living at the crossroads: a faithful, relevant witness living at the crossroads chapter 8

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Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

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Page 1: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness

Living at the Crossroads

Chapter 8

Page 2: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Comprehensive Vision for Cultural Engagement

Jesus Christ is Creator and Redeemer of all things

Salvation is restorative and comprehensive

Church is called to witness to this comprehensive salvation

Page 3: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Evangelicalism and Comprehensive Salvation

Early 20th century: Salvation otherworldly, individualistic, dualistic

Retreat from cultural engagement

Did not see gospel as transforming power of all of human life

Page 4: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Retreat into Private ReligionAs our concern over rampant secularization increases, we may in fashioning a missiology of Western culture easily be seduced into concentrating on the “religious” aspect only, leaving the rest to the secular powers, not least because these powers exert massive pressures on the church to limit itself to the soul of the individual. This is, after all, in keeping with the Enlightenment worldview: religion is a private affair, its truth claims are relative and have no place in the public sphere of “facts.” But Christian theology itself also contributed to this notion, as it increasingly individualized, interiorized, ecclesiasticized, and privatized salvation (David Bosch).

Page 5: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Evangelicalism and Comprehensive Salvation: Turnaround in late 20th c.

Carl F. H. Henry challenged narrow mission of the church

Page 6: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Challenge to Evangelicals

Whereas once the redemptive gospel was a world-changing message, now it was narrowed to a world-resisting message. . . . Fundamentalism in revolting against the Social Gospel seemed also to revolt against the Christian social imperative. . . . It does not challenge the injustices of the totalitarianisms, the secularisms of modern education, the evils of racial hatred, the wrongs of current labor-management relations, and inadequate bases of international dealings.

Page 7: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Evangelicalism and Comprehensive Salvation: Turnaround in late 20th c.

Carl F. H. Henry challenged narrow mission of the church

Lausanne Covenant (1974) and World Evangelical Fellowship (1983)

Page 8: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Evangelical Mission Statements“The salvation we claim should be transforming us (2 Cor. 3:18) in the totality of our personal and social responsibilities. Faith without works is dead (James 1:14–26).” (Lausanne Covenant)

“Evil is not only in the human heart but also in social structures. . . . The mission of the church includes both the proclamation of the Gospel and its demonstration. We must therefore evangelize, respond to immediate human needs, and press for social transformation.” (WEF)

Page 9: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Examples of Missionary Encounter

Christian businesswoman and profit motiveChristian graduate student and power of secular universityChristian social worker and humanist psych hospitalChristian history teacher and public schoolChristian athlete and greed in professional sportChristian politician and liberal government

Page 10: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Critical Participation

Participants in our culture who “love and cherish all its created goodness”

Yet critical participants who reject and challenge the idolatry that twists it

Involvement and separation, solidarity and opposition

Page 11: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

In the world but not of it

I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. - John 17:14-18

Jesus’ Prayer for His Disciples

Page 12: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Dilemma of the Believing Community

Solidarity: Part of western culture Creational mandate: responsible for cultural

development Christ’s redemption is comprehensive Have good news for healing of culture

Rejection: Whole of western culture distorted by sinful idolatry Fundamental incompatibility between Scriptural and

western story

Danger: Relevance may lead to unfaithfulness; attempts to be faithful may lead to irrelevance

Page 13: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Western CultureCommon way of life rooted in a shared story.

Page 14: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Unbearable Tension

“Unbearable tension” that comes from being a member of two communities anchored in “two different and incompatible stories.” (Newbigin)

Page 15: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Unbearable Tension

Members of western community

Shaped by cultural story

Members of covenant community

Shaped by Biblical story

Christians are:

Two incompatible stories Unbearable tension

Page 16: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Unbearable Tension ofLiving at the Crossroads

Page 17: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Tension BetweenGospel and Culture

The deeper the consciousness of the tension and the urge to take this yoke upon itself are felt, the healthier the Church is. The more oblivious of this tension the Church is, the more well established and at home in this world it feels, the more it is in deadly danger of being the salt that has lost its savour.

- Hendrik Kraemer

Page 18: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Unaware of unbearable tensionThe problem of leading a Christian life in a non-Christian society is now very present to us. It is not merely the problem of a minority in a society of individuals holding an alien belief. It is the problem constituted by our implication in a network of institutions from which we cannot dissociate ourselves; institutions the operation of which appears no longer neutral, but non-Christian; and as for the Christian who is not conscious of his dilemma—and he is in the majority—he is becoming more and more de-Christianized by all sorts of unconscious pressures; paganism now holding all the most valuable advertising space (T.S. Eliot).

Page 19: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

How Do We Live Faithfully at the Crossroads Between Two Stories?

