[Oe List ...] Bill Holmes' Book

Wed May 26 18:32:21 CDT 2010

John,

I really appreciate your responses to the book. I don't have my copy  
yet, having had it sent to an address in the States as I sit in  
beautiful Mexico.  But I look forward to reading it.  I believe you  
are dead-on regarding Bonhoffer.  Clearly it is only out of the Word  
that you can possibly act in situations where it's choices between  
"right and right" and "wrong and wrong".  I have shared with John Cock  
that I found this to be a weakness in the PJL as I experienced it.   
This seems like a book we might see how a group could "study" on line,  
much as the present study group is doing.  But I'd like to wait until  
I have a copy!

G&P,

Jack
On May 26, 2010, at 7:12 PM, John C. Montgomery wrote:

> 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 not 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 and 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 your face in innocent suffering and asked what your might do  
> about it?" or "when in your life were you paralyzed by so many  
> demands pulling you one way and the other, that someone points out  
> that maybe you should do at least one thing." After some sharing, I  
> would then ask, now what 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  
> reappropriation of the Father metaphor - Did 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 does not have to reject all  
> theistic images like Spong suggests.
>
> The existential theology of the mid-20th century certianly was a  
> theological revolution in many of our lives - of course, a lot has  
> happened since then as well - 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 grateful 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 trivialize 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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