Dead Christians Society

The "Tale that Wags the Blog" is actually a set of tales--a book I am writing for InterVarsity Press:

Patron Saints for Postmoderns
Ten members of our faith family show us how to be Christ's body for the world in times of cultural change.

In his justly acclaimed The Missionary Movement in Christian History (Orbis, 1996), Andrew Walls has argued that the 2,000-year odyssey of the church's history is a story of a series of cultural translations. The church translated itself from a Jewish to a Roman "idiom" after the fall of Jerusalem; from Roman to German after the fall of Rome; from Irish to English through the savvy mission of Augustine of Canterbury and Gregory the Great; and so forth.

Today a generation of "Younger Evangelicals" (Robert Webber) or "Emergents" warns that the Western church—especially the comfortable, middle-class American church—has become bogged down in conservative irrelevance. We have become, claims this restless group, unable to communicate with a new, post-Christian generation.

In this stagnant moment we need—say these young critics—to translate the faith anew. We need to slough off the presumptive conservative-Christian cultural shell of the church today in order to reach out to those who speak a wholly different language. We need to do—to be—a new translation of the Gospel.

Only, they admit, we're not sure yet what that translation should look like.

This is an appropriate moment for the telling of stories.

And so I propose to tell a set of stories of a group of "Patron--and Matron!--Saints for Postmoderns." Each of these people helped engineer a cultural translation of the Gospel at a crucial point in history, when the church was getting culturally and spiritually bogged down.

One of the first things we find when we look at these folks' lives is that the most successful cultural translators have been those who stood most firmly on the shoulders of those who went before.

As in the fine arts, imitation is the best anchor and fountain of innovation. So we need to heed the advice of Job's "friend" Bildad:

"Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?" (Job 8:8-10).

"We were born only yesterday and know nothing"; we need to hear the wisdom of our forefathers. If we feel our current church is shallow, thin, or weak, it may be because it lacks an anchor in our history.
 

The stories of these saints can strengthen and deepen us. Sure, none of these people wield the canonical authority of the apostles. But as accomplished members of Christ's body they are deserving of honor—and a hearing. Ours is, of course, a historical, enculturated faith. Jesus was incarnated once in history, as a first-century Jew from Nazareth. Ever since, he has been  incarnated again—through his body, the always culturally located church. Most of our "body parts" lived long ago—yet they live on. We need to hear them anew.

For more on some of the ten people who will star in this book, browse under the "category" list in the left sidebar of the main blog page.

So, here's my fond hope:

When readers are drawn in to the personality and world of each of these "saints," then they can engage in a personal way with the issues and methods represented in stories. Then they can feel these patron saints are truly present with them, urging them on, as patron saints are supposed to be and do. Then they can—if you'll pardon the romantic image—become initiated into the Dead Christians Society, and begin to draw from the strength of the whole communion of saints through time and space.

In other words, the mode I'm aiming for is more camp meeting than classroom—not stilted didacticism but honest testimonial. But I stress the "honest": unlike most testimonials for public consumption, these accounts won't hide the flaws and ambiguities. (I aspire to the kind of refreshing honesty we find in some of Ruth Tucker's profiles in From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya.)

I'm teaching a couple of courses related to this book. First, a short one at this summer's Cornerstone Festival (see the post under "courses"). Second, a full semester course this fall (2005) at Bethel Seminary St. Paul (Minnesota), where I am associate professor of church history. (I will post more details on this one later--it will use some of the books listed under the "books" section of this blog.) Though each of these courses stands on its own feet, they are in a sense "laboratories" for the book.

In the end, I do believe we can learn a thing or two about the "how to" of cultural translation from these leaders. But my higher hope is that as we take the next few steps deeper into the fog of a perplexing future, we find in these folks' stories not just a little more light but also a new resolve. At the very least, I hope each story will remind readers that it is ultimately Christ—through the power of his Spirit and through his whole body—who builds the church so the gates of hell will not stand against it.

Come enjoy with me the process of getting to know ten fascinating "cultural translators" of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Please feel free to share your own thoughts on these figures, knowing that if I am going to quote any blog participant in the book, I will contact them for their permission first! This blog is not an underhanded method of gathering material. I have other ways to do that. It is, yes, partly a "marketing tool," to let folks know about the book. But more than that, it is a way to make the lonely writing process more dynamic and interactive. I hope you'll join in.

In writing of each of these culturally translating saints, I will deal at least implicitly, beneath the surface of the text, with a set of questions:

--What cultural moment did each figure face—both in the wider society and within his or her church setting?

--How did the person translate the gospel and rework Christian life for that moment?

--How did that translation challenge the churchly status quo as well as the wider culture of their day?

--What resistance did each meet from within the church? From the world outside the church?

--How did each respond to these sorts of resistance?

--What were the results?

Dead Christians Society: Patron Saints for Postmoderns, Chris Armstrong - Discerning the Way

We're living in a moment when increasing numbers of people feel alienated from the church and "church culture." But if this is true now, what about the past? We will look at a number of culture-changing Christians who, in times of stagnation — when Christians had gotten into "church ruts" and were not communicating well to those around them,not living effectively as disciples,not loving their neighbors as Christ would want — took the church in new directions. These women and men will help us re-enter our own struggle with a sense that we are members of a "Dead Christians Society" — a family of brave, insightful, spiritually alive believers rooted historically in Christ's body.

Gregory the Great (ca. 540 - 604): Adapting Pagan practices to win Pagan hearts. A man of undoubted personal piety who gave tirelessly of himself, calling his own position, as Pope, nothing more nor less than "the Servant of the Servants of God," Gregory ministered to his people in many striking and effective ways (see his wisdom on pastoral care). Just one example: soon after launching a monk named Augustine and a team on an evangelistic mission to England, Gregory found himself answering their agonized letters: What do we do about all the Pagan practices and holidays we're running across? Gregory counseled "selective appropriation"—that is, the radical, humanly sensitive practice of giving a cultural make-over to beliefs and practices sanctioned by long tradition.