fishers, surfers and casters

Matt and Stephen have offered some important and helpful critical observations on my last post. While I maintain that his reflections on the post are his personal views, and I’m trying to summarise the published thoughts of a wider range of bloggers, I think his comments warrant a review of my last post, even if it’s just tidying up the wording a bit. So, here goes…

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Blogs are a vehicle for participants in the sample to reflect on the practices of Christians in relation to those outside the church. It is also a place to retell personal experiences of meeting others in ministry, ask questions and share knowledge.

Generally these bloggers are suspicious of programs and activities that attempt to convert people to Christianity, or attract them to come to church. For a start, having everyone come to church will not necessarily make the world a better place. Also, the motives by which the programs are implemented are under scrutiny. Bloggers question the packaging of spiritual goods for consumption and edification (and profit) of the supplier. The “God-shaped hole” rationale, which treats everybody as “needing the Gospel”, is viewed by bloggers as arrogant and judgmental. Bloggers believe there is not much good in going to church that people haven’t found in other faith practices and religious sources. The converse is also true; history shows that church-goers have much to be held accountable for.

This is why a small number of bloggers have played with term “apologetics”. Bloggers accept that their faith is on trial by wider society, they seek to learn from others how to right previous wrongs, search for common objectives, and strive for reconciliation. In a few posts some bloggers have retold the experience of the Desert Fathers, recalling a historical period when, like this one, Christianity needed a defence. For these emerging church bloggers, the culture wars between Christendom and secularisation is over, and Christendom lost. Yet there is a beauty in the story of Christ and followers that deserves declaration, both within their experience and into their imaginings. The story offers a prophetic voice that bloggers receive in order to responsibly speak to their readers on their cultural experience.

For many, Christian witness is most authentically expressed in service. This may involve offering resources to communities in need, caring for individuals who are marginalised in these communities. They wish to see themselves not as missionaries to the lost, but fellow travellers, who carry the same questions, and are willing to find answers in others. Christian mission is as much a quest for self-transformation, and renewal of the present-day church, than it is a call to reform larger society.

These voices, then, do not use blogging to rally the troops, or convert people to their way of thinking, but as a confession that their experience of Christianity is not all they have wanted it to be, and that the world they know is not the same world their churches think it is. They call out for alternative methods of thinking and doing mission, and seek to engage non-Christians in the discussion. Perhaps there is another paradox to be noted, that in the use of new technologies these bloggers seek a return to older, even ancient, conversations.

Blogs are a vehicle for participants in the sample to reflect on the practices of Christians in relation to those outside the church. It is also a place to retell personal experiences of meeting others in ministry, ask questions and share knowledge.

Generally these bloggers are suspicious of programs and activities that attempt to convert people to Christianity, or attract them to come to church. For a start, having everyone come to church will not necessarily make the world a better place. Also, the motives by which the programs are implemented are under scrutiny. Bloggers question the packaging of spiritual goods for consumption and edification (and profit) of the supplier. The “God-shaped hole” rationale, which treats everybody as “needing the Gospel”, is viewed by bloggers as arrogant and judgmental. Bloggers believe there is not much good in Christianity that people haven’t found in other religions and spiritual practices. The converse is also true; history shows that Christianity has much to be held accountable for.

This is why a small number of bloggers have played with term “apologetics”. Bloggers accept that their faith is on trial by wider society, they seek to learn from others how to right previous wrongs, search for common objectives, and strive for reconciliation. In a few posts some bloggers have retold the experience of the Desert Fathers, recalling a historical period when, like this one, Christianity needed a defence. For these emerging church bloggers, the culture wars between Christendom and secularisation is over, and Christendom lost.

The primary task of Christian mission is service. This may involve offering resources to communities in need, caring for individuals who are marginalised in these communities. They wish to see themselves not as missionaries to the lost, but fellow travellers, who carry the same questions, and are willing to find answers in others. Christian mission is as much a quest for self-transformation, and renewal of the church, than it is a call to reform larger society.

