The Naked Anabaptist

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything.  Recently I finished reading The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of the Radical Faith.  If you're thinking "Amish gone wild" or "I knew there was something screwy about those Brethren," sorry to disappoint.

Stuart Murray is an Anabaptist writing from England.  His book is a look at the basic principles of the Anabaptist tradition.  He wanted to look at the Anabaptist faith when it's not clothed in Amish or Mennonite clothing and traditions (hence, "Naked Anabaptist").  At the start he deals with some common misconceptions or ideas of Anabaptism.  They are questions Murray hears often being a part of the Anabaptist Network in England where Anabaptism has not traditionally been a part of the religious make-up.

The rest of the book is mostly spent looking at seven core convictions of Anabaptists.

1. Jesus is our example, teacher, friend, redeemer, and Lord.  He is the source of our life, the central reference point for our faith and lifestyle, for our understanding of church, and our engagement with society.  We are committed to following Jesus as well as worshipping him.  
2. Jesus is the focal point of God’s revelation.  We are committed to a Jesus-centered approach to the Bible, and to the community of faith as the primary context in which we read the Bible and discern and apply its implications for discipleship.
3. Western culture is slowly emerging from the Christendom era, when church and state jointly presided over a society in which almost all were assumed to be Christian.  Whatever its positive contributions on values and institutions, Christendom seriously distorted the gospel, marginalized Jesus, and has left the churches ill equipped for mission in a post-Christendom culture.  As we reflect on this, we are committed to learning from the experience and perspectives of movements such as Anabaptism that rejected standard Christendom assumptions and pursued alternative ways of thinking and behaving.
4. The frequent association of the church with status, wealth, and force is inappropriate for followers of Jesus and damages our witness.  We are committed to exploring ways of being good news to the poor, powerless, and persecuted, aware that such discipleship may attract opposition, resulting in suffering and sometimes ultimately martyrdom.  
5. Churches are called to be committed communities of discipleship and mission, places of friendship, mutual accountability, and multivoiced worship.  As we eat together, sharing bread and wine, we sustain hope as we seek God’s kingdom together.  We are committed to nurturing and developing such churches, in which young and old are valued, leadership is consultative, roles are related to gifts rather than gender, and baptism is for believers.  
6. Spirituality and economics are interconnected.  In an individualist and consumerist culture and in a world where economic injustice is rife, we are committed to finding ways of living simply, sharing generously, caring for creation, and working for justice.  
7. Peace is at the heart of the gospel.  As followers of Jesus in a divided and violent world, we are committed to finding nonviolent alternatives and to learning how to make peace between individuals, within and among churches, in society, and between nations.

The book concludes by looking at where the Anabaptists have come from and looks at Anabaptism today.  Murray's conclusion is that there is a lot to be taken from the Anabaptist tradition in, what he labels, post-Christendom.

This is not an overly scholarly book.  Murray and his network are trying to provide resources for the emerging Anabaptists in England and Ireland.  I appreciated his critique of Christendom (the time from the 4th Century conversion of Constantine through the late 20th Century) when the church and state together controlled society.  He admits that there was good that came out of that period, but that in general it was not an idea that was faithful to Christ's sacrificial love.  Part of the reason for his admiration of Anabaptism is its noncompliance with Christendom ideology.  He sees Anabaptism as a movement focused on Jesus-centered discipleship whose moment in church history has finally come.  Murray confesses weaknesses of Anabaptism but evaluates it positively.  

For anyone who wants to be introduced to Anabaptism, for Anabaptists who don't know where they come from, for those longing to be part of a community which worships and follows Jesus, I would highly recommend giving it a read.  It's challenging whether you are an Anabaptist or not. 

Christian History

It's been a while since I've written a book review.  This is probably because with a baby, garden on top of everything happening at church, I haven't had time to read a whole lot.  What I have been reading is a Quicknotes version of Church History.  I decided it was about time I refreshed my memory of some of the things that are a part of our history as the church.  This isn't really a review of the book itself.  The authors/editors do a good job of giving a brief overview of primarily Western church history.  It offers a few value judgements of history, some of which I agree with and others I don't.

The history moves from the early, primitive church in Acts through the Roman persecution, theological developments, Middle Ages, into the Reformation, Great Awakening and finally ends with the 20th Century development of "Evangelical" Christianity in the West and also offers a look and guidance for the church in the 21st Century.

What comes to life is a twisted history in the institutional church.  The church begins as a movement of people trying to live as members of the kingdom of God.  They were persecuted by Roman and Jewish authorities at the start.  With Constantine, all of that subversive, underground, Christ-following movement becomes powerful.  Church and State become united and remain that way until the secularization of the Enlightenment begins.  There are major developments that occur in the theology of the church as it develops.

One thing I found interesting was the development of the Reformation.  Martin Luther is often credited as starting the Reformation.  This review of history also points out those that paved the way for the Reformation such as John Wycliffe and Jan Hus.  It also talks about the developing of state churches following Luther, Calvin or Catholicism.  The book also goes into some detail of the Radical Reformers which developed Anabaptism.  Anabaptists suffered persecution  under the state churches whether Lutheran, Calvinist or Catholic.

The book concludes by looking at the effects of the Enlightenment on the church.  It then  talks about the evangelistic movements of the 19th and 20th Century.  They also mention that eventually Evangelical Christianity began to divorce the social and spiritual Gospel.  For centuries the faithful church had sought ways to reform societies ills while also seeking to bring people to Christ.  They were one in the same.  During the 20th Century the church began to split the gospel.

Two things become clear by looking at church history.  The first is that the church with worldly power is really no different than the world with worldly power.  The only difference is that the church with worldly power assumes God has ordained it.  When the church identifies with the the outcasts and speaks prophetically to centers of power, then it is faithful and grows.  The church and state relationship  does not work.  The second thing that becomes clear is that the church has one Gospel to live out.  Jesus fed people with bread and told them he was the bread of life.  He cared for people's physical and spiritual needs.  One Gospel.  Jesus has come to change the world.  Physical or Spiritual.  Everything comes under Jesus.  The Church, then, must do likewise.  We look for ways to help the disenfranchised, poor and outcasts while reconciling people to Christ.  When the church tries to use the power of the state or fragments the Gospel it begins to turn away from faithfully following Christ.