{"id":26021,"date":"2020-02-23T22:20:50","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T06:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=26021"},"modified":"2020-02-23T22:24:41","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T06:24:41","slug":"fading-rainbows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/fading-rainbows\/","title":{"rendered":"Fading Rainbows"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u2018In the world but, not of the world.\u2019 This is a political statement. It is not from scripture, though it could almost be iterated as if it was. Some scriptures come close, like ones in the Gospel of John or Paul\u2019s letter to the Church in Rome. Nevertheless, I have heard these words repeated ad nauseam from the pulpit over the years. They are felt words because there\u2019s stress to them in that there\u2019s a dividing line splitting between them and people are broadly defined by them.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think it\u2019s so simple. Christians seem to perpetually want to define themselves, decipher division (ie. the winning and losing teams). There\u2019s competition and an aura of superiority attached to this attitude, not humility. I am finding that indeed, regardless of religion we are \u2018all\u2019 in the world and we are \u2018all\u2019 of the world. Perhaps, it can be said that some of us choose better than others. That, if a choice was to made costing an individual harm over the same potential harm to another, would the one who chooses better sacrifice themselves over their neighbour being harmed. But, to what degree and to what end?<\/p>\n

I love this world. Yes, there are some ugly things about it. Some ugly things about it have deeply affected me and to be honest, I have added to its ugliness at times too. Unfortunately, the statement \u2018In the world but, not of the world\u2019 gives this beautiful place that Christians affirm as having been made by God, who considered it \u2018good\u2019, an entirely bad rap.<\/p>\n

James Davison Hunter is the Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia and author of \u2018To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World\u2019.In his \u2018academic book\u2019 that \u2018is sociological theory, sociological analysis, historical investigation, Bible study, and theological consideration all wrapped up into one\u2019 [1] Hunter\u2018argues that Christians in the U.S. have a fundamentally flawed understanding of what culture is and how cultures change\u2019 [2]. Hunter makes it resoundingly \u00a0clear from the outset the reason for his work, \u2018to consider the ways in which Christians in much of their diversity actually think about the creation mandate today, examining the implicit theory and explicit practices that operate within this complex and often conflicted religious and cultural movement\u2019 [3]. The struggle at the interface and the seeping over (back-and-forth between) of Christianity with popular socio-cultural dynamics, political forces and economic systems that push-and-pull are the focus of the three movements or essays of his book. James Davison Hunter writes for the Christian-religious of all walks of life in the U.S., in view of the materialistic and secular aspects of culture that have infiltrated every part of life and caused widespread compromise and corruption, with the question \u2018Why are religious people not changing our culture?\u2019 [2]<\/p>\n

Miroslav Volf, in his book Against the Tide: Love in a Time of Petty Dreams and Persisting Enmities<\/em>, writes \u2018Part of the problem is that in a market society, faith has a difficult time escaping the logic of the marketplace\u2019 [4]. Volf seems to be concerned about the religio-consumeristic trend that sells-out<\/em>and buys-in<\/em>\u2018when the need for it is felt and placed in storage or discarded when not\u2019 [4]. He describes the problem as \u2018not merely that faith is \u201cbought and sold\u201d as a consumer good (the so-called commodification of religion), but that the smorgasbord culture exerts pressure on people to employ faith to satisfy their discrete and changing wants rather than be the shaper of life as a whole\u2019 [4].<\/p>\n

Hunter reveals the problem of idealism in a subtle, like-manner that \u2018it communicates the message that if people just pay attention, learn better, be more consistent, they will understand better the challenges in our world today; if they have the right values, believe the right things, embrace the right worldview, they will be better equipped to engage those challenges; and if they have the courage to actually jump in the fray and there choose more wisely and act more decisively, they will rise to and overcome those challenges and change the world\u2019 [3]. This popular idealism Hunter observes as somewhat identical to the dualism that it vies to conquer in its religious counterpart (as if morality and choosing well is a competition of original sources).<\/p>\n

Our Christian leadership today is (obviously) secular by acumen, though sounding spiritual it is popular and geared for consumerism. Hunter describes the leader in late antiquity, \u2018the monk, and a new social institution\u2014the monastery\u2019 [3] and, he goes on to portray monks as \u2018holy men, highly respected by the masses\u2019 [3]. Their spiritual status was a direct challenge to paideia (the popular culture of society) and the power structure it served. Did such a position and posture as the monk depict an option, being \u2018in the world yet, not of the world\u2019? Could such a subversive representation convey (or, transmit) hope for liberation? Still, such examples of hope are needed who represent an anticipation for freedom, outside of a system that enslaves without conscience all-inclusively, both the wary and ignorant.<\/p>\n

One review, shared by Greg Gilbert (Pastor of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky), refers to Hunter\u2019s work with gratitude for his theological sensitivity understanding \u2018that the establishment of the kingdom of God is a work that God and God alone performs, a biblical truth that prevents a boatload of error from creeping into our theology\u2019 [1]. I find it disturbing the selfish pursuit to control the outcome of God\u2019s Kingdom; then, we are either operating out of disbelief or by ulterior motives. The outcome is ours, not God\u2019s. No different to any other individualistic movement of accumulation and capitalism. \u2018Instead of understanding its task as being the building of God\u2019s kingdom or the changing of the culture, Hunter says, the church should understand its charge in the world to be one of \u201cfaithful presence within\u201d\u2019 [1].<\/p>\n

Gilbert appreciates the humility of Hunter in his approach to the Irony <\/em>he describes that \u2018the point is not to change the world, but to bear witness to the world in word and deed that a better world is coming\u2019 [1].<\/p>\n

Tom Oshiro, Gipp Forster, Jean Vanier, Henri Nouwen: two heroes of the faith who are closely known to me and two who are known famously to the world. All were witnesses \u2018to the world in word and deed that a better world is coming.\u2019 Each one of these men were in the world, demonstrated the undeniable hope we have in Christ and with the most genuine articulation expressed \u2018that a better world is coming.\u2019 Each of these men were in the world and they were of the world, they were real people.<\/p>\n

Hunter wrote of Wilberforce as being a man who believed that people can change as a result of a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and that he was \u2018a great man and a model of what one courageous person willing to step into the fray can do\u2019 [3]. God used William Wilberforce to change things. As the scriptures remind us, \u2018all things are possible with God.\u2019 Today, breaking news spread with ferocity and deeply troubling words were written about Jean Vanier and quickly, opinions of him across cultures and throughout the world, could be observed as changing. This stopped me for hours today and I was saddened that once again we have been mistaken. We are setting ourselves up for failure as lines are drawn to make some out to be as \u2018of the world\u2019 and some as \u2018of God\u2019; it is written, \u2018we all fall short\u2019. I looked out of the window from where I lay in a depression and saw a rainbow across the lake on one side of the mountain beginning to fade away. It left with a sigh and, a thought came over me like mist; \u2018grace\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] Gilbert, Greg. Book Review: To Change the World, by James Davison Hunter.<\/em>9 Marks. https:\/\/www.9marks.org\/review\/change-world\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2] Friesen, Duane K. A review of To Change the World. <\/em>The Christian Century. Last Updated: August 29, 2010. https:\/\/www.christiancentury.org\/reviews\/2010-08\/review-change-world<\/a><\/p>\n

[3] Hunter, James Davison. To Change the World<\/em>. Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[4] Volf, Miroslav. Against the Tide: Love in a Time of Petty Dreams and Persisting Enmities. <\/em>William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2010.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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