I was walking through a book store this afternoon, one of my favorite activities (to my wife's chagrin), when I noticed the book The Best American Spiritual Writing 2006. (This is part of a series of The Best American . . . which includes other collections of short stories, essays, mystery writing, etc.) I picked it up fully expecting to be hit by a number of essays regarding new age topics and "Oprah Winfreyesk" spirituality. To my surprise and delight, my eyes lit upon an essay entitled "The Church's Way of Speaking" by Robert Louis Wilken. It was published in the August-September issue of First Things.
First Things is an ecumenical publication that features articles relating to thinking "Christianly" about current events. I have been an avid reader of First Things for a year and a half now and am constantly impressed by the quality of writing that is produced. It regularly challenges my faith and how that faith gets applied to everyday living. I recommend the publication to anyone.
In my year and a half of reading, the article that clearly stands out in my mind is the article by Wilken that made its way into the Best Spiritual Writing collection. It addresses the distinctiveness of the Christian community and the importance of knowing and living that distinctiveness in the world. All you "Hauerwasians" would love it. Here is the link:
www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0508/articles/wilken.html
Let me know what you think . . .
First Things is an ecumenical publication that features articles relating to thinking "Christianly" about current events. I have been an avid reader of First Things for a year and a half now and am constantly impressed by the quality of writing that is produced. It regularly challenges my faith and how that faith gets applied to everyday living. I recommend the publication to anyone.
In my year and a half of reading, the article that clearly stands out in my mind is the article by Wilken that made its way into the Best Spiritual Writing collection. It addresses the distinctiveness of the Christian community and the importance of knowing and living that distinctiveness in the world. All you "Hauerwasians" would love it. Here is the link:
www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0508/articles/wilken.html
Let me know what you think . . .
2 comments:
WELL, I ploughed through(yes, not being a theologian, I plowed through) that article, and found it interesting. It appears to me a daunting assignment for the Church, it's teachers and preachers, to now pick up the task of passing on the love of that language and the embracing of those seemingly "outdated" terms and phrases which now already seem alien to most churchgoers and even many Bible readers of today.
I would guess, although I could be wrong, that even in the denominations and services where old language liturgies are still used weekly, the average Christian Joe off the street has no concept of the theological depth and richness of the words he is reciting. What say you?
In all my frailty, MmK
I suppose your right about "the average Joe" not grasping the depthness. The reason, I think, is because many churches, in an effort to appeal to the average Joe, cease using this kind of language in order to be "contemporary" or "relevant" or name your buzz word. I am all for being attractive to the people off the street but often what happens is that we never move them beyond that point - to the point where they can read Isaiah and understand. As a result, the church can lose its distinctiveness and begin to look a lot like another social club. This is a shame because I think what people who are "searching" are actually looking for is a distinct community in which to belong.
Did you know in the early church that the average time of catechism before someone could be baptized and become a full member was three years? We often bock at this thinking all they have to do is "ask Jesus into their heart." But I suspect the length of time was needed to teach this language and to move someone from the culture of the world to the culture of the church - I guess three years isn't needed when the church doesn't look too different from the culture.
On a different note, thanks for plowing through the article. Do you know I assigned this article to my students last year? Maybe a bit too much? Some of them really liked it.
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