It’s All Gonna Burn…Or Is It?
Books, Featured — By Michael D. Bobo on September 3, 2010 at 8:00 am
This summer witnesses a huge breakthrough in the envisioning of our future faith; something I have been both refreshed and shocked to witness. I see this as the culmination of a nine month period in my life. Last October something struck me, which launched me into the ever-growing world of religious blogging.
“What will the faith of my grandchildren entail?’
A simple question that I found very few people contemplating. So, I decided to start writing a blog entitled Our Future Faith. And, much like the subject matter it evolved so rapidly through various blog platforms (Windows Live Blog, Blogger, WordPress, back to Blogger as a front page, and back to WordPress) that I have struggled to even continue.
Why bore you with these details? There has been a remarkable happening that I feel so giddy to share with you all.
But first let me back track for context. I have been tremendously impressed with the theology of Jürgen Moltmann. Moltmann is one of theologians whose works Theology of Hope and The Crucified God have been influential in Latin American liberation theology and eco-theology.
Moltmann’s story is truly inspiring. Not only did he survive WWII in Germany, but he was a POW in an Allied camp and this is how God reached him to start his path as one of the preeminent theologians in Europe. Readers will enjoy his autobiography and for the less inclined to read a beautiful podcast of his story can be found on Emergent Village’s site.
His vision of eschatology has been truly liberating in my life. I have been challenged to consider the ways in which the Kingdom of God can be active in and through my life now; in stark contrast to my Fundamentalist upbringing that simply relegated this Earth and this life to the “It’s all gonna burn!!!!” column of my spirituality. Moltmann’s work challenges us all to see God’s creation as stewards and to realize we make a difference in how the Kingdom is manifest.
Enter Brian McLaren. This summer I have devoted my mental energies to reading both A New Kind of Christian and A New Kind of Christianity simultaneously. To my delight, I confronted another example of the need to implement Kingdom living in the here and now. McLaren has been influenced by Moltmann and others to see the modern eschatological focus of my youth as a passing phenomenon that needs to be reformed and retheologized. Rather, the Kingdom is advancing through the Church; we need not just simply wait for a blood stained Christ to ride in on the white horse to torch it all in a literal rendering of Revelation 19 to burn the hell out of all the pagans and scrap the Earth in one fell swoop.
Stage three of this delightful testimony is what just hit the Net this summer on Patheos. Among other topics the contributors are synchroblogging on this summer, I am so pleased to report . . . The Future of Religion. With a heart-felt sigh of relief, I simply say, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
The future of our faith is essential to how we address the most sensitive issues in our faith/theology, our church life, our planet, our familial relationships, etc. What I have wrestled with for so long – as an Evangelical evolving into a Liberal evolving into an Anne Rice-ish hybrid Christ follower estranged with the Church – is that there must be stewardship somewhere, right? It’s not all gonna burn today. Maybe someday. I don’t really know, but that does not give us an excuse to neglect our families, other religions, our planet, our children . . . whatever.
We do make a difference and there is a future faith and we need to start envisioning how we can make the Kingdom even more beautiful and even more relevant to our grand children and our great grand children.
8 Comments
A good blog post to check out on an eschatological view my friend Jonathan posted can be found at: http://www.calledtocommunion.com. His focus is the ancient Church’s view that the eschaton is present now, and especially in the Eucharist.
Another good post to consider if at: fatherstephen.wordpress.com. His most recent post on the secular and christian world views is a good comparison and contrasting.
Tell me what you think of them.
I appreciate your recommendations. Certainly the pre-millenial pre-tribulational view is a new kid on the block and its shortcomings are worth contemplating as Jonathan mentions. Thanks for sharing and for commenting.
I hope that others will be so brave as to consider the value of thinking about the Kingdom now and not just the Kingdom then.
Like you, I am redefining my faith based on things other than my fundamentalist upbringing. However, I have grave concerns over the popular estrangement our generation is having regarding the Church.
Christ loved the church… we are his bride. And every church is to be a unique expression of the universal bride. We need to love the church and evoke change, not give up. The Reformation never would have happened if Luther and Calvin had left the church… they sought to influence change within. Often times the bride can be an adulterous whore, but what hope does she have without people sounding the alarm and reconciling her back to Christ?
