Martin Luther, himself a part of Christendom, sought to free grace from its 1000+ captivity. In doing so, he nailed the need for true grace so firmly to the church doors that it nailed the door shut to the ability for his contemporaries or future Christians to free any of the above hostages of Christendom. Reformed theology's death grip on grace has been so exclusive that it has held back the way of any future reform. Mission, nonviolence, radical discipleship, the whole lot -- they're still held bound and gagged, and the freed hostage of grace seems to be guarding the door
Very interesting post (been up a while) on Organic Jesus... a gentle but sharp critique of reformed theology's stranglehold on modern christianity and "grace"... The premise is that Luther liberated Christianity from the bondage of "The Church" but in doing so he and his compatriots so categorically "nailed" their revolution that Christianity has not so far been able to continue to reform... it's the classic mistake of revolutions the world over, they become defined by what they protest against - no surprise, but sad, that we still talk about being "protestant"! - this leads to very little room for manoeuvre and the culture becoming a defensive one that has to see it's position as the only true and right one. This is a great warning for the emerging church, we should resist the temptation to be "protestant", to be defined by protest against modern, reformed, fundamentalist, conservative, superficial etc. etc. church... we should not seek to define ourselves in opposition, because it is easy to get stuck with a foundation story that is born in protest/opposition and by doing so stifle the very things we celebrate... some of the emerging church conversation will do this, some I hope wont. For me Robert Webber's (and others) early emphasis on an ancient/future faith was a very positive step because it does not buy into an "evolutionary" perspective... i.e. that Christianity is/has evolved and what came before was primitive, superstitious, worldly, wrong etc. rather it celebrates the good/riches in the whole history of Christianity... the challenge will be can we embrace the good in Modern Christianity!? The latest manifestation of Ancient/Future faith seems to me to be the New-Monastic exploration, it holds in a very creative tension; a love for the story of scripture, the urgency of an engaged faith, a deep intercessory spirituality and a yearning for simple/real/hospitable community... these things are all positives i.e. they are not "post" anything rather they are timeless and imminent. It seems to me it's time to stop using the "post" prefix - if anyone still is - and time to stop seeing ourselves in "opposition" to other times and positions of Christianity - much as certain forms will keep trying to drag us into that argument, time to stop producing linear diagrams that reinforce polarised terminology and perceptions... time to stop thinking we - or anyone - has "got it right" and time to start simply being who God makes us... being reformed continually as we go and grow.
Technorati Tags: Blogging: Emerging Church: Missional: theology
No offense, but i suggest admin adding a "google+" button for easy share!
Posted by: elliptical reviews | 12/12/2011 at 12:27