Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://russellrathbun.com/
CITY: St. Paul
STATE: MN
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.houseofmercy.org/about/russell-rathburn/ * http://www.judsonpress.com/author.cfm?author_id=812 * https://revlamblove.wordpress.com/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2004145279
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2004145279
HEADING: Rathbun, Russell
000 00375cz a2200133n 450
001 6393067
005 20100310075620.0
008 041110n| acannaabn |n aaa
010 __ |a n 2004145279
040 __ |a DLC |b eng |c DLC |d DLC
053 _0 |a PS3618.A856
100 1_ |a Rathbun, Russell
670 __ |a Rathbun, Russell. Post-rapture radio, 2005: |b ECIP t.p. (Russell Rathbun)
953 __ |a sh17 |b rg10 (053)
PERSONAL
Married; children: two.
ADDRESS
CAREER
House of Mercy, St. Paul, MN, founding minister.
WRITINGS
Author of a blog.
SIDELIGHTS
Russel Rathbun is founder of and minister at House of Mercy in Saint Paul, Minnesota, described at Rathbun’s Website as “the Best Church for Non-Churchgoers.” He is also a guest on Minnesota Public Radio and has written four books: Post-Rapture Radio: Lost Writings from a Failed Revolution; NuChristian: Finding Faith in a New Generation; Midrash on the Juanitos: A Didactic Novella; and The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea: Monuments, Missteps, and the Audacity of Ambition. He maintains a blog, where he writes about “Bible, culture, preaching and perception theory.”
Post-Rapture Radio
Post-Rapture Radio claims to be a compilation of the sermons and writings of one “Rev. Richard Lamblove,” the Vice President for Preaching and Biblical Study of a church devoted to becoming “culturally relevant,” as Patton Dodd describes it in Christianity Today. Rathbun serves as “narrator,” commenting on Lamblove’s various writings. Lamblove is concerned that churches are finding themselves forced to dilute their message, and he grows more and more disenchanted and unhinged; in the end, he loses his job.
Dodd observed on Post-Rapture Radio that this is a collection of “remarkable writings” that “inscribes prophetic truths directly onto the valued materials of the powers that be.” In Sojourners, critic Steve Thorngate gave a mixed review. He thought that the book as a “hybrid of a hilarious novel and a provocative sermon collection is considerably more frustrating than either book would be on its own.” At the same time, he remarked that it “thoughtfully explores the relationship between the church and mainstream culture, the implications of the great commission, and the nature of pastoral leadership.” Lamb’s “critique is consistently entertaining and occasionally devastating.”
The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea
The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea found its premise in the idea that the only human-formed objects that can been seen from space are the Great Wall of China and California’s Salton Sea. Rathbun takes this premise as his jumping-off point to an exploration of both places, on a road trip that delves into their histories. He takes readers off the beaten path to address questions about why we humans lose ourselves in the process of building long-lasting monuments.
A critic in Bookwatch termed the book “lively and engrossing,” while a Publishers Weekly reviewer described it as a “lyrical musing on life” that acts as a “model of how to truly live and appreciate the world.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Bookwatch, March, 2017, review of The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea: Monuments, Missteps, and the Audacity of Ambition.
Publishers Weekly, March 8, 2010, review of Midrash on the Juanitos: A Didactic Novella. p. 51; October 10, 2016, review of The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea, p. 73.
Sojourners, April, 2006, Steve Thorngate, “A ‘Relevant’ Conspiracy,” review of Post-Rapture Radio: Lost Writings from a Failed Revolution, p. 44.
ONLINE
Alan Rudnick Website, http://www.alanrudnick.org/ (October 14, 2009), interview with author.
Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com (April 27, 2006), Patton Dodd, review of Post-Rapture Radio.
House of Mercy Website, http://www.houseofmercy.org/ (June 16, 2017), author profile.
Judson Press Website, http://www.judsonpress.com/ (June 16, 2017), author profile.
Midwest Book Review, http://www.midwestbookreview.com (March, 2017), review of The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea.
Russell Rathbun Website, https://russellrathbun.com (June 16, 2017).*
Russell Rathbun is a writer, speaker, and blogger who brings his irreverent sense of humor and curiosity to often-overlooked subjects. A founding pastor of House of Mercy in Saint Paul, Minnesota (once named "the Best Church for Non-Churchgoers"), he has been regularly featured on Minnesota Public Radio and is also the author of Post-Rapture Radio.
