A Reflection on the Spirituality of David Bosch

“To become a disciple means a decisive and irrevocable turning to both God and neighbor. What follows from there is a journey which...never ends in this life, a journey of continually discovering new dimensions of loving God and neighbor.” (Bosch)

Paul writes – A recent post by Steve Taylor reminded me of a paper I read from a 2003 issues of the Journal Of Asian Mission (JAM) – A Reflection on the Spirituality of David Bosch by Minho Song who teaches Missions and New Testament at Asian Theological Seminary in the Philippines.

Excerpt:

“…the church needs to clarify its role in the world. It must resist the options of “instituting a Christian society” or “withdrawing from public life altogether.” Instead, it means asking what God is doing (missio Dei) in a world marked by injustice, corruption, fatalism and all sorts of ungodliness, and how the church may partake in God’s work, recognizing the fact that the reign of God will not be fully achieved until the end...”

“ …Christian living is…neither [solely] future-orientated (escapist) nor exclusively present-orientated (activist)…”

“…Out of our zeal to see church growth to take place, we bring into the text the meaning (and therefore the agenda) we have pre-determined. Spirituality as obedient action means obeying what the Bible actually says, not what we want it to say…”

“…For Bosch, then, spirituality has to do with being in tune with what God is doing in the world and participating in God’s work (missio Dei). Spirituality is rooted in one’s eschatological and soteriological framework. It is different from the Pentecostal or contemplative traditions where one’s union with God serves as a worthy end goal. Bosch would go farther. Spirituality as seeking God is not and cannot be the end goal. Spirituality is essentially being in tune with Jesus Christ and being in service of God’s plan for the world…” 

How do people feel about the bold text I have highlighted in the paragraph immediately above this sentence?

Comments

[Sivin]

Thanks I needed the quote in the beginning especially since I'm doing some workshops this week with a main title "Love Thy Neightbor"

[Malcolm]

Thanks for this Paul - great quote.

I guess the bold type highlighted statement touches on the difference between an essentially individualistic spirituality, that focusses on 'my' salvation and 'my' relationship with God, and a kingdom focussed spirituality, which is more in tune with what Bosch (and, in my mind, Jesus too) is about.

I do believe that God is concerned about us as individuals and desires that we know him and grow in relationship with him, but if Christian faith is only about the individual pursuit of 'seeking God' then we have wildly missed the mark (in my humble opinion) of what Jesus taught and lived out, and have sold very short the 'good news' he revealed and died for. We will miss out on so much, both individually and corporately, if we focus on ourselves.

Just a few thoughts - thanks again for the quote!

[len hjalmarson]

This tension between the active life and contemplative life is SOOOOO western and dualistic. I don't think it would have occurred to the Hebrew mind to ask the question.

But we do ask it.. we must ask it in order to achieve awareness of the problem.. it is the culture we have been formed in, and until we "see our seeing" we are not going to move beyond our own frame.

Franciscan Richard Rohr years ago formed "The Society for Action and Contemplation." He says the important word in the title is "and."

I doubt if those of us formed in western culture will ever completely move beyond this dualism of action and contemplation. But I think the Gospel itself pushes us beyond that dualism to a completely different paradigm: incarnation.

Jesus was the Word. He lived and moved in the power of the Spirit. As such what we see as a rhythm of action and contemplation in His life is really the outworking of His union with the Father.

Ours is not a choice between action and contemplation.. formation shouldn't have to choose between these, and ideally shouldn't even have to worry about such categories. Formation is about being renewed in the image of Christ. The end goal is not activism or contemplation.. the end goal of Spirituality is Jesus. And note that there is no NT conception of the ekklesia that represents isolated units making choices.. there is no cartesian individual.. there is only the Body.

[Paul Fromont]

Sivin, pleased the opening quote was useful to you. I can't count the number of times that the same has been true of me as I've journeyed around our online community.

Malcolm and Len. Thanks so much for your thoughts. Len, my response to yours - exactly! You've captured well my own sense about the centrality of Jesus. It raises some issues though when very earthy Jesus-language is substituted for amorphous God-language. I think then that we lose sight of the "end-goal" as you describe it and we too easily default to dualism rather than the holding-together that Jesus represents.

Malcolm, very useful as well; again there's the commonality of "Jesus." I continue to wonder what happens to Christian spirituality when it is not earthed and grounded in a gospel centred on Jesus Christ...