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Friday, 6 March 2015

The Need for Boundaries

Exclusion and Embrace: Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness and Reconciliation,
Miroslav Volf, Abingdon Press, 1996, page 63

Whilst our modern world stresses the importance of boundaries at a personal level to prevent abuse and exploitation, the inclusionist agenda goes the other way. Volf comments,

A consistent drive towards inclusion seeks to level all the boundaries that divide and to neutralise all outside powers that form and shape the self.

People are free when there are no boundaries. But, Volf asks, doesn't that very freedom undermine inclusion?

I believe it does. Without boundaries we will be able to know only what we ae fighting against but not what we are fighting for ... The absence of boundaries creates non-order, and non-order is not the end of exclusion but the end of life.

From the perspective of the One New Man, made of Jew and Gentile, this is a death sentence! For if Jew and Gentile are homogenised to the extent that they become invisible, then the One New Man ceases to exist and the miracle of re-creation and reconciliation is lost.

Posted By Jonathan, 9:00am Comment Comments: