Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

The Constructive Role of the Theologian

Paul writes – Further to this recent post, I wanted to feature (over the next couple of days, several more quotes from Kathryn Tanner’s article under the heading “How My Mind Has Changed: Christian Claims” (Christian Century, Feb. 2010):

“…The question of the legitimacy of theology shift, in sum, from theology’s ability to meet some scholarly minimum in procedure to the question of whether theology has anything important to say about the world and our place in it. [So, we might ask,] how might a contemporary Christian theology promote (or not) a more adequate understanding of the world and a more just way of living? What resources, for example, does the Christian symbol system have for addressing the financial calamity and environmental degradation we must face up to…[or indeed, the tragedy of Christchurch following the 22^nd Feb. earthquake? Paul]…how would the Christian symbol system need to be creatively and critically recast in the process?

… In other words, the theologian… asks about the various ways Christian beliefs and symbols can function in the particulars of people’s lives so as to provide support for the shape of social life and the course of social action. The theologian needs a thorough knowledge of the way these intersections of cultural meanings and socio-political [plus more besides – Paul] formations have panned out across differences in time and place – a thorough knowledge of the permutations of the Christian symbol system in all its complicated alignments with social forces for good or ill. Such knowledge in hand, the constructive theologian is better positioned to intervene in the current situation adroitly, effectively and responsibly, with suggestions for the rethinking of Christian claims and reconfiguring their import for human life…” (p.41 / Italics, mine throughout – Paul)

 

Scalability, ecclesiology and Mission

Paul writes – I found visuals (particularly) and commentary by Steve Collins fascinating. Steve reflects on networks and scalability. Here’s an excerpt from his post:

“…I [Steve Collins] was reading something about scalability of networks, and it reminded me of the self-similarity at all scales of fractals. So I wondered, what happens if we scale the internal structures of emerging church communities to denominational level?...” 

You’ll find the rest of his short post, and a link to the visuals here. 

And in terms of defining “scalability”, it is most often referenced in relation to a “characteristic of a system, model or function that describes its capability to cope and perform under an increased or expanding workload.” It is the ability not only to function well in the rescaled situation, but to actually take full advantage of it. So, in this sense we’re talking about the expanding context or networks within which God is at work, i.e. the missio Dei. Too me it’s also about the scale of the missional challenge and opportunity.

HT to Jonny Baker.

Update (13th March 2011)

Canadian friend Len Hjalmarson picks up on this theme in a post of his own.

 

Missional Musings on Paul and Ethics

Paul writes - In the current issue of Catalyst (Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives for United Methodist Seminarians), volume 37.2, February 2011 are two relatively short essays that overview the contemporary state of “(St.) Paul & Missiology” and “Scripture and Ethics” studies. Great to see Missiology, Scripture, and Ethics so vitally and importantly woven together. 

Missional Musings on Paul By Michael J. Gorman, a United Methodist, Professor of Sacred Scripture and Dean of the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, MD, and in spring 2009, a Visiting Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School. 

Scripture and Ethics By Nijay K. Gupta, Ph.D., and author of “The Theo-Logic of Paul’s Ethics in Recent Research,” Currents in Biblical Research 7 (2009): 336-61; and Worship That Makes Sense to Paul: A New Approach to the Theology and Ethics of Paul’s Cultic Metaphors (de Gruyter, 2010). 

Also worth a read is this profile of Oliver O’Donovan

Here’s an excerpt from Gorman’s reflection: 

“…New Hermeneutical Questions

More importantly, this way of considering the question of the church and mission in Paul immediately raises a whole network of additional questions that are in some sense historical and exegetical, but also, and more importantly, hermeneutical. The following examples come to mind:

What was and is the relationship between the church’s deepest convictions and the shape of individual and corporate Christian existence?

What kind of existence in the world is faithful to the gospel, and specifically to the story of Jesus?

Why and how does such an existence both attract some and repel others.

How does Christian speech and behavior, seen as an integrated whole, relate to and reflect what God is doing in the world (the missio Dei) as manifested in the story of Jesus, which is itself grounded in the story of Israel? 

Moreover, we are now obliged to reformulate the basic question. Did Paul expect his congregations to evangelize others? In one sense, this is the wrong question. The better question is, How did Paul expect his communities to participate in the missio Dei? Then there is the corollary fundamental hermeneutical question, How does God expect us who read Paul’s letters to participate in the missio Dei? 

