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Books Ecclesiology John Howard Yoder

Best book on ecclesiology I read this year: Body Politics by John Howard Yoder

I am doing my doctoral work here at Duke Divinity School on “The Practice of Leading Christian Communities and Institutions” with my secondary concentration in “New Testament.”  This spring each of my courses (Scripture and Ethics with Allen Verhey and Richard Hays, Church and Ministry in the New Testament with Richard Hays, and Theology of Mission with Laceye Warner) required me to read John Howard Yoder.  Yoder’s 80 page, (that’s right, very short), Body Politics is the book I find myself recommending almost daily. 

Here is my Amazon.com review of John Howard Yoder’s Body Politics, which I just wrote tonight.  

 

5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding brief book of provocative ecclesiology, July 8, 2008
By  Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
  

John Howard Yoder (1927-1997), who was a professor of theology at Notre
Dame and a Mennonite, outlines in 80 pages five practices that should
be central to every church’s life together. He argues that
congregations need to recover these practices that are described in the
New Testament and have since become distorted. This book grew out of a
1986 lecture at Duke Divinity School entitled “Sacrament as Social
Process: Christ the Transformer of Culture,” later published in his
book The Royal Priesthood: Essays Ecclesiological and Ecumenical. In Body Politics, Yoder describes the five practices this way:
(1) Binding and Loosing

(2) Disciples Break Bread Together / Eucharist

(3) Baptism and the New Humanity / Baptism

(4) The Fullness of Christ / Multiplicity of gifts

(5) The Rule of Paul / Open meeting

In each case, Yoder argues that the original New Testament practice
has been today almost entirely lost in most churches. (1) Binding and
loosing – moral discernment through dialogue and forgiveness as
described in Matthew 18 – is rarely practiced. (2) The sense of the
Eucharist as a meal (1 Corinthians 11) where people share their food
with one another is rarely practiced. (3) Baptism (Galatians 3:27-28)
rarely communicates the profound transcending of social and cultural
barriers – between Jew and Gentile, slave and free there is one
baptism. (4) In almost every church there a few so-called “gifted”
people who dominate the church while most congregation members are
spectators. (5) And it is the rare congregation that truly opens the
floor for all congregation members to participate (1 Corinthians 14).

What is compelling about Yoder’s writing is his skill as a reader
of biblical texts, his weaving of historical context (his dissertation
work was on the Radical Reformation), and his ability to talk to
theologians of many denominations (he did his doctoral work with the
reformed theologian Karl Barth, taught at a Roman Catholic school, and
strongly influenced the United Methodist theologian Stanley Hauerwas).

Yoder is also amazingly concise for a theologian. In my first year
as a Th.D. (Doctor of Theology) student at Duke Divinity School, this
is the one book I read this year that I find myself recommending to
friends and family.

So, who will like this book? Yoder writes sympathetically
denominational groups that have less formal hierarchy: Mennonites,
Quakers, Methodists, Plymouth Brethren, evangelicals, Baptists,
Pentecostals, Puritans, and house churches. If you are a part of any of
these denominations, you will probably cheer all the way through this
book and say “Aha!”

On the other hand, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and
Presbyterians will surely find Yoder’s ideas radical, wild, far out,
untenable, foreign and unrealistic. For example, a Roman Catholic might
initially think about the five practices: (1) the priest facilitates
confession, (2) the priest facilitates the mass / Eucharist, (3)
infants are baptized, (4) the priests have a special religious ritual
calling, and (5) the congregation is silent as the priests recite mass.
Yoder argues from the New Testament that all of these developments are
unfortunate! Thus, if you are coming from that perspective, it will
probably be tough to swallow Yoder’s ideas and he may not convince you
to be a radical protestant in 80 pages! However, if you have a niggle
of doubt about any of these things, Yoder is sure to fan it! It is also
worth noting that many Roman Catholics want to recover the biblical
meaning of these practices. For example, I read this year at Duke a
number of books that get at this by Roman Catholic authors: Raymond
Brown’s The Churches The Apostles Left Behind, Michael Warren’s At This Time, in This Place: The Spirit Embodied in the Local Assembly, and Vincent Miller’s Consuming Religion: Christian Faith And Practice in a Consumer Culture.

