Nkocyintro1montreat

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something is trying to be born:
envisioning a new kind of Christian faith

From the place where But doubts and loves
we are right
Dig up the world
Flowers will never
grow Like a mole, a plow.
In the spring.
And a whisper will be
The place where we heard in the place
are right Where the ruined
Is hard and trampled House once stood.
Like a yard. Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai

a new kind of
christianity:
ten questions that
are transforming the
faith

Something is on the way out and something
else is painfully being born.
It is as if something were crumbling,
decaying, and exhausting itself,
while something else, still indistinct, were
arising from the rubble....
We are in a phase when one age is
succeeding another, when everything is
possible.
Vaclav Havel, “The New Measure of Man”

Fr. Vincent Donovan:

Do not leave them where they are.
Do not bring them to where you are, as
beautiful as that place might be.

Instead, go with them to a new place
neither of you has ever been before.

500 years ago: Luther’s 95 theses.
Theses are statements intended for
debate, to bring us to a new state.

Needed today: not statements, debate,
or a new state (static location)

Rather ...

Needed today:
New questions to create conversations
to lead us on a new quest.

Statements

! ?
Questions

Statements (or theses) create
debates that bring us to new a
state (or status).

! ?
Questions create conversations
that launch us on new quests.

What are the questions?

1. The narrative question: What is the shape of the
biblical narrative? Storyline, plotline?

2. The authority question: What is the Bible, and
what is it for? How does it have authority?

3. The God question: Is God violent? Why does
God seem so violent and genocidal in so many
bible passages?

4. The Jesus Question: Who is Jesus, and
why does he matter?

5. The Gospel Question: What is the gospel
- a message of evacuation or
transformation? Exclusion or inclusion?

6. The church question: What do we
do about the church?

7. The sex question: Can we deal
with issues of sexuality without
fighting and dividing?

8. The future question: Can we find a
more hopeful vision of the future?

9. The pluralism question: How
should we relate to people of other
faiths?

10. The next step question: How can
we pursue this quest in humility,
love, and peace?

How things should/could/might be

Tension

How things are

Tension

How things used to be

Question 1:
What is the shape of the
biblical narrative?

(A pre-critical question)

Eden Heaven

Fall Salvation

History/
The world
Hell

Platonic Ideal Platonic Ideal

Fall Atonement,
puriﬁcation
Into
Aristotelian Aristotelian
Real
Real
Hades

Pax Romana Pax Romana

Civilization,
Rebellion development,
into colonialism
barbarism Barbarian/ assimilation
pagan
world
Destruction,
defeat

Is there an
alternative
understanding?

sdrawkcab gnidaer
Rick Warren, Billy Graham, Charles Finney, John Wesley (or Calvin), Luther,
Aquinas, Augustine, Paul, Jesus

reading forwards
Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Jesus

Exodus: Liberation & Formation


Genesis: Creation and Reconciliation

Isaiah: Peaceable Kingdom - Justice and
Mercy


Genesis: Creation and Reconciliation

G
e
n
Mercy
e
s
i
s


HUMAN DESTRUCTION
G
e
n
Mercy
e
HUMAN VIOLENCE
s
i
s HUMAN EXPLOITATION


Ivan Illich (Austrian
former priest,
philosopher, social
critic, 1926-2002)

Neither revolution nor reformation
can ultimately change a society,
rather you must tell a new powerful
tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps
away the old myths and becomes the
preferred story …

… one so inclusive that it gathers all the
bits of our past and our present into a
coherent whole, one that even shines
some light into the future so that we can
take the next step…. If you want to
change a society, then you have to tell an
alternative story.
- attributed to Ivan Illich (Austrian former priest,
philosopher, social critic, 1926-2002)

Question 2:
The Bible Question
What is the Bible?
Or: What is it for?

Barna Group: New Research Explores How Different Generations View and Use the Bible

... However, despite these similarities, the Barna studies show that the youngest generations are charting
a new, unique course related to the Bible. Here are the types of changes being forged by young adults:

• Less Sacred – While most Americans of all ages identify the Bible as sacred, the drop-off among
the youngest adults is striking: 9 out of 10 Boomers and Elders described the Bible as sacred,
which compares to 8 out of 10 Busters (81%) and just 2 out of 3 Mosaics (67%).
• Less Accurate – Young adults are signiﬁcantly less likely than older adults to strongly agree that the
Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches. Just 30% of Mosaics and 39% of Busters
ﬁrmly embraced this view, compared with 46% of Boomers and 58% of Elders.
• More Universalism – Among Mosaics, a majority (56%) believes the Bible teaches the same
spiritual truths as other sacred texts, which compares with 4 out of 10 Busters and Boomers, and
one-third of Elders.
• Skepticism of Origins – Another generational difference is that young adults are more likely to
express skepticism about the original manuscripts of the Bible than is true of older adults.
• Less Engagement – While many young adults are active users of the Bible, the pattern shows a
clear generational drop-off – the younger the person, the less likely then are to read the Bible. In
particular, Busters and Mosaics are less likely than average to have spent time alone in the last
week praying and reading the Bible for at least 15 minutes. Interestingly, none of the four
generations were particularly likely to say they aspired to read the Bible more as a means of
improving their spiritual lives.
• Bible Appetite – Despite the generational decline in many Bible metrics, one departure from the
typical pattern is the fact that younger adults, especially Mosaics (19%), express a slightly above-
average interest in gaining additional Bible knowledge. This compares with 12% of Boomers and
9% of Elders. ...