These voices, then, do not use blogging to rally the troops, or convert people to their way of thinking, but as a confession that their experience of Christianity is not all they have wanted it to be, and that the world they know is not the same world their churches think it is. They call out for alternative methods of thinking and doing mission, and seek to engage non-Christians in the discussion. Perhaps there is another paradox to be noted, that in the use of new technologies these bloggers seek a return to older, even ancient, conversations.

Over the next few posts I would like to offer an overall understanding of the religious identity of the bloggers I’ve been examining, as presented not only in their posts but in their discussions with other bloggers in comment threads. These posts of mine will only be introductory; it would take too many words to include quotations from all the work in the sample, and probably make for a less interesting read. The themes I would like to introduce are: theology; mission and evangelism; church structure and authority; social commentary; and faith practices.

Bloggers in the sample seek a reconstruction of Christian theology, and this quest is ideologically driven. In considering theology, some call it “emerging”, “missional” or “postmodern”, but most refer simply to their personal beliefs, attitudes and questions. By-and-large, bloggers believe in the triune God composed of creator of the universe (though they are far from creationist), redeemer of humanity, and the Spirit who moves among us. They tend to shy away from the gender-specific terms of Father and Son, preferring simply God and Jesus or Christ. Central to their theology are the death and resurrection of Jesus, who is God incarnate.

Other doctrines are up for discussion. An all-loving God is seen as a more important concept than an all-powerful one. For this reason atonement theology is problematic; they question why God would require sacrifice. The cross makes more sense as an indication of the extreme love of God, to endure the worst of human experience, even if that takes the form of abandonment from God. Prosperity theology makes even less sense to them, and is highlighted in many posts and discussions, as it not only lacks sufficient biblical evidence, but appears in its application to serve the higher classes more than the poor. And they believe God has a preferential option for the poor.

Indeed, God has a politic. Doctrines of heaven and hell are at best unhelpful, at worst systems of control and oppression. The Kingdom is an earthly realm, breaking into this world. Jesus came not to make Christians, but to bring liberation and justice. The resurrection is symbolic testimony to the fact that God’s message is not welcome by the powerful, but will not be silenced.

While Christ is the head of the Kingdom, both here now and to come, this Kingdom is not the Christian church. The church is tasked with bringing the Gospel to the world, and ushering in the new realm, but being close to God, participating in the Kingdom, is not conditional on belonging to a church, or even being Christian. Emerging/missional theology accepts that much of God’s word and work can be found in secular culture, and some bloggers find that church culture is failing to speak the Gospel, and go so far to say it is an institution that needs to be overthrown for the Gospel’s sake. Even contemporary methods of academic theology are criticised as serving to alienate people rather than empower people to talk of God.

Bloggers do not claim that this theology is new. They draw on sources such as the Jesus movement, the works of GK Chesterton, NT Wright, CS Lewis. Their claim to being “postmodern” lies in their language of “doubt”. For postmodern theology, doubt is an essential component to faith. Blindly holding on to little truths, such as unhelpful doctrines, leads to a resistance to change and growth, and ultimately collapse. Realising that our worldviews will always and repeatedly be challenged and broken is the path of the spiritual traveller, who affirms that Jesus has been there before, and God is there now. When modern Christians appear like Roman soldiers casting dice at the crucifixion, postmodern Christians want to be like the disciples who run away, only to return to the resurrected Christ with both shame and delight.

God is a rebel. Jesus is a revolutionary. Revelation is rupture. Heaven and hell are not outside this world, but on this planet at this time. In bloggers’ theologies, dualisms are replaced with metaphors. It seems a paradox that the ethereal realm of cyberspace becomes the place to openly affirm this.

I’ve just slideshare.com, which can upload and share PowerPoint slides like YouTube and flickr. Here is a show of my presentation at the first panel at AoIR 9.0 a couple of days ago.