tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70099976667710321992024-02-19T05:55:35.187-08:00Church as CultureConstructing the character of its life, in the power of the Word and Spirit, the Church creates a culture. This culture is provisional. It is created penitently and in anticipation of the world to come. It is instantiated in time and place. What is this witnessing culture, how does it interface with the old world which is passing away? How does such Church culture consists of the ever-growing variety of unique and interrelated particular church cultures of global Christianity? Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-19837704364236485142020-02-03T13:56:00.000-08:002020-02-03T14:24:57.664-08:00"This Land is My Land"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="text-align: left;">A few years ago my wife and I traveled to a number of countries. Our daughter and her family lived and worked at that time in the Himalayan foothills. Part of our travels included several weeks in the Indian subcontinent. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.003em; text-align: left;">There we visited with Tibetan Buddhists living in Dharamsala, the home in exile of the Dalai Lama. The Tibetans long to return to their homeland across the border with China. We also visited Amritsar to see the Golden Temple of the Sikh religion. Many Sikhs long to have their own country in the troubled Punjab region, on the Indian border with Pakistan. Today we are even more aware of refugees (from Palestine, Syria, Iran, and many African countries). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">How should we think about our own land? Of course, we should be grateful for our blessings and live as responsible citizens. But there are some important biblical truths that we should also think deeply about. They should shape our attitudes and conduct. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">First, we should have compassion for displaced people and have a heart of hospitality — even protective hospitality. Nearly all of us, or at least our forefathers, were once immigrants. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Second, we should never see our earthly country or homeland as an ultimate home. As the Scriptures teach, we look for a city whose builder and maker is God. Our ultimate dwelling will be shared with all the redeemed in the new heavens and the new earth. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">And third, the biblical motif of exile actually begins in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve are sent away. The theme of Exile and Return then permeates the Bible. This is true for Israel in the OT and the Church in the NT. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">But the Bible also points forward to a time when all will return to their Garden Home. There we will live together in God's presence and eat of the Tree of Life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">May the Lord help us to think wisely about the land we call home, and to care for the people who do not have one -- always pointing to Christ and the way to final and complete rest in our Promised Land.</span></div>
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Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-88276394099537496862017-08-02T03:14:00.000-07:002017-08-02T03:14:46.453-07:00The Value of Rituals for a Culture<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Many people follow empty religious rituals, or even practice evil and harmful ceremonies. We should be careful to avoid such sinful practices and we certainly do not want our faith in Christ to be simply ritualistic.<br /><br />But there is great value in developing healthy habits into our lives. Rituals in a positive sense are simply highly purposeful habits. They are practices that are always done in a particular situation and in more or less the same way.<br /><br />Research shows that as little as 5 percent of our behaviors are consciously self-directed. As creatures of habit, most of what we do occurs rather automatically. This where is regular practices or “rituals,” if you will, fit in. Rituals are precise, consciously acquired behaviors that become habitual in our lives, driven by a deep sense of purpose. If done wisely such practices build structure, rhythm and purpose into our daily lives.<br /><br />These are not magical formulas, and they certainly are not practices that merit salvation. We are wonderfully free in the Spirit of Christ, and our salvation and standing before God is all of grace. We must never loose sight of this.<br /><br />But we live in a culture that has neglected healthy Christian practices — ones designed to help balance and enrich the structure of our daily lives, healthy habits that help us to flourish as God’s people. Most important are habits of daily prayer and Bible reading, of regular worship, and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Ask the Lord to enable you to establish healthy habits that will help you grow in your faith — then practice these “rituals” with a relentless passion and purpose.</div>
Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-51889938271018733112016-05-07T17:09:00.000-07:002016-05-09T15:17:32.976-07:00To Vote or Note to Vote: The Question of Christian Witness In the Public Square<style>
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A number of years ago a collection
of <a href="http://wipfandstock.com/store/Electing_Not_to_Vote_Christian_Reflections_on_Reasons_for_Not_Voting"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">essays</span></a><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span>recommended that Christians
seriously consider the option of not voting. I am revisiting these essays. My recommendation had been that the Church vote, but do so in a uniquely Christian way. When a follower of
Jesus votes for a political candidate (whether it be a Democrat, a Republican,
or an Independent), I argued, it should be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">as an
act of witness</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This vote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">as witness</i> needed clarification, for in various
