Book review - Hope, Challening the Culture of Despair

2008-10-17T15:27:44+10:00

In 2004, one year after the National Assembly passed the despair-causing Resolution 84, UCA theologians mostly from Melbourne published a book titled “Hope, Challenging the Culture of Despair”. Many of the contributing authors, including the editor, supported Resolution 84.

This book does not aim to offer support to church members suffering despair. Rather, it tries to give direction to church members about dealing with a despairing culture in which the UCA finds itself.

To this end, the contributing writers describe well an irritating social mood 4 or 5 years ago that was coincidental with some well publicized suicide cases which is surely despair, and they evidence vivid examples of bottom-end human experiences of the 20th Century.

They try to explain in fresh modern ways the hope that is within us – as the Apostle Paul originally called Christians to do.

While there are no radical ideas in this book, there are a variety of responses that cover the range of Christian theology. Sandy writes that our hope is Christ’s work of atonement for us, Dorothy Lee, in her exposition of 1 John, is really reviving Wesley’s idea of “entire perfection” (though she doesn’t acknowledge this) so that while hope comes from Christ, the Christian can rest assured in the Christian ‘faith community”. A number of writers are looking for the establishment now of God’s fair justice on earth – as a kind of accelerated establishment of the parousia. Some writers mention the hope of resurrection of Christ and Christ for us, as the hope of Christians.

Such variety of responses has two unfortunate results. The church member, this collection of papers seems to say, can pick and choose which style of hope they want – they can pick and hope for the best. The consequence is that it shows the writers have no clear appreciation of the Christian line of witness – apostolic, Reformed, Wesleyian – that our Basis of Union calls all modern theology to be consistent with. Unfortunately, a variety of “hope theologies” shows that the writers confuse different doctrines: atonement with hope, entire perfection with hope and so on. The result is to make muddy what they want to make clear – Christian hope. And, where the writers do mention classic Christian hope as seen in the basis of union – it is our hope for eternal life – the hope is undermined by doubt because the writers don’t see that hope in the UCA.

In this confusion, the writers make a subtle distinction which reverses the classic Christian thinking on Christian attitudes to the world. Classically - as expressed in the Heidelberg Catechism that is authoritative for us - the devil and his roaming in the world has not defeated us because, by faith alone, Christ stands beside us in life and in death. These writers reverse this by the devilishly tricky suggestion that because Christ is with us, we can defeat the devil and transform the world – and that is not our calling. We are Christ’s alone. We belong to him. His will alone we will do. Grace as, Wesley insisted, goes hand in hand with law.

Download full article by clicking on the link below

Weak ideas and dazzle open doors to activists by Paul Langkamp

2008-08-29T19:15:54+10:00

Weak ideas and dazzle open doors to activists, by Paul Langkamp (South Korea).
Download article here. confussion,_dazzle_open_doors_to_activists.doc

Paul’s article refers to the following documents:

In Defence of Fig Leaves by. Rev. Dr. Sandy Yule. in_defence_of_fig_leaves.pdf

Future with Heart and Soul (Qld Synod)
Heart__Soul_Strategy_2003.pdf

Radical Hospitality: A New Vision of Christian Unity by Barbara Brown Zikmund
WEBSITE_Radical_Hospitality.doc

Assembly of Confessing Congregations Forums

Book review - Hope, Challening the Culture of Despair

Weak ideas and dazzle open doors to activists by Paul Langkamp