Brueggemann on the False Dichotomy of mission...

"...there is no freedom of God without the politics of justice and compassion, and there is no politics of justice and compassion without a religion of the freedom of God,..."

I'm ever more convinced that a dualistic approach to mission is dishonourable to the whole concept of missio-dei. Here is what Brueggemann has to say on a dichotomy that is false...

My impression is that we have split those two items much too easily but not without reason. The liberal tendency has been to care about the politics of justice and compassion but to be largely uninterested in the freedom of God. Indeed, it has been hard for liberals to imagine that theology mattered, for all of that seemed irrelevant. And it was thought that the question of God could be safely left to others who still worried about such matters. As a result, social radicalism has been like a cut flower without nourishment, without any sanctions deeper than human courage and good intentions. ... The point that prophetic imagination must ponder is that there is no freedom of God without the politics of justice and compassion, and there is no politics of justice and compassion without a religion of the freedom of God". Pp18


Brueggeman, W. (1978) The Prophetic Imagination. Fortress

Right that is my back log of of false dichotomy quotes! Here's some of the collection.

Fullness of Life...shalom and salvation
Sham Compassion...Absurd Activism...Trendy Past Time
Evangelism Gone Entrepreneurial... a disappointing read!
Newbigin on Mission's False Dichotomy...
Kraybill on Mission's False Dichotomy...
Murray on Mission's False Dichotomy...
Wallis on Mission's False Dichotomy...
Guder on Mission's False Dichotomy...
Morisy on Mission's False Dichotomy...

Comments

Anonymous said…
Love this

Blessings as ever

Keith
12:32 PM
Gordon said…
pleasure Keith - hope you are well and keeping safe!
7:30 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit of sally bashing....

Came across a good bit of Sally bashing over at salvationsoldiers I have to say we try and make sure that everything we raise goes into projects that build local community in Poplar but hopefully if you read this blog you get that sense anyway.
Read more

Lost Voices of Mission...Fred Brown

Image
Along the world famous Oxford street in London's Westend; nestled in among the classy frontage of designer shops there is almost an unnoticeable, unimpressive wooden door. It is more or less alongside The Regent Hall's main entrance onto the busyness of Oxford Street. People pass the wooden door oblivious to the equally unimpressive wooden steps that go up three storey's to what was Regent Hall's youth club. When I was 10 I played on these bare wooden steps totally unaware of the significance behind and upon which I played. Many years later I discovered a university youth work course - as an induction to Youth Work - stopped outside this insignificant wooden door to point out that Youth Work as we know it in the UK started behind this door. ...whether that be the surbanite flower people that flooded the Westend to express their free love; or the hard core drug community this unimpressive wooden door became the 'portal' that blurred encounter between church an...
Read more

Types of Christian Spirituality...

Image
It is easy to think and to limit ourselves to a single approach to Christian spirituality. A 'if it works for me it should work for you approach' tends to narrow our appreciation of other ways which actually impoverishes our experience of spirituality. Urban T. Holmes has developed a means of exploring spirituality and helps develop an appreciation through discovering links between spirituality, temperament and predisposition. The diagram illustrates his ideas together with potential inherent dangers. The vertical continuum speaks and helps us understand our relational orientation to God. This ranges from engaging with God through understanding and theological process to a more emotive response. Horizontally speaks of a persons preferred means of pursuing the spiritual life. Kataphtic speaks of affirmation and the need of something tangible in an individuals spirituality- this may take the form of worship, art, even imagination with the use of metaphors, symbols and images play...
Read more