You have increased the number of your merchants till they are more than the stars in the sky, but like locusts they strip the land and then fly away.
Global capitalism, anyone? Thanks to Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw for pointing out this great verse (Jesus for President, 188).
The practices of any society form and are formed by that society's beliefs. This is perhaps most evident in the rise of modern medicine:I think there is no denying that the current enthusiasm for ‘genomics’ (that allegedly will make it possible to ‘treat’ us before we become sick) draws on an extraordinary fear of suffering and death incompatible with [the] observation that luckily time makes us grow old. Our culture seems increasingly moving to the view that aging itself is an illness, and if it is possible, we ought to create and fund research that promises us that we may be able to get out of life alive. I find it hard to believe that such a science could be supported by a people who begin Lent by being told that we are dust and it is to dust we will return. (Hauerwas, The State of the University, 53.)
How might Christians in medicine redirect funding for research initiatives based on our Lenten practices? What might it mean for a Christian physician that “in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22)?
Much of Stanley Hauerwas' work is directed against the claims of loyalty Western states make on their citizens—claims, for instance, which may require Christians to take up arms to kill others:No state will keep itself limited, no constitution or ideology is sufficient to that task, unless there is a body of people separated from their nation that is willing to say ‘No’ to the state’s claims on their loyalties [....] Democratic societies and states, no less than totalitarian ones, reserve the right to command our conscience to take up arms and kill not only other human beings but other Christians in the name of relative moral goods. (Against the Nations, 123, 127.)
What about states in the turbulent regions of the Third World? Places where states are in fact not strong enough and order breaks down? What is the Christian responsibility there?Given the emergence of religion and business as global contexts, we may now have to ask whether the modern state is powerful enough to perform its function in the global order. The weakness of the state in places where resources or people are exploited by business and the breakdown of government in places where religious movements have the capacity to make war are warning signs the state’s place in the new global order is more fragile than it appears to be in Western Europe and North America. (Robin W. Lovin, Christian Realism and the New Realities, 174.)
Might it be the responsibility of Christian communities in these regions to support the growth of more stable, powerful states? Even if it means supporting the deployment of violence against rebel or terrorist groups? How could Christian communities be faithful witnesses to the peaceable kingdom in these weak states?
Apparently there's an important dialogue going on across blogs (in the blogosphere, as some say) about the respective merits of missional churches and attractional (or seeker-sensitive) churches. Here's a phenomenal quote with a stunning reversal:To apply statistical analysis to the effectiveness of missional [churches] at this point is about as silly as judging the effectiveness of Jesus ministry at the time of his resurrection. (How many were gathered in the Upper Room?)
Just because churches are entertaining the masses doesn't mean they are doing anything remotely similar to discipleship. See the full article, which deserves reading, here. It's worth reading the initial linked post as well.
“Ah but Bill! Look how quickly the church grew after Pentecost.”
“Ah but Friend! Look how soon the Spirit scattered that church to the corners of the earth. And remember that it wasn't until Constantine that anything remotely representing a megachurch came into existence. Oh. Sorry. Yes. The Coliseum does resemble some megachurches. Thanks, Joel [Osteen]. And Christians did provide much of the entertainment, now didn't they.”
