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Christianity Today, August, 2011

Wrestling with Angels

A Both/And Path to Truth

Why the narrow way to faith is also expansive.

Carolyn Arends | posted 8/15/2011 09:56AM

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My friend John Blase is a writer who chooses his words with utmost care. So when I noticed he refers to his wife as his "girlfriend" in his blogs, I knew the quirk was intentional. It turns out the habit goes back to the time when John was asked whether the lovely lady next to him was his wife or his girlfriend. He gave the only answer that made sense: "Yes."

I've been thinking about John and his girlfriend/wife a lot lately, especially when I read my Bible. Is it faith or works? I demand of the text, and the answer seems to be: "Yes." Is God a God of revelation or of mystery? Is he as close as a whisper or beyond all things? Yes. Yes. Is the kingdom of heaven now or not yet? Should I be wise as a serpent or innocent as a dove? Should I fall headlong into grace or work out my salvation with fear and trembling? Yes. Yes. Yes.

A lifetime of evangelical thinking has primed me for either/or questions,breeding a deep distrust of both/and propositions. After all, one of the distinguishing features of Christianity is its insistence that there is one way to God. A wariness of pluralistic worldviews is completely warranted. But if I'm not careful, that insistence can mutate into creating artificial schisms that fly in the face of a God who desires to make us whole in radical ways.

When we fall for false dualities, we end up arguing over whether the gospel is concerned with ministering to the poor or proclaiming the Word. We believe our theology must emphasize either a free gift of grace or a call to holy living. In a myriad of areas, we polarize, dichotomize, and greatly minimize the life God has for us.

In his book Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith, Richard J. Foster argues for a larger, less-fragmented view of life in Christ by exploring six great traditions that have ebbed and flowed throughout Christian history. My husband and I once used these six "streams" as curriculum for adults at a family camp. It was fascinating to observe the ways that personality and denominational background influenced affinities and aversions to the various traditions.

We emphasize either a free gift of grace or a call to holy living. In a myriad of areas, we polarize, dichotomize, and greatly minimize the life God has for us.

Our introverts extolled the Contemplative Tradition, with its focus on prayer and meditation. The activists among us couldn't wait to cover the Social Justice Tradition. Our Pentecostals wondered why we were taking so long to get to the Charismatic Tradition's exploration of the Spirit-filled life, while the Baptists felt we should begin and end with the Evangelical Tradition and its insistence upon the centrality of Scripture. Most of us were intrigued by the Incarnational Tradition's assertion that all aspects of life should be lived sacramentally; almost none of us had a natural attraction to the Holiness Tradition, because an emphasis on virtuous living had been so frequently divorced from grace in our past experience.

Foster's careful analysis showed us how these traditions have informed, provoked, and corrected each other over time. Even in our little camp group, we saw how our various inclinations could help us balance each other; it took all of us to make up the body of Christ. And we could concede that, while we'd always be naturally stronger in some areas than others, there was no excuse for completely ignoring (let alone disparaging) whole planes of life in God's kingdom.

This insight is easier to write about than live. Efficient people and organizations are lauded for decisive and focused thinking; they find a singular mandate and stick to it. The paradox that so typified Jesus' teaching is expansive, complex, and nuanced. It requires mulling and wrestling; it forces huge shifts in paradigm and, eventually, practice. When we are asked to hold two seemingly opposite truths in tension, we experience confusion (which can be painful) before we get to any sort of cohesion. So, we often bail and settle for one pole or the other, congratulating ourselves for taking a stand, but losing at least half of what God has for us in the process.

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A Both/And Faith, August 2011, Vol. 55, No. 8, Page 66

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Mark McDonnel

August 25, 2011 11:14am

I don't feel like both/and needs to result in tension. Part of the reason why we tend naturally to an either/or is because we cannot long abide tension. Better theological work toward integration can show how both faith and works are necessary in their own way. There need not be tension if there can be greater understanding. Otherwise, we know that both faith and works are important, so sometimes it is faith and sometimes it is works. No, it is faith and works all the time performing their own unique function in relation to the whole. Integration, not tension.

John G.

August 22, 2011 11:15am

There are numerous paradoxes (which are not the same as contradictions) in Scripture. One concerns human government: instituted by God (Romans 13), but controlled by Satan (Matt. 4), but ultimately answerable to God. That's just one example among many. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33, NKJV)

Dianne W

August 22, 2011 1:04am

Since my frail mind still wrestles with the fact that light is both wave and particle, I am not going to pretend to understand the many dualities of a Triune God.

Michael David

August 21, 2011 6:59pm

Dave Ambleton, I like your comment! I love reading some of www.voiceofelijah.org. Larry Harper has done a lot of research on the deceit and what the early Church believed that challenges the mainstream Christian thought. Need to read the Antichrist by him, very interesting. Things fall into place even more when you wake up to the fact Paul is Satan's apostle. You can see parallels to how Joseph Smith used to create a new religion. It's uncanny how close these two are. Like they both have three versions on their supernatural visions!

Tim Childs

August 21, 2011 8:30am

Wonderful piece! When we try to nail God down, when we try to define who He is and what He is about, He shifts and moves, and suddenly we are not sure anymore; He keeps us 'on our toes' as it where! @Cindy Flora: 'The inclusiveness of God is in agreement with the the exclusiveness of God. It's a paradox!' Exactly! That sums up God; sort of! He can be all things to all people, and He can, somehow, be contradictory and still be true, true to Himself and to human beings too! When we try, even earnestly, to define God, to define Him as more Catholic, or more Protestant, or more Methodist, or whatever, we make a mistake, because I think for the most part, He is beyond definition; we see through a glass darkly, and it is as if even the most tuned-in and clued up believers have one piece of the jigsaw that is the puzzle of God, and we need all the pieces to see the whole picture!

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