God’s Love and The Christ Event A reflection by Bill Bonnet, inspired by his two years in residency at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific • THANK YOU, KERITH, FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE MY REFLECTIONS WITH YOU THIS MORNING, BUT • PLEASE FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT LOW AND TIGHT ACROSS YOUR LAP; THIS COULD BE A BUMPY THEOLOGICAL FLIGHT. • WHAT DOES CHRISTIANITY THINK OF OTHER RELIGIONS? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF OTHER RELIGIONS? • ARE THEY SIMPLY OTHER PATHS TO GOD? • OR AS ONE EVANGELICAL DESCRIBED, A DISTORTED AND INFERIOR RESPONSE TO GOD’S REVELATION IN CHRIST? • YOU MAY BE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT THE CHURCH’S ANSWERS ARE ALL OVER THE BOARD. • AS FAR AS I’M AWARE, THERE IS NO ESTABLISHED DOCTRINE IN THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH…WHICH IS CONSISTENT WITH WHAT IS OFTEN SAID “NO MATTER WHAT YOU BELIEVE, YOU CAN PROBABLY FIND AN EPISCOPALIAN TO AGREE WITH YOU” • BUT THE ANSWER IS NOT TRIVIAL. UNTIL VATICAN II IN THE EARLY 1960’S, THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH’S OFFICIAL POSITION WAS THAT EVERYONE OUTSIDE CHRISTIANITY IS BEYOND SALVATION, AND NONCATHOLIC CHRISTIANS ARE AT RISK. • THE CHALLENGE FOR YOU LIES IN YOUR BALANCING OF GOD’S UNIVERSAL LOVE WITH THE UNIQUE EXPRESSION OF THAT LOVE IN CHRIST’S BIRTH, TEACHING, DEATH AND RESURRECTION, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO BY THEOLOGIANS AS “THE CHRIST EVENT”. • MAKE NO MISTAKE, THERE IS TENSION HERE: (1) JOHN 14:6 “I AM THE WAY AND THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME” (2) JOHN 3:8 “THE SPIRIT BLOWS WHERE IT WILL” • WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT THE FUNDAMENTAL GOODNESS AND GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT WE SEE AS AN EXPRESSION OF GOD’S LOVE THROUGH THOSE OF OTHER FAITHS?

• HAS, PERHAPS, THE DIVINE OFFER OF GRACE BEEN UNIVERSALLY PRESENT THROUGHOUT TIME, SO THAT EACH FAITH TRADITION THEN HAS ITS OWN SALVATION HISTORY WITH ITS OWN SACRED EVENTS, PROPHESIES, AND MEANINGS? • REMEMBER THAT OUR RELIGIOUS ORIENTATION IS LARGELY DETERMINED BY THE COMMUNITY INTO WHICH WE ARE BORN. WE DON’T CHOOSE A RELIGION; WE ACCEPT ONE. • THERE IS A DELIGHTFUL LITTLE BOOK WHICH SAYS A LOT ABOUT THIS; BY J.B. PHILLIPS IT’S ENTITLED YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL. THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL. • GOOD FORTUNE DURING MY TWO YEARS IN RESIDENCY AT CHURCH DIVINITY SCHOOL OF THE PACIFIC TO TAKE A COURSE AT THE JESUIT SEMINARY: THEOLOGY OF RELIGIONS. • THEOLOGY: OUR FAITH IN SEARCH OF UNDERSTANDING • RELIGIONS, NOT RELIGION. WHAT ARE THESE OTHER FAITHS? WHAT DO THEY BELIEVE AND WHAT DO THEY INSTRUCT? DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT WORK THROUGH THEM? WHAT DOES OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH TELL US ABOUT THAT? • TWO BROAD CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES: PARTICULARIST AND PLURALIST • IF YOU REJECT OTHER FAITHS AS INADEQUATE RESPONSE TO GOD’S GIFT IN CHRIST, YOU WOULD BE CONSIDERED A PARTICULARIST. HAROLD NETLAND’S BOOK “ENCOUNTERING RELIGIOUS PLURALISM: THE CHALLENGE TO CHRISTIAN FAITH AND MISSION” DESCRIBES NON-CHRISTIAN FAITH TRADITIONS AS “THE SINFUL DRIVE FOR AUTONOMY FROM GOD AND THE TRUTH”, • IF, ON THE OTHER HAND, YOU ACCEPT THAT PERHAPS THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AT WORK AMONG THOSE OF OTHER FAITHS, YOU ARE TO SOME DEGREE A PLURALIST. BUT THEN HAVE TO THINK ABOUT RECONCILING THOSE OTHER FAITHS WITH CHRISTIANITY. THERE ARE VARIOUS MODELS.

