On the NZ Methodist “Liberal Society” email net, Ken Russell says “there is a most urgent task waiting to be done for the integrity of Methodism, and it needs our best scholars to do it. It is to clearly teach the difference between biblical and gospel authority.”
Ken is right that the task needs to be done. I think, however, that it will not be done by the “best scholars” if we are thinking only in academic terms. The “scholars” who really shaped the church I grew up in were the lay leaders who grappled with the implications of biblical literalism and said No. They were the faithful who listened to their sometimes pretty boring clergy and distilled from them the essence of a faith that was complex to explain but made serious connections with real life.
They were no doubt encouraged by ministers who wrote and spoke with clarity in church magazine and pulpit from over 100 years ago. But it was largely untrained lay people hungering after truth in a challenging age who imbued mid-20th century NZ Methodism with a sense of “gospel” authority. And they understood that it did not depend on a literal interpretation of scripture.
Any renaissance of that spirit of Methodism will require a kind of revolution from those kinds of people. We need the flaxroots theologians as well as the ivory-tower variety. It’s time for ordinary church members who have been silent in the onslaught of biblical literalism to stand up and say No.
Ken is right that the task needs to be done. I think, however, that it will not be done by the “best scholars” if we are thinking only in academic terms. The “scholars” who really shaped the church I grew up in were the lay leaders who grappled with the implications of biblical literalism and said No. They were the faithful who listened to their sometimes pretty boring clergy and distilled from them the essence of a faith that was complex to explain but made serious connections with real life.
They were no doubt encouraged by ministers who wrote and spoke with clarity in church magazine and pulpit from over 100 years ago. But it was largely untrained lay people hungering after truth in a challenging age who imbued mid-20th century NZ Methodism with a sense of “gospel” authority. And they understood that it did not depend on a literal interpretation of scripture.
Any renaissance of that spirit of Methodism will require a kind of revolution from those kinds of people. We need the flaxroots theologians as well as the ivory-tower variety. It’s time for ordinary church members who have been silent in the onslaught of biblical literalism to stand up and say No.
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Greetings Dave, I could not agree more. Are we so comfortable in our pew each Sunday? The same old hymns that we love. The same liturgy we are so used to. The same friends that we meet except that they are now fewer in number.
ReplyDeleteWe had a Maori lady who came to help us each year with an annual garage sale. A lovely cheerful person, always willing to do more than her share.
When asked "Ruby,Why do you not come to church? She candidly replied, "Come to church, O hell no"
Sadly Ruby died of cancer. Ruby was farewelled from the church with many tributes to her life in our community.
Some one said of me."Oh he's religious" I am not sure whether that was a criticism or a compliment.
Blog on Dave,
Ralph.