11.27.09
post-Christendom hermeneutics
Anabaptist scholar Stuart Murray writes that the protest movements grew out of a rediscovery of Jesus and the Gospels, long neglected in a Christendom which needed Jesus for salvation, but was afraid of the ethical and political implications. Other principles, apart from the centrality of Jesus, characterized these protest movements:
* their conviction that untrained Christians could understand the Bible challenged the interpretive monopoly of priests
* their belief that the Bible was best understood in community challenged the individualism of much scholarship
* their determination to apply the Bible to their daily lives and communal practices challenged the prevailing emphases on philosophical or mystical reflection rather than discipleship
* their suspicion that the Old Testament had been seriously misused to buttress a Christendom system built on wrong foundations challenged the entire system. Murray continues,
“As Christendom fades, the approach to interpretation that characterized the Christendom era and went unchallenged by the Reformers has become increasingly problematic, whereas the alternative approach of the Anabaptists and earlier dissident groups may offer helpful perspective.
* In a context where churches are no longer at the center but on the margins, the perspective of earlier marginal movements makes sense. Things look different from the margins. Marginal groups identify with characters in the story, ask different questions, and apply biblical teaching differently. The experience of base ekklesial communities in Latin America supports this.
* Once the church recognizes it can no longer control society and does not need to worry that its biblical interpretation might challenge social norms, it can rediscover the prophetic tradition that permeates the Bible and in which Jesus must be understood. New ways of thinking become possible.
* The suspicion of ideological influences found in the radical tradition and its tendency to subject traditional interpretations to critique and reappraisal may be helpful. We have plenty of unlearning to do as we gradually recognize how much traditional interpretations of Biblical teaching were affected by the Christendom mindset. A degree of suspicion may be healthy.
* The insistence on recognizing Jesus as the center of the Bible and on adopting New Testament norms for ethics and ecclesiology may assist us to rediscover the Jesus whom Christendom marginalized and to question the ways in which the Old Testament was interpreted under Christendom.
Stuart Murray, “Christendom and Post-Christendom,†13. The article is a fascinating exploration of the radical reformation as an “emergent†movement in its day, as well as an exploration of the limitations of the Reformation.
See also “mission as hermeneutic of the Gospel”..
ron cole said,
November 27, 2009 at 2:11 pm
It’s remarkable that the greatest theologian that walked in the midst of humanity was Jesus. After all, was he not God in the flesh.
44But Jesus loudly declared, The one who believes in Me does not [only] believe in and trust in and rely on Me, but [in believing in Me he believes] in Him Who sent Me.
45And whoever sees Me sees Him Who sent Me.
49This is because I have never spoken on My own authority or of My own accord or as self-appointed, but the Father Who sent Me has Himself given Me orders [concerning] what to say and what to tell.
50And I know that His commandment is (means) eternal life. So whatever I speak, I am saying [exactly] what My Father has told Me to say and in accordance with His instructions. ( The Amplified Bible ; John Chapter 12 )
So although no one has seen God except maybe Moses who saw the Glory of God tucked away in the cleft of a rock, away from the radiation that might have vaporized him. I think we can say with some confidence, as humanity, we have seen God, and heard God…and tend to ignore it.
Immersing yourself into the depths of the gospels you discover a faith that seems alien to what we have today. We are blind if we read the gospels and don’t see God…what he says, does, and wants. At best, we’ve constructed a religion that avoids him, and keeps him at a distance…just so we have an excuse that we don’t know him.
I love the parable in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, ” the Grand Inquisitor ” At the end of the scene, The segment ends when Christ, who has been silent throughout, kisses the Inquisitor on his “bloodless, aged lips” instead of answering him. On this, the Inquisitor releases Christ but tells him never to return. Christ, still silent, leaves into “the dark alleys of the city.” Not only is the kiss ambiguous, but its effect on the Inquisitor is as well. Ivan concludes, “The kiss glows in his heart, but the old man adheres to his idea.”
I wonder if we wouldn’t do the same thing today adhering to our Christendom idea…rather than this radical faith Jesus spoke and lived in the Gospels.
Len, by the way I couldn’t open the link at the bottom of your post.
len said,
November 27, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Ron, no longer available online so I made it available on my site.. the link shd work now..