10 24 1045 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bd983f0bec9a670bbf53beb85df6fb2e.pdf 3d9f4e4030495c5bd9df41bb19283d1d PDF Text Text   The Anguish of Preaching Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Perspectives A Journal of Reformed Thought June 1990 The soil of Dutch Reformed pietism in which my early religious experience was rooted shrouded the call to Christian ministry in mystery. Central to the call to ministry was the call to preach. God calls one to be a servant of the Word; one did not seek the office nor would one presume to set one’s sights on it. But to be so called was high privilege, for the call to preach was the loftiest vocation a person could receive. What that early vision of ministry did not prepare me for was the anguish of preaching. A little reflection on the experience of various biblical witnesses would have pointed in that direction. Moses protested the call. Jeremiah tried to avoid it and, in the midst of executing the task, vowed he would “Call him to mind no more, nor speak his name again,” only to find God’s word imprisoned in his body “like a fire blazing in my heart,” until he grew weary of holding it under and could no longer endure. And Paul acknowledged that no one was sufficient for the task, but found he had no choice, for “it would be misery to me not to preach.” Reflection on the impossible nature of the task should also give one fair warning. What presumption it is for a person to speak a human word which makes the claim of being the very word of God. Could such a task be undertaken in any other way than in “fear and trembling”? If the human word spoken is to be transubstantiated into the word of God, might one not expect that it would involve a crucifixion? To preach is to suffer; it is to die a little every time one engages in the task. That is my experience three decades after the initial blush of having the call to ministry confirmed by the call of the congregation. No wonder that a thin volume of lectures by the late, distinguished Lutheran theologian Joseph Sittler, The Anguish of Preaching, caught my eye. Sittler speaks of the anguish of preaching Christ. He cites Jesus’ word, “I have a baptism to be baptised with; and how I am straitened til it be accomplished!” (Luke 12:50). The principal meaning of the © Grand Valley State University   �The Anguish of Preaching Richard A. Rhem Page 2   now unfamiliar Elizabethan word straitened is “to be aware of great and relentless pressure.” It was the divine mission of Jesus that constituted his anguish. In one who would listen to Jesus, who would think and feel and imagine coming to an understanding of Jesus, there forms “a hard and unloosed knot in the spirit” as well. Sittler maintains that on the level proper to the servant of the straitened Word of God, the anguish is as real as it was for the Lord. The church has a rich tradition of Christology, but Sittler notes, [T]here is another meaning to Christology. Not tradition but pressure; not the given but the terrifying and hard pressure to be as grave about Christ who is alive now as our fathers were grave about the Christ who was alive for them....What he has meant is indeed tutorial to what he means, but is never sufficient for the sheer pressure of present meaning in one’s own heart and mind, for one’s own time and place. [The Anguish of Preaching, p. 30.) The present meaning of Christology—for oneself and in one’s proclamation —is the issue, and it comes not without anguish. But if one would be true to the calling of servant of the Word, one has no alternative. Preaching Christ demands that “the heart [be] always restless and the mind always asking what the disclosure and concretion of the holy in the event of Jesus Christ means for the life of the world.” The heart always restless, the mind always asking; that is the perpetual state of the preacher who is never finished with the task of understanding. The present horizon of human experience calls forth and demands ongoing translation of the meaning of the once-for-all event of the Word made flesh, living, dying, risen, and reigning. The preacher is called to preach. Sunday morning approaches; the people will gather again out of their scattered worlds of contemporary human experience. Beneath their finely tailored Sunday attire beat hearts loaded with ultimate concern, crying out, “Is there a word from the Lord?” Who would dare enter the pulpit light-heartedly as though this were just another social occasion? Who would approach such a moment without anguish, trembling before one’s own inadequacy, one’s helplessness to effect that alone which saves and heals and transforms? Preaching is a tortuous task; one dies a little on every outing, and it does not get easier. If anything, the anguish grows greater. But if one is called to preach, one cannot help oneself and one knows, as well, that one is blessed indeed to bear the pressure of the Word of God. Living with a calling so serious, one might be tempted to take oneself seriously. That would be disastrous personally and deadly for the congregation. A healthy © Grand Valley State University �The Anguish of Preaching Richard A. Rhem Page 3   dose of self-mockery and a playful sense of humor are essential to enabling the preacher to distinguish the calling and the person. The calling is serious and cannot be executed in a breezy manner as though nothing were at stake and a casual mediocrity were all that was demanded. But the one who executes the calling is human, and one dare never forget it. Only candor about one’s own humanness and an ability to laugh at oneself will keep one from going mad in this vocation, both glorious and necessary. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19900601 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-06-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource The Anguish of Preaching Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Editorial created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 1, 1990 entitled "The Anguish of Preaching", it appeared in Perspectives, June, 1990, p. 3. Tags: Preaching, Word of God. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Preaching Word of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e24c866d4fc8f971db1f98c6ef9feb68.pdf af35786b348ad742682d6dc8f6ba4f05 PDF Text Text An Intentional Ministry Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in The Church Herald The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America April, 1990, pp. 11-13 The people of God are a pilgrim people, a people on the move within the stream of history following a call from beyond history. The institutional form and witness of this people on pilgrimage will be shaped at any given point on the church’s journey by the present historical context of its life and by the transcendent reference which provides its identity. The church as the people of God will be in a constant state of tension, needing always to reflect faithfully the intention of the One who calls it into being and needing always to be in touch with the contemporary world in which its mission is executed. The very nature of the church’s existence in history means that it is never finished with this task of finding its own shape. Faithfulness to the Lord of the church and insightful understanding of the time keep changes coming. In going about this task we must first recognize that, just as the landscape of the world through which we are passing is changing, so the nuances of our message and our institutional structures must be open to change, to development. We have the given of the scriptural witness to God’s revelation in Israel and in Jesus Christ, and that remains the norm by which our institutional forms and our witness are to be determined and judged. But our understanding of the biblical witness is not static; it is a growing, developing understanding. Movement through history corrects us at some points, expands our insight into the tradition at others, and demands of us an ongoing translation of the biblical proclamation. The movement of history calls forth new forms of institutional structure and new shapes of corporate life. The first requirement for the church that wishes to be faithful to its transcendent call and to be significantly engaged with the contemporary world is to hammer out an identity arising out of the intersection of the gospel and the present horizon. The search for that identity must be intentional and executed through a © Grand Valley State University   �An Intentional Ministry Richard A. Rhem Page 2   serious wrestling with the biblical witness, with the cumulative store of the tradition, and with an in-depth understanding of contemporary society. At Christ Community Church we created an identity statement at the onset of the 1980s. We had begun the 1970s with an intentional posture and a clearly defined sense of identity and mission. We had experienced a genuine spiritual renewal and explosive growth. As the 1980s approached, a small group met over a period of months to reflect on where we were and what our context of ministry and the contemporary horizon were calling us to be. The box accompanying this article presents the essence of that statement. A decade later I can say that that statement indeed shaped us and, in large degree, expressed and formed the identity that our life was to become. A decade has passed, however, and neither we nor the world in which we carry out our ministry is the same. Position papers on various aspects of our corporate life and structure have been written in the meantime, but it is time for a major review as we enter the 1990s. The task now is to view the identity statement in light of the present state of the world and American society and, more specifically, the concrete setting of our ministry. Are there sociological trends or international developments or community concerns that will call for new emphasis, new structures, an adjustment of basic congregational posture? If the initial work on a congregational identity statement is carefully done, the basic document will probably not need to be altered, but the manner of its concrete application will change. What once was affirmed may even need to be opposed and vice versa. Let me illustrate. Habits of the Heart, a book by Robert Bellah et al. that appeared in 1985, was hailed as the most significant sociological analysis of American society to appear in decades. The title comes from Alexis de Toqueville, who studied American democracy and who in the 1830s published his Democracy in America. De Toqueville much admired what he observed here but warned of some aspects of our culture that disturbed him. He saw our individualism as potentially isolating Americans from one another. In Habits of the Heart the authors fear that this individualism may have grown cancerous. They wonder if the protective social shields remain by which a free society may sustain itself. They point to the flight of people to enclaves in which “self-interested individuals join together to maximize individual good.” The lifestyle enclave is a group of sympathetic people who spend their leisure time together in an atmosphere of acceptance, happiness, and love. In such a society the desire to be successful may tempt the church to forget its transcendent calling and to become simply one more enclave of like-minded individuals giving a spiritual legitimization to an essentially selfish existence. In a © Grand Valley State University �An Intentional Ministry Richard A. Rhem Page 3   recent national sampling of Roman Catholic opinion, the two things most desired were “personal and accessible priests” and “warmer, more personal parishes.” The authors comment, The salience of these needs for personal intimacy in American religious life suggests why the local church, like other voluntary communities, indeed like the contemporary family, is so fragile, requires so much energy to keep it going, and has so faint a hold on commitment when such needs are not met. In The Public Church, published in 1981, Martin Marty recognized the legitimate place of the church as community. He writes, “In the Church the possibility of mutual support and bonding, so needed in an impersonal world, lives on.” But he points out as well the weakness of the church’s voluntary character: “People are aware that they can choose a particular church, reject all churches, or switch between them should one or another inconvenience participants or challenge their cherished ways of life.” A 1978 Gallup poll reveals that 80 percent of Americans agreed that “an individual should arrive at his or her own religious beliefs independent of any churches or synagogues.” Yet, traditionally, it has been precisely the church or synagogue that formed religious beliefs. If the society to which we are called to witness in large measure sees the determination of religious beliefs as a personal responsibility and prerogative, is it any wonder that many mainline churches, which hold historical and corporate beliefs, are in trouble? How should we react? Will we succumb to the methods of a consumer society? Must the local congregations compete like so many religious supermarkets? Must the pastor become an entrepreneur of religion? Will the church forget its transcendent calling and prostitute itself by pandering to popular taste? Should we forget our identity statement and simply seek to discover what works, what brings success? The answer to these questions is a resounding no, but the temptation is strong and many have succumbed to it. It is not enough, however, to sit smugly by with declining membership, salving our wounds with the claim that we have been faithful. We live in a time of unprecedented spiritual hunger and openness to transcendence. There is an immense longing for God, for reality, and there is a widespread network of people engaged in a quest for a new world and the transformation of society. The label New Age has been given this amorphous movement, and within its ranks there is to be found a broad spectrum of beliefs and practices, some serious, some bizarre. Whatever variety of forms and beliefs may be manifested, one characteristic is shared: a large-scale rejection of the traditional, institutional forms of religion. Certainly it is naive to think we can simply do away with forms and structures. But here, too, we must not grow defensive and, with some panic, frantically shore © Grand Valley State University �An Intentional Ministry Richard A. Rhem Page 4   up the traditional forms we have inherited and now oversee. Why is so much of contemporary society spiritually hungry but largely without interest in the institutional church? To what extent are the criticisms valid? Is there some dismantling that needs to occur, some deaths in order that the new may spring forth? It is easier to raise the questions than to give the answers, but the questions must be heard. Let me point to one more mark of contemporary American society that demands our consideration as we determine our posture for the 1990s. In 1971 Dean Kelly wrote Why Conservative Churches Are Growing. I remember taking his book into the pulpit and declaring that if Kelly was right, Christ Community was in trouble because all the things that characterized the conservative church in his description were the things we had set ourselves against. He was right. Nearly two decades later, the socially conservative attitudes he foresaw have increased. There is a conservative tide which has about it a mean streak, an adversarial air that militates against the openness, freedom, and civility which the gospel of grace creates. Again here, if it is simply success in externals that we seek, we had better tailor our message to this conservative tide, exploiting people’s fears and dishing out simplistic answers to complex problems. But here is an instance in which the church must simply set itself against popular demand no matter what the cost. For God’s sake and for the sake of society’s health, the church needs to find a voice that is “both civil and committed,” to borrow a phrase from Martin Marty. The above discussion is illustrative of the kind of hard thinking, reflection, and wrestling that must characterize the church whether on the denominational, regional, or local level. And it must be done not simply because the turn of the calendar has brought us into the 1990s, but as an ongoing process. Only thus will we be intentional in our ministry, self-consciously faithful to the God who calls us into being and fully cognizant of the changing panorama of the society to which we bear witness and in which we live out concretely the life of the kingdom. Christ Community Identity Statement: Christ Community is theologically self-conscious; it is catholic, evangelical, and Reformed. It is firmly rooted in the historic Christian tradition: catholic in that it seeks to express the one, holy, and apostolic faith symbolized in the Apostles’ Creed; evangelical in that it believes that God’s supreme revelation and the good news of God’s grace appeared in Jesus Christ—“Our message is that God was making friends of all persons through Christ”; Reformed in that its articulation of the faith finds its authority in the Scriptures and is never finished, but rather needs constant reformation and new translation, that it may be understood afresh in every age. © Grand Valley State University �An Intentional Ministry Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Believing in God’s eternal purposes of love for the whole created order, ours is a theology of grace. Grace is the heart of our theology, and this church is a community of persons who have received God’s grace in Christ and who extend that grace to one another in Jesus’ name. Believing in the sovereignty of God in the totality of the created order and in the lordship of Christ in the full range of human existence, we are seeking to bring the whole of life under the aegis of God’s gracious rule— fashioning here a center for creative Christian living, enabling a fully human existence. Consequently, we are committed to creating and maintaining here —A place where we live out the conviction that God’s cause is the human cause, where the quality of our lives is ever more enhanced and the fullest realization of our human potential is enabled. —A place where all persons can find a point of entry, experience unconditional grace and total acceptance whatever their history, wherever they find themselves on the spectrum of Christian experience; where those who are broken may find refuge and healing and those who are moving toward wholeness may experience Christ in their strength. —A place where the tone quality of grace creates a non-threatening atmosphere where all persons will be encouraged to live on the growing edge, stretching, probing, deepening knowledge and faith. —A place where we experience community, have a sense of belonging, find a home together; where the blending of traditions results in a rich and full expression of the Christian tradition and where the grace of God reconciles us into one body in which every barrier that separates and isolates persons is transcended. —A place where persons are motivated, discovered, affirmed, and equipped; their gifts identified and strengthened for mission, making tangible the grace of God locally and throughout the world. —A place where the majesty of God and the mystery of life is honored; where many answers remain elusive, but where life’s great questions are heard and acknowledged; where persons learn to live the questions and to enjoy the journey, resting in the all-embracing grace of God. —A place for the intersection of the Word of God and the world, of the Christian tradition and contemporary culture. © Grand Valley State University �An Intentional Ministry Richard A. Rhem Page 6   —A place where theological reflection happens in the setting of the Christian community where the ministry of grace is taking place. —A place where the Christian tradition is translated into the idiom of contemporary culture, giving it voice to speak meaningfully in the pluralistic society of our day. —A place where controversial issues—ethical, social, and political— find a forum for discussion enabling persons to understand the issues and to live out a faithful response as people of God. We must determine to be true to that which we believe God is calling us to be, whether that means harmony with the religio-cultural flow or not. We will adjust our program and mission with the dynamic movement of history, not in order necessarily to be successful in institutional terms, but in order to be faithful to what God is calling us to be and to be effective in mediating the grace of God to the world. Thus having a sense of who we are and a commitment to share the gospel in all of its dimensions, we will be open to the world and flexible in our life and mode of ministry in order to be instruments in God’s hand for the humanization of society to God’s glory. We commit ourselves to be alive and alert to what the movements and trends of society and church are. It will be incumbent upon us as well to evaluate ourselves annually as to the effectiveness of our ministry in terms of what we see happening in the world at large. A strong sense of identity and confidence in the grace that has set us free to be God’s servants will enable us to be open to our world and to enter vitally into dialogue with the world, being ready through engagement of world religions, political and economic ideologies, scientific and technological development, and the evolution of social customs and mores, to go back to the Scriptures, seeking new understanding in the light of new knowledge. In so doing, we will seek to translate the faith for our day, being faithful to God’s supreme witness, Jesus Christ. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19900401 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-04-02 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource An Intentional Ministry Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Church School Herald Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 2, 1990 entitled "An Intentional Ministry", it appeared in The Church Herald, pp. 11-13. Tags: Church, Journey of Faith, Community of Faith, Inclusive, Reformation, History of Faith. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Church Community of Faith History of Faith Inclusive Journey of Faith Reformation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d0fefc8cea4a1c2b52a7d9c2b3887261.pdf 52fd738b8e0a7d864f0a9c216a51f7ed PDF Text Text Pluralism’s Theological Challenge Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Perspectives A Journal of Reformed Thought February 1990 The narrative in Acts of the spread of the gospel has long fascinated me. Peter’s response to his noontime vision with its command, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat,” was “No, Lord” (Acts 10). His subsequent experience at the home of Cornelius confounded some of his most deeply held convictions. The experience of the Spirit’s baptism on those assembled proved to be demonstration enough for Peter. Subsequently, in Jerusalem before the apostles and elders, Peter persisted with the lesson of his experience in spite of its fundamentally revolutionary character. Relating his encounter with Cornelius, he concluded rhetorically, “If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:17). The early church, emerging from the womb of Judaism, had no handy catechism or systematic theology to which it could refer. The experience of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the baptism of God’s Spirit fit none of its categories. These dramatic events had to be assimilated and brought into relationship with the old covenant, with Abraham and Moses and David, with the promises of Isaiah and all the prophets. The Scriptures which came to their minds had to be searched anew because the tradition simply could not accommodate their new experience. The theologies of the New Testament are the consequence of the apostles’ wrestling jointly with their experience and with Israel’s faith tradition. The Christian understanding as it evolved in the early church and as it emerges in the New Testament is the result of that process of interpreting anew the historic faith. The New Testament already reflects the process of translation going on in regard, for example, to the question of Jesus’ identity. From the eschatological prophet of © Grand Valley State University   �Pluralism’s Theological Challenge Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Page 2   the early chapters of Acts to the incarnational Christology of the Fourth Gospel there is a whole range of interpretations of who Jesus is, not mutually exclusive, but rather reflecting the unfathomable richness of this One in whom dwelt the fullness of God. The sixteenth century, during which John Calvin wrestled with tradition and reformed theology and practice according to the Word of God, was a period of cultural crisis and upheaval. William Bouwsma writes in his study of John Calvin, “The century was tense, driven, fundamentally incoherent, and riven by insoluble conflicts that were all the more serious because they were as much within as between individuals and parties” (p. 4). Bouwsma’s study presents Calvin as a person very much of his own time with the tensions of society at large to be found within his own person. And, precisely for that reason, the tradition found new translation and expression, a retrieval of the tradition’s essential meaning. Such a translation process is the ongoing task of theology, for theology is not an external norm demanding obedience but, rather, reflection on the present experience of God within the context of the cumulative tradition of faith. In The Analogical Imagination, David Tracy points out that when the notion of authority shifts from a truth disclosed to the mind and heart to an external norm for the obedient will, the theological task withers to an exercise of repeating shopworn conclusions of the tradition. He writes, “Eventually, the central, classical symbols and doctrines of the tradition become mere ‘fundamentals’ to be externally accepted and endlessly repeated.” (p. 99) Then we have not a theology as hermeneutic but rather fundamentalism. Fundamentalism does not interpret and translate the tradition in dialogue with the present horizon of human experience, but is reduced to repetition and reiteration. Such repetition and reiteration eventually hollow because they are spoken into a vacuum devoid of present, living human experience. I am convinced that we need to rethink our own theological tradition as radically as did Peter when confronted with the experience of God’s grace in the home of the Gentile Cornelius. The dramatic shifts in our cultural situation, the ferment in the world-become-a-neighborhood, the knowledge of other cultures and faiths, and the existential experience of persons in whom they are embodied, make it incumbent upon us to search again our own faith tradition to see if the experience of our contemporary world may elicit new insights to which we have up to the present been blinded. Otherwise, increasingly we will have experience for which we have no theology, and our theology will be the reiteration of an external ideology unrelated to present experience, lacking passion and compelling appeal. As heirs of Reformation theology we are being challenged to practice what we have proudly claimed but poorly lived out—that we are a people re-formed according to the Word of God and always being re-formed. That is to live with one’s faith formulations always at risk because one begins with the © Grand Valley State University �Pluralism’s Theological Challenge Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Page 3   acknowledgement of their only relative adequacy. But in the process one’s faith experience will deepen with a new sense of freedom and a growing sense of awe before the mystery of the gracious God whose work of creation and redemption we have come to know through Jesus Christ our Lord. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. References David Tracy. The Analogical Imagination, 1981. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19900201 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-02-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Pluralism's Theological Challenge Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Editorial created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 1, 1990 entitled "Pluralism's Theological Challenge", it appeared in Perspectives, Feb. 1990, p. 3. Tags: Pluralism, Inclusive, Reimagining the Faith. Scripture references: David Tracy. The Analogical Imagination, 1981.. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Inclusive Pluralism Reimagining the Faith https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f7849459c69378db5a63263104de4e33.pdf 7fa6d0a910ddc3b4d5f92cd6508312a7 PDF Text Text   The Continuing Adventure of Faith Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Perspectives A Journal of Reformed Thought November 1989, p. 3 This issue of Perspectives is radical; it goes to the root of God’s creative purpose and redeeming grace; it goes to the root of the human condition and its healing. Dealing with matters of such fundamental import on which the tradition of the church has so long been codified, it is not easy to gain a fresh perspective. The very spectacles through which we read the biblical story already delimit what we will find there. It is difficult for the story itself to speak its own truth over the resounding force of confessional dogma that has reduced the story to a set of theological propositions. One of the exciting developments in contemporary theological discussion and in preaching is the recovery of narrative. As background for this issue we can do no better than to revisit Genesis 1-3. In my own development, I began reading the Genesis stories as literal accounts of historical events. Even beyond my early years in Sunday school, there remained for me seven twenty-four-hour days, a human couple, Adam and Eve, a garden, a tree, and a snake. I remember the sense of threat I felt at the suggestion that Genesis 1 and 2 were two separate creation stories, neither authored by Moses, deriving from different periods of Israel’s history, neither of which ought to be understood as narration of actual history. Finally, my defenses were worn down and I yielded to what now seems so obvious. The explosion of knowledge in the respective sciences combined with a recognition of the mythological character of the passages. As symbolic stories, those chapters became powerful purveyors of truth about God, the world, and human destiny. Richness of meaning grew in proportion to my release of a literalistic interpretation. Then I encountered Walter Brueggemann’s Commentary on Genesis. Brueggemann tells me there is no legitimate way I can separate Genesis 2 and 3 because there is an obvious dramatic cohesion between them. Further, Brueggemann challenged my easy accommodation to two parallel creation © Grand Valley State University   �The Continuing Adventure of Faith Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Page 2   accounts offering complementary perspectives on God’s creative action. Genesis 1 —2:4a, the later writing, gives the grand cosmic scope of God’s work in fine liturgical form. Genesis 2:4b—3:24 focuses on human persons as the glory and the central problem of creation. No longer can I isolate chapter three, reading it as the story of the Fall appended to two creation accounts. Brueggemann calls me up short with his claim. The text is commonly treated as the account of “the fall.” Nothing could be more remote from the narrative itself. This is one story which needs to be set alongside many others in the Old Testament. In general, the Old Testament does not assume such a “fall.” Deuteronomy 30:11-14 is more characteristic in its assumption that humankind can indeed obey the purposes of God. (p. 41) Brueggemann, the biblical exegete, disallows my tendency as a theologian to turn story into dogma, to create here an ideological lens through which to view humankind and thereby to speak of the human creature as fallen. Of course, this is not to deny the proud disobedience and consequent alienation portrayed in the story. But, contends Brueggemann, there is not one “fall” story but rather, in Genesis 1-11, four “falls,” four stories of invitation and refusal, all of which form the prelude to the story of God’s radical grace in the creation of a people out of the barrenness of Sarah’s womb (11:30). This is not the place to debate specific points of Brueggemann’s argument; I cite his discussion because he forces me to revisit familiar territory, territory so familiar that I know what it means before I read it and therefore mute its voice and short-circuit its power to address me, to confront me, to grant some new insight to me. If only I can move beyond the feeling of threat and the consequent defensiveness that wields traditional dogma as a weapon against the advance of human learning on all fronts, it just may be that the biblical story, freed from my preunderstanding, will reveal new insight that will illumine the contemporary scene and address questions left unanswered by our traditional formulations. The Christian pilgrimage is lived out in the tension between the valued tradition that has shaped us and the need ever and again to be liberated from the cultural, ethnic, theological prisons into which we are sentenced by our need for security and our lack of fundamental trust. The adventure of faith goes on, and faithfulness demands that we keep seeking to discover the translation of God’s radical grace into the idiom of our day. The task is not for the nervous, for those whose faith is tenuous, whose confidence is enmeshed in proof texts for a series of theological propositions that constitute a logically coherent system of thought. But if we do not engage in the serious and delightful probing of our faith and experience, we will not only fail to find © Grand Valley State University �The Continuing Adventure of Faith Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Page 3   expression for the gospel for the twenty-first century, we will not even be in on the conversation. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. References Walter Brueggemann, Genesis: Interpretation: a Bible Commentary_, 2010 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19891101 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989-11-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource The Continuing Adventure of Faith Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Editorial created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 1, 1989 entitled "The Continuing Adventure of Faith", it appeared in Perspectives, Nov. 1989, p. 3. Tags: Faith Journey, Tradition, Hebrew Scriptures. Scripture references: Walter Brueggemann, Genesis: Interpretation: a Bible Commentary_, 2010. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Faith Journey Hebrew Scriptures Tradition https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bfb1c800a9adfe0ec9458566769fceb5.pdf 345e4ec1d8472d3a9711ca08c8b67dda PDF Text Text What Is Good News? Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in The Church Herald The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America February 1989, pp. 24-27 The goal of preaching is not to get something said, but to get something heard. So contends Fred Craddock in his popular textbook, Preaching. That may sound obvious, but it is not so at all, at least not from the perspective of the preacher. Far too often, we who are called to the task of the weekly proclamation concentrate exclusively on developing something to say and fail to recognize that the problem is not to say Something, but rather...to be heard. We must never rest content with delivering a message; we must exercise our best gifts and our strenuous effort to get a message heard that forms in the consciousness of the congregation and shapes God's people. To make this claim is not to deny that whatever is effected through the preached word is finally the work of the Spirit of God, the Spirit who caused the Word to be written and who must make it in the moment of proclamation the living Word that effects the purpose of God. Such a conviction, however, must not be used by the preacher to evade the responsibility to work seriously at the task of preaching so as to be effective. Hans van der Geest studied the effects of preaching from a psychological perspective. A supervisor in clinical pastoral education in a hospital in Switzerland, van der Geest became interested in the personality of the preacher and its impact on effectiveness in the pulpit. Presence in the Pulpit: The Impact of Personality in Preaching reports his findings and presents a serious challenge to the traditional emphasis in the training of preachers. Practicing preachers, too, could profitably evaluate their own practices in the light of what van der Geest has discovered. Van der Geest was surprised to find that the most important quality in the preaching event mentioned by those surveyed was the personal manner of the preacher. This might well send shock waves through a church of the Reformed tradition with its heavily intellectual bent. Yet van der Geest, himself steeped in © Grand Valley State University ! �What Is Good News? Richard A. Rhem Page 2! the Dutch Reformed Church, found again and again that the content of what is said is much less important for the process of engaging the listeners than most textbooks on preaching allow. The author raises the questions that immediately come to mind as one views the results of this psychological perspective on preaching: Are we now going to judge preaching's effectiveness by whether or not it satisfies people? Is it legitimate to judge preaching by psychological effect? Van der Geest contends that the listeners' statements of response as to what they actually experienced have great value: It's not just primitive or, for that matter, illegitimate wishes alive in them, but also expectations wakened by worship services in the past and still alive. At least in part these expectations are a reflection of what a worship service and sermon intend to mean to a congregation. Taking the needs of the congregation seriously as they present themselves at worship is imperative. Van der Geest isolates three dimensions in the experience of a worship service that must be present if the basic needs that people bring to worship, and specifically to the sermon, are to be met effectively: the renewal and restoration of basic trust; a hope for deliverance, a sense of release from the everyday burdens and struggles of life; and a new perspective from which to gain understanding in light of the gospel. Security, deliverance, understanding: apart from these three dimensions, all of which must be present, a sermon will be less than effective and people will leave without the feeling of having been personally addressed. These three dimensions can be delineated for the sake of analysis, but they cannot be separated; they comprise a unity in the worship event. Van der Geest writes: There is admittedly a security without release, but it is an infantile security addressing only immature people; and without understanding, it is naive. Release without security is irrelevant; release without understanding is not dependable. Understanding without security is impersonal; without release it is sterile. The three dimensions are intimately related. They are variations of the trio of love, hope and faith. Security People need to feel they are being addressed as individuals. In psychological terms this need represents the necessity of having our basic trust renewed at regular intervals. Psychologist Erik H. Erikson coined the expression primal trust, the development in earliest infancy of the conviction that life in this world is a good thing. Theologically, it is the fundamental conviction of being loved and secured by God. While primal trust is formed in us through the earliest © Grand Valley State University �What Is Good News? Richard A. Rhem Page 3! experiences of infancy, it is in need of constant renewal. In the face of the deepest and final questions of life, people need the confirmation of this basic trust in the worship service. The questions that play on most people, according to van der Geest, include Do I have a future? Am I lost or supported? Do I have ground under my feet? Am I left alone by myself, or is there help? Do I have to defend myself, brace myself, or should I relax and be giving? Does it make sense to have courage, or should I be resigned? Life is simple for only very few. Disturbances and dangers are the daily bread of most. What are people at worship seeking? Here are some sample responses: I want to forget day-to-day sufferings for a while. I am looking for strength for the coming week. I would like to get out of the rat race and find a little quietness. No more arguments. I want a little peace now. Someone has to talk kindly to us once in a while, too, and give us courage. Is worship simply a comforter? Is there not also a disturbing side of the gospel? To be sure. But, as van der Geest points out, what he is advocating is not simply an affirmation of the status quo. There is more to worship than the renewal of primal trust, but for anything positive to result, it is essential that the people of God come into contact with the living God, the God in whose love they rest. How can this happen through preaching? Van der Geest's research reveals that feelings of security are aroused only if love is expressed. "Whenever people go into a worship service to find feelings of security, they are seeking love, clear signs of love." This happens where the preacher is perceived to be sincere and genuine in his or her concern for the congregation as individuals. The use of firstperson singular pronouns signals the preacher's personal commitment. Body language is important, at least as important as the verbal language of content. A cool, distant preacher signals a lack of emotional involvement. Rhetorical skill is desirable, but it will never make up for authentic caring and sincerity. Colloquial language gives the congregation the sense of being addressed personally. Pulpit language and any affectation of manner or tone build a wall between pulpit and pew. To achieve a renewal of basic trust, a sense of being loved of God, the congregation's members must sense that they are taken seriously. Just as the preacher must express personal commitment through the use of the first person pronoun, so the people must be addressed as "you" and invited to participate in the proclamation. The sense of participation is heightened by the avoidance of heavy dependence on a manuscript or written notes, according to van der Geest. There is much more at stake than those who support the writing down and reading from notes believe. The personal style, the direct address indispensable for awakening trust, is in general seriously impaired by © Grand Valley State University �What Is Good News? Richard A. Rhem Page 4! reading from notes. This is the case because not only the content, but precisely the presentation—including the visible—is essential for gaining access to the realm of emotion. But what does such reading from notes show us, no matter how sophisticated it's done? The sermon does not emerge; it comes from yesterday. The preacher misses the "act of restructuring during the moment of speaking." The sermon should be as natural as conversation. This, of course, does not mean less preparation, but more. Preaching personally is speaking in the name of God; it is not delivering a treatise about God. Finally, the preacher must communicate a clear expectation of the mystery of God. From his research van der Geest concludes that "the real mystery of encounter occurs for the experience of the congregation in the relationship between the preacher and the listeners." Deliverance From the analysis of listener reaction, van der Geest found not only the need for security but also for a sense of release, of deliverance from the anguish of the human experience. Deliverance cannot come through a denial of the darkness. If the dark side of life is not taken seriously, if life’s tragic dimension is rendered harmless, the congregation will be disappointed and leave dissatisfied. Rather, van der Geest argues: The people in a worship service want to have light offered to them in the darkness of their lives; they want to see the hopelessness of day-to-day life surpassed by a perspective which can’t be found in that day-to-day life itself. They yearn for a deliverance from the misfortune, oppression, and the misery which are, after all, a part of life. In this dimension the key is the encounter with that aspect of the message which awakens hope, the words about the beyond. This is the message the worshipers are waiting for, the language of release. The congregation looks to the preacher to communicate a hope that is incredible and that becomes believable only as the preacher manifests a personal wonder that such a hope should be true. What is sought here are not simplistic solutions to life's complexity. The reality of darkness must be acknowledged on the one side and, on the other side, the preacher himself or herself must have sifted through the results of the modern critical study of the biblical text. But finally the preacher must take responsibility for the text as it appears relevant to him or her and then proclaim the incredibly hopeful news of the gospel in the face of the real anguish of the human situation. The yearning for release or deliverance presupposes that there is nothing within the framework of human possibility that can effect transformation. It is into such a situation of human impossibility that the "nevertheless" of the gospel is spoken, © Grand Valley State University �What Is Good News? Richard A. Rhem Page 5! thus arousing wonder. The preacher's own astonishment is fundamental. "For the mediation of this improbable thing preachers must themselves be struck by the miraculous." When a preacher unconsciously ceases to feel the joy and freedom of the gospel or, even worse, has never really personally experienced the grace of God, preaching becomes legalistic and moralistic, burdening the congregation with the tyranny of "we must," "we should," "we ought." Still, the obligation of the gospel must be made clear, recognizing the reality of guilt and calling for commitment to a higher standard. Understanding If in a sermon trust is awakened and the message of deliverance through the gospel clearly proclaimed, there remains yet a decisive element. Listener responses point to that missing element: He was too sure about God and the beyond for my taste. It's too bad she turned away from the difficult things so quickly. I don't really know what to do with this unquestionable faith. My unbelief wasn't taken into consideration. Listeners are not always ready or able to accept the message. The hymns and prayers are easier to receive with trust; much greater demands are made of the sermons. The analysis of listeners' responses reveals that the congregation both challenges the sermon's claims and, at the same time, hopes to be convinced and persuaded of its truth. The preacher must reckon with the rhythm of human experience that is never static, but always moving between the poles of trust and doubt. It looks like a game, but it is no malicious game; doubts are spread out and the preacher is tested, but the listener does not want to win the game; he hopes in fact to lose, to be overcome. The listener wants to be convinced of the truth of the gospel, but the problem the preacher faces is that persuasion is being required in an area of life in which logical arguments have almost no value. Discursive reasoning does not suffice; rather, it is the preacher's own deep, warm, and living faith that persuades. Says van der Geest: The truth sought again by the people in a worship service is not an objective one, but is rather an existential truth precipitating engagement and participation, not cool ascertainment...: in the act of persuasion itself the emotional effect of the renewal of trust is inseparably connected with cognitive understanding. That process of being persuaded is thus a total experience, not just an intellectual comprehension. Sermons must be planned with the temptation to doubt in mind, but the doubt raised by the text, not the doubt raised by the great religious-existential questions of life. These questions arising out of tragedy, pain, and human anguish are not © Grand Valley State University �What Is Good News? Richard A. Rhem Page 6! helpfully addressed in preaching. The Christian proclamation does not solve life's inscrutable mysteries but rather announces the reign of God. The doubts aroused by the text and the resistance of the listener to the proclamation of the gospel are not removed by logical, conceptual speech of discursive reasoning. Rather, it is through story, image, and graphic speech that persuasion is achieved. Narrative preaching is widely advocated today and preaching as story is in vogue. Van der Geest's research would indicate that this is more than a fad, the swing of the pendulum. He points out: In contrast to the more conceptual approach, something graphic causes the listeners themselves to become active. Concepts are finished products which the listeners simply register. They need only to think, to think abstractly. But if the preacher tells a story, the listeners themselves construct the forms of the people, the appearances of the events. Now they can experience something. Images and stories are suited to the Christian proclamation; concepts are not. The sermon must activate the listeners' imaginations. Existential truth is grasped through metaphorical language. As the imagination is stimulated, a person's own creativity is engaged. Such preaching becomes dialogue. The listeners find themselves in the story and re-experience their own joy and pain, disappointment and hope. They are able to identify with the story's situation and characters. Graphic speech touches more than the cognitive level of our understanding; it reaches to the subconscious level of inner vision where truth is grasped as a whole. In this kind of evidence precisely the apparently impossible happens: The unseen becomes seen. This occurrence is always impressive and precipitates intense surprise. People are encountering their life's truth. Rational, objective truth does not require this kind of evidence; sense perception and logical argumentation are sufficient. In the worship service and the sermon, existential truth is being sought. The one who thus perceives is engaged, "struck at the very roots, and his or her whole life is affected: feeling, thinking, inner vision and will." The goal of preaching is not to get something said, but to get something heard. The experience of the worshiper is thus critical for the evaluation of preaching. The people have cried out, this is who we are, and this is what we need. Effective preaching will renew their basic trust, give them a sense of deliverance, and provide a new perspective, a fresh insight to the understanding. Where these three dimensions are present, the listener will feel spoken to by the preacher and by God. Reference: © Grand Valley State University �What Is Good News? Richard A. Rhem Hans Van der Geest. Presence in the Pulpit: The Impact of Personality in Preaching. John Knox Press, 1st English edition, 1981. © Grand Valley State University Page 7! � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. References Hans Van der Geest, Presence in the Pulpit, 1981 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19890201 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989-02-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource What is Good News? Great sermons must embrace the 3 basic needs of those who listen Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Church School Herald Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 1, 1989 entitled "What is Good News? Great sermons must embrace the 3 basic needs of those who listen", it appeared in The Church Herald, Feb. 1989, pp. 24-27. Tags: Preaching, Gospel, Trust, Love, Mystery, Hope, Sympathy. Scripture references: Hans Van der Geest, Presence in the Pulpit, 1981. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Gospel Hope Love Mystery Preaching Sympathy Trust https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5ed849daff585919ae0770822a3e0e8c.pdf 47b593e3bbe46cf0b7fc7dcab77532b1 PDF Text Text   The Seasons of Our Lives Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Perspectives A Journal of Reformed Thought December 1988 Perhaps the most frequently heard expression this month will be “Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.” The order is dictated by the fact that Christmas is celebrated on December 25, followed one week later by ushering in of the new year. We speak of the period we are entering as the holidays. Holiday is derived from “holy-day.” The definition of holy-day is a day set aside for religious observance, but the dictionary notes that the derivative form, holiday, is now usually restricted to the sense of “day of recreation.” In our popular expression we combine a holy-day and a holiday. Although Christmas has been co-opted by the world at large and transformed into a holiday, it still retains its spiritual connection; it is still a holy-day. New Year’s Day, however, is a purely secular observance of the beginning of the new calendar year, a calendar year whose beginning and ending are quite arbitrarily set signifying nothing beyond the regular cycle of 365 days. It is not so with the calendar kept by the church. Although no one would argue for the exactitude of the specific date designated for Christmas, December 25; nonetheless it does point to a concrete event within our space and time—the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnation of the Word of God. So it is with the days that mark the critical moments in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord and the pouring out of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The Christian calendar keeps before us the landmarks along the path of redemption wrought in our history in Jesus Christ, and the annual observance of holy days gives a rhythm to our Christian existence, rehearsing for us the events which ground our hope. There is an increasing use of the Christian year in Reformed congregations. This value of such observance is being increasingly felt. As we are regularly involved in the drama of redemption, we are caused to remember what God has done and are stimulated to hope for what God will yet do. © Grand Valley State University   �The Seasons of Our Lives Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Page 2   The religious observance of holy days is deeply rooted in the Old Testament community of faith. Sabbath observance was the weekly celebration of God’s work of creation (Exodus 20:8-11) and gracious redemption (Deut. 5:12-15). The feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Tabernacles punctuated the ordinary existence of God’s people with the dimension of eternity. The Christian church moved naturally to the observance of the first day of the week as the Lord’s Day, a weekly festival of Easter, and gradually the feast days of the Christian calendar took shape. This was a natural development because the redeeming God had moved into our historical reality, supremely in the Word made flesh. The observance of the Christian calendar gives shape and meaning to our existence and a framework for our corporate worship. Lessons, preaching, hymns, and liturgy whose themes are determined by the Christian year tie us to the central realities of Christian existence. Our spiritual formation is fundamentally shaped by the rhythm of the life of the worshiping community, and the growing observance of the Christian year is a source of great enrichment to the experience of worship. Religious observance is not a means of salvation; rather, it is an instrument by which we are reminded of a salvation which has been effected beyond us, for us, freely given to us in Jesus Christ, eliciting from us grateful worship of the eternal God whose redeeming grace has come to expression within our history. In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis’s satire in which Screwtape, a senior devil, gives his nephew, Wormwood, a junior devil, an advanced correspondence course on how to corrupt human souls, Screwtape recommends that Wormwood work on Christians’ “horror of the Same Old Thing.” But, he acknowledges God’s wisdom in that all the same: He has balanced the love of change in them by a love of permanence. He has continued to gratify both tastes together in the very world He has made, by that union of change and permanence which we call Rhythm. He gives them the seasons, each season different yet every year the same, so that spring is always felt as a novelty yet always as the recurrence of an immemorial theme. He gives them in His Church a spiritual year; they change from a fast to a feast, but it is the same feast as before. In his Letters to Malcolm, Lewis wrote: It is well to have specifically holy places, and things and days, for, without these focal points or reminders, the belief that all is holy and “big with God” will soon dwindle into a mere sentiment. Religious observance is not an end in itself but can be a powerful instrument for the personal and corporate appropriation of the good news that was announced © Grand Valley State University �The Seasons of Our Lives Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Page 3   at the Savior’s birth. Our observances always fall short of giving adequate expression to the mystery of God’s grace, yet pointing beyond themselves, they give us a glimpse of the grandeur and glory of the grace of the God of our salvation. There are those moments in our corporate worship when the glory breaks through and we are lost in wonder, love, and praise. May Advent well-kept issue in a Christmas observance filled with the glory of God bringing the water of life to our often arid lives. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19881201 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-12-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource The Seasons of Our Lives Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Editorial created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 1, 1988 entitled "The Seasons of Our Lives", it appeared in Perspectives, December 1988, p. 3. Tags: Advent, Liturgical Year, Worship, Faith Community. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Advent Faith Community Liturgical Year Worship https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a4ec9202f4bb6074d67bc5961c6a241e.pdf b9e844b4e59c4ccc56959e4714d795eb PDF Text Text The Habit of God’s Heart Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Perspectives A Journal of Reformed Thought September 1988, pp. 8-11 In 1985, Robert Bellah et al published an in-depth study of individualism and commitment in American life under the title Habits of the Heart lifting that phrase from Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. Bellah described the mores of the American people as he analyzed the relationship between character and society in the nation. I borrow the phrase to describe the eternal, redemptive intention of the God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, witnessed to in the Old and New Testaments. It is the habit of God’s heart to save. That is the thesis of this essay. The whole church will readily embrace such a thesis. The one story of the Bible is the story of the searching, seeking God whose intention is the salvation of people and nations and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. Raising the question of the scope of God’s redeeming action, however, elicits differing views. Will God save all persons or will God save only some, the others condemned to eternal damnation or to simple annihilation? The Reformed faith has historically held to the ultimate division of the saved and the lost, the distinction rooted in the mystery of God’s electing grace behind which it is impossible to inquire. The saving grace of God draws the elect ones irresistibly, the rest remaining in their lost estate of rebellion. The former demonstrate the mercy of God; the latter, God’s justice. Scripture passages can be cited pointing to what appears to be an eternal distinction between the saved and the lost. The parabolic language of Jesus in Matthew 25:46 and the straightforward words of John 5:29 clearly make that distinction. Yet the issue is not easily settled by scriptural citation. There are equally clear biblical statements that point in the direction of universal salvation, the conviction that God will finally not only renew the whole created order but will redeem and reconcile every person. The apostle Paul in the Adam-Christ discussion of Romans 5 indicates that God’s act of grace was out of proportion to Adam’s wrongdoing. Paul wrote, “Then as one man’s trespass led to © Grand Valley State University   �The Habit of God’s Heart Richard A. Rhem Page 2   condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men.” After wrestling with Israel’s rejection of the Messiah in Romans 9-11, Paul wrote, “For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.” He then broke out into a magnificent doxology, an eruption of praise called forth by the contemplation of the triumph of grace of the faithful covenant-keeping God (11:33-36). The universal reconciliation of all things is expressly stated in Colossians 1:19-20, reconciliation by God through Christ in whom by God’s choice the complete being of God came to dwell. And the Christ-hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 concludes with the confident assertion that every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. These and other passages have been hotly debated and there has been no lack of wrenching of the plain sense of biblical passages on both sides of the issue. Exegesis alone will not likely settle the question since both particular and universal salvation come to expression within the canon of Scripture. This being the case, how may we come to some resolution of the question? It should be said, first of all, that we ought not to seek closure on questions that Scripture leaves open. We often desire a finality that our limited knowledge and understanding cannot produce. Not infrequently in the history of the Christian tradition we have claimed to know too much. A proper humility before the mystery of God and grace, of life and death and beyond, becomes us all. Nor should the question be settled by an anxious fear. Some Christians worry that the consequence of even contemplating the possibility of universal salvation would cut the nerve of evangelism and undercut the proclamation of the gospel. That simply need not follow; indeed, the very opposite could as well be the case, and the change in spirit and attitude with which Christ is offered might totally revolutionize the approach of the church to the world. With what contagious joy might not the gospel be proclaimed if the church executed its mission in light of a universal, redemptive intention and a certainty of the ultimate triumph of grace? Throughout Christian history some have understood God’s redemptive action in Jesus Christ to be universal in its scope. The early church was far more universalistic in its understanding of the radical renewal of reality, the radical alteration of the human situation through God’s action in Jesus Christ, than was the church of subsequent centuries. Among the fathers of the early church we find statements pointing to the final conquest of evil and rebellion, if not within history, then beyond, through some kind of purgation process. Clement of Alexandria wrote, Punishment is, in its operation, like medicine; it dissolves the hard heart, purges away the filth of uncleanness, and reduces the swellings of pride and haughtiness; thus restoring its subject to a sound and healthful state (Pedagog, 1.8). © Grand Valley State University �The Habit of God’s Heart Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Clement’s more famous pupil, Origin, wrote, ...God is a consuming fire, what is it that is to be consumed by him? We say it is wickedness, and whatever proceeds from it, such as is figuratively called “wood, hay, and stubble” (1 Cor. iii), which denote the evil works of man. Our God is a consuming fire in this sense; and he shall come as a refiner’s fire to purify rational nature from the alloy of wickedness… (Contra Celsum. Lib. IV. 13). Gregory, bishop of Nyssa, declared, All evil, however, must at length be entirely removed from everything, so that it shall no more exist. For such being the nature of sin, that it cannot exist without a corrupt motive, it must, of course, be perfectly dissolved and wholly destroyed, so that nothing can remain a receptacle of it, when all motive and influence shall spring from God alone (De Anima et Resurrectione). Theodore of Mopsuestia held That sin is an unavoidable part of the development and education of man; that some carry it to a greater extent than others, but that God will finally overrule it for their final establishment in good. Among these early Christian thinkers there is no denial of evil and sin, but they seem to entertain no doubt that God will finally conquer the last vestige of evil and restore all things through remedial punishment. It was not until 544 A.D. at a local council called by Justinian that the teaching of universal salvation was condemned. John Murray is considered the father of Universalism in the United States. Born in England in 1741, he was a fervent Calvinist preacher who came under the influence of a Universalist preacher named James Relly. Murray became an ardent preacher of Universalist conviction, not forsaking the high Calvinism of his early training except to see in Christ’s death an atonement not only universal in its sufficiency, but also in its application. He rejected the Arminian position that Christ died for the whole race but that only those who believed on him, accepting the gospel, would be saved. Salvation was all of God and all of grace. Following Relly, Murray taught that Christ died for all and therefore all would be saved. He accepted the orthodox, evangelical premises regarding human sin and need of redemption available through Christ alone, but he drew from them universalistic conclusions. In 1899 Lyman Abbott, editor of The Outlook, representing Congregationalists, addressed the Universalist General Convention on the subject “Why I Am Not a Universalist.” Agreeing with the universalist’s position against eternal © Grand Valley State University �The Habit of God’s Heart Richard A. Rhem Page 4   punishment, Abbott yet denied that all would be saved, not because Christ’s death did not provide the possibility of salvation for all. This he believed. However, he refused to go on to affirm that God would save all, for that would be to deny the creature’s freedom to refuse the gift. Abbott states bluntly: “I do not believe that some men are fore-ordained to everlasting death.” Yet he declares, “I am not a Universalist.” With precision, he states, “If I were a Calvinist, I should be a Universalist. If I believed that God could make all men righteous, I should be sure that he would make all men righteous; otherwise he would not be a righteous God.” In our century the question of universalism has surfaced in Reformed theology in the work of Karl Barth. Berkouwer’s early study of Barth was entitled The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Karl Barth. Barth’s detractors labeled him a Universalist and wrote him off as dangerous. Yet the matter is not that simple. Barth resisted systematizing; he defied neat pigeonholing. In a lecture delivered to a Swiss Reformed minister’s association in 1956, he reflected on those early, heady days and the theological ferment he fomented. He entitled his remarks “The Humanity of God.” One consequence of the humanity of God, Barth maintains, is that the sense and sound of our word must be fundamentally positive. He writes: To open up again the abyss closed in Jesus Christ cannot be our task. Man is not good: that is indeed true and must once more be asserted. God does not turn towards him without uttering in inexorable sharpness a “No” to his transgression. Thus theology has no choice but to put this “No” into words within the framework of its theme. However, it must be the “No” which Jesus Christ has taken upon Himself for us men, in order that it may no longer affect us and that we may no longer place ourselves under it. What takes place in God’s humanity is, since it includes that “No” in itself, the affirmation of man (The Humanity of God, p. 58). After developing that notion, Barth raises the question, “Does this mean universalism?” He then makes three observations “in which one is to detect no position for or against that which passes among us under this term” (p. 59). Barth suggests one ought not surrender to the panic that that term seems to spread before informing oneself exactly concerning its sense or non-sense. One should, he contends, at least be stimulated by Colossians 1:19 and parallel passages to determine whether the concept could not perhaps have a good meaning. And he suggests finally that the “danger” with which universalism seems to be attended should be balanced by concern for an even greater danger: a theology that fosters suspicious questioning because of its own legalistic perspective and morose spirit. © Grand Valley State University �The Habit of God’s Heart Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Of this Barth is certain: we have no right to set limits to the loving-kindness of God which has appeared in Jesus Christ. Rather, he argues, it is our duty to see and to understand it as still greater than we have seen before. Barth declares that the Christian witness cannot allow people to remain entrenched in their darkness. Those whose eyes are not yet open to the truth of the gospel must be questioned, encountered, shaken, by addressing and treating them as those who are really and directly called already to a knowledge of what God has done for and to them and who therefore stand in the light of life even if they resist it or are unaware of it. The towering movement of the saving God in Jesus Christ effecting reconciliation and fulfilling the covenant with the human creature determines the outcome. The practical implication of such a conviction is that one can never view any person simply in the light of his or her sin, corruption, mode of life, perverted nature, and evil actions. All this must be taken seriously and will be true perhaps for a large majority of people, Barth acknowledges. To be indifferent to the unchristian state of those yet uncalled has always spelled the death of Christian responsibility in relation to others. But there is something else that has to be taken more seriously, and indeed infinitely more seriously from the qualitative standpoint, than their blatant non-Christianity. Their vocation is before them no less surely than that Jesus Christ has died and risen again for them. This is something of unconditional significance. Such a confidence will determine the Christian’s posture toward others, insuring an openness, an unlimited readiness to see in the aliens of today the brothers and sisters of tomorrow and to love them as such. Because every person stands in the light of life through what God accomplished through Jesus Christ, the called are free and responsible to address every person and all people in light of that reality; it is our obligation to do so. In being faithful to the call to witness, the one in whom the work of grace has been effectual experiences again and again the graciousness of God’s call. One cannot fail to be impressed with the grandeur of God’s grace, rooted eternally in the habit of God’s heart, the determination to reconcile all things, or with God’s gracious election in Jesus Christ, the alteration of reality through God’s action in history in Christ. One cannot fail to be impressed by the sense of awe and humility experienced by the one in whose life the miracle occurs, and by the spirit of openness, sensitivity, and confidence with which the church bears witness to the world. The nerve of evangelism is not only not severed, for the impulse to witness is grounded in and motivated by the magnificence of God’s saving intention and action. Rather than betraying an adversarial relationship, an over-againstness from which the witness is given, those consciously in Christ, the light of life, stand © Grand Valley State University �The Habit of God’s Heart Richard A. Rhem Page 6   in solidarity with all brothers and sisters, witnessing to what is not yet apparent, but what is nonetheless the real situation—all of God, all of grace. It ought also to be clear that an openness to the possibility of universal salvation is posited on the triumph of the good and gracious God and not at all on human worthiness or human potential. Further, it must be recognized that a conviction about the universality of God’s saving grace in no way eliminates the wrath of God against all unrighteousness and the seriousness of the judgment of God. In reality the conviction of God’s determination to redeem all people is a catalyst to reckon honestly and freely with the righteous judgment of God before whom no untruth or injustice can stand. Hendrikus Berkhof gives a full discussion to the question before us in WellFounded Hope, the chapter entitled “The Double Image of the Future,” reprinted in Perspectives (January 1988, pp. 8-9). He deals seriously with the biblical witness but concludes, as was stated above, that Scripture leaves us with a double track. Countless attempts have been made to subsume one track of texts under the other by ingenious “exegetical tricks” but, Berkhof concludes, “we cannot smooth out this contradiction in the New Testament.” All that we read about the future, texts offering consolation and texts of warning, do not “fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.” In the case of the passages giving warning, these present the gospel in its nature as a call to decision; the passages offering consolation give hope and the promise of eventual salvation of all. We must hear both witnesses; we must not reduce one to the other. But we cannot simply allow them to stand with no link between them. Berkhof suggests we pronounce them “one after the other,” for “only the person who has learned to tremble at the possibility of rejection may speak about universal salvation.” It is the believing church, declares Berkhof, that can confess the last secret. In the end it is the power of God’s “yes” that triumphs over the recalcitrance of the human “no.” This is our last word but a last word that must be spoken if we believe God is ultimately not powerless or cruel or arbitrary, but rather infinite in mercy through Jesus Christ. Summarizing his conclusion on the issue in Christian Faith, Berkhof writes, We know that the covenant means that God’s faithfulness ever and again does battle with man’s unfaithfulness. What ultimately will be forced to yield: divine faithfulness or human unfaithfulness? Paul raised that question with respect to Israel, as the trial grounds of God’s relationship to man; and he ends with the confession: “God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all” (Rom. 11:32). These considerations compel us, not to detract from the gravity of the human “No” against God and its consequences, but to think just a little more of the divine “Yes” to recalcitrant humans. God is serious about the responsibility of our decision, but he is even more serious about the © Grand Valley State University �The Habit of God’s Heart Richard A. Rhem Page 7   responsibility of his love. The darkness of rejection and God-forsakenness cannot and may not be argued away, but no more can and may it be eternalized. For God’s sake we hope that hell will be a form of purification (Rev. ed. p. 536). Gabriel Fackre comes to a similar conclusion. After surveying the various positions taken in the course of the Christian tradition, he sides with the position he calls “Light Overcoming Darkness,” which he says, “...is not a disclosure of what shall be, but a hoping for what might be. All our ruminations here about the destiny of the faithless and loveless must be put in this context of Christian hoping” (The Christian Story, p. 237). Fackre expresses his hope in these words: The judgment on that Day in which the sun of Shalom rises over all is one in which the fires of liberation and reconciliation refine and its light so burns away the shadows that the last darkness is overcome. The God whose “will it is that all men should find salvation and come to know the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) has the power of the Holy Spirit to keep that promise and accomplish that Dream. The agony of this final contest of light and darkness cannot be understated.... There is hell and judgment. But the last word in the Christian Story is not that of a half-accomplished purpose, but of a promise kept and a Vision that becomes Reality (p. 240). One would look far to find Calvinistic universalism set forth more clearly and winsomely than was described by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr. in a Banner editorial entitled “Who Is Saved?” (Aug. 24, 1987). Plantinga acknowledges it is “a glorious picture.” Yet he settles finally for the traditional, orthodox position which he calls “a painful scheme.” He writes: In Calvinist orthodoxy God wants to save everybody (1 Timothy 2:4). And God can save everybody: God arranges for the death of Christ to radiate sufficient power for the salvation of all. God also orders the gospel preached to all. But, at the end of the day, God abandons some. God wants everybody saved but never intends to save all. God wants everybody saved but doesn’t plan on it. The reprobates are heartbreakingly, finally, disastrously lost. God could save them, but he doesn’t. And nobody knows why. The practical, existential fallout of such a system is brought home poignantly by Plantinga as he goes on. “Probably none of us needs reminding that this is a painful scheme. The awfulness of it comes home to us when we look at the spiritual rebellion of a son or daughter. Could it possibly be that God has never intended to save this precious person?” At the risk of presumption, I, as parent and theologian, must respond: No! That could not possibly be! © Grand Valley State University �The Habit of God’s Heart Richard A. Rhem Page 8   William Barclay, whose New Testament studies have opened the Scripture to so many, wrote near his life’s end a Testament of Faith. After confessing his belief in life after death, he writes, “But in one thing I would go beyond strict orthodoxy—I am a convinced universalist. I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God.” Barclay gives a fourfold basis for his conviction, the first being that there is enough evidence in the New Testament itself to justify it. He cites John 12:32, Romans 11:32, 1 Corinthians 15:22, 28, and 1 Timothy 2:4-6. Secondly, he argues against the eternalizing of punishment on the basis of the Greek word aionios. Thirdly, he denies the possibility of setting limits to the grace of God—in this world or any other world there may be. “I believe,” he declares, “that the grace of God is as wide as the universe.” Finally, Barclay believed “implicitly in the ultimate and complete triumph of God, the time when God will be everything to everyone” (1 Cor. 15:24-28). He contended, If God was no more than a King or judge, then it would be possible to speak of his triumph, if his enemies were agonizing in hell or were totally and completely obliterated and wiped out. But God is not only King and Judge, God is Father—he is indeed Father more than anything else...The only triumph a Father can know is to have all his family back home. The only victory love can enjoy is the day when its offer of love is answered by the return of love. The only possible final triumph is a universe loved by and in love with God (p. 60f.). In light of God’s gracious election in Jesus Christ, of God’s steadfast love and covenant faithfulness, of God’s infinite power and patience, we have good reason to trust and confidently hope that the habit of God’s heart will finally heal every wound, overcome all opposition, and gather all God’s children safely home. References: William Barclay. Testament of Faith. Mowbray, First edition, 1975. Karl Barth. The Humanity of God. Westminster John Knox Press, 1996. Hendrikus Berkhof. Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979. Gabriel Fackre. The Christian Story: A Narrative Interpretation of Basic Christian Doctrine. Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1978, 1984. Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., “Who Is Saved?”, The Banner, August 24, 1987. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. References William Barclay, Testament of Faith, 1975, Karl Barth, The Humanity of God, 1996, Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 1979, Gabriel Fackre, The Christian Story, 1984, Cornelius Plantinga, "Who Is Saved?", 1987. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19880901 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-09-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource The Habit of God's Heart Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Editorial created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on September 1, 1988 entitled "The Habit of God's Heart", it appeared in Perspectives, September 1988, p. 3. Tags: Nature of God, Universal Grace, Mystery of God, Judgment. Scripture references: William Barclay, Testament of Faith, 1975, Karl Barth, The Humanity of God, 1996, Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 1979, Gabriel Fackre, The Christian Story, 1984, Cornelius Plantinga, "Who Is Saved?", 1987.. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Judgment Mystery of God Nature of God Universal Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/37288410423cb68b87178990448c2b6d.pdf df094e3aa7e8b27ee1884b39560c45f3 PDF Text Text   Easter Faith: Beyond All Human Potential Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Perspectives A Journal of Reformed Thought April 1988 In For The Time Being, W. H. Auden writes, Nothing can save us that is possible, we who must die demand a miracle. Easter faith is faith in the humanly impossible, impossible in terms of human potential. Easter faith affirms a miracle: The living God raised Jesus from the dead. Easter faith sees the resurrection of Jesus as a sign of the newness God is creating and will create in this Good Friday world, this old age that is passing away. With every returning Easter we are faced with the decision of faith: Will we settle for a Good Friday world, or will we believe in the newness of God's kingdom? Will we with stubborn pride see our world and our lives only within the limits of the humanly possible, or will we trust in God who brought forth the world from nothing and promises a new heaven and new earth? Will we with paralyzing despair see history's sad story of oppression, violence, and death, and our own life stories of failure and defeat as the final word, or will we look to the living God who breaks the power of darkness and defeats even death? The Easter faith of the church points to the living God whose love cannot be conquered and whose promise of new creation will finally come to consummation. Easter faith is radical trust in God, the God who is not limited to human potential or to historical possibilities. Easter faith fastens on the God who called Jesus from the dead to fullness of life in God's presence where he reigns and from whence his Spirit continues the drama of resurrection in this old world that is passing away, this old world that is a Good Friday world, now permeated by the freedom and joy and peace of the new creation. Easter faith is biblical faith; it is the faith of the people of God who still live in the old world but who have been captivated by a new possibility. Over the first eleven chapters of Genesis one could write disaster, the seemingly insatiable desire of human society to structure life apart from God. In the bridge paragraph between © Grand Valley State University   �Easter Faith: Beyond all Human Potential Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Page 2   the universal themes of those first eleven chapters and the call of Abraham in chapter 12, there is tucked away a brief notice so easy to overlook: "Now Sarai was barren; she had no child." Is that not striking? God calls a man to become the father of a great nation, but the man's wife is barren. Could that be an accident? No, because the Bible story is not first of all a story about Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Peter, and Paul. It is not a story first of all about humankind at all, but a story about God. It is God's story before it is our story, and the Genesis account of the call of Abraham is only secondarily about Abraham. God is about to fashion an alternative community in the midst of a creation gone awry. God will re-form the creation; God will transform the nations, and God is not boxed in by human limitations. What God promises cannot be discovered in what is; God creates newness. Both pride and despair, two opposite reactions to what is, are based on the assumption that the world is a project of humankind and that its possibilities are limited by human potential. But the biblical story is the story of the gracious God of life-giving power, a power beyond all human potential. It wasn't easy for Abraham or Sarah to believe. Abraham was getting older, but still he had no heir. Sarah had moved beyond the years of childbearing potential. Abraham asked God if his servant's son Eliezer would do. God said no. Sarah took matters into her own hands and gave Abraham her maid Hagar. But Ishmael, the child of that union, was not to be the heir. God said no to that human effort, too. When Abraham was ninety-nine, God repeated the promise. Then one day the Lord appeared. The coming birth was announced. Sarah heard it and laughed. She was responding from her knowledge of human potential. The Lord heard the laugh and said, "Why did Sarah laugh?" Then we hear the crux of the matter. "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen. 18:14) That is the point of this whole narrative: God's power to create life anew. And the result of such faith? Isaac. Sarah, the barren one, gave birth to a child and she laughed once more. And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; every one who hears will laugh over me." (Gen. 21:6) God had the last laugh, and it was God who prompted Sarah to laugh again. There are two kinds of laughs in the world. There is the laugh of the cynic who lives in a narrow world of human possibility. There is the joyous laughter of the one who trusts God and experiences the impossible. Isaac was born. His name means laughter. Isaac's birth was God's joke! The tears of laughter will run down our cheeks, too, when we learn to let go of our strenuous striving to make our world secure, to carve out our places in the sun, and to achieve success and health and happiness and simply fall into the © Grand Valley State University �Easter Faith: Beyond all Human Potential Editorial by Richard A. Rhem Page 3   unconditional love of God who alone can create newness, bring peace, and cause joy to well up. There are two worlds. One is a Good Friday world. It runs on human effort and is limited by human potential. Its hallmark is the performance principle. The other is an Easter world. It operates by radical trust in the power of the life-giving God. Its hallmark is grace. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19880401 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-04-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Easter Faith: Beyond All Human Potential Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Editorial created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 1, 1988 entitled "Easter Faith: Beyond All Human Potential", it appeared in Perspectives, April, 1988, p. 3. Tags: Easter, Trust, Faith, Grace. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Easter Faith Grace Trust https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/38ad85e9decd838b26f99ef8cbc6d3a1.pdf f3307799ff6cfc9318a5d3006730c8e8 PDF Text Text Purgatory Revisited Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Perspectives A Journal of Reformed Thought January 1988, pp. 4-7 In the fall term of 1983, Hans Küng, the noted Roman Catholic theologian gave a series of lectures at the University of Michigan entitled Eternal Life? It was an investigation of life after death as a medical, philosophical, and theological problem. He faced squarely and straightforwardly all the difficult questions surrounding the subject, dealing with ancient and contemporary issues, the question in the history of religions, the modern denial of anything beyond death, and the near-death experiences recorded in recent years. He dealt with biblical material, the question of resurrection, the resurrection of Jesus, and the church’s teaching on judgment, heaven, and hell. The lectures were subsequently published under the title Eternal Life? By virtue of a sabbatical granted me by the Christ Community congregation, I was able to hear the lectures and to participate with Küng in a seminar. I came away with two striking realizations: first, that there was intense interest in these questions of death and dying, of life after death, of heaven and hell on the campus of a large secular university. The lectures had to be moved from the largest lecture hall available to the Rackham Auditorium. Secondly, I realized how little these vital questions were probed in the church, how little reflection I had personally given to them in my ministry, and how comfortably and uncritically we in the church have accepted traditional answers. Once awakened to the questions that are not nearly so simply answered as once I had thought, and also to the deeply existential interest of today’s people, both secular and religious, I began to open again questions on which I had come to premature closure. For me, the greatest surprise came in a new appreciation for the teaching of purgatory, which was resolutely rejected at the time of the Reformation and which has received little serious reflection in the Protestant tradition. This is quite understandable since the sharp reaction of the Reformers was precipitated by the Roman teaching and practice in regard to indulgences, © Grand Valley State University   �Purgatory Revisited Richard A. Rhem Page 2   intercessory prayers, and masses for the dead. The abuses at this point are well documented; Luther’s protest was justified, as Küng would testify. Calvin railed against the teaching of purgatory as “a deadly fiction of Satan, which nullifies the cross of Christ, inflicts unbearable contempt upon God’s mercy, and overturns and destroys our faith.” (Institutes, 3.5.6) Certainly there was enough abusive practice to make such strong reaction necessary. When the abuses have been exposed and the questionable teaching surrounding the state of the dead rejected, however, have we finished with the subject? The Roman Catholic church traditionally taught that people who died at peace with the church but who were not perfect (which included just about everybody) had to undergo a penal and purifying suffering before they could be translated to heaven. Purgatory was an intermediate realm and the purgation process was mild or severe and of short or long duration, depending on the moral condition of each individual. Traditionally, evangelicals have taught that those who in life embrace Jesus Christ by faith are saved by the grace of God and those who reject Christ are condemned eternally. One’s historical existence is the time in which a decision regarding Jesus Christ must be made and with the drawing of the last breath the issue is determined irreversibly and eternally. A little sober reflection shows us that the matter is not quite that simple. Even if those who are exposed to the gospel are judged on their acceptance or rejection of Christ, what about those who never heard? What about those who die in infancy? What about the mentally impaired? More questions arise: What about those who have been terribly wounded by the church? What about those who have been abused as children and are never able to trust? What about those whose only exposure to the gospel has been of a garbled and distorted nature? It would seem that we must begin to make some exceptions; some qualifications are necessary. Reflecting on the traditional teaching of evangelical faith, a further question arises: Do we imagine that the transformation necessary to complete in us the work of grace will happen in an instant at the moment of death? In his discussion of the resurrection at Christ’s coming, Paul does speak of those remaining alive as being changed “in a flash,” and in the First Letter of John we read that we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. But are we to understand instantaneous perfection by these statements, something totally foreign to the process of sanctification, which is our experience on this side of death? Obviously, the first thing we must admit is that we are dealing with a subject beyond our knowledge. And throughout this discussion we must be aware, as well, that we can speak only in temporal categories and think only of a succession of moments, while we recognize death as the break between time and eternity. Into the philosophical discussion of the relation between the two we cannot enter but the distinction must not be lost. © Grand Valley State University �Purgatory Revisited Richard A. Rhem Page 3   We must admit, too, as is recognized by both Protestant and Roman Catholic biblical theologians today that there is a paucity of biblical material to which to refer. The thrust of Scripture is the imperative to repent and believe, and the stress is on the urgency of decision. Yet there are indications that there is something more. For example, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3 of the necessity of care in building the superstructure of the church which is founded on Jesus Christ. He points to two kinds of builders: one builds with wood, hay, and stubble; the other builds with precious stones, gold, and silver. The work of the first is consumed by the testing fire; the work of the second stands the test. He then wrote: If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (Cor. 3:14-15) The latter person will enter the life beyond, having lost everything. He will be secure in God’s eternal presence, yet with nothing to show for his earthly life. Paul seems to indicate that there is, beyond death or through death, an encounter with God in which one’s life is tested. The issue is not salvation or condemnation; the issue is whether we bring into God’s presence something or nothing. Does not this passage indicate that Paul thought in terms of encounter with God and perhaps a continuing process beyond death? If it is a matter simply of being saved or lost as we enter the moment of death, that is, entering a status of salvation or condemnation, and that is all there is, then why be concerned about what one brings to death’s moment—a fruitful life or a barren life? The apostle seems to suggest that at death there is not only break and discontinuity between our time and God’s eternity, but also continuity between this life and the life beyond death. We bring something (or nothing) with us, and whatever lies beyond is influenced and determined by what we bring (or fail to bring). In Luke’s gospel, Jesus calls us to be watchful and ready for the end. He is encouraging loyal, faithful stewardship of life (Luke 12:35ff). He then speaks of two servants, one who knew the master’s wishes, but failed to fulfill them, and the other who also did not comply with those wishes, but did not know them. The first was flogged severely, the second less severely. We must not attempt to push this vivid language of Jesus too far. Yet it seems that Jesus was saying that the judgment will vary in light of individual circumstances—a gradation of judgment on the basis of the individual life being examined. If at the moment of death the encounter with God will be very personal, individual, and discriminating, and if the sentences will vary, does this point to a process beyond death’s moment? © Grand Valley State University �Purgatory Revisited Richard A. Rhem Page 4   The traditional understanding of these texts is that, in the case of the Lucan passage, there is gradation of punishment—yet to be lost, eternally condemned, is to remain in a state spoken of as hell—separation from God. In the case of the passage from Paul, the understanding has been that the “saved” enter into heaven, or union with God, but some with greater, and others with lesser capacity to experience the joy of salvation. Let us push those conventional interpretations. I entitled this essay “Purgatory Revisited” not simply to get attention. Surely in a day when Roman Catholic theology itself is very self-critical and is engaged in a serious encounter with Scripture, I am not about to suggest we reinstate a teaching that has been thoroughly sifted and carefully redefined in contemporary Roman Catholic thought. Yet, I am suggesting that behind the teaching of purgatory there was a significant insight, even if the practical application of that insight led to disastrous results. That insight is simply that God is not through with us at our death. I am raising for reflection this question: “Is the issue of our lives irreversibly settled at the moment of our last breath?” This question is meant in no way to detract from the strong call to decision, the seriousness of choices in this life, or the urgency of the gospel call. However, is it not possible that in the experience of death itself, understood as an encounter with God, there is the possibility of something of eternal significance occurring? In Christian Faith, Hendrikus Berkhof, discussing the idea of the judgment of works done by believers in their earthly lives, writes: In Protestant theology, this viewpoint is almost completely pushed aside by the accent on grace. In Roman Catholic piety it is (or used to be) very prominent in connection with the veneration of saints and purgatory. The Roman Catholic Church assumes correctly that believers differ greatly in regard to their progress and fruitfulness.... So the idea of a judgment according to one’s deeds leads of itself to the consideration of a process of purification, called purgatory in the Roman Catholic tradition....The Reformation broke with that doctrine because of its moralistic conception of salvation and its detrimental effect on the practice of piety (indulgences, intercessory prayers and masses for the dead). It imagined a sudden, radical transformation after the judgment, usually without giving it further theological reflection and without connecting it with the struggle for sanctification on earth. Meanwhile Roman Catholic thinking, too, has become much more reserved. Typical of the modern Roman Catholic conceptions is the idea of “ripening”...which K. Rahner develops in “The Life of the Dead”(Christian Faith, Revised, p. 493). Referring to the text discussed above, 1 Corinthians 3:15, Berkhof asserts that © Grand Valley State University �Purgatory Revisited Richard A. Rhem Page 5   that statement does suggest that Paul thought of more than an abrupt recreation of man; salvation is accompanied by a painful becoming aware of one’s own failures on earth. The difficulties here are more an open question for theological reflection than a subject for back and forth theological denouncement. The matter of making inferences from faith about what lies beyond death is fraught with far too many difficulties. One can state with Bavinck: “After death there is no more sanctification, one enters upon a state of complete sanctity...for death is the greatest leap someone can make, a sudden transposition of the believer into Christ’s presence, and thereby a complete destruction of the outward man and a complete renewal of the inner man” (CD IV, no. 650, under 4). But one can also ask with G. J. Heering: “Does this change instantaneously, when God shows mercy to the repentant soul and takes it to himself?...Life is called a training school, but perhaps there is a higher training school above” (De menselijke ziel, 1955, pp. 190,192). (p. 494). In another context Berkhof writes: God is serious about the responsibility of our decision, but he is even more serious about the responsibility of his love. The darkness of rejection and God-forsakenness cannot and may not be argued away, but no more can and may it be eternalized. For God’s sake we hope that hell will be a form of purification (p. 536, Christian Faith, Revised). That word “purification” is one used by Küng. In the published lectures, Eternal Life?, Küng treats the idea of purgatory in his discussion of the question whether hell is eternal. Some theologians, however, argue that it is not God who damns man by a verdict imposed from outside. They are human beings themselves, by sins committed with inward freedom, who damn themselves. The responsibility lies not with God but with man. And by death this selfdamnation and distance from God (not a place, but a human condition) becomes definitive. Definitive? Do not the psalms say that God rules over the realm of the dead? What is supposed to become definitive here, contrary to the will of an all-merciful and almighty God? Why should God, who is infinitely good, want to perpetuate enmity instead of removing it and in practice to share his rule forever with some kind of anti-God? Why should he have nothing more to say at this point and consequently render forever impossible a purification, cleansing, liberation, enlightenment, of guilt-laden man? (Eternal Life?, p. 137) Then he refers specifically to purgatory. Purification, cleansing, liberation, enlightenment Here perhaps may lie—I want merely to prompt a few reflections—the particle of truth, the real core, of the problematic idea of purgatory, which has been translated in © Grand Valley State University �Purgatory Revisited Richard A. Rhem Page 6   German from the Middle Ages onward with the unfortunate designation of Fegefeuer (“winnowing fire”). This may be the true core, but it remains true only if the idea is not reified. [A]s no human being is entirely bad, neither is anyone entirely good. Any human being, even the best, falls short of what he might be, fails to meet his own demands and norms and thus never wholly realizes himself. For if he is to be fully himself, even the “saint” needs completion, not after death, but in death itself. And, in view of so much unpunished guilt in the world, a number of people wonder—not entirely wrongly—if dying unto God, the absolutely final reality, can be one and the same for all: the same for criminals and their victims, for mass murderers and the mass of the murdered; for those who have struggled a whole life long to fulfill God’s will, true helpers of their fellow human beings, and for those who for a whole life long have only carried out their own will and at the same time shut out others?...[H]ow this...purification, cleansing, follows is not left to the speculation or calculation of human curiosity, but remains a matter for God as merciful judge, is God’s all-embracing final act of grace. (pp. 137) The key idea Küng stresses is the shattering effect of the encounter with God. We die not into nothingness; we die unto God. Küng cites Karl Barth: Man as such, therefore, has no beyond. Nor does he need one, for God is his beyond. Man’s beyond is that God as his Creator, Covenant-partner, Judge and Saviour, was and is and will be his true Counterpart in life, and finally and exclusive (sic) and totally in death (Church Dogmatics Vol. Ill, 2, pp. 632-33). Küng also cites a Roman Catholic theologian, Greshake: From this standpoint we can understand what was pointed out earlier, that God himself, the encounter with him, is purgatory. But this means that we need not fall back on a special place or still less on a special time or special event to grasp the meaning of purgatory. Still less do we need to work out crude ideas about the “poor” souls. Instead we can understand what the Church teaches and has taught from the earliest times as an element in the encounter with God in death....[W]e should avoid any talk of fire and speak instead of purifying and cleansing as an element of the encounter with God. At the same time what should be particularly clear is that purgatory is not—as it often seems to be in popular piety—a “demihell” which God has erected in order to punish the person who is not entirely bad, but also not entirely good. Purgatory is not a demihell but an element of the encounter with God: that is, the encounter of the unfinished person, still immature in his love, with the holy, infinite, loving God; an encounter which is profoundly humiliating; painful and therefore purifying (cited, Eternal Life?, p. 139 from Starker als der Tod, pp. 92f.). © Grand Valley State University �Purgatory Revisited Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Küng concludes, That is to say that since it is a question of dying into the dimensions of God, where space and time are dissolved into eternity, nothing can be discovered, either about place and time or about the character of this purifying, sanctifying consummation (p. 139). A Lutheran theologian, Hans Schwarz, discusses the views of Ladislaus Boros (The Mystery of Death, p. 129), who suggests something similar—the significance of the final decision at the moment of death. Boros, he maintains, decisively modifies the traditional concepts of purgatory and death. Boros agrees that the Church has only gradually developed the doctrine of purgatory. Though the Scriptural basis of purgatory may be obscure, the fact and the essential nature of purgatory are of such quality that it must be called a “truth of revelation.” However, through his hypothesis of a final decision, Boros seems to view purgatory as the “point” of intersection between life and death. Purgatory is no longer conceived of as a process of purification which can be measured similar to the days and years we live here on earth. According to Boros, “purgatory would be the passage, which we effect in our final decision, through the purifying fire of divine love. The encounter with Christ would be our purgatory.”...Boros replaces an untenable concept of purgatory with the idea of a confrontation with Christ in death…[H]e calls death “man’s first completely personal act” and, “therefore, by reason of its very being, the place above all others for the awakening of consciousness, for freedom, for the encounter with God, for the final decision about eternal destiny.” (On The Way To The Future, pp. 142f.). It has been obvious to me as I have pursued this subject that those who have reflected on the biblical material, the whole context of Scripture, the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, and the human person are very restrained in their conclusions and very cautious in their statements. There is in all serious inquirers into this question, —a recognition of the serious nature of human decisions, —an acknowledgment of the urgent need for repentance and faith, —a reckoning with the reality of evil and human wickedness that demands response if there is any justice, —a serious view of judgment as the exposure of our lives to the scrutiny of the God of truth. All responsible biblical thinkers recognize that God takes us seriously; our wrong and guilt are not simply soft-pedaled, and our exposure to God’s light and truth will be painful, even while we are conscious of being embraced within a larger grace. Judgment will be experienced: No one will “get away” with anything. © Grand Valley State University �Purgatory Revisited Richard A. Rhem Page 8   If an eternal hell is questioned, it is not because passing through God’s final examination is not a serious matter, and neither is it because there is no sense of the need for change and renewal of the person who through the earthly pilgrimage has become scarred and tainted, falling far short of God’s intention. Recognizing that one cannot simply move from the ambiguity, partial insight, fickleness, and unfaithfulness of one’s human experience into the presence of the God of light and truth, there is the belief on the part of some that a purifying process will be necessary. C. S. Lewis has dealt as creatively and profoundly as anyone with the questions of heaven, hell, and purgatory. In The Great Divorce, he records an imaginary conversation with the Christian writer, George MacDonald, on the outskirts of heaven. Lewis exclaims, “But I don’t understand. Is judgment not final? Is there really a way out of Hell into Heaven?” “It depends on the way ye’re using the words. If they leave that grey town behind it will not have been Hell. To any that leaves it, it is Purgatory. And perhaps ye had better not call this country Heaven. Not Deep Heaven, ye understand....[Yle can call it the Valley of the Shadow of Life. And yet to those who stay here it will have been Heaven from the first. And ye can call those sad streets in the town yonder the Valley of the Shadow of Death: but to those who remain there they will have been Hell even from the beginning.” (The Great Divorce, p. 63) Lewis’s fertile imagination is thought provoking; great caution is there; our curiosity will not be satisfied this side of death’s portal. Yet, he clearly seems to be saying that the life processes and the significance of choice do not end at our death. In his Letters to Malcolm, chapter 20, Lewis speaks clearly on the subject of purgatory: Our souls demand Purgatory, don’t they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, “It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy”? Should we not reply, “With submission, sir, and if there is no objection, I’d rather be cleaned first.” “It may hurt, you know.”—“Even so, sir.” I assume that the process of purification will normally involve suffering. Partly from tradition; partly because most real good that has been done me in this life has involved it. But I don’t think suffering is the purpose of the purgation. I can well believe that people neither much worse nor much © Grand Valley State University �Purgatory Revisited Richard A. Rhem Page 9   better than I will suffer less than I or more. “No nonsense about merit.” The treatment given will be the one required, whether it hurts little or much. My favourite image on this matter comes from the dentist’s chair. I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn and I am “coming round,” a voice will say, “Rinse your mouth out with this.” This will be Purgatory. I have raised questions for reflection more than coming to fixed conclusions about this subject veiled in mystery. But the questioning will prove fruitful if we open again for discussion a subject of intense existential interest, confident that the faithful and gracious covenant God will finally realize his eternal purpose for us who have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. References: Hendrikus Berkhof. Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith. Wm. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979. Hans Küng. Eternal Life?:Life After Death as a Medical, Philosophical, and Theological Problem. Doubleday, 1984. C. S. Lewis. The Great Divorce. First published HarperColins, 1946; HarperOne, Later Printing edition, 2009. C. S. Lewis. Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. Harcourt, Inc., 1964. Hans Schwarz. On the Way to the Future: a Christian view of Eschatology in the light of current trends in religion, philosophy and science. Augsburg Publishing House, 1972. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. References Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 1979, Hans Küng, Eternal Life?, 2003, C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, 1946, Letters to Malcolm, 1964, Hans Schwarz, On the Way to the Future, 1972 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19880101 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-01-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Purgatory Revisited Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 1, 1988 entitled "Purgatory Revisited", on the book Purgatory Revisited, written by Hans Küng, it appeared in Perspectives, January, 1988, pp. 4-7. Tags: Purgatory, Judgment, Grace, Sin, Non-exclusive. Scripture references: Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 1979, Hans Küng, Eternal Life?, 2003, C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, 1946, Letters to Malcolm, 1964, Hans Schwarz, On the Way to the Future, 1972. