“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” 1Peter 3:10-13 Last night and this morning something that the LORD has been impressing on me lately is coming to a peak. It’s a like a burden in my chest. My heart races when I think of it. It’s a divine disturbance that many of us are hearing. It’s this idea of embodiment – or rather our wholesale turning away from all forms of embodiment. The idea that as Christians we are living disembodied lives with a focus on a disembodied future state. We have turned the Gospel into a flight towards pure spirit. We have forgotten that the summation of GOD’s plan of redemption is not us going to Heaven but Heaven coming to Earth. Jesus is coming back to this Earth not just to judge evil but to enact His Eternal Kingdom. The end of the story and our forgotten future is GOD’s New Creation. I suspect our incomplete theology and mis-reading of what occurs after the end of this age is informing a broader misunderstanding of how Scripture teaches us to live in the world now. The Church at large is plagued with a kind of fatalism and despising of the created gifts of GOD. We have despised our physical bodies (which Scripture says is the temple of the Holy Spirit) and looked in disdain on GOD’s Creation/the natural world (which in Genesis He calls good). We have also confined GOD to our religious temples – calling our church buildings “the House of GOD” when Scripture clearly informs us that the ‘Earth is the Lord’s’ and no temple can contain Him (Acts 7:48). It’s as if we have wholly misappropriated our entire understanding of the material world. I believe we have constructed a spirituality that is rooted in a kind of Platonic/Gnostic dualism that is like a thorny vine wrapped around the true trunk and roots that is our common Christian faith. And the fruit often in most evidence is coming from these ancient philosophies that are so tightly intertwined with our beliefs. The fruit of these false roots is a low view of the material world (as if it was somehow not created by GOD as an expression of His love to us) and in turn a faith that seeks escape from it. We have become exiles in a way that betrays GOD as Creator and as Redeemer – it betrays the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus. One of the primary contemporary prophetic voices speaking to this corruption of our faith is the farmer and agrarian writer Wendell Berry. His voice is like a voice from another time calling us as Modern Christians to a New Materialism – one rooted in a Biblical understanding of this world that GOD has given us – one in which we return to resurrection (of Jesus and in turn Creation and the people of GOD as well) as the central reality of our faith. In his epic essay ‘Christianity and the Survival of Creation‘ he pinpoints the root issue (all excerpts taken from the collection of essays ‘The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry‘):
“I have been talking, of course, about a dualism that manifests itself in several ways: as a cleavage, a radical discontinuity, between Creator and creature, spirit and matter, religion and nature, religion and economy, worship and work, and so on. This dualism, I think, is the most destructive disease that afflicts us. In it’s best-known, it’s most dangerous, and perhaps its fundamental version, it is the dualism of body and soul. This is an issue as difficult as it is important, and so to deal with it we should start at the beginning…”He goes on to direct the reader to Genesis 2:7 where GOD creates Adam. As GOD forms man from the dust of the ground and breathes life into him, Mr. Berry reminds us that our dualistic minds read it as a bad math formula informed by bad theology:
“The formula given in Genesis 2:7 is not man = body + soul; the formula there is soul = dust + breath. According to this verse, GOD did not make a body and put a soul into it, like a letter into an envelope. He formed man of dust; then, by breathing His breath into it, He made the dust live. The dust, formed as man and made to live, did not embody a soul; it became a soul. “Soul” here refers to the whole creature. Humanity is thus presented to us, in Adam, not as a creature of two discrete parts temporarily glued together but as a single mystery. We can see how easy it is to fall into the dualism of body and soul when talking about the inescapable worldly dualities of good and evil or time and eternity. And we can see how easy it is, when Jesus asks, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lost his own soul?” to assume that he is condemning the world and appreciating the disembodied soul. But if we give to “soul” here the sense that it has in Genesis 2:7, we see that he is doing no such thing. He is warning that in pursuit of so-called material possessions, we can lose our understanding of ourselves as “living souls” – that is, as creatures of GOD, members of the holy community of Creation. We can lose the possibility of the atonement of that membership. For we are free, if we choose, to make a duality of our one living soul by disowning the breath of GOD that is our fundamental bond with one another and with other creatures. But we can make the same duality by disowning the dust. The breath of GOD is only one of the divine gifts that make us living souls; the other is the dust. Most of our modern troubles come from our misunderstanding and misvaluation of this dust.” (p. 313-314)This is merely touching on the tip of the iceberg but he goes on to say:
