davidmdavid

davidmdavid

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13 years ago @ Reclaiming the Mission - The Emerging View of S... · 0 replies · +1 points

Now, this has many implications for how we disciples practice, say, penology; are we really in need of degrees in architecture of maximum prisons? I wonder if the prison system today is bringing in people that are lost/confused and sending them out hardened criminals -- nobody can deny that reoffense is a real problem. Restorative justice may be a more natural and sound alternative in a kingdom bound earth.

Does this make sense?

[Concerning creation theology, see A.M. Wolters "The Foundational Command: "Subdue the Earth!"; J. Richard Middleton, The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1.]

13 years ago @ Reclaiming the Mission - The Emerging View of S... · 0 replies · +1 points

If one is to take the creation account in Genesis 1 as a bedrock theology which gives solid ground to the rest of the canonical sweep of fall and redemption, then suddenly the movement toward final eschatology is not so otherwordly. Creation is so profoundly wrought by the sound artistry of God that it can naturally withstand the historical presence of sin; it can thus make way for redemption/re-traction of its goodness in a more subtle fashion. This is why I do not see "tension" as the acting force between eschatology and the here-and-now, as the two realms of heaven and earth, of God and humankind, are drawn to each other naturally, even at times effortlessly so (hence "dialogue")...

In this way, the message of/about Jesus via McLaren isn't so dichotomous, as JMorrow has pointed out. And now we can act out this idea in profound ways.

13 years ago @ Reclaiming the Mission - The Emerging View of S... · 0 replies · +1 points

I am not quite sure if the "already-there" and "not-yet" dimension of the kingdom is held together by a "tension," as you describe it. That logic sounds like a Western Hegelian antithesis/thesis gearing or rattling progressively and unilaterally toward synthesis. Instead of "tension," I wonder if "dialogue" is more like it; the interconnectedness of heaven and earth, and the interconnectedness of fall and redemption offers up an integral movement toward eschaton that is more complex and real to life -- thus Paul's appeal that we can help "hasten" the eschaton which will "unveil" Christ. It is more complex and real because it stands on the solid footing of creational theology, and even amid sin and death's arrival on the scene of this "very good" creation human agency is comprimised but not crippled.

-- You describe the here-and-now of it as an "unjust world," but I wonder if it is a just world which is compromised by human acts of injustice?

13 years ago @ Reclaiming the Mission - The Emerging View of S... · 0 replies · +1 points

Question Dave: regarding your third point on the nuance between the "already there, but not yet" dimension of the kingdom -- or what some have termed the "new heavens and new earth" -- how does one faithfully articulate the latter dimension of the "not quite yet" aspect without falling into the ideological trap of your rough-and-ready term "de-eschatology?" If McLaren and co. fuzzily see this part as "Christ-the-guide" which de-emphasizes Christ's inbreaking gospel, then how do we articulate this without belittling the kingdom's presence here and now? What if the church emphasized a more creational theology? I realize the danger here too, but I wonder if a close reading of Scripture, aside from the usual theology which has been co-opted by the metaphysical, dualistic postulations of the West, supports such a cosmic claim.

13 years ago @ Reclaiming the Mission - The "Emerging" View of... · 0 replies · +1 points

David,

I was wondering if you could elaborate a bit more on what you mean by the "logic of incarnation?" As it stands, it is a bit fuzzy to me. Also, I am wondering how a prophetic edge fits into your gospel account? Does not table fellowship via the Spirit call for one to risk a balance a mutual interdependency, where relations are scored by one humbling themselves before the other, and anticipating and hoping the other is genuinely doing the same -- even among the closest and most dearest brothers and sisters? I am not seeing this bit in your account. I do not wish to render the table on pins and needles, only encourage a missional edge to a give-and-take. After all, the undomesticated act at Pentecost must have overturned tables in a sort of chaotic order.

13 years ago @ Reclaiming the Mission - The "Emerging" View of... · 0 replies · +1 points

Lee,

-- But something dangerous, even potentially destructive, is indeed not an arc that shoots outside of the canonical trajectory of Scripture; namely, I am referring to the critiques leveled in the prophetic canon. Does not Jeremiah exegetically fall in line with the rich tradition of Amos and his judgment against the city/temple establishment in Judah, where the temple mount shall be deconstructed and replaced by a "wooded height" if they do not turn and repent from their ways (see Jer. 26 via Amos 3). And of course, as we know, Christ centers himself very much inside the Jeremiahic vein (i.e. Jer. 7).

Cutting ties with a people -- even going against them -- in which you have kept a faithful covenant with in the past must always remain an option, otherwise impunity and self-righteousness creeps in. But deconstruction is never willy-nilly nihilism; it always implies a later re-construction. This stuff is well within the overall arc of Scripture -- not just an anomolous vector -- and extends sharply to the Christological point established during his life, ministry, death and resurrection.