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Grace Judgment Non-exclusive Purgatory Sin https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a43c31c5c10a81787a95d4bdb209c65c.pdf 829061ce4613b83c2d29a96e9e07b1c8 PDF Text Text Plurality and Ambiguity: Hermeneutics, Religion, Hope By David Tracy (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987) Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Publication of Review Unknown “At times, interpretations matter. On the whole, such times are times of cultural crisis. The old ways of understanding and practice, even experience itself, no longer seem to work.” (p. 7) We live in such a time, according to David Tracy, a crisis of tradition, culture, and language so that we can no longer simply move forward by means of the usual ways of experiencing, understanding, acting or interpreting. Tracy names our time “post-modern” - a vague and ambiguous expression he admits; yet “there we are,” he avers. This being Tracy’s conviction, he continues to pour his energy into the interpretation of interpretation theory. “A crisis of interpretation within any tradition eventually becomes a demand to interpret this very process of interpretation.” Tracy stands within the crisis of Western culture. “... shaped by the seventeenth-century scientific revolution, the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, and the nineteenth-century industrial revolution and explosion of historical consciousness. We late twentiethcentury Westerners find ourselves in a century where human-made mass death has been practiced, where yet another technological revolution is occurring, where global catastrophe or even extinction could occur. We find ourselves unable to proceed as if all that had not happened, is not happening, or could not happen.” (p. 8) In such a time, the question of interpretation itself becomes central. Although the discussion of interpretation theory becomes extremely technical and one runs into the technical jargon in Tracy causing the uninitiated to despair; nevertheless the technical discussion is not simply an academic game without practical relevance or application, for, Tracy contends, © Grand Valley State University   �David Tracy, Plurality and Ambiguity, Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Page 2   “Every time we act, deliberate, judge, understand, or even experience, we are interpreting. To understand at all is to interpret. To act well is to interpret a situation demanding some action and to interpret a correct strategy for that action ... To be human is to act reflectively, to decide deliberately, to understand intelligently, to experience fully. Whether we know it or not, to be human is to be a skilled interpreter.” (p. 9) The theme of the present work is conversation. Tracy offers conversation as a model for all interpretation. He calls it a “game.” The movement in conversation is questioning itself. Neither my present opinions on the question nor the texts’ original response to the question, but the question itself, must control every conversation. A conversation ... is not a confrontation. It is not a debate. It is not an exam. It is questioning itself. It is a willingness to follow the question wherever it may go. It is dialogue. (p. 18) Understanding will move forward only where conversation exists; where one says what one means as accurately as possible; where one listens to and respects what the other (person, text, or event) says however different or other; where one is willing to correct or defend one’s opinion if challenged by a conversation partner, willing to argue if necessary, to confront if necessary, and to change one’s mind if evidence suggests it. Any act of interpretation involves at least three realities: a phenomenon to be interpreted, someone interpreting the phenomenon, and the interaction between the first two realities. Understanding these three realities is the problem of interpretation. Tracy suggests it is best to begin with the phenomenon to be interpreted (a law, an action, a ritual, a symbol, a text, a person, an event). For purposes of his discussion, Tracy suggests the classic texts, “Those texts that bear an excess and permanence of meaning, yet always resist definitive interpretation.” Tracy contends, The classic is important hermeneutically because it represents the best examples of what we seek: an example of both radical stability become permanence and radical instability become excess of meaning through ever-changing receptions. (p. 14) To understand is to interpret and conversation with a classic text is to find oneself caught up in the questions and answers worthy of a free mind. Conversation is thus an exploration of possibilities in the search for truth. One who enters upon such a conversation does so with the understanding that what is other from one’s pre-understanding may be possible. A good interpreter possesses an “analogical imagination” (a concept developed by Tracy in his book by that title) by which the interpreter is able to move from otherness, to possibility, to similarity-in-difference. Persons willing to risk conversation in interpretation are at a disadvantage from those who will not take the risk because © Grand Valley State University �David Tracy, Plurality and Ambiguity, Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Page 3   such a person begins with the possibility they may be wrong. But only such openness can advance understanding in the cultural crisis in which we find ourselves, a crisis which has revealed the poverty of both the Enlightenment and the Romantic Movement which was its reaction. As the Enlightenment unfolded, having freed us from the weight of certain oppressive traditions allowing us to dare to think for ourselves, it became trapped in ever-narrower models of what could count as truth until it retreated into a formal and technical rationality. But we cannot follow the reaction of romanticism thus becoming the latest expressions of the “unhappy consciousness” of the romantic. The “remystification of all reality” is not an option. It cannot be a pretense that the imagined joys of first naiveté can be ours. It cannot be the disparagement of science and the retreat into privacy. (p. 31) How do we move forward? Tracy suggests that two contemporary methods offer hope: historical critical methods and literary critical methods. Both affirm the necessity of method and the necessity of rejecting methologism. Tracy discusses the effects of historical critical and literary critical methods on our understanding of the classics of Western culture so that there is no longer such a thing as an unambiguous tradition - no innocent readings of the classics. And where does that leave us? Tracy contends, The historicity of every text, interpreter, and conversation has been clarified by historical consciousness. Certainty is no more. But relative adequacy for all interpretations remains an ideal worth striving for. (p. 39) Tracy grounds this contention in the third chapter: “Radical Plurality: The Question of Language,” a discussion of the relationships among language, knowledge and reality and an assertion of the results of critical methods – the radical plurality in language, knowledge and reality alike. “‘Reality’ is the one word that should always appear within quotation marks.” That claim of Nabokov, says Tracy, best expresses one major strand of postmodern reflection on language. Both positivism and romanticism held language to be secondary, derivative, coming after the fact of discovery and cognition, peripheral to the real thing. But language analysis has demonstrated its social and historical character. Our understanding comes through particular and public languages and language “shapes” reality - even constitutes reality. The result of this insight has been the dethroning of the autonomous ego from its false pretensions to mastery and certainty. We are inevitably shaped by the history we are born into. We are left with plurality and ambiguity. © Grand Valley State University �David Tracy, Plurality and Ambiguity, Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Plurality seems an adequate word to suggest the extraordinary variety that any study of language shows, and any study of the variety of receptions of any classic documents. Ambiguity may be too mild a word to describe the strange mixture of great good and frightening evil that our history reveals. Historical ambiguity means a once seemingly clear historical narrative or progressive Western enlightenment and emancipation has now become a montage of classics and new-speak, of startling beauty and revolting cruelty, of partial emancipation and ever-subtler forms of entrapment. (p. 69F) Neither optimism nor pessimism will prove fruitful in understanding the plurality and ambiguity of our history. Rather resistance, attention and hope must be exercised. Without resignation or cynicism, Tracy advocates conversation as limited, fragile and necessary exercises in reaching relatively adequate knowledge of language and history. In the final chapter, “Resistance and Hope: The Question of Religion,” Tracy declares that the purely autonomous ego has been mortally wounded, yet not erased; rather there appears a more fragile self - open to epiphanies. Postmodern coherence, at best, will be a rough coherence: interrupted, obscure, often confused, self-conscious of its own language use and, above all, aware of the ambiguities of all histories and traditions. (p. 83) Theological interpretation is one way to allow genuine conversation with the religious classics (for example, the Scriptures). A highly tentative, relative adequacy is all that can be hoped for as the same plurality and ambiguity that affects all discourse affects theology. Religions are even more intensely pluralistic and ambiguous than art, morality, philosophy and politics because religions do claim that Ultimate Reality has revealed itself and that there is a way of liberation for any human being. (p. 86) Pluralism is the attitude Tracy fundamentally trusts, but such an affirmation is the beginning, not the end for the interpreter of religion. The great pluralists of religion are those who so affirm plurality that they fundamentally trust it, yet do not shirk their responsibility to develop criteria of assessment for each judgment of relative adequacy. (p. 91) Reductionism is a real temptation in the interpretation of religion. The problem is one of totalization: only this method or this hermeneutic or this critique can interpret what religion really is. © Grand Valley State University �David Tracy, Plurality and Ambiguity, Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Page 5   All methods of reductionism, whether by believers or nonbelievers, are grounded in an unacknowledged confession of their own: the belief that so secure is their present knowledge of truth and possibility that the religious classics can at best be peculiar expressions of more of the same. Anything different, other, alien must clearly be untrue and impossible - that ‘goes without saying.’(p. 100) Thus, declares Tracy, the difference between fundamentalist and secular readings only appear startling; the differences are on the surface, not in fundamental hermeneutical approaches. They are reverse sides of the same coin of certainty, mastery and control. But, writes Tracy, When it is believable, religious faith manifests a sense of the radical mystery of all reality: the mystery we are to ourselves; the mystery of history, nature, and the cosmos; the mystery, above all, of Ultimate Reality. ... When it is active, religious love frees us from the illusion that to be a human being means to become an ego attempting mastery and control of all others. (p. 107) Tracy witnesses to his personal belief in belief. I believe that faith in Ultimate Reality can make all the difference for a life of resistance, hope, and action. I believe in God. It is, I confess, that belief which gives me hope. (p. 110) In a profile of David Tracy in The New York Times Magazine (11-9-86), Tracy is quoted as saying, The religious event described in the First Letter of John asks the question: What is the nature of the ultimate reality? And the answer is: God. And more explicitly, God is love. That is an extraordinary thought, that ultimate reality is love. All of his strenuous attention to interpretation theory is in the service of bringing that truth to expression, not just in the Church, but in the public arena. To follow his argument is not easy; it is rewarding. Tracy is a pioneer venturing into the new situation arising out of the cultural crisis of the present in order that the truth claim of God as it comes to manifestation might be understood and acted upon. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. References David Tracy, Plurality and Ambiguity, 1987 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19870901 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-09-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Plurality and Ambiguity: Hermeneutics, Religion, Hope Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Book Review created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on September 1, 1987 entitled "Plurality and Ambiguity: Hermeneutics, Religion, Hope", on the book Plurality and Ambiguity: Hermeneutics, Religion, Hope, written by David Tracy. Tags: Postmodern, Pluralism, Religion, Mystery, Love at Core of Reality. Scripture references: David Tracy, Plurality and Ambiguity, 1987. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Love at Core of Reality Mystery Pluralism PostModern Religion https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/126ba9825c60dbc7351e7d14ab62377b.pdf fb19e087d6d022f041936c8bd7663b6c PDF Text Text   Diversity in Faith – Unity in Christ By Shirley C. Guthrie, Jr. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986) Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Publication of Review Unknown This is a book addressed to the Church, to the Christian community. It is not an apologetic to instruct the inquirer in the content of Christian faith; rather, it is an explanation of the respective postures, attitudes and nuances of orthodoxy, liberalism and pietism. Guthrie's purpose is to enable self-understanding within each of these camps and thereby to create the possibility of understanding across the spectrum of the Church. Although a broad spectrum of the Christian community might agree on a basic definition of what it is to be a Christian, as soon as the discussion gets to specific theological, ethical and practical implications of Christian faith, division will be immediate - “Churches choose up sides, get red in the face, and either yell at each other or refuse to talk together at all.” To address the all too often rancorous divisions within the Christian community, indeed, within the same confessional family, denomination and local congregation, Guthrie suggests as a starting point the question: “Why is it that people who read the same Bible and talk about the same Christ, even when they belong to the same church, have so much trouble getting along with each other and committing themselves to a common Christian witness in the world?” His answer is that, before conversation begins, we all bring certain “conscious or unconscious presuppositions about the meaning of Christian faith and life that determine what we are able and willing - and unable and unwilling - to hear from scripture, from fellow Christians, or even from God!” Thus Guthrie sets for himself the task of identifying and clarifying the presuppositions operative and determinative of the respective postures of Orthodoxy, Liberalism and Pietism. Part I is divided into four sections (Liberalism being treated in two sections, Moralism and Social Activism). Each section is divided into a “In defense of ...” and “Criticism of ...” This first part is largely descriptive with Guthrie giving a fair and balanced analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each position. Part II is Guthrie's positive contribution toward transcending the division “Beyond Orthodoxy, Liberalism, and Pietism.” He suggests as a key to getting © Grand Valley State University   �Guthrie, Diversity in Faith-Unity in Christ, Reviewed by Richard A. Rhem Page  2   beyond the three conflicting positions, the concept of “witness.” A Christian, he contends, is first and last simply a witness to Jesus Christ and to begin there, he claims, will enable one to avoid the weaknesses and combine the strengths of the three positions described in the first part of the book. The last three chapters discuss what it means to witness to Jesus Christ, to the suffering love of God, and to the liberating power of God. Guthrie's discussion is helpful and convincing. This book would make a fine text for an adult education class in which there was a serious purpose to deepen one’s own understanding of the faith and commitment to Christian service, while broadening one’s perspective on the essential unity of the faith that comes to expression with varying accents and nuances. A more gracious spirit within the Church and a more effective witness without would result from a study of this text. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19870401 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-04-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Diversity in Faith - Unity in Christ Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Book Review created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 1, 1987 entitled "Diversity in Faith - Unity in Christ", on the book Diversity in Faith - Unity in Christ, written by Shirley C. Guthrie, it appeared in Perspectives, November 1987, p. 15. Tags: Diversity, Community of Faith. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Community of Faith Diversity https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9b2ceae1278f1251b86aea98cafa86b8.pdf d8ca92c9fc2a81a6f8c39414ac14413d PDF Text Text An Accident of the Incarnation Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Perspectives A Journal of Reformed Thought February 1987, pp. 4-6 The maleness of the human person in whom God was incarnate was an accident of the incarnation. That is the thesis of this essay, which contends that in another epoch of human history, in another cultural context, the incarnation of the Word might have found expression in feminine form. Accident is used here in its technical meaning in philosophical discourse, in logic, as “something contingent, not necessary, non-essential, or that might not have been,” not in its more popular meaning of “anything that happens, an event, especially an unforeseen contingency, a disaster something to do with chance or fortune. Accident as used here means specifically “a non-essential accompaniment.” Thus the contention is not that the maleness of the incarnation of the Word in its concrete historical manifestation in Jesus of Nazareth was a matter contingent, a chance occurrence apart from the predetermined will of God; on the contrary, given the time in which God took time for us, maleness was the historical garb chosen to accomplish the purpose of revelation. However, the gender of the incarnation was determined by the historical context of its manifestation; it was not determined by its purpose, namely, the revelation of God in human form. The same contention can be made from the opposite side using another technical philosophical term: the essence of the incarnation was the revelation of God in human form. The essential matter which came to expression was the humanity of the Word. To accomplish the essence of God’s purpose, to be revealed in human form, it was necessary to select a gender, male or female. But the selection of gender was determined by the time of the incarnation, not the essential purpose of the incarnation. The essence of the incarnation was God in human form; the accident of the incarnation was God in a human form of male gender. © Grand Valley State University   �An Accident of the Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Given the patriarchial society of the world into which Jesus came, the purpose of the incarnation was best accomplished by the utilization of a human person of male gender. But the essential element of Jesus in whose face we have been shown “the light of revelation - the revelation of the glory of God ...” was his humanity, not his male gender. In The Preparation of the World for Christ, a history of the world into which Jesus was born, David R. Breed describes the historical circumstances which prevailed at the time of Jesus’ birth and points to the providential preparation of the large tapestry of history which made the time of incarnation “the fullness of time” - a time in which the revelation of God in human form took root and flourished and gained the ascendency over the great power of imperial Rome. It was one world united under the pax Romana, pervaded by Hellenistic culture, drawn together by the Greek language; a world empty of soul, hungering for a true word. Breed makes an interesting case for the preparation of the moment chosen for the supreme revelation of God in our time and space. It was indeed a Kairos time, a most opportune moment for God manifest in the flesh. However, recognizing a providential purpose operative in the course of human history preparing the world for the incarnation of the Word must not be extended to include the patriarchial character of Jewish society at that moment as essential to God’s purpose to reveal himself in human form. If that were the case, then the argument being made here would fall; then, indeed, not simply revelation in our humanity, but revelation in humanity of male gender would be essential and the superiority of male gender as reflective of God would be established. It is that that I am denying by asserting that the maleness of the incarnation of the Word was an accident, not an essential mark of the incarnation. Otherwise, we would be saying something about God which would distort the biblical image. Were male gender the essence of the incarnation, maleness would necessarily be ascribed to God. But such ascription would run contrary to the biblical understanding of God in spite of the fact that God is referred to as Father. Such reference is found in the Old Testament as well as in Jesus’ usage. It is also found in other religions of the ancient world. But the use of Father in reference of God is not a statement about gender. In the later of the two Creation accounts (Genesis 1:1-2:4), we read, So God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male, and female, he created them. (11:27) Without getting into the complexities of the biblical idea of the image of God, it is obvious that in whatever that image consists, it embraces both maleness and femaleness. Maleness and femaleness reflect something of © Grand Valley State University �An Accident of the Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 3   God who must incorporate both within the Divine Being. Thus, God transcends our human sexual differentiation. It is interesting to note that even our human sexual differentiation is not an absolute differentiation; maleness and femaleness are the opposite poles of the human sexual spectrum. The individual finds a place not at one pole or the other, but somewhere on the continuum that connects the poles. In this, the human person would appear to be a reflection of the image of God who incorporates both male and female qualities and transcends sexual differentiation. Why, then, is God called Father in the Bible? As indicated above, the concreteness of the incarnation demanded a particular time, place, people, gender and person; the “scandal of particularity” comes to expression in our claim that the infinite and eternal God is revealed in the face of Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem during the reign of Caesar Augustus. An aspect of that concreteness was the patriarchal society and thus the use of Father. The “Father” image is so deeply ingrained that one wonders if it could ever be replaced by another image. It has been called in question, however. Hans Küng has raised the question about the appropriateness of the name Father. He asserts that such usage is problematic in the age of women’s emancipation. He asks, Should we without more ado apply to God a name implying sexual differentiation? Is God a man, masculine, virile? Are we not making God in the image of man, to be more exact of a male human being? (On Being a Christian, p. 310) He points out that the designation of God as Father is not determined solely by Yahweh’s uniqueness, but appears to be also sociologically conditioned, bearing the imprint of the male-oriented society. (Ibid.) But in the Old Testament, God is not “forthrightly male,” but has also feminine, maternal features. Today, however, we must be clear about this. He contends, The designation “Father” will be misunderstood unless it is regarded, not in contrast to “Mother,” but symbolically (analogously): “Father” as patriarchal symbol - also with matriarchal features - of a transhuman, transsexual ultimate reality. Today less than ever may the one God be seen merely within a masculine-paternal framework, as an all-too-masculine theology used to present him. The feminine-maternal element in him must © Grand Valley State University �An Accident of the Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 4   also be recognized. To address God as Father can then no longer be used as the religious justification of a social paternalism at the expense of woman or in particular for the permanent suppression of the feminine element in the Church (or ministry). (Ibid.) The God revealed in the human form of Jesus is a God of redeeming love, not a God who is in fact the projection of instilled fears, of human domination, lust for power, arrogance and vindictiveness. This Father-God is not a theocratic God who might serve as an excuse - if only indirectly - for the representatives of totalitarian systems, whether piousecclesiastical, or impious-atheistic, who attempt to take his place and exercise his sovereign rights. These men become holy or unholy gods of orthodox teaching and absolute discipline, of law and order, of dictatorship and planning, regardless of the claims of other human beings. (p. 312) Is there an image for God that might better reflect the divine-human relationship, avoiding the possible misunderstanding and exploitation of the father image? Alternating the pronouns referring to God, she and he, is being done by some; also the use of “father-mother” finds occasional expression. Our biblical understanding of God certainly justifies such usage even though it may not find easy acceptance. “Parent” is a possibility, although not carrying the emotional weight of father or mother. Anne E. Carr of the Divinity School in Chicago suggests that some would move away from the parental images ... which can inculcate a relation of childish rather than adult religious dependence. That is to say, while parental images express compassion, acceptance, guidance, and discipline, they do not express the mutuality, maturity, cooperation, responsibility, and reciprocity demanded by personal and political experience today. Carr refers to Sallie McFague who shows how the father image has expanded into patriarchalism as a “metaphysical worldview,” a “mindset” that becomes a “whole way of ordering reality.” McFague argues that this dominant father image must be countered with many images; no one image will suffice. She points out that we image God according to that which is most important to us humanly and suggests “friend” as perhaps the most appropriate image. Carr affirms this image, claiming that © Grand Valley State University �An Accident of the Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 5   The metaphor of God as friend corresponds to the feminist ideal of “communal personhood,” a relationship among persons, groups, and lifestyles that is non-competitive, mutually enhancing, and desperately needed in our world. Jurgen Moltmann supports the appropriateness of the friend image. He writes, The friend of God does not live any longer “under God” but with and in God. One finds this demonstrated in the life and death of Jesus who reveals a God who suffers for us and invites us into a fellowship of suffering for others. I have argued that the maleness of the Word of God was the accident of the incarnation, its essence being the revelation of God in human form. This is confirmed by Karl Barth who prefaces paragraph 15 of Church Dogmatics I, 2, “The Mystery of Revelation” this way: The mystery of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ consists in the fact that the eternal Word of God chose, sanctified and assumed human nature and existence into oneness with Himself ... (p. 122) In section 3, the splendid discussion of the virgin birth entitled “The Miracle of Christmas,” Barth speaks of the human involvement in the birth of the Word being ... only in the form of non-willing, non-achieving, non-creative, non-sovereign man, only in the form of man who can merely receive, merely be ready, merely let something be done to and with himself. (p. 191) He is in no way denying that the woman has her share in the determination of man. Only a foolish ideology of manhood or an equally foolish ideology of womanhood can deny her her share in this determination of man. (p. 193) But Barth argues there can be no talk of an equality of the two sexes in this respect. God alone knows whether the history of humanity, nations and states, art, science, economics, has in fact been and is so predominantly the history of males, the story of all the deeds and works of males, as it appears to be, or whether, for all that, the © Grand Valley State University �An Accident of the Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 6   hidden factor of female co-operation and participation has not, in fact, always turned the scale in a way of which chronicles, acts and monuments give us no information, because it involves an element which is deeply concealed both psychologically and sociologically, although it was not and did not need to be less potent for that reason. Be that as it may, if there had been a matriarchate instead of a patriarchate ... nevertheless it is - well, “significant,” that the historical consciousness of all nations, states and civilizations begins with the patriarchate. Male action is significant for the world history and characteristic of the world history with which we are acquainted, as it has been and actually is for us, even if it is not so in itself. (p. 193) Therefore, Barth contends it is precisely the male participation that had to be set aside. What takes place in the mystery of Christmas is not world history and it is not the work of human genius. His eternal generation of this eternal Son excludes a human generation, because a human father and human generation, the whole action of man the male, can have no meaning here. Therefore it is the very absence of masculine action that is significant here. (p. 194) Of interest in this discussion is not Barth’s argument for the virgin birth as a sign of the one who was fully in our history but did not arise from our history; rather, it is his contention that the virgin birth signified the setting aside of precisely the male domination of which history is full. The sign is a judgment on the willing, achieving, creative, sovereign action of the male. If one grants Barth’s contention that the sign of the virgin is a judgment on male domination, then it would confirm the argument pursued above that maleness was not essential to but accidental to the incarnation of the Word. To read back into the God of revelation sexual differentiation, specifically maleness, is to distort the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. And on the basis of such a distortion, to justify male domination of the Church and its ministry is totally without warrant. Carr cites the ethicist Daniel Maguire, who argues, Sexism is the elementary human sin. If the essential human molecule is dyadic, male/female, the perversion of one part of the dyad perverts the other. And, to distort femininity and masculinity, the constitutive ingredients of humanity, is to distort humanity itself. Maguire welcomes feminine participation in theological discussion which will bring a new wholeness to the public conversation in the Church. The © Grand Valley State University �An Accident of the Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 7   incorporation of affect, mysticism and concrete experience into theological and ethical discussion and the denial of the almighty, macho-masculine God whose exclusionary symbolism is utterly arbitrary will move us toward wholeness without distortion. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19870202 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-02-02 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource An Accident of the Incarnation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 2, 1987 entitled "An Accident of the Incarnation", it appeared in Perspectives, February 1987, pp. 4-6. Tags: Incarnation, Creation. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Creation Incarnation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b8a909cba54403e49ab4d428189c33ea.pdf cd619248d14037223dca58b02bbc86d4 PDF Text Text Praying To An Absent God Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in The Church Herald The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America January 1987, pp. 9-11 It is painful to pray to an absent God; most of us have felt that pain at some time in our lives. One feels alone, cut off; no answer comes and no light penetrates the thick darkness; it is the winter of the soul and one fears the killing snows will never pass. The Psalms are replete with expressions of lament and plea, of complaint and pathetic cry. They are expressions of deep human feeling and experience, the anguish of the soul and longing of the heart. Jesus found articulation of the desolation and horror, of the aloneness, the forsakenness that he experienced in crucifixion by reciting a Psalm. His piercing cry of excruciating pain, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” comes from Psalm 22. It has been understood as the expression of ultimate aloneness and dereliction, and it is that. Yet, those chilling words are not the whole Psalm. To be sure, there are few more poignant expressions of pain anywhere than Psalm 22. However, some biblical expositors suggest that what has come to us as a word from the cross was part of a recitation of the Psalm by Jesus. In the depths of anguish, he reached for the Psalmist’s expression by which to give utterance to what he was experiencing, but he most likely recited the Psalm to its end and it ends in an expression of trust. Light has broken through, the darkness is scattered, praise returns to the Psalmist’s heart. Thus, the recitation was perhaps the consummate act of trust by Jesus. That is the way it is in the rich and varied outpouring of spiritual life that we find in the Psalms. Lament, plea, complaint, even angry challenge to God are common, but before the Psalm is concluded, some resolution has been experienced, a sense of being heard and helped is declared and praise ensues. That is the way it is in all cases save one; Psalm 88 is a cry in the darkness and the Psalm ends with thick darkness still enveloping the Psalmist’s soul. There is no lightening of the burden, no assuaging of the pain, no sense of being heard, no © Grand Valley State University   �Praying To An Absent God Richard A. Rhem Page 2   promise of healing. Psalm 88 is a bitter cry to an absent God and the soul finds no relief. O Lord, my God, by day I call for help, by night I cry aloud in Thy presence. But no help is found; I ... have become like a man beyond help, like a man who lies dead... Still the Psalmist persists; I have called upon thee, 0 Lord, every day and spread out my hands in prayer to thee. … But, Lord, I cry to thee, my prayer comes before thee in the morning. Why hast thou cast me off, 0 Lord, why dost thou hide thy face from me? The Psalm ends with these pathetic words; Thou hast taken lover and friend far from me, and parted me from my companions. The mystery of suffering prevails; no shaft of light breaks the grip of darkness. Thunderous silence is heaven’s mute reply; prayer is raised to no avail, for God is absent. Leaf through the Psalter; see if Psalm 88 is not unique in that no final resolution is found, no word of hope offered, no sense of grace expressed. It stands alone; still it has found a place in Israel’s hymnbook. It is not familiar; it would not be on anyone’s “best-loved” list. Yet, within the rich variety of spiritual expression in the Psalms, its voice is heard. Then perhaps we should “hear” it. There is a temptation to limit our devotional reading to a few selected favorites. And there are so many inspiring, uplifting passages of Scripture, why pause to consider this painful cry? One would seldom find this text listed for Sunday morning’s message; its positive possibilities are severely limited. Who wants to come to church to hear of the agony of praying to an absent God? Perhaps we should simply cut this Psalm out of the collection; in fact, by our selective usage, that is precisely what we have done. Why stop to consider Psalm 88, then? Because life is like that even though it is threatening to our traditional piety to admit it, even though the fact is rarely mentioned in church. But life for many is like that; for some all the time, and for all, some of the time. The experience of praying to an absent God is a not uncommon experience even though we do not speak much of it. Honesty demands that we acknowledge that © Grand Valley State University �Praying To An Absent God Richard A. Rhem Page 3   even for the child of God there are periods of pain that know no relief, times of deep darkness when no ray of light brings comfort. In The Message of the Psalms, Walter Brueggemann speaks of Psalm 88 as leaving us “lingering in the unresolve, dangling in the depth of the pit without any explicit sign of rescue.” He goes on to assert, That is an important statement to have in the repertoire, precisely because life is like that. Faith does not always resolve life. There is not for every personal crisis of disorientation a way out, if only we can press the right button. Too much pastoral action is inclined and tempted to resolve things, no matter how the situation really is. Faith is treated like the great answer book. (p. 78) Sometimes when the way is hard and bitter and God seems deaf to our urgent appeal, we are made to feel that the problem must be with us - our sin and guilt, our feeble faith or faint devotion. It must be me; no aspersion must be cast on God. Clichés trip lightly over the tongues of the untroubled, assured in their safe tranquility that if there is a communication blackout, the problem lies not on the side of deity. Thereby we often add to the sufferer’s burden of alienation a load of guilt, undercutting perhaps the last vestige of self-confidence and self-worth. Not so Psalm 88 and that is why it is so important that it has found place in the Psalter. Brueggemann writes, Psalm 88 is adamant in its insistence, and it is harsh on Yahweh’s unresponsiveness. The truth of this Psalm is that Israel lives in a world where there is no answer. We are not offered any speculative answer... The Psalm is not interested in any theological reason Yahweh may have. The Psalm is from Israel’s side. It engages in no speculation. It asks no theological question. It simply reports on how it is to be a partner of Yahweh in Yahweh’s inexplicable absence. (p. 78F) We have not done well with inexplicable absence, with unanswered questions, with a silent God. To that extent we have not always been honest with human experience or honest with God and we have not joined in solidarity with the pain of the wounded ones. We are nervous before the mystery of suffering. We want to be in control, to manage the situation, to bring a cure; but sometimes we can only be present to the pain and wait in silence. In his meditation, Out of Solitude, Henri Nouwen writes of the ministry of Jesus. He points out, © Grand Valley State University �Praying To An Absent God Richard A. Rhem Page 4   What we see, and like to see, is cure and change. But what we do not see and do not want to see is care, the participation in the pain, the solidarity in suffering, the sharing in the experience of brokenness. And still, cure without care is as dehumanizing as a gift given with a cold heart. (p. 31F) The persons who mean the most to us, Nouwen contends, are the ones who can be silent with us in moments of despair, who will stay with us in an hour of grief, who can tolerate not-knowing, not-curing, not-healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness. (p. 34) That, insists Nouwen, is the person who cares. But our tendency is to run from painful realities, to try to change them. We are more comfortable as rulers, controllers, manipulators, but sometimes the human circumstance will not yield to the “quick fix.” Such “cure” without care is violent and insensitive; it leaves the suffering one even more alone in her pain. Nouwen condemns the preachers who reduce mysteries to problems and offer Band-Aid-type solutions. It is only out of compassionate solidarity with the one suffering that healing comes forth. Those who do not run away from our pains but touch them with compassion bring healing and new strength. The paradox indeed is that the beginning of healing is in the solidarity with the pain. (Reaching Out, p. 43) When there are no answers, when pain will not be alleviated, it just may be that the only comfort would be the comfort of such a word as Psalm 88 that acknowledges the pain that knows no healing. According to Brueggemann, ... The speaker is shunned and in darkness. The last word in the Psalm is darkness. The last word is darkness. The last theological word is darkness. Nothing works. Nothing is changed. Nothing is resolved. All things deny life. And worst of all is the “shunning.” (p. 80) Brueggemann raises the obvious question, “So, what is one to do about it?” The answer he gives is, “Wait.” That, he says, is what Israel has been doing for a long time. Wait or speak it again; keep on crying out. One has two options: either to wait in silence, or to speak it again. What one may not do is to rush to an easier Psalm, or to give up on Yahweh. (p. 80) Why does this Psalm appear in the Bible? As stated above, life is like that and the Bible addresses life - all of life, not just the pleasant parts. But beyond that, this is not a psalm of mute depression. It is still speech, speech addressed to God. © Grand Valley State University �Praying To An Absent God Richard A. Rhem Page 5   In the bottom of the Pit, Israel still knows it has to do with Yahweh. (p. 80) Sometimes God’s presence is most poignant precisely in the absence. Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why are you absent?” and paradoxically, that is the time and place of God’s nearness, of the ultimate expression of his love. When there is no answer, when one wearies of speech, then it is that one can only wait; but that word found frequently in the Psalms is not simply passive resignation, but rather “hoping intensely.” Sometimes one can only hope intensely in the darkness, conscious of a presence in the absence. Psalm 88 is not scripture’s only word, nor is it the last word. But in some situations of human suffering it may be the only word that can evoke any resonance in the anguished soul. We must have enough trust in the good and gracious God to let that word come to expression, to stay with it and let it be the present word of the God who is currently known only as absence. To wait in such a time of not-knowing and non-healing is the most helpful support that the sufferer can receive and the most caring ministry another can offer. Within history there is not always resolution; beyond history there is resurrection. Thanks be to God! References: Walter Brueggemann. The Message of the Psalms. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1984. Henri Nouwen. Out of Solitude. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1974. Henri Nouwen. Reaching Out. Garden City: Doubleday and Co., Inc., 1975. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. References Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, 1984, Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude, 1974, Reaching Out, 1975 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19870116 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-01-16 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Praying to an Absent God Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Church School Herald Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 16, 1987 entitled "Praying to an Absent God", it appeared in The Church Herald, pp. 9-11. Tags: Suffering, Prayer, Trust. Scripture references: Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms, 1984, Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude, 1974, Reaching Out, 1975. