On Wednesday evening (April 30) we had the unique pleasure of hearing from both Miroslav Volf and NT Wright. These guys are theological rock stars, not in how they presented themselves (they're each quite down-to-earth and humble), but in the way that they were received by the hundreds of people who attended the event. It was wonderful to hear them interact with each other as Fuller President Mark Labberton hosted the event.
Labberton began the forum by asking each about their developmental journey toward the church. It was striking to hear two men from different cultures and with contrasting accents share some similar accounts. Here's a bit of their interaction.
NT: I didn't have a teenage rebellion; my rebellion was turning toward the Evangelical church. (Note: Wright is an Anglican)
Volf: To be a Christian was to be rebellious, moving from a Pentecostal family toward a liturgical experience. (Volf was raised in Yugoslavia.)
Volf: I was the only open and professing Christian in a high school of 3500.
NT: I was one of half a dozen out of 450 students at boarding school as an evangelical believer.
In querying about what he referred to as "the ecclesiastical industrial complex," Labberton invited Volf and Wright to complete the statement, "The church today is...."
NT: 250 parish churches in the poor rust belt of England, little churches struggling to hang on, that are aware of the local needs of their community and meeting those needs as best they can. This is the church being the church in the simplest way, worshiping, praying, celebrating Eucharist. There is no directive from anywhere. The local churches are worshipping, seeing the need and finding the strength to make the kingdom happen. They're not doing it to attract people to their services, but people are more likely to come because the church is working in the community.
Volf: The many churches throughout the world that are persecuted; the dedication that comes from hard conditions to stand strong and persevere. These people are giants because they would rather lose the whole world than lose their soul. Throughout the world, without any doctrinal training or policing, the same basic tenants of the gospel are proclaimed and lived out.
What worries me: leaders of other religions see themselves as religious guides and spiritual leaders, while Christians leaders see themselves as intellectuals, bureaucrats and managers.
Wright: The real church is not what we see in the newspapers, media and public eye, but what's happening at the local level.
Volf: People can smell hypocrisy from a long ways away, especially in larger powerful movements.
This beautiful thing we have in the repository of the gospel is attractive on its own, lets not mess it up. We try to help it along with our little schemes in an effort to generate attractiveness, but that's unnecessary.
Labberton also asked each theologian to comment about the future challenges of the church....
Volf: We will be faced with the question of what it means to be human, especially with all of the genetic issues in play today. Also, the widening gap between extremely poor and wealthy. And one more, the coming of people from other cultures and countries.
NT: Two things Paul would emphasize to today's church: 1) Unity; he would not understand the plurality of so many Christian entities, organizations, etc. 2) And Holiness; there is a lot of fuzzy thinking about ethics and practice of believers. There is a huge disparity between those churches who do social work and those who preach conversion for the afterlife; the kingdom is so much bigger than either.
Volf: Concerned with the functionalization of the church; meeting the ends of whatever we define it to be (the church as a means to reach the goal we define). We take God for granted as our servant, lacking lordship, fear and service.
Wright: We used to send missionaries to Africa and now we have them coming to us and reminding us of what church is all about.
And here are a few random responses to other questions from Labberton and members of the audience....
Volf: It's one thing to understand the gifts that you have, and it's another for people in the church to accept those gifts.
Volf: To evangelical churches, please sit down and have somebody read the scripture in your worship services, don't psychologize me. I'm a local church Episcopalian [uproarious laughter here]. I'm a cheerful Episcopalian (for liturgy) with strong free church tendencies.
NT: The idea that when you disagree about something you go away and start a new church is something we never find in the Bible; they would be horrified.
NT: Worries about the current form of denominationalism (though not a post-denominationalist): competing for doctrinal certainty and institutionalization through executive leadership (synods, councils) rather than allowing local congregations to wrestle with and work out the gospel.
NT: Recommends The Master and His Emissary. Thesis: western culture is schizophrenic -- right hand brain is culture and art, left hand brain is analytic. We've become a left brained society with arts on the fringes playing supporting roles at best.
NTt: There is an absence of sustained corporate public worship of scripture. This, not the explanation of scripture, is the purpose of worship,
Full-time professor, part-time pastor, husband, father of two small boys, news writer for @U2 (atu2.com), just trying to find my way in a new world.
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