[Oe List ...] Bill Holmes' Book

[John C. Montgomery]

I've gotten through my initial read of Holmes' book and intend to spend some time with it again this weekend. My first impressions are mixed. While I found his exposition of both Tillich and Bonnhoeffer very helpful and far more articulate than I could ever muster, I missed the Christology - where was the discussion of how Christian faith is deeper than stoicism? I didn't see that - maybe I skipped it. 



The discussion of Bonnhoeffer was very helpful, but in the midst of our concentration on the tension between freedom and obedience, we miss the point if we do n ot begin to speak of the Christ event that allows us to act in the midst of that tension. I think we missed that point in a lot of RS-1 seminars, if we thought the paper was about problem solving an d scientific method. The problem with dialectical models like the one Bonnhoeffer uses is that there is really never a third term - there is no responsibility that is separate from either the challenge to our irresponsible freedom or our lack of creativity in the misdt of our sense of duty. 



If I could teach the seminar again, my bottom line question would be, "when have you ever found yourself so enamored with your own relative sense of action ready to just do your own thing  and  someone rubbed yo ur face in innocent suffering and asked what your might do about it?" or "when in your life were you paralyzed by so many demands pu lling you o ne way and the other, that someone points out that maybe yo u should do at least one thing." After some sharing, I would then ask, now wha t Bonnhoeffer might say was going on - and more importantly, why is God important in the equation? 



I must admit that I was taken aback to find in the opening chapters of a book about Mature Christianity a discussion about the reappropri ation of the Father metaphor - D id we miss the feminist revolution?  But on closer reading, I have been somewhat intrigued. Many of us have been reading Spong's latest take on moving beyond childish models of a supernatural parent that guards us from our fear, etc. It seems to me, that Holmes may open the door to an analysis of a mature relationship that do es not have to reject all theistic images like Spong suggests. 



The existential theology of the mid-20 th c entury certianl y was a theological revolution in many of our lives - of course, a lot has happened since then as w ell - It feels like Holmes is struggling to hold some tension. Theological conversation did not stop with the Niebuhr brothers - the question of "what do I? in the midst of the complexity of our pluralistic world pushes us into a radically different depth - I am gratefu l for my feminist , womanist and indigenous brothers and sisters who have given permission to ask lots of questions, some quite skeptical. Liberation theologians have certainly pushed back on the radical individualism of existentialist models of sin that can tri vialize social sin and at least for me, emerging evolutionary models of God, like someone like John Cobb and Marjorie Suchocki, give me permission to move beyond Tillich and Spong to reappropriate an active relationship with God "zs a being," not a supernatural God, but one who is interactive in every moment. 



Of course, the key is to keep the conversation open. Holmes does seem to do that. 

              



       

John C. Montgomery 
(c) 678-468-4913 
www.monkeyltd.wordpress.com 

Charity depends on the vicissitudes of whim and personal wealth; 
justice depends on commitment instead of circumstance. 
Faith-based charity provides crumbs from the table; 
faith-based justice offers a place at the table. 

- Bill Moyers, television journalist and social commentator. 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: jlepps at pc.jaring.my 
To: oe at wedgeblade.net 
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2010 4:42:32 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [Oe List ...] Bill Holmes' Book 

Colleagues: 

This is a word of promotion for Bill Holmes' new book, Mature Christianity: for come-of-age Christians in a come-of-age world . It's published by Resurgence Publishing in 2010, and can be ordered from George Walters. Or you can get it from the Resurgence Publishing Website at 

www.ResurgencePublishing.com 

The reason I'm suggesting this is that it's the closest thing I've seen to RS-1 in a book. It was my privilege to edit the book, and reading it thoroughly was a treat that I commend to you. 

Bill gave the keynote address at the Mathews Symposium in December, and has been a long-time colleague. He's also a high-profile Methodist minister, having served for 24 years in the Metropolitan Memorial Church in Washington,D.C., United Methodism's National Church. 

Apparently this book is getting a good reception, and many local church study groups are getting it. Bill is preparing a study guide for use with groups (and using the ORID framework). If you're in such a group, you may want to consider it. 

I hope you find it as helpful as I did. 

John Epps 



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