storie 2000 jaar se verhaal!

Transcription

1 Luister na die Christelike storie 2000 jaar se verhaal! VBO Oos Kaap 3 5 Maart

2 Gedagtes uit: Andrew Walls: Wll The cross cultural lprocess in Christian history (Orbis 2002). Hy verwerk KS Latourette se fenomenale 7 volumes getitel: A history of the expansion of Christianity ( ). Luister na die geskiedenis en ontdek sy patrone. Pred.3:15: Wat is, was reeds. Wat kom, was ook alreeds. God laat weer gebeur wat vroeër gebeur het. 2

3 Vier patrone 1. Latourette / Walls sien die Christelike verhaal: is not a steady triumphant progression, it is a story of advance and recession. (12) 2. Christian faith must go on being translated, must continuously enter into the vernacular culture and interact with it, or it withers and fades (:29) 3. Islamic expansion is progressive; Christian expansion is serial (30). The heartland of Christianity moved from Jerusalem to Asia-Minor, to Africa, to Europe. It is moving from the North to the South. No church, no place, no culture owns Christ(inanity) A significant feature of the demographic and cultural shifts in the Christian centre of gravity is that each threatened eclipse of Christianity was adverted by its cross-cultural diffusion. Crossing boundaries have been the life blood of historic Christianity. The energy for these crossings has come from the periphery rather than the centre. 3

4 The source of Christian expansion (9 26) Christianity is about Christ (Mark 1) not the church. Christ = the source of Christian expansion. Three tests: 1. The church htest: t Not tindividual id salvation but worshipping i congregations where Christ becomes visible in the lives of the community. This is where expansion takes place. 2. The Kingdom test: when demons are cast out & Christ s presence are felt in acts of mercy and power. Where signs of God s supernatural llove transforms lives & structures. t Conversion takes place and righteousness & peace / forgiveness /restitution are realized. 4

5 The source of Christian expansion (cont) 2 (The Kingdom test (cont):) Examples: * John the Baptist; * Monastries (middeleeue, rykes & magtiges & magtelose armoede: kloosters word alternatiewe leefwyse twv geestelike oorlewing) * The Missionary Movement (LW grootste impetus vir verenigings van leke werkers, studentebewegings, vroueverenigings vroue self nie offisiële kerklike poste & steun) * African Independent Churches (CfSanneh & Cox) 2 The Gospel Test: = the effect of Christ on peoples and cultures. Paul s Good news = Christ that died for our sins and rose again His victory it over the principalities i & powers. I.e. Christ s resurrection = realized eschatology. Absolute destructive aspects of culture changed, examples quoted from different continents. Power of evil broken. 5

6 The source of Christian regression (9 26) There is a built in fragility in each of these tests. Each one can become a countersign. 1. Church h / congregation sign: not to be counted tdor mapped if Christ in them disappears, they fade away. 2. Kingdom test when the signs of it disappear it becomes a countersign an earthly kingdom (i.e. when evil is no longer defeated). Cf: you can t map this kingdom!! Monasties became countersigns. 3. Gospel Test: when there is no longer good news insofar as the resurrection power of Christ overcoming systemic evil 6

7 Comparison: Christianity Islam (13, 29, 66) P 13: Whereas the Jerusalem of the apostles have fallen, the Mecca of the prophet remains inviolate. When it comes to sustaining congregations of the faithful, Christianity does not appear to possess the same resilience of Islam. It decays and withers in its very heartlands a WHY? 7

8 Comparison: Christianity Islam Do the resilience of Islam and the vulnerability of Christianity reflect something of the inherent nature of the two faiths? (13) With relative few exceptions those that accepted Islam remained Islamic ever since (29) Christianity has no culturally fixed element, no place, no text or law that is flawless (sola scriptura??) Il Islam has a single word that is true the Qur an in Arabic, a fixed abode in heaven, closed traditions on earth, a perfect shari a law, a single shrine in Mecca. Christianity only have Christ, and Him crucified, to follow. No fixed abode or language or culture, only a journey to the ends of the earth. 8

9 Acts 15 & the Ephesian moment Acts 15 decided dnot to make proselytes but to entrust converts with the Gospel! Proselyte: circumcised; entered the life of Israel by seeking to obey the Torah (67). Becomes Jewish. Conversion: turningtochrist to & followinghim regardless of your language or culture or place it actually means following Him in your culture, language & place. 9

10 Acts 15 & the Ephesian moment (cont) Then came the diaspora The new believers were to follow Christ in the conditions of Hellenistic society. They had to develop a new lifestyle guided by the Holy Spirit and the Christ event. No torah! 68 Result: twodistinct Christianlifestyles. Check letter to the Ephesians on how to handle this phenomenon. The church has to be diverse because humanity is diverse