I agree with you wholeheartedly. That’s largely why I have taken up writing. I hope that some of the concerns expressed here and in my other pieces will help us to reflect on necessary changes so we collectively can make the Church more relevant, real, pure, and less “adulterous.”
I’m not sure where I advocate abandoning the Church, but I respect your concerns and agree that we have to seek reform not quit completely.
My relationship to the Church has been strained largely because the faith of my parents is not my faith. I have been seeking a new perspective that addresses my concerns and, I think, those of my peers. We have the opportunity to make the Church accountable. I pray that is what comes across more clearly than just disillusionment. If not, please consider this comment a corrective measure to the piece.
Not so much the abandoning of the church, but with Rice’s recent declaration that is not so much a Christian but more of a Christ-follower and I think that turns theological debate into one of symantics, which, in the end, is frivoulous.
I think the main concern that our generation has is that American Christendom recognized the Church as an institution they would belong to, rather than a community of believers actively working towards Kingdom concerns. And, I think, this is where I get hesitant with liberation theology. The only liberation we should be concerned with is the liberation from sin offered by Christ on the cross. Liberation theology, as far as I see, seems to not focus on an eternal perspective, but more of a temporal perspective. I think the answer lies in service and humility – admittedly, things I struggle with, but thankfully they are topics of discussion today when they necessarily were not for our parent’s generation as defined by fundmental Christendom.
That said, I greatly appreciate your post and this website.
[rather than an community of believers] exactly, well said.
[service and humility] I see this as consistent with liberation theology’s intentions. I’m not a liberation theology advocate, but I value Moltmann’s general approach to theology which embraces a God who suffers with us all.
[defined by fundamental Christendom] that’s what I hoped to convey.
Thanks for your comments and thoughts about your processing of our current state. I agree that we need to have a positive and active role within the Church, but I personally have had a hard time finding a community which I can genuinely say fits me and my family.
My family’s experience is not common and we have struggled to identify with our peers. I had open heart surgery two years ago, so my lifestyle is not a typical 30 something existence. My wife has suffered a lot watching me on both sides of my surgery. I share this to simply put things in context. I do not boast in my sufferings, but I realize they have made me a truly unique individual who is able to see life a little differently from others since I have been very close to death fairly recently. I thank God for my second chance and I hope to find a way to positively build the Church in my new stage of life.
Have you had the chance to consider and be challenged by the Bonheoffer book I gave you?
BONHOEFFER: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy – by Eric Metcalf
Dietrich Bonheoffer’s experience and deep journey of faith in the light of the wickedness abounding in his generation (in what would become Nazi Germany) has an uncanny parallel to our own.
What our children’s children believe, will be deeply influenced by how we choose to live our lives today. Is God’s WORD life to us, or a theory to be discussed over coffee or in a chat room?
Do we come out, after trudging through a “dark night of the soul” victorious or beaten down, assured or devastated?
Is what I or others perceive me to be the focus of my foremost thought OR do I as the psalmist David so eloquently penned in Psalm 1, “Delight in the LAW of the LORD and meditate on it day and night”?
(Psalms 1:1) Blessed is the person who does not follow the advice of wicked people, take the path of sinners, or join the company of mockers.
(Psalms 1:2) Rather, he delights in the teachings of the LORD and reflects on his teachings day and night.
(Psalms 1:3) He is like a tree planted beside streams- a tree that produces fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither. He succeeds in everything he does.
God’s WORD says, “Without a vision My people perish.”
My prayer for you, O dear and precious son-in-law, would be that the LORD would give you eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to obey.
May He impart to you keen discernment and wisdom without measure, so that you may not only lead, but also pass on the gauntlet to your own son in full assurance and unwavering faith.
Tell your son who JESUS is. Boldly proclaim to him through God’s WORD and the example of your life the unadulterated message of the gospel (rightly dividing the WORD of truth).
“…without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that He is:
and is a rewarder to them that seek Him.” Hebrew 11:6
I love you as my own son and always will.