As the blogosphere has been all geeked up (John Alan Tuner would say something like "all geeked up") about the Christian Affirmation, signed by 23 leaders in the Churches of Christ, the best response I have read by far comes from Jimmy Shaw at Fluidfaith. If you care about this kind of thing, then check it out. He articulates some affirmations of the affirmation and has a great way of bringing up some questions that merit attention.
My favorite little piece of this is that one of the signers, John Mark Hicks, appears in the comments. He has humbly and courageously taken up some of the questions with readers. Thanks John Mark.
Just for that, you will be rewarded with a link on my blog sidebar under "Blogs of Note."
No, no, don't think me tooooo generous. He deserves a full link. :-)
3 comments:
At the Christian Affirmation website, several of the signers (Jim Baird, Lynn McMillon, Wendell Willis, Tom Olbricht, Hicks) have written notes to explain their signing of the document. Makes you feel better about their participation...although I was left with the distinct impression that they signed with maybe more generosity of spirit and less divisive intent than those who drafted it.
Ok ... personally I am finishing my engagement with this topic in this comment (let's hope I have the grace to stick to this).
The part that continues to confuse me is why the interest in the tradition/heritage/denominational identity. While my intent is not to be naively ahistorical, I am not seeking the propogation of any denomination - it's historical practices or identity. That there is value in upholding the identity of Churches of Christ seems to be a given for at least some.
Denominationalism is dead - and I think God has slain it. The signers want to preserve a historical expression of ecclesial practice, and share it with the greater Christian church. But of course, unless we expect other Christians to act differently, we can only expect them to preserve their historical practices . . . but we don't! We should preserve our traditions and other denominations should come to understand the values of our traditions and adopt them.
This is the same thinking as before - just not framed in the language of damnation.
Greg, you are reading my mind, bro. Thanks for the comments.
Chad, your comment got me thinking more braodly and I thank you for that.
Neal, Thanks for alerting me to the additions to the site CofC CA site.
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