Paul writes – In his article “When Gospel and Culture Intersect: Notes on the Nature of Christian Difference” (published in Pentecostalism in Context: Essays in Honor of William W. Menzies edited by Wonsuk Ma and Robert P. Menzies, Sheffield Academic Press, 1997, pp. 223-236) Miroslav Volf firstly situates the Western Church on the margins of culture. Indeed, he sings the praises of this marginality. Once one of the dominant cultural forces; “today they find themselves on the margins with a past they like to boast about [and hearken back too] and a future they dread.”
Volf uses the metaphor of a sports team. Once we were in the game, then we were removed to the bench, but now they are up amongst the spectators, far removed from the field of play. He wonders if this is actually the crisis we make it out to be.
“For anyone” he writes “who remembers the days when the Church was young and vigorous, there is something profoundly odd about the presence sense of crisis. The early Church was not simply on the sidelines, it was not even among the cheering spectators. A slandered, discriminated against, even persecuted minority, a thorn in society’ flesh...” (p. 223).
Much like many persecuted churches today, the early Church had resources to deal with its marginality. This is not so readily the case for contemporary Western churches today.
Volf well states his goal in writing his. He explains that he wants:
“...to make us more comfortable with our marginality so that from there we can influence the multiple centres of our societies, more at home with our irrelevance so that from there we can gain new confidence about our relevance.”
After describing the features of the framework “in which we need to place our discussion about Christian identity and difference” (the features are: (1) Voluntarism, (2) Difference, (3) Plurality, and (4) Self-sufficiency) Volf explores what he thinks are misplaced proposals for thinking about the presence of the Christian Church in the world:
· The Liberal Program: Accommodation.
· The Post-Liberal Program: “Reversing the Direction of Conformation” (a phrase he gets from Nicholas Wolterstorff).
· The Separatist Program: Retreat from the World (a haven for “resident aliens”).
In place of these three, and drawing on Michel de Certeau he proposes a “metaphorizing the Dominant Order” – imagining the churches presence as internal difference within culture. Churches can be more or less distant from culture, but they do not exist outside of culture. As such they are able to participate in cultural transformation by “subverting [culture] from within” through “tactics” (de Certeau) and “micro-modifications” (Graham Ward). Christian’s will put elements of culture to different uses, e.g. their homes as centres of hospitality and welcome for the stranger and the outsider.
To be continued.
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