• OLDEST (REMEMBER WE’RE TALKING ONLY 50 YEARS AGO) IS THE REPLACEMENT MODEL, MODIFIED IN THE FULFILLMENT MODEL. THE NAMES TELL YOU A LOT ABOUT THEM. REPLACEMENT SAYS OTHER FAITHS ARE MISTAKEN AND WILL EVENTUALLY BE OVERCOME THROUGH CONVERSION. FULFILLMENT SAYS THEY MAY NOT BE WRONG, BUT THEY’RE INCOMPLETE WITHOUT CHRIST. • I CALL BOTH OF THESE MODELS “JESUS WINS”, AND THEY REMAIN POPULAR AMONG EVANGELICALS. • OTHER MODELS INCLUDE MUTUALITY AND ACCOMMODATION. THESE CAUSE US TO THINK MORE BROADLY. MARK HEIM, FOR EXAMPLE, TELLS US “NIRVANA AND COMMUNION WITH GOD ARE CONTRADICTORY ONLY IF WE ASSUME THAT ONE OR THE OTHER MUST BE THE SOLE FATE OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS”. • ALOYSIUS PIERIS, A SRI LANKAN WRITER ON LIBERATION THEOLOGY, OBSERVES THAT REDEMPTIVE LOVE IN CHRISTIANITY AND LIBERATING KNOWLEDGE IN BUDDHISM ARE COMPLEMENTARY. ONLY TOGETHER ARE THEY ARE COMPLETE. • WHETHER YOU ACCEPT THESE POSSIBILITIES OR NOT, THEY DO CAUSE YOU TO THINK • THEOLOGIANS FOLLOWING MUTUALITY OR ACCOMODATION MODELS ALSO ASK US TO THINK ABOUT THE TRINITY RELATIVE TO THE “MANYNESS” OF GOD IN DIFFERENT RELIGIONS. AS CHRISTIANS WE ACCEPT THE THREE PERSONS OF THE TRINITY AND THE UNITY OF THE THREE IN GOD (THREE PERSONS, ONE NATURE, PERFECT UNITY). WHY THEN DO WE BALK AT DIFFERENCES IN THE WAY GOD COMMUNICATES HIS LOVE TO THOSE OF DIFFERENT CULTURES AND FAITHS IN WAYS MOST MEANINGFUL TO THEM? • PART OF THE ANSWER IS OUR WESTERN DUALISTIC APPROACH TO THOUGHT. IT’S EITHER THIS OR IT’S THAT. IF I’M RIGHT THEN YOU’RE WRONG. WE DON’T DO “BOTH/AND” VERY WELL. EASTERN CULTURES DON’T HAVE THAT PROBLEM. • WESTERN CHRISTIANS TEND TO ARTICULATE OUR FAITH MORE THAN LIVE IT, LOOKING FOR GOD’S PLAN IN A