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Prayer Suffering Trust https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b56bb743eeb61d9017935a4878af8e18.pdf f2bfaaa9858c2328042028b9e4c47f25 PDF Text Text   Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith By Hendrikus Berkhof (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co., revised edition, 1987) 1987 Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Publication of Review Unknown With the appearance of this revised edition of Hendrikus Berkhof’s Christian Faith, we are given not only a serious and thorough articulation of the faith from a Reformed perspective in light of the contemporary world, but we also have a model of how the systematic theologian must continue to be in dialogue with the ongoing developments in the historical arena so that new questions that are raised may elicit new understanding of the faith and the faith may bring new understanding to the present horizon. First published in Dutch in 1973, the work has proved highly popular, with a fifth Dutch edition published in 1985. At that time a significant revision was made. The original English translation based on the fourth Dutch edition appeared in 1979 and is now replaced by the revised edition based on the fifth Dutch edition. In a “Preface to the Revised Edition,” Berkhof tells us how he came to write a systematic theology in the first place. In May of 1969, amid the student revolutions that were common throughout the Western world, Berkhof - always a sensitive listener -heard the cry for greater freedom, equality and brotherhood in society. His response - intuitive at the time - was to determine to write a systematic theology. In retrospect he realizes that his response arose out of his deeply held conviction that what was being demanded in the student revolts could be gained only by going back “to what is firm and unchangeable, to God who makes history with his covenant and wants to involve our history in his covenant.” Thus he wrote this introduction to the study of the faith “against the backdrop of secularization and polarization.” Berkhof’s treatment of the faith lives and breathes because it arises out of a masterly grasp of the biblical material, the history of the interpretation of the faith, and a passionate engagement with life. An encyclopedic knowledge of the subject matter is obvious; one is confident the most difficult questions have been engaged, questions raised by the explosion of knowledge in the modern world; various options are sympathetically offered demonstrating the genuine openness of the author to a variety of voices and then, simply and straightforwardly, the author’s own position is stated. © Grand Valley State University   �Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Page 2   This is theology written for the serious inquirer. Aimed in the large print sections at a broad audience willing to think seriously about the faith, Berkhof adds small print sections for more detailed and technical treatment of the subjects under discussion with bibliographical references for further study. This is theology written for the person who would both understand the faith from a Reformed perspective but within a larger ecumenical context in light of modern knowledge and be able to interpret the faith in the contemporary situation. Berkhof digs deeply into the biblical tradition in order to transmit that tradition in new translation. He summarizes his motives in writing, ... as concern for a world which is losing its cohesive power, which is pluralistically and permissively falling apart, and which is losing its sense of meaning, purpose and direction. That is a serious diagnosis. Yet, Berkhof maintains, and those who know him well confirm, that he is no “prophet of doom.” If it is true that God watches over his world, the counterforces are also bound to be there. We see these forces in a widespread quest for the meaning of life. Precisely in our culture this is a question which consciously or unconsciously occupies the minds of many. This is hopeful theology; the author is unequivocally committed to the biblical faith, sensitively aware of his own context and the broader world scene and confident in the redemptive purposes of the God of the covenant. Sensitivity to contextuality marks this revision. Berkhof notes that, about the time the first Dutch edition appeared in 1973, “contextuality” came into vogue. Berkhof recognizes the importance of being aware of one’s own context, but insists each context has its own questions and every context is a proper place to do theology - not only, for example, a context characterized by poverty or oppression. He calls for “a mutual awareness of the limiting significance of our stances” and the necessity of going “beyond the boundaries this imposes upon us ... striving for greater universality and catholicity.” Berkhof welcomed the opportunity for major revision because “dogmatics does not stand still.” But, he maintains, That is not the same as “making progress.” But it does mean that new angles regularly present themselves beside the earlier ones, or even dislodge them. In his preface to the new edition, Berkhof indicates the areas of major revision which is very helpful in tracing his own ongoing understanding and interpretation of the faith and the moving context of our times. © Grand Valley State University �Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Page 3   One new paragraph is added: “Revelation and Experience,” paragraph 10. Here he deals with the concern with the experience which precedes the revelational encounter and leads up to it. The last two decades have seen a return to concern with such experience after the sharp reaction against any such consideration in the wake of Karl Barth. In typically balanced fashion, Berkhof presents the subject under three perspectives: a. Revelation is directed to people in the world of their concrete experiences. b. This approach always both determines and delimits at the same time. c. Experience itself can never bridge the gap between the person and revelation. The contemporary Christological discussion is given lucid and concise treatment in the small print section on pages 291-297. Within the compass of these pages one is brought up to date on where the discussion has come with pages 294-297 rewritten for the revision. Berkhof suggests that the new nuances of the revision will further be sensed by reference to the subject index, to such subjects as Auschwitz, liberation theology, experience, feminist theology and Pneuma-Christology. For all the value of the work of revision, the great contribution of Christian Faith remains its contemporary statement of the meaning of the faith. For readers not yet familiar with Berkhof’s work, we must point to the remarkable discussion of the attributes of God under the headings “Holy Love,” “The Defenseless Superior Power,” and “The Changeable Faithfulness.” The headings themselves should be enough to demand examination and the examination will not disappoint. Another great strength of this work is its focus on the history of the covenant. The history of Israel is taken seriously and the Old Testament is allowed to speak for itself before it is understood from the perspective of Jesus Christ. In contrast to the all too typical dogmatic treatment where, as in the Apostles’ Creed, the exposition jumps from the Creator to Christ with a treatment of the fact of sin interspersed, giving the impression that Jesus drops out of heaven, Berkhof follows the redemptive drama historically. There are ... not only vertical incursions from eternity, but there is also a horizontal course of God with us through time. Therefore following his treatment of “Revelation” and “God,” Berkhof discussed “Creation,” “Israel,” “Jesus the Son,” and “The New Community.” The latter discussion of the Church is creative and innovative, challenging the static descriptions of the older dogmatics. In the paragraph on “The Church as Institute,” for example, Berkhof departs from the usual institutionalized means of © Grand Valley State University �Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Page 4   transmitting the grace of God - the marks of the Church. He suggests rather nine elements: instruction, baptism, sermon, discussion, Lord’s Supper, diaconate, worship service, office and church order. His final paragraph on the Church moves the focus outward, the orientation to the world, as he discusses “The People of God as the Firstfruits.” The final three sections treat “The Renewal of Man,” “The Renewal of the World,” and “All Things New,” handling aspects of the faith that especially address the question of meaning which Berkhof senses as at the heart of the Western context. Christian Faith is theology at its best: biblically rooted, aware of the transmission of the tradition, written in dialogue with the ultimate concern of the present context. It is up to date but not trendy; it is sensitive to the spirit of the age, but transcending that spirit. It is written out of faith for faith. It is the best available textbook for students of theology. Preachers will find it “preaches” well and congregations who receive it via the sermon will be stimulated, challenged and inspired. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. References Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith, 1987 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19870101 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-01-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Book Review created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 1, 1987 entitled "Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith", on the book Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith, written by Hendrikus Berkhof, it appeared in Pespectives, January, 1988, pp. 14-15. Tags: Meaning, Scriptures, Faith, Theology. Scripture references: Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith, 1987. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Faith Meaning Scriptures Theology https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c1f6246e5641efc935677d34dc98c262.pdf b36fcca1b2b21c674c86307eb53569c9 PDF Text Text Karl Barth: Preaching and Theological Renewal Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Perspectives A Journal of Reformed Thought May 1986, pp. 9-11 Karl Barth is the Twentieth Century's towering theological figure. His name calls to mind the massive Church Dogmatics, theological movements from the early dialectical theology to the later theology of the Word. We think of the great European universities, Gottingen, Bonn and Basle, where he taught. Yet, Karl Barth was at heart a preacher of the Word and the great theological renewal of which he was the primary catalyst and which reversed the tide of Nineteenth Century Liberalism had its roots in the local parish, in the pulpit, in the demanding task of preaching. Not while he was a Professor of Theology but while he was a village pastor in Safenwil in his native Switzerland did he ignite the fire that would sweep the continent and dominate the theological discussion of the West for decades to come. Indeed, when he had become a professor and published his first volume of dogmatics under the title Christian Dogmatics, he changed the title and began anew under the title Church Dogmatics, a significant sign of his recognition that theological reflection arises out of the Church and must be in the service of the proclamation of the Church. An early collection of addresses, The Word of God and the Word of Man, gives eloquent testimony to the fact that it was the setting of worship of the local congregation and the desperate need of the preacher for a word to speak that sent Karl Barth to Paul's letter to the Romans to wrestle anew with the Christian message. In 1922 Barth was invited to address a ministers’ meeting to give an introduction into an understanding of his theology. He was embarrassed to hear of his theology being spoken of so seriously. He said, ... I must frankly confess to you that what I might conceivably call "my theology" becomes, when I look at it closely, a single point, and that not, as one might demand, as the least qualification of a true theology, a © Grand Valley State University �Karl Barth: Preaching and Theological Renewal Richard A. Rhem Page 2 standpoint, but rather a mathematical point upon which one cannot stand - a viewpoint merely.”1 Barth claimed to have not yet even gotten to theology proper even though his commentary on Romans had sent shock waves through the theological world. He denied that he or his friends had any desire or intention of starting a new school of theology. Yet if a new movement was in formation, Barth insisted, ... that it did not come into being as a result of any desire of ours to form a school or to devise a system; it arose simply out of what we felt to be the "need and promises of Christian Preaching... " 2 Then Barth shared his own spiritual pilgrimage as a pastor. He had received the finest of European University training in theology. Yet he writes, ... Once in the ministry, I found myself growing away from these theological habits of thought and being forced back at every point more and more upon the specific minister's problem, the sermon. I sought to find my way between the problem of human life, on the one hand, and the content of the Bible on the other. As a minister I wanted to speak to the people in the infinite contradiction of their life, but to speak the no less infinite message of the Bible, which was as much of a riddle as life. Continuing in this autobiographical vein, Barth said, ... But it simply came about that the familiar situation of the minister on Saturday at his desk and on Sunday in his pulpit crystallized in my case into a marginal note to all theology, which finally assumed the voluminous form of a complete commentary upon the Epistle to the Romans. 4 The reception of that volume amazed him. As an obscure village pastor it was difficult to get the work published at all. A small firm in Bern risked the venture, publishing 1,000 copies of Der Romerbrief in 1919. So, contrary to the current climate of opinion, it was received with dismay in his own country, but the shattering experience of the World War in Germany caused its strange message to find resonance. In retrospect, Barth wrote of the stir he caused, As I look back upon my course, I seem to myself as one who, ascending the dark staircase of a church tower and trying to steady himself, reached for the bannister, but got hold of the bell rope instead. To his horror, he had then to listen to what the great bell had sounded over him and not over him alone. 5 But that was looking back. As he spoke to the pastor's conference in 1922, he was still in the early phase of his theological development in which ten years of pastoral ministry had engaged him. Barth declared that the critical situation created by the necessity of having to preach became to him an explanation of the character of all theology. He raises the question as to whether it would not be for © Grand Valley State University �Karl Barth: Preaching and Theological Renewal Richard A. Rhem Page 3 theology's good if it attempted to be nothing more than this knowledge of the quest and questioning of the Christian preacher, full of need and full of promise. ... Must not everything else result from this knowledge? 6 Stating simply where he was coming from, Barth said, ... I do not really come to you armed with a new and astonishing theology, but I want to make my place among you with a theology ... which consists simply in an understanding of and sympathy for the situation which every minister faces. ... If then I have not only a viewpoint, but something also of a standpoint, it is simply the familiar standpoint of the man in the pulpit. Before him lies the Bible, full of mystery; and before him are seated his more or less numerous hearers, also full of mystery....What now? asks the minister. If I could succeed in bringing acutely to your minds the whole content of that, "What now?," I should have won you not only to my standpoint, which indeed you occupy already, but also to my viewpoint, no matter what you might think of my theology. 7 The whole gigantic enterprise of Barth's long and fruitful career was the outworking of the standpoint of the pulpit. It is in the act of preaching that the Word of God encounters people where they live, where the Word engages the world. If the engagement is to prove fruitful, then the preacher must know both the Word and the world. In Barth's colorful expression, the preacher must preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. Only then will the sermon "speak." Only then will the deeper longing of the people be met and the unspoken question of their lives be addressed. THE PRESENT HORIZON TO WHICH THE WORD IS SPOKEN It is in the congregation that the two constants of theological formulation come together: the message and the present horizon which is represented in the lives of the people. That present horizon must be understood by the preacher. It provides the approach, the access to the questions of the people. Barth speaks of the strange situation of Sunday morning. The strange building with its strange appointments, its ancient traditions, singing, praying to God! And then - "here is daring" he says, the preaching. Pervading the whole strange Sunday morning episode is a sense of expectancy because everything seems to point to the conviction that God is present. Yet the people come with expectancy not only, but also with the haunting question, "Is it true?" ... And so they reach, not knowing what they do, toward the unprecedented possibility of praying, of reading the Bible, of speaking, hearing, and singing of God. So they come to us, entering into the whole grotesque situation of Sunday morning which is only the expression of this possibility raised to a high power. 8 "Is it true?" That is the question beneath the surface that animates the people as they come to church. They may or may not be consciously cognizant of their © Grand Valley State University �Karl Barth: Preaching and Theological Renewal Richard A. Rhem Page 4 question and certainly they will not let on the seriousness of their quest even if they recognize it. People naturally do not shout it out, and least of all into the ears of us ministers. But let us not be deceived by their silence. Blood and tears, deepest despairs and highest hope, a passionate longing to lay hold of that which, or rather of him who overcomes the world because he is its Creator and Redeemer, its beginning and ending and Lord, a passionate longing to have the word spoken, the word which promises grace in judgment, life in death, and the beyond in the here and now, God's word... They expect us to understand them better than they understand themselves, and to take them more seriously than they take themselves. 9 It is with that profound sense of the longing of the people, of the deep question of their life that the preacher must approach the pulpit. The serious meaning of the situation in our churches is that the people want to hear the word, that is, the answer to the question by which, whether they know it or not, they are actually animated, Is it true? The situation on Sunday morning is related in the most literal sense to the end of history; it is eschatological, even from the viewpoint of the people, quite apart from the Bible. That is to say, when this situation arises, history, further history, is done with, and the ultimate desire of man, the desire for an ultimate event, now becomes authoritative. 10 Then Barth continues with words that must burn in the consciousness of every person on whom the call to preach is laid: ... If we do not understand this ultimate desire, if we do not take the people seriously (I repeat it, more seriously than they take themselves!) at the point of their life perplexity, we need not wonder if a majority of them, without becoming enemies of the Church, gradually learn to leave the Church to itself and us to the kind-hearted and timid. 11 Thus Karl Barth well understood that sensitivity to people, to their concrete existence lived out in the real world provides the present horizon which must be addressed - addressed not with a word of speculative philosophy or human cleverness of whatever sort but addressed by the Word of God. THE WORD Before the preacher on Sunday morning is the open Bible, the second pole, the other side of the equation. If it is imperative that the preacher have a great sensitivity to his people, it is equally necessary to grasp the message of the Word of God in order that that message may be translated into the idiom of the contemporary world. The Word of God must sound forth again. The preacher's task is to communicate the Everlasting Gospel so that the message comes through. That message is in the Bible but the message will be released only when that which occurred in concrete history and thus received a concrete shape and © Grand Valley State University �Karl Barth: Preaching and Theological Renewal Richard A. Rhem Page 5 sound is translated into the shape and sound that will "say" the same thing in a new historical situation. Barth had a profound confidence in the Word of God. The movement that he effected has been labeled the theology of the Word. With the open Bible before him, the preacher becomes the servant of the Word. We can never abandon the Bible ... because it has a somewhat uncanny way of bringing into the church situation its own new and tense and mighty (mightier!) expectancy. If the congregation brings to the Church the great question of human life and seeks an answer for it, the Bible contrariwise brings an answer, and seeks the question corresponding to this answer: it seeks questioning people who are eager to find and able to understand that its seeking of them is the very answer to their question. The thoughts of the Bible touch just those points where the negative factors in life preponderate, casting doubt over life's possibilities - the very points, that is, where on the human side we have the question arising, Is it true? ... where that last perplexed craving has seized him and leads him, let us say, to church. 12 And what happens when the perplexed person full of longing makes his way to church and is encountered by the Word? Barth answers: The Bible responds without ado to the man who has awakened to a consciousness of his condition and to whom certainty has everywhere begun to waver; and its way of answering him is to ask with him, in its own way - think of the forty-second Psalm, think of Job - Is it true? Is it true that there is in all things a meaning, a goal, and a God?13 The Bible takes the question of our life which drives us to church and gives it depth; shows us that the question beneath all the questions of our life is a question about God. And further Barth declares, ... as the Bible takes these questions, translating them into the inescapable question about God, one simply cannot ask or hear the "question" without hearing the answer. The person who says that the Bible leads us to where finally we hear only a great NO or see a great void, proves only that he has not yet been led thither. This NO is really YES. This judgment is grace. This condemnation is forgiveness. This death is life. This hell is heaven. This fearful God is a loving Father Who takes the prodigal in his arms. The crucified is the one risen from the dead. And the explanation of the cross as such is eternal life ... The question is the answer.14 When the question of our life is understood to be the question of God, then the question has become the answer; then the reality of a great grace fills the yearning void and stills the restless fear. But we are not yet finished. Every Christian sermon finds rootage in the Bible, the Bible that has the uncanny power, as Barth says, to bring the answer to the question which animates the human quest. But something critical must happen © Grand Valley State University �Karl Barth: Preaching and Theological Renewal Richard A. Rhem Page 6 in the process by which the words of the text become the Word which is heard in the words of proclamation. THE WORD PROCLAIMED IN THE SERMON The Word of God - what is it? Essentially it is the message of His redemptive grace through which He effects His purposes of salvation. Where do we find it? We find it in the Bible. The Bible is not God's Word in some static sense whereby we can say between these leather covers we have God’s Word. God's Word is always active, living, dynamic because it is God speaking. But the Bible is God's Word in the sense that for us, God speaks through and by means of this word written. The written words of the Bible are the reverberations of the Word of God which is the message of God's redemptive grace; or could I use the word "residue?" - the written words of Scripture are the residue of the "happening Word," and the connection between the Word and the words is the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of God that illumined the Prophet's mind and heart. The Truth exploded in the person of the Prophet - who spoke the Truth to God's people and wrote the message so that the message could be communicated further. That Word, which "happened" to the Prophet and was then put into words, now becomes the occasion for the Word to happen again. Every message from a Christian pulpit is tied to a written word. Every message is an attempt to set free the Word that is in the words. At times we read the Bible and, closing it, realize that we know nothing of what we have read. But at other times we read a verse or chapter and feel its truth penetrate to our soul. What is the difference? Same book. Perhaps the same words. But when the Word happens, the words become the vehicle of the Spirit Who looses its meaning on us; the Word happens again. Sermons are that way. In fact, Karl Barth distinguished the Word written and the Word proclaimed as two forms of the Word. Again, sometimes the message strikes no fire, sets no cord of the heart vibrating. Sometimes in a message the Word happens. Having distinguished two forms of the Word, Barth added a third - the Word made flesh - Jesus, the Word incarnate. We read in the opening verses of Isaiah 61 how the prophet connects the agency of the Spirit with "the word of proclamation. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the humble, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those in prison; ... The passage goes on; it is a message of grace and redemption - a beautiful, hopeful message; it is God's Word proclaimed in words by the prophet anointed by the Spirit - that is, authorized and authenticated by the Spirit - by God. © Grand Valley State University �Karl Barth: Preaching and Theological Renewal Richard A. Rhem Page 7 The words are familiar because they are the words Jesus selected to use as his text when he returned to his home synagogue in Nazareth. (See Luke 4:18-19). That was a tremendous claim that Jesus made and the hometown folks did not receive it kindly. They drove him out of town. Jesus was claiming the Spirit of God as His authentication and authorization and he was saying - in me today in your presence the salvation of God is present. Jesus used the words of the Bible to point to himself as the incarnation of the Word of God - the one Truth, the message of redemption and freedom. The Word of God is the message of a redeeming grace and a saving purpose. It finds expression through the power of the Spirit of God: –when the Spirit created Jesus ("conceived by the Holy Spirit"); –when the Spirit enlivens the written words of the Bible so that the Word happens; –when the words of Scripture find expression in the proclaimed word of the sermon and the Spirit drives home the Word behind the sermon and the written word from which it arises. Such is the Word of God. Behind the word preached, behind the word written, behind the word made flesh, is God, the God of grace and salvation. That powerful conception of the Living Word of God we owe to Barth and that dynamic and promising view of preaching we owe to him, as well. It was the task of preaching that drove Karl Barth to the Bible and it was out of that encounter that the theological renewal of our century arose. It was in the service of the Church that proclaims Jesus Christ that Karl Barth labored fruitfully throughout his life. His great legacy to the Church is the recognition that all theological reflection must arise from and be directed to need and promise of preaching. To the end of his life he preached. He was a regular preacher at the Basle jail. Asked why he went there when he could command the great pulpits of the world, he replied that if he preached in a cathedral people would come to hear Karl Barth; at the Basle jail they came to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. On New Year's Eve, 1962, he preached at the jail on the text, "My grace is enough." In beautiful simplicity he declared: My grace - that is myself: I for you, I as your Saviour in your place - I who set you free from sin, guilt, misery and death, all of which I have taken on myself and so away from you - I who show you the father and open up the path to him - I who let you hear the great Yes which he has spoken to you too, to you personally, from all eternity ... That is my grace. And this grace of mine is enough. It is what you really and truly need, and what you, moreover, may and must have. You can hold on to it, you can live by it. You can also die with it. It is enough for you just now, it will also be enough for you to all eternity. © Grand Valley State University �Karl Barth: Preaching and Theological Renewal Richard A. Rhem Page 8 ... But say it to him! He hears it and is glad to hear it from you. He expects nothing more from you and from me than that we should say it to him as "the echo of what he says to us: "Yes, your grace is enough." Amen.15 ENDNOTES 1 Karl Barth, The Word of God and the Word of Man. (New York: Harper and Row, Harper Torchbook Edition, 1957), p. 97F. 2 Ibid., p. 100. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid., p. 101 5 Karl Barth, Forward to Die Lehre vom Worte Gottes: Prolegomena zur Christlicken Dogmatik. (Munohen, Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1927). p. IX. 6 Karl Barth, The Word of God and the Word of Man., p. 102. 7 Ibid., p. 103F. 8 Ibid., p. 108. 9 Ibid., p. 108F. 10 Ibid., p. 110. 11 Ibid., p. 110F. 12 Ibid., p. 116. 13 Ibid., p. 117. 14 Ibid., p. 120. 15 Karl Barth, Call For God. "New York: Harper and Row, 1967), p. 83F. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Barth, Karl, The Word of God and the Word of Man. New York: Harper and Row, 1957. Barth, Karl, Forward to Die Lejhr vom Worte Gottes: Prolegomena zur Christlicken Dogmatik. Mundien, Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1927. Barth, Karl, Call For God. New York: Harper and Row, 1967. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. References Karl Barth. The Word of God and the Word of Man, 1957, Call For God, 1967, Forward to Die Lehr vom Worte Gottes: Prolegomena zur Christlicken Dogmatik, 1927. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19860501 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-05-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Preaching and Theological Renewal Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Book Review created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 1, 1986 entitled "Preaching and Theological Renewal", on the book Preaching and Theological Renewal, written by Karl Barth, it appeared in Perspectives, May, 1986, pp. 9-11. Tags: Preaching, Word of God, Theology, Meaning, Church, Grace. Scripture references: Karl Barth. The Word of God and the Word of Man, 1957, Call For God, 1967, Forward to Die Lehr vom Worte Gottes: Prolegomena zur Christlicken Dogmatik, 1927.. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Church Grace Meaning Preaching Theology Word of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/40dadfb171bd4075b2533a4b00a5f8c4.pdf f74cf4b03a952e00e205e19b06941d2d PDF Text Text The Cross and the Theology of Self-Esteem Book Review Self-Esteem: The New Reformation By Robert H. Schuller, (Word Books, 1983) Reviewed by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Perspectives A Journal of Reformed Thought March 1986, pp. 10-13 The way of Jesus in this world led to crucifixion. God raised him up. Thus we have a gospel to proclaim, but only Jesus stands beyond the cross; our history is lived out under the shadow of the cross; those who follow Jesus are called to costly discipleship. An authentic biblical theology must embrace the cross and bring to expression the dying to self and denial of self, symbolized in the cross of Jesus and the cross Jesus calls us to bear. Does the theology of self-esteem outlined by Robert H. Schuller in his book, SelfEsteem: The New Reformation, meet the above criterion? Is there place for the cross in a theology of Self-Esteem? Schuller sketched the appearance of Christian theology, viewed from the perspective of self-esteem, which he contends is the deepest need of the human person. The whole spectrum of biblical truth is seen in light of this need. The traditional content of Reformed theology, which is Schuller’s heritage, is not changed, but the perspective of fundamental human need as a starting point does put that traditional content in a new light. That new light changes dramatically the appropriate approach to people. This is not surprising since this is theological understanding which arises from the pulpit, from the heart of an evangelist, and the passion of an apologist for the faith. Schuller’s conviction that the deepest need of the human person is the need for self-esteem or a sense of self-worth is coupled with an equally critical conviction — the dignity of the human person. The content of the gospel addresses the © Grand Valley State University �Schuller, The Cross & the Theology of Self-Esteem, review by Richard A. Rhem Page 2 person’s deepest need; the approach to the person is determined by the infinite value of the human person created in the image of God. Robert Schuller has called for a daring and creative rethinking of biblical faith; indeed, for a new reformation. He has written a call to action, drawing a first, tentative outline of what a theology of self-esteem would look like. He invites the church to think with him and to go beyond him. He is convinced that it is possible to move beyond our Reformation theology, characterized by reaction, into a new age characterized by expanded mission. His own ministry of over thirty years has gained him a worldwide hearing. His credentials are established. Now he has moved beyond concrete demonstration into the area of theological reflection. He invites us to join him on the journey. To do so we must be certain that the gospel of Jesus Christ centered in the crucifixion and resurrection comes to full expression. Let us seek to discover from his own writing whether this is the case. The Human Person Central to Schuller’s understanding of both the content and approach of the gospel is the dignity of the human person. He claims: Historically, the Church does not have a commendable success record in its effort to purge sinful pride out of Christ’s followers without insulting, demeaning, and bringing dishonor to God’s beautiful children. The theological task to which Schuller calls the church is to discover a full-orbed theological system beginning with and based on a solid central core of religious truth—the dignity of man. And let us start with a theology of salvation that addresses itself at the outset to man’s deepest need, the “will to self worth.” He is insistent at this point: No theology of salvation, no theology of the Church, no theology of Christ, no theology of sin and repentance and regeneration and sanctification and discipleship, can be regarded as authentically Christian if it does not begin with and continue to keep its focus on the right of every person to be treated with honor, dignity, and respect. At the same time, any creed, any biblical interpretation, and any systematic theology that assaults and offends the self-esteem of persons is heretically failing to be truly Christian.... Such forceful affirmations raise questions about Schuller’s view of human nature and the human condition. Is he naive about the demonic potential of the human © Grand Valley State University �Schuller, The Cross & the Theology of Self-Esteem, review by Richard A. Rhem Page 3 person? Is he not aware of the record of human history written in blood, laced with violence? Is his a Pollyanna view of the human situation, a refusal to see the darkness? That is scarcely the case; he does, however, make a critical distinction between the nature of the human person and the actual human condition. Human nature is marked by wonder and dignity, a reflection of the image of God in which the person was created. The human condition is marked by a reactive behavior which is not reflective of human nature but by a denial of that nature. The rebellious actions of a person are reactions, not the expression of a person’s true nature: By nature we are fearful, not bad. Original sin is not a mean streak; it is a non-trusting inclination. Label it a “negative self-image,” but do not say that the central core of the human soul is wickedness. If this were so, then truly, the human being is totally depraved. But positive Christianity does not hold to human depravity, but to human inability. I am humanly unable to correct my negative self-image until I encounter a life-changing experience with nonjudgmental love bestowed upon me by a Person whom I admire so much that to be unconditionally accepted by him is to be born again. Schuller uses the illustration of the golf ball. The outside dimpled surface gives little hint of what is really inside. Rebellion is our surface appearance. Why the rebellion? At the center of the golf ball is a hard rubber core. Around that core is a maze of stretched rubber wrappings. The core represents a negative self-image or an intrinsic lack of trust or simply fear. The stretched rubber wrappings are the reactions of that fear-filled core—all the anxieties and fearful reactions of negative emotions which surface as the rebellious exterior—angry, mean, violent. To use Schuller’s analogy, emanating from the core of the person constituted of fear, feelings of inferiority, and doubt are all forms of demonic behavior—enough to create hell on earth, presenting to the world an angry face. What is wrong with humankind is the ego run amuck, an ego threatened, insecure, desperately trying to establish itself, prove itself, justify itself, make something of itself. The consequence is sin and misery. One can hardly accuse Schuller of naiveté in regard to the darkness of the human situation. He is not content, however, simply to explain it in terms of wicked human nature. He asks why the human person reacts as he does. He finds the biblical picture of human sinfulness corroborated and explained by insights from the behavioral sciences. He sees the ego with its destructive potential reacting negatively because instead of trust which liberates for love, there is at the core a lack of trust which issues in fear, love’s opposite. What is needful? To be born again—changed from a negative to a positive selfimage through an experience of grace in an encounter with Jesus Christ. © Grand Valley State University �Schuller, The Cross & the Theology of Self-Esteem, review by Richard A. Rhem Page 4 Beginning with a strong conviction that every person must be treated with respect and accorded the dignity that is his because he is created in the image of God, Schuller has probed beneath the surface of human sin and rebellion to understand that one acts, not according to his nature, but reacts out of an intrinsic fear and lack of trust. That being the case, the approach to people is all important, and it is here that he is critical of the traditional approach of much of the church. One reason many Christians have behaved so badly in the past two thousand years is because we have been taught from infancy to adulthood “how sinful” and “how worthless” we are. The self-image will always incarnate itself in action. A negative diagnosis will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The most difficult task for the Church to learn is how to deal honestly with the subject of “negativity,” “sin,” and “evil” without doing the cause of redemption more harm than good. The Place of the Cross The cross of Jesus Christ plays a central role in the theology of self-esteem, and self-esteem is the perspective from which the cross is discussed. Therefore it may appear that Schuller reinterprets the meaning of the atonement, but that simply is not the case. He claims, “The Cross is the central force in the kingdom of God.” He discusses this claim under the double aspect of the cross of Christ and the cross of the Christian. Christ’s death for us witnesses to the infinite value we have in God’s sight. Such a realization changes one inside. The core of fear and lack of trust, which is the generating center of all negativity and rebellion, is transformed into trust and security—a positive sense of worth, liberating one in turn to extend love and forgiveness to others. Were this all Schuller had to say about the cross, his critics would be right in seeing in this interpretation the effect of the cross as “moral influence,” Jesus’ sacrifice inspiring us to emulate his example of self-giving love. To claim this as the heart of Schuller’s understanding of the atonement, however, is simply without warrant if we listen to his own statement. References to the atonement are to be found throughout the text and it is always the substitutionary atonement that comes to expression. For example: It is not until we meet Jesus Christ, who is perfect and he offers to share his robe of righteousness with us and his garment of grace is draped across our shoulders that we can then walk with him into the presence of God. He specifically discusses the crucifixion in another context. There he lists three ways in which we can say we are saved “by the blood of Christ.” © Grand Valley State University �Schuller, The Cross & the Theology of Self-Esteem, review by Richard A. Rhem Page 5 1. The Cross of Christ brings vitality to my dignity...I know the value of my life when I see the price God paid on the Cross to save my soul.... 2. The Cross of Christ makes atonement from guilt possible because it adds integrity to the positive Gospel...In the Cross of Christ we see the harsh reality of “negativity,” “demonic human behavior,” “collectivized social evil in institutions....” 