The Little Friar

Looking over my list, there's one more to add:   Story.  On the outside, good deeds look the same.  Whether they are motivated by philosophy, familial love, duty, or a Holy Book.  Thus, a list of practices -- like my list -- is going to look like other lists of virtue or ethical behavior.  What makes the behavior distinctively Christian is the warrant for the behavior.  The reason.  The motivation.  The rationale. The Story.  What my list finally needs is its  mythos to support, inform, and motivate its ethos .  Without the background story I could not even begin to construct my list.  Where would be my starting point?  How would I make discerning choices? It's The Story that makes these practices Christian.  And it's The Story that gives warrant to our practices.  It's the Christian story that makes this list distinctively "Christian".   The Christian Story, of course, is the sto...

I've been articulating my vision of those practices without which Christianity becomes merely a metaphysical "head trip".  Thus far, I've explored: 1.  Nonviolence 2.  Charity 3.  Hospitality 4.  Simplicity 5.  Service 6.  Humility 7.  Mutual Submission 8.  Being Prophetic 9.  Struggling for Truth 10.  Reconciliation, composed of these four: 11.  Truthfulness 12.  Merciful 13.  Justice 14.  Peace I'm nearly finished -- just this post and one other -- with my list.  Right now, I want to add the practice of community.  From the beginning, Christianity was intended to be practiced in community.  Although seasons of solitude and prayer are practiced, the main locus of practice has been in community.  We call that community, church .  And the embodiment of this practice is most beautifully given in Acts 2.42-45:  " They devoted themselv...

I've been setting out those practices that are central to a moral vision of Christian faith.  Today, I want to put forward the web of practices that make up the sine qua non  of Christian faith:   Reconciliation .   I was initially tempted to call this practice peace , but I think culturally peace  has become so amorphous as to be useless as a Christian word.  Especially if it's divorced from other practices in the complex that make up reconciliation.  The Biblical witness strongly supports the notion of reconciliation as the core Christian practice.  Two quick examples: " All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the  ministry of reconciliation :  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ's ambassadors " (2 Corinthians 5.18-20a). " Bless...

I have been attempting to lay out ( here , here , and here ) a theological vision of Christianity that is moral  instead of metaphysical.   That is, lots of folks tend to associate Christianity with the need for salvation "by grace through faith", which they in turn associate with an intellectual affirmation of certain doctrines.  If one doubts those doctrines, that person can't be called a Christian. Instead, I think Christian metaphysics become intelligible only alongside certain practices.  The Christian is one who prays to the Triune God, sure; but those prays go alongside acts of humility and justice.  So this moral vision wants to demonstrate those practices without which we can't be Christian.  Some will be concerned that this becomes a "works righteousness" faith.  But that isn't what I'm claiming.  I'm saying that being a Christian is first and foremost an act of grace that makes faithful living part and parcel of that fai...

Most folks agree that one of the deepest spiritual problems in Christianity is egoism.   Me, me, me -- that's the source of sin.  So the spiritual practices that cause me to diminish  myself in order to "work out" my salvation are at the core of being Christian.  Those practices have their biblical foundation in the NT ideas of kenosis  and servanthood.  Kenosis  is embodied spirituality.  Just as Jesus "emptied himself" (Philippians 2) and John "decreased, in order that Jesus might increase" (John 3),  kenosis is captured by themes of service, submission, obedience, humility, and modesty.  Generally, the idea of "servanthood" captures the manifestation of kenosis .  The image of kenosis , therefore, is the towel.   From John 13: It was just before the Passover Feast.  Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them th...

I mentioned the other day that I would begin a series on those practices that I think are at the heart of being Christian.  Since I define my faith now more on moral  terms than on metaphysical  ones, this series -- over coming days -- will highlight those practices that embody that moral vision.  And the first practice is Christian nonviolence.  Nothing, I think, more embody's Jesus' radical call to "take up one's cross and follow him" as disciple than nonviolence, or peace-making.  Here's why.  "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'  But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person.  If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.  If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.  Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. " You ...