge. Therefore, I think the writer of John was asserting that a logos/general principle has always guided the universe, and this principle was manifest in Jesus of Nazareth.

Is there evidence for such a guiding principle? A look at nature, where animals routinely kill each other, suggests that if there is such a principle, it is not benign. However, in nature creatures also delight in life and even showing kindness and compassion for each other. Indeed, nonhumans will care for friends and even strangers, and sometimes even members of other species. Similarly, humans manifest both extremes of cruelty and callousness as well as love and altruism.

Christian scripture and tradition teaches that the logos was made incarnate in Jesus. To understand the logos from a Christian perspective, we need to explore the life and teachings of Jesus. Here, we find a person who repeatedly showed love, compassion, and concern. He taught that “the greatest commandment” was love, and this accords with 1 John 4:8, which reads, “He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.”

I think that belief that there is a logos is similar to a belief that God exists. We find evidence for both in our lives and in the world around us, though we are also challenged in our faith by evidence to the contrary. Ultimately, we have no choice but organize our lives around principles, whether those principles involve love on one extreme or narcissistic self-interest on the other, and whether or not those principles include God or other metaphysical dimensions. As a person of faith, I choose to try to align my life with a notion of the logos in which the creator God (however clouded in mystery God might be) is loving and caring. I think seeing God as aligned with a single principle is crucial for monotheism, which I will explore next week.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

5. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman

Learning to See the True Intent of Man’s Heart (Part IV)

Your question and comments are welcome

This site is hosted and maintained by
The Mary T. and Frank L. Hoffman Family Foundation.

Since