00:00:11.540 - 00:00:23.140

it is my honor to introduce to you the reverend dr joseph D. Small, many of, you know joe. And you know that his credentials are kind of hard to summarize, so I was afraid

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of forgetting anything. So I brought some, I'm a teacher, so I brought some uh memory aids in order to help me out remember a couple of things about joe. So the first one is a

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book many of you have read Marilyn Robinson's Gilead and this helps me remember a riddle. And the riddle is, what do Maryland? Robinson, Cynthia Rigby and joseph D. Small have in common. There

00:00:52.700 - 00:01:08.280

are two possible answers. one is where all lovers of the theology of John Calvin And two is we all went to Brown University. Ah that triggers my memory. The reverend dr joseph D. Small has

00:01:08.280 - 00:01:26.010

degrees from a number of institutions and I'm probably leaving some out, but they include Brown University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Louisville Theological Seminary , item two. So this is as close as

00:01:26.010 - 00:01:42.500

I could get in my uh cabinet in my kitchen at home to a scotch glass. Mhm. I don't think I have to say much about this except that the first time maybe 15 years ago or so

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that I was on a denominational committee with Joe small . Uh he kept referring periodically was Calvin, Calvin Calvin Scotch, Calvin Calvin Calvin Scotch. What's the deal with scotch? Then after the meeting, you

00:01:55.010 - 00:02:10.430

know, I actually saw that enacted sort of incarnation aly the scotch in the glass. Um but this glass reminds me of how many meetings joe small has attended for us the church and I want to thank

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you for that having been on a small number comparatively of those kinds of committees myself. At this point , I completely understand the glass. So mm mhm jo jo was the director of the Office of Theology

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and Worship. He also offered leadership to theological education and also to the congregational ministries fellowship among other committees and desks. And one other item, yes, this is a boggle head. Calvin, I got

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to know Joe as a friend a couple of years ago while in 2009 when Calvin celebrated his 500th birthday and Joe and I co chaired a birthday celebration, a conference that was held at the Montreat Conference Center

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in Montreal North Carolina. And Joe put up with a lot from me. But he almost drew the line when I told him we were going to be handled handing out Calvin boggle heads as door prizes.

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But I think in the end he probably had one for himself. And I want you to know that every time I see this on my desk, I remember not only Calvin but your legacy to the church

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and one more quick story and then I'll stop and let joe talk is the very first time I ever heard uh the reverend dr joseph D Small do a presentation. I was at the American Academy of Religion

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where joe always insisted on having an ecclesial presence in a meeting uh middle of this academic guild meeting. And at this meeting someone stood up and said, I think the presbyterian Church usa is going to die

00:03:49.140 - 00:04:01.470

and that's okay because the church of jesus christ will live forever. And it sounded like a good point to me, joe got up and with a tear in his eye, he reminded us that God works

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not in the abstract church, but in the concrete church of the here and now in the concrete church of the United Methodist Church. The Presbyterian Church usa whatever particular denominations are represented here today and that it's

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our job to remember that the church and our churches are the bride of christ and that we are to cherish them and hold them up holy and without blemish . Thank you for reminding me of that joe.

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And I now look forward to hearing the words that you have for us today in your lecture, the body lies bleeding. Mr joseph small. Mhm. Yeah, well, thank you Cindy. Although I

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was hoping for the bottle, not the glass. Well, it's a privilege to be with you these days. Uh and I'm grateful for the opportunity to talk to you now many of you are pastors and

00:05:03.120 - 00:05:19.820

you know that every decent sermon needs a text. Well, lectures are only thinly disguised sermons. So I have two texts for you today. One scriptural and one not so scriptural. The first from John

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17, a part of jesus prayer, A prayer that I think our Lord continues now to pray for us. May they all be one as you father are in me and I in you. So also

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may they be in us that the world may believe that you have sent me the glory which you gave me? I have given to them, that they may be one as we are one i in them

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and you and me, may they be perfectly one , then the world will know that you have sent me and then you have loved them even as you have loved me. And the second text is from

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One of the most interesting theologians of the 20th, late 20th century, the novelist giant uptake in general , The church's bore for me the same relation to God that billboards did to coca cola. They promoted

00:06:25.350 - 00:06:41.970

thirst without quenching it. So ecclesial ology, the doctrine of the church is usually a theological afterthought. Who, what, when, where? Why? How is the church? To the extent that those

00:06:41.970 - 00:06:57.430

questions are ever asked, they are generally left to the sociologists or God help us the brand as marketers and funds developers when theologians get around to the church , having dealt with all the really important and interesting

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theological low, see what they usually present to us is an abstraction. A picture of the church that bears only vague resemblance to what we experience in actual congregations and judi clitoris and denominations were presented with lovely

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portraits of the church ideal paradigms designed to show us that there is more than meets the eye when we look at actual churches. And on the other hand , sociologists, both academic and amateur sociologists generally show

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us a documentary film of the flawed church, sometimes designed merely to deconstruct, but often meant to suggest strategies for what the church could be. The problem , of course, is that both are instances of

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what Nicholas Healy calls blueprint. Ecclesial Allah jeez, two dimensional templates that outline either normative construe rules and the guys of description or description is the background for normative prescription. In both cases, ecclesial ology is

00:08:11.840 - 00:08:28.680

about about what the church should or could be, rather than actual theological engagement with what the church is . The Dietrich Bonhoeffer put the matter plainly more than 80 years ago. There are basically two ways to

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misunderstand the church, he said one historic sizing and the other religious. The former confuses the church with the religious community, the latter with the realm of God. Neither sociology nor theology alone is adequate to

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understand the reality of the church, which is simultaneously our historical sociological phenomenon and a christ spirit created community of faith and theological talk apart from the concrete reality of actual churches, easily becomes irrelevant. Two lived

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faith And sociological examination, apart from faithful attention to one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church easily becomes irrelevant to lived faith. Now, it's not possible for us to understand the church we live in either theologically or

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sociologically, Without going back nearly 500 years to what we call the Protestant Reformation, but what might more accurately be called the Western Church schism? And delving into that history is not mere antiquarian interest or a

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facile attempt to draw lessons from the past. It's simply the case that the church we now experience is a consequence of what happened then, and so we cannot know where we are unless we know how we

00:10:09.720 - 00:10:33.480

got here. As William Faulkner famously said, the past is never dead, it's not even past. So in 1538, 2 decades after Martin Luther dramatically offered 95 theses on indulgences and true repentance. A

00:10:33.480 - 00:10:52.760

young john Calvin was happily ensconced in strasbourg, having been expelled from Geneva for refusing to abide by the city's attempt to impose sacramental and liturgical practices on the church. With Calvin and his older colleague Farrell conveniently

00:10:52.760 - 00:11:11.590

out of the way. Cardinal Jacobo saddle eto, Bishop of carpentry and France, sent an open letter to the Magistrates council and citizens of Geneva imploring them to return to the catholic church. Several months later

00:11:11.600 - 00:11:30.280

, from his exile in strasbourg, Calvin responded to saddle letter in an open letter of his own defending protestant reforms. Now, protestant seminarians at least, the presbyterians among them sometimes read Calvin's reply to saddle

00:11:30.280 - 00:11:48.950

eto, but few, if any, have laid eyes on the cardinals message and satellite owes letter is an intelligent often win some document, pleading with janie Van's to return to concord with us, yield faithful

00:11:48.950 - 00:12:07.060

homage to the church, our mother And worship God with us in one spirit. In addition to discussing central theological issues knowledgeably and reasonably satellite, Oh, pointed to the harm that was caused by the split

00:12:07.060 - 00:12:24.750

of the church. How will this be born? He asked john evens that they the reformers attempted to tear the spouse of christ in pieces that the garment of the Lord, which heathen soldiers were unwilling to

00:12:24.750 - 00:12:41.810

divide. They attempted not only to divide, but to rend for already saddle ETO went on. Since these men began. How many sects have torn the church sets, not agreeing with them and yet disagreeing

00:12:41.810 - 00:13:03.830

with each other. Well, how many indeed what might settle ETO say if he could see the current profusion of thousands upon thousands of what we call denominations strewn across the world. Calvin's reply to satellite.

00:13:03.830 - 00:13:20.430

Oh, dealt confidently and definitely with all of satellite , those historical and theological points. But the cardinals critique of division in the church cut close to the bone. But the most serious charge of all road

00:13:20.430 - 00:13:39.080

Calvin is that we have attempted to dismember the spouse of christ. Were that true? Both you saddle eto and the whole world might well regard us as past redemption. But in the face of obvious church

00:13:39.080 - 00:13:54.800

division, Calvin had to say more. I admit that on the revival of the gospel, great disputes arose were always quietness before. But that is unjustly imputed to our side. Who in the whole course

00:13:54.800 - 00:14:13.250

of their actions desired nothing but that religion be revived and that the churches which discord had scattered and dispersed might be gathered together into true unity. Mhm. Now, Calvin and Luther and other early reformers certainly

