Food for Thought Living: The Path that Jesus Walked
There are many aspects of criticism towards the Emerging Church that I find less than compelling, and very often, less than accurate. Often one can almost smell the fear behind such rebukes. It is fear of change. Fear of the unknown. Fear of something new; even if, ironically, this "new" thing is actually a rediscovery of an ancient Christian practice or perspective.
That said, if there is one criticism that, to me, does hit home, is worth heeding, etc., it is this sense that whatever theology we end up with, it must be embodied. It must prove incarnational to be of much value. And, to be clear, by this I mean it must not just be a theology that presupposes a "living out", but it must be a lived out theology. Including an incarnational perspective, without actually doing it, is almost worse than missing the emphasis altogether.
Now, let me also be clear that, in my own life, I am very much aware that this is still a work in progress. Moving my theology off the page, off the screen, off my cerebral cortex, and into my daily living, is still something I am working on. And on many days, probably my most self-aware days, I am cogniscent of just how freshly cut my feet are on this rocky - yet liberating - path that Christ walked.
Thankfully, I am not the only one in Emerging Church circles taking this seriously. I've recently been reading through Mark Scandrette's Soul Graffiti, and very much enjoying its practical, feet-on-the-ground approach to our 21st century Christ-imaging. The subtitle of the book, Making a Life in the Way of Jesus, very much gets at the crux of the book's subject matter. In his critique of western Christianity, Mark has the following to say:
Don't Critique or Condemn Culture, Make It
One of the books I've been reading lately is Andy Crouch's Culture Making: Rediscovering Our Creative Calling. It's definitely a little different than anything I've read this year. The book is a fairly easy read, while being impressively comprehensive in its description of what exactly constitutes "culture". And thankfully, this book is much more than a purely academic read. Crouch, as the editorial director of the Christian Vision Project at Christianity Today, has been intimately involved in this field for some time now. Crouch is all for active participation in the creation of cultural alternatives, and he has helped to gather and champion Christians who are doing just that.
When it comes to the culture critics on te other hand, Crouch is critical. Or more specifically, he argues that cultural critique is simply not that productive. As Crouch argues, Hollywood, for instance, doesn't change its mind on the subject matter of its screenplays, merely because some moralistic academic tries to demonstrate, however effectively so, that typical Hollywood fare tends to take the low road. The bottom line is the bottom line. The greenback speaks, via box office receipts. End of story. "The academic fallacy", writes Crouch, "is that once you have understood something - analyzed and critiqued it - you have changed it. But academic libraries are full of brilliant analyses of every facet of human culture that have made no difference at all in the world beyond the stacks."
And when it comes to those who condemn culture, Crouch is even less encouraged, or encouraging. The James Dobson's of the world will no doubt find this perspective disappointing, or worse, condemnable. But SHOUTING, it seems, gets us nowhere; whether that be in a "discussion" with our spouse, or in civic discourse. Most often, the only ones listening to the shouting are the choir, already concvinced that banging a gong is somehow pleasing to God. Shaming might work in fundamentalist circles, but outside of that sphere, no one's really listening, because the entire milieu of shame and fear is incomprehensible as a paradigm for truth and living.
So what's the alternative? Well, the alternative is the alternative. Which is just an artsy way of saying that the way you combat less than edifying, less than dignified culture, is to create cultural expressions that are. Don't critique. Don't condemn. Create. Hence the title of the book. Crouch writes,