What do we mean
when we say the Bible
is authoritative?
What do we mean by
authority?

The Bible as
Constitution

• What purposes do constitutions (or social
contracts) fulﬁll?
• What problems arise with this approach?

Bible as Conversation

• The Bible as a cultural library
• Artifacts from stories within stories

LEGAL CONSTITUTION COMMUNITY LIBRARY

Uniformity Diversity

Preserve order Preserve diversity

agreement argument

enforcement encouragement

LEGAL CONSTITUTION COMMUNITY LIBRARY

Rules to live by Stories to live by

Conformity Creativity

Analyze, interpret, argue Enter, inhabit, practice

amendments? new acquisitions

Inspiration

• what would an inspired constitution look
like?
• what would an inspired community library
look like?

Question 10: How
can we engage
with these
questions without
fighting and
dividing?

A way of thinking
about
organizational
change:

insights from
macrohistorians

Coral: holy people
__________
Ultraviolet: compassionate communities
Violet: globally-networked individuals
__________
Indigo: “citizens of the world”
Blue: nation-states/democracies
Green: kingdoms/empires
Yellow: warlords
Orange: agricultural chiefdoms
Red: hunter/gatherer band

Coral: one with God
__________
Ultraviolet: holistic, unifying
Violet: integral, systemic, otherly
__________
Indigo: pluralist, relativist, globalist
Blue: individualist, rationalist, ideologue
Green: nationalist, rules, codes
Yellow: feudal, power-oriented
Orange: tribal, magical, animist
Red: survival, instinctual, “reptilian”

Coral: Quest for theosis
__________
Ultraviolet: Quest for sacredness
Violet: Quest for ubuntu (otherliness)
__________
Indigo: Quest for honesty
Blue: Quest for Individuality
Green: Quest for Independence
Yellow: Quest for power
Orange: Quest for security
Red: Quest for survival

Cultures may include two
or more zones, but will
have a center of gravity in
one.
They may regress.

Development =

1.Differentiate/Transcend

2.Integrate/Include

If we don’t differentiate or
transcend, we experience
stagnation, fixation and
stuckness.

If we don’t integrate and include,
we experience disassociation
and a backward attack-focus.

First tier zones think in terms
of right/wrong and good/evil.

Other zones are evil/wrong:
our zone is good/right.

Second tier zones think in terms of
appropriate and adequate.

Other zones are adequate for
their times and situations; we seek
the zone that is appropriate for us
here and now.

Think of climbing a ladder.
You gain a new and wider view from each
rung.

Your earlier view was not wrong - only
partial.

Early zones truly describe the way the
world looks to people at that vantage point.

You couldn’t get to the higher rungs if it
weren’t for the lower rungs.

This approach is not absolutist.
It doesn’t claim one view is right and
previous (or later) ones are wrong.

Nor is it relativist.
It doesn’t say that no views are truly
right, but only think they are.

It says all views are partial and that
greater wholeness is better than lesser
wholeness.

St. Paul seems to agree:

When I was a child, I spoke and thought
and reasoned like a child,
But when I became an adult,
I gave up childish ways.

For now we see in a mirror dimly,
But then face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall
understand fully,
Even as I have been fully
understood.

So faith, hope, and love abide, these
three;
But the greatest of these is
love.

I will show you the most excellent
way.
Follow the way of love.
Amen.

Exercise:
Consider the following in light of the spiral
dynamics schema: Coral: one with God
__________
Your life Ultraviolet: holistic, unifying
Violet: integral, systemic, otherly
Your church __________
Indigo: pluralist, relativist, globalist
Your denomination Blue: individualist, rationalist, ideologue
Green: nationalist, rules, codes
Your nation Yellow: feudal, power-oriented
Orange: tribal, magical, animist
The world Red: survival, instinctual, “reptilian”

Where is the center of gravity?
Where are the points of tension?
Where are breakthroughs happening?

How can we help our communities move
forward?
What will cause people to entrench?
What cost will we pay for stimulating
forward movement?

How can we make our churches safe for
people at each zone?
How can we not get stuck?

Nkocyintro1montreat

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