New Wine, New Wineskins

The One, the Three, and the Many: In Memory of Colin Gunton

This article reviews the late Colin Gunton’s Trinitarian engagement of creation and culture in The One, the Three and the Many. The thread which runs through the book as a whole is, as the title suggests, the problem of the one and the many—a problem that had its source in ancient Greek philosophy in the conflict between the Heraclitean and Parmenidean descriptions of the “real.” For Gunton, the concept of the Trinity provides relational space to mediate between the One, championed in classical times by Parmenides, and the Many, championed historically by Heraclitus. Gunton does not make a convincing case for claiming that the overarching influence of the Parmenidean account of the One inevitably leads to political absolutism. The solution to political absolutism is to move past a Parmenidean view of God as beyond knowing and toward the knowledge of God rooted in Jesus Christ, for where God is truly known in Jesus Christ, there a leveling process occurs. In the course of discussion, consideration is also given to Gunton’s theological methodology and use of terms like perichoresis, hypostasis and sociality in context, which he terms “open transcendentals.” Originally presented to the Reformed Theology and History Group at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, November 2003, the essay evaluates as well Gunton’s contribution to Reformed theology and his enduring significance for the theological enterprise. Here it is claimed that Gunton’s legacy for Reformed theology has less to do with his doctrinal proposals than it does with his theological style.

Response to Bruce L. McCormack’s Tribute

Myth and Reality: Analysis and Critique of Gordon Kaufman and Sallie McFague on God, Christ, and Salvation

This article explores the thinking of Gordon Kaufman and Sallie McFague to explore how their understanding of theology as mythology leads them to believe that our concepts of God and Christ need to be thoroughly deconstructed and reconstructed in light of our best understanding of ourselves and the world we live in. Kaufman understands God as an “ecological-processive reality” which he equates with the “cosmic evolutionary movement” of the world itself. Since God cannot actually exist in his own right, independent of the world, Kaufman insists that any such realistic understanding of God represents false reification. McFague believes that we can never really know who God is but nonetheless thinks her models of God as mother, lover, and friend better describe God than the traditional view that God is eternally Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hence she thinks of the world as God’s body and confuses God’s being with the world by saying that the world “is not something alien to or other than God.” Both Kaufman and McFague argue that Jesus can no longer be seen as the unique savior of the world because in an evolutionary context it is impossible to believe that one human being could have the kind of cosmic salvific significance ascribed to him by the tradition. This article contends that in rejecting the fact that God, and not we, determines the meaning of who he is, and that Christ alone saves us because he alone is the Word of God incarnate, Kaufman and McFague argue that salvation must be equated with our attempts at humanization. This form of self-justification not only ignores the reality of sin, but ascribes salvation to us by making our justification by faith and grace irrelevant. This is why McFague believes salvation “is not a once-for-all objective service that someone else does for us” and that the world today needs many saviors. Molnar contends that such thinking changes the good news of the Gospel into the bad news that we are alone with ourselves and in need of new mythologies to help us save ourselves; and until salvation is accepted with gratitude as an act of grace, we will always think that it is we and not God alone who justifies and sanctifies sinners.

‘Go Tell Pharaoh’ Or, Why Empires Prefer a Nameless God

This paper argues that there is an elective affinity between the religious conception of God’s essential namelessness and imperial power, and that the Scriptural conception of YHWH, the named God of Israel, stands in stark conflict with both. In the ancient world, the marriage between the doctrine of God’s namelessness and imperial power was most fruitfully consummated by Graeco-Roman civilization after Alexander the Great. Soulen argues that in the modern world, a similar marriage may be taking place between modern theologies of religious pluralism and the expanding empire of modern market economics. Ultimately, he suggests, it is the biblical God YHWH, not the nameless deity of religious pluralism, who can oppose unlimited expansion of market economics into all spheres of life.

The Theology and Philosophy of King’s Concept of Non-Violence

This article examines Martin Luther King Jr.’s paradigm of non-violent engagement through attention to King’s personal history, his theological and philosophical development, his developed understanding of non-violence, and critiques of King’s paradigm. While admitting that King’s model of non-violent confrontation has limitations, the claim made here is this essay argues that King’s paradigm is more effective than his critics realize. For one, King develops a love ethic based on the example of Christ that aims at social transformation rather than limiting Christ’s ethic of love to the individual, religious sphere. Moreover, King’s model of social transformation aims at reconciliation between the oppressed and their oppressors. King’s non-violent paradigm should be the initial strategy for addressing injustices and wrongs throughout the world for social change because it causes the least harm to the opponent and has proven itself as to be one of the most effective methods for social transformation.

‘At Home in the Darkness, but Hungry for Dawn’ – Global Homelessness and a Passion for Homecoming in the Music of Bruce Cockburn

Themes of homecoming in the face of the forces of homelessness have been ubiquitous in the lyrics of singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn over his thirty-five year career and twenty-seven albums. Whether the forces that render people homeless are identified with militarism and imperialism (dominant themes in Cockburn’s early work) or with the neo-liberal forces of global capitalism (in the more recent albums), the critique is the same. But such homelessness can only be countered by a radical vision of homecoming. The imperial eschatology, which is “hooked on avarice,” can only be demythologized by an alternative vision of hope directed to homecoming. This paper will investigate Cockburn’s commitment to opening up human experience, giving voice to human longing for homecoming in the midst of displacement, and how he does so by facing head-on the essential sadness of exile with both prophetic critique and a spirituality of hope that takes most of its cues from biblical metaphors and images. Insofar as exile is never simply a matter of physical displacement from a homeland, but more perniciously a captivation of the imagination that leaves the exilic community lost in amnesia, forgetting the way home, then Cockburn’s artistry could be said to be driven towards a liberation of the imagination towards homecoming.