“When we hate and abuse the body and its earthly life and joy for Heaven’s sake, what do we expect? That out of this life that we have presumed to despise and this world that we have presumed to destroy, we should somehow salvage a soul capable of eternal bliss? And what do we expect when with equal and opposite ingratitude, we try to make of the finite body an infinite reservoir of dispirited and meaningless pleasures?” (p. 314)Berry also speaks of the modern, secular version of this same dualism – where “the body, along with the rest of the “material” world, must give way before the advance of the human mind”. Clearly we are again finding the fruit of those ancient roots wrapped around both the culture of the Church and the wider culture. If we are, in our generation, to recover a robust and holistic expression of our devotion to Jesus as our Lord and Master – we must become aware of these entanglements that have reduced the Gospel to salvation as a hyper-individualized flight to a disembodied heavenly state. How you view the future and the end of the story means everything in how you live now. We have been praying: “Our Father who is in Heaven, please send your Son back quickly so we can be home with You” when Jesus told us to pray: “Our Father who is in Heaven, holy is your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven…” These are two visions of the future – one is of the Earth being destroyed and the people of GOD ending in Heaven, the other is of Heaven coming to Earth- in a grand climax with the return of Jesus inaugurating His Eternal Reign and the beginning of the Age to Come in a cosmic restoration . One vision of the future leads us towards incarnation and the embodiment of our faith and the other deceives us into becoming ‘holy phantoms” who are neither here (on Earth) nor there (in Heaven). This is not a mental struggle for academics and theologians – it is the task of every Christian to wrestle for the reclaiming of our purpose as we live backwards from the final day. Which vision will you live out of?]]>
You quote on of Berry’s weaker elements, in my opinion. His willingness to do away with the radical Otherness of GOD is problematic. The eschatological problem is not one of dualism vs. monism, but rather of directionality. As you mention at the end, we are inheriting a Kingdom Coming. We are not going “there” to it, but rather He/It is coming to dwell with us here. We need not revert to monism to acknowledge this. (Of course, I should mention that some dualisms he mentions are indeed sin. But Scripture is our guide here, as it reinforces some dualisms and eradicates others. Our theology shouldn’t end up looking like a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s 🙂
Hi Caleb. Thanks for the comment. I suppose you could read Mr. Berry as veering away from a Scriptural view of GOD and the world but I don’t interpret him the way that you are. I read him as saying GOD is our sustainer and his breath upholds us all. I don’t see him advocating a kind of New Age monism of Creation but rather calling Christians to find their place again in the community of Creation. The author Norman Wirzba seems to elaborate on Mr. Berry’s ‘agrarian theology’ in his books. I suggest checking him out. Also – I think the problem of dualism is directly related to our eschatology – I see it as a lense that is distorting all aspects of our theology. But it is a subtle undercurrent that mostly goes unperceived. I’d love to hash out some of these arguments in person. I’ll see you next week. -shalom bro!
I’m right there with you on this subject. Not only in the church, but in
modern western culture as a whole, we have become increasingly
disconnected from our bodies and the earth. The price we pay for it is
massive. As followers of Jesus, our primary objective is to bring heaven
to earth. Often I encounter those who place all hope in the afterlife,
and have little to no hope in the resurrection power of Jesus to work in
the here and now. They bear their time on this earth as a burden, a
necessary trial to pass through so that they can get to the glory on the
other side. We know there is redemption here and now!