Yoder, is most known for his book The Politics of Jesus
and for his defense of pacifism but this little book is a gem. I would
highly recommend this book for anyone thinking about church leadership
or planting a church. I would also highly recommend it as a textbook
for Systematic Theology III courses which cover ecclesiology. If you
liked this book, read Yoder’s For the Nations: Essays Evangelical and Public next.

Update: Other related posts that I wrote after this one:

Based on Yoder’s five practices: Everything I needed to know about the church I learned at Taylor University.

The Ecclesiology of John Howard Yoder paper

A number of other books that I read in the past prepared me for thinking as Yoder does about ecclesiology: 

In all of his work, retired Regent College faculty member Paul Stevens argues for the empowering of the laity, for every-member-ministry, for a lessening of the clergy-lay divide. 

Sande in all of his work argues for the practical benefits of biblical conflict resolution, particularly Matthew 18. 

Pagitt describes the way that he encourages interaction at his emerging church – soliciting feedback during the preparation, inviting oral questions and comments after the sermon, and encourages dialogue about the sermon online afterward. 

This is one of McLaren’s earliest books (now revised) where he stresses some basic ways most churches can improve.  It is the least provocative of any of his books.  It is basically how he would talk if he was gently encouraging pastors to consider change.  With his book  A New Kind of Christian, he decided to be more provocative and controversial. 

Retired Regent College New Testament professor Fee describes the lack of formal leadership structures in the New Testament. 

Hays (one of my doctoral work advisors) and Fee (a previous mentor)
both describe the participative and fluid nature of the early Christian
communities.  Barrett, Banks and  Käsemann, who Hays had me read this semester, all do the same. 

Banks’s book is 48 pages and much faster to read than Yoder’s 80
pages!  You can read for one afternoon and claim to have read two books!

 

I also reviewed Barrett’s book on Amazon.com since there were no reviews!
 

5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent reflection on ecclesiology by a great New Testament scholar, July 8, 2008
By  Andrew D. Rowell (Durham, NC) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
  

C.K. “Kingsley” Barrett preached at 90 years old in November 2007. He
taught New Testament at the University of Durham from 1945 until 1982,
writing commentaries on John, Romans, the Pastoral Epistles, Acts, and
1 and 2 Corinthians. This book “Church, Ministry & Sacraments in
the New Testament” incorporates Barrett’s love for the church and his
New Testament scholarship.

Below are my summary notes from reading Church, Ministry & Sacraments:

Barrett begins the book by acknowledging that though he is a
Methodist he has been highly influenced by Anglo-Catholics and has
worked with many Anglicans at the University of Durham. In chapter one,
Barrett explains that his thesis is a paradox: “that the church is both
central and peripheral in the New Testament.” On the one hand, calling
disciples was central to the mission of Jesus Christ. On the other
hand, Barrett argues, the formation of an organization was surprising
necessity when the consummation of the age did not follow the
resurrection.
In chapter two, entitled “Ministry,” Barrett reflects on the
leadership of the church as described in the New Testament – beginning
with the Pauline literature. Every member was to be a minister.
Functions are emphasized over offices. There was no leader who gathered
money, administered the sacraments, oversaw worship or led church
discipline. He points out that Paul was the authority in his churches
while he lived and Spirit-gifting was emphasized. Churches also met in
the households of rich people who probably exercised some leadership.
Barrett emphasizes the importance of talented people and people who
specialize in their ministries but also warns of the dangers of people
flaunting their gifts, being enriched by them, and creating an aura of
superiority.
Barrett then looks at the issue of presbyters and episkopos in 1
Peter. He wonders if presbyters may have been primarily older people
rather than an office. The advice of 1 Peter is to lead with humility.
In the Johannine literature, Barrett sees evidence of apostles,
prophets, a leading elder, traveling preachers and witnesses. The
criteria for evaluating these leaders is their teaching that Jesus
Christ came in the flesh and in their love. In the book of Acts,
Barrett again emphasizes the informal nature of leadership:
evangelists, prophets, teachers, elders, apostles – not ordained but
chosen by people and the Spirit. They are unpaid and part-time.
Barrett points out the diversity in the practice of the
sacraments in the New Testament in the third chapter. He argues that
the writer of the book of Acts is likely trying to point out that
baptism is not magic because the Spirit and water are usually but not
always together. Barrett argues that Paul too mitigates the importance
of baptism in his comments in 1 Cor 1. Barrett theorizes that Paul may
have infused the two basic practices (baptism of initiation and regular
resurrection meals) with greater cruciform emphases because they were
causing division in his communities. Thus, he argues, the sacraments
like the church should be seen as both peripheral and central.
In chapter four, Barrett reflects on the development of the
church into a more formal, priest-dominated institution. Barrett
concludes that the church is at its best, is central, when it sees
itself as peripheral.

