Why does the formation of Christian character matter?
In After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters, N.T. Wright lays out his understanding of how Christian character, or virtue, is formed. While none of us are naturally inclined to live like Jesus, the goal is that as we mature as Christ-ians, we begin to look more and more like the one with whom we identify. Living like Jesus, then, may even seem to be “second nature” eventually. Like his other books, Wright doesn’t exactly put the cookies on a low shelf, though compared with some of his other works (like the ones in this series), he’s trying.
There’s simply too much packed into these 300 pages to try to unpack everything here, but here are a few particularly great quotes from the later part of the book, as the vision of Christian character he weaves begins to take shape. (And for those disposed to view Wright with suspicion, he stays away from controversy here -- at least as far as I can tell.)
On what it means to be the people of God:
The task of being God’s royal priesthood in the present, then, is all about worship and mission -- a worship and mission which share a heart, the heart that is learning to love God the creator and God the recreator and discovering how to develop the habits that will reflect God’s love into the world and the world’s grateful love back in return... The generous creator God is not honored, is not reflected into his world, by a church that stands aloof, secure in its own holiness, and looking down on the best that the rest of the world can do as so much unspiritual, un-Christian or ungodly rubbish... Precisely because the greatest Christian virtue is love, modeled on that of the creating and life-giving God, the individual Christian and the church as a whole must develop the settled habits of looking out for what’s going on in the surrounding world, rejoicing with its joy, weeping with its grief, and above all eager for opportunities to bring love, comfort, healing, and hope wherever possible. And with all these it may bring faith, not necessarily by speaking of Jesus all the time (though there will be such opportunities), but by living Jesus in public. (pp. 234-235, 237)
On unbiblical (and counter-productive) divides within the church:
The church has been divided between those who cultivate their own personal holiness but do nothing about working for justice in the world and those who are passionate for justice but regard personal holiness as an unnecessary distraction from that task. This division has been solidified by the church’s unfortunate habit of adopting from our surrounding culture the unhelpful packages of ‘left-wing’ and ‘right-wing’ prejudices, the former speaking of ‘justice’ and meaning ‘libertarianism’ and the latter speaking of ‘holiness’ and meaning ‘dualism.’ All this must be firmly pushed to one side. What we need is integration. (p. 247)
How our individual formation of Christian character and virtue is connected to other believers across time and space:
The more we are people of the story, the examples, the community, and the practices, the more we will understand the scriptures, and vice versa. And the more we join them all together, the more we shall be formed into a community, locally, globally, and across time, in whose lives the Jesus habits of faith, hope, and love have become second nature. (pp. 283-284)
Thoughts? Responses?
Radical Together
Last fall I shared some thoughts on David Platt’s first book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream. In the book, Platt urges readers to consider the ways in which the gospel is at odds with a materialistic, narcissistic American way of life, and to commit to living ‘radical’ lives for Christ.
He has since written a sequel called Radical Together: Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God. If you've read the first one (or if you’ve read John Piper’s Let the Nations be Glad or Don’t Waste Your Life, for that matter) it's likely that nothing in Radical Together will come as a surprise. Rather, Platt takes the themes from Radical and explores the implications for congregations rather than individuals. He seeks to show “how a right understanding of the church fuels radical obedience among Christians.” Churches, he rightly argues, aren’t meant to be consumer-oriented bubbles; instead, each Christian is to be equipped for the work of the church both locally and globally. This is an important affirmation of the historic Christian belief in the “priesthood of all believers,” and a critique of what is too often the norm: inward facing churches, full of consumers of religious goods and services, administered by professionals.
Platt writes about the difficulty in letting go of good programs in order to channel a church’s resources and attention more purposely based on what we believe to be true about the mission of God in Scripture. In the case of the church he pastors in Birmingham, Alabama, that means a particular focus on northern India. While understandably encouraging Christians and churches to take seriously the great needs overseas, I wish he would have done more to affirm both local and global ministry as equally vital expressions of Christian faith. As it is, one is left with the impression that the further away our neighbors are, the more worthwhile it is to seek to love them. I know from experience that even in churches with vibrant global ministries, local ministry does not happen automatically, and I suspect Platt's readers would be led to replace one kind of lopsided ministry with another. Also, though he affirms the importance of serving the poor, he particularly emphasizes sharing the gospel (verbally) with the “unreached.” Again, the influence of Piper is evident, though as a call for holistic ministry, I think it falls a bit short.
On the whole Platt’s book is a welcome critique of easy-breezy suburban religion and, not unlike Dietrich Bonhoeffer at a different time and place, it’s a new call for Christians to consider the cost of discipleship. And it’s a good reminder that “God doesn’t involve us in his global plan because he needs us; he involves us because he loves us.” It would simply be a shame to miss out.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. The introduction to the book is available free here, and also check out other resources including videos at the WaterBrook Multnomah site.
Rene Padilla & Samuel Escobar on Latin American evangelical theology
In my review of An Evangelical Social Gospel? by Tim Suttle for the Englewood Review of Books I suggested that in our search for a third way beyond extremes we look beyond our culture’s current Christian polarities and be willing to listen and learn from brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world. I named two worth listening to from the region with which I’m most familiar: Rene Padilla and Samuel Escobar, both from Latin America. Whether you’ve read their work or not, you may enjoy this video. Speaking at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization last October in Cape Town, South Africa, Padilla and Escobar here recount key moments in the history of the development of an evangelical theology for Latin America, particularly in reference to the Lausanne movement. The audio level is a little low, but nothing headphones can’t solve.
About nine minutes into the clip, Rene Padilla outlines three concerns that he believes are shared by many in Latin America. I can imagine some of the delegates at the congress squirming in their seats, at least for the second and third concern he mentions.
- Discipleship: Jesus didn’t send his disciples to make converts, but to make disciples who would obey everything he taught
- Globalization: specifically, the globalization of an “unjust economic system” that is “destroying people” all over the world, but especially the poor
- Ecology: if ecological destruction continues as it is, who knows what the future will hold for our children and grandchildren?
Samuel Escobar also mentions the trend towards Latin America sending its own missionaries to Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and that in many cases they are doing so with an “integral” or “holistic” approach to mission and faith -- “the only possible way to do mission in those places.”
At any rate, consider this an addendum to my suggestion in the review.
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