Unwrapping Our Bounded Salvation

Transcription

1 THOUGHT MATTERS 2011 CONFERENCE PAPER Unwrapping Our Bounded Salvation A paper prepared for the Thought Matters Conference 2-4 September 2011 Soul Salvation Whole Salvation Towards a Theology of Social Justice Jason Davies-Kildea Australia Southern Territory

2 INTRODUCTION WHAT S THE PROBLEM? The Salvation Army, through a multitude of social services right across the world, is involved daily in saving people from the devastating impacts of poverty, homelessness, addictions, unemployment and a wide range of other predicaments. However, the dominant internal rhetoric about salvation would appear to suggest that theologically these efforts are at best secondary to an evangelical mission of conversion. What good is it to save people s bodies if their souls are damned to hell? 1 This gap between what we say and what we do is symptomatic of a deep divide between the dual elements of our mission to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and help those in need without discrimination. Once these are perceived as two, separate activities, we have already succumbed to a fundamental dualism and are compelled to prioritise in favour of the eternal above the temporal. A truly holistic understanding of the fullness of salvation of boundless salvation will not simply tie together social justice activities and evangelism in an artificial pairing, but will accept that these things are more fully one than we have realised and that to divide them is to slay them 2. How is it that we find ourselves in this separated state? I believe that we are suffering from soteriological shrinkage. The scope of salvation that is preached from many platforms is little more than pie in the sky when you die. As a result, our evangelical and social arms have become two separate missions because our concept of salvation is no longer big enough to hold them together. Furthermore, I think that the primary cause of this shrinkage is that we have bought into dualistic thinking. Dualism is prevalent in much of our language and consequently throughout the multitude of ways in which we worship, pray and engage in mission. An awareness of the way we use words is critical to understanding how deep this dualism goes. Salvation is more than our movement s middle name. Our corporate understanding of salvation is foundational to our identity and shapes the way in which we engage in mission. It defines who we are and what we do. George Lakoff, a professor of cognitive science and linguistics at the University of California, says that people think in frames, mental structures that shape the way we see the world. As a result, they shape the goals we seek, the plans we make, the way we act, and what counts as a good or bad outcome of our actions." 3 In The Salvation Army today, the dominant concept of salvation has become a restrictive frame that exacerbates, rather than healing, the growing divide in missional focus. As David Bosch has rightly pointed 1 Davies-Kildea, What Is the Meaning of Salvation in the Salvation Army Today? Exploring a Theology of Social Service and Holistic Mission (Koln: Lambert Academic Publishing, 2009). p.2 2 William Booth was claimed to have responded to those who wanted his social work but not his religion If you want my social work, you have got to have my religion; they are joined together like the Siamese twins, to divide them is to slay them. A recollection by Brigadier Fred Fox, lecture to cadets, 4 January 1924, quotation taken from Phil Needham, Community in Mission: A Salvationist Ecclesiology (St Albans: Campfield Press, 1987). p.63 3 George Lakoff, Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate (Carlton North: Scribe Publications, 2004). p. xv Unwrapping Our Bounded Salvation 2 Thought Matters Conference, 2011

