Chapters 9 and 10 of The Blue Parakeet make up the section on discernment. We have attended to scripture and adopted it. Now it is time to act. The acting requires discernment.
As we listen to God speak to us in our world through God’s ancient Word, we discern — through God’s Spirit and in the context of our community of faith — a pattern of how to live in our world.
He notes how we are already practicing discernment whether we realize it or not. We don’t obey all the precepts in the Sermon On the Mount, or at least most of us don’t. We no longer see circumcision as an everlasting ordinance for believers, as Genesis says it is. A key part of the purpose of his book is to cause us to look at the discerning (picking, choosing, interpreting) we are already engaged in and give an account of it.
He doesn’t offer a method of discernment. It is too messy to be methodical, and it will lead to a diversity of views. This is the nature of the thing. “Certainty and unanimity in discernment are not the world in which we live.” He notes how our discerning does change over time because of theological developments, scientific discoveries or cultural shifts; these are part of the environment in which we make our discernment.
A key concept is embodied in the little word with. We listen with other people. We listen with tradition at the table. We listen with humility. We listen with an awareness that God is speaking to us now. Once we have heard a word, we act on it in faith.
As an example, in the next five chapters he will explore an issue: women in church ministry.
Re: “He notes how our discerning does change over time because of theological developments, scientific discoveries or cultural shifts; these are part of the environment in which we make our discernment.”
His use of the the word “discern” in the context of scripture strikes me as evangelical, but the forces that he thinks shape “discernment” sound quite liberal. I think he must be writing a kind of apologetics for liberal evangelicalism, especially one that accepts contemporary cultural movements associated with the word “liberal.”
BTW, my impression is that circumcision has never been required in Christianity. That change is in the “story” Paul told.
And, what is a “theological development?”
You have just made the 1000th comment on what happens to be the 500th post on the blog. So congratulations!
In these chapters, McKnight gives a number of examples of how our discernment of the Bible’s teaching has changed. We realize we do not live in an earth-centered universe, even though the Bible suggests this; this change in discerning came through scientific advances.
The change regarding circumcision was a theological development within the story of the Bible itself. As to cultural shifts, he sees our changing views on the role of women as influenced by our culture; he thinks the tradition got it wrong and women should have been in formal church ministry all along.
So he is probably liberal on some issues, but I don’t know if he accepts the term in general. He does remind me of a kind of evangelical faith that is theologically conservative and socially moderate to liberal, at least on some things, but I would have to know more to say for sure.
He calls himself a Willopalian. He has warm regard for the Willow Creek church, but his faith is also influenced by the liturgical tradition in Episcopal Church.
Congratulations on completing 500 posts. That is quite an accomplishment in a short period of time. You have a great blog.
Thanks.
I didn’t answer your earlier question on what is theological development. McKnight uses the term while discussing the issue of circumcision and the church council in Acts 15. Their theology was changing, and that led them to view circumcision in a different light than they did before.
re: theological development
I wonder how he distinguishes that from reinterpreting or reimagining.
I guess I don’t really understand the ways by which evangelicals use the Bible and tradition and culture. It sounds to me a lot like chance and necessity, or the religious market, are the ultimate drivers of evangelical theology, if McKnight is evangelical. Certainly it is not unfair to say that Willowcreek is a marketplace creation.
Ditto on the blog congrats. I enjoy reading what you have to say.
I think the Sermon on the Mount comment is interesting. The fact that we pick and choose from it and do not follow parts of it says more about us than the relevance and wisdom of the SOM.