Notes for our Wednesday Koinonia group, September 12, 2012

A New Kind of Christianity: Brian McLaren.   Summary of first 125 pages

Introduction: Bad news: Christian faith/church is in trouble. (The  ¢â‚¬ËœWay ¢â‚¬â„¢ of Jesus a club for Pharisees; today people admire Jesus but hate the church). Protestants: lost between modernity and postmodernity. Catholics: torn since Vatican 2 between left/liberal and right/conservative.

Good news: today is pregnant with new possibilities! Phyllis Tickle, The Great Emergence:  ¢â‚¬ËœEvery 500 years the church holds a rummage sale ¢â‚¬â„¢  ¢â‚¬“ collapse of Roman empire (500AD), Great Schism (1000AD), Prot. Reformation (1500AD), now the  ¢â‚¬ËœGreat Emergence ¢â‚¬â„¢; Harvey Cox, The Future of Faith:  ¢â‚¬ËœAge of Faith ¢â‚¬â„¢  ƒ   Constantine: Bishops, creeds,  ¢â‚¬ËœAge of Belief ¢â‚¬â„¢ (25000 Xns slaughtered by Xns for  ¢â‚¬Ëœheresy ¢â‚¬â„¢). Now  ƒ    ¢â‚¬ËœAge of the Spirit ¢â‚¬â„¢ (eg. Pentecostal churches which  ¢â‚¬Ëœmake lists ¢â‚¬â„¢).

Paradigm shifts: eg. Indulgences (Luther ¢â‚¬â„¢s 95 theses) 1517; Galileo 1610, Monarchy ( ¢â‚¬ËœGod ¢â‚¬â„¢s way ¢â‚¬â„¢) democracy 1775; 19c + Darwin/Newton; 1960s ML King & segregation; 1991 Mandela

Today  ¢â‚¬“ new questions: orthodoxy or orthopathy, orthopraxis.

 ¢â‚¬ËœThe Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from his Word ¢â‚¬â„¢

Question 1: The Narrative Question:

Eden –> Fall –> Condemnation –> Salvation –> Heaven or Rejection of God –> Hell.

Is it taught explicitly in Scripture? No.

Reading the Bible backwards or forwards?

Greek philosophy (Plato) vs. the Hebrew Scriptures.

Greco-Roman mindset – dualistic (matter/spirit); intellectually  ¢â‚¬Ëœsuperior ¢â‚¬â„¢; social dualism (us/them)

Greek god:    ¢â‚¬Å“Theos ¢â‚¬   ¢â‚¬“ very different from Judaistic God  ¢â‚¬“  ¢â‚¬Å“Elohim ¢â‚¬ 

Aristotle – a  ¢â‚¬Ëœreal ¢â‚¬â„¢ world where things keep happening and changing.

Frontward reading: Invites our participation. No change from state to story  ¢â‚¬“ it is all story.

Fall = first stage of ascent and descent Genesis 1-11.

Call of Abram Gen 12  ¢â‚¬“ to bless all nations not damn them.

1^st story: Genesis  ¢â‚¬“ story of scarred creation and reconciliation

2^nd story: Exodus  ¢â‚¬“ story of sacred liberation and formation.

3^rd story: dream of peaceable kingdom: (In exile, this came to mean more about day and time than land and space. Relationship of mutual belonging and unity)

Question 2: The Authority Question:

Current notions of the authority of Scripture – a scientific, ethical, militaristic mess

Scripture is primarily a cultural library (tracing history back to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) not a constitution (provoking arguments about interpretation and empowering the authority groups)

A  ¢â‚¬Ëœculture ¢â‚¬â„¢ = people who say different things about the same things.

Revelation through Conversation eg. the story of Job.   The Bible wasn ¢â‚¬â„¢t meant to end conversation or have the final word on controversies like a constitution does.

Inspiration: God breathes life into the Bible: the Holy Spirit continually calls us into the conversation. We hear the divine voice, human voices and our voices in the text.