ways the “witnessing vote” was a reticent vote. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could never be a decision as to which
candidate the voter can endorse one hundred percent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Now the situation is such that I am wondering whether or not I can vote at all in the presidential election. I am wondering if fidelity to "votng as witness" now means not voting. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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It is true that the believer ought
to confess that every politician and every political system on this side of the
new creation is flawed and tainted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> So where the Christian can
vote in good conscience, he or she cannot cast an unreserved vote; this, too, would
equal being taken captive by the powers. By its very nature this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">reserved</i> voting is a witness to “better
things,” to the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>“world to come,” which the New Testament
promises. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>But sometimes
the political situation has decayed to the point where just voting would be
evidence of being taken captive by the powers. Are we facing such a situation in 2016? The question should at least be asked.</div>
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The vote as witness, where possible, needed to be
a qualified vote because the Christian was only voting for that which could be faithfully
celebrated in the candidate’s character and platform (not for the entire character
and platform). Part of his or her witness was to make this clear: in
acknowledging the candidate’s or the party’s flaws, the Christian bore witness
to the broken human condition. But what if the character is so flawed, and so unChristian, that there is little left to celebrate? How can we vote for a person who claims to represent Christians, but exhibits the spirit of an antichrist? Do we take the mark of the beast?</div>
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I have admitted, in the past, that voting "as witness" was a difficult way
to vote, for the voter’s reticence was not directly reflected in the ballot
count. What made the voting reticent was mostly an acknowledgement in the
believer’s own mind that the “vote” was just a vote, and not a “bowing of the
knee.”<span style="font-family: "georgia";"> </span>This reticence was first
known in the Christian’s own heart, and that mattered immensely. At the public
level, it demanded that the believer actively participate in grassroots
political conversation to make this “witnessing vote” clear. But more
importantly it demanded that the Christian’s whole life reflect a message of
political reservation. His or her vote was counter-intuitive to the usual way of politics:
it could never be triumphant (no pun intended!). But perhaps today such political reservation must lead us to NOT vote for a presidential candidate at all, but focus instead on other political activity, where one's conscience is not sold out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></div>
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So the restrained way in which a
Christian votes, or now does not vote, is still both a witness to the political system’s imperfection and a
witness to God’s impending righteous reign. Such reticent about voting is a witness
because its very standoffishness speaks of confidence in another citizenship,
in another sovereign. The Church’s hope ultimately lies in a different Candidate-Elect!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is the only one who can fully bring
justice and peace to a broken world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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While the Christian takes seriously
his or her vote, or now the decision not to vote, its significance is not to be exaggerated. This would betray
the witness. More important than the “vote” is the Spirit’s bringing of the kingdom,
however provisionally and proleptically, through the mission of the Church. So
the Christian intentionally, and in the community of faith, seeks other and
better ways of concretely modeling kingdom life, of manifesting in seed form
the culture of the world to come. The Church’s “vote (or no vote) as witness” proclaims that
she still waits for the kingdom whose builder and maker is God. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Such an orientation of voting as witness leads the
Christian to a unique set of criteria for voting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, the criteria we use to make a
judgment about mildly better or worse consequence must be in terms of God's
special provision for the poor and oppressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That is, our criteria are not fundamentally about what will make my life
better or America stronger or protect the middle class, but which policies are
more or less likely to provide some measure of care for those who are unable to
care for themselves. Determining the consequences of a vote can be notoriously
difficult; but the criteria are clear. Today the very emphasis on "making America great again" is totally out of step with these criteria. </div>
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There is a final “witness” inherent
in the Christian’s voting practice: he or she votes, or does not vote, deliberately and
intentionally, but also penitently, bearing witness to his or her own finite
and fallen condition – and likely failure of good judgment. The Christian
must vote or decide not to vote; the Christian in so doing acts, and faithfully participates in what ways he or she can in the political process. All the while the Church should bear witness to
the grace that heals society’s sickness (even the political one) and atones for
people’s sin (even the sin of a poorly cast ballot; or the potential sin of refraining from casting a ballot at all). So the Christian acts,
believing that God may be pleased to use his or her humble act of faith to make
