Developing a "missional hermeneutic"

The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative by Christopher J.H. Wright (IVP Academic) is a long read (535 pages). I have barely finished the first 100 pages, but his initial premise is quite intriguing. Wright argues for a missional hermeneutic, that is, a method of reading the Bible as the product of mission, as having emerged within the context of mission, and (as its title suggests) as the grand narrative of the mission of God. More important than the biblical basis for mission (something seminaries have embedded in the minds of students for over a century) is the missional basis for the Bible.

"A missional hermeneutic of the Bible," says Wright, "begins with the Bible's very existence. For those who affirm some relationship (however articulated) between these texts and the self-revelation of our Creator God, the whole canon of Scripture is a missional phenomenon in the sense that it witnesses to the self-giving movement of this God toward his creation and us, human beings in God's own image, but wayward and wanton. The writings that now comprise our Bible are themselves the product of and witness to the ultimate mission of God" (p. 48).

Quite often, the biblical "text in itself is a product of mission in action." Wright sees this coming through clearly in the writings of Paul and Luke (p. 49).

This is easily demonstrated in the case of the New Testament. Most of Paul's letters were written in the heat of his missionary efforts: wrestling with the theological basis of the inclusion of the Gentiles, affirming the need for Jew and Gentile to accept one another in Christ and in the church, tackling the baffling range of new problems that assailed young churches as the gospel took root in the world of Greek polytheism, confronting incipient heresies with clear affirmations of the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ, and so on.

And why were the Gospels so called? Because they were written to explain the significance of the evangel--the good news about Jesus of Nazareth, especially his death and resurrection. Confidence in these things was essential to the missionary task of the expanding church. And the person to whom we owe the largest quantity of the New Testament, Luke, shapes his two-volume work in such a way that the missionary mandate to the disciples to be Christ's witnesses to the nations comes as the climax to volume one and the introduction to volume two.

But the Old Testament, also, should be seen as the product of mission, as "many of these texts emerged out of the engagement of Israel the surrounding world, in the light of the God they knew in their history and in covenental relationship. People produced texts in relation to what they believed God had done, was doing, or would do in their world" (p. 50)

Read in such a way, as the grand narrative of the mission of God, Scripture becomes not merely a mandate for mission, but a witness to mission. Mission is thus understood not as a human, but as a divine, initiative. "In short," says Wright, "a missional hermeneutic proceeds from the assumption that the whole Bible renders to us the story of God's mission through God's people in their engagement with God's world for the sake of the whole of God's creation" (p. 51).

What I find interesting about this definition of a missional hermeneutic is how closely it resonates with M. Robert Mulholland's definition of spiritual formation: the process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others. As a means of spiritual formation, the Bible is not only inspired of God, but also inspiring to the people of God, equipping and empowering them for participation in the mission of God for the redemption of the whole creation.

The curious anomoaly of the "churchless Christian"

How well do you really "like" someone if you can't stand his wife? That, in a nutshell, is the acid test for the so-called "churchless Christians" who think Jesus is just alright, but the church is just all wrong. Authors Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck address this curious phenomenon in their new book, Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion. Following up on their previous title, Why We're Not Emergent (by Two Guys Who Should Be), DeYoung and Kluck continue to lay bare the myriad of fads and passing fancies currently dotting the landscape of pop culture religion. Unimpressed by the "revolutionary" arguments of "church leavers," these two "church lovers" state passionately, yet charitably, their case for the visible church as an institution which, though marred by human shortcomings, nevertheless serves an indispensable divine purpose.

Of particular interest for DeYoung and Kluck are the writings of George Barna, who has lately elevated skipping Sunday worship for a round of golf to the status of a revolution. "I could be wrong," writes Kluck, "but I fail to see how two privileged CEO's stroking the perfect nine-iron shot on a Sunday morning constitutes revolutionary behavior." Indeed, there is nothing at all revolutionary even in the proposition. "I feel closer to God on the links than I do in a church full of hypocrites" was the well-worn argument of many a "church leaver" long before "church leaving" was "cool." For that matter, most, if not all, of the arguments demolished by DeYoung and Kluck are merely proof of the biblical adage that there is nothing new under the sun.

Read the complete review at Columbia Faith and Culture Examiner.