New Pauline Passages and Missional Topics to Consider

New questions always generate new possibilities and still more questions. We have already seen that a missional hermeneutic will force us to think carefully about basic questions of ecclesiology and ethics. In fact, a missional hermeneutic will bind those two fields so closely together that retaining two different theological labels (“ecclesiology” and “ethics”) will no longer be sustainable. The contention of Richard Hays in his Moral Vision of the New Testament (HarperSanFrancisco, 1996)—that theology and ethics are inseparable in Paul—is now strengthened by a missional reading. As Barram writes, “Theology and ethics come together in Paul’s mission” (142)…”

 

Good News

Paul writes – I learnt about this late last year, but now it’s in the public arena. From the latest (Feb 11) Waikato Anglican Diocese Ad Clerum. Good news indeed. 

Thought for the month. 

"The Missional Church Is Not about the Church. We need an alternative imagination to the attractional in order to understand the missional church. This imagination starts with a paradoxical statement that often leaves people confused: A missional imagination is not about the church it's not about how to make the church better, how to get more people to come to church, or how to turn a dying church around. It's not about getting the church back to cultural respectability in a time when it has been marginalised. All of these are good things, but they aren't the focus of a missional imagination. 

God is up to something in the world that is bigger than the church even though the church is called to be sign, witness, and foretaste of God's purposes in the world. The Spirit is calling the church on a journey outside of itself and its internal focus. Rowan Williams summarises this imagination in this way: 'It is not the church of God that has a mission. It's the God of mission that has a church.' He is saying God is at work in the world to redeem creation, and God invites us to participate in this mission. God is not interested in getting more and more people into the institution of the church. Instead the church is to be God's hands and feet in accomplishing God's mission. This imagination turns most of our church practices on their head. It invites us to turn toward our neighbourhoods and communities, listening first to what is happening among people and learning to ask different question about what God is up to in the neighbourhood. Rather than the primary question being, 'How do we attract people to what we are doing?' it becomes, 'what is God up to in the neighbourhood?' and 'What are the ways we need to change in order to engage the people in our community who no longer consider church a part of their lives?"

Alan Roxburgh and Scott Boren. Introducing the Missional Church.

Ministry School 7 - 9 August 2011. As you may be aware we have changed the date of Ministry School this year. This is because we are working in with the Dioceses' of Wellington and Waiapu to host Alan Roxburgh who co-wrote 'The Missional Leader.' Alan will challenge and inspire us all. Ministry School will begin at 5 pm on the 7 August and conclude at 3.30 on 9 August. Again the venue will be Finlay Park…” 

And, importantly, please continue to pray for Christchurch as the tragedy of Tuesday’s EQ continues to unfold. The scale is immense, and the despair and grief of those who’ve lost loved ones reminds us all of a significant and all too common dimension of being human. The impact has touched so many people, nationally, and internationally as foreign nationals are among the displaced, the injured, and the dead.   

 

Words that Shimmer and A Winters Bone

Paul writes – Some weeks back US Radio Program Speaking of Faith featured a fascinating interview with US-poet Elizabeth Alexander. Here’s the blurb for the show. I loved it, and needless to say, highly recommend it, especially if words, metaphor, symbol and language more generally are important to you. 

“…Poetry is something many of us seem to be hungry for these days. We're hungry for fresh ways to tell hard truths and redemptive stories, for language that would elevate and embolden rather than demean and alienate. Elizabeth Alexander shares her sense of what poetry works in us — and in our children — and why it may become more relevant, not less so, in hard and complicated times…” 

You’ll find the page with the link to the podcast here. 

The other fascinating interview I’ve listened to this week was one with very intelligent and articulate American independent film maker Debra Granik, whose acclaimed second feature, Winter's Bone is currently in limited theaters around New Zealand. Its also features in the nominations for the 2011 Academy Awards celebration later this month, and I wish it every success. 

You’ll find the interview here (scroll down)

 

The Role of Theologians?

Paul writes – I had the privilege of sitting in a lecture in Auckland by Professor of Systematic Theology @ Yale Divinity School, Kathryn Tanner several years ago. I’ve valued her thinking. In the Feb 23 2010 issue of Christian Century she had an article under the heading How My Mind Has Changed. Thanks to friend, Stephen Garner for bringing it to my attention.  