Russell Rathbun is a founding minister of House of Mercy, this church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Russell is the author of a number of books, including Midrash on the Juanitos and Post-Rapture Radio. His new book, nuChristian: Finding Faith in a New Generation, is now available.
You can find his books here.
Contact: russell@houseofmercy.org
Russell Rathbun, MDiv, is a founding minister with Debbie Blue of House of Mercy, a pioneering emergent church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Rathbun is also the author of Midrash on the Juanitos (Cathedral Hill Press, 2009) and the critically-acclaimed Post-Rapture Radio (Jossey-Bass, 2008). He lives with his wife, two kids, and dog KoKo in St. Paul.
About
The Reverend Richard Lamblove is the sometimes semi-fictional persona of the Reverend Russell Rathbun, the author of Post-Rapture Radio: Lost Writings from a Failed Revolution and the up coming Midrash on the Juanitos, whose main character is also Rev. Lamblove. This blog serves to provide a further place for the Reverend[s] to write about the Bible, culture, preaching and perception theory.
BOOK REVIEWS, NUCHRISTIAN
Q&A WITH AUTHOR RUSSELL RATHBUN
OCTOBER 14, 2009
Author Russell Rathbun spoke with On the Bema about his new book, nuChristian: finding faith in a new generation (Judson Press). Russell is a founding minister with Debbie Blue of House of Mercy, a pioneering emergent church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Rathbun is also the author of Midrash on the Juanitos (Cathedral Hill Press,2009) and the critically-acclaimed Post-Rapture Radio (Jossey-Bass, 2008). He lives with his wife, two kids, and dog KoKo in St. Paul.
OnTheBema: You begin your book with examining the postmodern framework. Christians need to understand it. Where do you draw the line between understanding postmodernism and using postmodernism to a church’s advantage without compromising the Gospel message?
Russell: The way I understand it, Postmodernism, is not a “thing” we can use or not use, it is just the way the world operates. It is the underlying ethos of our time. It is important to understand that the Post-Baby Boomer generations came of age and are informed by this ethos (whether they realize it or not). There has been a radical shift in how truth claims can be made. We can not assume that dominate Western Christian ideas (which may or may not be the same as the Gospel–often they are not) hold sway in the way they once did. This is why it is important to be in relationship with people instead of being in a debate with people. In the end the debate doesn’t matter, loving your neighbor as a response to the love of God through Jesus Christ is what matters.
OnTheBema: You make a good point about how Christians need to make disciples rather than just converts. You say, “We are not called to save people, we are called to love people.” (pg. 43) This is a radical departure from Evangelical Christianity’s emphasis on “saving souls.” Why do you think evangelism ends at the altar call?
The origins of the evangelical or evangelize in the New Testament is about proclaiming a good message, about bringing Good News. That can never stop. That is what it means to make disciples. To bring that good news and to remind our selves about that good news and to work in our communities of faith to try and understand what it means to hear that good news and to attempt to live it out. Alter Call Christianity has often proclaimed a message of (implied) bad new, that required the action of an individual to assent to God’s action before God could give Jesus the go ahead to save someones soul. I just don’t believe that. I don’t find it in the scripture. Of course, I know many in my tradition hold a very different view, like my parents and grandparents but we still get along pretty well.
OnTheBema: Your church, House of Mercy, sounds like an exciting ministry. What struggles have you encountered in trying to put into practice the ideas from your book?
It is always hard to continually live out ones vision when you understand that to be, “Pointing to Jesus Christ”. I accept the fact that most of the time I am likely pointing in the wrong direction. It is hard to not focus on keeping the institution of the church up and running and growing, because I depend on the church to provide me with a salary so I can pay my mortgage and feed my kids. It is hard to grow and change when we all want stability and security.
OnTheBema: Throughout several points in the book, you mention changes that churches have done (or should do) to change the way churches should reach out (coffee houses, worship bands, etc…). Are those “gimmicks” or real fruitful changes that will change the way people view church?
Well, I am not a very good minister. I don’t consciously try to change the way people view the church and I don’t advocate doing anything in the church just because you think it will bring more people in. I think any thing a church does should come out of the communities desire to live out their faith in a certain way. Like, if you don’t have artists in your church that are compelled to make art as a way of working out their faith, than don’t start an arts ministry. If you have a bunch of Real Estate Agents in the congregation, try and figure out what it means to work out your faith in that context.