Withdrawal: Cultural separation/irrelevance (reject cultural story)

Affirmation: Cultural captivity (affirm cultural story)

Dualism (affirm part, reject part)

Two stories:

Page 20: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Solving the unbearable tension

Withdrawal

Page 21: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Withdrawal Strategy

Rejection of culture because it is disfigured by sinRightly understand:Not of this worldGospel judges culture

Christ against cultureIsolation, ghettoizationFossil, irrelevant

Page 22: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Withdrawal...

Rightly understands antithetical religious commitments of different communities

Wrongly believes cultural flight is right or possible

Page 23: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Solving the unbearable tension

Withdrawal

Accommodation

Page 24: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Accommodation Strategy

Affirm culture because it is creational

Rightly understand:In the worldGospel affirms culture

Christ of culture

Absorption, compromise

Chameleon, syncretism

Page 25: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Solving the unbearable tension

Withdrawal

Accommodation

Dualism

Page 26: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Dualism

Rightly understands:Creational life is sharedMuch truth, justice, etc. in the world

Christ above, in paradox with culture

Wrongly sets aside all-encompassing religious beliefs

Page 27: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Solving the unbearable tension

Withdrawal

Accommodation

Dualism

Page 28: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

The Gospel speaks:

Word of grace… culture is good creation [structure]

Word of judgement… culture is idolatrously twisted and sinfully distorted [misdirection]

Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil (I Thess. 5:21f).

Page 29: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Biblical Position:Affirmative/Antithetical

Approach to Culture

Affirm

Gospel/Yes

At home

Good creation

May not withdraw

Reject

Gospel/No

At odds

Sinful distortion

May not accept status quo

Page 30: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Missionary’s Inner Dialogue

Way of being in the culture; state of mind

Desire to live in both worlds fully

Faithfulness to Biblical story

Views all of culture through lens of Scripture

Seeks to discern idolatrous twisting of words, institutions, cultural practices, etc.

Seeks to discern creational structure

Page 31: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

A Biblical Example

John’s use of classical categories

Page 32: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

“The time has come. The kingdom of God isnear. Repent and believe the good news.”

(Mark 1:15)

“I must preach the good news of the kingdom ofGod to other towns also, because that is why Iwas sent.”

(Luke 4:43)

Page 33: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

In the synoptic gospels the Kingdom of God is:

Central image for the Jews

Central image for Jesus

Central image for Matthew, Mark, Luke

Page 34: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

“You are from below, I am from above; you are of thisworld, I am not of this world” (John 8:23).

“No one has ever gone into heaven except the one whocame from heaven--the Son of Man” (John 3:13).

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasnot overcome it” (John 1:5).

“No one has ever gone into heaven except the one whocame from heaven--the Son of Man” (John 3:13).

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that whichis born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).

Page 35: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

In John’s gospel...

He employs images popular in classical culture and philosophy

Heaven/earth, life/death, light/darkness, flesh/spirit

Page 36: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Do we have a different gospel?

Bultmann’s answer: Yes

- S y n o p tic s J e w i sh c a te g o rie s H o riz o n ta l , in t im e

R e n e w a l o f c re a tio n In k in g d o m o f G o d

-J o h n G r e e k ca t e g o ri e s V e rt ic a l , in s p a c e S a lv a tio n o f in d iv id u a ls In h e a v e n

Page 37: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Do we have a different gospel?

J o h n a r t ic u la te d th e s a m e g o sp e l in fre sh la n g u a g ein a n e w c u ltu ra l c o n te x t .

T h e l a n g u a g e r e f l e c t e d a p a g a n w o r ld v ie w y e t w a st r a n s fo r m e d a n d s u b v e r t e d b y th e g o s p e l .

No!

Page 38: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

John 1:1,14

In the beginning was the logos...

...and the logos became sarx.

Page 39: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

New translation or articulation of the gospel is both:

Relevant: He uses language of classical dualism familiar to hearers

Faithful: Challenges the idolatry of the classical dualism

Page 40: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Subversive Fulfillment

Fulfills religious longing for order and origin (creational)

Subverts idolatrous understanding

Page 41: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Another Biblical Example: Household

Fundamental social building block of Roman empire

Undifferentiated institution made up of marital, family, economic, political relationships

Oppressive and hierarchical distortion

OIKOS: extended family in Roman empirestructured hierarchically and oppressively

Page 42: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Response of the early church

Reject?

Affirm?

Transformed! (Eph. 5:21-6:4)

Page 43: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Subversive Fulfillment

Discerned creational relationships

Transformed relationships creating new institution recognizable as good news to culture

Page 44: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Cultural Discernment

What is the creational insight or structure?

What is the idolatrous distortion or direction?

What kind of healing action is possible?

