{"id":331,"date":"2014-02-14T21:24:40","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T21:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=331"},"modified":"2014-08-12T22:32:58","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T22:32:58","slug":"listen-a-radical-way-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/listen-a-radical-way-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen: A Radical Way Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

I grew up in family that didn\u2019t talk politics and to this day I still feel discomfort when conversations turn political. \u00a0For years I silently witnessed the Church\u2019s attempt at political involvement with much sadness and confusion, not quite sure how to respond but knowing that something was missing.\u00a0 After all its efforts, the Church in the United States today seems to have less influence on national political issues than ever before and the image of the Church is forever besmirched by its past efforts. Where did the Church go wrong and is there is a way forward? The readings this week on public and contextual theology are stunningly insightful in both explaining the political failures of the Church but also in providing a helpful way forward.\u00a0 \u00a0The underlying theme in the articles was the need for the Church to listen<\/em>.\u00a0 In the North American context, this is most evident in the perceived role of the Church to be God\u2019s defenders of Christian morals and values.\u00a0 Every hint of movement away from the \u201cdominant Western theological tradition, with its theoretical claims to timeless truth and universal significance\u201d[i]<\/a> was seen as an attack on God and was loudly condemned.\u00a0 We saw this in many forms, from prayer in school to the gay marriage, from displaying the Ten Commandments to displaying nativity scenes, but the mode of attack was what Max L. Stackhouse calls \u201cpolitical theology.\u201d\u00a0 This is a top-down approach that believes that it is government power that shapes society[ii]<\/a> and so change comes to society by changing government policy.\u00a0 This was done by protesting, lobbying, and creating national attention.\u00a0 Over the years, this has resulted in Christians demanding that America maintain laws and policy that were seen as biblically based and God honoring.\u00a0 The result has been a losing battle, both on the policy front (with most attempts to legislate morality going down in stunning defeat) as well as on the PR front.\u00a0 Christians frankly have come across looking mean, unkind, unsympathetic and darn right demanding!\u00a0 (Which is another reason I hated talking politics, as I often felt embarrassed by my side!) What these articles suggest is that public and contextual theology is a better way to influence society and bring positive transformation.\u00a0 That way forward is through actively listening and engaging in dialogue concerning the needs and issues within society.\u00a0 However, this demands a genuine openness to being taught by those outside the faith.\u00a0 Here is what I believe has been missing in political discourse in my lifetime: A humble dialogue between the Church and the community or society.\u00a0 The Church has acted in recent times like the Pharisees in Jesus\u2019 day, who were convinced that they had the corner on the truth and demanded full compliance to their laws (the breaking thereof was seen as an affront to God Himself), that they fail to demonstrate any compassion for those whom the rules were meant to protect and bless.\u00a0 No wonder that our society views Christians as lacking compassion, homophobic and hypocritical (as demonstrated in the book UnChristian<\/em>).\u00a0 What these writers suggest is that \u201cChristian tradition should be prepared to engage in an open exchange of ideas and debate with different cultural disciples, values, images and world\u2013views,\u201d thereby finding both a \u201ccritical corrective to the failures and distortions of Christian history\u201d[iii]<\/a> and a \u201ccommon ground with other groups in society\u2026to translate Christian insights into the currency of secular discourse.\u201d[iv]<\/a>\u00a0 This is doing Christianity from the middle-out, rather than top-down.\u00a0 It begins by recognizing that we share a common table\u2014that we are in this together.\u00a0 Instead of talking at people, we now sit down and talk with them.\u00a0 This allows us the opportunity to honestly listen to needs, learn the language and understand the views of those at the shared table to find a way forward together out of mutual concern.\u00a0 This approach of listening will provide a way forward in several areas. \u00a0First, it will help Christians to learn the language of the society to better translate Christian truths into the context where it can better be heard. \u00a0Here Neil Darragh article demonstrates how listening to the language underlying the issues of an urban project might teach the Church to translate \u201cpublic service language into that more familiar to theology.\u201d[v]<\/a> \u00a0Second, listening will help the Christian to be aware of the \u201cquestions, anxieties and challenges\u201d within society, including those shared by Christians, which \u201cthe gospel must be seen to respond\u201d in order to actually be welcomed and wanted at the table.[vi]<\/a>\u00a0 Finally, by truly listening and sharing at the table, the Christian may find truth\u2014and even Jesus Himself\u2014in unexpected places, which might challenge our theological assumptions and force us to admit that \u201cChristianity is never innocent of other philosophical influences.\u201d[vii]<\/a> There are many dangers associate with theology going public (syncretism, over-contextualization \u2013 where our local theologies no longer communicate with the wider Church, or outright disregard of Christian values).\u00a0 But, in our modern political situation, we must learn to influence society without pushing our agenda or demanding compliance. \u00a0Public theology provides important insights for a way forward that is a \u201ckinder, gentler\u201d way of bringing the Kingdom of God to a world that is hurting and in desperate need of Good News.\u00a0 But our world will only hear when we come as humble participants in the community, to honestly dialogue with people where they are at; listening to their hearts and seeking solutions together in a language they can understand.\u00a0 The scary part of this process is that we might find we are the ones transformed and enlightened, because we have allowed God space to work as much in our lives as those we seek to help. John F. Woodward<\/p>\n

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<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [i] Clive Person, \u201cThe Quest for a Glocal Public Theology, \u201c International Journal of Public Theology<\/em> 1, no. 2 (2007): 152.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [ii] Max Stackhouse, \u201cCivil Religion, Political Theology and Public Theology: What\u2019s the Difference?\u201d Political Theology <\/em>5:3 (2004): 291.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [iii] Elaine Graham, Heather Walton and Frances Ward, \u201c\u2019Speaking of God in Public\u2019: Correlation.\u201d In Theological Reflection: Methods,<\/em> ed. Elaine Graham, Heather Walton and Frances Ward (London: SCM Press, 2005), 158.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [iv] Christopher Marshall, \u201cWhat Language Shall I Barrow?: The Bilingual Dilemma of Public Theology,\u201d Stimulus <\/em>13, no.3 (2005), 34.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [v] Neil Darragh, \u201cContextual Method in Theology: Learning from the Case of Aotearoa New Zealand,\u201d Pacifica <\/em>16, no 1 (2003), 5.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [vi] Graham, 139.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [vii] Ibid.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up in family that didn\u2019t talk politics and to this day I still feel discomfort when conversations turn political. \u00a0For years I silently witnessed the Church\u2019s attempt at political involvement with much sadness and confusion, not quite sure how to respond but knowing that something was missing.\u00a0 After all its efforts, the Church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"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":[2,13],"class_list":["post-331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-garner","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331","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\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1655,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331\/revisions\/1655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}