Church and Mission: Quick Reflection from Class on 10/28/09

We began to discuss Eastern Orthodox theology and the iconoclast movement up through the sacking of Constantinople in the 4th Crusade. We also briefly discussed and dialogued about the Christianization of pagan holidays and practices and the two sides to that debate. Personally, I think that Christianity needs to be rooted in the culture itself, drawing out what can point to truth and Jesus and critiquing that which is counter to the gospel message. In this way, Christianity is not transplanting a foreign culture but is transforming the native culture from within. I understand the objection to this, since changing the name or focus of a holiday or practice does not change the hearts of the people and can lead to the secularization of Christianity (e.g. Christmas and Easter), however, this is possible with any Christian symbol, practice, holiday or idea since it is never the thing itself that matters but how and if you allow it to transform you. Humans can and will secularize anything.

Church and Mission: Quick Reflection from Class on 10/21/09

This class we discussed Constantine, probably one of my least favourite figures in history because of how institutionalized he made the Church. The Church became a part and tool of the Empire, lost much of its sense of mission, and began internal persecutions (that is, began persecuting heretics - which while heresy needs to be confronted, persecution is not in line with God's mission).

Church and Mission: Quick Reflection from Class on 10/19/09

In Monday's class we finished up discussing the characteristics of church in the first century and began discussing some of the cultural and historical context of the second century (mainly talking about Pliny the Younger and the spurts of persecution faced by Christians). One martyr, a young woman named Perpetua, insisted upon her own death at a time in which Christians were not actively being persecuted in North Africa (where she was), which made me wonder a bit about why. What were her purposes in this? No one seemed to want to execute her (as she herself admitted in her diary), yet she insisted. But if no one really wanted to kill her, how much of a martyr is she really? Why would she give her life when no one was seeking to take it? To my Western, utilitarian mind I see little purpose in it. I suppose it was to make a statement, but it just seems so bizarre to me to seek further persecution than that which you face.

Church and Mission Book Review #2

An Introduction to Ecclesiology by Veli-Matti Karkkainen

Veli-Matti Karkkainen teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary as associate professor of systematic theology who has written several books focusing on topics such as pneumatology and Christology as well as comparing and contrasting the theologies of major religions and Christian denominations.

In an Introduction to Ecclesiology Karkkainen seeks to “chart the waters of ecclesiology,” providing “an orientation for navigation (12).” Basically, he seeks to review the views of the major branches of Christianity as to what the church is and what constitutes the church and how those views play out in the present world. He does so by dividing the structure of his work into three sections.

Karkkainen’s first section addresses the official theologies of branches such as the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, Reformed churches, Free churches (such as Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches), Pentecostal churches, and that of the ecumenical movement. In Eastern Orthodox theology, he explains, the church is viewed as the icon of the Trinity. Roman Catholic theology, rather, views the church as the pilgrim people of God. Lutherans and Reformed churches view it very similarly as the communion of saints and as a covenant between humans and the divine, respectively. Free churches differ from their historical predecessors in their emphasis on the priesthood of all believers and consequently believe the church to be the fellowship of believers. Likewise, Pentecostals (despite their lack of a fully constructed theology of the church) experience the church as a fellowship of persons in the power of the Holy Spirit. Finally, Karkkainen ends with the view of the ecumenical movement of the church as a sharing of the reality of communion with Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, Karkkainen briefly discusses the ecclesiological viewpoints of a well-known theologian from each of these traditions (Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas, Catholic Hans Kung, Lutheran Wolfhart Pannenburg, Reformist Jurgen Moltmann, Pentecostal Miroslav Volf, Baptist James McClendon Jr., and Anglican Lesslie Newbigin) and how they see the enactment of their views in the present world.

In his final section, Karkkainen examines contextual ecclesiologies (that is, those of specific contexts that are not necessarily specific to a particular branch or denomination of Christianity). He discusses the views of the non-church movement in Asia, which rejects the institutional church altogether, and then goes on to the liberation theology of Latin America and its views of the church as being birthed from the community and the living out of inclusive community life (183). Subsequently, Karkkainen examines feminist theology, which focuses mainly on equality in power, authority and ministry, and African Independent churches, with their uniquely African stress on the communal aspects of the church. The former Shepherding Movement, which emphasized the need for personal one-on-one discipleship and the role of the pastor as a shepherd, is explained as well as the world church movement and its enactment of the church as a sacramental ministry, bringing the world closer to the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. Karkkainen concludes by discussing the post-modern church, which believes itself to be “another city (223)” whose purpose is to be an “alternative community ready to challenge prevailing assumptions (223)” about ways of living.

Altogether, Karkkainen’s orderly presentation is comprehensive enough to satisfy the demands of any knowledgeable theologian, yet simple enough for any layperson to understand and enjoy. Additionally, he looks beyond the narrow focus of denominational systematic theologies, their current praxis, or even how inter-denominational dialogue has affected them, but also discusses ecclesiologies that cross denominational lines and are more connected to the specific context of the church and its particular individuals. As such, Karkkainen presents a truly inclusive and in depth look at the traditional and forming theologies of the church in our time.