00:14:13.250 - 00:14:33.720

did desire that dispersed churches be gathered together in unity , but it was not to be. As time passed, Calvin became more and more disturbed by the obvious fragmentation of the church. 14 years after his

00:14:33.720 - 00:14:52.370

reply to saddle, Eto Calvin sent a letter to archbishop of Canterbury thomas cranmer, in which he Calvin now echoed satellite does charge against the reformation. This other thing is to be ranked among the chief evils

00:14:52.370 - 00:15:09.350

of our time, Calvin agonized that the churches are so divided that human fellowship is scarcely now in any report among us. Thus, it is that the members of the church being severed, the body lies

00:15:09.350 - 00:15:28.260

bleeding. Calvin's distress went beyond mere emotion, for it led him to recommend to grandma a general council of all the reformation churches in order to bring unity out of separation, and then a few years later

00:15:28.840 - 00:15:41.170

to propose a Universal council of the Church, to put an end to all of the divisions in christendom . And Calvin envisioned the council that would include representatives of the whole church, including all of the catholic

00:15:41.170 - 00:16:00.250

bishops, as well as representatives of the reformation churches . He was even open to the possibility that the pope would preside. Well, here we are, half a millennium later, and blood still flows from

00:16:00.250 - 00:16:18.480

the dismembered body of christ. And what's even more remarkable than the dizzying profession? Profusion of churches before our eyes is our easy acceptance of it all. We see thousands of separated churches scattered across the landscape

00:16:18.480 - 00:16:37.330

of every country on the globe. Then we take it all in with a shrug is simply the way things are partitions between Catholics and Orthodox and Protestants and Pentecostals have been supplemented by divisions within these traditions and

00:16:37.330 - 00:16:56.610

among Protestants and Pentecostals. The repeated dismemberment of their denominations. Now, it's obvious enough that ecclesial fragmentation is the way things are, but what is less obvious because we no longer acknowledge it, is our

00:16:56.610 - 00:17:15.050

comfortable acceptance of a reality that flies in the face of jesus prayer for us, and ignores paul's constant council to us. In the searing words of Ephraim Radner, consider the debilitation of the body of christ

00:17:15.940 - 00:17:33.370

. The encroaching paralysis of its senses is hardly a reality. That's members greet with comprehension. one might have thought that perhaps a struggle would ensue against the torpor, a hard grasping after the remains of God's

00:17:33.370 - 00:17:49.850

presence of panting after the fragrance left by his passing . But even the church's sense of smell has been confounded. Indeed, the most manifest mark of the divided church appears to be its own incense ability to

00:17:49.850 - 00:18:10.200

the symptoms of its condition. No stench reaches its nostrils, no shame, cracks its heart. Well , my purpose here is not a quixotic call to renew to humanism, although none of us should be

00:18:10.200 - 00:18:26.450

content with our current indifference to the hard work of drawing churches closer together, an ecclesial dialogue, common worship and shared mission. But instead, I want to explore some of the theological and sociological symptoms of

00:18:26.450 - 00:18:44.950

the divided and shattered condition of our churches. In today's talk, three things need to be said. The first is that the reality of ecclesial fragmentation renders problematic. Any talk about the church is, if

00:18:44.950 - 00:18:59.890

we all know what we mean, when we use the word at best. Talk about the Church is bound to be an abstraction and almost platonic ideal, lost in the shadows of multiple steeples. And the

00:18:59.890 - 00:19:15.340

second thing will say is that are comfortable reliance on notions of the invisible Church is problematic at best, and always misleading. And finally, and most importantly , we need to confront the reality that are easy

00:19:15.340 - 00:19:36.070

acceptance of now our satisfaction with church separation results in availing of the Gospel itself. So first, the Church, the World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order, has been working for nearly two decades

00:19:36.070 - 00:19:51.520

on a convergence document intended to draw churches together in their understanding of the Church, and now, in its third iteration, the Church toward a common vision , is a thoughtful, challenging attempt to move toward

00:19:51.520 - 00:20:07.080

a shared understanding of the Church. Of course, the very need for such a study testifies to the absence of shared understanding, an absence that is manifest and the scarcity among Churches of United Faith, shared

00:20:07.080 - 00:20:23.890

sacraments and worship, common order and mutual witness and service to the world. The document itself acknowledges that it is an attempt to address the most difficult issue facing the churches in overcoming any remaining obstacles to their

