Liminal Christianity

The conversation about complementarianism, egalitarianism, and women in the church has been revived lately, in no small part due to historical and sociological reflection. As a debate, I think, there are at least 3 dimensions to consider--all overlapping. There is the recently highlighted historical/sociological one about what the tradition, in fact, is, and how different views have actually played out in Church history. There is--the conclusive and most important one--the biblical interpretive dimension about what the Bible actually says. There is also what we might call the systematic theological or the philosophical dimension of how all our views hang together around our views of women in the church. On the conclusive matter of Biblical Interpretation I will refer you to William Witt’s Icons of Christ . I will also note that these other two dimensions help us to read well and correctly, and help to highlight red flags and enable us to ask better questions. On history, I will refer ...

Or: what finally pushed me over the edge to start this blog. Jonathan Leeman's Editor's Note is bad. So I am going to go over some of what is wrong with it. This is not meant to be especially charitable. It is meant to expose what he writes. I am skipping over some true things he says, and some correct points. I doubt he meant all the bad things he wrote, but the text he wrote means some really bad things. Deconstruction Project Singular? "For instance, the project would say that..." As if it is some sort of homogeneous entity? It is not as bad as "agenda," sure, but it is really more like an event. It is a rupturous event wherein evangelical teaching collides against itself and provokes reformation. For some, it provokes deconversion. For others, it provokes a change of congregation or denominations. For still others, it merely involves a hefty rethink of many doctrines. For all, it is an event where fear of ecclesial authorities is overcome by love of tru...

    Evangelical Christianity as a movement has hit a snag. It may well have begun with a snag, for it begins with a misunderstanding of how Christians relate to cultures. This is, in my mind, the bedrock critique of Jesus & John Wayne: not our history of sexism, racism, and militarism, but our permitting ourselves to be drawn into a way of life which makes us susceptible to cultural high priests rather than living before the face of God. In this essay, I want to try to articulate a new way for Christians to relate to cultures which I call “Liminal Christianity.” In doing so, I will have to articulate what the difference is between my proposal and the old evangelical manner, as well as how it avoids being a mere caving in to the surrounding culture.     Let me begin with two ways of viewing culture as a Christian which I reject: what I will call the Evangelical Model and what I will call the Worldly Model. This will be a vast oversimplification, as both ...