Articles
 Justice for All
 Church in Decline
 Striking Similarity
 The Efficacy of Prayer
 Are You Ready for Change?
 A Question of Vocation
 The Challenge of Change
 Elul 24
 Elul 23
 Elul 22

Series [All]
 Administration
 Elul 5777 (9)
 Exploring Translation Theories (25)
 Live Like You Give a Damn
 Memory and Identity
 The Creative Word (19)
 The Cross-Cultural Process (7)
 The Old Testament is Dying
 The Oral Gospel Tradition (4)
 We the People (8)

Archive

Thursday, 1 October 2015

Historical Continuity

We the People: Israel and the Catholicity of Jesus,
Tommy Givens, Fortress, 2014, page 40-41

Givens notes that Yoder:

predicates the correspondence between the politics of Jesus and a historical picture of the Jewish way of life also on substantial historical continuity. Jesus and early Christianity simply extended the way of life developed under exilic prophets like Jeremiah and quite common to the Jewish community of Jesus' time.

Clearly Yoder had a specific agenda - he is most well-know for his pacifist and peace studies and writing - but the emphasis he brings out here is that of not being in charge. Or should that be: being not in charge. Jonathan Sacks talked to this same idea in a lecture he gave about accepting and working in a minority status position.

Before returning to Givens' main flow, I'll be examining some of Yoder's proposals in more detail.

Posted By Jonathan, 8:03am Comment Comments: 1
 
 

Thursday, 1 October 2015
Comment -

Not being in charge is a consequence of the fall. Wanting to be in charge, but not under God, is a cause of the fall. Both are manifestations of disorder. Right order was having dominion in right relationship and submission to God. (Anything with the prefix 'dis' is bad news - unsurprising because Dis was the Roman god of the underworld!!)

Making a theology out of submission to the world is disorder. Yoder's appears to me to be out of order!! Jesus/Yeshua came to restore God's order through His obedience so that, as head of the church and FOR the church, all the principalities and powers were rightfully brought back under His people. His people comprise Israel and the aliens who receive citizenship in Christ.

Has Yoder not read Ephesians 1-3?!!

Posted By Timothy Butlin 09:21am