Meeting Jesus Again in the books I have read 2010

This year started out as a sabbatical year - from church commitments. For all sorts of reasons, some clear and immediate, some more complex, some even convenient once the decision was made, my wife and I needed a break.

We decided to visit around churches, and we did. We visited mostly Anglican congregations, but also visited the Trinity Uniting Church In the City for a couple of their special services during the year.

We also decided to take retreats. We did some at New Norcia - Lent, the Easter Triduum and Advent - and some conducted by the Dayspring Community in Mundaring - one a silent retreat and the other reflecting on the wisdom of the Desert Fathers.



We always felt that in conjunction with these retreats we took holiday weekends away which we did in Yallingup and Albany twice, each of which were times of renewal and life.



There is a litany in the Passover Seder that in the Hebrew is called Deyanu or "It would have been enough" in which the salvation history of the Exodus story is recounted and as each individual event is recalled - the pillar of smoke and fire, the manna, the water from the rock etc - the community recites Deyanu - it would have been enough. As I have recounted each of these things above, I feel like I could have said Deyanu - it would have been enough. "But wait!" as they say on TV. There was more.

I got to read lots of books this year - well lots for me, anyway. I read some new Crime Fiction, which is my favoured fiction genre, the most memorable "The Ritual Bath" by Faye Kellerman which gave some insight into a modern orthodox Jewish community. I also re-read many old favourites of the genre - Kerry Fisher's "Phryne Fisher Mysteries", Donna Leon's "Brunetti Novels" all set in Venice, and Andrea Camilleri's "Inspector Montalbano" Series set in Sicily. And I watched DVD episodes of "Nero Wolfe" and "Hercule Poirot" which, like the Phryne Fisher novels, were set in the Art Deco period of the first half of the 20th century.

But, perhaps more significantly I got to read some really good non-fiction - soul food of the best kind. I will outline them here and I trust that my potted version of each might arouse your interest to read something that you have not already read.

SABBATH - Dan B Allender
Our weekly Home Group has been practising Sabbath for over a year now - beginning our weekends with a Sundowner light meal, debriefing our weeks with each other and then engaging in a Lectio Divina Meditation followed by an Examen. Thus I found that I had already made the move that Dan was calling for - a move away from the idea of Sabbath as a REST to the idea of Sabbath as a CELEBRATION. The focus is on delighting in God through four elements - sensuality, ritual, communal feasting and playfulness. His is a call to experience Sabbath as a day in which you receive and extend reconciliation, peace, abundance and joy.

I MET GOD IN BERMUDA - Steven Ogden
In some ways this work by a colleague of my seminary days is rather heavy going. He is trying to engage with those moderns for whom traditional language about the faith is no longer meaningful. He takes as his beacon-lights the works of Karl Rahner and Paul Tillich with a focus on Incarnational spirituality - something that fits well with the existentialism of the current generation - "If it works for me then I am on that team." I liked it, my wife did not.

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS - Marcus J Borg & John D Crossan
This was the first of three of Borg's works that I read this year. I found that the historical parabolic herneutic that is introduced in this work has brought about a paradigm shift for me. It has given me a vocabulary for things I hadn't quite grasped because I did not have the vocab.

Two ideas stand out.
The Birth Narratives are Overtures of the whole Gospel that is to follow adds wonderful layers to the literary structure of the narrative; and
Parables as Subversive Stories that are challenging both the religious and socio-political structures of the day.

SOUL SURVIVOR - Philip Yancey
I read this book after my wife read it on our silent retreat. She found in it a framework for understanding and re-framing some of the struggles we went through in arriving at our Sabbatical year. What I found most interesting, apart from discovering the pain and anguish Yancey had struggled through in his quest for a faith that worked, was his ability to intertwine his own journey of faith development with the biographies or his working with the people who are the focus of each chapter - people like John Donne, Martin Luther King Jr, Dostoyevski, Ghandi, G K Chesterton and Henri Nouwen to name a few. The stories were inspirational in their own right, but when intertwined with Yancey's own faith journey they took on new layers of meaning.

