Practices before Institutions … now that puts things into perspective, and there’s more.
Much of the emerging church has been self consciously located around the notion of ‘conversations’, and whilst I have found it’s largely irenic dialectic immensely helpful, I think Hütter exposes one of the ecclesial limitations of this emerging church moment.
When doctrine is no longer something we orient ourselves around, i.e. there is no ‘giveness’ and instead dogmatics becomes a dialogue partner that ‘discloses it’s content within the nexus and horizon of communication’, no wonder there is no ‘giveness’ and public to church life.
In other words ecclesiology collapses into the conversations about church, the flux and idealizations of talking about what church might be (and often the pathology of what it isn’t), such that ecclesiology remains a hermeneutical horizon of discussions about church, rather than a concrete reality of growing and new communities with new Christians. No reference is needed to practices and habits of concrete church locations and communities.
Or to put it another way, if there is no ‘church’, no concrete third space and alternative to ‘us’ and the public, if we too easily resent the notion of any third and institutional entity between the consumer quest for ‘community/fellowship’, and us as autopoietic agents, surely the church will continue to be forced into producing ‘private religious associations’?
5 paradigms that could change your work into worship!
I’d find equal fulfillment to work behind the scenes supporting others in their calling out of our usual expectations. Dion, you are my model! 🙂
Complex ideas in comics, it’s for people like me…
Before I Die I Want To (HT: Johnny Baker)
Sobering start for the morning.
The Coming Paradigm Shift in Philanthropy: It’s Not About the Money (HT: tallskinnykiwi)
Nice intro on the concept of "paradigm shifts" and applied to philanthropy.