3 out, since one s theology of mission is always closely dependent on one s theology of salvation; it would therefore be correct to say that the scope of salvation determines the scope of the missionary enterprise. 4 In order to bridge the gap, it s essential that we learn to reframe. We need to rediscover the meaning of a salvation that is truly boundless. Until we do so, then social justice will always remain an added extra, rather than an integral part of our existence. The beginning of this reframing process will be a renewed appreciation of the breadth of salvation in the Judeo-Christian tradition. RE-EXAMINING THE HISTORICAL SOURCES When we examine the Scriptures and when we reflect upon Christian history, we discover a consistent thread that links salvation and social justice. The diminished version of salvation that we have inherited is not the only perspective on Christian soteriology - it s not even the dominant view until relatively recently. No more than a brief survey of key texts will demonstrate that the Bible contains a number of diverse views of the meaning and nature of salvation. The rich diversity of scripture reminds us that different living contexts produce a variety of results in the ongoing human struggle to understand life in the light of the divine. Both Testaments are replete with salvific references that demonstrate the sacred nature of compassionate actions and our longing for a more just society. According to Walter Brueggemann, in the Old Testament salvation is often characterised as material that is, concerned with lived, concrete, socio-political issues [in contrast to] frequent Christian claims that salvation is something spiritual and otherworldly. In reality, the Old Testament knows no such dualism as material-spiritual, and regards every aspect of life personal and public, present and future as open to YHWH s saving capacity. 5 This disavowal of dualism from a Hebrew perspective is vital to understanding the spiritual dimension of familiar salvation stories such as the exodus or the return from exile. In the New Testament, salvation encompasses a variety of experiences and meanings including physical healing and wholeness, as well as reconciliation with God. These various understandings of salvation are rooted in the different historical contexts from which they emerge. Salvation is always experienced from a particular situation of need to its corresponding resolution. For example, when Jesus tells a healed person, Your faith has saved you 6 (Luke 7:50; 8:48; 17:19; 18:42), he is not speaking of a future reward in heaven but re-entry into a deeper experience of life in the present. Understanding the context is vital. Healing in the ancient world represents far more than improved physical health. Where illness is associated with sin and particularly when contagion is thought to be a possibility, being sick can entail a range of serious consequences from social isolation to loss of income, inability to participate in religious worship and separation from family. This is why Jesus vision of God s 4 David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1991). p Walter Brueggemann, Reverberations of Faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002). p In some translations, the words Your faith has made you well replaces the more literal saved you. This serves to further illustrate the restorative and holistic nature of salvation experienced when Jesus healed people. Unwrapping Our Bounded Salvation 3 Thought Matters Conference, 2011

4 Kingdom necessitated healing, reconciling actions that brought people not just back to physical wellbeing but restored social relationships as well. The Salvation Army was founded in this same tradition that recognises the spiritual dimension of injustice, poverty and disadvantage. William Booth came to the conclusion that the miseries from which I sought to save man in the next world were substantially the same as those from which I everywhere found him suffering in this 7. Over time he began to recognise that the poor were already in the midst of hell in this life, despite his efforts to save them from hell in the next. When asked if The Salvation Army proper (i.e., the evangelical mission) had suffered from the competition of social operations, Booth responded: I know what you mean; but in my estimation it is all The Salvation Army proper. We want to abolish these distinctions, and make it as religious to sell a guernsey or feed a hungry man as it is to take up a collection in the barracks. It is all part of our business, which is to save the world body and soul, for time and for eternity! 8 Here, I think Booth is touching on something that we are still struggling to fully understand: that housing the homeless, feeding the hungry and showing unconditional regard for the prostitute or drug addict are all deeply spiritual practices. Compassionate acts are not subordinate to the more familiar spiritual disciplines such as prayer or fasting. Rather, these kingdom building acts of justice are essentially sacramental they function as thin places that reveal the sacred nature of everyday life. A renewed understanding of the breadth of salvation in our own tradition is a critical step towards reframing our concept of salvation. Equally important is the capacity to practice theology in ways that affirm our experience of salvation, including those experiences that are part of our social services. ENGAGING IN PRACTICAL THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION Shifting our theological lens to widen our view of salvation is an even more difficult task than it may at first appear. This is because our theology is largely determined by the context in which we exist. Until we make the intentional move to align ourselves more closely alongside the poor and the marginalised, our theology will continue to be bound to a different set of values. Vincent Bacote has the following to say on this matter: As those who enjoy the fruits of hard work in society, many white evangelicals do not have a need for salvation to have an impact on their concrete existence. Since they have that part of their lives under control, they can focus on their inner world and getting to heaven. The life experience of such evangelicals grinds their theological lenses in ways that actually render them blind to readings of Scripture that may reveal sin and salvation as anything other than an individual matter. They have the luxury of viewing salvation as a matter of the heart alone. 9 7 William Booth, "Salvation for Both Worlds," All The World, January 1889.p.2 8, "Interview - 14th January 1893," The War Cry, 14th January Vincent Bacote, "What Is This Life For? Expanding Our View of Salvation," in What Does It Mean to Be Saved? : Broadening Evangelical Horizons of Salvation, ed. John Gordon Stackhouse (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002).p.106 Unwrapping Our Bounded Salvation 4 Thought Matters Conference, 2011