In Search for Asian Identities in Asian Hymns: An Overview of Texts and Musical Styles in Sound the Bamboo

This article deals with the search for Asian identities through hymns largely published in Sound the Bamboo: CCA Hymnal 2000 (originally published in 1990; revised and enlarged in 2000). It contains 315 hymns with 44 different languages from 22 Asian countries, and was mainly collected and edited by the author. After a brief introduction discussing Christian faith and the recent impact of globalization on Asian churches, the author summarizes features of texts and prominent themes and general musical styles in Asian hymns. The focal point is on the search of Asian musical identities through the analysis of harmonic languages, such as adopted Western harmony, indigenous/traditional harmony, contextual harmony, and contemporary and international styles. The author finally uses two of his own compositions to demonstrate his personal search for Asian identities, and concludes that the best of Asian musical styles have emerged from approaches that are ethnic and indigenous, with syncretic harmony, and those that are innovative, incarnational, and confessional.

The New Word for Pure is Organic

(Pop) Culture: Playground of the Spirit or Diabolical Device?

Media experts differ widely on the value of popular culture. Is it today’s “face of Jesus”? Or, does it vitiate spirituality and tear down worthwhile societal values? The article traces concepts of culture and culture formation. The author argues that popular culture both reflects and affects the values people construct for themselves. Popular culture is a meaning-making and religious act. By engaging general revelation, it may express human hungers, anxieties, injustices and sorrows significantly and truly. Yet it may provide an alternate reality and narrative, supplanting the sacred metanarrative for the plot of life once provided by the religious community. This reality often centers on entertainment personalities through whom people can vicariously live their lives. Popular culture’s narrative framework for personal identity formation may produce its own “God,” and miss its God-ordained purpose of providing an insightfully human narrative that may through the Spirit lead ultimately to the Logos, Jesus Christ. The article is followed by two critical responses.

Response One — ‘(Pop) Culture: Playground of the Spirit or Diabolical Device?’

Response Two — ‘(Pop) Culture: Playground of the Spirit or Diabolical Device?’

On Being A Good American: A Christian Meditation

Hauerwas reflects on the fact that both the political left and the political right in America consider his work to be insufficiently patriotic. He notes that some allege he has done much to discourage Christians from patriotism and participation in the democratic process in general. Much of the critiques center on the issues related to pacifism. In this essay, Hauerwas contends that the politics inherent in pacifism offer a constructive way for Christians to understand how rightly to serve their neighbors. John Howard Yoder’s understanding of pacifism and Augustine’s account of politics in the City of God offer further help in understanding the tensions inherent in Christian engagement with the world. In the end, liberalism construes America as universal in such a way that the church cannot accept “patriotism” as commonly understood. Patriotism can only be a virtue for Christians when we remember that we have a more parochial loyalty to Christ and the church, which must always take precedence.

Justice, Neighbor-Love and the Just-War Tradition: Christian Reflections on Just Use of Force

Christian moral thinkers virtually from the beginning have found it necessary to respond to the common objection that war and armed force are contrary to Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount to turn the other cheek and not resist evil. Significantly, throughout the historical development of just-war thinking, Christian theologians discuss war under the heading of charity. What does love require? The consensual wisdom of the Christian moral tradition is that resisting evil and upholding the common good are consistent with the nature of charity. While Jesus does not indicate how we might respond in situations that entail a third party, Christian ethics does not require that we “turn the cheek” of another party in the direction of an aggressor. To the contrary, charity expresses itself in protecting an innocent third party from oppressive injustice. The enduring political-moral wisdom at the heart of the just-war tradition, though frequently misunderstood or ignored, is supremely relevant for today. Whether in the domestic or international context, it seeks to protect the common weal. Armed force by a duly constituted authority–to restrain and punish evil–is the other side of promoting the common good and civil society. From the standpoint of Christian faith, this can be a valid expression of charity, since justice, rightly construed, seeks to protect one’s neighbor and safeguard the social order.

Clash of Cultures or Clash of Theologies? A Critique of Some Contemporary Evangelical Responses to Islam

This article describes approaches to Islam by evangelical authors after 9/11, and argues that the polemical tendencies in the writings of evangelical authors including R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, and Don Richardson are missiologically imprudent, a distortion of history, and a betrayal of biblical theology. A responsible evangelical approach to Islam, by contrast, will take account of the presence of evil in all civilizations, the sovereignty of God over all cultures, and the doctrine of common grace. Evangelicals should disengage from the so-called “clash of civilizations” which pits Western civilization against Islamic civilization and should instead focus their efforts on theological engagement with Muslims. The article concludes by suggesting some directions that a theologically informed evangelical engagement with Islam might take.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and the Savior of the World: Space, Time, and Structural Evil

Drawing from Goethe’s poem, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” this essay claims that human creations often get the better of us. For example, we often become possessed with going faster and faster and become isolated from one another when we get behind the wheel of a car. It is important to restructure reality, including our use of space and time. As firstborn over all creation and firstborn from among the dead, Jesus restructures all things, including our creaturely framing of space and time so as to serve others rather than enslave them. Jesus’ reconciling activity of making time and space for us bears implications for the church’s own use of space. Whereas our commuter churches often look more like self-contained structures of metallic monads lost in space, city buses bear greater similarities to the kingdom of God: the gate of entry into the bus is narrow; yet the demographic base is very wide, made up of various sectors of society. Jesus has made it possible for us to make space and time for those we would otherwise disregard.