00:20:23.890 - 00:20:38.930

living out of the Lord's gift of communion, our understanding of the nature of the church itself. Well , actually, even the more difficult issue is this study's assumption that there is a transcendent reality called the

00:20:38.930 - 00:20:53.260

church, that can be identified and described. If only we dialogue long and hard enough, I don't dismiss faith in orders, effort. I've been involved in it. I don't mean to imply criticism of

00:20:53.260 - 00:21:11.690

its work. It's a significant step along the way to fuller communion among the churches, but a common understanding of the church. Even when restricted to wcc faith in order. Churches remains elusive, and this

00:21:11.690 - 00:21:29.800

can be seen clearly, just by glancing at various assertions, purporting to be about the church, but actually expressing distinctive convictions about particular churches. From a catholic perspective, the church came into being when the

00:21:29.800 - 00:21:41.720

Lord had given his body and his blood under the forms of bread and wine, whereupon he said, do this in memory of me. It follows that the Church is the answer to this commission. The

00:21:41.720 - 00:22:02.100

church is Eucharist. In orthodox understanding, the church is primarily a foretaste of the scatological assembly of the Lord made present in the world. From a mainline protestant point of view, the church is a household

00:22:02.100 - 00:22:18.820

of freedom, a community where walls have been broken down, so that God's welcome to those who hunger and thirst for justice is made clear, and the central Pentecostal characteristic is expressed as the present day manifestation

00:22:18.820 - 00:22:37.940

of spiritual gifts, such as miraculous healing, prophecy and most distinctively Glassell alia granted by the Holy Spirit and normative and contemporary church and ministry. Now, it would be possible if we worked hard enough at

00:22:37.940 - 00:22:56.790

it to integrate all of those brief statements conceptually, but the result would not describe any actual church. Each of these brief statements is found at the headwaters of a broad, deep river of meaning that flows

00:22:56.790 - 00:23:17.840

through particular different landscapes of crist ology and numerology. So teary ology and Miss Theology, ministry and s scatology perceptions of the church derived from distinct ecclesia locations . And so our talk about the church should not

00:23:17.840 - 00:23:36.420

presume our privileged position, nor should we imagine that a synthesis of perceptions will result in a comprehensive vision of the church that is recognized by everyone. So are we left then, with nothing more than a

00:23:36.420 - 00:23:53.880

jumble of different, often incompatible understandings of the various churches. And if we are left only with that , what does it mean for us to confess the one holy catholic apostolic church of the foundational creed in

00:23:53.880 - 00:24:11.050

the face of obvious proliferation of separated churches and the conflicting variety and perceptions of the nature of the church . A strategy has emerged that enables many christians to speak of the real and present unity of the church

00:24:12.740 - 00:24:30.920

, attempts are made to rescue the church is essential unity. By recourse the versions of the invisible capital C church, a universal reality that transcends all the churches we experience authorizing us to claim that we are

00:24:30.930 - 00:24:48.550

all united in the body of christ, Even in the midst of our obvious church lee divisions, that distinctions between the visible and invisible church had been made at least since Augustine, although he didn't use those

00:24:48.550 - 00:25:07.010

terms and in the classical version of the distinction, the Invisible Church consists of the Communion of Saints throughout time and space, while the visible church is perceived and actual christian communities that are evident at any given

00:25:07.010 - 00:25:21.550

time, Calvin noted. The scripture speaks of a church speaks of the church in two ways, sometimes with reference to all the living and dead who are in the presence of God, the elect in christ

00:25:22.740 - 00:25:38.660

, and sometimes with reference to living people who now profess the one true god, but since the elect who are in God's presence are known only to God , Calvin immediately turns his attention to the only church

00:25:38.670 - 00:25:56.040

that is humanly knowable the visible church, just as we must believe, therefore that the former church invisible to us is visible to the eyes of God alone , wrote Calvin, so we are commanded to revere

00:25:56.040 - 00:26:15.070

and keep communion with the ladder with the visible church which is called church. In respect to people, Calvin's distinction between the invisible and visible church has primarily to do with time and space, but there's one

00:26:15.070 - 00:26:33.580

other difference. Unlike the invisible church, the visible church is a corpus per mixed them a body in which not all who profess christ are actually in communion with christ, but Calvin insisted that we are called

00:26:33.580 - 00:26:53.780

to keep communion with this all too visibly mixed body because we are unable to know what God alone knows , who is elect in christ and who is not because of the obvious limitations in human judgment and knowledge