MEETING JESUS AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME - Marcus J Borg
The Jesus Scholar's attempts to peel away the layers of theology and tradition found in the Biblical Narratives we now have is always going to ruffle some feathers, with accusations of 'watering down' and 'explaining away' vociferously shouted within conservative circles - "How we love our texts as they are."

Early on in this work, Borg provides a basic sketch of the Pre-Easter Jesus in which he says firstly it is impossible to ascertain whether Jesus thought of himself as the Messiah or Son of God. The Pre-Easter Jesus, he said, "pointed people away from himself to God". He also says that it is also unlikely that "Jesus expected the supernatural coming of the Kingdom of God as a world-ending event in his own generation."

He then goes on to identify four things we can actually say about the manner of Person this Pre-Easter Jesus was. He was a Spirit Person who demonstrated an experiential awareness of the reality of God. He was a Teacher of Wisdom, whose parables and aphorisms sought to teach an alternative and subversive wisdom. He was a Social Prophet along the lines and after the traditions of the prophets of ancient Israel. He was also, and undeniably, a Movement Founder seeking to renew and revitalize the Judaism of his day.

I found these ideas to be quite liberating as they enabled me to think of Jesus in much more realistic human terms, because so long as we add the gloss of divinity to the humanity of Jesus the Incarnation is diminished.

EUCHARIST WITH A SMALL 'e' - Miriam Therese Winter
A small tract really, although it runs into nearly 150 pages, but its central thesis is that the idea of EUCHARISTIC PRESENCE over which the Church has fought semantic battles for millenia should not focus on the bread and wine of the Eucharistic meal but rather on the gathered community. There is where the PRESENCE will be found. A very helpful contribution to the debate from a Catholic scholar.

THE NAKED NOW - Richard Rohr
I find Richard Rohr much more difficult to read than listen to. However, in this book he offers in a sense some reassurance - that the enlightenment so many are seeking in the West as they explore other religious traditions has been present in Christianity from the very beginning. It is obviously informed by the Franciscan and contemplative traditions that are part of Rohr's own life but it's genious, as a book is that Rohr includes some appendices that provide 8 practical exercises in exploring what he has been writing about.

THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY - Marcus J Borg
Borg begins this book with a discussion of an earlier paradigm of Christianity that seems, somehow, to no longer satisfy many in the Church. As a way of addressing this he begins to articulate what he calls an "emerging paradigm" - one that is based on observation as much as theorising.

In some ways this has created a paradigm shift for me, but it is more likely the case that he has given me a systematic vocabulary for things I had already been thinking about. The chapters in the second part of the book were, for me, magnificent examples of reframing such big ideas as being Born Again, the Kingdom of God, Sin and Salvation and the place of Christianity in an age of pluralism.

ADULT FAITH - Diarmuid O'Murchu
My most recent adventure was with this book. As I spoke to colleagues at work, I sometimes referred to it as the latest bit of Heresy I was reading, because he makes some claims about life and faith and the church that are "right out there", so to speak. The idea that has struck me most profoundly is his assertion that the stability of our political and ecclesiastical systems is dependent on a kind of co-dependency by which the few people with real power are dependent on the passivity of the masses for them to retain it, and the masses have passively accepted that the elite few are really the best to do this stuff.

O'Murchu is writing a call to people of mature faith to beak down that co-dependency and live a faith that is authentic and free.

His chapters all open with a theme statement and conclude with a summary of the points addressed in the chapter - makes for easy reading.

So, that has been my year of theological reading. I hope that this inspires you to read a bit more and in areas that will feed your soul.

Christmass is upon us.

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.

Charles Dickens



No sermon to preach this year - in fact no responsibilities at all other than to meet with God's people on Christmas Eve and celebrate the true Christmass.

I attended an Advent Retreat over the weekend of Advent 1 at which we discussed the speeches associated with the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke. It was good to bring these words to the fore right at the beginning of the season. The one thing I got out of that exercise was to notice the highly stylised form of the texts which emphasised again that we have there not an historical narrative but a theological reflection of what the Authors' believed was the beginning of the meaning of the Christ story.

We all think we know these stories so well because we hear them year after year, but it is surprising when you look at all the texts together in one go, so to speak, to find little details you had forgotten about (sometimes making you think "I never heard that before.")