OnTheBema: You state that Christianity has an image problem. One component of that image problem is that Christians are too judgmental. You mention homosexuality as an issue that Christians come across as judgmental. Can people disagree about a moral issue and still be in loving relationships with one another? If so, how?
I sure hope so. Really what is lost by someone not agreeing with you? We don’t need to protect the Absolute Moral Truth and it is maybe a little presumptuous of any of us to assume that we know what that it. It is not possible to be in loving relationships with out humility, vulnerability and giving up part of our selves to the other person. I guess if you believed that someone holding a particular point of view, would land them in a place of eternal suffering, then I could see why one would be compelled to try and persuade them of a different point of view.
OnTheBema: At what point do Christians cross the line between disagreement and being judgmental?
Disagreement is the stuff of every day living and being human (well, so is being judgmental). Judgment seems to have an element of self interest in it. We are not qualified to judge people and are not capable of doing it with out self interest. Of course we can’t help doing it, but when we find ourselves doing it, maybe, sometimes, by the grace of God, we can confess it and seek forgiveness and move on. I would say the line between disagreement and being judgmental is the degree to which a relationship is strengthened or severed.
OnTheBema: You mentioned in your book that your father was a Baptist minister. How have your own experiences with your faith growing up shape your faith now as a pastor?
I was raised with an understanding that, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”. And that is pretty much what I try to communicate as a pastor.
OnTheBema: What has been the reaction from Christians when they read your book?
Well, you are the first person I have really talked to about it. I would hope Christians would hear it as an invitation to engage people as neighbor, who they might have seen as foreigners. But we will see. Some times I know I can state my opinion in ways that don’t invite conversation, but end it. So I hope I haven’t done that. Christians shouldn’t take me that seriously. But, thanks for reading the book and taking the time to talk to me about it. I’ve enjoyed it.
You can also read my review of NuChristian here.
About the Book:
Young adult pastor Russell Rathbun presents a challenging invitation to be transformed—from unChristian to nuChristian—by taking seriously the critique of a new generation. Where other books bring Christianity’s image problem to light, nuChristian: Finding Faith in a New Generation addresses the issues with practical ideas for church leaders who seek to reach today’s young adults with a Christlike community that is:
Transparent
Holistic
Loving
Engaged
Just
Humble
Pastor Rathbun invites us to move beyond statistics and defensiveness to hear a new generation’s critique and to be authentic about who we are as flawed human beings saved by a gracious God.
nuChristian: finding faith in a new generation (Judson Press)
5/30/2017 General OneFile Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1496175443625 1/5
Print Marked Items
The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea
The Bookwatch.
(Mar. 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/bw/index.htm
Full Text:
The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea
Russell Rathbun
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
2140 Oak Industrial Drive, NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505
9780802873651, $21.99, www.eerdmans.com
The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea: Monuments, Missteps, and the Audacity of Ambition takes place on a
crosscountry drive to the Salton Sea, a trip to China's Great Wall, and other journeys, and blends a travelogue with
history and philosophical and social musings alike. As he views the wonders mankind has created and offers both
Biblical reflections and musings on ruin, achievement, and architectural monuments, Russell Rathbun offers an
excellent survey of the meaning of life and the lasting impact of human endeavor upon the world. Readers who enjoy
reflections combining spiritual, philosophical, historical and travel insights will find The Great Wall of China and the
Salton Sea a lively and engrossing piece.
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea." The Bookwatch, Mar. 2017. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA491086730&it=r&asid=2d5be0891eccd95917899b99fcc70132.
Accessed 30 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491086730
5/30/2017 General OneFile Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1496175443625 2/5
The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea:
Monuments, Missteps, and the Audacity of
Ambition
Publishers Weekly.