a difference for good. The Church’s “vote as witness” points to the coming
Kingdom of Christ, but it also acts responsibly to make a difference now, whether by actually voting, or by withholding a vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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When the believer can
in good conscience participate in the political process, he or she votes to
bear witness to God’s grace and to the full hope that can finally and only be
found in the good news of Jesus Christ. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">And when the time is such, that any vote would deny the gospel, the believer does not vote, and in that way still bears witness to the Lord of all the earth. </span></div>
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Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-66588558609984594192015-06-06T11:09:00.003-07:002015-06-06T11:09:54.355-07:00The Greatest Danger"I must be frank with you: the greatest danger confronting American
evangelical Christianity is the danger of anti-intellectualism. The mind
in its greatest and deepest reaches is not cared for enough. But
intellectual nurture cannot take place apart from profound immersion for
a period of years in the history of thought and the spirit. People who
are in a hurry to get out of the university and start earning money or
serving the church or preaching the gospel have no idea of the infinite
value of spending years of leisure conversing with the greatest minds
and souls of the past, ripening and sharpening and enlarging their
powers of thinking. The result is that the arena of creative thinking is
vacated and abdicated to the enemy." (Charles Malik, 1980)Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-78341953005152170422014-08-11T06:56:00.005-07:002014-08-11T06:56:49.799-07:00Being God's People "The Church is a congregation, set to draw all people of whatever kind into one family. But it is also a mission sent to the nations, that is to say, sent to people not as isolated individuals, but to people in the full reality of their cultural, social, economic life as people. For the fulfillment of that mission it is not enough to say 'Come -- all are welcome'. It is also necessary to go, to leave the establishment behind, to make daring experiments in seeking to learn what it means to live the life of Christ in every one of the idioms and patterns of the myriad human communities. It is necessary that the corn of wheat fall into the ground in order that the particular fruit of <i>that</i> ground may be brought to perfection in Christ. But yet again, all the fruit is to be brought into one store. The variety is for the sake of the unity of the Body of Christ that each may serve not itself but the whole. This going and coming, this scattering and gathering of fruit, is the very life of the Church when it is true to its proper nature." (Lesslie Newbigin, <i>Honest Religion for Secular Man</i>, p. 111, 1966).Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-33619364510581300162013-06-16T13:31:00.001-07:002013-06-16T13:31:33.036-07:00Missional Reflections on Violent forms of Islam<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoCommentText">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> To be a follower of
Christ requires speaking the truth <b>in love</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The impetuous apostle Peter had learned this,
and instructs us, “<span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">in
your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a
defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">yet do it with gentleness and respect</b>”
(1 Peter 3:15).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means that we must
treat followers of Islam with “gentleness and respect.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The King James Version says “with meekness
and fear.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoCommentText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoCommentText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When we engage Muslims,
we are hypocrites, if we claim to bring them a message of good news from God,
and yet act in an ungodly way towards them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We must take to heart the words of the prophet, “</span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what
doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to <b>love mercy</b>, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">to walk humbly</b> with thy God?” (Micah
6:8).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";">We must, by God’s grace, strive to be
disciples of Jesus in the very manner in which we do our mission work – we must
pray for the fruit of the Spirit in our lives:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>especially <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">love, joy, and peace</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This focus should encourage us to imitate the
way in which the best missionaries of the past have engaged with Muslims – they
have done it with empathy, fairness, compassion, as well as courage and
truthfulness.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoCommentText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoCommentText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">One scholar, who had
worked with Muslims for over fifty years, towards the end of his life and
reflecting on his own careful study of Islamic resources wrote,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoCommentText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoCommentText" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This also helped me to
learn (to try) to reflect <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with</i>
Muslims, to understand with empathy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and </i>friendly
criticism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is this also which was the
basis for my teaching of Islamic studies in various Church institutions
especially in Egypt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For I try to present
