leading in the midst of …

Terri Martinson Elton

Change

5 views of change

• Personal• Descriptive• Historical• Systematic• Strategic

personal

descriptive

historical

systematic

strategic

Is this theology coherent, congruent, and ethical?

fusing the horizons

“the fusion of horizons between the vision implicit in contemporary practices ANDthe vision implied in the practices of the normative Christian texts.” (Browning)

Systematic Theology is

Questions:

• What visions are implicit in contemporary practices?

• What visions are implied the practices of normative texts?

OR• What are contemporary issues

people of faith are facing?• What theological ideas/resources

does the church have to address these issues?

Who could your theologicalconversation partners be?

• Reformation theology• Baptismal theology• Theology of the cross• Missiology • Incarnational theology• Law and gospel• Saint and sinner

• Doctrine of vocation• Feminist theology• Liberation theology• Trinitarian theology• Word and Sacrament• Priesthood of all

believers• ????

MiroslavVolf

a systematic and biblical perspective of change and conflict

Exclusion and Embrace

Key questions to the book:

• Can I embrace the ultimate other, the evil other?

• What would justify the embrace?• Where would I draw the strength for it? (9)

Is identity based on social arrangements or as social agents? (20-21)

Answering this matters, theologically. “The future of our world will depend on how we

deal with identity and difference.” (20)

• Identity Matters• We are all social agents• The Cross is at the center of our

identity• There is a promise to hold on to as we

live in this broken world.

Four Claims

The problem of ethnic and cultural conflicts is part of a larger problem of identity and otherness. (16)

Claim #1 - Identity

Identity and otherness need to be placed within

conversation with rights, justice, and ecology. (18)

Politics of equality = universally the same. Politics of difference = unique identity of an individual or group,

what distinctiveness from everyone else.

The politics of difference are based on two persuasions: – the identity of a person is inescapably marked by the particularities of

the social setting in which he/she develops and – nonrecognition or misrecognition can inflict harm, be a form of

oppression, and reduce the mode of being. (19)

Philosophical frame of equality and

difference

What would it look like to focus

people as social agents?

Claim #2 – Social Agents

• “I will explore what kind of selves we need to be in order to live in harmony with others.” (21)

• Assumptions: everyone is situated, has a hybrid identity, and people sometimes migrate from one identity to another.

• Key question: How should we go about making peace with the other? (21)

Social Arrangements or Social Agents?

Social arrangements condition social agents and social agents fashion social arrangements.

What if theologians focused less on social arrangements and more on “fostering the kind of social agents capable of envisioning and creating just, truthful, and peaceful societies, and on shaping the cultural climate in which such agents will thrive”? (21)

Do we have theological claim about this?

What does the cross tell us about the character of the Christian self in relation to the other?

Claim #3 – Cross at the Center

Romans 5:6 – Jesus died for the ungodly…this is a subtheme of self-giving love.

“A genuinely Christian reflection on social issues must be rooted in the self-giving love of the divine trinity as

manifested on the cross of Christ.” (25)

theology of the crossIt is through the cross that God creates life.

Using atonement and solidarity – atonement is for the perpetratorssolidarity is for the victim.

Christ through the cross identifies with the

victims of violence/sin and are put under the protection of God and

are given life.

God’s very being is love and is there for others, regardless of their status or situation.

“Divine self-donation for the enemies and their reception into the eternal communion of God.” (23)

Two sacraments demonstration this.Baptism joins us in Christ’s death and resurrection and gives us identity and Lord’s supper is a way of remembering which informs and shapes God’s people.

The cross is the core of the Christian identity and of the Christian narrative.

So what does this mean for the constitution of our identity and relationship with the other?

Yet the cross – in our world – is a scandal. “In a world of violence, the cross, that eminently

counter-cultural symbol that lies at the heart of the Christian faith, is a scandal.”(26)

Claim #4 – Scandal and the Promise

In our modern age the cross demands acceptance of two interrelated beliefs that are deeply at odds:- belief that the world can be healed (evil is here to stay on this side of the kingdom) and - the high hopes we put in social control and rational thought (neither will save humanity).

The pain and frequent failure of the way of the

cross are a scandal for all human beings, in every

age. (27)

Hope is found in the promise of the cross, grounded in the resurrection of the Crucified. (28)

• Identity Matters• We are all social agents• The Cross is at the center of our

identity• There is a promise to hold on to as we

live in this broken world.

Four Claims

We are to welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ welcomed you. (29)

Using the metaphor of embrace – three themes:• Mutual self-giving love in the Trinity (doctrine of God)• Outstretched arms of Christ on the cross (doctrine of

Christ)• Open arms of the father receiving the prodigal

(doctrine of salvation)

This metaphor of embrace is placed within a backdrop of exclusion.

Metaphor of embrace

There is a tension between distance and belonging…and Volf uses the metaphor of embrace to work it out:• Opening - stages of being social agents• Wanting – practicing forgiveness• Closing – creating space• Opening – healing memory

Volf’s key questions:Can I embrace the ultimate other? What would justify the embrace?

Where would I draw the strength for it?

Metaphor of embrace

Basic Thought “The will to give ourselves to others and ‘welcome’ them, to

readjust our identities to make space for them, is prior to any judgment about others, except that of identifying them in

their humanity.” (29)

The will to embrace precedes any ‘truth’ about the other and any construction of their ‘justice.’ Identity transcends moral

mapping of the social world (of right and wrong).

Exclusion and Embrace• What stands out in this

framework with regard to change and conflict?

• What’s missing? Or left unattended to?

• How might you use this theological frame in a ministry setting?

In leading in the midst of change, how might systematic theology (or a theological construct) help your community reframe their life together? How do the core theological commitments of your community impact your life together? How might they help guide leadership?

What theological ideas or view points might serve as an “other” in your community? While might it be important to engage theological ideas “outside” your core commitments?

Systematic Dimension