Page 45: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Faithful Cultural Strategy

Faithfulness and relevance

Avoid withdrawal, accommodation, common ground

Affirms both responsibility for cultural development and antithetical challenge to idolatrous development

Affirmation, rejection, healing

Page 46: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

A Communal Witness

Importance of callings of individuals in culture

“A missionary encounter with the West will have to be primarily a ministry of the laity.” (Bosch)

“The primary witness to the sovereignty of Christ must be given, and can only be given, in the ordinary secular work of lay men and women in business, in politics, in professional work, as farmers, factory workers and so on.” (Newbigin)

Page 47: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

A Communal Witness

Importance of callings of individuals in culture

Danger of individual witness

Communal witnessAlternative community

Page 48: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Alternative Community

“The most important contribution which the Church can make to a new social order is to be itself a new social order.” (Newbigin)

The church is called to embody a different form of life, to be an alternative community, a countercultural body, “a visible, beckoning, hope-giving, guiding sign of the shalom of the kingdom.”

Page 49: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Alternative Community in WestA community of justice in a world of economic and ecological injusticeA community of generosity and simplicity (of ‘enough’) in a consumer worldA community of selfless giving in a world of selfishnessA community of truth (humility and boldness) in a world of relativismA community of hope in a world of disillusionment and consumer satiationA community of joy and thanksgiving in a world of entitlementA community who experiences God’s presence in a secular world

Page 50: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

A Communal WitnessImportance of callings of individuals in cultureDanger of individual witnessCommunal witnessAlternative communityOrganizations in various sectors of public life

Page 51: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Organizing for Public Witness

Corporate witness in politics, trade unions, media, education, etc.“Without a proper organizational association we cannot meet our common responsibility in various respects.” It will be difficult to meet our Christian responsibility especially in scholarship and politics “without associating ourselves organizationally with one another.” (Herman Ridderbos)

Page 52: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

A Communal WitnessImportance of callings of individuals in cultureDanger of individual witnessCommunal witnessAlternative communityOrganizations in various sectors of public lifeEquipping members for active and informed

participation in public life

Page 53: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

A Merciful Witness

Mercy and justice

“We must do both: we must care for the victim of disaster or injustice, and we must also undertake those measures of social engineering or revolution which are needed to prevent disaster and injustice from happening.” (Newbigin)

Page 54: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

A Merciful Witness

Mercy and justice

Siding with the poor and oppressed

Page 55: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

A Tolerant and Suffering Witness

Tolerance and pluralismPrincipled or committed pluralismEach community maintains faith

commitment as trueRespectful dialogue between competing

truth claimsDiffers from ‘agnostic pluralism’ of

humanism

Page 56: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

A Tolerant and Suffering Witness

Tolerance and pluralism

Principled or committed pluralism

No coercion or power for kingdom

Witness to not building of kingdom

Witness in public life will bring suffering

Page 57: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Suffering and witness

Missionary encounter with idolatrous power brings conflict and sufferingMission under the cross“If we take seriously our duty as servants of God within the institutions of human society, we shall find plenty of opportunity to learn what it means to suffer for righteousness’ sake, and we shall learn that to suffer for righteousness sake is really a blessed thing.” (Newbigin)

Page 58: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

A Faithful Witness

Pressure to conform to idolatry

Need for spirituality and community

“If there is a committed people as the sign and agent and foretaste of what God intends, it can only be insofar as their life is continually renewed through contact with God himself.” (Newbigin)

Page 59: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

If the church is indeed to be Jesus’ agent in bringing his whole agenda to his whole world, it needs his own Spirit. Indeed, if the church attempts to do what has to be done without constantly seeking to be fi lled and equipped by Jesus’ own Spirit, it is committing blasphemy each time it opens its mouth. This is not a plea that all Christians should enlist in the charismatic movement. Rather, it is a plea that all Christians, particularly those involved at the leading edge of the church’s mission to bring healing and renewal to the world, should be people of prayer, invoking the Spirit of Jesus daily and hourly as they go about their tasks, lest they be betrayed into the arrogance of their own agendas or into the cowardice of relativism (N.T. Wright).

Page 60: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Supportive community: Urgent plea to pastors

Are we taking seriously our duty to support [our lay people] in their warfare? Do we seriously regard them as front-line troops? . . . What about the scores of Christians working in offices and shops in that part of the city? Have we ever done anything seriously to strengthen their Christian witness, to help them in facing the very difficult ethical problems which they have to meet every day, to give them the assurance that the whole fellowship is behind them in their daily spiritual warfare? (Newbigin addressing pastors)

Page 61: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Need for community

Nourished by Scripture, prayer, fellowship, worship

Supported by encouragement, prayer, counsel, financial help

Equipped to fulfill task in community

Page 62: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Following Jesus

Essenes withdrewSaduccees accommodatedPharisees retreated into organized religionZealots employed coercive strategyJesus call to uncompromising and suffering witness to kingdom

Page 63: Living at the Crossroads: A Faithful, Relevant Witness Living at the Crossroads Chapter 8

Church: Salt, Light, and a City on a Hill

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matt. 5:13–16)