The First Social Task of the Church

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The First Social Task of the Church

The claim that “the first social task of the church is to be the church” (Hauerwas) is a typical of postliberal ecclesiology. This paper argues that this ecclesiology (built also on related claims that the church is a culture, and doctrine is a cultural-linguistic system) replicates colonial models in its missionary movement, insulate the church from external critique, and abstract the church from the encounter with God and in-breaking of the kerygma. The social task of the church needs to be found beyond itself. This is made possible by understanding the church as a missionary community, who, echoing God’s act for us in Christ, express its faithfulness to the Triune God through solidarity with the world. Engaging the world as participants of God’s rectifying act to make and keep human life human. 

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Thoughts on Daniel White Hodge's "Homeland Insecurity"

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Thoughts on Daniel White Hodge's "Homeland Insecurity"

Daniel White Hodge’s Homeland InsecurityL A Hip Hop Missiology for the Post-Civil Right’s Context (IVP 2018) is a vital work on race, mission, Hip Hop, and finding Jesus in a post-soul, post-civil rights context. I was excited to write down some thoughts.

“Western evangelism has run its course. There is not much we can salvage from it. Hip Hop theology creates space for multiethnic voices to imagine God and heaven while filled with doubt. It allows us to live in ambiguity while still seeking the face of God. Hip Hop theology gives credence to love, unity, peace, and fellowship with God from the context of a multiethnic and intercultural perspective. This is where missiology needs to go, and together we can begin to reconstruct what Christianity looks like in the wild for a generation seeking new and fresh symbols of Jesus.” (232)

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Doctrine as Translation

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Doctrine as Translation

This post develops a proposal for a role of doctrine in a post-Christendom, global church. It explores writings by George Lindbeck and Kevin Vanhoozer, arguing their contributions restrict the potential for translation through calls to unity. To move forward I engage the function of doctrine, drawing on James H Cone and Ellen T Charry. They show doctrine needs to be transformative, meeting people in their contexts and drawing them into the mission of God. Finally I examine the potential of the role of doctrine as translation; a process empowering both the renewing and rebirth of past expressions of doctrine, and the emergence of entirely new forms built on the endless array of communal and individual experiences of God.

“Doctrine should do something. It should compel the Christian, drawing them into, or sustaining them through, the struggle for liberation and freedom for the oppressed.”

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To Hear Humanity Read Over Us

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To Hear Humanity Read Over Us

When the post-exilic community hear the Law of Moses read aloud they are moved to tears, what a thing to be reminded of your humanity after living amidst a dehumanising system/society. This piece explores James Cone, Slave Spirituals, Kendrick Lamar, and Sia as examples in this lineage of speaking humanity over the oppressed. It also asks what does it mean for me to be reminded of my humanity in a system designed to celebrate it above all else.

It is in the Law that they hear their humanity spoken over them. In the Law that they hear that they are created in God’s image, created for freedom not bondage, and that God is for them and not on the side of their vainglorious oppressors. What a thing that must be, when for 70 years you have heard (and witnessed) nothing but the opposite. What a thing it must be to hear that you are known, valued, and a person when the society around you has demonstrated their belief, in no uncertain terms, that you are lesser, disposable, a non-person.
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