I read Marcus Borg's book "The First Christmas" and found that it brought the narratives to life for me in new ways. We are so used to harmonising the two different stories into one that we neglect to give thought to the possibility that there might be reasons for the differences. "Reading each as a separate narrative and paying attention to the details of the texts enriches these stories and adds greatly to their power." (Borg, p.23)

Borg lays the ground for seeing the Birth Narratives as a literary form of the musical "Overture", a word derived from the French ouverture meaning the opening part "that serves as a summary, synthesis, metaphor, or symbol of the whole." (Borg, p.39) The form and the themes introduced in the Birth Narratives by Matthew and Luke reflect the later form and themes that are explored in the Gospel as a whole. This fact illuminates our understanding of otherwise incidental features of the narrative.

Borg also sets out to demonstrate that many aspects of the narrative are actually quite subversive, and intentionally so. Matthew's declaration of Jesus as "King of the Jews" was a direct challenge to Herod the Great who claimed that title to himself. Luke's various declarations that Jesus was the Son of God, Lord, saviour of the world, and the one who brings peace was a direct challenge to the Roman Imperial Cult by which these titles were intrinsically Caesar's. (Borg, p.37)

Borg brings his work to a conclusion that reflects themes of that work with which I began this post - Charles Dicken's story "A Christmas Carol". For him the Christmas story can only be understood in those three tenses - past, present and future. All three are interdependent and intertwined - we look back at what happened in the past, we seek to experience the incarnation as a present reality and we wait in anticipation an even greater fullness of God's presence among us in what we call "The Second Coming".

In my reading and retreating one phrase stood out. A statement by the 14th century German Mystic Meister Eckhart who said "Unless Christ is born in you today, what happened in Bethlehem is irrelevant." I am inclined to agree. What do you think?

Victoria & Tasmanian C of C Theological Education Review - Update

After my recent rant about the political machinery of the State Council of Churches of Christ in Victoria and Tasmania, and the wonky (the Reviewer admitted his bias when he presented the report to the Council) review they sponsored into the state of Theological Education and Ministerial Formation in those states, I have had some feedback that needs to be reported on.

While the Board of the College accepted the Review, as commented to me by the CEO of Churches of Christ (are they a corporation or something, that they are led by a CEO?)and the Reviewer, their view seems to be that the Review was so flawed that most people dismissed it. This is not to say that the College has not taken note of any of the matters raised by the Reviewer. In many ways they thought the Review was caught up in identifying matters that had already been dealt with in recent times and some much longer ago, and the term used to me was that it was a bit like a "rear-vision mirror view."

I have been assured of two things which I want to share with you.

1. The College is simply getting on with the business of doing well what they have always been doing, with good student numbers and improving relationships with the Churches. By this comment, the practical and pastorally supportive approach to ministerial training in the context of an academically rigorous program of study is affirmed as continuing to be a feature of the College, as indeed it was when I was a student there thirty years ago.

2. The appointment of Andrew Menzies as Principal is not so far out of bounds as I was suggesting earlier. Andrew's ministerial background has been within the Baptist church as was the case for Greg Elsden when he was appointed Principal, and there is much to commend Tabor College as an academic institution standing alongside CCTC in the preparation of people for ministry in the church.

So, there are, in the view of those I have had contact from, good times ahead for CCTC, not least because they have the determination to simply continue doing the business they have always done well - namely prepare men and women for the challenges of ministry in local churches in the 21st century.

Theological Education & Ministry Formation in Victoria

I was recently made aware of a review of Ministerial education for Churches of Christ in Victoria which seemed, upon close examination, to actually be a hatchet job on my theological alma mater.

My wife and I are no longer in ministry in Churches of Christ, and in fact were ordained for ministry in the Anglican Church in 1998. Such a change may disqualify me from making credible reflection on the report recently presented to the Vic-Tas Conference Council, but in just the same way that when people migrate to other countries than the place of their birth retain a strong affinity with their "homeland" I, on the recommendation of my Archbishop, took my Churches of Christ heritage with me into the Anglican Church and retain my affection for the faith community that nurtured me. So I feel I may have some qualification to make comment.

