FEATURES
Divine hunger Marilyn Anderes shares a dimension to intimacy with God.
Gospel in the flesh Boyce A. Bowdon tells of one ministry spreading the gospel to inner cities.
Our working theology Philip Turner examines the theology of the Episcopal Church.
Ready for His return Joel Green reviews what John Wesley taught about the end times.
The cosmic catalystScott T. Kelso revels in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Editorial The gospel of radical inclusion
Next Generation Word becomes real
RENEW Women’s NetworkDo we honestly believe...
The Great Commission A quasi-Bohemian approach to mission
From the Heart The rescuer
Letters to the editor
Straight Talk
News
Pastor helps police with stressful job
Judicial Council declines reconsiderations
United Methodists in Indiana focus on Sudan
U.S. churches face crisis, discipleship leaders say
Membership dips in U.S., but increases in other countries
UM lobbyist calls for impeachment of Bush
UMW in financial crisis and membership decline
Culture in View
The Omen
The mainline Protestant Church in America suffers today from a dogmatic indifference to truth. The so-called progressives would define this indifference as tolerance and say it is good. Above all, we dare not be judgmental or exclusive.
Throughout more than 35 years of ministry, I have witnessed this indifference expressed in various ways. For example: God is so vast as to be beyond our comprehension. Or, the Divine is an ineffable mystery that none of us can fully understand. Or, as St. Paul said, "We see through a glass dimly." This is the same Paul, by the way, who authored Romans; who twice said to the Galatians, "If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!" (Galatians 1:9).
It is this context that has made Philip Turner's article that we are carrying in this issue (see p. 20) seem so profoundly relevant, not only for the Episcopal Church USA, but for United Methodists as well. I urge you to read it carefully-several times. Underline it. Make notes.
Turner is the former Dean of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. He notes at the outset that mainline Protestantism is in a state of disintegration. While attendance declines and internal divisions increase, the Episcopal Church's problem, he writes, "is far more theological than it is moral-a theological poverty that is truly monumental and that stands behind the moral missteps recently taken by its governing bodies." (He's referring to his church's election and consecration as bishop of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, a practicing homosexual.)
What is this theological poverty he writes about? It is a reduction of the Christian gospel to a shallow, simplistic message that "God is love. God loves us. We, therefore, ought to love one another." What's been missing in Episcopal sermons for years, he notes, is any mention of Christ's death seen as judgment on the human condition, no mention of resurrection, of the promised Holy Spirit, or repentance and holiness of life.
From the simplistic affirmation "God is love" comes a further point, he says. "That accepting love requires a form of justice that is inclusive of all people, particularly those who in some way have been marginalized by oppressive social practice. The mission of the Church is, therefore, to see that those who have been rejected are included.. The result is a practical equivalence between the gospel of the Kingdom of God and a particular form of social justice." In other words, you have the equation of the gospel with social justice, defined as radical inclusion or, as some would say, "diversity."
All of this becomes vitally important for Turner when the church discusses matters such as homosexual practice and same-sex marriage. He writes, "This isn't an ethical divide.. It's a theological chasm-one that separates those who hold a theology of divine acceptance from those who hold a theology of divine redemption."
This is the critical distinction that defines the different understandings about how the church today should be in ministry with persons practicing homosexuality. Scripturally-oriented ministries work with persons lovingly with the hope of transformation and redemption. Progressives, on the other hand, view ministry as lovingly affirming persons as they are, as God has supposedly "created them." Transformation or redemption are not sought so much as self-actualization and affirmation. These are serious differences.
As for United Methodists, in light of the loss of another 80,000 members last year, and more than three million since the merger in 1968, it is time we ask whether we are getting the gospel right. Is radical inclusion a good summary of the gospel? All of us would affirm that biblical inclusivism has helped the church overcome racial, gender, and other boundaries that needed removed. But inclusivism has become an ideology today used in the exercise of raw power (See William J. Abraham, "Inclusivism, Idolatry and the Survival of the (Fittest) Faithful," The Community of the Word, Intervarsity Press). We have even been told "that to embrace diversity is to embrace God."
Dr. Dan Church, former head of our General Council on Ministries, addressed this problem before the Council of Bishops in 2001: "Some say we have made a God of diversity. They say that, whereas 'inclusivity' should be a symptom of our godliness, the 'fruit,' if you will, we have made inclusivity our God. It doesn't matter what you believe, they say, it only matters that everyone is at the table."
Turner warns, "In a theology dominated by radical inclusion, terms such as 'faith,' 'justification,' 'repentance,' and 'holiness of life' seem to belong to an antique vocabulary that must be outgrown or reinterpreted."
The working theology of the Episcopal Church, he concludes, is one "which most Anglicans in the rest of the world no longer recognize as Christian." How about the working theology of us United Methodists?
Click here to send your response plus the title of this article to us at Good News.