My Actual Sunday Blog (A Generous Orthodoxy)

I posted earlier about missing a post on Saturday - so technically (in my mind, anyway!) that was yesterday's post - this is today's post.

I've read and re-read Brian D. McLaren's book A Generous Orthodoxy. Upon my second reading I went through and highlighted the paragraphs, links and thoughts and struck me as true (which pretty much means "I think like that") or questionable (which pretty much means "hmmm . . . he could be going to hell for this"). :-)

On pg. 20 (in the introduction to the book; and I'm reading the softcover with "new epilogue & discussion guide included," just in case you're following along), writing to those who are not yet Christian but thinking about it, McLaren states: You wonder if there's any way to follow Jesus without becoming a Christian. In the footnote to that sentence he further writes: If you need permission, YES, you can follow Jesus without identifying yourself as a Christian. See Chapter 17. Of course, as a follower of Jesus, you will learn to love and draw near to everyone, whatever their religion of lack thereof, including Christians. In so doing, you will exemplify what a Christian should be.

So I find myself of two minds right at the edge of this book.

1. I think of Gandhi, who valued the teaching of Jesus as found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew so much that he read and meditated on them and honored the Jew who uttered them. He never identified himself as a formal follower of Jesus, but he tried to live out the teachings that fit in with his already determined path. This is, for me, a perfect example of what McLaren's talking about - living the lifestyle espoused by Jesus even though there's no declaration of faith, no baptism, no formal Church attendance, etc.

2. McLaren seems to be making a case here that to follow Jesus means acting a certain way, this acting having been precipitated by learning more about Jesus and trying to act as he would act (that's a convoluted sentence, by the way, but I'm not sure how to fix it, so it stays as is - hopefully y'all can make sense of the sense I'm trying to get across!). I think I agree with this, too - at the core of Jesus' teaching seems to be the tripartite commandment to love God and love others as self. If we can manage that, then it would make sense that our lives would be so ordered as to live a Jesus-like lifestyle, whether or not we ever attended any religious service or received formal religious instruction.

3. On the other hand, the New Testament is also filled with stories of people living out their faith in communities of faith. Our history as fractured Church shows that even in times of persecution and schism people tried their best to live faith in the midst of other struggling Christians. If, as I believe, Christianity is best lived out in community, then becoming a follower of Jesus all by your lonesome is not really an option. It smacks of a solitary practitioner of Wicca picking and choosing from among many varied and often contradictory sources to create a personalized path of rituals, chants, spells, beliefs and gods. It reminds me of gnostics and early orthodox Christians, East and West, Protestant and Catholic, etc. - each person living out their own vision of what it means to follow Jesus. The New Testament shows arguments, conflicts and disagreements over doctrine and practice, yes, but it also shows eventual compromise based on the prompting of the Spirit and the prayer and conversation of early leaders. I find it hard to realistically tell someone that they can follow Jesus without entering into the messy arena of the Church.

4. On the other hand, I think McLaren may be saying that you can follow the teachings of Jesus without having to make a formal declaration of churchiness. This is what Gandhi did - he treated all religious teaching as ethically true, without ascribing to any one religion eminence over the other. He followed the teaching of Jesus, but did not enter into the complex world of Church politics, limited atonement, number of sacraments, divinity of Jesus, or any of the other things Christians fought (and continue to fight) over.

5. On one last hand, the New Testament again seems to argue that following Jesus mandates both an ethical change of lifestyle (love God, love neighbor) and an additional assent of faith in the incarnation, life, passion, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus; not just an affinity for his teachings, but an essential worship of the Logos made flesh. In light of this, I find it hard to unflinchingly assert that anyone can be Christian just by saying it's so. However, I can say that anyone can follow the teachings of Jesus so long as they read for themselves and put it into practice. And really, wouldn't the whole world be a slightly better place if everyone - Gentile or Jew, woman or man, servant or free - followed this?

Blessings & Peace,

Hugo