Here are this week's discussion starters.
On page 225, Diana said that her
graduate adviser’s remarks made her “understand how much some people fear
change and flee to leaders who promise to restore glory of the past when the
future is uncertain. Although it is impossible to do, people will often try to
go back to what was in times of loss and uncertainty.” Have you seen evidence of this in your
congregation’s experience?
How do you react to Diana’s conclusion and the quoting of Isaiah 2:2-4
(pp. 268-9)?
What will you take from this book?
Some thoughts:
ReplyDeleteDiana Butler Bass's book has been an interesting, though not compelling, read. I know quite a few people have been reading along, and I've discussed the book with some of them. the lack of conversation on this blog is unfortunate, but I don't think it means the blog has been unsuccessful. I suspect that like me, many other readers had good intentions (the paving stones of hell's highway) of posting, but life's busy-ness interfered.
Diana Butler Bass marshaled a lot of data in support of her thesis, but only time will tell if she is right. We may be on the brink of a major change in western Christianity. Then again, Western Christianity may be dying altogether. Or, it may be that we will return to something of the norm that we have known.
This I know, the church's message of hope and love is still relevant to our broken world.
Diana Butler Bass is not an impartial observer. Her book is not dispassionate reportage. She is an advocate for the change that she predicts. This may color her thesis, and certainly should inform our reading of the book.
I'm not sure that she accurately understood Bonhoeffer's statement about "religionless Christianity." I'm not sure that anyone does. I suspect, though, that trying to interpret that odd statement apart from the context of a Nazi prison in the waning days of the Second World War is fruitless.
If Diana Butler Bass is right about heavily centralized church structures being, basically, doomed, then our ELCA will either have to totally restructure or die. I think that centralized church structures are useful for mission. Could we do the Malaria Campaign (for one example) without our Churchwide expression?
In the end, whatever change may or may not be coming upon us, I believe that our call is to be faithful and to proclaim the Gospel faithfully. I don't fear for the future of the Church. It will continue to exist wherever God's people gather around Word and Sacrament. In all of this, I'm hopeful.
Thanks for leading us in this reading!