Prodigal Kiwi(s) Blog

Miroslav Volf: For the Life of the World

In my mind I’ve juxtaposed an online article by Alan Roxburgh, and the latest publication by Miroslav Volf (co-written with Matthew Croasmun). The article is titled A Christian Counter-Movement to Neoliberalism?

Excerpt

“…The conversation caused me reflect again about the Christian response to this massive social and cultural unravelling too many of us are experiencing. I know Catholic thinkers who are engaged with these questions in their parishes, but what troubled me out of this back-deck conversation around a podcast was that the majority of Euro-tribal churches of which I am aware seem to be lost in entirely different kinds of questions about their own identities and survival. In the language of the German social theorist, Heinz Bude, the ‘mood’ of more and more people is that of confusion, anger and fear. He comments for example that ‘…outrage that the world as we know it has been allowed to self-destruct merely conceals fear about not knowing where to go next’ (page 2).  Meanwhile the mood of the Euro-tribal churches continues focused on how to fix and reform themselves out of their loss of identity and anxious fears about connecting with people…”

Read the whole article here. And, if you can get a copy of Bude’s book, it’s well worth a read. I’m still thinking about it, both when I reflect on my own life, but also as I engage with others, and the cultural milieu in which I live.

Volf and Croasmun’s book is titled For the Life of the World: Theology that Makes a Difference (Brazos Press, January 2019). In their view so-called Academic Theology has lost its way. Or to put it differently. Academic theology is so inwardly focused, so focused on the minutiae that it is virtually disconnected from the everyday worlds we live in. It has little to say to the challenges of living within the complexities of the ordinary and everyday; from the challenges of living authentically and humanly.

Excerpt from a review of the book by Kelly M. Kapic

“…In real life, of course, an ethic of extreme self-determination never really produces a life of love, community, and purpose. Volf and Croasmun propose six theological pillars that can stand in a pluralistic world to help shape Christian vision of genuine flourishing. These, they believe, strike an appropriate balance between conviction and individual freedom, between Christian confidence and openness to alternative sources of truth. The pillars are (1) a commitment to Trinitarian monotheism; (2) a belief in a God of unconditional love (and not just unlimited power); (3) the centrality of Jesus to all theology; (4) maintaining a distinction between God’s rule and human rule, which allows for the possibility of flourishing in different cultures; (5) upholding the moral equality of all human beings, recognizing that all sin and fall short of God’s righteous standard; and (6) valuing religious freedom—including the freedom to reject religion—because faith by nature requires it.

In everything they propose, Volf and Croasmun maintain a balance between hope and realism, avoiding both an over- and under-realized eschatology. They reckon honestly with sinful conditions of this world while also expressing confidence in the power of Christ’s work for us, especially as that work manifests itself in the common life of God’s people.

Far too often we are tempted to pit God against his creation, either by advocating a retreat from life in the world or a triumph through some program of cultural conquest. But each extreme undermines the Christian affirmation that the God who has created and redeemed us is good and active, even amid the complexity of this fallen creation. This is why we must return, again and again, to the central image of the kingdom of God: It reminds us that the Christian vision of an abundant life must always include both God and the world…”

You can read the full review here, together with a written interview with Volf, here.

All Things Reconciled: Essays on Restorative Justice, Religious Violence, and the Interpretation of Scripture

One of my favourite New Zealand NT scholars – Christopher D. Marshall – had a new book published last month (June 2018)

I still remember attending lectures and talks given by Chris from over 25-years ago… they were so energising; rich encounters at the intersection of the NT exegesis, biblical studies, and contemporary cultural contexts. None more so than his, very formative for me, talks on Roman’s and later on human rights, peace-making, and justice. The first addition to my library was back in 1994 when I purchased Faith as a Theme in Mark’s Narrative (CUP, 1994), and his latest - All Things Reconciled: Essays on Restorative Justice, Religious Violence, and the Interpretation of Scripture (2018 / Cascade Books) – is in my book basket waiting for funds to purchase.  

About

"The modern restorative justice movement, perhaps one of the most important social movements of our time, was born in a Christian home to Christian parents, specifically to Christian peace workers striving to put their faith into action in the public arena. The first major book on the subject was written primarily for a church audience and drew deeply on biblical themes and values. But as restorative justice has moved into the mainstream of criminological thought and policy, the significance of its originating spiritual impulse has been minimized or denied, and subsequent theological scholarship has done little to probe the relevance of restorative perspectives for doctrine and discipleship.