5 In the latter half of the 20 th century, a range of theological movements arose that prioritise human experience as the starting point for theological reflection. Liberation Theology, Feminist Theology, Black Theology and Asian Theology are just a few examples of the movements that have successfully discovered the value of contextually relevant theological undertaking. On the other hand, in The Salvation Army we have largely ceased to do theology from the context of our social programs. Today, theological formation almost always occurs outside this context and consequently the relationship with social service practice has suffered. However, our engagement alongside the poor and the marginalised must surely be the key locus for both the identification of larger social justice issues and the place in which we encounter the God who sides with the poor. The reframing process, in which we will find an expanded, more generous salvation, can be significantly aided by our engagement in practical theological reflection, informed by both our tradition and contemporary context in which seek God s justice. CONCLUSIONS In The Salvation Army, the current predilection for saving souls reflects a dualistic worldview which is biblically and theologically unsound. Thorwald Lorenzen notes that, When God shares his life with his creation, he does not only want to save a person s soul, but he wants to save the person s life. 10 Similarly, Sehon Goodridge dismisses the duality inherent in this question - Is salvation temporal or eternal?... We are not dualities of soul and bodies; we are total persons. Our bodies are integral to our personalities... Our wholeness, our health, depends upon this proper and positive relationship. 11 The unnatural separation of body and soul, and the consequent prioritising of the soul, inevitably results in a deprecation of the flesh which reflects docetic and Gnostic heresies more than Christianity. A theology of social justice requires a holistic view of the human predicament, our need for, and means of salvation. In order to achieve this, we must set aside the temptation to dualism and rediscover our roots, which reveal the implicit spiritual dimensions of concrete, historical acts of deliverance. In order to further this tradition in the 21 st century, we need to re-engage in practical theological reflection that arises from genuine solidarity alongside the poor, the marginalised and the suffering of this world. This is what s necessary to release our bounded salvation and in doing so, we will find a theology of social justice that inspires a more connected and effective mission. 10 Thorwald Lorenzen, Resurrection and Discipleship. New York, Orbis, 1995, p Sehon Goodridge, "Salvation and Political Justice," in Windows on Salvation, ed. Donald English (London: Darton, Longmann & Todd, 1994).128 Unwrapping Our Bounded Salvation 5 Thought Matters Conference, 2011

6 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bacote, Vincent. "What Is This Life For? Expanding Our View of Salvation." In What Does It Mean to Be Saved? : Broadening Evangelical Horizons of Salvation, edited by John Gordon Stackhouse, 203 p. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, Booth, William. "Interview - 14th January 1893." The War Cry, 14th January "Salvation for Both Worlds." All The World, January 1889, 6. Bosch, David J. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, Brueggemann, Walter. Reverberations of Faith: A Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, Davies-Kildea. What Is the Meaning of Salvation in the Salvation Army Today? Exploring a Theology of Social Service and Holistic Mission. Koln: Lambert Academic Publishing, Goodridge, Sehon. "Salvation and Political Justice." In Windows on Salvation, edited by Donald English, xii, 194p. London: Darton, Longmann & Todd, Lakoff, George. Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. Carlton North: Scribe Publications, Needham, Phil. Community in Mission: A Salvationist Ecclesiology. St Albans: Campfield Press, Unwrapping Our Bounded Salvation 6 Thought Matters Conference, 2011