Church of Us vs. Them , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - E. Fitch David

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120 pages

English

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We are living in angry times. No matter where we go, what we watch, or how we communicate, our culture is rife with conflict. Unfortunately, Christians appear to be caught up in the same animosity as the culture at large. We are perceived as angry, judgmental, and defensive, fighting among ourselves in various media while the world looks on. How have we failed to be a people of reconciliation and renewal in the face of such tumult?Claiming that the church has lost itself in the grip of an antagonistic culture, David Fitch takes a close look at what drives the vitriol in our congregations. He traces the enemy-making patterns in church history and diagnoses the divisiveness that marks the contemporary evangelical church. Fitch shows a way for the church to be true to itself, unwinding the antagonisms of our day and making space for Christ's reconciling presence in our day-to-day lives. He offers new patterns and practices that move the church beyond making enemies to being the presence of Christ in the world, helping us free ourselves from a faith that feeds on division.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	16 juillet 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493418329
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0480€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2019 by David E. Fitch
Published by Brazos Press
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.brazospress.com
Ebook edition created 2019
Ebook corrections 07.21.2022
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1832-9
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Dedication
To Rae Ann, my wife of almost twenty years—a testament to her patience and long-suffering in the unwinding of life’s antagonisms.
C ontents
Cover i
Half Title Page ii
Title Page iii
Copyright Page iv
Dedication v
Preface ix
Introduction: Beyond Enemies? 1
1. The Strife among Us 15
2. The Enemy-Making Machine 25
3. Are You Biblical? 43
4. God’s Grand Drama: The Bible as the Space beyond Enemies 63
5. Have You Made a Decision? 85
6. Participating in His Reign: Conversion as the Space beyond Enemies 103
7. Let’s Make America Christian Again? 125
8. The Local Church Is My Politics: Church as the Space beyond Enemies 141
9. Beyond the Church of Us vs. Them 165
Appendix 1: The Fullness of Him Who Fills All in All: Rudiments of a Political Theology of Presence 173
Appendix 2: Tactics for Engagement: Opening Space among the Antagonisms 182
Notes 185
Index 205
Back Cover 212
P reface
I believe the Bible is the authoritative Word of God for the church. I have signed a doctrinal statement affirming the inerrancy of Scripture (although I made note that it was too liberal for me). I believe conversion is central to the Christian life, and I believe all Christians are called to participate in God’s mission of salvation, justice, and healing to the world. These beliefs pretty much make me an evangelical in the traditional use of the term. But something has happened in our culture these past few decades with regard to evangelicals and other like-minded Christians. Evangelicals have allowed these fundamental convictions to become the source of division, anger, and antagonism among us and between us and the people around us. In the process we’ve become the church of us vs. them. I contend that this has been disastrous for our witness to Christ and his lordship and salvation in North America. Many people no longer want to be identified as an evangelical as a result.
So in this book I examine how this happened. I look at how evangelicals’ core beliefs morphed to change us into the church of us vs. them, and then at how to move beyond this. In the book, I do not provide a careful exposition of these doctrines themselves. This book isn’t a systematic theology in any sense of the term. Instead, I am trying to show how these beliefs and the ways we practice these beliefs have shaped us evangelicals, and other Christians alongside us, as a particular kind of people: an antagonistic people. In this sense, I’m writing a kind of political theology, answering the question, How do our beliefs and practices shape us to be a particular kind of people for mission in the world? In the process, I’m pushing for a renewed practice of reading Scripture, doing evangelism, and engaging culture that renews our presence as the witnesses to the reign of Jesus Christ as Lord in our culture.
I first explored these beliefs in this manner in the book The End of Evangelicalism? way back in 2011. 1 This present book seeks to engage on a popular level much of what I learned back then and have worked out in daily life as a church pastor/coach/professor since then. So this book often borrows from that book. Nonetheless, The Church of Us vs. Them is a completely different book seeking to apply those lessons to the current day. But for those interested in more of the theology and ideological analysis that drives this book, I encourage you to read The End of Evangelicalism? and to read the endnotes in this book, where I have put most of the academic work that undergirds this book’s claims.
The stories in this book are purposefully disguised to protect the identities of the people involved. I not only change the names of people in the stories, I sometimes change the gender and other details of the characters, and in a couple cases I amalgamate the details of two people into one story. I do this with the intent of holding the integrity of stories intact while protecting the identities of the people involved.
Many thanks go to the people who made the writing of this book possible. My colleague Scot McKnight urged me to do it. Scott Boren, who had worked with me on a previous book, sold me on the idea that this book was important and worth doing. He helped organize my notes and lectures in the early stages of writing. Thanks to both Scot(t)s. Northern Seminary provided me a sabbatical, during which some of the work on this book was done. Northern has been such a support to my work and an amazing, exciting place for the preparation of leaders this book pushes for. Many thanks to this truly special institution. The good people of Baker Publishing Group have been great all along the way in making this book possible. Thanks to Bob Hosack for shepherding this book into the good hands of Baker. A special thanks to James Korsmo for his editing work on this book. His work improved this book greatly. Lastly, special thanks goes to my family: my wife, Rae Ann, and my son, Max. They really do make so much of my own ministry of pastoring, writing, and professoring possible.
For his glory!
Introduction
Beyond Enemies?
W e’re living in angry times. Wherever we go, whether church, school, city hall, or Washington, DC; whatever we watch, whether cable television, Facebook, or the local theater; and however we do things, whether by email or Twitter or telephone, in person, or in a meeting—in it all, our culture is rife with conflict. Politics is full of strife, antagonisms, and vitriol. Everybody, it seems, is caught up with warding off yet another enemy. And so, many of us are just keeping our heads down, hoping to get through another day, causing as little trouble as we can. Something has gone terribly wrong in our country, and we don’t know what to do about it.
Meanwhile, the church appears little different. Christians appear to be caught up in the same antagonism and disgust for one another that is evident elsewhere. We ourselves have become known for our own enemy making. We fight among ourselves on the various media while the world looks on. What has happened? Christians have failed to be known by our love, and the question is, Why?
How is it that Christians have failed at this most prescient moment to be a people of reconciliation and renewal in the face of all this tumult? And how do we get out of the mess to become a reconciling presence in the world through Jesus Christ? How can Christians respond in the face of this failure, to be the presence of his love, reconciliation, and healing in a world torn by strife and ugly conflict? And how can we keep our integrity and love for justice in the process? Imagine the amazing witness we’d have at this present time if we were known by the way we reconcile with, love, and restore one another. This book is born out of these questions. It asks, How can we be shaped by Christ into becoming these kinds of people? How can we become the reconciling presence of Christ in the world?
I Remember
I remember the summer of 1969, when as a young boy I saw the television pictures of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. His words—“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”—are now among the most recognized phrases ever spoken. But just a few years later the Apollo 13 accident happened. Here we remember the words, paraphrased and made famous in the movie Apollo 13 —“Houston, we have a problem”—spoken by mission commander Jim Lovell after an explosion occurred on their ship. With Armstrong, there was this incredible surge of optimism in North America; humanity, we thought, could accomplish just about anything we put our mind to. But with Apollo 13, there was a sense that something had gone terribly wrong. Within a short time, the United States had journeyed from euphoria to tragedy and was facing the reality of how little control humanity has over the mysteries of space.
Today, the church finds itself in a similar place. We remember a time not too long ago (let’s call it the 1950s) when the established church occupied a powerful place i