Volf is an author I love. He is a leading theologian in the world today. He is Croatian, was raised Pentecostal (his father was a minister), educated at home (Zagreb) in an American Seminary (Fuller) and a German University (Tubigen). Today he is a Professor of Theology at Yale University. Midway through his doctoral studies (with Jürgen Moltmann) he was drafted into military service and fought in the Serbo-Croatian war. It turned his faith inside out. He's an amazing academic, refined by fire and filled with the Spirit.
If you don't know theological schools, suffice to say that Volf's education and experience is a garden salad of diversity. He is unique. He writes great books. And he is ideally suited to tell us what a Christian is for.
If you are a believer as I am, according to Volf, the two of us should be working together to help humanity flourish. Our stance must not be coercive but it must not be evasive either. Christian faith must raise its head in the public dialogue, but how?
"Wisdom", answers Volf. Christians have really useful things to say about life. We DO know something about what works and what is needed. But we need to be humble: quick to forgive, eager to receive as well as offer and full of hope for ourselves and others.
It is true that Christian faith can malfunction. It occasionally fails to live up to its own calling. But the way forward is to acknowledge this, confess our failures and get on with the good work of public engagement to which we are called. Here is some of Volf's insight on wisdom sharing.
1. Share nuggets of wisdom. Ours is a tradition full of rich treasure. We should claim it, explain it and offer it freely. Christians who are switched on and Spirit-infused have good stuff to say. We should say it more often and more loudly.
2. Model a wisdom lifestyle. We should also be able to demonstrate the power of our treasure over the long haul. The Christian voice in the public square should rest on the empirical data of locally lived wisdom. Churches should be people of joy, welcome and healing. Christian families are brilliantly placed to give evidence of Christ's wisdom.
3. Point to wisdom as a person. The premium gift Christians have to offer is the insight that wisdom is personified in Jesus. Real wisdom is not bookish, mystical or antique. Real wisdom is embodiable! But only at great cost. It happened once. It changed everything.
Western culture needs Christians. The public square needs our voice and the back alley's need our loving intervention. We have "words of life". We need to do them.
To put it another way, Christians are for the world, just like God is (John 3:16). We should be more like antibodies in the public bloodstream and less like busybodies in the private affairs of people. Christians are for the public good. At least that's what Miroslav and I think. Get his book and enjoy a great read.
Note: Miroslav Volf will be in Sydney 18-20 March 2014 at the Re:Thinking Conference.
* Rick Warren "A Purpose Driven Life", Zondervan, 2002; Miroslav Volf, "A Public Faith", Brazos Press, 2011 (148 pages). Also worth reading is Volf's award winning book "Exclusion and Embrace", Abingdon Press, 1996 (306 pages).
No comments:
Post a Comment