I need to update my reading list...
I have finally started my first McLaren book. A New Kind of Christian illustrates the changes necessary for Christianity to remain a redemptive force in a post-modern world. For me, the book encapsulates some of my own struggles with faith and church, and provides a vision, beyond simple nuts and bolts, of what the church might become.
Something I am reading over and over again in various books: In our modern quest to organize, reduce, and categorize the bible into various absolute principles, we have lost much of the offensiveness of the bible, and have ignored some of the teachings and stories that just don't fit into our categories. Authors (like McLaren and Brueggemann) are calling on the church to reclaim and unleash these stories.
One of the stories that needs to be unleashed is the Jerusalem council of Acts 15.
This is a radical story of an out-of-control church movement, where church leadership did not easily agree, where the ground rules seem to change as the story moves forward. Present experience trumped long-held tradition. Centuries-old theology waas changed in a day.
And ultimately, the decision made "pleased the Holy Spirit", even though it did not end divisiveness.
Of course, we distance ourselves from the story, because the rules are different when the Apostles were involved. But was it the presence of the Apostles, or the experience of the Spirit, that made this transition possible? You may guess my leaning on this issue.
Anyways, the early church seemed malleable, flexible, perhaps out-of-control.
And I believe that our worship of "control" (sometimes we use the bible to maintain our control, don't we?) may be one of the greatest hindrances to God's work in our midst.
I have finally started my first McLaren book. A New Kind of Christian illustrates the changes necessary for Christianity to remain a redemptive force in a post-modern world. For me, the book encapsulates some of my own struggles with faith and church, and provides a vision, beyond simple nuts and bolts, of what the church might become.
Something I am reading over and over again in various books: In our modern quest to organize, reduce, and categorize the bible into various absolute principles, we have lost much of the offensiveness of the bible, and have ignored some of the teachings and stories that just don't fit into our categories. Authors (like McLaren and Brueggemann) are calling on the church to reclaim and unleash these stories.
One of the stories that needs to be unleashed is the Jerusalem council of Acts 15.
This is a radical story of an out-of-control church movement, where church leadership did not easily agree, where the ground rules seem to change as the story moves forward. Present experience trumped long-held tradition. Centuries-old theology waas changed in a day.
And ultimately, the decision made "pleased the Holy Spirit", even though it did not end divisiveness.
Of course, we distance ourselves from the story, because the rules are different when the Apostles were involved. But was it the presence of the Apostles, or the experience of the Spirit, that made this transition possible? You may guess my leaning on this issue.
Anyways, the early church seemed malleable, flexible, perhaps out-of-control.
And I believe that our worship of "control" (sometimes we use the bible to maintain our control, don't we?) may be one of the greatest hindrances to God's work in our midst.
posted by Kevin at 1:13 PM
1 Comments:
I found your blog via Jackson Griggs.
I've enjoyed what I have read of McLaren. I did read ANKOC and thought it was a worthy read. I recently read his book, More Ready Than You Realize, and it greatly influenced my thinking concerning evangelism (lacking a better term). Anyways, glad to have stumbled across your blog.
Post a Comment
<< Home