263.41 (Oct. 10, 2016): p73.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea: Monuments, Missteps, and the Audacity of Ambition
Russell Rathbun. Eerdmans, $21.99 (198p) ISBN 9780802873651
Rathbun, a founding pastor at House of Mercy in Saint Paul, Minn., breaks through genre lines with this lyrical musing
on life, grand achievements, and unexpected failures. Starting with the canard that the only manmade objects visible
from space are the Great Wall of China and California's Salton Sea, Rathbun spends time with both, exploring Chinese
history and recounting his time living in China for a few months, and detailing his family connections to the Salton
Sea, which drove him to research the genesis and fall of the associated failed resort towns. Throughout, he reflects on
the nature of God and humanity, riffing on Biblical stories such as the Tower of Babel as symbols of the longexisting
human ambition to build monuments that last. Rathbun knows and relies on the Bible, but the book is no religious
tract; instead, it's an explication of the mundane inside notions of the colossal or the grand, and a model of how to truly
live and appreciate the world. Rathbun's eclectic book will be enjoyed by a wide readership of seekers. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea: Monuments, Missteps, and the Audacity of Ambition." Publishers
Weekly, 10 Oct. 2016, p. 73. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466616219&it=r&asid=d5af52db3254906c967613c5fb8f34f0.
Accessed 30 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466616219
5/30/2017 General OneFile Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1496175443625 3/5
A 'relevant' conspiracy
Steve Thorngate
Sojourners Magazine.
35.4 (Apr. 2006): p44.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Sojourners
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.home
Full Text:
PostRapture Radio: Lost Writings from a Failed Revolution, by Russell Rathbun. JosseyBass.
A few years ago, the "postmodern memoir" or "autobiographic novel" was all the rage among critics anxious to define
new literary genres. In these books, writers mingle personal experiences with flamboyant experimentation in form; the
results are edgy, funny, and confusing.
This trend is one starting point for Russell Rathbun's PostRapture Radio, in which a narrator, also named Russell
Rathbun, edits the sermons and extensive rants of Rev. Richard Lamblove. Within this odd framework, Rathbun
thoughtfully explores the relationship between the church and mainstream culture, the implications of the great
commission, and the nature of pastoral leadership.
Rathbun the charactera pastor, like his namesakecomes across a box of Lamblove's papers and immerses himself in
the intriguing sermons, journal entries, and notes of a man he enthusiastically classifies as an "unknowncrazypreacher."
Lamblove's actual title is "Vice President for Preaching and Biblical Study"he's an associate pastor at a
church obsessed with being culturally relevant.
From his first staff meeting (the church calls it "NextLeader: A Gathering"), Lamblove finds others' interest in his
sermons to be nominal and steadily waning. He sees this as a sign of the church's dilution of the gospel, its ongoing
assimilation of a worldly culture of consumption, celebrity and easy answers. He responds by withdrawing from
church life. Lamblove avoids conversations with colleagues and churchgoers. He declines to participate in an
"Emergent: See Gathering," explaining that he feels lye "can no longer emerge." Convinced of a "Contemporary
Christian Culture Conspiracy," he comes to view himself as a dangerous, exegesiswielding revolutionary. Eventually,
he loses his job.
Lamblove's critique is consistently entertaining and occasionally devastating. Within his raves lie sharp insights into
what it might mean to be radically faithful amid movements to reach "every single corner of the globe with the wrong
news," with a great commission that omits the healing of the sick, the caring for the poor, the proclamation of the
nearness of God. But Lamblove's depiction of his church's striving to meet culture on its own terms is also
condescending and more than a little meanspirited.
Rathbun the character distances himself from this smugness via editorial comments that paint Lamblove as defensive,
inconsistent, and paranoid. This is a cute narrative trick, but it's unpersuasive as a means of separating Rathbun from
Lamblove's harshness. Instead of simply stating that contemporary evangelicalism is "sort of like a fascist state but
everyone says they're really glad to see you," Rathbun the writer puts these words in a mouth two unconvincing steps
removed from his own.
The discrete identities of the two characters and the author are shaky from the start. By the end, they crumble. This
slippage is part of Rathbun's point: All criticisms present are ultimately internal ones. Still, while all this selfconsciousness
makes for engaging postmodern narrative, as socioreligious commentary it's suspicious and perplexing.
This hybrid of a hilarious novel and a provocative sermon collection is considerably more frustrating than either book
would be on its own.
But Rathbun sure is funny. He also offers moments of great clarity and hope. Lamblove's reading of Revelationa
loose framework for the bookemphasizes a Jesus who, when the church fails to forsake its idols and look
heavenward, brings God's holy city down to the people. Perhaps the revolution will never be successful, the church
never stripped of its materialistic stake in the culture of empire. But Lamblove and Rathbun ultimately affirm that the
Christ who brings the New Jerusalem to Babylon meets us in our apostasy as well.
5/30/2017 General OneFile Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1496175443625 4/5
Steve Thorngate is editorial assistant at Sojourners.