In this collection of essays, Christopher D. Marshall, a biblical scholar and restorative practitioner who has devoted his career to exploring the relationship between the two fields, considers how peacemaking Christians can honor the witness and authority of Scripture, including its apparently violence-endorsing strands, as they strive to join in God’s great work in Christ of “reconciling to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross” (Col 1:20)."

Endorsement

“In this engaging book, Chris Marshall not only extends his groundbreaking work on restorative justice, but reflects on what his involvement in the movement for restorative justice has taught him about Christian engagement in secular civil society, and reflects on what restorative justice implies for the way we look at God . . . Throughout these chapters, Marshall shows himself to be both a skilled interpreter of the Bible and a wise guide to some of the most pressing social problems of today.”

—William T. Cavanaugh, DePaul University

Stanley Hauerwas – Theological Existence Today

In March 2018, Dr. Stanley Hauerwas visited Regent College in Vancouver BC to deliver the 2018 Laing lectures, on the topic of "Theological Existence Today."

A: The Christian Message in the World Today 

After WWII, Karl Barth’s writings urged the European church to free itself from bondage to the societal and cultural status it had in the past. Rather than maintain its attachment to its own history, the church must root itself in the ultimate historical event—the incarnation of Christ. With Barth’s insights as a foundation, Hauerwas turns to the North American church, suggesting provocatively that perhaps we have not left Christendom behind so thoroughly as we might think—suggesting that we, like post-war Europeans, need to carefully consider where we may have mistaken devotion to nation for devotion to Christ.

B: The Christian Message and Humanism

In this lecture, Hauerwas turns his focus onto Karl Barth’s response to the “new humanism” of the late 1940s. At this time, many sought ways of re-establishing Enlightenment humanism in the face of the war’s worst atrocities. Barth would have none of it. It is not the return of a secular optimism toward humankind that we need, Barth argued, but rather the “humanism of God.” In contrast to the new humanism, Barth contended that all things human are to be regarded only from the cross. In today's context as in Barth's, only with anthropology planted firmly in Christ can the church find its lost theological voice amidst a fading Christendom.

C: The Church and Civil Society 

For Hauerwas, as for Karl Barth, the state is one of God’s redeemed creatures. Even a state that has rebelled against its divine calling can’t fully escape the reality of God’s purposes. And if the state is redeemed, then church must not wash its hands of it as it once washed its hands of Christ. Instead the church must learn to speak about Christ truthfully and boldly in the world. Hauerwas, grounded again in Barth, puts forward one method of how to do so: by anchoring our own political ideals not in this or that “ism,” but on what has been revealed to us of the workings of Christ’s Kingdom.

You’ll find details of the recordings of these lectures here, and a short video overview of Hauerwas’ visit to Regent here.

New from Walter Brueggemann

My favourite Old Testament Scholar Walter Brueggemann has a new book out on March 30th 2018. The US-edition is published as a hardcover by Westminster John Knox Press (UK edition by Hodder and Stoughton) it comes in at 200 pages, and is a gathering together, a compilation, by Richard Floyd, of selections of Brueggemann’s words under (at least) 12 headings: Abundance and Generosity; Alternative Worlds; Anxiety and Freedom; God’s Fidelity and Ours; Jesus; Justice; Evangelical Identity; Neighborly Love; Newness and Hope; Public Witness and Responsibility; Relinquishment; and Faithful Practices. Brueggemann provides the Preface.

Described by the publisher in this way:

“Beloved and respected by scholars, preachers, and laity alike, Walter Brueggemann offers penetrating insights on Scripture and prophetic diagnoses of our culture. Instead of maintaining what is safe and routine, A Gospel of Hope encourages readers to embrace the audacity required to live out one’s faith. This must-have volume gathers Brueggemann’s wisdom on topics ranging from anxiety and abundance to partisanship and the role of faith in public life.”

You’ll find a (PDF) sample here, which will give you a flavour, and can (pre) order it here (UK here). For more on Brueggemann, and indeed a wide range of others, check out The Work of the People: Films for Discovery and Transformation here, and the ways in which you purchase short films by people like Brueggemann, Parker Palmer, Richard Rohr, Brené Brown and many many more interesting folk with real wisdom and insight to share.

Jesus in the Theology of Rowan Williams

First published in 2016 (expensive hardcover) Jesus in the Theology of Rowan Williams will be released later this year in paperback. Originally Brett Gray’s PhD, it is a technical academic book, but I’m looking forward to getting a copy later in the year and reading it. Williams has been important for me theologically, and while some find him obtuse, I’ve always gotten a lot out of listening and reading him, even if I haven’t always understood everything he says.

