Exploring Ecumenism

More thoughts about Subversive Ecumenism

The Sheffield Jesus Seminar drew about 30 people to its meeting, on 22 May 2010, mostly over thirty and lay people with teaching or preaching roles in the church.  It took place at St Mark's, Broomhill in Sheffield and so perhaps most were Anglican, with a sprinkling of Methodists and URC, and one Catholic.

The following are some of the issues that arose from my paper, presented at the meeting.  They represent the concerns of that particular group of people, who had an opportunity to reflect upon four other papers too.  So, whilst of interest, they do not necessarily relate directly to my paper.

Called to be One 11: Secularisation or Re-Sacralisation

This post relates to the eleventh critical issue in Called to be One: What Now?, Secularisation or Re-Sacralisation .

I can't help feeling this issue sets up a false dichotomy.  The problem is common and centres on the idea that secularisation is synonymous with atheism.  It is not and never has been.  There are many Christians who are secularists.

Secularism is a political view.  It is the belief that faith and government (the state) should be separated.  It is a rejection of theocracy.  That word itself conceals a basic untruth.  There cannot be any human political system where God is in charge.  Such a system is always a group of people who claim to be doing God's will, which is quite a different thing.

I do not believe the record of people of faith in government is particularly edifying.  This does not mean people of faith cannot be participants in government.  Neither does it mean their values cannot be influenced by their faith.  It is healthy though when they have their faith values tested in political debate.

The problem of religions being in charge is their claim to be the way of God.  I would argue such a strategy cannot re-sacralise the world.  (When was it ever sacralised?)  Indeed, it will secularise the faith.  Why?  Because use of religious power for government means the faith is beholden to the compromises of government.

The Kingdom of God is a political agenda.  However, it is a political agenda in the sense that it challenges all political agendas by insisting the rule of God is not through exercising secular power but by challenging and confronting it non-violently.

I set my face firmly against a re-sacralised world because I do not want to live in a police state.

The Shadow of Imperialism

Continuing with my posts about the history of Western European Christianity, today I want to offer a few examples of how imperialism overshadowed its development.

In an earlier post  I described how I see Paul building up the early Christian Church, within but subversive of the Roman Empire.  The paradox is, it seems to me, this shaped the Church so that it became receptive to take over by Emperor Constantine.

Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change

The idea is that today, Thursday 15 October 2009, over 7000 blogs around the world will cover the topic of climate change.  Each blog will approach the topic from the perspective of its specialism and so mine will be from an ecumenical perspective.  In addition it is anticipated over 10 million readers will participate in Blog Action Day 2009 .

Last week I helped lead a consultation for Methodist and Anglican Ecumenical Officers from across Britain.  We were looking at the Edinburgh 2010 mission conference , which is to be held to commemorate the Edinburgh 1910 mission conference , usually recognised as the beginning of the modern ecumenical movement.

Elements of Mission 3: Morality

I illustrated a recent post  with Dore's engraving of Satan from Milton's Paradise Lost.  Why?  Because Satan was at the time of Jesus known as the angel of Rome.  His speciality was as upholder of the law.  He insisted upon total obedience.  I'm not at all sure how he mutated into the Hammer Horror monster of popular mythology.  The point is when we think about doctrine and morality we usually think in Satanic terms.  Once I know the truth, everyone else is by definition wrong.  We saw the consequences of this in the totalitarian regimes of the last century.  Christianity offers a radical alternative to these absolutes and this is what Radcliffe  was talking about at the CTE Forum  a few weeks ago.

He went on to describe how the media pressure church leaders to make statements on ethical issues and then take furious issue once they do.  For them morality is even worse than doctrine.  They expect churches to take moral stances.

Ecumenical Ethics

It is odd that Christianity has a moralistic public image.  One of the problems St Paul faced in his letters was to explain the impossibility of adherence to every detail of the law.  Indeed, the law does not save people, it shows us what is right and wrong but it is not possible for anyone to practice it in full.  The Christian faith replaces law with spirit.  Non-Christians are prisoners of the law; Christians are freed by the spirit.  We would therefore expect Christians to be, whilst not uninterested in morals, at least distinguishable from those whose faiths prescribe precise moral positions.

The Catholic Spirit

John Wesley in his sermon On A Catholic Spirit suggested that Christians when they relate to one another must get away from a focus upon differences in belief.  He starts with a verse from the Old Testament where one warrior, in a chariot, says to another, on foot, 'if you heart is right with my heart, climb up beside me'.

Inerrancy

I really don't want to spend a lot of time on this topic.  Is scripture inerrant?  Of course not.  Is it the word of God?  Of course it is.

The paradox is that to make Scripture inerrant is to take God out of it.  The canon is fixed, nothing can be added or taken away.  It is complete.  The big advantage of this is that it allows us to interpret it for every age and every place.  Whatever interpretation we make, the original is always there to return to. 

Political Correctness

It's a funny thing how do-gooders get such a bad press.  You would expect people who do good to meet with some approbation.  Considering the various terrorist, thugs, vandals, young people, criminals, hooligans, etc who populate the popular media, you would expect people setting out to do good would be a welcome change.

Hypocrisy and Humility

I want to develop something I mentioned yesterday.  Why is it Christians need to repent?  It is a question asked from the earliest days of the Christian faith.  Surely those who are saved do not need to repent? 

Indeed the temptation is for those who are saved to cover up their sins.  So often the cover-up is worse than the original sin.  We can all think of times when a politician has lied to cover up some mistake.  The gradual uncovering of the truth by the media is often far worse than the original action.