FORMULA AND HOPING FOR GOD’S VOICE OF APPROVAL, BUT THE VOICE IS OURS NOT GOD’S. • ANOTHER PART OF THE PROBLEM IS OUR ATTEMPT TO MAKE CHRISTIANITY DEFINITIVE WITHIN THIS PARTICULAR TIME AND LOCATION. AS TIMOTHY LIGHT SAYS, “TODAY’S ORTHODOXY IS THE RESULT OF YESTERDAY’S MIXING, AND IT HAS NEVER BEEN OTHERWISE.” NOR WILL IT EVER BE OTHERWISE. • A THIRD DIFFICULTY IS CHRISTIANITY’S MISUSE OF METAPHORS. RICHARD ROHR, IN HIS BOOK SILENT COMPASSION, REMINDS US “WITH THE USE OF THE WONDERFUL METAPHOR ‘FATHER’, CHRISTIAN BELIEF IN THE FORMLESS ONE TOOK FORM BECAUSE WE HUMANS HAD TO PICTURE ONE WHOM WE COULD LOVE AND TO WHOM WE COULD RELATE. WE HAD TO START WITH A HEALING METAPHOR TO BEGIN A TRUSTFUL RELATIONSHIP, BUT THE TROUBLE IS THAT WE TOOK THE METAPHOR LITERALLY AND THOUGHT GOD WAS ACTUALLY OF THE HUMAN MALE GENDER.” • ROHR HELPS ME A LOT WHEN HE SPEAKS ABOUT THE TRINITY. HE SAYS: “GOD IS A RELATIONSHIP. GOD IS A COMMUNION AMONG THOSE WE CALL FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT. WHAT HAPPENED IS THAT WE PULLED WHAT WE BELIEVED WAS THE INCARNATE ONE, THE VISIBLE ONE, THE CHRIST, OUT OF THIS PROCESS OF MUTUAL OUTPOURING, WHICH WORDS PROVE INADEQUATE TO DESCRIBE AND WHICH CANNOT BE TALKED ABOUT. SO THE VISIBLE ONE, CHRIST JESUS, BECAME THE ONE WE MOSTLY TALKED ABOUT. WE PRETTY MUCH TREATED JESUS AS GOD, AND FORGOT THAT THE TRINITY WAS GOD, WHICH SIGNIFICANTLY REARRANGED THE CHRISTIAN MIND. TO PUT IT VERY HONESTLY, WE CHRISTIANS OVERPLAYED THE JESUS CARD. WE PULLED JESUS OUT OF THIS DYNAMIC UNION AND THEN PUSHED JESUS, FOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES INTO THE GOD ROLE, WHEN HIS ROLE WAS MUCH DIFFERENT….IT WAS TO PUT GOD AND HUMANITY INTO ONE! IT IS THAT OVEREMPHASIS ON JESUS AND LESS ON RELATIONSHIP WHICH ALSO HAD THE CONSEQUENCE OF SETTING US IN COMPETITION WITH THE OTHER WORLD RELIGIONS. WE HAVE TO PROVE JESUS ALL

THE TIME, AND IN CONTRADICTION TO BUDDHA, ALLAH, HINDU GODS, OR EVEN THE GOD OF ISRAEL. IN DOING SO, WE PULLED THE CHRIST OUT OF THE VERY UNITY THAT HE TALKED ABOUT, THAT HE ENJOYED, AND THAT HE INVITED US INTO. WE PRAYED TO CHRIST RATHER THAN THROUGH CHRIST. AN HONEST TRINITARIANISM ACTUALLY OPENS UP INTERFAITH DIALOG AND RESPECT, BECAUSE NOW WE CAN ADMIT THAT GOD IS ALSO TOTAL MYSTERY AND INNER ALIVENESS, AND NOT JESUS APART FROM THESE.” • AS YOU MIGHT HAVE GUESSED BY NOW, I AM A PLURALIST. I BELIEVE THERE ARE OTHER PATHS TO GOD AND THAT CHRISTIANITY REMAINS A WORK IN PROGRESS. • YET THERE IS ALSO DANGER IN PLURALISM. TAKEN TO AN EXTREME, WE MIGHT SAY IT DOESN’T MATTER WHICH PATH TO GOD WE FOLLOW; EVERYTHING IS OKAY. TOO MANY NEW AGE FAITHS FALL INTO THIS TRAP. THEY SAY: “I NEED TO FASHION A FAITH THAT IS RIGHT FOR ME.” IF I DO THIS, I HAVE MADE MYSELF THE FOCAL POINT, NOT GOD. THIS IS ORIGINAL SIN. • ALTHOUGH CHRISTIANITY REMAINS A WORK IN PROGRESS, THE PROGRESS OF OUR FAITH MUST NOT BE SO RAPID AS TO BECOME DETACHED FROM THE SOURCE OF THAT FAITH. • LET’S GO BACK TO JOHN 14: “NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME”. WHO IS JESUS REFERRING TO? I BELIEVE HE IS REFERRING TO THE LOGOS: THE WORD WHICH WAS IN THE BEGINNING, BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US, AND IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD….TO COME AGAIN IN GLORY. JESUS CHRIST WAS WHOLLY GOD, BUT NOT THE WHOLE OF GOD. I BELIEVE THE CHRIST WHICH WAS IN THE BEGINNING, BEGOTTEN, NOT MADE, SPEAKS TO OTHER CULTURES AND FAITHS IN WAYS WE CANNOT KNOW BUT MUST RESPECT. THIS DOES NOT DIMINISH THE UNIQUE PRIVILEGE WE HAVE OF KNOWING THE CHRIST EVENT IN A WAY THAT OTHER FAITHS DO NOT. YET I BELIEVE IT IS A PRIVILEGE, NOT A SELECTION PROCESS FOR SALVATION.