Thorngate, Steve
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Thorngate, Steve. "A 'relevant' conspiracy." Sojourners Magazine, Apr. 2006, p. 44+. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA144151133&it=r&asid=bd7c9945124c10171ec1a2c7cac2af49.
Accessed 30 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A144151133
5/30/2017 General OneFile Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1496175443625 5/5
Midrash on the Juanitos: A Didactic Novella
Publishers Weekly.
257.10 (Mar. 8, 2010): p51.
COPYRIGHT 2010 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Midrash on the Juanitos: A Didactic Novella
Russell Rathbun. Cathedral Hill (Atlas Books, dist.), $17.50 paper (146p) ISBN 9780974298641
It begins with a lawyer and a pastor walking into a bar, almost like a selfconscious joke. But Rathbun's newest novella
is no comedy. Immediately, the plot warps itself, like the undulating barstools of the first chapter, into part horror, part
theologizing, and part Alice in Wonderland story about an obsessive and mentally ill pastor's search for a very
particular answer in the Bible. The style of the novella is postmodern, recalling Thomas Pynchon's disjointed realities
as the unnamed protagonist, an unreliable narrator, is speaking lucidly at one moment about early Christian history and
experiencing terrifying hallucinations the next. Ultimately, Rathbun's narrator's project is to provide a Midrash, a
rabbinicstyle commentary and interpretation, of the "Juanitos," the three Epistles of John. Instead of coming away
with a grounded understanding of the author's biblical opinion, however, the novella elicits profound discomfort and
fear, aided in no small measure by frighteningly deformed pencilsketch illustrations accompanying the text. The
search for absolute certainty and ultimate truth in scripture can be very taxing emotionally. But perhaps that is
Rathbun's point after all. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Midrash on the Juanitos: A Didactic Novella." Publishers Weekly, 8 Mar. 2010, p. 51. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA221092518&it=r&asid=debd6d100facbfc864429fcf06da1f5e.
Accessed 30 May 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A221092518
REVIEWS | COMMENTARY Home > 2006 > April (Web-only)
A Good Preacher Is Hard to Find
Post-Rapture Radio
PATTON DODD| APRIL 27, 2006
If I were ten years younger, I'd have half a mind to sell everything, buy a digital video camera, and start making a film version of Post-Rapture Radio: Lost Writings from a Failed Revolution. Russell Rathbun's novel about an "unknown-crazy-preacher" and his half-started revolution to upend evangelical Christianity has everything required to inspire such ambition: incisive social critique, a beautiful revelation of the good news, humor to spare, and, best of all, an enigmatic hero who is both pathetic enough to be plausible and insane enough to be right.
The book's conceit is that Rathbun has discovered an anthology of writings by one Reverend Richard Lamblove—or, more precisely, that Lamblove's writings were discovered by a character named "Russell Rathbun," who may not be the same Russell Rathbun whose name appears on the cover. Sounds confusing, yes? But as postmodern stylistics go, Post-Rapture Radio is fairly tame. And the conceit works, not least because Author Rathbun wisely keeps Character Rathbun mainly in the margins. Save for sparse editorial comments and several hints that Lamblove is Rathbun, the "collection" of writings moves forward at its own pace.
And oh! what remarkable writings they are. Reusing without bothering to recycle, Lamblove records a series of "sermons, random notes, and other writings" on the detritus of consumer goods—backs of cereal boxes and pages ripped from best-selling books such as Left Behind and How to Win Friends and Influence People. In this way, he speaks truth directly (on)to power—he inscribes prophetic truths directly onto the valued materials of the powers that be.
In mini-essays on theology and culture, sermons that are really short stories, and revelatory diary ...
Reviewer's Choice
The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea
Russell Rathbun
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
2140 Oak Industrial Drive, NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505
9780802873651, $21.99, www.eerdmans.com
The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea: Monuments, Missteps, and the Audacity of Ambition takes place on a cross-country drive to the Salton Sea, a trip to China's Great Wall, and other journeys, and blends a travelogue with history and philosophical and social musings alike. As he views the wonders mankind has created and offers both Biblical reflections and musings on ruin, achievement, and architectural monuments, Russell Rathbun offers an excellent survey of the meaning of life and the lasting impact of human endeavor upon the world. Readers who enjoy reflections combining spiritual, philosophical, historical and travel insights will find The Great Wall of China and the Salton Sea a lively and engrossing piece.