00:26:53.790 - 00:27:11.950

, Calvin notes that God has given us what he calls a certain charitable judgment, whereby we recognize as members of the church, all who profess the same god in christ with us, Calvin's understanding of the

00:27:11.950 - 00:27:29.350

invisible visible church distinction consistent with the stream of christian thought from Augustine on is perceptible a century later in Westminster confession of faith, but with a twist, the Invisible Church is still identified as the whole number

00:27:29.350 - 00:27:45.680

of the elect that have been are and shall be gathered into one under christ. But the visible church in Westminster is now identified as all those throughout the world who profess the true religion and is the kingdom

00:27:45.690 - 00:28:07.020

of the Lord jesus christ. For Westminster, the visible Church is no longer simply what we see, but it is now the catholic Universal Church, which is sometimes more, sometimes less visible, so as

00:28:07.020 - 00:28:21.800

minsters, visible church is no longer simply what we see when we look around us, but now is more or less true church depending on its conformity to the Invisible Church, the Kingdom of God. So

00:28:21.800 - 00:28:38.640

, Westminster is a way station on the road to the current popularized version of the invisible visible church distinction that reverses the classical focus by accenting the essential priority of the Invisible Church at the expense of the visible

00:28:38.640 - 00:29:03.460

church. This reversal can be detected in to 19th century reformed theologians, Frederick Schreier marker and Abraham Kipper who are together representative though not always recognized influences on popular ecclesial ology when addressing its cultured despise. Urz

00:29:03.440 - 00:29:22.710

Schreier marker identified the church as the congregation of the Pious, ascribing to it, qualities of communion, harmony, unity and love. Now, since this description didn't match any church that a culture despise er

00:29:22.710 - 00:29:37.960

could see one might think that Schreier marker was describing what the church ought to be, but no Schreier markers, intention was to turn attention away from the church that can be seen toward a deeper reality.

00:29:40.240 - 00:29:52.150

I assure you share a marker wrote, I have not spoken of what should be, but of what is the true church. In fact always has always been thus and still is and if you cannot see

00:29:52.150 - 00:30:11.100

it, the blame is your own and lies in a tolerably palpable misunderstanding. Thanks Frederick. Mhm for Schreier marker, the congregation of the pious that cannot be seen is the true church. While the church

00:30:11.100 - 00:30:30.030

that can be seen is merely what he called an institution. For pupils and religion, those who have not yet become part of the sanctified community Schreier markers , conceptual categories in his monumental work, the christian

00:30:30.030 - 00:30:45.700

faith are a bit more sophisticated than that, but his understanding of the church remains the same, whereas Calvin having made the invisible visible church distinction proceeds to discuss the only one of the two that's accessible to

00:30:45.700 - 00:31:04.790

human judgment. Schreier marker makes the distinction in order to direct attention away from shabby. All too visible churches to the true, pure sanctified inner fellowship of christians, a dutch reformed theologian. Abraham Kipper also

00:31:04.790 - 00:31:21.840

understood the true church as the spiritual community of believers , but in his ecclesial ology, the actual churches are not even testing grounds for the, not yet sanctified the institutional churches are merely human organizations called to

00:31:21.840 - 00:31:36.820

do a job which any particular church might do well or poorly. Thus, in kippers view the invisible spiritual community of believers is the true church, while the visible church is reduced to a human blend of

00:31:36.920 - 00:31:52.950

ecclesiastical institutions and the actions of true christians in society . And even though Kiper wrote eloquently about the unity of the church, he understood unity as the quality of the true spiritual invisible Church, not of the

00:31:52.950 - 00:32:09.960

visible churches, which are only and always ambiguous organizations for Kipper as for Schreier marker, the church that can be seen is not the real church and the church that is not observable is the true church.

00:32:13.540 - 00:32:30.550

Now this enduring legacy of the line of thought represented by Schreier marker and Kipper is now a popularized version of the invisible visible church diet present among ministers and members alike, in which the invisible churches the true

00:32:30.550 - 00:32:49.550

church the body of christ. While the visible churches are flawed human constructions, genuine churches only to the extent that they conform faith in life to the Invisible Church. And the predictable result is a denigration of

00:32:49.560 - 00:33:12.490

all institutional embodiments of the visible church, together with a view of their dispense ability, often resulting in justification for easy exit from particular denominations. And the multiplication of separated churches effortless confidence in the intangible unity

00:33:12.490 - 00:33:34.560

of the invisible Church simply opens the revolving door to endlessly repeated church ruptures and separations and splits and systems . The Invisible Church is presented as the real thing whose spiritual unity remains untouched by any and every division

