Sometimes I question if the composers of our classical Creeds would recognize any practical difference between contemporary Evangelicalism and the ancient Gnostic apostates.
Gnostic heresies abandoning the accepted doctrine of the incarnation assailed the ancient church with their abjuration of the goodness of the material creation, approving, alternatively, an abstracted mysticism accentuating the mind and the acquisition of knowledge as the supreme essence of human existence.
Though resolutely rejected by the early councils, Gnosticism has resurrected. No longer relegated to the ivory towers of Greek philosophy; it resides in the pews, conferences, and educational institutions of American Protestantism. Forgetting humans are necessarily physical creatures; we opt instead for an anthropology almost solely defined by the human intellect.
Gnosticism’s revival remains so injurious, not merely because it thinks wrongly about God, but because it fails to form the Christian community in a way that orients us toward the Kingdom of God which is come to earth and is embodied in the practices, habits, and everyday lives of the people of God who actually have bodies.
As a seminary community, an education community, we too easily forget that the kingdom of God is not chiefly about changing the way people think, but about changing the way they acts, as well. The Wesleyan model of discipleship is grounded first in practice, then in knowledge. Not the other way around.
So when we attend chapel, church, or class, we must remember that we are not only there to learn, but to be formed and shaped for the Kingdom through the holistic, embodied, practices which accentuate the goodness of the whole person as reflections of the beauty of God’s creation. After all, “what if education isn’t first and foremost about what we know, but about what we love? (Smith, 18)” If this is the case, we can no longer hold a reductionist paradigm which views the Christian faith primarily as a “set of ideas, principles, claims, and propositions that are known and believed.” (Smith, 32) Rather, we need to explore Christian education and worship as that which forges our desires and loves through physical actions emphasizing the goodness of our embodiment.
I agree with you. But I’d like to see some examples of how this is dangerous.
SO WHAT if people think wrongly about God? In fact – if your post is right, then wrong thinking about God isn’t as dangerous as wrong ACTING in the Christian community…
…so where do you SEE gnosticism harming us?
Sorry, I should have prefaced this post with the fact that it is the 2nd in a series. The practical principles were laid out in general in the first post, and will be explored further in the next 2 or 3.
Basically, I will take this in the direction that the enlightenment has separated mind and body and therefore we post-enlightenment Christians have essentially abandoned the body in favor of an intellectual faith. Thus we have forgotten the power of ritual, for example, to form our faith and shape our lives for the kingdom of God.
I essentially mean to argue that secular liturgies appeal to our bodies and our emotions because these are the most effective ways to shape us for their version of the ‘good life.’
The church has responded, not by countering these litrugies with appeals to the body and emotion that shape us for our version of the good life (the kingdom of God), but by appealing the the intellect.
In other words, we are being informative while Apple/McDonalds/Walmart is being formative.
But your observation is good. I need to be more practical in this. I need to point out that the Christian life is more than intellectual assent and the salvation of disembodied souls, but involves the entire person – salvation of the body, as well as the soul.
Preach it, Tom. Way to go.
Best yet Tom. We need to get this series launched on seminary site
I posted it to the TWAA KY early this morning. Could you not find it there? I think Alice linked it on her blog to the TWAA KY.
Tom, I really like where you are going with the ideas about embodied worship. I look forward to reading more. Keep it up!
I also enjoy reading the posts back out loud when there is so much alliteration. It makes it more fun to reread and really dig into what you are saying.
Good post Thom. It is disturbing how heaven (spiritual dwelling place) focused most evangelicals have become. All the while ignoring the certainty of the resurrection and final restoration (new heavens and new earth). Good thoughts.
LB
Pingback: Links for your face
Pingback: Links for your face | Henry M Imler