Islam, as far as possible, as Muslims would wish to see it presented, with
objectivity and affection, which in no way prevents a critical view and
questioning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I consider it necessary to
apply the Gold Rule of the Gospel to one’s observation and understanding, then
to try to look at the other and understand him as I would myself wish him to
regard and understand me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(</span></span>Christiann
van Mispen tot Sevenaer, “A<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Man of
Dialogue,” [2012] in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Christian Lives
Given to the Study of Islam</i>, 130).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="text"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoCommentText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoCommentText">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This may be a challenge for us as frail human beings when we are engaging with people who
are progressive Muslims, or moderate adherents of Islam, or even non-political
traditional Muslims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It requires an
extra measure of God’s grace when we are dealing with radical or puritanical
Muslims – the so called Islamists, whether Sunni or Shia. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>On the ground some Islamists could be, depending on the circumstances, people bent on violence against
others, and against our brothers and sisters in Christ, or even</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> against us
personally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is precisely here
that we are put to the test by the Lord, who taught us to love our enemies, do
good to them that hate us, and pray for those who persecute us (Matt
5:38-39).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The commending of the
Christian faith has to be in accordance with its own character, with the inner
coherence of word and deed in the person of Jesus Christ”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";"> </span></span>(</span>Christopher
Lamb, “An Engagement<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with Islam,” [2012]
in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Christian Lives Given to the Study of Islam</i>,
159<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">). Surely, we need grace and wisdom here,
beyond our own ability. </span></div>
<div class="MsoCommentText">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span>
</div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> It is helpful, of
course, to remember that there are as many understandings of Islam as there are
Muslims.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, we must not fall into
the error of essentialism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Too many political
commentators, talk show hosts, and unfortunately Christian pastors, fall into
the error of reading the puritanical interpretation onto all Muslims and onto
Islam as a religion. Here, whether we agree or not with the thesis of Miroslav
Volf’s, book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Allah: A Christian Response</i>,
we ought to appreciate his desire to address Islam in its best light and not in
its worst light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He writes, “For me here
the ‘paradigmatic’ Muslim is the great and immensely influential thinker Abu
Hamid al-Ghazali (1056-1111), and not, for instance Sayyid Qutb (1906-66), the
most popular representative of radical Islam”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";"> </span></span>(</span>Volf, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Allah</i>, [Kindle], loc 253<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The great missionary Samuel
Zwemer focused on al-Ghazali, as a Muslim seeker after God, who shows Islam at
its best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is a mistake to argue that the true Islam is the most
violent or viral form of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is both
unjust towards Muslims who hold different views as well as politically unwise.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif";"> </span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also simply disingenuous, when thinking
about Islam, or when interacting with Muslims, to compare and contrast an
idealized picture of the “Christianity,” with the worst form or features of
certain expressions of Islam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must bear witness to the Scriptures and the truth of the gospel (if we are, in fact, followers of Jesus), but we
should be careful to distinguish it from our own failed attempts to fully live
up to its standards within “Christianity.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the same time we should let Muslims state what they believe Islam to
be.</span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoCommentText" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Why
should we agree with the puritanical Islamists that their expression of Islam
is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the </i>correct view?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does this not inadvertently give weight to
their cause?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, there are as many
views of Islam as there are Muslims, and there are certainly a great variety of
traditions and expressions within the world of Islam, both in history and
today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But radical and dangerous forms
of Islam do exist in the world, and the gospel compels us to love and share the
gospel by life and word with those caught it its clutches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here the saying of the Lord Jesus is especially
applicable:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we are to be “wise as
serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matt 10:16). May the Spirit help us to live in obedience to our Lord, and share his heart for all people. </span></div>
Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-33333635044140973142010-05-21T17:39:00.000-07:002010-05-21T17:56:59.170-07:00To Change the World: A Fourth Political TheologyJames Hunter's book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Change-World-Tragedy-Possibility-Christianity/dp/0199730806/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274488951&sr=8-1">To Change the World</a>, is a stimulating challenge to the question of church and culture. Hunter's identification of the two essential tasks of the church with regard to culture and power are worth pondering:<br /><br />"The church has two essential tasks. The first is to disentangle the life and identity of the church from the life and identity of American society. The second task is for the church and for Christian believers to decouple the “public” from the “political.” The way of Christ differs. His way operated in complete obedience to God the Father, it repudiated the symbolic trappings of elitism, it manifest compassion concretely out of calling and vocation, and it served the good of all and not just the good of the community of faith."<br /><br />Hunter's groundwork for an alternative approach is described as follows:<br /><br />"Christians are called to relate to the world within the dialectic of affirmation and antithesis. If there are benevolent consequences of our engagement with the world, it is precisely because it is not rooted in a desire to change the world for the better, but rather because it is an expression of a desire to honor the creator of all goodness, beauty, and truth, a manifestation of our loving obedience to God, and a fulfillment of God’s command to love our neighbor. Antithesis, in contrast, is rooted in recognition of the totality of the fall. Consequently, however much Christians may be able to a affirm in the world, the church is always a “community of resistance.” The objective is to retrieve the good to which modern institutions and ideas aspire, to oppose those ideals and structures that undermine human flourishing, and to offer constructive alternatives for the realization of a better way."<br /><br />Both of these above paragraphs are taken from the abstracts to the various chapters of his book, which Hunter provides at <a href="http://jamesdavisonhunter.com/to-change-the-world/chapter-abstracts/">his web site</a>.Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-72764497615219895812009-05-05T15:54:00.000-07:002009-05-05T16:09:39.546-07:00The Church's Particularity“Each church…reflects a distinctive culture or cultures…Regardless of its relationship to the prevailing culture around it, a given church is itself a cultural community with its own language, spoken or unspoken rules of conduct, expectations, and the like. While it is possible to discern authentic and inauthentic expressions of the gospel and church in a given culture, it is impossible to separate the gospel and the church from culture….As Newbigin sees it, ‘The idea that one can or could at any time separate out by some process of distillation a pure gospel unadulterated by any cultural accretions is an illusion’” (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Ecclesiology-Evangelical-Ecumenical-Introduction/dp/1587431734/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241563353&sr=8-1"><span style="font-style: italic;">Exploring Ecclesiology</span></a>, by Harper and Metzger, p. 275).Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-36598827831268531092009-05-02T14:35:00.000-07:002009-05-02T15:01:23.378-07:00The Western, White Cultural Captivity of the ChurchSoong-Chan Rah has written an important book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Next-Evangelicalism-Freeing-Cultural-Captivity/dp/0830833609/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241301169&sr=8-1"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity</span>. </a> It has an edge; it is a bit redundant, but it is an important book. If you are interested in the church and its cultural instantiation, this is a must read. Part of what it reveals is how far behind many of us (read "white cultural Christians") are with regard to the whole question of "race" and diversity, especially as it is impacting the church. Perhaps growing up in Asia and then working with the church there for so many years has biased my view. But I felt embarrased as I read this work: embarrased at our own cultural blindness. May the Lord use this volume to help open our eyes.Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-83614502943916227122008-06-26T15:48:00.001-07:002008-06-26T19:09:35.867-07:00What Role Does the Church Have in Politics?<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">An interesting book, <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/debating_the_divine.html">Debating the Divine</a>, on the role of religion in American politics is now available in pdf format from American Progress.<br /><div align="center"> <img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/drdanebert/SGQcSuTE0XI/AAAAAAAAAjo/ATu3V4qrEMU/%5BUNSET%5D.jpg" style="max-width: 800px;" /><br /><div align="left">Here are the contents:<br /><p><b>Introduction</b></p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_introduction.pdf">Debating the Divine</a>, by Sally Steenland (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_authors.pdf">About the Authors</a> (pdf)</p><br /><p><b>Opening Essays</b></p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_open_hollinger.pdf">Civic Patriotism and the Critical Discussion of Religious Ideas</a>, by David A. Hollinger (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_open_patel.pdf">Religious Pluralism in the Public Square</a>, by Eboo Patel (pdf)</p><br /><p><b>Responding Essays</b></p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_response_lilla.pdf">The Two Cultures?