• MY FAVORITE AUTHOR, THOMAS MERTON, SUMS UP MY BELIEF NICELY IN CONJECTURES OF A GUILTY BYSTANDER: “IF I AFFIRM MYSELF AS A CATHOLIC MERELY BY DENYING ALL THAT IS MUSLIM, JEWISH, PROTESTANT, HINDU, OR BUDDHIST, IN THE END I WILL FIND THAT THERE IS NOT MUCH LEFT FOR ME TO AFFIRM, AND CERTAINLY NO BREATH OF THE SPIRIT WITH WHICH TO AFFIRM IT.” • I WAS CHALLENGED BY FRIENDS WHILE I WAS IN SEMINARY TO “TELL US WHAT YOU BELIEVE”. MY INITIAL REACTION WAS “THAT’S TOO COMPLICATED”. BUT IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT EACH OF US SHOULD BE ABLE TO SUMMARIZE OUR FAITH WITHOUT QUOTING A CREED DEVELOPED BY OTHERS. HERE IS MY SUMMARY: 1. CHRIST WAS BORN, DIED, AND RESURRECTED FOR ALL. THIS IS TRUE WHETHER YOU KNOW IT OR NOT, BELIEVE IT OR NOT. CHRIST WAS GOD’S SELF-COMMUNICATING GIFT OF HIMSELF TO ALL HUMANITY, NOT JUST CHRISTIANS. THIS EXPRESSION OF GOD’S LOVE WAS AND IS UNCONDITIONAL. IT WAS NOT IN EXCHANGE FOR INDIVIDUAL COMMITMENT TO A PARTICULAR DOCTRINE OR EVEN A PARTICULAR FAITH. 2. WE ARE CREATED BY GOD IN THE IMAGE OF GOD. THIS IS ALSO TRUE REGARDLESS OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OR BELIEF. GOD BEGAN CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE WITH THE BIG BANG (OR BEFORE….IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER), AND CREATION CONTINUES IN OUR WORLD THROUGH EVOLUTION. CREATION IS NOT A ONE-TIME THING. IT IS PERPETUATED WITH US AS CO-CREATORS. WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN INTELLIGENCE, SELF-AWARENESS, AND FREEDOM TO CHOOSE WHO AND WHAT WE WILL BE, BOTH INDIVIDUALLY AND COLLECTIVELY. THIS IS GOD’S ONGOING CREATION, IN ITS BEAUTY AND IN OUR FREQUENT ABUSE. 3. MY FAITH IS A RESPONSE TO GOD’S LOVE AND CHRIST’S PASSION, NOT A SELECTION PROCESS FOR SALVATION. GOD COMMUNICATES HIS LOVE TO THOSE OF OTHER FAITHS IN WAYS HE CHOOSES FOR THEM, AND THEY RESPOND IN WAYS THAT ONLY GOD MAY UNDERSTAND.

THE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A PREREQUISITE FOR GOD’S LOVE. THERE IS A LIFE AFTER DEATH IN WHICH WE WILL EITHER BE UNITED WITH GOD IN A WAY THAT OUR PHYSICAL FORM PRECLUDES IN THIS LIFE, OR WE WILL BE ETERNALLY SEPARATED FROM GOD WITH THE FULL AND ETERNAL KNOWLEDGE THAT SUCH SEPARATION WAS OF OUR OWN CHOOSING. IT WOULD BE PRESUMPTUOUS OF US TO ESTABLISH THE CRITERIA BY WHICH THIS DETERMINATION WILL BE MADE. ALL WE CAN DO IN THIS LIFE IS TO RETURN THE LOVE WHICH HAS BEEN GIVEN TO US. • PERHAPS THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU, IN THE QUIETNESS OF YOUR OWN HEART AND MIND, TO EXPLORE GOD’S UNIVERSAL LOVE, THE UNIQUE GIFT OF CHRIST’S INCARNATION, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION AND WHAT THEY MEAN, NOT ONLY TO YOU BUT TO ALL OF GOD’S CREATION

AMEN