00:33:37.340 - 00:33:57.300

. Popular confidence in the essential priority of the invisible , undivided church renders cardinal satellite. Does critique of church division and proliferating sex, immaterial Calvin need not have been distressed for the body that matters. Does

00:33:57.300 - 00:34:17.260

not like bleeding current splits and presbyterian Lutheran, episcopalian baptist denominations do not divide the real church. They only readjust human structures because the popular appropriation of Schreier marker Kipper and others departs from recognizing the visible church

00:34:17.260 - 00:34:42.920

as God's chosen witness in the world, satisfaction with an unseen intangible church denigrates the actual churches we live in, diminishes distress at their visible disunity and expedite systems and other forms of ecclesial proliferation. So the

00:34:42.920 - 00:35:00.430

churches are divided. Theologies of the church are actually projections from particular ecclesia locations and pop versions of the Invisible Church are sedatives that mask the pain of ecclesial dissection. None of this really comes as news to

00:35:00.430 - 00:35:21.330

any of us and in itself it's not even especially interesting. The division of christian faith in life into distinct ecclesial communities of different convictions is all we've ever known and truth be told. It's all we ever

00:35:21.330 - 00:35:44.320

expect to know what may come as news, however , and hold some perverse interest is the stark reality that the profusion of detached and dispersed churches veils the very gospel that those churches purport to proclaim or to

00:35:44.320 - 00:36:00.380

put more put it more pointedly the credibility of the gospel. The good news, meant to be proclaimed to a world in desperate need is called into public question by the cacophony of incongruent articulations of what each

00:36:00.380 - 00:36:17.940

church claims to be christian truth. Now, to be clear, I'm not talking about conflicting claims concerning , I am talking about conflicting claims concerning central christian attributes, not about appropriate diversity within a shared sense

00:36:17.940 - 00:36:34.970

of the faith. Christianity has never been monolithic, but rather richly diverse from the beginning. Yet from the beginning, christian diversity has been found within a common confession of the grace of the Lord, jesus

00:36:34.970 - 00:36:52.860

christ, The love of God and the Communion of the Holy Spirit. Christian faith has a center emmanuel God with us christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. An acceptable diversity is measured by its proximity

00:36:52.870 - 00:37:09.370

to that core. Already in the second century Turtle Ian gave voice to the dynamic of unity and diversity by setting out an articulation of the church's preen. Icing rule of faith is the shared teaching of bishops

00:37:09.370 - 00:37:30.430

to new converts, but affirming the common teaching of the church was not meant to close off exploration and conversation. Quashing diversity totally in concluded his narration of the rule of faith by saying, provided the essence

00:37:30.430 - 00:37:49.060

of the rule is not disturbed. You may seek and discuss. All right. You may seek and discuss as much as you like. You may give full rein to your itching curiosity where any point seems

00:37:49.060 - 00:38:13.830

unsettled and ambiguous, or dark and obscure. Yeah , what Alasdair Macintyre says about traditions in general, has always applied to christian tradition. A living tradition then, is an historically extended, socially embodied argument

00:38:14.720 - 00:38:32.710

in an argument precisely in part about the goods which constitute that tradition. But the credibility of the Gospel is called into question when the argument within a unified christian tradition hardens into opposing institutional camps, each denying

00:38:32.710 - 00:38:52.010

the essential truth and faithfulness of the others. Now , remember, satellite does charge how many sects have torn the church sex, not agreeing with Geneva's reformation , and yet disagreeing with each other at the outset

00:38:52.010 - 00:39:14.040

of the Western Church schism, the absence of agreement among the reformers and their churches produced doctrinal controversies and institutional antagonisms that endured, leading to endlessly competing struggles over central elements of the faith. And remember Calvin's

00:39:14.040 - 00:39:37.420

rueful acknowledgement, the churches are so divided that human fellowship is scarcely now in any repute among us. What began in the reformation was soon consolidated and congealed theological positions, bitter doctrinal controversies, inquisitions, executions

00:39:37.430 - 00:40:00.030

, religio political wars and finally exhausted mutual isolation. Now, it's not long ago that protestant denominations were agreed only on their condemnation of Catholicism while continuing to assert their theological sacramental and ecclesiastical differences with one another

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. Intra christian hostilities obscured the gospel itself. Behind a veil of competing truth claims is christ, real eucharistic presence, his body and blood in under or with bread and wine is christ present bodily spiritually,