</a>, by Mark Lilla (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_response_wolterstorff.pdf">Religion in the Public Square</a>, by Nicholas Wolterstorff (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_response_minow.pdf">Religions and Public Life: Problems of Translation</a>, by Martha Minow (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_response_noll.pdf">Wisdom, Not Prescription: One Size Does Not Fit All</a>, by Mark A. Noll (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_response_thistlethwaite.pdf">Nobody Gets a Pass: Faith in Reason and Religious Pluralism Are Equally Questionable</a>, by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_response_gunn.pdf">Clothes Encounters in the Naked Public Square</a>, by T. Jeremy Gunn (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_response_jacoby.pdf">America’s Tower of Religious Babble Is Already Too High</a>, by Susan Jacoby (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_response_sinclair.pdf">Religion and Community Organizing: Prophetic Religion and Social Justice Offer Avenues to a New Democratic Pluralism</a>, by Charlene K. Sinclair (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_response_rogers.pdf">The Rules of Engagement: How the American Tradition of Religious Freedom Helps Define Religion’s Role in Civic Debate</a>, by Melissa Rogers (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_response_miller.pdf">Globalization, the End of Easy Consensus, and Beginning the Real Work of Pluralism</a>, by Vincent J. Miller (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_response_wolfe.pdf">Liberals and Religion</a>, by Alan Wolfe (pdf)</p><br /><p><b>Closing Essays</b></p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_close_hollinger.pdf">Patterns of Engagement and Evasion</a>, by David A. Hollinger (pdf)</p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_close_patel.pdf">The Promise of Religious Pluralism by Eboo Patel</a>, (pdf)</p><br /><p><b>Policymaker Response</b></p><br /><p style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/06/pdf/dtd_policy_podesta.pdf">Transforming the Religious–Secular Divide to Work for the Common Good</a>, by John D. Podesta and Shaun Casey (pdf)</p><br /></div><br /><div align="left"><br /></div></div></div>Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-34444160664130880962008-06-21T08:33:00.001-07:002008-06-21T08:36:59.087-07:00The Conservative Response in Anglicanism<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">An interesting meeting will take place starting tomorrow within the more conservative wing of the Anglican Church; the gathering is called GAFCON, the Global Anglican Futures conference. <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/juneweb-only/125-52.0.html">"Many conservatives pulled out of Lambeth (the gathering of Anglican bishops every ten years) in the ongoing dispute over homosexual ordination and same-sex blessings."</a> Peter Jensen, who heads up the conference, suggests that GAFCON could turn into a movement "with sufficient institutional reality to make it a new force within the Anglican Communion." Again, the question is raised, what does it mean to be the Church today? What kind of corporate life do we construct together? What does the Church "as culture" look like? <br /></div>Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-1138153173282600702008-06-15T03:45:00.001-07:002008-06-15T03:47:08.649-07:00An Apocalyptic Assessment from the Right<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><a href="http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080611/32770_Prominent_Evangelical_Names_Four_Modern_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse.htm">Dr. Richard Land</a>, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, believes there are four “modern horsemen of the apocalypse” that are “riding forth to wreak havoc and destruction in our society” – the denial of the sanctity of human life, the rise of hardcore Internet pornography, the radical homosexual agenda and its attempt to undermine marriage and radical Islamic jihadism.</div>Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-855823683428854672008-06-08T17:44:00.001-07:002008-06-08T17:45:48.499-07:00Might 40% of "Evangelicals" Vote for Senator Obama?<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>According to an article in <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080607/32726_Obama_Could_Win_40_Percent_of_Evangelical_Vote%2C_Says_Expert.htm">The Christian Post</a> 30-40% of "evangelicals" may vote for Senator Obama for president this November. The article states:<br /></p><p>"The fascination with the charismatic Illinois senator combined with evangelicals’ effort to not be seen as an appendage of the Republican Party could swing evangelical voters in Obama’s favor, predicted Mark DeMoss – a prominent public relations executive whose clients include Focus on the Family, Franklin Graham, and Campus Crusade for Christ –to Beliefnet.com."</p><p>“I will not be surprised if he gets one third of the evangelical vote,” DeMoss said in the interview. “I wouldn’t besurprised if it was 40 percent.”</p></div>Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-55524392375288558702008-06-07T08:31:00.001-07:002008-06-07T08:46:44.307-07:00Envision: Gospel, Politics, & the Future (June 8-10)<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">An important conference is being held over the next few days at Princeton University: <a href="http://ev08.org/index.html" target="_blank">Envision 08</a>. The "evangelical left" is actively engaged in this project, along with others. A <a href="http://ev08.org/purpose.structure.pdf">file</a> is provided to explain the conference's purpose and structure. A preliminary consultation has already taken place on line (June 2-3), resulting in <a href="http://ev08.org/dialog.html">two documents</a>. The questions discussed in the preparatory dialog included the following:<br /><br /><ol start="1" type="1"><li>What are the values that ground your faith commitment to a common good?</li><li>What in our world today violates these values?</li><li>What can Christians do together to address these problems</li></ol><br />The list of <a href="http://ev08.org/speakers.html">speaks</a> and <a href="http://ev08.org/sponsors.html">sponsors</a> reveals the breadth of this consultation. On Wednesday, June 11, a panel of scholars and religious leaders will work on a vision statement to guide future Envision conferences.