3. The Cross of Christ adds morality to divine forgiveness. ...Negativity must pay its dues. Evil must be punished. So Christ has taken the rap “for our irresponsible negative behavior.” He experienced hell—on the cross...His suffering is credited to my personal account....So God is morally able and obligated to offer forgiveness to any person who claims the credit card of Calvary’s Cross to cover the guilt of his sinful behavior. As stated above, Schuller will always speak of the cross, and any other doctrinal truth for that matter, from the perspective of his central motif, self-esteem, because he is convinced that self-esteem affords an effective key for interpreting the gospel for our day. To say, however, that the atoning death of Jesus Christ for the sin of the world is not at the heart of that gospel in his understanding is simply not true. The second aspect in which the cross is “the central force in the Kingdom of God” he discusses as “the cross of the Christian.” This is the cross the person graced by God through Jesus Christ voluntarily assumes as his response to that grace. What does it mean to bear one’s cross? It means to respond positively to the dream God puts in the heart of the redeemed. Faithful to his Reformed heritage, Schuller is careful to stress that he is now speaking of the response of a grateful heart for a salvation freely given, a salvation fully accomplished and graciously applied. To experience grace is to respond out of gratitude, and that response involves commitment. Its price is self-denial—”The voluntary vicarious assumption of the Cross.” When God’s dream is accepted, we must be prepared to pay a high price. The dream that comes from God calls us to fulfill his will by taking an active part in his kingdom. The price? A cross. The reward? A feeling of having done something beautiful for God. It is the cross we voluntarily accept and willingly bear that distinguishes a dangerous egotism from healthy self-esteem. To pursue the dream and thereby to commit oneself to the fulfilling of God’s will as God reveals it to one is to bear the cross. There can be no success without a cross, but even here success must not be understood as “always winning and never losing.” Rather, success is to be defined as the gift of self- esteem that God gives us as a reward for our sacrificial service in building self-esteem in others. Win © Grand Valley State University �Schuller, The Cross & the Theology of Self-Esteem, review by Richard A. Rhem Page 6 or lose: If we follow God’s plan as faithfully as we can, we will feel good about ourselves. That is success! We will then be able to live with ourselves with dignity when we know deep down in our hearts that we did what God wanted us to do. Cross bearing is no minor theme for Schuller. Self- esteem restored in a person through the encounter with Jesus Christ and the experience of God’s grace becomes the dynamic of a fruitful life lived to the glory of God. If one has truly been overwhelmed by grace, redeemed by Jesus Christ, then one knows with Paul that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him. For Schuller this is what it means to be a possibility thinker. To be saved is to know that Christ forgives me and I now dare to believe that I am somebody and I can do something for Cod and for my fellow human beings. Schuller contends that forgiveness is not simply the negation of our guilt but “a positive injection of saving and soaring faith!” Repentance follows the experience of grace. Our thinking is turned around; a whole new world presents itself and we are called to “caring, risky trust which promises the hope of glory...through noble, human need-filling achievements.” Cross bearing is costly. In many and various ways this fact comes to expression: There is no crown without a cross. There is no success without sacrifice. There is no resurrection without death...no accomplishment without commitment, and no commitment without conflict. For there is no commitment without involvement; there is no involvement without selfdenial; and there is no self-denial without personal sacrifice. So what is the real Christ-call to self-denial? It is a willingness to be involved in the spiritual and social solutions in society. Self-denial is the daring commitment of your name, your reputation, your integrity, your ego on the altar of God’s call to service. Mark this; it is important: The greatest Cross any person can carry is to risk sacrificing his or her ego by risking the embarrassment of a public failure in the pursuit of some noble, honorable, God-inspired dream. That is positive self-denial. It is denying your ego the selfish protection from a possible humiliating failure that might occur if you tried to carryout the divine idea. No one familiar with the ministry of Robert Schuller can doubt that he speaks here out of his own experience. Jesus followed a dream to do the Father’s will and he was crucified. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream and he was assassinated. Robert Schuller has followed a dream, and only the naive would judge the personal cost in terms of the grandeur of the Crystal Cathedral. © Grand Valley State University �Schuller, The Cross & the Theology of Self-Esteem, review by Richard A. Rhem Page 7 Cross-bearing in Schuller’s understanding is a call “to do something creative and constructive.” He rejects the “crusader complex.” While recognizing that sometimes a situation calls for frontal attack, confrontation, he is also aware that such an approach is a dangerous style and should be the exception, not the rule, because violence breeds violence. The difference between a positive, constructive approach to society’s problems and the confrontational approach is the difference between generating a social climate of polarization versus creating a community where creative and mutually respectful dialogue can happen. Finally, cross-bearing will move the Christian person into the whole spectrum of human society and its concerns. Schuller will not choose between a gospel of personal salvation or a social gospel. He proclaims a whole gospel that brings personal salvation to individuals and addresses the larger societal issues as well. It is Schuller’s conviction that the idea of self-esteem provides an integrating factor which can show how the personal and social dimensions of theology can be interconnected. Schuller thus sees the applicability of the gospel to the full spectrum of human existence, personal and social. He sees the theology of the Reformation as reactionary and the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries as the “reactionary age.” With the conviction regarding the dignity of the human person and the realization that the deepest human need and longing is for self-esteem, he is convinced a Christian theology will be able to address the whole person and the whole of society with its healing gospel ushering in a new age, the age of mission. As we reflect on our walk with Jesus Christ through another Lenten pilgrimage we raise the question of the human condition and what address this time of selfdenial makes to it. In a critique of the idea that low self-esteem is at the heart of the human dilemma, David G. Myers cites recent data from psychological research which seems to indicate that there is rather a “self-serving bias” that characterizes the human person. Myers contends, It seems true that the most common error in people’s self-images is not unrealistically low self-esteem, but rather a self-serving bias; not an inferiority complex, but a superiority complex. In any satisfactory theory or theology of self-esteem, these two truths must somehow coexist [The Christian Century, December 1, 1982, pp. 1226-1230). If Myers is correct, it would not be the first time that truth proved dialectical. We ought not immediately be forced to choose between Schuller and Myers. Rather, it would seem that each has hold of an important and critical insight. In all of the recent research data referred to by Myers we are dealing with the human person in action—acting man or woman in concrete, existential situations. In our analysis of Schuller’s position on the human person we saw that there is no dark shadow, no demonic dimension of human behavior that he denies. His © Grand Valley State University �Schuller, The Cross & the Theology of Self-Esteem, review by Richard A. Rhem Page 8 contention regarding the fundamental need of every person for self-esteem says nothing about concrete human behavior. What he does insist is that that behavior is a manifestation, not of human nature as human nature, but rather of human nature as distorted, wrenched loose from its native soil of resting in God. Once that separation of the person from God occurs, all hell breaks loose, literally, but it is reaction, not simple action as a reflection of nature. Thus the recent research data only confirms what we in the church have always known from Scripture about ourselves: our lives are marked by rebellion, pride, and self-love in the sense of selfishness. It is precisely here that Schuller—the pastor and communicator of the gospel — has so much to teach us. The diagnosis of the situation is dismal; will we be content simply to declare that dark truth? Can we be content to reinforce what our hearers already really know but which, if thrown in their faces, will only reinforce them in their already entrenched rebellion by which they are trying to deny the truth? Schuller points us to an alternative which is both theologically and psychologically sound. There is no need to recite the darkness of the person’s reactive behavior of which he or she is quite aware; what is needful is to show that through the creative action and intention of God, he or she is something quite other than the behavior would seem to indicate. Through an appeal to what he is, not what he does, one may just succeed in breaking through to the person because the approach will have been motivated by love, executed with grace, and grounded in truth. Defenses tumble; the cornered is known, feels no need to rush to justify himself, senses acceptance, and learns of the reality of forgiveness. Then it is that deep repentance occurs. It is not a prelude to salvation but a fruit of the experience of grace. It is in the presence of Jesus Christ in whose face is seen the good and gracious God that one knows unconditional love and acceptance; therefore it is in that presence that one dares see oneself deeply and that one “dies” to those old patterns of reactive behavior that bound him in chains of selfish existence and created havoc in his human relationships and, most seriously, alienated him from God. If the church would really hear Robert Schuller, there would be renewal and revitalization of major proportions. One of my most respected teachers, Professor D. Ivan Dykstra, wrote in personal correspondence about Schuller’s basic premise regarding the dignity of the human person and the basic need for self-worth. Commenting on Schuller’s book, Self-Esteem:... he judges it was Bob Schuller in search of a theology, or, better, in search of a Bible. And this is exactly the right order and the only proper order, despite our wish and our pretense that we find our Bibles first and then go on from there. All reformations, vitalizations of the faith, happen by our first responding to an instinct of authenticity and then going on to re-read our © Grand Valley State University �Schuller, The Cross & the Theology of Self-Esteem, review by Richard A. Rhem Page 9 Bibles accordingly or creating our theologies....The great prophets did it that way, Jesus did, Luther, and so on down the line. Dykstra then goes on to reflect on his own philosophical work which led him to an examination of Christian beliefs through use of linguistic analysis. He raises the question, are our Christian beliefs Christian? His conclusion is That religious terms, including Christian ones, begin always in the form of some great, situationally defined, instinctive authenticities. After the first flush of excitement...there is a time of intellectual and institutional structuring of the belief. There is a virtually complete discontinuity of meaning between the universe of discourse of the original intuition and the institutionalized universe of discourse into which we move the original terms. In the process the whole original meaning is simply buried. In Christian contexts, the over-all name for that structuring is “ecclesiasticizing.” And everything, every dominating concept in the ecclesiastico-theological structure, loses the authentic Biblical meaning: faith, sin, Jesus, inspiration, scripture, resurrection have no longer any discernible connection with the initial biblical intent. Until some courageous soul, (like Luther, as one example) has, and has the courage to act on, a new authentic instinct. To attack the ecclesiastical inauthenticities one does not need to attack the Bible on which they base themselves; one needs only to “out-Bible” the bibliolaters. To read the Bible via the instincts is not to invent a new Bible; it is to recover it. Dykstra suggests that Schuller’s authentic instinctual grasp of a deep biblical truth has ramifications for the whole theological system; that perhaps Schuller’s unquestioned Reformed orthodoxy is itself too confined a vehicle to contain the ferment of his own insight. Such is certainly the case, but Schuller did not write this slender volume as the complete and final word. He writes a first word pleading with others to join the question for a more adequate way to bring to expression his own authentic insight confirmed by the worldwide hearing he has gained. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. References Robert H. Schuller. Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, 1983. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19860302 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-03-02 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource The Cross and the Theology of Self-Esteem a review of Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Book Review created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 2, 1986 entitled "The Cross and the Theology of Self-Esteem a review of", on the book Self-Esteem, written by Robert H. Schuller, it appeared in Perspectives, March, 1986, pp. 10-13. Tags: Way of Jesus, Theology, Unconditional Love, Human Nature, Christian, Self-Esteem, Forgiveness. Scripture references: Robert H. Schuller. Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, 1983. . Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Christian Forgiveness Human Nature Self-Esteem Theology Unconditional Love Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4fa6a435f09e1814c4fa10de5a650117.pdf 0ee6ec047ba31a3f574ca1b011efdd5f PDF Text Text Theological Method: The Search For a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Reformed Review A Theological Journal of Western Theological Seminary 101 East 13th Street, Holland, Michigan Spring, 1986 Leafing through a manila folder labeled “Theological Methodology” was an exercise in nostalgia. A few of us requested a reading course with Dr. Osterhaven in which we would examine various models of theological method and write a paper for presentation to the group. Perhaps it was there that my interest in theological method was stimulated or, perhaps, the desire to study the subject with Dr. Osterhaven arose from a distinction made by one of his esteemed teachers, Dr. Albertus Pieters, whose Facts and Mysteries of the Christian Faith fascinated me as a youth. Dr. Pieters distinguished systematic and biblical theology and gave clear preference to the latter. It was a moment of awakening; I was faced with the fact that the systematician's logical formulations might not always faithfully reflect the biblical witness; indeed, at times they might actually distort biblical truth. No task places one in the tension between the richness and diversity of the biblical witness and the systematization of the faith more than the task of preaching each Lord's Day. Thus I have continued to be challenged with the need to do theology in such a way that what comes to expression in the sermon is a faithful witness to biblical faith evidencing sensitivity to the contemporary situation. The sermon is the end product of the significant encounter of the Word and the world in the mind and heart of the preacher, and the theological task must be pursued to that end that the truth may find expression within the present horizon. It will be my purpose here to reflect on the substratum on which the sermon rests in the conviction that preaching with integrity demands not only theological understanding, but also self-consciousness of one's theological method. © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page 2 It is a great privilege to offer the following discussion of theological method in honor of a highly esteemed teacher in whose person the authenticity and integrity of the Christian thinker is modeled out. A NEW BASIC MODEL OF THEOLOGY? In May of 1983, seventy professors of theology from around the world gathered at the University of Tubingen in Germany. The international ecumenical symposium was organized by the Institute for the Advanced Study of Religion at the University of Chicago, the International Magazine for Theology, Concilium, and the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Tubingen. The leading spirit in organizing the event was Professor Dr. Hans Küng, head of the Tubingen Institute. The key question was, “Is a base consensus in Christian theology possible today despite all differences?” In his introductory remarks, Hans Küng set the stage for the discussion. He said, The natural sciences, humanities, democratic plural societies and freedom movements of all kinds all have radical consequences, specifically also for theology, whose outgrowths have not yet even been conceptualized, much less dealt with. But is theology dependent on such multifaceted tensions, such divergent systems, or even fads? Or is a new, changed basic model of theology recognizable? Is there, then, a new “paradigm of theology,” which might adequately react to the present changed experience? Are there universal constants despite all the differing theories, methods, and structures in such a “new paradigm” which every Christian theology must advance because, scientifically, they are held accountable by the Christian faith? The key word in understanding the task of this symposium is “paradigm” which was introduced into this theological discussion from a discussion in the natural sciences by Thomas Kuhn whose book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, became the catalyst for reflection on the history of theological development. Kuhn defined paradigm as, an entire constellation of beliefs, values, technics, and so on shared by the members of a given community.1 On the basis of that understanding of paradigm, Hans Küng charted the history of theology, attempting to locate those points of significant ferment in the Church which led to the evolving of a new model or paradigm. He set forth a tentative periodization beginning with the primitive Christian theology that was shaped by apocalypticism followed by the Greek and Latin Fathers of the Patristic period, the East-West schism of the Eleventh Century, the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, including the Counter-Reformation of the Roman Church, the development of modern philosophy and the natural sciences of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, including the Enlightenment, the French and © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page 3 American Revolutions and the Twentieth Century theological movements beginning with Barth's Dialectical Theology and including Existentialist, Hermeneutical and the various Liberation Theologies of the present. From these major shifts in the history of the Church and in theological posture, Küng finds five models or paradigms operational in the present whose roots lie in the major shifts of the past. Stemming from the Ancient Church is the model of Eastern Orthodoxy; from the Medieval period there remains a Roman Catholic traditionalism; from the Reformation era there developed a Protestant orthodoxy which is still embraced; from the Enlightenment classical Liberalism developed and in strong reaction to that Nineteenth Century Liberalism, the revolution whose catalyst was Karl Barth in the early decades of this Century, Dialectical Theology with several variants in the present. His schematization gives credence to the contention that eruptive events in Church and society often result in new insights, new angles of vision which are the catalyst for the conception of a new paradigm, a new model of theology. The Symposium held at Tübingen in 1983 had as its purpose the endeavor to find a new paradigm that could gather the best insights of the biblical studies of the modern period along with the understanding of the world, history and human existence available to us through all of the academic disciplines. Such a paradigm, Kiting contends, must be truthful, not conformist or opportunist; free, not authoritarian; critical, not fundamentalist or traditionalist; ecumenical, not denominationalist or confessionalist. A theology in the horizon of the present world of experience and critically rooted in the biblical tradition would be a theology at the same time both Catholic and evangelical, both traditional and contemporary, both Christocentric and universalist, both theoretical-scholarly and practical-pastoral. In sum: the quest is for a critical, ecumenical theology. In a paper read to the Symposium, Küng discussed the process by which these major shifts took place in the history of the Christian tradition. As indicated above, the study by the historian of science, Thomas Kuhn, was the catalyst for surveying shifts in theological understanding. Kuhn's book was a major challenge to the traditional self-understanding of natural science. According to Kuhn, progress in the natural sciences has not come through an orderly acquisition of knowledge which has cumulatively issued in our present body of scientific data. Much rather, progress has come in spurts, through major breakthroughs in understanding which have forced the replacement of a former model of understanding with a new model or paradigm. Küng writes, Kuhn's heretical main thesis is that radically new theories arise neither by verification nor by falsification but by the replacement - in individual cases, highly complex and protracted - of a hitherto accepted explanatory model (paradigm) by a new one. 2 © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page 4 As an example of this process, Küng cites the shift from a Ptolemaic astronomy to the Copernican view. ... The more the movements of the stars were studied and corrected in the light of the Ptolemaic system, the more material was produced to refute that system. And the same thing happened not only with the Copernican revolution but also with the Newtonian, the chemical and the Einsteinian revolutions. ... The process may be tedious, protracted and complex. And these are transitional periods in which at first only the stereotypes of the old model begin to break up. But the critical state of the traditional theory increasingly comes to light. A period of pronounced insecurity generally precedes the emergence of new theories, which in the end leads to the destruction of the paradigm. In a word, crisis is the usual condition for the rejection of a hitherto accepted paradigm. 3 Scientific progress according to Kuhn comes not through an evolutionary, cumulative process, but through scientific revolution. Confirming and developing the thesis of Thomas Kuhn in regard to systemological analysis is Stephen Toulmin, who in the preface to his basic work entitled, Human Understanding, states his central thesis as follows: ... in science and philosophy alike, an exclusive preoccupation with logical systematicity has been destructive of both historical understanding and rational criticism. Men demonstrate their rationality, not by ordering their concepts and beliefs in tidy formal structures, but by their preparedness to respond to novel situations with open minds - acknowledging the shortcomings of their formal procedures and moving beyond them.4 From Kuhn’s work in the history of science and Toulmin's study of human understanding we come to the surprising recognition that the respective scientific disciplines and philosophical movements do their model building and systematization in the wake of new insight - some breakthrough in understanding or some intuitive grasp of truth which shatters the prevailing model or paradigm, forcing upon the community (academic or social or ecclesiastical) a new way of looking at Reality. This development has been especially fruitful in the theological discussions being carried on by the Universities of Tubingen and Chicago, highlighted at the Symposium to which I referred above. Hans Küng's attempt at a periodization of theological development is an attempt to demonstrate that there are fascinating parallels between that development and development in the natural sciences. He lists five parallels: © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page 5 A. As in natural sciences, so also in the theological community, there is a “normal science” with its classical authors, textbooks and teachers, which is characterized by a cumulative growth of knowledge, by a solution of remaining problems (“puzzles”) and by resistance to everything that might result in a changing as replacement of the established paradigm. B. As in natural science, so also in the theological community, awareness of a growing crisis is the starting position for the advent of a drastic change in certain hitherto prevailing basic assumptions and eventually causes the breakthrough of a new paradigm or model of understanding. When the available rules and methods break down, they lead to a search for new ones. C. As in natural science, so also in the theological community, an older paradigm or model of understanding is replaced when a new one is available, D. As in natural science, so too in the theological community, in the acceptance or rejection of a new paradigm, not only scientific, but also extra-scientific factors are involved, so that the transition to a new model cannot be purely rationally extorted, but may be described as a conversion. E. In the theological community as in natural science, it can be predicted only with difficulty, in the midst of great controversies, whether a new paradigm is absorbed into the old, replaces the old or is shelved for a long period. But if it is accepted, innovation is consolidated as tradition. 5 Küng adds a word from Albert Einstein at this point, who said on one occasion, “Smashing prejudices is more difficult than smashing atoms.” But Küng adds, “Once they are smashed, they release forces that can perhaps move mountains.” These theses set forth by Küng he calls only provisional. They are offered for discussion and he is well aware where the critical question arises. After stating these parallels, he continues, And yet the question is thrust upon us: Does not theology, even Christian truth itself, faced by nothing but paradigm changes and new conceptions, become a victim of historical relativism which makes it impossible any longer to perceive the Christian reality and makes every paradigm equally true, equally valid? Perhaps the natural scientist is not very much concerned with this problem, but it is of the greatest consequence for the Christian theologian ... Let us therefore pose the question: Does a paradigm change involve a total break? 6 Küng's conviction is that in both science and theology there is preserved a continuity when there is a shift in paradigm. In theology he insists, We have to avoid the choice not only between an absolutist and a relativist view, but also between a radical continuity and a radical discontinuity. © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page 6 Every paradigm change shows at the same time continuity and discontinuity, rationality and irrationality, conceptual stability and conceptual change, evolutionary and revolutionary elements. 7 Further, in theology and the historical sciences much more than in the basically un-historical natural sciences, “ ... it is therefore not a question of a new invention of a tradition. It is a question of a new formulation of tradition, admittedly in the light of a new paradigm.” The problem of continuity is a more serious problem for theology because theology deals with “truth.” Kuhn as a scientist must leave alone the ultimate questions of the “whence” and the “whither” of the world process and the human drama. Theology addresses those very ultimate questions. Thus there are not only parallels between the development of natural science and theology but there are also some significant differences. Christian theology lives out of the primordial event which is its source, its norm and to which it must continually return - the event of Israel and of Jesus Christ as set forth in the Scriptures. This primordial event which has found its preeminent expression in Jesus and is attested to in Scripture is not simply a past datum to be analyzed and interpreted but is a dynamic living force which time and again breaks out - for example, in the personal crisis of a Martin Luther. As Küng expresses it, The gospel itself then - obviously always in connection with a particular development in contemporary world history - appears here as a direct cause of the theological crisis, as ground of discontinuity in theology, as impetus to the new paradigm. 8 Further, because theology is anchored to a past historical event, a new paradigm may emerge and theological upheaval may occur, but there can never be the total replacement or total suppression of the old paradigm. Thus Küng declares a revolution in Christian theology can never take place except on the basis of and ultimately because of the gospel, and never against the gospel. 9 Another difference from a paradigm shift in the natural sciences is that in theology, because of the existential nature of the “decision of faith,” the academic decision for one paradigm or another is not always distinguished from the “decision of faith;” the person for whom the Christian reality comes to clear expression in a new paradigm causing him to abandon the old paradigm may be seen as choosing against the gospel itself of which the paradigms are but structures for understanding. © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page 7 Finally, and closely connected to the foregoing observation, is the fact that when the Church and theological community reject a paradigm, ... rejection easily leads to condemnation, discussion to excommunication; gospel and theology, content of faith and outward form of faith, are identified.10 Because this is such a powerful tendency in the Christian community, when a new model of understanding is accepted, it is soon turned into tradition and tradition in turn becomes a new traditionalism. With the discussion of how knowledge has advanced in the history of science as the catalyst, Küng has thus surveyed the development of theological understanding to the present, observing both parallels and differences between the history of science and the history of theology. But his purpose is not simply information but, rather, the study is being engaged in in order to determine if there is a base consensus in Christian theology today. Are all the elements of ferment at work today in the Church pointing to a new paradigm in theology and, if so, what would such a paradigm look like? We have noted some of the essential characteristics that must be reflected in a new basic model for theology in our day. Beyond the characteristics listed, the parameters of any new paradigm must be set by two constants which provide the two poles in reference to which the Christian message must come to expression: The first constant: The present world as horizon. The second constant: The Christian message as standard. The “horizon” within which theological reflection must happen and theological formulation must occur is “our own present world of human experience.” Küng asserts: One thing should now be clear: that the reality of world, humanity, myself, is revealed in depth in its obvious ambivalence, its radical contingency and its continual change: an ongoing history of success and suffering, justice and injustice, happiness and unhappiness, salvation and disaster, sense and nonsense. Nor does this mean making the world evil, so that theologians can more easily get their God involved; it means taking stock without prejudice of what is. Theology does not create any reality, but interprets it. 11 The second constant has already been noted in our discussion of the differences between theology and the natural sciences. Küng describes it this way: If ecumenical theology wants to be Christian theology, its other pole must be the Judeo-Christian tradition and its primary norm cannot be anything except the Christian message on which this tradition is constructed as on © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page 8 its ultimate ground. That is to say, the Christian primordial and basic testimony, the gospel itself in the sense of the good news in its entirety, as recorded in the Old and New Testament Scriptures, is the basic norm of ecumenical theology. 12 These two poles or constants then form the context within which theological formulation must come to expression. If we observe the history of theology after the great awakening of the Sixteenth Century, we see how in both the Catholic and Protestant traditions there was a hardening of theological positions. The Seventeenth Century saw the development of an orthodoxy shaped by Rationalism, which froze the new insights of the Reformers into carefully defined doctrinal positions with little regard for the present horizon. In the wake of the Enlightenment of the Eighteenth Century there was an attempt to come to terms with the new understanding of both human reality and the natural world. The classic Liberalism of the Nineteenth Century was an effort to proclaim the gospel within the confines of a weltanschaung - that had no room for transcendent Reality; the gospel, the second constant, was dissolved into the first, into the horizon of this world. In sharp reaction, Karl Barth reversed the whole tide of Nineteenth Century Liberalism, loudly proclaiming a theology of the Word, pointing to the God Who is the “Wholly Other.” Because he was in a posture of such sharp reaction, the early Barth nearly obliterated the present horizon, the first constant, although he was too deeply imbued with the culture of his day wholly to lose sight of it. The present discussion comes at a time when we are able with historical distance to gain some objectivity as we face the task before us. The theology of the future must never again lose sight of either constant. Our task is to find an expression of the Gospel which is faithful to the Word and honest with the world. If such an understanding of theology's task meets with anything like a consensus, then we may be poised for a fruitful period of theological activity. SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN A PLURALISTIC AGE Under the auspices of the Program for Studies in Religion at the University of Michigan, Hans Küng led a seminar during the Fall Term of 1983 on the subject of “Paradigm Change in Theology.” It was a cross-discipline seminar including students and professors from the schools of the arts and literature, law, and medicine. One of the papers studied was written by Professor David Tracy of the university of Chicago Divinity School, a Catholic scholar who has been a major participant in the discussion of paradigm shift in the symposium discussed above. Tracy has grappled with the matter of theological methodology. In his first book Blessed Rage for Order, published in 1979, he identified five theological models: Orthodox, Liberal, Neo-Orthodox, Radical, and a Revisionist model. These five © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page 9 models are the result of a different schematization than that followed by Küng, cited above, but there is great similarity of view as to the models operative in the present period. Tracy's Revisionist model, which he will endeavor to build, is his attempt at finding a new paradigm. It is his contention that a Revisionist model must be constructed which will enable the ecumenical Church to proclaim a message that will make the claim of truth recognizable in a pluralistic age. The Revisionist model is a critical correlation of the two principle sources for theology, the two constants mentioned above, cited by Küng: Christian texts and common human experience and language. Tracy sets forth the following theses: The Principle Method of Investigation of the Source, “Common Human Experience and Language,” Can Be Described as a Phenomenology of the “Religious Dimension” Present in Everyday and Scientific Experience and Language.” 