I have taken some interest in the general drift towards a non-denominational conservative evangelical ethos across the nation, so far as Churches of Christ is concerned, and have often wondered at the propensity of congregations to call as their ministers people (usually men, I notice these days) who have not history or schooling in the particularities of the history and witness of Churches of Christ. A decade or so ago, it was the case that fewer than 40% of the ministers serving Churches of Christ congregations in WA were trained in a denominationally linked seminary or done any further study to gain that denominational ethos. Why should it be surprising then, then that as a people Churches of Christ no longer knew what they stood for - unless you had come to the view that all that stuff was now archaic or an anacronism in a modern world?

Your report may closely reflect the political realities of Churches of Christ on the Eastern seaboard, but as a first-time reader, I could not help but feel that not only did the terms of reference pre-determine the outcome of the review, your own language in writing the review reflects a tendency towards the outcomes - what a surprise.

Three issues that were not well acknowledged by the report came to my mind:

* The liberal theological stance of CCTC is a matter that the Conference of Vic-Tas has wrestled with since the College began in 1908. The Author would have witnessed the frequent villification of Principal Lyle Williams in his day. The preamble draws attention to this as a general phenomenon yet the recommendations seem to persue an agenda by which it is hoped this "gap between churches and theological colleges" can be eliminated.

* And it seems to me from my own experience as a graduate of the College that they have a long history of seeking to remedy the general criticism in your preamble of seminary education as cloistered and academic. Much effort has been put into ensuring that graduates are well prepared for the practical realities of the ministry they are preparing for. This did not compromise the determination to develop good faculties in critical thinking. Perhaps the commendation of the SFE program and some other aspects give this issue some credit.

* Finally, the College has been the bastion of preserving and promoting the theological and ecclesiastical heritage of Churches of Christ that was vouchsafed to us all by the Cambells. This has been done out of a conviction that we will lose our way into the future if we do not know where we come from.

One thing that did surprise me about the review was that the author relied almost entirely on data gathered from the respondents to a survey and interviews. As a social scientist I would have compared that feedback with any of a whole lot of demographic data that could have been obtained from various sources (Conference Handbooks and NCLS data) in order to assess whether the sample is representative on other criteria. For example, the number of people in solo vs team ministries in the sample could have been compared with data from the Vic/Tas handbook of all member congregations. Similarly, the sample could have been compared with the whole population of ministers for whether or not they graduated from a Churches of Christ seminary. Finaly, in this respect, the claim in the Excursus on p.19 that larger churches are less likely to be led by a denominationaly trained minister along side data from your own churches could have been compared with actual data. To what extent is the claim made consistent with the reality in your states?

Two more minor details are worthy of my attention. On p.24 in evaluating ministry training, I wonder to what extent the claim in the last sentence of the paragraph - "It is in the practical areas of ministry relating to leadership and management that graduates felt under-prepared." - is consistent with the data. The table on that page simply identifies Church Administration/ Magement as the area with the lowest rersponse "Satisfied or Very Satisfied" - quite a different piece of data than an indication of being "under-prepared".

Secondly, on p.29 a dot-pointed list summarising findings regarding CCTC made reference to four significant strengths in the program of ministerial training at the College, but three seem to allude to unfounded negative impressions -

* reference is made to "charges" - where are these referred to elsewhere in the review, and who brought the charges? And on what basis is it concluded that the College encourages so-called liberality of thought without a care for the good or ill consequences of it? Yet the "charges" are "sustained."
* the observation is made that CCTC graduates are more likely to preside over smaller congregations with the implication that their liberal theological views are the reason for this, but with no basis or data to back it up;
* and given one of your later recommendations, the observation that CCTC graduates "are more likely to value academic rigor, endoresement and ordination" is also an implied criticism that is lacking in explanation as to its meaning.

Finally, I would like to offer some reflections on the Recommendations, not least because I have some concerns about many of them individually. My first issue with them, though, is that while the so-called PURPOSE of the review (Terms of Reference p.45) is to obtain a broad-ranging assessment of the ministry training and formational needs of the states into the future, yet the the almost monocular focus of the recommendations on macro and micro reform of CCTC would suggest either that the review has failed, or that it was executing another agenda - as one of my colleagues put it "A hatchet job".