I’m am glad to have found this space; I enjoy reading here!
Lori: Thank you for the encouragement! I think the LORD is taking many of us on a journey towards living in His kingdom now – here. I feel sad for many of us who refuse to believe that GOD can break in here and now. Thanks for the comment and thanks for being on the journey with us!
I am total agreement with this sentiment as well. I think it’s very sad how so many Christians placidly further the cause of a a society that is destructive to the people around them, to themselves, and to the planet as a whole, all the while consoling themselves by saying something like “It’s ok, everything will be good when we get to heaven.” I want to live am intentional life here on earth that that truly values and cares for the awesome, beautiful gifts that God has given us through his creation (including other people), and thereby, as you say help “bring heaven to earth.” It’s very refreshing to me to see that there are other Christians out there who feel the same way.
I love what you’ve been writing lately Jason! Thanks for putting voice to what I’m preaching in my church here in Seattle. While I agree with what you’re saying, I find myself troubled by the seeming “both/and” of the New Testament regarding eschatology. Not only is the kingdom coming here, but the earth will be burned up with fire, according to Peter. It’s Peter’s version, I believe, that leads to ‘drill baby drill’ and I wish it weren’t there, but it is. What do you make of it?
Also, I love your phrase, about how we pray either “send your son back quickly” or “bring your kingdom on earth” etc. The trouble is that the NT prays both, as evidenced in the cry “Maranatha”.
How do you deal with these tensions? I’m a huge fan of NT Wright, but have yet to read anything, anywhere, that wrestles with this adequately. Thanks for the dialogue!!
Richard: thank you for your great feedback. I see the two prayers ‘Father, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ and ‘Come Lord Jesus’ – as a single impulse. When we say ‘come’ we are asking for the fulfillment of GOD’s plan of redemption which Jesus will usher in. When we pray ‘maranatha’ with the attitude of a prisoner longing to escape prison – I wonder if we’ve missed something huge. Also, I believe the whole council of Scripture points clearly to a time of reckoning at the end of this age. It is spoken of in both the Old and New Testament – it will be a day of fire and judging of evil and for those who refuse GOD’s mercy and grace – they will be in dread. The part that we have forgotten as the Church – and left out for generations – is that the story does not end with judgement and the material realm being destroyed and us going to Heaven – the story ends in GOD’s New Creation and the resurrection of the material realm as it is merged with the heavenly realm under Jesus. Heaven is coming to Earth and Jesus will inaugurate ‘The Age to Come’ when He will accomplish ‘The Renewal/Reconciliation of All Things’. Sometimes what appears to be opposing truths in the Bible are really two tension points – like tent pegs that are upholding a larger revelation under which we can take shelter.
Richard: thank you for your great feedback. I see the two prayers ‘Father, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ and ‘Come Lord Jesus’ – as a single impulse. When we say ‘come’ we are asking for the fulfillment of GOD’s plan of redemption which Jesus will usher in. When we pray ‘maranatha’ with the attitude of a prisoner longing to escape prison – I wonder if we’ve missed something huge. Also, I believe the whole council of Scripture points clearly to a time of reckoning at the end of this age. It is spoken of in both the Old and New Testament – it will be a day of fire and judging of evil and for those who refuse GOD’s mercy and grace – they will be in dread. The part that we have forgotten as the Church – and left out for generations – is that the story does not end with judgement and the material realm being destroyed and us going to Heaven – the story ends in GOD’s New Creation and the resurrection of the material realm as it is merged with the heavenly realm under Jesus. Heaven is coming to Earth and Jesus will inaugurate ‘The Age to Come’ when He will accomplish ‘The Renewal/Reconciliation of All Things’. Sometimes what appears to be opposing truths in the Bible are really two tension points – like tent pegs that are upholding a larger revelation under which we can take shelter.