Categories
Books

Theological Reviews of The Shack by William P. Young

Here are a number of excerpts from reviews of the The Shack by William P. Young by reputable Christian leaders. 

Regent College theology professor John Stackhouse’s

The Shack 1: In Defense of Ideological Fiction

I’m happy to say that I did not find it propagandistic, but compellingly plausible.

The Shack 2: Some Theological Concerns (Part 1)

As I say, these are important theological matters in themselves, but not crucial to The Shack. I would like to see them either corrected or dropped from later editions of the book. But even if they aren’t, I don’t see them as fatal to the book’s main purpose and helpfulness.

The Shack 3: Theological Concerns (Part 2)

These are my main theological concerns with The Shack. I maintain that they could all be fixed to my full satisfaction and nothing crucial to the architecture, argument, or artistry of The Shack would be lost.

The Shack 4: Some Celebrations

No, let’s take the experience of reading The Shack the way the book’s protagonist took the experience of visiting it: as a necessarily limited accommodation to his capacities and needs, the thing he needed to receive right then.

If a book can be that, it’s a good book indeed . . .

. . . as I think The Shack truly is.

I would particularly recommend the comments by Dr. Stackhouse who is an
outstanding evangelical theologian, with a Ph.D. in historical theology
from the University of Chicago, and interacted charitably with Paul
Young, the author of
The Shack in person.


Ben Witherington – Professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary, Shacking Up With God—William P. Young’s ‘The Shack’– Jul 23, 2008

I want to say from the outset that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel, as it involves a lot of interesting theologizing about God and the divine-human encounter, and it clearly has struck a nerve with many people who are longing to have a close encounter with God of the first sort. I am happy this novel can provoke thought and stir up people to reconsider the God of the Bible and what having a relationship with God might mean and be like. And because it is a work of fiction, no one should evaluate this work as if it were an exercise in systematic theology as if it were Barth’s Dogmatics for the Emerging Church, as its aims are much more modest . . .  What I would suggest is that it needs considerable further theological refinement.

Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.- from the book jacket:

When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of “The Shack.” This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” did for his. It’s that good!

Derek R. Keefe – Christianity Today Magazine – Jul 11, 2008 Reading in Good Faith: The Shack is a tale of tragedy redeemed, not a theological treatise.

Reading between the lines, I see a formerly troubled soul who’s made peace with God about his past, but is still not at peace with the church. I’d love to see the book become an occasion for open conversation with “spiritual but not religious” folks burned by church experience. Here’s an opportunity to show good faith—to Christ, his church, and her teachings; to authors and their work; and to readers who rejoice in learning they are not alone.

Derek Keefe – “The Shack” Built on Shifting Sands? William Young’s surprise bestseller sparks heated response and prompts important questions at Christianity Today’s LiveBlog

Several conservative Protestant heavyweights–Al Mohler, Chuck Colson, Mark Driscoll, and influential blogger Tim Challies–have sounded off on the dangers of The Shack‘s vision of God, salvation, and the Church, creating a quartet of caution for the casual Christian reader. These strong cautions are all the more notable in light of the over-the-top endorsement from one of evangelicalism’s most respected spiritual sages, Eugene Peterson, which is featured on the book’s back cover.

Tim Challies, conservative Reformed theology blogger quoted at Justin Taylor’s post The Shack Reviewed, which  links to a 17 page review by Challies.