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or merely in our memory, if we're saved by grace through faith. Is that all God's doing? Or do we cooperate in or even initiate our salvation ? Is the maintenance of apostolic faith dependent upon bishops

00:40:35.870 - 00:40:50.490

and apostolic succession, or on councils or on an educated ministry, or on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And you can continue the list anyway, you like. But the effects of centuries long hyper

00:40:50.490 - 00:41:08.430

pluralism is becoming increasingly evident as more people determine either that no religious claims are true or that it's impossible to know which ones are genuine. And so the most rapidly growing religious group in the world in the

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West, rather than today, the nuns, N O N E. S, are those who have no interest at all in rival theological systems and they're institutionalized churches and who are resigned to the absence of

00:41:24.260 - 00:41:45.440

any knowable religious truth about God, human nature, the relationship between God and us, or ethical norms concerning relationships among us. Okay, now, overt denominational triumphalism is a receding memory for most churches in

00:41:45.440 - 00:42:07.300

North America, having been replaced by mutual forbearance and polite relationships. And admittedly, this new openness is partially comprised of bourgeois Western tolerance, postmodern uncertainty and confessional minimalism, but it also represents genuine recognition of

00:42:07.300 - 00:42:29.420

each other as authentic expressions of christian faith in life . There's an underside to this newfound amiability. However , mutual civility leads the various protestant churches to recognize not only the ecclesial integrity of other churches, but

00:42:29.420 - 00:42:43.520

also to understand others as well as themselves, as essentially self sufficient. Because each church is seen as an expression of the one holy catholic and apostolic church . Each has everything it needs to be christ faithful

00:42:43.520 - 00:42:58.680

church, which is taken to mean that each has no essential need of any of the others. Our unwillingness to give offense by asserting flaws and other churches is accompanied by our unwillingness to acknowledge the possibility of

00:42:58.680 - 00:43:15.720

ecclesial deficiency in our own churches. After all, since we possess everything, we need to be christ faithful church, we also believe that any recognition of inadequacy in ourselves can be dealt with by internal renovation

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. And if we easily acknowledge that the other churches also possess everything needed to be christ faithful church. We need not comprehend the disgrace of our continuing division . The explicit conviction of self sufficiency is so fundamental

00:43:34.530 - 00:44:00.120

to denominational self understanding that denominations explicitly perpetuate their own institutional autonomy, while voicing mild customary regret about the reality of continuing church division, Interdenominational civility and ecumenical indifference have created a denominational problem. However, when

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separated churches were more doctrinally coherent and organizationally distinctive denominational loyalties was easier to maintain. Presbyterians, for instance , tended to remain presbyterian, studying presbyterian materials supporting presbyterian mission and breeding presbyterians, denominational e differentiated theology

00:44:24.470 - 00:44:46.980

, polity and mission promoted denominational cohesion and continuity, but its denominational distinct is blurred in a haze of mutual forbearance. Denominational loyalty was replaced by an increase in denominational switching and church shopping. It's a cruel

00:44:46.980 - 00:45:15.330

irony that the welcome cessation of interdenominational hostilities has not eliminated religious conflict. However, it's merely displaced it . Intra denominational hostilities intensify as major ruptures now occur within presbyterian episcopalian Lutheran methodist and baptist denominations. So

00:45:15.330 - 00:45:36.090

how then, in the face of switching and church shopping by members, ministers and congregations, our denominations and their congregations to maintain and attract members? Well , the term church shopping is telling for american,

00:45:36.240 - 00:45:53.960

for America is a nation of shoppers. The advance of consumer capitalism has shaped a society driven by what Daniel Bell calls the economy of desire. North american society functions on the model of a sprawling shopping mall

00:45:55.670 - 00:46:15.300

. The mall of America is not just a huge complex in suburban Minneapolis, it is America itself. Large department stores and internet emporiums anchor a maze of specialty stores scattered randomly throughout the mall and across the

00:46:15.300 - 00:46:37.430

Web, catering to diverse tastes while offering new possibilities , encouraging impulse purchases and churches are confined to small religious boutiques located in one wing of America's Mall, competing with one another for a dwindling market share as

00:46:37.430 - 00:46:52.400

people serve through societies marketplace, they're free to choose whether or not to enter or any of the religious shops and what if anything, they'll buy. There's a limited sense in which this is an old story

00:46:52.400 - 00:47:09.990

for the church. American religious life has long been characterized by personal freedom of choice, But what's new , at least in degree is the church's explicit embrace of consumer capitalism, both denominational E and congregational E