11 Acts 15 & the Ephesian moment (cont) P 77: The Ephesian letter is not about cultural homogeneity; cultural diversity is built into the church by the decision not to enforce the Torah. It is the celebration of the union of irreconcilable entities, the breaking down of the wall of partition, brought about by Christ s death (p (Eph 2:13 18). Metaphor: One body, one head (4:15 16). Test: Sit at the meal table & celebrate Christ 11

12 Acts 15 & the Ephesian moment (cont) P 79: The return of the Ephesian moment is of special importance on two accounts: theologically and economically. The purpose of theology is to make Christian decisions. i Theology is about choices; it is the attempt to think in a Christian way. And the need for choice and decision arises from the specific settings of life. In this sense, the theological agenda is culturally induced; and the cross cultural diffusion of Christian faith invariably makes creative theological activity a necessity. Example: What it meant to say Christ is Kurios in the Roman Empire!!! 12

13 Acts 15 & the Ephesian moment (cont) The economic implication of Acts 15 & the Ephesian moment: Look at our world: its economic disparities, poverty and AIDS. Christianity it is growing and is becoming the religion i of the poor and very poor peoples of the earth. It has no other gift thanthe the gospel!! Look at the issues we are facing: economically, ecologically. It affects us all this earth is mother to us all. We are in the ecumenical paradigm: nobody can do theology without the other. There is no standard Christianity. Nobody has exclusive access through the Holy Spirit to Christ. We are one body with one Head. 13

14 Acts 15 & the Ephesian moment (cont) Two dangers (78 79): The instinctive desire to protect our own version of the Christian faith (Judaizing has been the most persistent of heresies, p 68); The other, perhaps more seductive one in the present condition of Western Christianity, is the postmodern option: to decide that each of the expressions and versions is equally validand and authentic, and thatweare are therefore each atliberty to enjoy our own in isolation from all the others. 14

15 What went wrong with the church post Ephesus? Hypothesis (29): Christian faith must go on being translated, must continuously enter into vernacular culture and interact with it, or it withers and fades. Without conversion (=transformation), there s no church, h kingdom or gospel. So what went wrong? 15

16 What went wrong with the church post Ephesus? 1. Christianity was linked to territory and to an institution the church. It became Christendom (a state church partnership). The Roman empire needed a ideological basis for the empire and used Christianity to that effect. The reformation sought a reformed Christendom and explained it in their systematic theology. But: cujus regio, ejus religio stayed! Eventually secularism domesticated the gospel completely. Territory described as being Christian with a single code (theology) and custom (church law), a single worship style (liturgy). Denominationalism. [Can the presence of Christ be mapped?] (Columbus discover America the Catholic mission hour & 1792 (Alexander Duff, Scottish Protestant missionary) are Christendom mission work signposts. Mission went hand in hand with colonialismexpansion of the state making use of the church in order to have a unifying ideology. Thus Christendom was plot able on the map. Colonialism li ld led to the final erosion of Christendom. 16

17 But: the cultural diffusion of Christianity did take place! How? Conversion implemented /enforced as the fruit of conquest, never worked. Christ was not in the heart nor the Spirit active in the transformation of culture. Proselytes were made. They kept returning to their idols. Colonialismatrocitiesbetrayed atrocities the gospel. Ithelped Africans not to foster the relationship between throne and altar (i.e. church and state). Then came the two world wars and missionaries had to withdraw, leaving for good as the Independence era dawned post

18 But: the cultural diffusion of Christianity i i did take place!!h How? Seeds were sown. All over the world missionary movements were not only official church missions. Quite often it was women who played the key role with countless volunteers. More often than not it was a lay movement, constantly subversive of church order and theological (denominational) points of view that were viewed as important at home. Languages were learnt, the Bible was translated and in many African cultures the indigenous names of God were used thus crossing cultural lboundaries and frontiers and becoming indigenous. Cross cultural diffusion took place. The church became multi racialandand multi cultural because at the heart of it all was Christ, crucified, resurrected present! 18

19 Vier patrone & ʼn gevolgtrekking 1. Latourette / Walls sien die Christelike verhaal: is not a steady triumphant progression, it is a story of advance and recession. (12) 19

20 2 Christian faith must go on being translated, must continuously enter into the vernacular culture and interact with it, or it withers and fades (:29) 20

21 3 Islamic expansion is progressive; Christian expansion is serial (30). The heartland of Christianity moved from Jerusalem to Asia-Minor Minor, to Africa, to Europe. It is moving from the North to the South. No church, no place, no culture owns Christ(inanity)

22 4 A significant feature of the demographic and cultural shifts in the Christian centre of gravity is that each threatened eclipse of Christianity was adverted by it cross- cultural diffusion. Crossing boundaries have been the life blood of historic Christianity. it The energy for these crossings has come from the periphery rather than the centre. 22

23 5 Top-down evangelism & mission lead to proselytes and leave culture unaltered; Side-to-side and bottom-up evangelism and mission leads to converts forming congregations were the signs of the Kingdom of God becomes visible and the principalities and powers are destroyed. 23