One Banner

It was a warm summer day in 1996 when the three of us first met. The campus of Great Lakes Christian College was bustling with the excitement of a new school year. Little did we know that in the next 4 years we would eventually room together in the dorm and spend countless hours formulating theology, worldview, politics and more. Often as the discussions unfolded Regan, Shannon and Sam would be on opposite ends of a subject. This diversity made for lively and helpful discussions.

Now, a mere 10 years later, we are all married and have families, but our penchant for debate and sharpening one another’s theology has not waned. We all serve the church in some capacity. We have all begun blogs to put our ideas out there. We have all contributed to a currently defunct forum of alumni from Great Lakes Christian College. And yet, none of us has the time to really excel in all of these areas. And so, as we sat around a lake in Hamilton, Indiana one beautiful May day, the idea came – why not combine our efforts and each contribute something to one project? And perhaps, through this, we can continue the process that began so long ago.



Enter ChiRhoLive:

Legend has it that Constantine I's conversion came with a vision from the Lord. He was shrewd enough to see the problems with having an army of men who all bowed to different gods. Therefore he sought the counsel of the One God. God subsequently showed him a sign in the sky. It was the Greek letter Chi (χ) overlaid with the Greek letter Rho, (ρ). Attached to the symbol was the phrase: Εν Τούτω, Νίκα! (In this, be victorious!)

The symbol became known formally as the labarum, and more casually "The monogram of Christ". Chi and Rho are the first two letters in χριστος (Christ). Later, in Christian art it was linked with images of Jesus as emporer (see below), and to the Latin term Christus Rex (Christ the King). *

We do not like everything that has been done under this banner. We even mourn some of it (including the actions of Constantine I). But the banner of Christ is still the most worthy of banners. It is still a banner under which we will happily subject ourselves. It is still a banner under which we are victorious.

Perhaps the goal of this journal may be best summed up with a quote from Rene Descartes: “If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” There will be plenty of doubt and questioning on this journal. At the same time there will be plenty of challenging one another to be what God has intended us to be.

In the end, we will come back to the simple truth belied in the title of the journal, ChiRhoLive. And regardless of where our views lie on the political or theological spectrum, living lives subject to Christ remains at the heart of what we do and say.

* Most of this information comes from wikipedia and some google searching. The information on art came from a documentary Shannon saw on PBS about the images of Jesus throughout history.