00:47:12.880 - 00:47:29.060

. Daniel Bell notes that capitalism's global extension hinges on its successful capture of the constituent of human power that is desire. In other words, he says, capitalism is not merely an economic order, but also

00:47:29.060 - 00:47:46.230

a discipline of desire. And the disciplining of desire begins with the creation of Desire and Desire is created by investing products with meaning promising experience that are destined to remain unfulfilled, creating space for more promise endlessly

00:47:46.230 - 00:48:02.090

renewed desire. In the words of steve jobs, people don't know what they want until you show it to them and showing it to them and making them want. It is the business of marketing and advertising

00:48:04.770 - 00:48:25.320

, and so positioned within the culture as voluntary associations dependent upon choices made by individuals. The churches are unable to resist becoming consumer commodities in a marketplace. Society denominations and congregations spend time and energy developing institutional

00:48:25.320 - 00:48:47.700

branding and marketing strategies, all with the help of professional consultants, capital campaigns and media promotions, highlight efforts to sell themselves as providers of religious goods and services. Meanwhile, the Gospel recedes into the background

00:48:49.370 - 00:49:05.430

. Is it taken for granted assumption? While the Gospels Mission in the world is reduced to episodic acts of compassion and service. And as the church's turn away from the world and inward upon themselves, They

00:49:05.430 - 00:49:24.790

compete with one another from market share in a declining demographic. Denominational marketing ranges from the United Methodist soft cell, open doors, open hearts open minds to the United Church of Christ hardline, contrasting of its

00:49:24.800 - 00:49:42.930

own inclusive welcome to the implied intolerance of other churches , jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we . Other marketing efforts include the Evangelical Lutheran Church is direct vague appeal to consumers, There's a place for

00:49:42.930 - 00:50:14.260

you here and the Presbyterian Church usa is puzzling and mercifully forgotten awareness campaign here and now, but note whether skillfully or clumsily denominations try to sell themselves their institutional selves by promoting brand awareness and promising fulfillment of

00:50:14.260 - 00:50:32.820

personal needs, different relief from and better than other churches. And competitive marketing is even more pronounced at the level of congregations. Local churches present themselves as a thinking, feeling healing community of faith or as

00:50:32.820 - 00:50:53.590

many journeys united in christ or as congregations going the distance and consumer choice is highlighted by a variety of worship options. My own personal favorite is a sign of a church just quite close to my home That

00:50:53.590 - 00:51:16.380

Trump. It's at 2:00 Sunday afternoon service by proclaiming at last, you can sleep in on sunday and new church plants emphasize their difference from stayed traditional churches by naming themselves hot metal bridge revolution or Destiny,

00:51:17.360 - 00:51:35.980

all emphasizing that they are a new way of doing church and market tested names. A new all new goods and services parallel standard american advertising strategies, differing from them only by their lack of subtlety and innovation

00:51:37.660 - 00:52:00.590

. In a stunning reversal of paul, who said what we proclaim is not ourselves, but jesus christ as Lord. The churches proclaim themselves their institutional selves without a hint of discomfort or embarrassment. Church branding

00:52:00.590 - 00:52:22.690

, institutional slogans, marketing strategies and ad campaigns all seem quite normal. Unquestioned means of appealing to consumer preference by distinguishing one church from the rest of the pack. What is less obvious is that as churches

00:52:22.870 - 00:52:43.830

employ the marketing methodologies of consumer capitalism, they position themselves as commodities to be selected and consumed in just the same way we select and consume everything from laundry detergent and smartphones, two movie tickets and vacation packages

00:52:45.450 - 00:53:07.860

. And as commodities, the church has become susceptible to characteristic consumer capriciousness and fickleness. Today's hot metal bridge will become yesterday's Blackberry. And the problem goes even deeper as purveyors of religious goods and services and

00:53:07.860 - 00:53:30.260

a consumer driven market economy, churches are susceptible to the short leap from commodification of the church, the short leap from the commodification of the Church to the commodification of God. The progression from choosing a religion

00:53:31.050 - 00:53:54.170

to choosing a church, to choosing a God leads directly to I determine what God is. The ecclesia economy of desire beckons us toward the God of our desiring. Well, a perceptive observer of the contemporary

00:53:54.170 - 00:54:13.690

Church in America has suggested that it's unspoken slogan might be, What does christ have to do with it ? Well, of course, christ has everything to do with the Gospel. Christ is the gospel that

00:54:13.690 - 00:54:20.920

calls the church into being and sends the world in the Church into the world. But that's for us