<strong><br /><br /></strong>While those in the evangelical center and on the evangelical right may not agree at various levels, the discussions are important for everyone who identifies with the Church, and its cultural instantiation in America.<br /><strong><br /><br /></strong><br /><br /><br /></div>Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-69109413565995539062008-06-04T16:20:00.001-07:002008-06-05T10:08:49.914-07:00Who Disturbs the Peace?<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">There is an interesting article by Fleming Rutledge at ChristianityToday.com, entitled, <a href="http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/june/13.30.html?start=3">"When God Disturbs the Peace."</a><br /><br />Rutledge accurately diagnosis the problem with the old liberal theology: "The divide between the liberal, revisionist project and the apostolic, biblical faith is not characterized primarily by the distinction between the individual and the social. The liberal-orthodox gap is most acute when we talk of "the power of God." The biblical proclamation ofthe triune Creator God who, when his good creation rebels, recaptures it from an occupying Enemy through the invasion of his Son, is not the central operating system for liberal theology. The belief that an "experiential," humanistic perspective on the Christian story is more accessible and appealing is proving not to be the case; several decades of this thin gruel have left us without any transcendent dimension to draw upon, either for social action or for individual regeneration."<br /><br />But she is also right to point to the evangelical church's tendency to be anemic in its understanding of the community of God's people as a divinely ordained force for change:<br /><br />"The emphasis on the individual's redemption is deeply embedded in our culture, and has been set over against communal understanding in a way that suggests the two views are mutually exclusive. In the mainline churches, social action has edged out evangelism and spiritual<br />vitality; in evangelical churches, there is ignorance and confusion about what social action actually is."<br /><br />She concludes with this challenge: "A new social-action hero like William Wilberforce would indeed bring honor to God. But it may be that God will use numbers of more ordinary Christians, banding together to bring down more fortresses of the Enemy—racial injustice, poverty, pollution, inferior education, sex trafficking, inadequate health care, prison recidivism, political<br />corruption, and yes, terrorism—but without terror on our part, for this would truly be to doubt the cruciform power of God, who in his Son has already undone the Enemy once and for all."<br /><br /><br /></div>Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-35843282757204978492008-06-04T07:43:00.001-07:002008-06-04T07:54:13.075-07:00The Evangelical Church and American Politics<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">David Gushee's new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Future-Faith-American-Politics-Evangelical/dp/1602580715/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&amp;qid=1212590595&amp;sr=1-1">The Future of Faith in American Politics: the Public Witness of the Evangelical Center</a> (whether one agrees with his conclusions or not) helps to orient the conversation about the Church and its role in the political public square. As the varied streams of Islam wrestle with their relationship with democracy and politics in the modern world, so the Church must revisit its founding documents and its moral vision. We MUST ask what it means to be the Church in the world today (and concretely what this means in the American context in 2008). We must not assume we have already asked the right questions, and arrived at the faithful answers.<br /><br />Gushee is right on this point: the failures (whatever they might be) of our engagement in American politics can be largely traced to "the weak ecclesiology of evangelical Christianity." <br /><br />"The ultimate source of our problem may be our misunderstanding (and malpractice) of what it means to be Christ's church" (p. 54).<br /></div>Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7009997666771032199.post-6791393589655563502008-06-03T06:10:00.000-07:002008-12-11T18:00:18.608-08:00Niebuhr, Carter, Carson...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4l4_HGvD-85WyQtK-OZSxEileBM8U3G_EAxX2xtW-u5MYdvfRGm3gZCcirqLdwer_Ilfqul7MPMxUoXk4QX7J5OCzcuSfiKQa0ElUCCc9jmtKBpyWaugrMnVTHW0uy0YGhUWTCMzAhhs/s1600-h/links.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4l4_HGvD-85WyQtK-OZSxEileBM8U3G_EAxX2xtW-u5MYdvfRGm3gZCcirqLdwer_Ilfqul7MPMxUoXk4QX7J5OCzcuSfiKQa0ElUCCc9jmtKBpyWaugrMnVTHW0uy0YGhUWTCMzAhhs/s200/links.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207651441235832146" border="0" /></a><br />There has been a healthy dose of discussion concerning the relationship of the Church to culture, especially in a "revisiting" of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Niebuhr">Richard Niebuhr's </a>categories. Hidden here and there, but rarely emphasized, is the motif of the "Church as culture." If we construct the character of our lives by group living (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Theories-Culture-Theology-Theological-Inquiry/dp/0800630971/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212499262&sr=1-1">Tanner</a>), then does not the community of faith construct a culture? Of course, this needs to be defined, nuanced, biblically shaped and theologically informed. But something important needs to be said here. I hope to carry out this conversation here (largely for my own benefit), but help along the way is more than welcome.<br /><br />In a sense, the following quote, taken from the <a href="http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/confessionalstatement.php">Gospel Coalition's doctrinal statement </a>point the direction, I want to go:<br /><br />"The church serves as a sign of God’s future new world when its members live for the service of one another and their neighbors, rather than for self-focus."Church as Culturehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12804849119081997348noreply@blogger.com0