13 The Principle Method of Investigation of the Source “The Christian Tradition” Can Be Described as a Historical and Hermeneutical Investigation of Classical Christian Texts. 14 Having set the agenda for his endeavor, Tracy moved on in his next work, The Analogical Imagination, to set forth the method and execute it in terms of his own commitment to the Catholic Christian Tradition. The Preface announces, “In a culture of pluralism must each religious tradition finally either dissolve into some lowest common denominator or accept a marginal existence as one interesting but purely private option?” Tracy is not willing to accept either option. A theological strategy must be found that can articulate the genuine claims of religion to truth. This is the task he sets for himself: a responsible affirmation of pluralism through the discovery of public criteria by which truth can be affirmed. Theology must develop public criteria of truth and discourse because it deals with the fundamental questions of existence and because it speaks of God. Recognizing that the theologian addresses three arenas, Society, Academy and Church, Tracy insists that the criteria of publicness applies in all three areas. Theology is the generic name for three disciplines: fundamental, systematic and practical theologies. Publicness is demanded of each. The primary focus of fundamental theology is the Academy, of systematic theology, the Church and of practical theology, Society. They differ not only in their primary reference group, but also in terms of their modes of argument, ethical stance, religious stance and in terms of expressing claims to meaning and truth. On the way to a responsible pluralism all conversation partners must agree to certain basic rules for the discussion. Two constants are present: the interpretation of a religious tradition and the interpretation of the religious dimension of the contemporary situation from which and to which the theologian speaks. In regard to the first, it is incumbent upon the theologian to make explicit her/his general method of interpretation, to develop “criteria of appropriateness” © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page10 whereby specific interpretations of the tradition may be judged by the wider theological community. In regard to the interpretation of the contemporary situation there must be an analysis of the “religious” questions, the question of the meaning of human existence in the present situation. There are major differences as well. Tracy addresses the question as to what constitutes a public claim to truth in the three sub-disciplines of theology. Fundamental theology's defining characteristic is ... a reasoned insistence on employing the approach and methods of some established academic discipline to explicate and adjudicate the truth claims of the interpreted religious tradition and the truth claims of the contemporary situation. 15 Various models are available, but whichever model is chosen fundamental questions and answers are articulated in such a way that any attentive, intelligent, reasonable and responsible person can understand and judge them in keeping with fully public criteria for argument. Personal faith may not enter the argument for the truth claims in fundamental theology. SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY AS A HERMENEUTICAL TASK The systematic theologian's major task is the reinterpretation of the tradition for the present situation. Where the fundamental theologian will relate the reality of God to our fundamental trust in existence (our common faith), the confessional systematic theologian will relate that reality to their arguments for a distinctively Christian understanding of faith. Christian theology ... consists in explicating in public terms and in accordance with the demands of its own primary confessions, the full meaning and truth of the original “illuminating event” ... which occasioned and continues to inform its understanding of all reality. 16 Thus the task of the systematic theologian is a hermeneutical task. The “illuminating event” Tracy calls a religious classic. As in a classic work of art, the religious classic contains the possibility of ever-new “disclosures.” Classics Tracy defines as texts, events, images, persons, rituals and symbols that are assumed to disclose permanent possibilities of meaning and truth. The hermeneutical theologian seeks to articulate the truth-disclosure of the reality of God embedded in the tradition for the contemporary situation. If the systematic theologian speaks out of a particular tradition, is systematic theology public discourse? Can the claim of Truth be made for theological © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page11 statements arising out of a particular tradition? Tracy believes it can if systematic theology is understood as a hermeneutical task. It is Tracy's contention that systematic theology is hermeneutical. This means that systematic theology's task is to interpret, mediate and translate the meaning and truth of the tradition. Where this is not the case, where the notion of authority shifts from a truth disclosed to mind and heart to an external norm for the obedient will, theologians can no longer interpret and translate the tradition but “only repeat the shop-worn conclusions of the tradition.” Eventually, the central, classical symbols and doctrines of the tradition become mere “fundamentals” to be externally accepted and endlessly repeated.17 Tracy points to the contrast of a hermeneutical theology: The heart of any hermeneutical position is the recognition that all interpretation is a mediation of past and present, a translation carried on within the effective history of a tradition to retrieve its sometimes strange, sometimes familiar meanings. 18 How is this done? Recognizing that one begins within a tradition which has shaped one, that one is socialized, acculturated and thus without the possibility of finding some position “above” one's own historicity, ... the route to liberation from the negative realities of a tradition is not to declare the existence of an autonomy that is literally unreal but to enter into a disciplined and responsive conversation with the subject matter the responses and, above all, the fundamental questions, of the traditions.19 Tracy refers to Hans-Georg Gadamer's model of conversation as a model for understanding the dialogue with the tradition. Real conversation occurs only when the participants allow the question, the subject matter, to assume primacy. It occurs only when our usual fears about our own self-image die. ... That fear (dies only because we are carried along, and sometimes away, by the subject matter itself into the rare event or happening named “thinking” and “understanding.” For understanding happens; it occurs not as the pure result of personal achievement but in the back-and-forth movement of the conversation itself. The word “hermeneutical” best describes this realized experience of understanding in conversation. For every event of understanding, in order to produce a new interpretation, mediates between our past experience © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page12 and the understanding embodied in our linguistic tradition and the present event of understanding occasioned by a fidelity to the logic of the question in the back-and-forth movement of the conversation.20 Using the model of conversation Tracy shows how one enters into the history of the illuminating event. When interpreting a classic one recognizes its “excess of meaning” demands constant interpretation and is at the same time timeless – ... a certain kind of timelessness - namely the timeliness of a classic expression radically rooted in its own historical time and calling to my own historicity. That is, the classical text is not in some timeless moment which needs mere repetition. Rather its kind of timelessness as permanent timeliness is the only one proper to any expression of the finite, temporal, historical beings we are. ... The classic text's fate is that only its constant reinterpretation by later finite, historical, temporal beings who will risk asking its questions and listening, critically and tactfully, to its responses can actualize the event of understanding beyond its present fixation in a text.21 To be understood, a classic cannot be repeated; it must be interpreted. Thus Tracy claims, All contemporary systematic theology can be understood as fundamentally hermeneutical. This position implies that systematic theologians, by definition, will understand themselves as radically finite and historical thinkers who have risked a trust in a particular religious tradition. They seek, therefore, to retrieve, interpret, translate, mediate the resources ... of the classic events of understanding of those fundamental religious questions embedded in the classic events, images, persons, rituals, texts and symbols of a tradition.22 At the heart of Tracy's argument is the conviction that “classics exist;” they exist in all domains of human endeavor. He does not merely assert that they exist but builds a carefully argued case for their existence and specifically for the existence of the religious classic. The task of the systematic theologian is to interpret religious classics. Systematic theology intends to provide an interpretation, a retrieval (including a retrieval through critique and suspicion) and always, therefore, a new application of a particular religious tradition's selfunderstanding for the current horizon of the community. 23 Applying this understanding of systematic theology's task to the specific task of the Christian thinker, Tracy declares, In Christian systematics, that self-understanding is itself further © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page13 grounded in the particular events and persons of Jewish and Christian history: decisively grounded, for the Christian, in God's own self-manifestation as my God in this classic event and person, Jesus Christ. 24 SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY AS PUBLIC DISCOURSE But now the crux of the matter is reached: how does the systematic theologian address the wider public with discussion characterized by “publicness” thus stopping the retreat of Christian faith into the sphere of privateness and yet remain faithful to ... the radical particularity of the relationship of that gift's disclosure to the particular events of God's action in ancient Israel, in Jesus of Nazareth, in the history of the Christian Church? 25 Acknowledging the dilemma, Tracy believes it can be overcome. The means of overcoming the dilemma is the recognition of the public nature of the classic: ... grounded in some realized experience of a claim to attention, unfolding as cognitively disclosive of both meaning and truth and ethically transformative of personal, social and historical life. 26 Tracy therefore contends, Whenever any systematic theologian produces a classic interpretation of a particular classic religious tradition (as both Barth and Rahner have,) then that new expression should be accorded a public status in the culture. Every classic ... is a text, event, image, person or symbol which unites particularity of origin and expression with a disclosure of meaning and truth available, in principle, to all human beings. 27 And again, Any person's intensification of particularity via a struggle with the fundamental questions of existence in a particular tradition, if that struggle is somehow united to the logos of appropriate expression, will yield a form of authentically sharable public discourse. 28 Thus Tracy argues, classics exist, religious classics exist, and classic status in any field including the religious accords a text, work of art, symbol or other form of expression public status. Religious classics are © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page14 ... expressions from a particular tradition that have found the right mode of expression to become public for all intelligent, reasonable and responsible persons. 29 At the heart of the Christian tradition the classic expression is found in the event of God's self-disclosure in Jesus Christ. Tracy claims, One need not be a believer in Christianity to accord it (and thereby its central, paradigmatic, classic event) authentically religious status: a manifestation from the whole by the power of the whole. 30 Christology is the attempt to respond through some interpretation to the event of Jesus Christ in one's own situation. ... The Christian interpreter of this classic event recognizes in some present experience of the event - more precisely, in the claim disclosed in that event (paradigmatically in experiencing that event in manifestation and proclamation) as an event from God and by God's power. To speak religiously and theologically of the Christ event is ultimately to speak of an event from God. 31 The Jesus remembered by the tradition is experienced in the present mediated through the word of proclamation and sacramental action. Jesus remembered as the Christ is the experience of the presence of God's own self. The second part of Tracy's work entails the actual execution of the method here described. His is the attempt of a systematic theologian engaging in the hermeneutical task of mediating past and present so that the event of Jesus Christ remembered in the tradition comes to expression again in the present in a manner that affords the possibility of public discussion with all persons of good will who will engage in reasonable conversation. In Tracy's Revisionist model we find the essential characteristics set forth by Küng for a new paradigm in theology determined by a critical correlation of the present horizon and the biblical texts. Herein lies the present challenge to Reformed theology. Through the impact of biblical studies and the explosion of knowledge across the whole spectrum of human inquiry we have been alerted to the danger of confessionalism and the imperative to take seriously the horizon of contemporary experience. The opportunity is ours to realize the ideal of the Reformation. The Church of the Sixteenth Century was re-formed according to the Word of God and at its best it recognized that it must always be being re-formed. The Reformed branch of the Protestant Reformation expressed itself in many Confessional statements and refused to reduce them all to one credal formulation. The Lutheran branch sought to bring the various strands of its confessional position into a unifying © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page15 statement with the Formula of Concord which then served as the norm of right doctrine. The Reformed churches feared that such a statement of unity might impede the continuing efforts to confess the faith in each new historical situation and thus determined to continue to confess its faith in ever-new credal formulations as the times demanded. It goes without saying that the ideal was soon abandoned. The high Calvinism of the Seventeenth Century with its rationalism and careful scholastic definitions was a complete break with the best insights of the early Reformers. Not only in the Reformed tradition but Protestantism generally has been plagued with the fossilizing of doctrinal formulation, the absolutizing of historically conditioned creeds and a defensive posture which has ill prepared it to meet the explosion of knowledge in the sciences, natural and social. Failing to act on its own best insight that the Church needs constant reformation of its understanding of the Faith, Reformed Orthodoxy has been severely threatened by the rise of historical thinking which is so characteristic of the modern period. Of course, the Church can continue to close its mind to the knowledge and insight that streams forth in a mighty torrent as we continue to unlock the secrets of the cosmos and, with a mindset of an earlier Century and a defensive posture, it can ward off the demands for reformation. In so doing it will lock the faithful into a system of ideas and structure of belief that become increasingly out of touch with their experience of the world, and it will continue to offend its brightest and most sensitive spirits who will finally be forced out when they can no longer deny the compelling truth that calls for a new understanding of the Faith. This is not a new problem for the Church. It is new only in the rapidity of breakthroughs on all frontiers of knowledge and in the rapid spread of that knowledge that is now possible in the Electronic Age which is creating the “Information Society.” But a Church confident of the Truth as it has come to expression in Jesus Christ will find the present day an exciting day in which to identify the questions and find the appropriate mode in which to witness to the self-disclosure of the God in the face of Jesus Christ. ENDNOTES 1 Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. (Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1962), p. 175. 2 Hans Küng, Does God Exist? (New York: Doubleday and Company, 1980), p. 107. 3 Ibid., p. 108. 4 Stephen Toulmin, Human Understanding. (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1972), p. vii. 5 Hans Küng, “Paradigm Change in Theology,” unpublished paper read at the Symposium. 6 Ibid., p. 17. © Grand Valley State University �Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Richard A. Rhem Page16 7 Ibid., p. 17. p. 20. 9 Ibid., p. 21. 10Ibid., p. 21. 11 Ibid., p. 25. 12 Ibid., p. 26. 13 David Tracy, Blessed Rage For Order. (New York: Seabury Press, 1979),p. 47. 14 Ibid., p. 49. 15 David Tracy, The Analogical Imagination. (New York, New York: Crossroad, 1981), p. 62. 16Ibid., p. 65, 66. 17Ibid., p. 99. 18Ibid. 19 Ibid., p. 100. 20Ibid., p. 101. 21Ibid., p. 102. 22Ibid., p. 104. 23 Ibid., p. 131. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid., p. 132. 26 Ibid. 27Ibid., p. 132F, 133. 28Ibid.,p. 134. 29Ibid.,p. 233. 30Ibid.,p. 234. 31Ibid. 8Ibid., SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Kuhn, Thomas, The Structure of Scientific Revolution. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1962. Küng, Hans, Does God Exist?. New York: Doubleday and Company, 1980. Küng, Hans, “Paradigm Change in Theology,” unpublished paper at Symposium, University of Michigan, 1983. Toulmin, Stephen, Human Understanding. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1972. Tracy, David, Blessed Rage For Order. New York: Seabury Press, 1979, Tracy, David, The Analogical Imagination. New York, New York: Crossroad, 1981. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. References Hans Küng. Does God Exist?, 1980, "Paradigm Change in Theology,", 1983, David Tracy. Blessed Rage for Order, 1979, The Analogical Imagination, 1981. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19860301 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-03-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Theological Method: The Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The The Reformed Review a journal of the seminaries of the Reformed Church in America Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 1, 1986 entitled "Theological Method: The Search for a New Paradigm in a Pluralistic Age", it appeared in The Reformed Review, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 242-254. Tags: Preaching, Theology, History of Christian Tradition, Pluralism, Ecumenical, Historical Thinking. Scripture references: Hans Küng. Does God Exist?, 1980, "Paradigm Change in Theology,", 1983, David Tracy. Blessed Rage for Order, 1979, The Analogical Imagination, 1981. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Ecumenical Historical Thinking History of Christian Tradition Pluralism Preaching Theology https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2cb8bee2634fdd0c2a082b9b8b13221d.pdf 6b3ea8330abee2529dccac62bfefefcd PDF Text Text The Ground of Hope Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in The Church Herald The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America December 20, 1985, pp. 6-7 Our hope for the future is grounded in what God has done in the past We have kept Advent, the time of waiting, of expectation. We have rehearsed faith's vision in the midst of the puzzle of history. In this time between the times we live by the vision, trusting that the King will come and we will understand. The King will surely come; that is faith's vision, a vision grounded in the fact that the King has come. If Advent is the time of expectation, Christmas is the time of fulfillment. Into the puzzle of our history a child was born, and in that fully human existence a light penetrated our darkness, and the darkness has never overcome it. Our hope for the future is grounded in what God has done in the past. To celebrate Christmas is to discover the ground of our hope as we grope through the darkness which is the puzzle of history. The King who is coming is the King who has come. We are a people of hope, a hope grounded in the past enabling us already to appropriate the future that still lies before us, living in the assurance of things hoped for. Christian hope is hope in God. Stating what may seem obvious is an attempt to distinguish the Christian hope from today's cheapened hope, a worldly term for wishful thinking regarding a thousand matters from the ridiculous to the sublime: Will you win the game? I hope so. Will you have more sales in 1986 than in 1985? I hope so. Will your health improve? I hope so. Hope has become a catch-all word for all sorts of situations and conditions that we would like to see happen or become realized. Hope in this sense refers to an uncertain outcome. We do not know; we cannot tell; we “hope so.” That is not Christian hope. Christian hope is hope in God. It is certain. © Grand Valley State University   �The Ground of Hope Richard A. Rhem Page 2   There is another distinction. We use hope in its cheapened sense to express our wish that something happens but about which we are uncertain. We also are then using it to refer to a favorable outcome which lies within our capacity to bring about: Will you win the game? I hope so—but the outcome is uncertain. Yet, I do have it in my capacity to win the game if I play well, if I practice and am ready, if I do not make the big mistake. Will you have more sales in 1986 than 1985? I hope so—but I am not certain. Yet it is very possible, if I work hard; if I make sufficient calls; if production is there. Will your health improve? I hope so—but I cannot be sure. We enter a gray area because my health is not wholly within my power. Yet, if I eat properly, get proper rest, exercise, and avoid stress, I can certainly influence the outcome. Thus, in the cheapened sense of hope in contemporary usage, hope refers to that which is uncertain, but is within my power to effect. Biblical hope is something quite other. Biblical hope is in God; it is the present certainty of what will be a future possession; it is certain of that which is impossible in terms of human capacity. As far as the quality of certainty is concerned, I simply refer you to the testimony of Scripture. Biblical religion is a religion of certainty. I am not speaking now of dogmatism. Surely there has been far too much dogmatism and far too many dogmatic people in the history of the church. There is a lust for certainty in the human heart and certainty about things that remain veiled in mystery. The Bible is no answer book for all the questions of the less than serious curious ones. Too many religious people “know” too much. The Bible is, however, a book of certainty about the matters of ultimate concern: That God is. That God is gracious. That God's kingdom will fully come. Biblical religion in those ultimate matters is serious and certain. It is hope-full, not “hope so.” It is the present certainty of what will be a future possession. Further, it is certain of what is impossible in terms of human capacity. Let me raise some questions to demonstrate that biblical hope is fastened on that which lies beyond human capacity to effect. Will there be a new creation as spoken of by Isaiah and in the Revelation to John? Our Advent affirmation was yes. Will it come through human planning and ingenuity? Will it come through human goodwill and harmony? Will some president, king, or dictator arise who will effect it? Will it come through the progressive education of the race, some evolutionary development? Only the naive, the simple, the one ignorant of the human story could answer affirmatively or even “I hope so.” Will there be life after life? The biblical faith says yes. Will it come through medical research and the development of new technology? Will death be defeated by future breakthroughs in science? I need not go on. What all that conjured up is not only scarcely thinkable, it is not desirable. It is apparent that biblical hope is certitude about a future reality which © Grand Valley State University �The Ground of Hope Richard A. Rhem Page 3   lies beyond human capacity to achieve. Hope reaches beyond what is possible. Hope claims a future that can come only as the result of an act of God. Living in hope means living in the tension between now and then. There is a great difference between present experience and the future for which we hope. This gap between the vision and reality, between the ideal and the real, becomes understandable in terms of the hope of which Scripture teaches. That hope is grounded in the Christmas event. Life is difficult. Human experience is thoroughly laced with suffering. Many have had their faith in God shattered on the rocks of human suffering and evil in the world. Such people have never been taught the true biblical faith because biblical faith will not be eviscerated by suffering but is rather the means for understanding precisely the hard reality of human experience. Our life is caught in the tension. The darkness is not denied, but the darkness is not ultimate; the Light has come and the light shines in our darkness. Therefore we endure; we live in hope. Hope is grounded in the faithfulness of God which came to expression at Christmas. God has acted. Hope has been vindicated. God has visited his people; the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. We have seen the heart of God in the face of Jesus. Generations waited through long centuries and then—Mary had a baby. Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise and in him redemption was accomplished—we have been saved. There is a history to look back upon and a dramatic intervention in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to remember and in which to trust. God did move in faithfulness to his promises, and that move at history’s midpoint proved the ground of a new promise, a new expectation, a new hope. God's redemptive plan has touched down. He has connected with our history. He has shown himself faithful in our past. Therefore our hope is grounded in history and we have an anchor to which to hold as we wait in expectation. As we celebrate another Christmas we acknowledge that we see only puzzling reflections in a mirror, but our hope is renewed as we remember his coming and we wait in hope for the day we will see him face to face. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19851220 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-12-20 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource The Ground of Hope Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Church School Herald Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 20, 1985 entitled "The Ground of Hope", it appeared in The Church Herald, pp. 6-7. Tags: Advent, Hope, God of Grace, Faithful. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Advent Faithful God of Grace Hope https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/53000072d1a70f81f792fb2453c2a205.pdf 2e81236d2593aff2d86951c2fdd44882 PDF Text Text The Vision of Faith Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in The Church Herald The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America December 6, 1985, pp. 6-7 The Advent season calls to our consciousness the end of history; to the realization that history has an end; that our personal history as well as the history of the world and humanity are moving toward a terminus, a final moment. If we can resist the insistence of the commercial world that the Christmas season begins before Thanksgiving and make space and time for the keeping of Advent, we will find rich resources for reflection on the biblical themes of the end of history. There is great curiosity about the “Last Things” and all too little calm and reasoned discussion about these matters of faith. Advent, properly kept, provides the opportunity to be reminded that the Christ who came is the Christ who is coming and to treat those questions which continue to live in the human mind and heart: What is the point of it all, this human drama? Where is it all going— whither the whole? What happens at death? What about heaven and hell, judgment and salvation? What do you mean by eternal life? In the autumn of 1983 I was involved in a seminar at the University of Michigan with Professor Hans Küng, who gave a series of lectures entitled “Eternal Life?” Standing in the center of that great secular institution of learning where there is but a token recognition of the whole sphere of religion, he spoke without apology on the themes of death, life after death, hell, heaven, and the kingdom of God. It was a fascinating experience to witness, not only because of the great depth of his discussion, but because there in the sophistication of this great university there were hundreds of bright young people eager to learn about life’s ultimate issue. This is simple witness to the fact that we can never be content to be born, to live out our days, and to die without asking why, whence, whither. God has put eternity into our hearts. When life has been experienced with its full spectrum of activities the question arises, “Is this all there is?” The biblical faith answers, “No, there is much more.” Reflecting the biblical teaching, Küng concluded his lectures © Grand Valley State University   �The Vision of Faith Richard A. Rhem Page 2   after a careful and thorough examination of the questions from medical, religious, and philosophical perspectives with this affirmation of faith: To believe in an eternal life means—in reasonable trust, in enlightened faith, in tried and tested hope—to rely on the fact that I shall one day be fully understood, freed from guilt and definitively accepted and can be myself without fear; that my impenetrable and ambivalent existence, like the profoundly discordant history of humanity as a whole, will one day become finally transparent and the question of the meaning of history one day be finally answered. That is a well-packed statement. It says in capsule form what Advent faith teaches. Advent means “coming.” Advent means Jesus is coming; God's kingdom is coming; consummation is coming. Test Küng's statement by this most familiar word from St. Paul. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide... (1 Cor. 13:12-13). These are familiar words coming at the end of Paul's “hymn of love.” We rarely recognize the fascinating future reference of his declaration, but in this great statement we find acknowledged both the puzzle that is our history and the vision of our Christian faith. Let these words of the apostle provide our Advent reflection as we realize anew that God calls us to live trusting that he will fulfill his promises and bring his kingdom to its consummation. We must acknowledge the ambiguity of our present state. Is it not our common experience that a veil of mystery hangs over our lives and over history as a whole? It is impossible from an observation of the course of history to find history's meaning, to detect purpose, direction, and goal. We are caught up in the stream of history itself; we swim in the stream. We have no privileged position above history from which to survey it. There are those who deny any detectable meaning. H. A. L. Fisher, in his History of Europe, writes: One intellectual excitement, however, has been denied to me. Men wiser and more learned than I have discovered in history a plot, a rhythm, a predetermined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me. I can see only one emergency following another, as wave follows upon wave, only one great fact with respect to which, since it is unique, there can be no generalizations, only one safe rule for the historian: that he should recognize in the development of human destinies the play of the contingent and the unforeseen. © Grand Valley State University �The Vision of Faith Richard A. Rhem Page 3   That is an excellent statement of the case by an eminent historian. From the study of history itself the conclusion is that it is “the development of the contingent and the unforeseen.” St. Paul admitted the same. If history itself be our focus or, more narrowly, the data of our personal histories, then, “we see in a mirror dimly.” For Paul, however, it is not only the data of history with which we have to do, but also the revelation of God in the history of Israel and in Jesus. Thus we bring something to history: the knowledge of the revelation of God. That revelation, which found its supreme expression in Jesus, embraced by faith becomes the interpretative principle by which we understand history. There is more to come. Paul went on to write: “Then [we shall see] face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been understood fully.” The meaning of history will be accessible to us only from history’s end. Paul believed that just as there was a beginning, so there will be an end. He who spoke and brought all things into being will speak yet again, and time will be no more. As another Advent season comes around, we realize anew that we are faced with a choice, a decision: Will we live by faith in God's promise or not? To do so is a decision, not a conclusion at the end of rational argument. Trust is necessary; not irrational trust but reasonable trust, trust as a decision of the whole person. Fundamental trust will live in the assurance of a gracious purpose threading its way through the confusing patterns of history. Such trust is a gift. Its foundation is laid in earliest infancy. We are from the beginning being pointed toward trust or mistrust. As an adult it is only through a significant emotional experience that one can move from mistrust to trust. An encounter with Jesus is the catalyst for a life lived in trust. Such trust is confirmed in experience; yet it always remains trust, an experience beyond verification in the scientific sense of verification. Mistrust is an option. It is the consistent position of atheism. The Nobel Prizewinning biologist, Jacques Monod, an atheist, maintains: If he accepts this (negative) message in its full significance, man must at last wake out of his millenary dream and discover his total solitude, his fundamental isolation. He must realize that, like a gypsy, he lives on the boundary of an alien world; a world that is deaf to his music, and as indifferent to his hopes as it is to his sufferings or his crimes (Chance and Necessity, p. 160). That is an excellent statement representing clear, concise thinking. As an atheist, Monod is consistent. If there be no God, then there is no future resolution of © Grand Valley State University �The Vision of Faith Richard A. Rhem Page 4   history's confusion, no future righting of wrong, no future realization of our hopes, dreams, and longing. If this be an impersonal universe with no heart, no mind at the center, no purpose at the beginning, and no consummation at the end, then it is true the universe is deaf to our music, indifferent to our hopes, our sufferings, our crimes. If, on the other hand, we bring trust to history’s puzzling data, then we live in the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Finally, we must choose. The vision of faith sees beyond history’s puzzle to the promise of his coming, who came to a people who had for centuries cried, “How long, O Lord, how long?” He has come. His promise is he will come again, scattering the darkness, revealing the eternal purposes of God which now are hidden from clear view. To keep Advent is to keep faith in the promises of God. The mystery will be removed and we will understand. Faith will be vindicated as the king comes and the kingdom comes to consummation. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19851206 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-12-06 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource The Vision of Faith Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Church School Herald Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 6, 1985 entitled "The Vision of Faith", it appeared in The Church Herald, Dec., 1985, pp. 6-7. Tags: Advent, Faith, Eschatology, Mystery, Love, Fundamental Trust. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Advent Eschatology Faith Fundamental Trust Love Mystery https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/61e6446eb2ee672041c2ab0a7bc95d50.pdf c8d723ce34bba72496b21fc3723af4fc PDF Text Text   Preaching by Fred B. Craddock (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1985) Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Publication of Review Unknown Reading this volume, one knows immediately that the writer is an excellent communicator who has a thorough knowledge and expansive experience of that about which he writes. Fred B. Craddock is Professor of Preaching and New Testament at Emory University's Candler School of Theology. This happy combination of expertise becomes evident as he demonstrates a serious commitment to biblical preaching. The book is highly readable, written in clear and vivid style, well organized and amply illustrated with biblical examples of the points under discussion as well as with life situations with which the preacher is familiar. Craddock's purpose is to present a textbook in preaching. He aims this work at both the seminary classroom where the craft of preaching is being learned and at the practicing preacher who needs a refresher course as an aid to reflect on the preaching task in which he/she is engaged. He successfully hits both targets. The book is divided into three parts: Preaching: I. An Overview, II. Having Something to Say, and III. Shaping the Message Into a Sermon. In the first part, Craddock states his assumptions, his understanding of the task, his theology of preaching. One senses the seriousness with which he conceives preaching in the Church. Although one finds awareness of the traditional classification of sermons, Craddock takes a fresh and refreshing approach. The traditional categories of exegetical, textual, expository, thematic and topical have had value in homiletical pedagogy, but in these pages such tags will receive only minimal attention. However, maximum attention will be devoted to the persistent and repeated questions, Does the sermon say and do what the biblical text says and does? (p. 28) © Grand Valley State University   �Fred B. Craddock, Preaching, Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Part II, “Having Something to Say,” is the heart of the book with an especially fine discussion of the hermeneutical process by which the gap between the ancient text and the contemporary situation is bridged. The author places great stress on the necessity of knowing both the listener and the text because preaching is the interpretation of the biblical word to persons in a concrete context. This is a strong section which every practicing preacher ought to return to regularly as a check on performance. The third section deals with the shaping of the message, now that one has discovered the message of the text. This is a practical guide, helpful in determining how to put together and present the message won through serious wrestling with the text. Craddock stresses the “orality” of the event of preaching. He points out that much of the educational process today is silent. From grade school through college, students listen to instructors, read, write, take notes, write term papers, sit for exams, and graduate. Many students with excellent records enter seminary with sixteen years of silent education, now preparing for a vocation that will demand oral presentations every week for the remainder of their lives. (p. 21) Craddock asserts that the goal is to preach, and writing is a servant, nothing more, nothing less, of that goal. (p. 190) Again, he maintains, In textuality there is more often an overload of information while orality tends to adjust quantity to the brevity and fragility of the communicative moment. (p. 190) Craddock believes strongly in preaching as a God-ordained task but reminds the preacher of its “provisional nature.” The minister never says, “This is the way God will work through preaching,” but rather he or she says, “This is the way I work because of my understanding of the way God works.” (p. 65) A final word from Craddock is worth the price of the book: When preparing sermons, if preachers would write “So what?” at the top of the page, many little promotional talks or clever word games on “Salt Shakers and Light Bulbs” would quietly slip off the desk and hide in the wastebasket. (p. 49) © Grand Valley State University �Fred B. Craddock, Preaching, Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Page 3   This is an excellent work to be read, digested and returned to often by the one whose task it is regularly to preach. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19850101 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-01-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Preaching Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Book Review created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 1, 1985 entitled "Preaching", on the book Preaching, written by Fred B. Craddock, it appeared in Perspectives, Dec. 1986, p. 15. Tags: Preaching, Scripture, Meaning. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Meaning Preaching Scripture https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a25b4beabe4a88ee7abdaa83888a8030.pdf 621082e18e9ee27ce2c90176e9f901cb PDF Text Text   The Faith of the Church: A Reformed Perspective on Its Historical Development, By M. Eugene Osterhaven (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1982) Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Publication of Review Unknown With the publication of The Faith of the Church, Professor M. Eugene Osterhaven has given the Church and a generation of his students to whom he dedicates the work a lucid and concise manual of Christian theology in which he has immersed himself and which he has taught in a long and fruitful teaching ministry. His students will not fail to recognize their professor in the discussion of the Faith as it is here presented in its historical development from a Reformed perspective. Osterhaven defines theology as “the deliberate and careful consideration of the Christian faith.” Convinced of the necessity of theological reflection on the Faith of the Church, Osterhaven finds the norm of theology in the Scripture and its method in listening to the record of God's self-disclosure found therein. Systematizing is a necessary activity of the human mind which “seeks to relate whatever material is given it into an intelligible pattern” (p. 6), but theological reflection must not be understood as barren intellectualism, for the faith of the Church “comes out of the experience of God's people struggling to hear his Word in the context of life.” (p. 7) Following a discussion of method and approach, Professor Osterhaven deals with Christian doctrines in the order of their historical development beginning with “the Faith of Israel.” He deals with the doctrines of God, Jesus Christ, Scripture, Man, Sin and Grace, Hope and History, and Atonement. Then, reflecting his method of treating doctrine in its historical development, Osterhaven deals with the Reformation (“The Recovery of the Gospel”) and goes on to treat Justification by Faith, the Church and the Sacraments, giving an excellent treatment of the thinking of Luther and Calvin on these subjects. Chapters 13, 14 and 15 constitute an interesting and helpful discussion, which is not common to manuals of Christian doctrine. Osterhaven discusses Luther’s conception of “The Freedom of a Christian;” what he maintains is the key to Calvin's theology, “Order and the Holy Spirit;” and, “Experiential Christianity,” a © Grand Valley State University   �Eugene Osterhaven, Faith of the Church, Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Page 2   discussion of religious experience as it grew out of the Reformation and found expression in both the mysticism and activism of Dutch Pietism and Puritanism. Chapter 16 deals with “Eschatology: The Kingdom, The Spirit, and The End.” Osterhaven touched Eschatology earlier (Chapter 7) when discussing the thought of Augustine but he takes it up here again to acknowledge the theological development of the twentieth century in the face of the crisis of meaning brought on by the cataclysms of history which have been a part of our experience. Brief reference is made to Barth, Cullmann, and a more extended discussion of VanRuler and Pannenberg concerning the place of history in the design of God. Professor Osterhaven concludes this study with a chapter on “The Relevance of The Faith,” “to focus on the relevance in such a world of Christian theology and the faith of the Church” (p. 213). The author’s personal conviction is clear. There is only one remedy for this world’s ills: God himself in the person of Christ, God-become-flesh, who has effected redemption and opened the way to reconciliation and blessing. That faith, the message of salvation proclaimed by the apostles, and the theology which studies and articulates it are as relevant today as ever. (p. 213) Stressing the need for Christian foundations and understanding well theology's critical function – “...reflection on anything and everything from the point of view of the biblical revelation” (p. 217) – as well as theology’s universal nature, Professor Osterhaven calls the Church to its task so to articulate the Faith that it will “make possible the development of a true humanism.” (221f) Citing Pascal, Osterhaven closes with the strong conviction that the true humanism is “a view of man which sees him, though full of contradictions, as a creature made by and meant for God.” (p. 223) In being guided through the historical developments of the Faith of the Church, one is immediately impressed with the author's thorough knowledge and understanding of the material presented. This is no superficial survey of Christian doctrine, but rather a concise summary of the main lines of the faith made possible only by a life-long acquaintance with the material as well as a serious commitment to the truth of the Faith confirmed in deep Christian experience. The Christian Faith here portrayed is the classic Reformed understanding. If any criticism is to be offered, it is not for what is presented but for what is not acknowledged; there is little cognizance taken of the seriousness of the criticism of the Faith from within the Church through the sifting of the foundations by the critical biblical studies of the last two hundred years and from without the Church through the development of Post-Enlightenment thought, both philosophical and theological, and the growth of secularism. © Grand Valley State University �Eugene Osterhaven, Faith of the Church, Book Review by Richard A. Rhem Page 3   The author calls us to the critique of modern culture and declares the relevance of the Faith for our contemporary situation. The Faith here presented provides the foundation for the task. One misses the wrenching that is involved in testing the faith by the fires of modern criticism whose seriousness does not come to expression. It remains for us to take the Christian foundations here so lucidly set forth and translate them into the language of contemporary culture that the ancient answers may continue to sound forth, demonstrating the relevance of which the author has no doubt. This is an excellent study which will be useful to the whole Church. It is a fitting capstone to a long and effective teaching career and the strongest confirmation of its truth is the life of the author, the life of a Christian man, deeply loved and deeply respected by all who have had the privilege of sitting at his feet and being shaped by his faith and life. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19820101 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982-01-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource The Faith of the Church: A Reformed Perspective on Its Historical Development Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Church School Herald Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Book Review created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 1, 1982 entitled "The Faith of the Church: A Reformed Perspective on Its Historical Development", on the book The Faith of the Church: A Reformed Perspective on Its Historical Development, written by Eugene Osterhaven, it appeared in Church Herald. Tags: Faith, Church, Reformed, Theology. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Church Faith Reformed Theology https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c98ed1ba14d80c16501702112864e9b8.pdf 5e8f57b3387a0f033e828d5486f103ce PDF Text Text All in the Family Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in The Church Herald The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America October 17, 1975, pp. 14-15, 18 I remember how it used to be at Grandma's. The whole family was there—aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws. They were all there one time or another. Some of the clan came after the morning service for coffee while the kids were in Sunday school. Others made their weekly pilgrimage to the five-acre celery farm on Sunday afternoon. A few stopped after the evening service. (It made me a little jealous that some of my cousins got to stay with Grandma during that evening service. She peeled apples and cut them up into quarters. Sometimes she could peel a whole apple without lifting the knife or breaking the long ribbon of red peeling.) Grandma was always at the center of things. Grandpa was off to the side a bit in his favorite chair, pipe stand at hand and several cans of Prince Albert nearby. The air was tinged with blue because he alternated between pipe and cigar, and the cigar was finally deposited in the bowl of the pipe to draw out its last glowing ashes. The atmosphere was always the same—warm, familiar, comfortable. Grandma was there and so love and security were there. It was family. There was one source of tension, however. There was a mixed marriage to contend with. One of my aunts had gone off and married a Christian Reformed boy from a couple of farms up the road. She joined the Christian Reformed Church but was never really converted. She grumbled about it a lot. And from that union sprang several cousins. The Christian Reformed Church did a good job on them. They never seemed to know there was anything else. Well, we lived in reasonable peace over the years of my childhood. When Grandpa or Grandma had birthdays we all got together, and that was something else. Once in a while the peace was shattered — when, for example, we got talking about the Christian school or the upcoming Hope-Calvin game. Then the atmosphere was warm too; in fact, sometimes it even got hot. © Grand Valley State University   �All in the Family Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Those occasional sharp confrontations were gathered up into a larger bond that had the toughness of love. I knew, without anyone ever telling me, that we were really all one – one family. We could argue, raise our voices or grumble at each other, but we belonged together; we belonged to each other. Now many years later in the midst of my ministry I find myself on a “Joint Christian Reformed-Reformed Church Committee for Study of a Theology of Evangelism.” My experience on this committee has reminded me of my experiences as a child in a family that had “mixed marriages.” There was always a little rivalry, little points of tension, sometimes confrontation and sharply differing perspectives. But, there was also always that sense of family. We belong to each other and that which makes us one family is of far greater import than the things that separate us. There are many mysteries in life, but one of the greatest is how two churches with the same national origins, the same polity, liturgical tradition and confessional allegiance have been able to go their separate ways for over a century. Yet even such a long period of separate existence has not been able to erase from our corporate consciousness that we belong together, that we belong to each other. Both denominations in their respective Synods of 1973 adopted recommendations that a joint committee be formed. The committees of each church responsible for Inter-Church relationships had been working together in “concentrated dialogue” since 1969. This dialogue had issued in a formal meeting of the two churches in the fall of 1972. The experience of that event was reflected in a Conference Statement, which gave thanks to God “for the unity he gave us during our deliberations.” The Conference heartily endorsed the following recommendations and covenanted together to implement them. 1. That we recognize, reaffirm and publish the positions taken by our respective Inter-Church Relations Committees in 1966 and 1987, the substance of which is herewith submitted: a. Joint work on liturgy to explore common concerns, suggest and foster similar patterns of worship and liturgy in our two churches. b. Joint planning be used in church extension to avoid overlapping so that Kingdom resources and witness be used most effectively. c. The encouragement of local exchanges between churches including pulpit fellowship. d. Overseas mission efforts done in a cooperative manner whenever possible. © Grand Valley State University �All in the Family Richard A. Rhem Page 3   There was much more to the Conference Statement dealing with cooperative efforts on the denominational, classical and congregational levels and in the area of publication. The statement ended with an eloquent call to action, pleading, The mercies of God that what we have envisioned we, together with many others, may now bring into being so that his name may be glorified, his church may be made victorious and his people may rejoice in the blessings that flow from the unity we seek. Against this background the Joint Committee CRC/RCA for Study of Theology of Evangelism was born. Five members from each church were appointed and the first meeting was held in December of 1973. Two churches in the Reformed tradition must necessarily discuss theology in any coming together. Furthermore, there is wisdom in focusing on the imperative that rests upon the whole church, the sharing of the Gospel with all men. Unity arises not so much out of discussion of abstract principles as out of engagement in the execution of the mission of Jesus Christ. Evangelism, telling good news in a world of bad news, is a natural place to begin to search for our unity. Happily, we on the joint committee can testify that we sensed a warm fellowship in our common search for some word to speak together concerning the grace of God which has appeared in Jesus Christ. The issue of our committee's work thus far is a Manifesto On Evangelism. That may seem to be a rather meager result. Yet, I think when the Manifesto is studied it will prove itself a carefully formulated and profoundly significant statement. In the preamble to the Manifesto, the committee acknowledged that it had narrowed its task to sharp focus, hoping to make a distinct contribution to current discussion from our Reformed perspective as well as lifting into prominence a theme which is central to the biblical revelation and strangely absent from much of the material on evangelism; that theme being the Kingdom of God. We were aware of other discussions on the theme of evangelism. We sensed a real struggle in the Christian community at two points: First, how are word and deed related in Christian witness? Is social action, born of Christian conviction, evangelism? Is evangelism oral testimony only, and are deeds of demonstrated Christian concern in connection with that testimony merely optional? But behind this tension lies a more fundamental concern. What is the word, the message, in evangelism? What is the message which deeds are to demonstrate? (Preamble to the Manifesto). It was the Committee's judgment that the historic Reformed accent on the Kingdom of God was a key to a meaningful solution to these questions. In various study papers prepared by members of the group the Kingdom theme surfaced again and again. Furthermore, we felt there was a lack of concern with the Kingdom idea in much contemporary discussion, although it is certainly a central © Grand Valley State University �All in the Family Richard A. Rhem Page 4   biblical motif. We opted to make a concise statement which expresses our unity in the understanding of our evangelistic task as well as the central theme of our proclamation in word and deed. The Manifesto itself is divided into three sections: The proclamation of the Kingdom, the signs of the Kingdom and the imperative of the Kingdom. The opening paragraph evidences the inclusiveness of the Kingdom theme, which allows it to overcome the false antithesis between word and deed which has so long plagued the church. We share the newly expressed concern of believers everywhere to understand the nature of evangelism and its place in our total task. We deplore our own tendencies in thought and action to separate Gospel proclamation from compassionate ministry. We believe that both are rightly understood only in the light of the Bible's pervasive theme—the Kingdom of God. Strong proclamation of good news is immediately affirmed in the first section and that section is concluded with the statement “that all ‘evangelizing’ in the New Testament sense of the term includes the joyous proclamation of God's saving rule, together with the call to repent and believe the Gospel.” But the Manifesto continues in the second section, “the proclamation of God's Kingdom rule brings with it the reality proclaimed,” and after a discussion of what that entails specifically, we go on to affirm that all evangelizing in the New Testament sense of the term is accompanied by the signs of God’s Kingdom among his people and springs from their active concern for the full deliverance and restoration of all to whom the Gospel is addressed. The final section of the Manifesto deals with the imperative placed upon us in light of the Kingdom that has come in Jesus Christ for we testify to our conviction that “the Gospel of the Kingdom brings the only hope for lost mankind.” In our committee deliberations it was obvious that we were not all at the same place. It was obvious, too, that both churches were at different points, spoke out of differing contexts and had to speak to differing expectations and concerns. It was most interesting to observe, however, that differences of opinion did not always follow denominational lines. And perhaps the greatest realization to arise out of our study and discussion together was the fundamental unity that is ours both in our understanding of the Gospel and in the high sense of urgency in making it known to all men. The most significant feature of our joint committee is the fact that we are meeting each other, studying and praying together, enjoying table fellowship together and coming to appreciate each other. The results of such coming together have already been significant in terms of personal relationships established and © Grand Valley State University �All in the Family Richard A. Rhem Page 5   mutual respect and trust that have developed. This has led us to recognize each other and the importance of working together in cooperative ventures, the utilizing of the resources of our respective churches to the greatest possible advantage and the seeking of a common purpose, the furtherance of God’s Kingdom in the world. The removal of distrust, suspicion and a spirit of competition inevitably results when we come together and place ourselves at the disposal of the Lord of the Church for the execution of his mission. We are not bothered by our separate denominational existences. Our energies need not be swallowed up in trying to merge two denominational structures. Rather we are open together to the Spirit’s leading, seeking ways in which we may bear effective witness to the Christ who has made us together a part of his Body. In the light of this challenging mission that unites us, we have a new recognition of the fact that we belong together, we belong to each other, because together we belong to him. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19751017 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975-10-17 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource All in the Family Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Church School Herald Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 17, 1975 entitled "All in the Family", it appeared in The Church Herald, pp. 14-15, 18. Tags: Church, Reformed, Ecumenical, Team Ministry. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Church Ecumenical Reformed Team Ministry https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bc864ccbef36ac2a85efc0d55d2f76bf.pdf c63018e70d94a903da880350327a1d3f PDF Text Text Let’s Close Half Our Churches Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in The Church Herald The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America November 10, 1973, pp. 11-12 Sound Radical? Perhaps. But perhaps it's time for radical surgery on the church in order to bring it to health and vitality, able effectively to carry out its mission of reconciliation. We have too many congregations doing their own thing, building their own buildings, paying their own overhead and offering their own programs to the community in competition with too many other congregations doing the same thing. If there was a day for church extension (and I'm sure there was) now is the time for church deletion. We are not here to see how many new Reformed congregations we can build. We are not here to preserve the identity of congregations, even though they have outlived their mission. We are not being called to maintain a church merely for the convenience of a few who refuse to make an adjustment in the pattern of their church life. These are hard words, but we need hard words. Too long we have argued against change and new structures and modes of church life on the basis of sentiment, nostalgia, or obstinacy, cloaking our real feelings with pious arguments which no one dared to attack. The day when we could afford that kind of luxury is past. We are not only failing to dent contemporary secular culture, we are not even keeping up with the exploding world population. The challenge of the day calls for radical streamlining of the Body of Christ. This will come to roost effectively by concentrating not on the multiplication of congregations, but on the re-grouping of the people of God into effective communities of worship, fellowship, and ministry. What’s involved? The willingness to die in order to live - a sound gospel principal (John 12:24-26). Jesus’ words are addressed to individuals, but they are not without relevance to congregations as well. If it is really our primary aim to bring Christ to the nation, then we must be willing to put all else on the line. © Grand Valley State University   �Let’s Close Half Our Churches Richard A. Rhem Page 2   The successful church will be the church that is a many-splendored thing – able to approach our culture from various angles with a wide variety of opportunities which will appeal to a wide spectrum of interests and needs. This can only be accomplished by a team ministry that offers specialization in several spheres. In most areas the traditional pattern of congregational life which remained practically unchanged for over half a century is no longer effective in accomplishing the mission of the church. We can no longer take for granted the loyal, almost automatic response to the traditional church program. People will not necessarily be there just because there is a meeting. Nor ought we attempt to coerce people through guilt or fear. The old loyalty to which once we could appeal and the family and community pressures which held a congregation together, whether or not there was a creative ministry that was meeting people at their point of need, can no longer be counted on and we ought not to regret that loss. We are now in a position to allow the winds of the Spirit to shape us into new forms of church life and ministry that will elicit the free response of people who make up our largely secular culture. But the task is demanding and will require the special gifts and specialized training of the professional ministry, as well as the commitment of the total Christian community. I believe the key to building successful churches lies in the development of a team ministry that can recruit, train, and motivate the Body of Christ to carry out its ministry in the world. Paul conceived of the pastor as one who equipped God’s people for doing the work of ministry. The congregation can no longer be understood as the recipient of ministry carried out by a trained professional who becomes their private chaplain, but rather must be viewed as the instrument of ministry in the total cultural setting of which it is a part. This is not a new idea, but what is being demonstrated in various places throughout the church today is that effective recruitment and training issuing in effective ministry and church growth can take place more readily where there is a team of professionals that can utilize their specialized gifts for the building of the whole Body. Team ministry offers several advantages over the single-pastor organization. First, it allows for the most efficient and effective use of the professionally trained ministry. Team ministry allows a person to exercise his best gifts in an area for which he is especially fitted. Many men with fine gifts and dedication flounder when they must carry the total program of a congregation’s life and witness. When the leadership is frustrated, the whole program gets bogged down and everything is done with mediocrity. We cannot allow the Lord’s work to be done with mediocrity. Let the one gifted in administration, administer; the one gifted in counseling, counsel; the one gifted in education, educate. Then each area of the church’s life will receive the leadership of a specialist and the total program will have upon it the mark of excellence. © Grand Valley State University �Let’s Close Half Our Churches Richard A. Rhem Page 3   With a team ministry a wide spectrum of ministries can be inaugurated: small groups, singles’ ministry, youth ministry, ministry to the aging, etc. There is a vast reservoir of willing volunteer labor in the church but it must be tapped, equipped and channeled into meaningful service. With a staff of trained professionals to administer, lay-participation increases. With a multiplication of ministry comes the increased usage of facilities. Church buildings have traditionally been our poorest examples of Christian stewardship large sanctuaries and beautiful educational units used very few hours per week. With a team ministry and a wide spectrum of ministries, the facilities will be in use seven days a week. When a congregation can offer a wide-ranging program appealing to a wide spectrum of interests and meeting the needs of the whole person, it will grow, and as it grows it will be able to support a growing mission to its community and world. Every congregation has a certain given overhead, but why should each little group of one hundred or two hundred families duplicate each other in building facilities, administrative costs and ministerial service? Why can we not fill the sanctuary three times on Sunday morning as well as once? What difference does it make if we develop two or three different congregations on the same locations? Instead of three costly buildings, there will be one. Instead of three ministers trying to do everything and succeeding with only some things, and doing nothing with excellence, could not three men join together, each doing well for the congregation what he is especially gifted to do. And finally, the benefit of team ministry will be experienced in the mutual support the team members are able to give to each other. When one is alone trying to do too many things, succeeding in only some, and being frustrated in others, the ministry can become a very depressing business. But when there is a team working together, each one is released to exercise his best gifts, and finds in his colleagues support and affirmation which enables him to function more effectively and find fulfillment and satisfaction in his vocation. Let us build the kingdom, not through the multiplication of congregations, but through the building of multi-staff congregations, which can then become effective communities of Christian worship and ministry. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19731110 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-11-10 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Let's Close Half Our Churches Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Church School Herald Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 10, 1973 entitled "Let's Close Half Our Churches", it appeared in The Church Herald, pp. 11-12. Tags: Church, Reformed, Community of Faith, Team Ministry. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Church Community of Faith Reformed Team Ministry https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3ae90fed5249abb54a3110b5a2363deb.pdf a74dd012d836122d37b26e9514bd0e47 PDF Text Text The Cross in History and Human Experience A Lenten Devotional Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in The Church Herald The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America April 20, 1973, pp. 10-11 History unfolds under the sign of the Cross; its shadow lies over all human experience. That is a rather somber note, standing in stark contrast to the triumphant sound of the Christian proclamation. Yet it is true, and unless we reckon with that fact we will at some point in our lives encounter an experience which cannot be understood in terms of our faith. History has its darker hues, human experience its valleys of shadows, but a Christian stands undismayed before them because he looks out at the world from a vantage point from beneath the Cross. The Cross is not God’s final act, and tragedy in human life is not the final word. The brilliant revelation of triumph in Jesus’ resurrection reveals to us an ultimate victory beyond the limits of history. The splendor of that victory shines brightly, giving us courage and a solid base for hope; nevertheless, for us, that resurrection preeminently is future. To be sure, we have been raised together with Christ to newness of life, but we remain a part of the old order, and the sign over the old order is the Cross. The suffering, tragedy and death of this present age touch all of us at some point. None of us is immune to the misery that stalks the steps of the children of men. The Christian faith does not gloss over the reality of human experience. Jesus Christ never covered up the difficult, the dark, the tragic. Prior to his death, he prepared his disciples for the fact that they would very soon be severely tested. He prepared them for the fact that their dreams were about to be shattered — that their high hopes were about to be crushed — that their aspirations were to evaporate into thin air. He prepared them for his crucifixion — a crucifixion so excruciatingly painful to him that even he cried out in the midst of it, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” He prepared them for the hard realities of life. He said, “In the world you will have tribulation.” Anybody who comes into the Christian faith or into the haven of the Christian Church thinking hereby to avoid the harsh reality of human experience has not read the Gospel. In the © Grand Valley State University   �The Cross in History & Human Experience Richard A. Rhem Page 2   mystery of suffering, nothing makes the Christian unique except that he has the resources to overcome it, and finally to prevail. Look at the Cross. What does it really say? Look at the one who hangs there — Jesus Christ —the only life that has ever really been played out in the course of human history. Look at how he gave of himself, ministering constantly on behalf of those in need. Listen to his words of wisdom and compassion. Note his healing touch. Behold his self-forgetfulness. Watch him as he goes through the days of his life in perfect obedience to the Father. Look at him as he lives that life of righteousness, of service, of love, of obedience. And where did it end? On a cross! Jesus Christ was too good for this world! Much suffering and tragedy in the world comes through our own negligence, foolishness or irresponsibility. But there is some suffering and some tragedy in life that come precisely because a man is good. The righteous suffer. The only man who fully incarnated the love of God in human flesh ended up on a cross. That is the best commentary we have on human history and human life. Righteousness crucified. Is it not significant that he was condemned by the Roman government, by Pontius Pilate, the representative of the greatest legal system the world has ever known? Even today when one thinks of Imperial Rome, one thinks of the magnificent system of justice that it gave to the world. It was man's highest achievement in jurisprudence that impaled Jesus on a cross. But not only Rome. What about the Jewish leaders — the leaders of the one religion that had an understanding of the true God and were prepared for God to intervene in human history? It was those who stood in the line of Abraham and David and Isaiah who cried out, “Crucify him! Let his blood be on us and on our children!” There you have it. Rome and Jerusalem, the highest achievements in human justice and religion, barbarously murdering Jesus Christ on a cross. That’s what life is all about. Righteousness crucified. Love condemned. Self-sacrifice hanging on a tree. The only conclusion that one can come to is that human life is tragic — that goodness suffers — that love is crucified — that righteousness is of no avail. We may, at times, be tempted to cry out, “Why me?” But then we remember Jesus. Why him? Why anyone? Because there is a tragic element in human existence, a mystery of evil in the world that crucifies righteousness and justice and love. Jesus was too good to be in this world, and if a person tries to live as Jesus lived, he will find himself suffering as Jesus suffered. If he loves too much, or cares too much, or gives too much of himself, he may end up broken and crushed and disillusioned, looking in vain for a vindication of his human experience. Now, there is another side of the coin, of course. God can transform tragedy into triumph. God can use the excruciatingly painful experiences of life as stepping © Grand Valley State University �The Cross in History & Human Experience Richard A. Rhem Page 3   stones in building a beautiful life. And in the midst of human tragedy where there is submission and trust in God there comes a strength and a grace that is poured into life which makes of a person a most beautiful instrument in the hands of God. Jesus found, even in his darkest hour, that victory was possible because he was able to look at his spitting, jeering tormentors and say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” He found out that the power of love can overcome the worst of human tragedy. But it was only beyond Calvary that his righteousness, his love, his obedience and his trust were vindicated. This means we may suffer all our lives and die without having the sunlight break upon our path. It means we may live in tragic circumstances all our days despite obedience and submission. The Cross is the one symbol in all human history that tells us that we cannot ask the question “Why?” Oh, we can ask it, but we cannot answer it. There is no sure justice. Tragedy is everywhere; evil rears its ugly head everywhere we turn, and the righteous suffer. And those who love are crushed. What then? Is that the last word? No, it's not. Because of Jesus, the final word is not crucifixion, but resurrection. Not the blackness, the darkness of Calvary, but the brilliant light of Easter morning. We live in hope because a life was lived that ended in tragedy, but was vindicated by a mighty act of God. Jesus, who died in trust, was vindicated by the Father in his resurrection. We, however, are still under the shadow of the Cross, because our own resurrection is in the future. Its light has already broken in on us in Jesus, the first fruits of them that sleep. Its power is already ours because his Spirit lives within us. We already have a foretaste of the victory and triumph to come. Although we still look forward to our own resurrection, the new age has invaded history in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ assures us, in the face of inexplicable human tragedy, that we can continue to trust him because beyond the limits of history is resurrection. Within history — no answer. Beyond history —the risen Christ and victory. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19730420 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-04-20 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource The Cross in History and Human Experience Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Church School Herald Journal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 20, 1973 entitled "The Cross in History and Human Experience", it appeared in The Church Herald, pp. 10-11. Tags: Lent, Suffering, Crucifixion, Transforming Love, Resurrection . Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Crucifixion Lent Resurrection Suffering Transforming Love