The Wise Archbishop of Canterbury

I commend to all Archbishop Rowan Williams's reflection in response to the General Convention. He masterfully relates the Anglican tradition, both its strengths and its current weaknesses, and anticipates a way forward for the Anglican Communion. You'll find both written and audio versions of his statement here.

The Ecclesiology of Babette and Gutierrez

Hey!

I've been so busy reading and writing papers that I've had less time than I'd like to keep this blog updated.

Here are few snippets from my papers. This first one comes from an ecclesiological take on the film Babette's Feast in which two models of church are dramatized, and Babette's model wins out over that of the religious sect:

"The experience of the sect calls their model into question in that it leads them to acrimony with one another and discontentment. The model certainly does not illuminate their experience. One man accuses another of cheating him. A fellow’s disgruntlement with yet another bowl of fish soup implies that perhaps God’s followers were never meant to be wholly otherworldly. The model represented by Babette, on the other hand, yields a very different experience: communion. The film climaxes in a Eucharistic feast in which the members of the sect reluctantly but eventually surrender to the model of Babette. Old conflicts melt away, Philippa and Martina retrieve their lost loves, and the group departs arm in arm in a parade of harmonious community. A new model has come."

The following is the best part of my second paper, which is an ecclesiological reading of Gustavo Gutierrez's A Theology of Liberation:

"Vatican II retrieved the notion of Church as sacrament, which “enables us to think of the Church within the horizon of salvific work and in terms radically different from those of the ecclesiocentric emphasis” (p. 146). In contradistinction to the ecclesiocentric model, the center of the Church as sacrament is outside itself, “in the work of Christ and his Spirit” (p. 146). The Church does not exist for itself but for others, and it is not an end in itself but a means to the Kingdom of God. Conversely, “the Church is nothing” to the extent that it does not place itself within the “action of the Spirit which leads the universe and history towards its fullness in Christ” (p. 147). The Church is not a distant oasis in a wide desert to which all thirsty souls must make the trek. Rather, the Holy Spirit is on the move in the world, leading it to its fullness in Christ; the Church, to be the Church, must participate in this movement."

Reading...

I've spent most every waking minute since I've been down here with my nose in one book or another. I'm learning, but it's exhausting. Last night I finished The Beginnings of the Church by Frederick Cwiekowski, which Richard McBrien and many other ecclesiologists consider the best synthesis of, well, the beginnings of the church, from Jesus through what's called the post-apostolic period, the third generation of Christianity (which ends somewhere in the early second century).

What do I take away from the book? Two things mainly. First, the vast diversity even within the church under the apostles. The principal point of tension was what to do with the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. There were at least four major schools of thought about this, from the belief that no adherence to Judaism was at all necessary (on the far left) to the belief that non-Jewish Christians should be circumcised and follow Jewish dietary laws (on the far right). Peter and Paul, who were bringing the gospel to Gentiles, brought their concerns about this to Jerusalem, where a council (presided over by James the brother of the Lord), sorted it out. Ultimately, the decision was to affirm the Gentile majority's belief that it was not necessary for Gentile converts to be circumcised and follow the food laws. But interestly, James tells Peter and Paul and the rest on their side of the debate not to flaunt their freedoms. In other words, don't grab a piece of bacon, wave it in the face of Jewish brother in Christ, and tell him or her about how great it is. James exercised the role proper to a leader. He affirmed freedom, but also constraint. Too often we approach matters in the church today in a one-sided way. "Well, it's my Christian right to do this or that, so to heck with the rest of you." But of course exercising a right is not all that matters. Communion, love, and deference for one's brothers and sisters in the faith matters too.

At any rate, I learned not to make the mistake of assuming that somewhere back there in the past was this universal Christian viewpoint. Differences among Christians is nothing new. It has always, always, always been thus.

I was also struck with all the conflict in the early church. Paul and Peter, the principal founders of our faith (after Jesus, of course) really had it in for each other at one point, though they did seem to resolve their differences. The churches in Asia Minor had big beefs with the church in Jerusalem. In fact, it may not be an exaggeration to say that we wouldn't have much of the New Testament if it weren't for ecclesial conflicts because almost all of Paul's writings, which make up the bulk of the NT, were responses to one conflict or another. It's really quite remarkable.

And comforting too in a way, especially as I watch with some fear the decisions being made at the general convention of the Episcopal Church (USA) of which I'm a loyal member. I am glad we've reached a point in history when we can elect a woman as presiding bishop, but at what cost? Will the churches of the south, churches largely made up of the poor, the very people with whom Jesus called us to identify most--will they walk away? Are we really facing the first Anglican schism?

Oh Father, grant us strength and resolve to face our differences with grace and understanding. I pray it is not so that these differences necessitate a formal division. It grieves me.

God grant us peace.

Church Streams

Just read an interesting overview of "ecclesiology" in The Encyclopedia of Religion. It quickly summarized the main streams of the church: Eastern, Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Congregational, and Baptist. The ecclesiological self-understanding of the Eastern church (Orthodox) resonates with me: "the church is the mystery of the communication of divine life to created nature" and "the church is . . . human reality permeated by the divinizing power that flows from the Incarnation and Pentecost" and "the emphasis is less on forgiveness of sins than on restoration of the image [of God's likeness] through participation in the divinizing energies."

This strikes me as a more feminine way of understanding the church than is characterized by the Western conception, which does tend to emphasize forgiveness of sins. Church, says the Eastern tradition, is not about repentance and forgiveness as much as it is about restoration and participation in the divine life.

I like that.

Back Below the Dome

Tomorrow begins another three weeks of class at Notre Dame. One of the most striking architectural features here is the golden dome that crowns the administrative building. The campus a beautiful place. I'm taking ecclesiology with Richard McBrien. I'll try to keep this blog updated while I'm here.

It was tough saying goodbye to Alyssa, who is now a little more than three months pregnant with our firstborn child, but we'll see each other in about a week, when I head back up to GR for some meetings.

I dropped by the Grotto after getting settled in here and lit a candle in prayer. The Grotto, also known as the "cave of candles," is a 1/8 scale replica of a place in France (I forget the name of the town) where it is said Mary appeared to several little girls. I'll drop in a pic of that as well. An enchanting and holy place.

A Vision Worth Pursuing...

"When the poor meet the rich, riches will have no meaning. And when the rich meet the poor, we will see poverty come to an end."

—Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution