Presentation Transcript

1. The Trinity and Personal Growth series.2) Trinity thinking Inspires action in the world Normative Situational Existential
2. Fitting ‘situational’ into Trinitarian architecture God is the agent Normative His will and work is the object of study Understanding is our task Situational Existential Humanity is the agent Our situations are the object of our actions “Service” – action in the world is our task
3. The Plan for these talks Why does this matter? The problematic debate over the centuries Leaving a vacuum today of ‘contested’ space Which lacks ‘Christian’ toolkits How Trinity thinking recovers purpose (for all human enterprise) What does this (‘service/rule/govern’ mean?) Conceptual foundations (renaming ‘rule’ ???) Principles & high level ‘operating model’ How do we work? (Towards a tool kit for service) The field of ‘design’ as a new source of methods An integrated toolkit Integrating best of both worlds (Design & Genesis) A vision for a new theology of design (winning back a new field of action & faith) Finding ‘design’ in the Bible and spiritual history Finding ‘divine’ in design and the history of design/transformation
4. Why it matters... What if Christians were famous for....??? Work as ‘mission field’ How do we handle work related problems like drinking culture, swearing and loneliness? Churches want to co-opt workers into church programs or they feel undervalued You work to give funds to the church (guilt money) What does integrity mean in the workplace – it is a grey area of my day to day life that Sunday messages don’t address Prime source of ‘creativity’ in the world ?? Wisest toolkits for solving wicked problems?? Best foundation for strategic thinking?? Leadership in tough times?? Smartest source for integrative thinking Source of balance for socialism v capitalism? Balance for individual v social??
5. Two stories illustrate our dilemma...Inspiring, Instructional but not well known http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqlcjI85gaY His agency and skills Wealth, intellect and finest orator in England Humour, singing and conviviality Entered Parlt at 21 yrs old William Wilberforce (1759 -1833) Relationships and conversations The world he inherited Wm Pitt the Younger – PM at 24 yrs old!!!“Surely the principles as well as the practice of Christianity are simple, and lead not to meditation only but to action.” Clapham sect - Henry Thornton, Hannah More, Wedgewoods etc Social decay not just slavery (alcohol epidemic, public brutality, prostitution rife 25% of unmarried women & average age 16, bull baiting) Dead religion in the selfish ruling class...”sailing on a sea of claret”
6. What they achieved and how... The Great Proclamation .... And his quest to make goodness fashionable “The most effectual way to prevent greater crimes is by punishing the smaller, and by endeavouring to repress the general licentiousness which is the parent of vice. I know.. That we do not at first change the hearts of men.. But we should at least remove temptation that it may not provoke appetite...” Wilberforce presided over a social earthquake that rearranged the continents... RSPCA, people of India/East India company, founding of Sierra Leone, abolition of slave trade... ‘When Mr Wilberforce passes through the crowd on the day of the opening of Parliament, every one contemplates this little old man, worn with age, and his head sunk upon his shoulders, as a sacred relic: as the Washington of humanity.”
7. Two stories illustrate our dilemma...Sobering, not well known but hugely influential Studied theology... Platonic assumptions“Immortality of soul” is a Christian tenet Christianity denies engagement with the here and now. Pietism is self centred not God centred. Did not conceive of bodily resurrection Aloof church (Pietistic) in midst of German social & economic need Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872)Father of Atheism God is just a psychological projection of your needy mind....
8. The dilemma through the ages...The Monk versus the Merchant??? Merchant Monk Sell your soul and take the low road Donate to the church (support the full timers) Laity Business & capitalism Professions Holy & separate Denies earthly pleasures Prayer and ‘silence’ Full time ministry Priestly class NGO’s Social welfare TeachingDoctors & Nurses Public sector
9. The dilemma through the ages...The Monk versus the Merchant???
10. The new frontier .. Monk v Merchant v Moral policeman??? Merchant Monk Moral Policeman (Ethics – nature of influence ) SSD &Seven Pillars?? Church Business Education Govt Health Media Agric (Widens the sphere but still begs the question....Nature of influence????? Ethics?? ‘Salvation’ ?? )
11. So what are our roles - & responsibilities??? Prophet Understand His will and His story“Grow in the knowledge of God” NormativeUNDERSTANDING SituationalDESIGN ExistentialAFFECTIONS Design my life and areas of service (my sandpit) Write my story inside his storyBe Logos in the situation. Devotions & Affections Rejoice in Him and love Him. Manage my inner journey Priest King
12. Building a new paradigm for ‘service’ Back to first principles – Genesis & Trinitarian action Understand God’s will and project in the cosmos(Awakening) Axis of Christ & won in Christ Normative Situational ‘Rule and Govern Creation’ Existential Kingship & Kingdom Devotions & Authenticity (Affections) Modern version of this????
13. What does kingship and kingdom mean today? First Principles: the archetypal act of creation The earth was without form and void, and darkness lay on the face of the deep Order (Beauty Light (Consciousness) Enterprise (Fullness/Joy) Spirit hovered.... Our primary role is to continue this act of creation as sub-creators We are therefore participating in the sublime act of creation This is sometimes called ‘deification’..... Let us build our concept of ‘kingship’ around this role in the cosmos....
14. What does kingship and kingdom mean today? First Principles: = participating in act of creation ‘In the ancient world, the cosmos is less like a machine, more like a kingdom’ John Walton The earth was without form and void, and darkness lay on the face of the deep Order (Beauty Light (Consciousness) Enterprise (Fullness/Joy) This act of creation was NOT defined by sin Spirit hovered.... Genesis 1 &2 come before Genesis 3 Therefore ‘without form and void etc’ is not a description of sinful states So great energy was exerted by God – not to defeat sin – but to create...Therefore ‘work’ is defined without sin in view, and there is a strong implication that the created order is framed with potential that is unrealised, that needs creative agency to realise it and this is the state of the created order and one of its eternal conditions....
15. What does kingship and kingdom mean today? First Principles: = Rule and govern does not mean maintaining the status quo (think Feuerbach’s Germany) The earth was without form and void, and darkness lay on the face of the deep Order (Beauty Light (Consciousness) Enterprise (Fullness/Joy) “Rule & Govern” = participating in this act of creation Spirit hovered.... The mandate was given in Gen 1 and 2 NOT in Gen 3Therefore it was framed, like creation, without sin in view But we tend to equate it without ‘controlling’ bad things ‘Rule and Govern’ means participating in this exertion of creation first performed by God. It is not about risk managment, or maintaining a pre-existing order. It is ALL about creativity, bringing new things into being, expression
16. What does kingship and kingdom mean today? First Principles: the archetypal act of creation The earth was without form and void, and darkness lay on the face of the deep Order (Beauty Light (Consciousness) Enterprise (Fullness/Joy) The secular equivalent of sin is ‘problem solving’ ?????? ‘Designing’ Problem solving Spirit hovered.... Self expression & beauty Undesigned states everywhere Positive frame Vision of desired future is key We become ‘authors’ Make something new More art than science Deepest characteristic of human nature Moves from wrong to right ... ‘Problem’ is a negative thing We should not have ‘problems’ No vision in problem solving ‘Solving” is Reactively framed Leads to cause and effect reasoning Is this all there is???? In human cognition and activity. Does ‘solving’ cover ‘creation’ ???
17. ‘Kingship’ is ‘designing’ What then is ‘designing’ The earth was without form and void, and darkness lay on the face of the deep Order (Beauty Light (Consciousness) Enterprise (Fullness/Joy) What is ‘design’ (drawing on Gen 1 & design theory) Spirit hovered.... NOT ‘ex nihilo’ creation where we ‘bring into existence’ ‘Formless and empty’‘In Hebrew, tohu (formless) designates a situation in which positive values such as purpose and worth are lacking. Functional existence rather than material existence’ Trans-formation“Shape shifting” Purposeful (True) Functional (Good) Beautiful (Beautiful) Coherence
18. ‘Kingship’ is ‘designing’ What then is ‘0bject of design’ The earth was without form and void, and darkness lay on the face of the deep Order (Beauty Light (Consciousness) Enterprise (Fullness/Joy) Not nature or science (matter) but ‘situations’ The created order in Genesis 1 was social as well as natural Spirit hovered.... Dewey on situationsInterdependent situations Natural elements (received)Human agencyRelations and some bounded purpose that coheres the groupSituations are richer than problems Creation as House/environment (M Welker, Creation & Reality’)“Creation is the construction and maintenance of associations of interdependent relations between those realms that are accessible to our formative influence and those that are not...”
19. ‘Kingship’ is ‘designing’ Who designs The earth was without form and void, and darkness lay on the face of the deep Order (Beauty Light (Consciousness) Enterprise (Fullness/Joy) We are the agents not God ...(though we continue his agency) We move from readers to authors. Spirit hovered.... Our calling as ‘kings’
20. ‘Kingship’ is ‘designing’ Modernising ‘rule & govern’ The earth was without form and void, and darkness lay on the face of the deep Order (Beauty Light (Consciousness) Enterprise (Fullness/Joy) Spirit hovered.... We are called to transform situations Agency & authorship Social & technical systems Shape shifting
21. Worldviews matter: Normative understandingilluminates the ‘situational’ Normative Creation/eschatology changes my ‘end’ from heaven to a continuing creation Thus my ‘works’ will remain in some form Matter/earth/cosmos is our forever domain & central to God’s purposes and affections Situational Existential Platonic mindset renders action insignificant and irrelevant to real meaning .... Heaven = different life Heaven comes to earth... New Jerusalem River of life... River of life continues & ContributesKingdom of God has begun
22. What about sin? What does ‘kingdom of God’ mean in a sinful world??? Some sloppy thinking... Roughly equated with ‘sovereignty’ of God or His eternal omnipotence Therefore it is a statement of the everlasting qualities/attributes of God (He is king forever and over all things...) And The ‘world’ and everything else must be subject to His rule BUT...it is clearly not Platonic mindset has roughly equated this with ‘heaven’ or ‘eternity’ (‘My kingdom is not of this world’ John 18:36
23. Get our thinking straight - What does ‘kingdom of God’ NOT mean??? ‘Kingdom of God’ is important concept to clarify... If we are to serve in this world. Distinguish it from ‘earth’ and ‘world’ and ‘heaven’ ‘World’ (often) means the governance structures of creation. The ‘world system’ (eg Rome etc)John’s gospel (78 times). Often hostile to God. Cradle & context for life...in a space/time continuum ‘Earth’ is natural order and is ‘good’.It is raw material and housing for life... It is our context and gift... “Works of your hands” Psalm 8:6
24. Our context (neutral) ‘earth’ (good) He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. John 1: 10 World systems (evil) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Eph 6:12
25. What about us in our times? How do we live with Gen 1 and Gen 3??? Creation ‘up for grabs’ as contested space (Gen 1-3) (Creation as kingdom New creation (resurrection domain) God regains rule in Christ (kingdom of God) ‘World rulers take over (Gen 4) Gen 3 = TakeoverGod is not ‘king’.... Strand of hope/promise Cradle & context for life...in a space/time continuum
26. What about us in our times? Living between two eras & two worlds Genesis 1 & 2 Creation and purpose “Salvation” means reclaiming the original intent & operating model of ‘humanity as kings of the cosmos God regains rule in Christ of God) (kingdom New creation (resurrection domain) “Salvation” means bringing forward the kingdom of God into a fallen world Genesis 3Sin and death
27. Key principles: What does ‘kingdom of God’ mean??? Some sharper thinking... ‘Kingdom of God’ is contingent, time and space bound God’s rule expressed into the created context (time and space).. And mediated by human hands... Which are regained by Christ as the archetypal human ... Authority’ is critical concept – “All authority is given me in heaven and earth.” Authority means the application of God’s sovereign power into a domain, which is mediated by human decision and agency...