I love Wendell Berry. I’ve always wanted to read his stuff and decided I wanted to quote him in a book I was co-writing. I felt it wouldn’t be right to do so w/o buying it so I did. Incidentally I saw someone here in the UK reading one of his books. I was staring trying to work which one it was when he covered it up obviously thinking I was being nosy (which I was). Richard, I heard NT Wright at Greenbelt speaking on the gospels and Christian hope. You might find the talk helpful. One thing he said was that we underemphasis the Jesus between his birth and resurrection and one thing I found very helpful is that we are building for the kingdom, not the kingdom, God does that. I would add, hopefully despite my sin. In my book we looked at this issue of the obsession with the end times. I dug out some old books by Michael Green and John Stott, their view was this unhelpful because it stopped us thinking about building the kingdom now, and there we are back to NT Wright.
Like the site by the way.
http://www.theoillamp.co.uk
Hi Neil, Thanks for the thoughtful comment. You’re book and website look very interesting. I’m glad you mentioned NT Wright – while I haven’t read much of his work I have heard that my views are similar to his. I have greatly appreciated everything I have heard from him (videos online ,etc – and I have his book ‘Evil and the Justice of GOD’). In response to your comment about how we focus too much on ‘the End Times’ which causes us to become disembodied Christians – I would counter that a bit by saying: I don’t think it’s that we think too much about the end of the story – I think we are thinking wrongly. Maybe we need to even focus more on the ‘end of the age’ – to really study it instead of just accepting that it ends with earth burning and we go whisking off to heaven. The Bible clearly portrays a time of cataclysm and eventually judgment as we transition into the Age to Come and the Restoration of All Things at Jesus’ return. For many Christians – we stop there – with destruction of the material realm and us going to be with GOD – but the Bible says GOD is bringing heaven to earth and will resurrect His created order – in a New Creation – new heavens and a new earth. We live badly because we have bad theology – or rather we live incompletely because we have an incomplete theological imagination. How we think about the future determines how we live in the present. My argument is for a deeper look at the Age to Come because we all are living backwards from our view of what is to come.
Hello: A few weeks ago Wendell Barry was on the Diane Rehm Show on Radio IQ 89.5. He sounds as genuine and real as his writings portray him. Here is another quote from him that rocked my world with it accuracy
“The organized church makes peace with a destructive
economy and divorces itself from economic issues because it is
economically compelled to do so. Like any other public institution so
organized, the organized church is dependent on “the economy”; it cannot
survive apart from those economic practices that its truth forbids and
that its vocation is to correct.
If it comes to a choice between the extermination of the fowls of the
air and the lilies of the field and the extermination of the building
fund, the organized church will elect—indeed, has already elected—to
save the building fund. The irony is compounded and made harder to bear
by the fact that the building fund can be preserved by crude
applications of money, but the fowls of the air and the lilies of the
field can be preserved only by true religion, by the practice of a
proper love and respect for them as the creatures of God. No wonder so
many sermons are devoted exclusively to “spiritual” subjects. If one is
living by the tithes of history’s most destructive economy, then the
disembodiment of the soul becomes the chief of worldly conveniences.”
And you said “It’s a like a burden in my chest. My heart races when I think of it. It’s a divine disturbance that many of us are hearing.”
This is how I feel most of the time. Since finding the Barry quote more than a year ago and even before, I started to notice that we as Christians are (as Brian McLaren put it) “between something broken and something new”. I also have noticed that there are many that feel the same way. Even Billy Graham feels that God is working in a different way now. I believe that all Christians are being invited to restore the world to the state of “Good” that it was when it was created. A perceptible move of God is at hand and the more I look around the more I realize that the ideas in my own head have not been share enough for so many to have come to the same conclusions. This is encouraging because if God is behind this then it will be successful and at the same time it is challenging because if it is the work of God then we have got to participate.
James
Thanks for the comment James! Somehow I missed it when you originally commented. I indeed agree with you that GOD is on the move – and I believe it will be more radical than any revival or reformation that has come before. Let’s pray and live towards this end. -shalom bro!