Let me first say that i have enjoyed all of the books of yours that i have read. Of course this does not mean i have agreed with them all or disagreed with
them all...
...It just means that i have read them and found them to be reasonably well thought out.
Let me also say that I am a seminary student at Vancouver School of Theology, around the corner from Carey Theological Seminary and Regent College which
you mention in '...orthodoxy'. My school is categorized as being 'liberal' but that should not carry the stigma that it does. Its full of people who love God and want to serve God in word and sacrament.
But if you were to come here you would meet homosexual couples who have been together for 30 years studying for ministry and you would meet young people figuring their life and faith out and you would meet older
people who are going into ministry as a second career. If you are ever in town at Carey or Regent, come on over and check out Holden Evening Prayer on Monday night or a tazie service on Sunday evening over at VST (www.vst.edu)
I would like to address some issues from your book:
1) You proudly say you have never been to seminary. To be honest i have a problem with this. I would not go to a Doctor who hasn't been to med school. When i go to church - even the most Conservative church - i want to know the pastor has wrestled with the scholarship of the bible. I want to know he or she has really delved deep into it and seen its problems, contradictions and its beautiful beautiful story at its center. I know i know - the disciples never went
to seminary. But you stand in the tradition of church and should know about that. (not saying you don't, your books prove you to be well read).
Answer: I’m sorry it seemed I was being proud in saying I hadn’t been to seminary. I’m not proud of it. It’s just a fact. I want to assure you that I’m very pro-seminary. I teach at three at the moment, and I am often a guest at others. I agree wholeheartedly that we need to know our heritage.
2) Where do i fit in your conversation? I'm a good, post-modern Christian boy. I just think Gay and Lesbian people should be ordained. I'm not sure what i believe when it comes to miracles or literal resurrection - but i believe them to be foundational to the reality of God i see in Jesus (lord i belive, help my unbelief). Will the UCC and MCC - denominations that welcome Gay and Lesbian people - bewelcomed to your conversations?
Answer: There are already many people like yourself deeply involved in our conversations.
3) In 'why i am missional' you talk about how missionaries stopped widows from throwing themselves on to the funeral pyre as a sign of good things that
Christian missions have done. The flip side of that is those same people made the local religion illegal, made it illegal for people other than Christians to
own land and eventually burnt at the stake people who would not give up their faith and become Christian. All because it was immoral to throw your self on the
fire in grief!
Answer: I believe I made that comment in counterbalance to some pretty strong critique, so yes, we need a balance – to see both the bad and the good. Doing so will, I think, help us see the bad in ourselves and the good in those different from us, as I’m sure you’d agree.
4) You speak out against pluralism. I no longer feel comfortable saying that Jesus is the only way? To salvation? If salvation is less about heaven and more about here and the now then...cant a Buddhist be 'saved' if their faith has made them a good person and they are seeking justice for the earth and Gods creations? In the bible notice that Jesus never condemns the people of other faiths, instead he points to them as the people who get the big picture.
Answer: This is a complex question that I don’t feel I can do justice to here. I seek to address it in a number of my books. The word “pluralism” may be the problem, as it has a number of meanings. That particular word aside: I think there are better alternatives than either the exclusivism of some fundamentalists and the relativism of some liberals. Lesslie Newbigin (The Open Secret) and David Bosch (Transforming Mission) have been most helpful to me in this regard, as has C. S. Lewis.
5) Thank you for the chapter on Mystical/Poetic.
Answer: You’re welcome!
6) Thank you for the Green chapter. Have you read Sally Mcfague - she is an eco-theologian? She is a pan-en-theist. (not a pan-theist, the en is important). God is in the world, but more than the world. The world is Gods body, but the world is not God. You may find her writing enjoyable.
Answer: Yes, I have enjoyed her work. I wrote a bit about my views on panentheism in Finding Faith, fyi.
7) In your introduction you put an emphasis on the trinity. The trinity is a post-biblical concept that did not show up in Christian language until Tetuliarn in the 3rd century (???). You are correct to say that the Christian expression of God is in three - Father, Son, Holy Spirit/Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer. It is also the distinct language of Christian theology and should be preserved so we can explore the many facets of God as expressed in Christanity. But to put an
emphasis on it is to miss the point - i/e allot of XXX’s theology rests on a notion of the trinity being a final statement about God instead of an construct to help us explore and meditate on God.
Answer: I hope you can appreciate this – I have been seriously criticized for not putting enough emphasis on the Trinity in the book. So – it’s impossible to please everybody!
9) You experiment in Orthodoxy fails if most of the writers you champion are Conservative/fundamental. If you are trying to get people to see across the room to their brothers and sisters of other theologies you need to champion people other than, or in addition to, XXX and XXX etc. I would love to see some
Borg, more Karen Armstrong, Hauerwas, Lindbeck etc. Mix it up - get really shocking!
Answer: There are quite a few Catholic, Liberal Protestant, and Orthodox writers quoted positively in the book. I quote Hauerwas and Lindbeck positively in my other books. I think I have a couple quotes form Karen Armstrong as well. I’m doin’ my best!