A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life

A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life
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I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe, –that unless I believed, I should not understand.-- St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Stanley Hauerwas on His Evangelical Audience

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, I find many Evangelicals exalting the Church as an institution over the Kingdom and God's principles.

Allan R. Bevere said...

Pat, An interesting observation. I would say that any understanding of the church that undermines Kingdom notions and principles is quite faulty.

Mijk V said...

Pat,
I don't see that at all. In fact, that's Hauerwas's point... the church is viewed as secondary and merely functional in relation to individual spirituality/piety.
I don't think its an exaltation of Church over Kingdom as much as its an exaltation of Technique over Kingdom. For Evangelicals, the Church (yes, as an institution) needs to be exalted beyond the realms of efficiency, technique, and hyper-rationality.

Anonymous said...

Mijk, I believe the Church is a vehicle through which God's kingdom is advanced. When it ceases to be that and is rather a human institution that we see as solely the place to come and belong and then "all is well", I think that is shortsighted and stagnates the work of the Kingdom. I think what I'm reacting to is not the Church being exalted as much as the churches being exalted. I just had a conversation last night with our nominating committee and one of the questions I was asked was "Who are we as a Church"? Interestingly enough, that question was written with the capital "C", but the question was really about who we are a local institution. I let them know I'm not big on institutions particularly when our identity begins to overwhelm our identity as followers of Christ.

Dale said...

Pat,

"I'm not big on institutions particularly when our identity begins to overwhelm our identity as followers of Christ."

But that seems to roll back in the direction of exalting individuals over the Body; our identity as followers of Christ IS embodied in a BODY (the Church)

Anonymous said...

Dale, it probably "sounds" that way, but I don't believe in exalting individuals over the Body of Christ. In fact, my call is to the Body and helping it be all that it can be for Christ. Where I think churches often fall short though, is the exaltation of their own church and their own agendas as though they are not part of a kingdom agenda and much of what we get all wrapped up in is not kingdom-oriented. While buildings are useful and needful, once that building becomes an albatross or an altar at which we bend the knee, there's a problem. I think youi can tell a lot by whether people are kingdom-focused is by the way they react to things like "their" buildings, "their" programs, etc. Can the building be fully utilized or do we almost faint at the thought of some rooms being used or overused? Do we welcome all people into our fellowship or are we more concerned with keeping our little club intact? I recently interviewed a pastor who shared that at one church that he served, the congregation wanted to build a fence around their property to keep out those who were part of the changing landscape of the community in which they were located. THAT is not a kingdom mentality. While we must be practical and be wise stewards of what Christ has given us, too often I think we use that as as excuse for bad behavior.