FEATURES

Christian claims

How my mind has changed

“It is by living and dying that one becomes a theologian, Martin Luther said. With that comment in mind, we have resumed a Century series published at intervals since 1939 and asked theologians to reflect on their own struggles, disappointments, questions and hopes as people of faith and to consider how their work and life have been intertwined.

While sadly not freely available online (subscribers only), friend, Stephen Garner offered the following intriguing quote from it:

“…Theologians are now primarily called to provide not a theoretical argument for Christianity’s plausibility, but an account of how Christianity can be part of the solution—rather than part of the problem—on matters that make a life-and-death difference to people, especially the poor and the oppressed. (p.40)…”

See: Tanner, Kathryn. “Christian claims: how my mind has changed.” Christian Century 127, no. 4 (February 23, 2010): 40-45. 

For more on Tanner, Ben Myer’s blog has a guest post here, which gives a brief overview. 

In my previous post, the article I referenced placed Tanner in the (Anglican) “ecclesiology” and culture grouping.

 

Batman and Trends and Directions in Contemporary Anglican Theology

Paul writes – Andy Goodliff helpfully directed my attention to a journal article: Trends and Directions in Contemporary Theology: Anglican Theology 

Andy comments: “In the latest Expository Times [Feb 2011] is an article on trends and directions in contemporary Anglican theology. It got me thinking if a similar such article could be written about Baptist theology. Ian Markham recognises 5 camps among Anglicans: liberal (e.g. Richard Holloway and John Shelby Spong), conservative (James Packer, Ephraim Radner), 'mystical' (Sarah Coakley) and 'radical orthodoxy' (John Milbank, Graham Ward, Catherine Pickstock), ecclesiology and culture (Kathryn Tanner, Daniel Hardy, David Ford, Martyn Percy, Esther Reed, Keith Ward), and Rowan Williams…” 

Trends and Directions in Contemporary Theology: Anglican Theology

By Ian Markham, Virginia Theological Seminary, imarkham.vts.edu 

Abstract

“…This article provides a map of trends and directions in contemporary Anglican Theology. It divides the main protagonists into five camps: the liberals, the conservatives, those advocating ‘mystical theology’ and ‘radical orthodoxy’, those stressing ecclesiology and culture, and finally, in a camp all of his own the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. The article argues that one of the enduring legacies of Rowan Williams may be the way in which he is influenced by all the other camps and is thereby influencing Anglican theology in a highly distinctive way…”

Sadly the article isn’t free online, so interested readers will need to track down the journal or source the article from a theological library. It does however sound interesting, and I’m looking forward to reading it. 

Also of interest to some of you might be the following article from the August 2009 issue of The Expository Times. Of all the super heroes, I must say I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the Batman narrative and mythology 

The Dark Knight and the Evilness of Evil

Ashley Cocksworth, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh

Abstract

The problem of evil is a recurring cinematic motif. However, in the theatres as much as in theology, evil is often misunderstood. Its peculiar ontology (as neither created nor divine) and its problematic presence (as defeated yet hostile) makes evil conceptually hard to speak of. Surprisingly, then, the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight, offers a very good (or rather, very evil) account of wickedness that aims not to `solve' the problem of evil but to expose wickedness in all its savaging awfulness. This article will discuss some of the issues that stand behind the account of evil proffered by Batman's archenemy and Gotham City's agent of chaos, the Joker…”

 

Eyes Wide Open Because The Future is Now but Not Yet

Paul writes – Australian friend Simon Holt took Arthur of Ponsonby’s advice seriously (see this post), although he didn’t know it at the time. Remember what Arthur said? ““Sometimes you just got to let yourself go and see where you end up.” So twelve-months later Simon offers a couple of reflections about the transition: 

“…I came to Collins Street Baptist Church one year ago this month.  In a community of such history, I am still new.  I came from seventeen years of teaching practical theology in seminaries and universities.  When I accepted the call to Collins Street, eyebrows were raised, my own included.  Why would I leave the security and stimulation, not to mention the opportunity to influence, that teaching provides?  And why, in the breathless age of ‘new missional communities’ and ‘emergent churches’, would one join an ecclesial relic in apparent decline?... 