So, to the actual recommendations, if I may be afforded the privilege of commentary:

1. The appointment of Dr Andrew Menzies as Principal was neither "a break from past traditions" nor, in the view of many of my colleagues, "a positive move". Former Principal, Dr Greg Elseden came from a Baptist tradition but shared his theological education with many CCTC graduates, through the ETA, and was a champion of the distinctive witness of Churches of Christ. It was not a surprise, then, when he moved on from the College that he toook a ministry position in a Church of Christ in South Australia. However, Dr Menzies' former position as Chairman of the Board of Tabor College and his other ministry experiences seem from this vantage-point entirely disconnected from Churches of Christ.
2. Regarding the purpose of CCTC, and I am not fully aware of what it means for CCTC to be a "partner department" of the Vic/Tas Conference, I think it is innappropriate to refer to Vic/Tas as "the parent organisation". Nothing could be further from the truth. I concede that there may be room for collaborative discussions that might bring a closer alignment between the purposes of the College and the needs of the states, but it must be remembered that CCTC serves a wider consitituency than Vic/Tas Churches of Christ.
3. Renaming the College? Yes CCTC is cumbersome, but it declares very clearly what it is about - the Churches of Christ Theological College. While the former name had some ambiguity as to its denominational ownership, it had an historical connection that was worthy of its day. Is it thought that people really believe that the departure from the name "College of the Bible" heralded a departure from its solid foundation of biblical scholarship? Is that what is behind the concern about changing the name?
4. Recommendations about Leadership Expectations, I think, is evidence of the pervasive influence of management-speak within the church, and it is, I believe completely contrary to Gospel Values. As an anecdotal observation I offer the view that those I know in business and the church who have done specific graduate study in the field of LEADERSHIP demonstrate a complete inability to work in teams and are so ego-driven that they leave behind them, in business and the church, a huge toll of damaged human beings, the collateral damage of their turbo-charged egos. The first recommendation on p.39 - Local Church Governance - identifies a significant stumbling block of a different kind in achieving this goal.
5. The curriculum comes in for some commentary and recommendations on your part. I wonder why a program of ministerial training should seek to reduce the studies in pastoral care (something fundamental to pastoral ministry) and replace these with studies in leadership. Perhaps some Old Testament Biblical studies could be jettisoned for the sake of LEADERSHIP studies.
6. Integrated Theological Studies - I am not sure what the review is really alluding to here. I suspect the proposition is borne out or a reframing of old questions concerned with a perceived lack or relevance and practicality. Since in other places the review seems to mark CCTC rather well in this area, I am not sure of the point.
7. The Classroom - it has been the bane of higher educational institutions for generations that those who may be best qualified academically in a field do not necessarily have the requisite skills to impart that expertise effectively in a classroom. Yet Higher Educational institutions continue to gradute competent and functional practitioners - I suggest that the same is true for all seminaries, regardless of denomination. The suggested remedy for this, I should think, falls within existing practices of the college. I teach at VOSE seminary here in Perth and at the end of each semester course I teach feedback is sought from students that address the three dot-points you have offered. I would be surprised if the CCTC was not also involved in this cycle of continuous quality improvement as well. However, the suggestion of spilling all staff positions at the college, presumably not including the Principal, is unnecessarily threatening - we all know what it means when it is said "all current staff be encouraged to reapply for their positions." The spill is a mechanism to get rid of pre-determined staff withou going through due process of performance management.
8. Public Relations - the image that is portrayed by any institution through its PR machinery is dependant on three things: a. its own mission and vision; b. its goals around market-share; and c. the resources it makes available for the task. I think the review may have identified some issues that need to be addressed by the college, but in the end it will all depend on these three things.
9. CCTC Governance - if the context of this review is a community of churches that is vague about its denominational identity and direction, how is the recruitment of non-CCTC graduates and new-comers to the denomination going to strengthen the Board? Or is this meant to to be an educative process for those new-comers so that they could discover the merits of a denominational identity?
10. Post-Graduate Studies - the review mentions ACOMs MA in Leadership Studies but says nothing of the existing post-graduate courses offered through CCTC. The Grad Dip Min is an ideal starting point for any from outside the tradition and the MMin and MTheol courses all provide pathways to discover more about ministry.