“Brett Gray traces the portrayal of Christ that emerges throughout Williams' diverse writings, including in his engagements with literature and philosophy. What emerges is a vision of Jesus that grows from the roots of the Christian tradition, but is pronounced in a contemporary idiom and sensitive to modern concerns.

Although attentive to the broad sweep of the Christian tradition, Williams' Christology is also seen in this book to be a particular British artefact, shaped in dialogue with thinkers such as Donald MacKinnon and Gillian Rose.

What is ultimately brought to the surface in this work is the profoundly hopeful, if frequently under-pronounced, eschatology underlying Williams' Christology. Jesus is the “last word”, changing creation's possibilities and summoning it into an endless and vivifying journey.

Table of contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Difference of God

Chapter 2: A Christological Presentation 

Chapter 3: Parodies 

Chapter 4: A Christ Complexly Unfallen

Chapter 5: The Complexities of Mediation

Chapter 6: Tragedy

Chapter 7: An Endless End

Conclusions 

Bibliography
Index

There’s a review in the journal Reviews in Religion & Theology (here), but access required.

Alan Roxburgh: Some Thoughts on the Crisis of Liberal Democracy

Today I want to highlight an article, all too brief, by Alan Roxburgh. He titles it Books In Conversation: The Crisis of Liberal Democracy and the Book of Acts. Its helpful in the way its “bridges” the conversation on the future of liberal democracies, and the missiological conversation on the future of the Protestant Church in the West by making clear that we need a “different imagination”.

“…The challenge”, Alan writes, “confronting the West (and its churches) is that we remain inside the analyses”. As a consequence “the options [available] are already defined”, such that it therefore makes “…it impossible to address the crises with a different imagination…” As a further consequence we’re therefore left with only three options: “fix”, “reform” or “return”, options which leave us, in Alan’s words, “locked within he choices that shaped the twentieth century, but we no longer live in that world”.

At this point he then brings his lines of argument into conversation with the New Testament book of Acts appropriating some of the themes of a book that sounds fascinating, World Upside Down: Reading Acts in the Graeco-Roman Age (OUP, 2009).

There’s much to mull over and I recommend Al’s article as a good starting point. You’ll find it online here.

Eugene Peterson: New Book

I hadn't expected another Eugene H. Peterson book, but just noticed a new hardcover collection of his sermons was published by Waterbrook / Multnomah on 16th May 2017. It is titled: As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God. It's a title that singles out and commends the much-loved (and often interacted with by Peterson) Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ' poem, "As Kingfishers Catch Fire," whose last stanza reads:

I say more: the just man justices;

Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;

Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is -

Christ. For Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his

To the Father through the features of men's faces.

"As Kingfishers Catch Fire is a collection of 49 sermons Peterson first preached at Christ Our King Presbyterian Church during nearly 30 years of ministry there (1962-1991). The sermons are divided into seven groups, each grouped together with the formula, "Preaching in the Company of _____," where the fill-in-the-blank is Moses (the Law), David (Psalms), Isaiah (the Prophets), Solomon (Wisdom literature), Peter (the Gospels), Paul (the Epistles), and John (the Johannine literature). Throughout, Peterson strives to "enter into the biblical company of prototypical preachers and work out of the traditions they had developed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit." The result is a master class in what Scripture says about the pastoral care of souls. Peterson eschews the notions that spirituality can be pursued apart from everyday life or that it can be sought without the company of others. Instead, as he writes in a characteristic passage:

"It is somewhat common among people who get interested in religion or God to get proportionately disinterested in their jobs and families, their communities and their colleagues. The more of God, the less of the human. But that is not the way God intends it. Wisdom [literature] counters this tendency by giving witness to the precious nature of human experience in all its forms, whether or not it feels or appears 'spiritual'" (emphasis in original). This isn't to deny that spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Scripture reading, and corporate worship are vital. But, Peterson is saying, unless those disciplines make us better workers, family members, neighbors and friends, we haven't yet achieved the congruence of life to which Scripture bears witness: persons who act in God's eye what in God's eye we are, that is, "Christ who lives in [us]" (Gal. 2:20)..." ~ George O. Wood

The book's cover is a really effective piece of art too. If you appreciate Peterson's writing, poetry, spirituality etc. this book will be a real delight. You’ll find a preview – opening pages and first sermon (PDF) here.

