I just returned from Envision: The Gospel, Politics, and the Future. The conference was a mixed bag; there were some very good talks and presentations, and there were some of the other kind. Lisa Sharon Harper of New York Faith and Justice gave a terrific and inspirational talk entitled "Theology of Shalom," including a short theatrical reading vividly depicting the poisonous effects of the Fall. In the beginning, all things were good--not just in the Platonic sense of goodness, but in a more Hebraic, relational sense of holding together in perfect harmony. In the beginning, there was Shalom. Harper recast the biblical motif of Creation, Fall, Redemption as Shalom, Shalom lost, Shalom Regained.

In the panel that followed, Bart Campolo said something to the effect that he used to believe "all that shalom stuff," but now that he lives among children who are born into the world disadvantaged and die before they ever have much opportunity in life, he doesn't really buy it anymore. Simply put, he said, "my theology did not survive my experience."