11. Local Church Governance - Could I suggest that in respect of the issue of a failure of leadership in the church, this recommendation is far more responsible than anything the College may or may not do? So long as this "Democracy gone mad" (as Bill Tabbernee sometimes called it) is left unchanged, ministers will continue to have their expertise and leadership stymied by local governance issues. Having said that, I am concerned about an emerging style of local church governance that places both power and authority almost completely into the hands of the Senior Minister and his own select group of elders - after all, the people have called him to lead, they should sit back and let him do so. This model may suit the turbo-charged egos I mentioned above, but it does not necessarily provide leadership. As has been said elsewhere, "if there aint no-one behind you, you aint a leader."
12. Ministry Formation/Endorsement - twenty years ago I persuaded the Advisory Board in WA to introduce a system of formation and endorsement similar to that in Vic/Tas. The focus of this was almost entirely on formation into the traditions and witness of Churches of Christ for those who had come from other traditions. There was similar resistance here to that described in the review, but I find it hard to understand the grounds for complaint. When I sought to join the Anglican Church I was required to attend regular formational sessions about what it meant to be an Anglican for nearly two years. There is nothing that prior learning by an "outsider" can do to diminish the demands of this. So long as you propose an open pathway for all-comers to take up ministry in your church, you will continue to lose sight of the heritage that you supposedly give witness to.
13. Ordination - I was surprised by the naivete of the question about ordination. Ordination has always been a function of the national body of Churches of Christ because of the view that those ordained were ordained for ministry in the whole church. (Remember I sat on the Federal Executive for a few years and my wife was a CCTC Board Member for a few years) I don't think it is a problem, really, for the state to organise ordination so long as the ordination is regonised across all jurisdictions. In WA, graduates from the many training pathways here, have the opportunity to be ordained, but the State organises the ordination on behalf of the National Council. Perhaps the same could be set up in Vic/Tas.
14. Recommendations Regarding ACOM - There is a long history, I believe, of attempts to facilitate better co-operation between CCTC and ACOM but it is my observation that these have failed for two basic reasons - a lack of trust between the parties; and a determination by ACOM to become a national college despite its lack of national jurisdiction. This empire-building passion of ACOM is something I felt quite personally in WA when I helped to set up the Churches of Christ Ministry Training Centre here. Without any consideration or consultation, just as we were seeking to implement a multi-pathway approach to ministry training in this state, including the use of visiting lecturers from both CCTC and ACOM, they set up an ACOM off-campus centre at the South Perth Church of Christ. This completely undermined the initiative we were taking but our system of congregational autonomy left us with no capacity to prevent it - and ACOM knew it. Having said that, I agree that it would be a good thing if this culture could be broken down and replaced with one of greater mutual trust. However, winning back trust when it has been broken is a very hard thing to do. My greater concern about the recommendations about ACOM in this report is that they reveal to me what seems to be the real agenda of the review. Indeed, given the author's past experience as an off-campus centre leader in Wollongong, I am surprised he didn't disqualify himself from conducting the review because of the possible perception of a conflict of interest. In crude language, the thrust of these recommendations seem to be to cut CCTC down to size and give ACOM free reign as a competitor in an open theological market.

As I mentioned above, the focus on CCTC in this review of Theological Education and Ministry Formation in Victoria and Tasmania seems to betray a pre-determined outcome for the review and for this reason, its significance will be diminished. Had the review given consideration to the many pathways potential ministry candidates choose to follow in their preparation for ministry in Churches of Christ and offered recommendations about ways to better integrate them with your traditions, then discussion of the contributions that both CCTC and ACOM could make to that end might have been meaningful. Instead, the review comes across very clearly as a means for straightening out CCTC - at last - and as a platform for the author to promote his well know views on leadership.

I trust you have taken the time to read through all this. Once I got started I felt I needed to address all those things that concerned me rather than trying to synthesise them into a few brief comments that had insufficient content to make them meaningful.

I would be interested in your response to the issues I have raised.