Ways of Resistance

I met Orrin during a visit to Missio Dei (a new monastic community in Minneapolis, MN) back in May. I also met the leader of Missio Dei, Mark Van Steenwyk, while there. In addition to being their “pastor,” he’s also the editor/founder of a webzine called Jesus Manifesto. Several months ago, Mark wrote about his friend Orrin in an article titled, “Buddhist Follower of Jesus?” It’s definitely a worthwhile read, asking important questions.

In the article (and in some of the comments below it—especially the ones by Rick Slone, joseph of antioch, and markvans), I suspect you’ll find some inspiring thoughts, questions, and ideas. My reflections here have to do with what Mark said. His thoughts on the subject have been sitting with me for a while now and I’m hoping this conversation will be a springboard into even better thinking. So, I’ll get right to it.

The inherent belief system (i.e., where we put our faith and confidence) within many Evangelical communities takes for granted certain modern USAmerican philosophical and economic assumptions. They are not neutral; they are the water we swim in. And they are not—without much qualification and selectivity—uniquely (or even easily) “Christian.” So, I ask:

How do we justify our accommodations (as professed followers of Jesus) to late 20th century conservative/liberal politics, modernist philosophical assumptions, and industrialized economies while, at the same time, invariably condemning the accommodations made to other faith traditions, cultures, and religions?

This bait-and-switch comes in the form of a very insidious (and culturally comfortable) lack of theological imagination. On the one hand, our notions about “non-Christians” have supposed that God could not possibly be at work in, among, or through folks who believe differently than “us.” They are unregenerated, unsaved, and unable to escape the worldly clutches of Total Depravity. Christians, on the other hand, are totally “forgiven” (an abstract legal agreement between God and those who truly believe) and unconditionally “saved” (the promise of a four-star hotel room after graduating from our bodies and the rest of this filthy world). We seem to have lost the ability to accurately and beautifully imagine the Jesus Story in ways that transcend or, better put, subvert imperial assumptions (i.e., the narratives which oppress and do harm to creation).

Under the impact of such framing stories, God’s dreams for the world get reduced to pre-packaged, unearthly, and, ultimately, inoffensive religious technologies for salvation and impersonal doctrines or ideas about Truth. The very telling (and unfortunate) result is that Christians in the West have been unsuccessful in providing an alternative to the life-sucking bad theologies and exploitive economies rampant among the “secular” as well as those who call themselves religious. This should cause us who seek to be faithful in our context more than a few seconds to pause and think.

The Jesus Story is so much more than consumerism or business-as-usual. The imago dei, resting on all of us, propels each human-alive into generative relationship with creation and Creator. It convinces us of our God-created goodness, loveable-ness, and moral lucidity even before we think about how terribly we’ve messed up the story (i.e., sinned). In Jesus’ outline, enemy-love becomes the true mark of an apprentice and hope-for-creation gives shape to our history and God’s future. So, before making uninformed or ignorant remarks about other religions or the non-faith of “unbelievers,” perhaps we should rethink our understanding of Jesus and his message. Indeed, once our understanding of The Message changes, so do our ways-of-being-in-the-world and, ultimately, everything that we have imagined. Fortunately for us, the world’s future is not defined by the grim scowls and calculated formulas of modernist “evangelistic strategies.” And, in spite of our many unholy alliances with Caesar, we—the visible church—are still an integral part of the most radical and prophetic story ever believed/lived.