Despite the book’s popularity among Christians, believers are divided on whether this book is biblically sound. Where Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, says it “has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim Progress did for his,” Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, says, “This book includes undiluted heresy.” While singer and songwriter Michael W. Smith says “The Shack will leave you craving for the presence of God,” Mark Driscoll, Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, says, “Regarding the Trinity, it’s actually heretical.”

Brandon O’Brien, assistant editor of Leadership Journal at the Out of Ur blog, June 16, 2008 Taking The Shack to the Shed Is the hottest new Christian novel an exercise in heresy?

Young does two things I wouldn’t advise fiction writers to do: 1) depict the Trinity in bodily form and 2) put words in the Trinity’s mouth. My fear would be that such attempts would result in hokey prose—and, to be honest, that happens from time to time in The Shack. But several notable Christian thinkers have more serious charges for Young.

Andrew Jones – Tall Skinny Kiwi – (UK emerging church / missional blogger) – from his blog post The Shack:

It’s a good book. . . The Shack reads a little like a Frank Perretti classic but its not as complex or gripping and neither does it produce paranoia in the weak minded . . . Unfortunately, The Shack is also cheapened by well-used Christian cliches and drags horribly in the middle where the story gets stuck in a theological conversation about the Trinity – which i did not struggle with theologically, despite the accusations of modalism from the fundie [fundamentalist] bloggers.

Greg Boyd, Minnesota pastor and author, Sunday, June 22, 2008 The Shack: A Review

Warning: Do not read this novel on a plane or any other public place where you’re trapped around people — unless you’re totally okay with becoming emotionally undone in front of perfect strangers. There are points where this book rips your heart out. At least it did me. The body building dude sitting next to me on the plane must have thought I was a first rate wimp, weeping over a novel. Anyway, to my surprise, I loved this book!

Collin Hansen, Christianity Today online The Trinity: So What? The Shack allegorizes a tricky but foundational doctrine.

Given the doctrine’s complexity, it’s no surprise that we turn to analogies for help. But every analogy breaks down. “Most analogies drawn from the physical realm tend to be either tritheistic or modalistic in their implications,” Millard Erickson writes in Christian Theology. Following Augustine’s lead, Erickson therefore opts for analogies drawn from human relationships, though he admits that they, too, fail to convey the deep beauty of this central Christian confession.

Greg Surratt – Multi-site church pioneer – Jul 22, 2008 The shack

Theologically, I didn’t see anything dramatically problematic…the author doesn’t have a very high view of church…I think Jesus likes the church a little more than he would have you to believe.

I liked it…but who really cares?  If the book began the process of opening up a spiritual seeker, who would probably never hear a sermon from that pastor that she unknowingly shared a plane ride with, to the idea that God loves her and wants to have a relationship with her forever, what difference does it make whether I liked it or not?

Cindy Crosby -book reviewer at Christianity Today Magazine – Jul 11, 2008 – Fiction for the Faith-Starved: The Shack tells a compelling, if imperfect, story.

Reviewers have criticized the book for hinting at universalism, as well as for feminism and a lack of hierarchy in the Trinity. Rather than slicing and dicing the novel, looking for proof of theological missteps, a better approach might be to look at significant passages as springboards for deeper discussion.

Mark Batterson – Pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC – from his blog post What I’m Reading

Love it for lots of reasons. First of all, I love books that touch the emotions and inspire the imagination. This book does that. But it also has an amazing storyline that is really gripping.

Perry Noble, NewSpring Church South Carolina megachurch pastor, What I’ve Been Reading

In my opinion this book is an excellent piece of fiction writing that is loaded with some tricky theological issues. I’ve seen both positive and negative reviews on it…but I can say that, for the most part, I enjoyed it. It made me think…and I love books that make me do that. It will definitely cause you to look and God in an entirely different way.

D.J. Chuang at Leadership Network, The Shack touted as Pilgrim’s Progress

While William Young does intend to challenge our preconceptions of God, the story risks confusing some readers with theological misunderstandings. Is this a risk worth taking? I personally think so, but I know not all would agree.

Brad Lomenick – Director of Catalyst Conference from his blog post – Have you read The Shack?

