tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post116125476372765928..comments2024-03-25T13:40:30.747-04:00Comments on Faith and Theology: Theology for beginners (20): MissionBen Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03800127501735910966noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-1161603244417754432006-10-23T07:34:00.000-04:002006-10-23T07:34:00.000-04:00Many thanks for these encouraging comments. As you...Many thanks for these encouraging comments. As you can tell from the frequency of the posts, I've started getting a little weary of the series -- but there are only a couple of posts to go!Ben Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03800127501735910966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-1161491625231297492006-10-22T00:33:00.000-04:002006-10-22T00:33:00.000-04:00Hi Kim: No, I am not familiar with Douglas Harink,...Hi <B>Kim</B>: No, I am not familiar with Douglas Harink, so thank you for the tip. I shall look into it.::aaron g::https://www.blogger.com/profile/03849988327077565616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-1161469008718940552006-10-21T18:16:00.000-04:002006-10-21T18:16:00.000-04:00I'll second Mary's endorsement and continue urging...I'll second Mary's endorsement and continue urging you to turn the finished product into a small book. It's just the kind of thing needed in university, seminary, and local church settings for beginning theologians.Michael Westmoreland-White, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06343135380354344847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-1161450370744688212006-10-21T13:06:00.000-04:002006-10-21T13:06:00.000-04:00Thank you for this series. I've enjoyed your posts...Thank you for this series. I've enjoyed your posts and learned a good deal from them.<BR/><BR/>mdMaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17219413797615237650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-1161379039859083672006-10-20T17:17:00.000-04:002006-10-20T17:17:00.000-04:00I highly recommend John Howard Yoder's _The Jewish...I highly recommend John Howard Yoder's _The Jewish-Christian Schism Revisited_ See: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802813623/ref=wl_gtwy_ty/102-7786258-1316915?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1TSDC9A0Q17FZ&colid=1QC88JANJHSYA<BR/><BR/>This collection was published posthumously, but I saw many of these in unpublished form years ago and they really influenced my nonsupercessionist views of the relationship of Judaism and the Church.Michael Westmoreland-White, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06343135380354344847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-1161372903230991392006-10-20T15:35:00.000-04:002006-10-20T15:35:00.000-04:00Hi David.Great to see someone refusing to ride the...Hi David.<BR/><BR/>Great to see someone refusing to ride the Roman Trojan horse into the Protestant church, and suggesting that there is still an important discussion to have on the distinction between the church as <I>witness to</I> salvation and the church as <I>mediator of</I> salvation. I know, especially after Jenson, that the <I>totus Christus</I> has become ecclesiologically "sexy" (as you put it), but Barth, who accepted the phrase, insisted that Christ alone is the head of his body, the church, and that Christ alone is the subject of the <I>totus Christus</I>, the church the predicate.<BR/><BR/>Hi Andrewe.<BR/><BR/>Evangelicals are fond of citing the place and time when they were saved. Me to: the place, Golgotha; the time, noon on the first Good Friday.<BR/><BR/>And hi Aaron.<BR/><BR/>Great comment. And great to see someone impugning another "sexy" position, the supersessionism of the NT man of the moment N. T. Wright. Do you know Douglas Harink, <I>Paul among the Postliberals: Pauline Theology beyond Christendom and Modernity</I> (2003)? In chapter four, following Yoder, and based on a close re-reading of Romans 9-11, Harink takes issue with Wright, with his (evangelical?) relegation of the contemporary Synagogue to conversion fodder, insisting, with Barth, that that the distinction between Israel and the Church is not between the lost and the saved, but between two kinds of witness within the <I>one</I> covenant, and therefore rejecting a "mission" to the Jews. Harink's book is an important one. Lindbeck commends it by saying that it "is changing my mind on more themes . . . than any publication since Hans Frei's <I>The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative</I>" - high praise indeed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-1161353742636255102006-10-20T10:15:00.000-04:002006-10-20T10:15:00.000-04:00The 'Gospel and Our Culture Network' has been doin...The 'Gospel and Our Culture Network' has been doing some good work in this field in recent years. Their seminal work "Missional Church" is edited by Guder. There are a number of other good works to be read, as well as heaps of articles etc on their website.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-1161323423952802462006-10-20T01:50:00.000-04:002006-10-20T01:50:00.000-04:00Hi Ben: Thank you for this beautiful and “moving” ...Hi Ben: Thank you for this beautiful and “moving” description of our outward calling.<BR/><BR/>I’d only add that mission is not an exclusively Christian function. Israel is given to the nations. They are light shining outward to all humanity (Isa 42). God’s gift to them is in turn God’s gift to the nations.::aaron g::https://www.blogger.com/profile/03849988327077565616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-1161315281225401872006-10-19T23:34:00.000-04:002006-10-19T23:34:00.000-04:00Thanks Ben. Great post. Yet I feel that something ...Thanks Ben. Great post. <BR/><BR/>Yet I feel that something more deliberate needs to be said about the object of mission being people-being-saved. The Scriptures speak of this being a deep desire of God himself (1 Tim. 2:3-4; 2 Pet. 3:9), and I wonder if it is an idea that deserves a more central place in a discussion of mission?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-1161313441189175212006-10-19T23:04:00.000-04:002006-10-19T23:04:00.000-04:00A superb post, Ben. My dean, Darrell Guder, would...A superb post, Ben. My dean, Darrell Guder, would be proud! I was especially glad to see you emphasize the "already" character of reconciliation and the role of the church community in witnessing to that event. <BR/><BR/>One of the most "sexy" subjects today is the privileging of ecclesiology and the divinization of the church alongside God. There are so many theologians arguing for the church's life and mission as a prolongation of the incarnation itself, so that the church is the present-tense extension of Christ's own person and work. You quite successfully avoided this mistake while still holding on to the missional life of the church as coming from the missional being of God.<BR/><BR/>I would recommend that people read John Webster's essay, "On Evangelical Ecclesiology," which can be found in his latest collection of essays, <I>Confessing God</I>. He argues specifically against the theologians who elevate of the church and end up with a porous (non-concrete, non-particular, non-exclusive) Christology.<BR/><BR/>Also, there's a good quote that I heard recently, though the source escapes me. Perhaps it is from Bosch. I'll try to find it.<BR/><BR/>"The church does not have a mission in the world; the God of mission has a church in the world."David W. Congdonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03009330707703611224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14261952.post-1161307958571462262006-10-19T21:32:00.000-04:002006-10-19T21:32:00.000-04:00Another great post. I really appreciated the way y...Another great post. I really appreciated the way you kept the work of God central (we don't bring the kingdom) and yet had a genuine place for humanity in witnessing to that. Also loved the way you kept 'witnessing' broad, while allowing for a sharp focus in particular situation.<BR/><BR/>Thanks - and keep going - you're almost there. Of course, once you 'arrive', you can start all over again...byron smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17938334606675769903noreply@blogger.com