|
|
|
about the author...  Steve Bush (steve@reconstruction.us) is a graduate student in religion at Princeton University and a member of a small Christian community in Philadephia. His interests are Christian ethics, political theology, social theory, and epistemology. You can keep up with him here>>>.
|
The Systematic Exclusion of Jesus from Christianity by Steve Bush
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. ~ Matthew 4:23
 This is one of many summary statements that characterize and describe the day-to-day activities of Jesus and the overall nature of his ministry. It is of the highest significance that the focus of Jesus' day-to-day activity was concrete empowerment, through healings and exorcisms, of disadvantaged and suffering people. Most churches make poverty amelioration one aspect of their ministry, but precious few make such efforts the central focus of their ministry, in opposition to the pattern we see in Jesus. In other words, for most churches Jesus is an object of worship but not emulation. The focus of Jesus' ministry, empowerment, is systematically excluded from the center of U.S. Christian discourse and practice. I want to explore some of the reasons why I believe this is so. 1. We can divide our understanding of Jesus into three aspects: his ministry, death, and resurrection. The Christian imagination focuses on the death (characteristically Catholic) or resurrection (characteristically Protestant) of Jesus as the focal element of salvation, but overlooks his ministry. This is because we view salvation as something that God has done for us and that we receive, as opposed to a cooperative effort of partnership with God. The event of the cross and resurrection is appropriated through faith, and voila! we are saved. Ethics are an afterthought, a holding pattern before we go to heaven. "Follow me," the invitation to a discipleship of imitation, is viewed as relatively unimportant, or completely ignored, or reinterpreted along vague, sentimental, pietistic lines that ignore what Jesus actually did on a day-to-day basis. Liberation theology and the social gospellers of the early 20th century retrieved the nature of Jesus' ministry, but both of those theological movements have quieted, leaving us with the dominant death vs. resurrection christologies that direct our attention away from Jesus' ministry. 2. The view that our proper response to the revelation of God in Jesus is reception but not imitation. It's true that we cannot repeat many features of Jesus' ministry, death, and resurrection. It's true that revelation is in many ways something that we receive, not something we imitate. But one aspect of the revelation of Jesus has to be that he reveals to us God's ideal for a human life. Jesus didn't just make possible a salvific transaction that we appropriate by praying a prayer; he showed us how to live as a human being in our world. 3. A focus on how Jesus did things, ignoring what he did. We are so captivated by the miraculous nature of Jesus' ministry that we forget the miracles were a means to an end: helping marginalized people. Since most of us don't feel able to perform healings and exorcisms on demand, we don't view these activities, which were what Jesus did over and over and over, as informing our own activities in any way. That Jesus fully expected us to do what he did (empower people) through more natural means is evident if we pay attention to the constant biblical injunctions: give cups of cold water, clothe the naked, give to the needy, visit those in prison, and so on. 4. We view Christianity as a set of facts that we are supposed to believe, instead of as a lifestyle we are supposed to engage in. So when we read scripture, we look for propositions to give our assent to, and completely miss the activities that Jesus did, over and over and over.  5. An individualistic preoccupation with salvation as personal admittance into the afterlife. Opposed to this is a more biblical understanding of salvation as entrance into a present-day eschatological community (the church). This community is intended to function as the precursor and witness to the age to come, an age that is characterized by social harmony, peace, and justice. A commitment to the ideals of the age to come should entail a working commitment to those ideals in the present age. See "What is Salvation?" for more. 6. A spirit vs. matter dichotomy, derived from the Platonic philosophy that Christianity inherited early on. We mistakenly view Jesus' message as pertaining to the spiritual and immaterial, whereas an engagement in social justice pertains to the material and economic, spheres which Jesus didn't address. This dualism would have been inconceivable in the first century Jewish world and the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body is an utter refutation of the spirit vs. matter dichotomy. See The Challenge of Jesus for more. 7. A spiritual vs. political dichotomy, derived in part from enlightenment compartmentalization of the spheres of human life. A compassionate concern for suffering and exploited human beings necessarily involves political involvement, since political policies affect profoundly the well being of multitudes of people. But we mistakenly view Jesus' message as pertaining to the spiritual realm, disregarding the political realm. This again would have been inconceivable to first century Jews, and Jesus' proclamation of the inauguration of the "Kingdom of God" was understood as simultaneously spiritual, political, and economic. Again see The Challenge of Jesus or check out The Politics of Jesus. 8. And finally, most significantly, we exclude the central focus of Jesus' ministry from our Christianity because it would cost us a great deal, personally and financially, to make Jesus' pattern of compassionate existence normative for ourselves. Our drive for economic security and advancement exercises a powerful influence over what Bible passages we choose to read and not to read, which ones we privilege and which ones we ignore, and how we interpret and misinterpret passages regarding wealth, poverty, and justice. Restoring the focus of Jesus' ministry to our churches will require a significant restructuring of our ecclesial structures. Such work will be difficult, but we must take up this task. Thank you! You´ve focused on the most critical issue for the survival of the church in the western world - especially Europe. i´m afraid the institutionalized churches are lost. I place my hope in the house church movement. Interesting. But nothing really new. As you mention, social gospellers have been pushing this line for years. As a Canadian, I think I have a different reaction to the emphasis on emulation. Maybe because most of Jesus' explicit exhortations - and subsequently, Paul's - focus on accepting him; believing in him. Maybe, though, its that the current state of the Canadian United Church - a conglomeration of denominations united early in the 20th century - that sours my taste for an extremely emulative approach. Embracing such an approach, the church is not exactly flourishing. Members are leaving in droves (not to join other churches), doctrine, and theology - while accepting and warm and fuzzy - is loosing its bite and is increasingly empty (why does it really matter that Christ actually rose from the dead...is it not symbolic??), and there is just not much of a point to the body of believers anymore. Why accept God's free gift if Christianity is nothing more than voting NDP, Green, sponsoring a world vision child, or attending that rally downtown where we dress up as a human oil slick and lament the destruction of coastal sea life? There is a whole corpus of literature that has sought to deal with these issues, and sadly, I don't think we're moving much closer - but valiant attempt!
Jesus Christ is our "LIFE"
Your points are right-on! I've been muttering for years to deaf ears - probably because I'm not nearly as concise as your post here. This is so well said, I'm rather stunned. Perhaps bacause I am seeing the Holy Spirit bringing forth the truth (through many others too). point four is the heart of it for me. People are trying to learn a set of beliefs that will "get them right with God". An event takes place, a transaction occured and God is with me, I'm done. It seems so few of us are even attempting to live the lifestyle (like Jesus taught), God help us... thanks!
Awesomely clear. I am particularly moved by the reference to understanding the miracles of Jesus in terms of a means to an end. We often get lost in the crucifixion and resurrection business because the walk part of Jesus' ministry is so overwhelming. But to get to Him really is to understand what it is behind the healings and sermons. I have always been enthralled by the disciples being unable to cast out the demons. I wonder now if that had something to do with the lack of understanding of what it was all about. Thanks for the insight. If I ever get to preach again, your challenges will figure prominantly in my encouraging the Body.
Great post, Steve! Print-friendly version of this page Mail this article
|