Alright, I have to admit- I am usually a major critic of Christian fiction books. They just usually don’t deliver on expectations. But I recently came across a gem- The Shack by William Paul Young. You have to check it out. Buy it immediately. And then buy it for your family, friends, and co-workers. It will change your perspective and spiritual paradigm, especially as it relates to the Trinity and God’s desire for relationship with us humans.

Cathy Lynn Grossman, ‘Shack’ opens doors, but critics call book ‘scripturally incorrect’  The USA Today

The Shack‘s success has changed Young’s life — a little.

He no longer works three jobs running a manufacturer’s sales office and working on websites. Kim still works at Gresham High School as a baker, but she’s driving a new Honda. They’ve moved from the tiny rental house, where he wrote The Shack in the windowless basement near the washing machine, to a bigger rental nearby.

Holding hands and beaming at one of their grandchildren, the Youngs say they’d be fine if the money vanished tomorrow.

“Mack is me, a guy who has made a mess of everything,” Young says. “The book takes him outside everything familiar, back to the worst experience of his life and lets him recognize God is so much greater.”

. . . Mohler, Driscoll and other evangelicals pick The Shack apart plank by plank.

No, God can’t be a presented as a woman. No, the three parts of the Trinity did not all become fully human. Yes, there is a hierarchy in the Holy Trinity with God the Father in command. Yes, God will punish sin.

Bob Smietana, journalist, The Tennessean – Novel about God hits a chord in Nashville area: Self-publishing turns rejected manuscript into a big seller.  April 3, 2008.

[Young] self-published The Shack after no publisher would touch it, and it held Amazon.com’s No. 1 spot in fiction for weeks. The book he wrote for his children has now sold close to 400,000 copies . . .

“I’m being asked to speak to thousands of people, and I am as dumb as I was last year,” said the 53-year old Young, who until recent weeks had a job as an office manager that also included cleaning toilets at a small sales company in Oregon . . .

Just before Young started on The Shack, they lost their home to foreclosure, and spent several years living with four of their six children in a 900-square-foot rental. “It’s nice to know that we can pay the bills,” Kim Young said.

Categories
Books Seminaries

What to read the summer before you start seminary

Wess Daniels, a Ph.D. student at Fuller Theological Seminary, has posted a list of pre-seminary summer reading for a friend who is starting at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in the fall.  See his "A List for Pre-Seminary Summer Reading"  Wess is someone worth listening to.

I have listed Wess’s top five selections below and then made a few comments on what else students entering seminary might consider reading during the summer.

Affirming Wess’s Picks
Good picks.   

I love all five of these authors.  All five are good respected scholars you could cite in a paper.  And all are evangelical, even Yoder in my opinion. "For some, the adjective ‘evangelical’ belongs to those who read the Bible with a special kind of respect; some of them consider me as fitting in that realm." John Howard Yoder: For the Nations: Essays Evangelical and Public p.6-7)

John Howard Yoder: For the Nations: Essays Evangelical and Public

 

 

Biographies of theologians worth considering
I wonder if reading easy-to-read biographies of Augustine, Aquinas (by Chesterton perhaps), Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Barth, Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Pope John Paul II, and Billy Graham might not be the best way to get used to theology in a user-friendly way.  It would help you to connect the "big ideas" with the situations and personalities that helped produce them.  I read John Stott and J.I. Packer biographies and found them enlightening for understanding the theological landscape of 20th century evangelical British scholarship. 

A biblical studies book worth considering
I would also add a Bible book worth working through:

Fee taught at Gordon-Conwell and Stuart still does so. That is a bonus for understanding Gordon-Conwell. 


Easy to read books worth considering

If we are placing the emphasis on the summer part of pre-seminary summer reading, I would recommend some beach books that will inspire you for seminary but may not be sufficiently academic to cite in academic writing.   

For thinking about pastoring,

was helpful for me.  Easy to read. 

Or read something current to remind you what all of this is about:

A novel worth considering
Or read one big book:

I love all the parts at the beginning of the book about Father Zosima. 

Pick what looks good
Or, read whatever you want!  You will have to read what the professors want you to read after you arrive.  Part of your vocation, you calling, are the books that you pick off the shelf and read.  Notice what you find yourself choosing.  That may be part of where God is directing you.

Other resources:
For more about seminaries, see my March 12, 2006 post Seminaries for Evangelicals