Church and Mission: Quick Reflection from class on 10/14/09

I think the most interesting part of class for me last Wednesday was the quick discussion of Sabbath observance by the early Christians and how they both went to the temple to observe Sabbath on Saturdays as well as met together on the first day of the week to remember Christ's death. They continued to do this until the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, at which time the Jews really sought to expel the "Jesus" sect. The Church started to become largely Gentile and due to Paul's writings (which emphasized the Gentiles' not needing to conform to the Law), Saturday observances slowly gave way to worship solely on Sunday. This led to some great conversation with a couple of Seventh Day Adventists I know at my weekly Bible study about whether or not the Sabbath should be observed on Saturday, if that necessitates legalism and how it does not need to.

Church and Mission: Quick Refection from class on 10/12/09

We briefly reviewed the ways that Jesus' initial movement practiced their religion and then moved on to the practices, organization and views of the early Church. It struck me for the first time just how fearful the Christians must have been after Stephen's martyrdom. It also struck me how awkward that first meeting between Peter and Paul must have been, with Paul not only being highly suspect but also everything that Peter was not (that is, educated, Roman, well-to-do) and how much humility they both needed to have to accept each other in the way that they did. It gave me a new appreciation for them both.

Church and Mission: Quick Reflection from Class on 10/7/09

We watched sections of The Search for Jesus with Peter Jennings. It was pretty interesting, especially the sections that talked about how political Jesus was. Didn't learn too much new. They talked about the implications of "turning the other cheek," and I was hoping they'd also cover the implications of "going the extra mile" or include something I hadn't yet heard about, but they didn't. It was interesting none the less.

Church and Mission: Quick Reflection #3

Woke up sick today, don't know if I'm going to make it to class, but here's my reflection/attendance marker for last class:

We discussed whether or not Jesus felt that He was starting His own church. Resounding answer was "no, He was starting a Jewish reform movement." Interesting stuff. We also did some leccio divina in Luke (the sending out of the 72), but I didn't really glean much from it besides some confusion and a desire to do some exegesis on it, which probably won't happen given the amount of reading I have to do.

Church and Mission: Quick Reflection on Class #2

So we spent a good portion of class in small groups discussing our own traditions within Christianity (as much of a mixture as they may be), discussing them in terms of how they view the nature of church, the leadership and organizational structure, the practices, liturgy, community, interactions, etc. It was very interesting since I have only ever thought of the differences between denominations in terms of theology. I have already discovered myself applying this kind of thinking in my present church shopping. I attended a highly liturgical Lutheran church this morning (and due to my experiences with Catholicism, I have a fondness for liturgy) and while I loved the theology presented in the lyrics and recited prayers, I felt a rigidness to the structure that I have never encountered before and I have realized that I am actually more Pentecostal than I have previously thought.

Church and Mission: Book Review #1

The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle

Phyllis Tickle is a lay minister in the Episcopal Church whose work as the founding editor of the Religion Department of Publishers Weekly has given her the opportunity to engage with a wealth of perspectives as she examines the direction in which Christianity is currently moving and the events, ideas and developments that have occasioned and shaped this movement.

Tickle’s thesis is quite broad in scope, covering not only the particular transformations and alterations occurring, but also including an examination of the three major revolutions within the history of the Church. She argues that “about every five hundred years, the empowered structures of institutionalized Christianity. . . become an intolerable carapace that must be shattered in order that renewal and new growth may occur,” (16) and that this occurrence results in the emergence of a “more vital form of Christianity,” the reconstitution of “the organized expression of Christianity. . . into a more pure and less ossified expression of its former self,” and the spread of the faith “into new geographic and demographic areas” (17).

Using the analogy of a mooring tether, she explains that religion, as a social construct, ties society to a greater sense of purpose, that it is shaped by culture, place and time and that when the culture’s world view changes dramatically, so too will its religion. What will ensue is the examination of three threads within this cord: spirituality, which Tickle defines as the internal experiences and values of the individual or group; corporeality, the particular physical embodiments of spirituality; and morality, the application and praxis of spirituality. The Great Reformation is briefly reviewed in order to exemplify this analysis.

Tickle contends that the overarching questions facing society at present, as initially provoked by both Michael Faraday’s hypothesis that light and matter are the vibration and intersection, respectively, of energy fields and Joseph Campbell’s broadcast series The Power of Myth, are what constitutes humanness/human consciousness and how each religion relates to the others. Beginning with the theory of relativity and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, she then traces the development of Christianity’s still coalescing answers to these questions and sketches the changing shape of Christianity’s range of beliefs over the past forty years from a quadrilateral to a more cruciform image and finally into what is becoming a “gathering centre.” In conclusion, emergent Christianity’s belief as to where spiritual authority resides is explained a related to network theory, stating that this emergence is the “formulation of a working answer to the question of what exactly a human being is,” (161) as both a single creature and as part of a group within creation.

Tickle’s explanation of emerging Christianity is masterful, thorough and extraordinarily helpful for anyone interested in learning how and why this ascending form of Christianity has come to be. It is an easy, engaging and entirely non-threatening read, and as such I would particularly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves lost and confused within a changing culture or who might view emergent Christianity as merely a passing fad or heresy. The Great Emergence is indeed the same as its subject matter: a conversation of what exactly this new, yet not so new, kind of Christianity is.