I have read the statistics, the predictions of demise for churches like this one: stories of sinking ships and chronic relevance deficit.  I’ve listened to whispered warnings of a conservative community, liberal in theology, jealous of its history, hording its resources and resistant to change.   Despite all of this, I packed my bags and moved in.

…What I have found could not be further from its reputation.  Collins Street is anything but an ecclesial relic!  Indeed, it’s a relatively small congregation—I often say it’s a small church with a big building, a big history, a big budget and a big impact—but far from being on its deathbed, this church is very much alive.   What I have found is an extraordinary community of people, diverse in every possible way, alive to the Spirit and deeply committed to the future.  A year in and I am very glad to be here…” 

You’ll find the original post here, and the follow up one here. Its good to see Simon reflecting again on personal narrative, change, the ordinary and the everyday… and a book recommendation (see both posts) – to which I can but add my own endorsement. It’s a fascinating and useful book.  

The story Simon tells is a story of courage, possibility and hope. Confirmation that the future is present and is nurtured in what de Caussade called the “sacrament of the present moment”. It’s true in seemingly “dying” churches, just as much as it’s true with regards to businesses and institutions – indeed of any kind of organization. 

For more on these themes and the role of leadership (though not exclusively a book only for “leaders”) in change I highly highly recommend Margaret Wheatley’s Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time. It isn’t a practical step-by-step book, but what it does really well is frame and informs the kind of deep conversations and practices that need to be engaged.  See also Baldwin and Linnea’s The Circle Way: A Leader in Every Chair.  

 

“Sometimes you just got to let yourself go and see where you end up.” Arthur of Ponsonby.

Paul writes – If you haven’t already, check out the 4-star review in the UK film publication Empire. “…Call it One Flew Over The Kiwi’s Nest... There’s a remarkable sense of place and emotional power, in a moving, original movie that deserves to be seen..."

Verdict: 
Another reminder of the quality of Kiwi filmmaking, Rosemary Riddell's adaptation of her husband's work gives this all the emotion and feeling of a family affair. Real and rewarding.”

Have a listen here too. A brief, but very interesting interview with Mike Riddell.

Arthur of Ponsonby engages the heart and mind. Some call him “wise”, and he is in insightful and oftentimes subversive ways. In a recent post Mike Riddell offered some really useful insights into a relationship near the hear of the story – in some ways a relationship that some viewers will have struggled with, because of its seeming implausibility. The relationship is between Arthur and Margaret.

Mike writes: “Arthur know this. His life has always been unpredictable. He experiences storms of divinity and madness, and has learned that you just have to go with the flow. But because of this, he finds life to be a constant stream of surprise and wonder. He’s open to whatever comes along – receptive to the stream of grace that pours into the world. To control one’s own life or that of others is a subtle act of violence and egotism - the attempt to bend experience into an acceptable shape and so establish mastery over it..."

Margaret has tried to do this. She’s built a life, which many others would envy – a nice house, a solid marriage, a noble career. And yet every choice has robbed her of little parts of herself, until she has misplaced her soul. Her inability to conceive is a metaphor for the barrenness of her existence and her nagging sense of loss. It’s in this grief that she encounters Arthur – a man so far out of her orbit as to seem insanely free. To preserve the order of her life, she needs to hold tight to what she knows to be normal and rational. To which Arthur suggests:

“Sometimes you just got to let yourself go and see where you end up.”

And he’s right, sometimes you do… Read Mike's full post here.

Times are a changing - challenges

Paul writes – Steve Taylor has been pondering “the place of context in leadership” recently, and his brief comments – see below – directed me to a great post that I’d missed by Dave Fitch. 

Steve writes (full post here): 

“…the place of context in leadership. A gracious, gracious post by David Fitch, in which he argues that churches that rely on preaching, in particular a “fingerhead” type preach, are in fact a last gasp of Christendom. Such a form of ministry/leadership have a place, but have little chance of connecting with a post-Christian culture and thus of offering clues as to future leadership imaginations. (Fitch’s full post can be found here). 

David concludes: 

“…In this post, I am merely trying to point out that this strategy’s effectiveness is inherently built on attractional premises, which will become increasingly more difficult and competitive amidst the secularized cultures of the West. The remnant of Christianized populations will run out unless they are mobilized for mission among the lost cultures. For these challenges we need a new vision for church-planting…”