{"id":12235,"date":"2017-03-08T18:25:02","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T02:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=12235"},"modified":"2017-03-08T18:25:02","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T02:25:02","slug":"flourishing-in-gods-faithful-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/flourishing-in-gods-faithful-presence\/","title":{"rendered":"Flourishing in God’s Faithful Presence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This week, it\u2019s my turn to reflect back on professors who have had an influence on my theology and life. James Davison Hunter, in To Change the World<\/em>, introduces three contemporary theological paradigms for how Christians in North America relate to our world: right-wing fundamentalism and evangelicalism (\u201cdefensive against\u201d), left-wing mainline and left-leaning evangelicalism (\u201crelevance to\u201d), and neo-Anabaptists (\u201cpurity from\u201d). For each model, Hunter presents a person or organization which highlights its characteristics. James Dobson and the Family Research Council are prototypes of the right; Jim Wallis and Red Letter Christians on the left; and finally, Stanley Hauerwas and the Ekklesia Project represent neo-Anabaptists (Hunter\u2019s term). He then proceeds to challenge each of those paradigms, pointing to their flaws and inability to truly and effectively \u201cchange the culture.\u201d Finally, he introduces his own suggested paradigm, a theology of faithful presence.<\/p>\n

Hunter wants us to remember that, to God, presence and place matter; thus, they should matter for us as well:<\/p>\n

\u201cIncarnation is the only adequate reply to the challenges of dissolution; the erosion of trust between word and world and the problems that attend it\u2026 For the Christian, if there is a possibility for human flourishing in a world such as ours, it begins when God\u2019s word of love becomes flesh in us, is embodied in us, is enacted through us and in doing so, a trust is forged between the word spoken and the reality to which it speaks\u2026. In all, presence and place matter decisively.\u201d[1]<\/strong><\/a> <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God\u2019s faithful presence implies that God pursues us, identifies with us, and offers us life made possible by God\u2019s sacrificial love.[2]<\/a> We then, as God\u2019s people, respond to God\u2019s promise of faithful presence by engaging in the world, with each other and those outside the church, \u201ctoward the flourishing of each other through sacrificial love.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Hunter is correct in suggesting, \u201cas to a strategy for engaging the world, perhaps there is no single model for all times and places.\u201d[4]<\/a> He introduces a \u201cJeremiah option\u201d[5]<\/a> (Jer. 24-5-10), where God speaks through Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon, encouraging them to settle and seek the welfare of their city. In today\u2019s North American context, we too, might consider ourselves sojourning citizens who maintain our identity rooted in Christ and are sacrificially present to our neighbors, community and the world.<\/p>\n

While I resonate with Hunter\u2019s proposed theology of faithful presence, I am disturbed by his introduction of the three opposing paradigms. What he suggests with his new paradigm is actually not new; in fact, it aligns nearly identically with my experience with the Ekklesia Project (EP) movement; in other words, he misrepresents his neo-Anabaptist paradigm.[6]<\/a> I have peripherally followed the Ekklesia Project for many years, through a variety of connections. One very influential undergraduate professor of mine was Phil Kenneson<\/a>, who studied under Hauerwas and serves on the board of EP. The senior minister of the first church<\/a> I worked in is a regular contributor to EP\u2019s weekly lectionary posts.[7]<\/a> And the church<\/a> we plan to be part of in Indianapolis is also extremely active in EP, as well as actively engaged in their neighborhood.[8]<\/a> Through their community development corporation, this church\u00a0provides a variety of affordable housing, assists with commercial development in their overlooked neighborhood, and provides jobs and services through their mowing and bookkeeping businesses. This appears quite similar to the examples Hunter gives of \u201cfaithful presence.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Kenneson writes, that if \u201cGod has no greater gift than God\u2019s own presence, then it seems likely that the same is true for us, we who are made in the image of this self-giving God. For all we humans might offer to one another, no gift is more precious than our presence, our full- bodied attention, our willingness and ability to enter into the lives of others and have them enter ours, our willingness and ability to know them and in turn be known by them.\u201d[10]<\/a> Hunter explains that \u201ca theology of faithful presence calls Christians to enact the shalom of God in the circumstances in which God has placed them and to actively seek it on behalf of others.\u201d[11]<\/a> In other words, Hunter and the Ekklesia Project are not alternative models, but align with one another. (While I am familiar with some of Hauerwas\u2019 and Yoder\u2019s writings, I will not claim the same argument on their behalf, as they are both prolific enough to prevent me from presenting a comprehensive argument).<\/p>\n

I began reading this book hopeful and optimistic about Hunter\u2019s proposal. I concluded the book in the same way. What I discovered is that my foundations, history, and ecclesial experience already agree with living a theology of faithful presence. In this current cultural climate of fear (and fear-mongering) and polarization, Hunter has reminded me of my roots and affirmed a peace of mind that I was forgetting. \u201cHow do we change the world?\u201d That is the wrong question, Hunter argues. While we do not disengage or give up on the world, we actively respond to and reflect God\u2019s faithful presence to those around us. Hunter concludes, \u201cChristianity is not, first and foremost, about establishing righteousness or creating good values or securing justice or making peace in the world. Don\u2019t get me wrong: these are goods we should care about and pursue with great passion. But for Christians, these are all secondary [I would add, \u201coutgrowths and responses\u201d] to the primary good of God himself and the primary task of worshipping him and honoring him in all they do.\u201d[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> James Davison Hunter, To Change the World <\/em>(New York: Oxford, 2010), 241.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid, 241-242.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 244.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 276.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> This is contra the \u201cBenedict option\u201d introduced recently by Rod Dreher (\u201cThe Benedict Option’s Vision for a Christian Village\u201d<\/a>, Christianity Today, February 17, 2017).<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> cf. Hunter 150-152, 250.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Here\u2019s one, on following the suffering Jesus in our work: Ekklesia Project blog, 9-2015\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> One member of that church, Chris Smith, writes for the EP blog and has written, among other books, Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus <\/em>(2014),<\/em> and Reading for the Common Good: How Books Help our Churches & Neighborhoods Flourish<\/em> (2016), both published by IVP. \u00a0The church has also established a community development corporation<\/a> for the flourishing of their neighborhood.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Hunter, 266-268.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Phil Kenneson, Practicing Ecclesial Patience: Patient Practice Makes Perfect<\/em>, Pamphlet 20 in Renewing Radical Discipleship<\/em><\/a> series of Ekklesia Pamphlets (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2013), 2. Granted, this publication came out after Hunter\u2019s text; still, Kenneson uses similar language throughout his 1999 book, Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit in Christian Community<\/em> (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999). See also: http:\/\/www.ekklesiaproject.org\/the-gathering\/2012-slow-church-and-fast-friends\/schedule-gathering-2012\/plenary-session-3\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Hunter, 278.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Ibid., 286.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, it\u2019s my turn to reflect back on professors who have had an influence on my theology and life. James Davison Hunter, in To Change the World, introduces three contemporary theological paradigms for how Christians in North America relate to our world: right-wing fundamentalism and evangelicalism (\u201cdefensive against\u201d), left-wing mainline and left-leaning evangelicalism (\u201crelevance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[857,858,5,859],"class_list":["post-12235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ekklesia-project","tag-hauerwas","tag-hunter","tag-kenneson","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}