{"id":750,"date":"2008-08-15T19:55:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-16T02:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=750"},"modified":"2008-08-15T19:55:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-16T02:55:00","slug":"the-church-integrated-not-institutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=750","title":{"rendered":"The Church — Integrated Not Institutional?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are some big happenings just south of here in Orange County this weekend.<\/p>\n

The Presbyterian Global Fellowship<\/a> is holding their third annual Inside-Out Conference<\/a> in Long Beach this weekend. For details of what is happening you can check out the PGF Outbox blog<\/a>.  (For the GA Junkies out there this is the same convention center that was the site of the 212th General Assembly (2000) of the PC(USA).)<\/p>\n

There’s also some political event<\/a> going on at a megachurch<\/a> down there.  With the price of one of the good seats at $2000 I’m skipping it.  But seriously, this blending (blurring?) of church and state has raised issues with some people. (Example 1<\/a> and Example 2<\/a> from On Faith<\/a>)<\/p>\n

But I want to take a step back from this direct and high-profile political involvement and mention another church and culture article.  This comes from David Virtue of Virtue Online<\/a> and in a recent post<\/a> he discusses a book by Dr. Peter Hammond titled Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat<\/a>. (now apparently out of print)  Mr. Virtue begins his entry with this:<\/p>\n

Islam is not a religion nor is it a cult. It is a complete system.<\/p>\n

Islam
\nhas religious, legal, political, economic and military components. The
\nreligious component is a beard for all the other components.<\/div>\n

You may or may not agree with this and if you agree you may consider the concept of a complete system a positive or a negative (Mr. Virtue goes on to discuss it as a negative).  But it struck me that a scholar and friend of mine views the ancient Hebrew society as a complete system with implications for the modern Christian Church to be integrated in society, not an institution outside it.  This is not that the United States should be a theocracy, but rather how Christians corporately and individually participate in our culture.  And yes, this flies in the face of American individualism and the church as just a spiritual institution.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Dr. Robert Linthicum is a parish associate at our church and head of the parachurch organization Partners in Urban Transformation<\/a>.  Previously an urban parish minister and leader at World Vision in urban ministry, he is an expert in community organizing.  With his background and study he has a theological perspective that sees the Biblical instructions to ancient Israel as a complete system, an integration of their spiritual, economic and political life so that there are no rich or poor but a culture that is equitable to everyone.  And through this lens he reads the rest of the Bible to see God’s people as the workers for God’s social vision even today.<\/p>\n

Now, you may not agree with his theological viewpoint; I can say that I am not in total agreement with some of the things I have heard Bob say.  But in the same way that Mr. Virtue is discussing Islam as a complete system, this particular view has ancient Israel intended to be a complete system and the Christian Church the inheritors of that legacy.<\/p>\n

I have been trying to find a good resource on line that explains some of this but have not located any.  You can get some of this viewpoint from one of Rev. Linthicum’s sermons (larger mp3<\/a>, smaller wma<\/a>).  His central books on this are Transforming Power<\/a> and Building a People of Power<\/a>. <\/p>\n

For consideration.  Your mileage may vary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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