Jacques Ellul: Essential Spiritual Writings

A so-called lay theologian whom I have very much appreciated over the years is Frenchman Jacques Ellul (1912-1994). I have a number of his books and like the look of Orbis’ Jacques Ellul: Essential Spiritual Writings (in their Modern Spiritual Masters series), which was published this time last year (May 2016). Ellul can be a little difficult to read, but I personally think he’s now more relevant than ever. If you haven’t read Ellul I recommend that you start with this book. And, if you like Ellul, and haven’t already, I highly recommend another lay Episcopal theologian, William Stringfellow.

Book Description

“Thomas Merton is one of many who were deeply influenced by the work of Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), a French philosopher and lay theologian. A remarkable thinker and prophet of the twentieth century, he wrote over fifty books on a range of topics: law, history, sociology, theology, even poetry. Jacques Ellul: Essential Spiritual Writings is the first anthology of his work and provides an ideal work for those encountering Ellul for the first time as well as those already familiar with his thought.

Throughout his work Ellul spoke out against the "idols and myths" of the modern age, including technology, politics, materialism, and violence. His prophetic critique of modern civilization won an appreciative audience far beyond Christian circles. Yet this was only one half of a project that drew deeply on his Christian faith.

For nearly every sociological book he wrote, Ellul would write a theological or spiritual counterpart. And yet this other half of his work has received relatively little attention. This volume corrects the balance, highlighting spiritual gems on prayer, hope, and universal salvation. His call to reject the worship of the state and to embrace nonviolent activism has an abiding relevance and urgency, particularly in these times of protracted war and violence, gaping economic inequality, and enormous suffering.”

Contents pages (PDF) of both books attached below:

Download Jacques Ellul - Contents Page

Download William Stringfellow - Contents Page

Prof. Richard Bauckham on Moltmann

Jurgen Moltmann: Jesus Christ for Today’s World

“… The art of loving has to be learnt… Part of love is friendship, which knows how to combine affection with respect for the other person’s liberty. That means respect for the mystery of the other, and his or her still latent and unrealized potentialities. If love stops, we make a fixed image of each other. We judge and pin each other down. That is death. But love liberates us from these images and keeps the future open for the other person. We have hope for each other, so we wait for one another…” ~ Jurgen Moltmann, Jesus Christ for Today’s World, p. 25.

Over the last twenty-years, approx. I’ve kept running into German Reformed Theologian Jurgen Moltmann (b. 1926), mostly via books and journal articles, but also from time-to-time via podcasts and YouTube) A good friend has added a couple of Moltmann’s books to my library, and as I’m come across his books in my travels I’ve also added them to my library, which means I haven’t always read there, but they sit there for easy reference, and to be read at those times when Moltmann’s thinking is alive and I know I need to read a particular book or article.

Most recently I purchased in Whakatane (NZ) a good second-hand copy of Jesus Christ for Today’s World (SCM Press / Westminster, 1994 / I was interested to see that the original purchaser of the book lived in Murray Crescent in Kelowna BC Canada, and now its ended up at the bottom of the world in New Zealand.). I felt compelled to read it straight away, before it goes on my library shelf.

I was a good read, accessible, and a succinct overview of themes important to Moltmann, and in this instance particularly focused on Jesus Christ - Who Is Christ for Us Today? Jesus and the Kingdom of God (my favourite chapter!); The Passion of Christ and the Pain of God; The Anxiety of Christ; The Tortured Christ; The Resurrection of Christ – Hope for the World; The Cosmic Christ; Jesus Between Jews and Christians; and ‘Behold I m=Make All Things New’: The Great Invitation.

I valued the linkages he makes between theology and practice. The earlier chapters are more grounded in the practical than latter ones, but in all, he establishes a good theological framework out of which one can draw their own practical implications.

Here’s a couple of quotes from the book:

“…The church is a liberating community…”

“…The messianic hope can act in two opposite directions. It can draw the hearts of men and women away from the present into the future. Then it makes life in the present empty, and action in the present empty – and of course suffering over present oppression too. But it can also make the future of the messiah present, and fill the present with the consolation and happiness of the coming God. In this case what the messianic idea enforces is the very opposite of ‘deferred life’. It is life in anticipation, in which everything must already be done and accomplished in a final way, because the kingdom of God in its messianic form is already ‘at hand’.

A good starting point for more on Moltmann, or a good starting point if you’re new to Moltmann is Tyndale Seminary’s Jurgen Moltmann Reading Room.