{"id":17144,"date":"2018-03-16T22:18:19","date_gmt":"2018-03-17T05:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=17144"},"modified":"2018-03-16T22:18:19","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T05:18:19","slug":"holy-hush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/holy-hush\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy Hush"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a gift to listen to James Davison Hunter speak via online podcast to The Trinity Forum (a nonprofit organization that works to cultivate networks of leaders whose integrity and vision will renew culture and promote human freedom and flourishing) in Washington DC.[1]<\/a> It’s clear his values and passion to change the world align with mine (after all I am a number One [Reformer] on the Enneagram). Hunter states it\u2019s imperative to understand culture, values, and community in the change process.[2]<\/a> Rather than the Christian community trying to impose their Christian beliefs (newsflash it hasn\u2019t worked to date \u2013 keyword impose<\/em>) to the world, Hunter says the modern way of changing the world is removing yourself from the political fight and working to position yourself into a practical cause \u2013 your vocation, loving your neighbor, and faithful presence.[3]<\/a> \u201cHunter sharply criticizes popular political voices from Chuck Colson to Jim Wallis, but evangelicals have hardly responded to his book by going \u201csilent for a season\u201d as advised.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Hunter \u201cEvangelicals still seem to prefer populist outrage to long-term strategic placement and cooperation. Evangelicals continue to invest enormous emotional and financial capital in the political process.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Hunter talks about the overzealous Christian trying to change law and policy through politics (forcing your opinion\u2026.essentially the \u201cugly side\u201d of activism aka nostalgia or despair). \u201cHow should Christians act in the world? The dominant answer in America today seems to be: through politics. But the major model of Christian political action, visible most obviously but not exclusively in the Christian Right, has been a politics fueled by resentment and a sense of victimization, actuated by a strong will to power, and a propensity to demonize its opponents. This politics is a capitulation to the worst elements of the contemporary culture it claims to be redeeming.\u201d\u00a0 Case in point \u2013 abortion and homosexuality.\u00a0 He at least offers a more relevant use of time and energy in what he believes is an effective tool to change the world.\u00a0 According to Hunter, \u201cThe only leadership is sacrificial leadership\u201d which is \u201cnot just for the benefit of believers but for the benefit of everyone.\u201d\u00a0 He (Hunter) also challenges Christians \u201cto be public without being political\u201d which will be a \u201cnew paradigm of being the church in the late modern world.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a practical example Hunter speaks about in his podcast.\u00a0 He challenges activists in the pro-life movement to \u201ctry something different.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cGo to a pro-choice state like Illinois\u201d he says and \u201cget the signatures of 10,000+ families in the state who are willing to adopt a child of any race, ethnic background, physical handicap, health issues, background, etc. ANY CHILD.\u201d\u00a0 He encourages activists to take the petition of names to the capital and announce \u201cthere are no unwanted children here.\u201d\u00a0 Hunter\u2019s point is that this type of approach leads with compassion, not coercion.\u00a0 He believes the primary problem of Christian efforts to change the world is \u201cwe have conflated the public and the political so that we cannot imagine a public space that is not subsumed by the political.\u201d \u00a0Hunter also speaks truth when he contends that the political culture has been dominated by a discourse of injury, resentment, and revenge and a will to power that has essentially given up on persuasion.[6]<\/a> In that context we need to understand the limits of political action \u2013 not to abandon politics, but to understand its limitations and in our political culture its unintended consequences.\u00a0 Christians are known primarily by their politics.\u00a0 Perhaps one of my favorite Hunter statements is this \u201cthere are opportunities for vision of human flourishing that serves the common good.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the same day I listened to Hunter\u2019s podcast on my way to work, I was further inspired at an all-day training by Mark Wynn. (I may have felt there was Divine intervention in this considering it\u2019s been a crazy week and I didn\u2019t know when or how I would blog).\u00a0 Mark Wynn was a twenty-one year member of the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department \u2013 he served as Lieutenant to the Domestic Violence Division \u2013 and was a member of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team for fifteen years.\u00a0 He is the recipient of 121 commendations and 51 awards and certificates including the 1995 National Improvement of Justice Award and the 1998 Nashvillian of the Year Award. He recently received the 2012 Family Justice Center Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award\u2026and the list of accolades keeps going.\u00a0 Can you see I\u2019m setting the stage to validate his credentials?<\/p>\n

The main topic of the training was violence against women – including domestic violence and sexual assault – and officer intervention.\u00a0 His most poignant story of the day was when he spoke of a phenomenon called The Holy Hush<\/em>. Time stood still for a moment while I digested this conversation, born out of Mark\u2019s years on the force in Nashville.\u00a0 To set the tone, it\u2019s important to know that there are 400+ churches in Nashville.\u00a0 In this Christian community, women confide in their pastors about their unhealthy marriages \u2013 including experiences of verbal, emotional and physical abuse, and sexual assault. Pastors are notorious for hosting \u201ccouples counseling\u201d with the husband and wife and for shaming divorce because it is not biblical.\u00a0 Questions such as \u201cwhat did you do to provoke his attack?\u201d and \u201chow can you both compromise to make this marriage work?\u201d and commands to \u201csubmit to your husband\u201d have perpetuated <\/em>oppression, abuse, and domestic violence through their approach.\u00a0 Harsh? \u00a0Absolutely!\u00a0 But also provides a \u201cfaithful presence\u201d opportunity in this modern world which I believe Hunter would condone.[7]<\/a> One organization is already on the task. FaithTrust Institute is a non-profit organization headquartered in Seattle, Washington.\u00a0 Founded in 1977 by the Rev. Marie M. Fortune, FaithTrust Institute is an interreligious educational resource addressing issues of sexual and domestic violence. \u201cOur goal is to engage religious leaders in the task of ending abuse, and to serve as a bridge between religious and secular communities.\u201d[8]<\/a>\u00a0 This organization is inspiring and should become a resource in your ministry.<\/p>\n

Here are just a few more points to consider \u2013 men have written the laws on how to handle domestic situations.\u00a0 Mark Wynn refers to this \u201cmale privilege\u201d as \u201cracism with another coat of paint on it.\u201d\u00a0 That being said, have you knowingly\/unknowingly perpetuated the holy hush?<\/em> If so, will you commit to following James Hunter\u2019s call to move into practical ministry?\u00a0 I know I will.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.ttf.org\/about-us<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> https:\/\/www.ttf.org\/podcast\/change-world-irony-tragedy-possibility-christianity-late-modern-world-james-davison-hunter<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> https:\/\/tifwe.org\/changing-the-world-hunter\/<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/revisiting-faithful-presence-to-change-the-world-five-years-later\/<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> https:\/\/www.ttf.org\/podcast\/change-world-irony-tragedy-possibility-christianity-late-modern-world-james-davison-hunter<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> https:\/\/www.ttf.org\/podcast\/change-world-irony-tragedy-possibility-christianity-late-modern-world-james-davison-hunter<\/p>\n

[7]<\/sup><\/a> Hunter, James Davison. To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> http:\/\/www.faithtrustinstitute.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What a gift to listen to James Davison Hunter speak via online podcast to The Trinity Forum (a nonprofit organization that works to cultivate networks of leaders whose integrity and vision will renew culture and promote human freedom and flourishing) in Washington DC.[1] It’s clear his values and passion to change the world align with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"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":[5],"class_list":["post-17144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hunter","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17144","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\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17144"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17145,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17144\/revisions\/17145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}