Showing posts with label women in ministry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women in ministry. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Silence: A Christian History Review by Sutton


Silence: A

Christian History   

   By
Diarmaid MacCulloch  

Reviewed by

  Geoffrey W. Sutton



I come from a noisy church tradition—a place where young Christians like their music loud and pulsating. The notion of silence in Christianity struck me as odd when I saw it on the new books’ shelf of my local library. But as I flipped through the Table of Contents and checked a few pages, many thoughts came to mind. Perhaps like historians, psychologists and counsellors can learn much from silence. Silence helps interpret noise.

 Diarmaid MacCulloch work is scholarly, intriguing, insightful, and masterfully written. MacCulloch is Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University and an award-winning author. He has also produced a multi-episode video series on the history of Christianity (this is also worth viewing) as well as a New York Times Best Seller on the same subject.

MacCulloch organized Silence into historical eras creating nine chapters to describe four epochs. The first chapter of The Bible era offers a look at the contrasts between silence and celebration in the Hebrew Bible. When God speaks, the Israelites cry and celebrate with a loud noise. And there are times when people are hushed before the Lord. Chapter two reveals the back and forth of noise and silence. Jesus ends a period of silence. He gives a voice to the poor. And at times Jesus retreats into silence. Paul deals with noisy, and sometimes cantankerous, Christians.

The Triumph of Monastic Silence embraces a thousand years. MacCulloch describes the rise of asceticism, the formation of the first monastic orders, and the silence of those who did not join the early martyrs. We learn about both Eastern and Western church traditions.

We approach the modern era in Part Three, Silence through Three Reformations. In two chapters we learn of the context for reform in a sweeping review of icons and mystical notions through 1500. As readers will know, the noise of the Protestant Reformation dominates church history in the era 1500 through 1700. Amidst the loud calls for reform are those promoting tolerance and peace. And in this context, Quakers quietly meet.

Finally, Tridentine Catholics rise to defend their traditions. Part Four, Reaching behind Noise in Christian History, is different from the historical narrative. And it is this section I consider most relevant to those of us interested in the Psychology of Religion because here we encounter the Christian context for silences that continue to rock the lives of contemporary Christians. We learn about gay churchmen under cloaks of silence yet networked by efficient undercover communications. As clinicians are aware, silence is a contemporary reality for many sexual minorities. Women are silent too. Of course, they are present. But as is true today and throughout Christian history, the voices of women are largely missing. MacCulloch notes the exceptions. And wonders what the future will hold. Shameful themes are not ignored. Penetrating the silence are the voices of abused children and slaves. And why was the church so silent during the Holocaust?

As MacCulloch recounts the stories I am left to wonder: Who heard the voices of the victims? Where was the voice of the church? In the final chapter, MacCulloch looks at the contemporary church and offers a more personal and optimistic view. He shows us how to embrace silence in worship and respect as when we observe a moment of silence when recalling a deceased friend. He reminds us of the joy that comes from varieties of music and does not seek to silence the enthusiastic voices of Pentecostal Christianity. I found the author’s vibrant prose and command of Christian history helpful in navigating such a wide expanse of noise and silence in the biblical and church eras. However, despite valuing the historical context, I found it difficult to decide how the selected examples from the Hebrew Bible, New Testament, and church history linked together to provide a framework for the arguably more disconcerting silences of the modern era.

MacCulloch artfully juxtaposes silence and noise. But silence does not easily lend itself to interpretation. Still, the negative contrast in the biblical texts and church history offer an ample basis for thinking about the importance of silence and voices in worship, moral matters, and the consulting room. Silence almost begs for interpretation and is often interrupted by cacophony at church and in relationships. Silence: A Christian History quietly calls for social justice—a time for silence and a time to speak. One of his images stands out against the rest. Loud voices of strident Christians appear like a child’s sand castles on a beach—soon to disappear when the inexorable tide washes ashore.

MacCulloch, D. (2013). Silence: A Christian History. New York: Viking.

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Ethics in the Age of the Spirit- A book review




ETHICS IN THE AGE OF THE SPIRIT: 
RACE, WOMEN, WAR, 
AND THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD
     by Howard N. Kenyon. 
     Reviewed by 
        Geoffrey W. Sutton 

            

The topics of race, women, and war, in Kenyon’s subtitle, are certainly timely issues. In 2016, the son of a Black father and White mother neared the end of his two terms as the 44th U.S. president while a woman campaigned to replace him. Meanwhile, the U.S. was at war, as it has been for 222 years since 1776 (Charpentier, 2017). Drawing on archival data, Howard N. Kenyon examines Pentecostals’ ethical response to racism, sexism, and war in the context of their fundamentalist roots and the historic cultural changes that have occurred in the past one hundred years.

Howard N. Kenyon is a fourth-generation Pentecostal. He earned his Ph.D. in Ethics from Baylor University in 1988. Ethics in the Age of the Spirit is an updated version of his dissertation. He is currently Vice President of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon. And he continues to express his concerns in presentations, essays, and blogs.


Kenyon’s inquiry begins with five context-setting chapters explaining the holiness roots and early revivals which led to the 1914 formation of the Pentecostal fellowship known as the Assemblies of God (AG). Although the roots of American Pentecostalism may be traced to the 1800s, most historians associate the beginning of the new religious movement with the exuberant prayer meetings of the early 1900s marked by reports of divine healing and glossolalia. In this review, I focus on Kenyon’s three ethical topics, consider how his data fit with moral foundations theory, and suggest psychosocial factors that behavioral science readers might find relevant.


RACE

Kenyon refers to the AG race relations policy as a reactionary ethic (chapters 6-11). Rather than offering ethical leadership, the AG was guided by the values of their dominant white evangelical kin. At the time of the spiritual revival in the early 1900s, Blacks and Whites worshipped together, but by the time of the organization of the AG in 1914, they were mostly white (see photo), and a contemporary denomination was mostly black (COGIC: Church of God in Christ). An example of early black-white thinking can be seen in a pithy 1933 photo caption: “Black faces–white hearts (p. 71)” One example of a reactionary ethic is the marked shift in credentialing of a black pastor, Robert Harrison (1928-2012). Initially, he was denied credentials upon graduating from an AG bible school; however, he received them in 1962 following his rise to international prominence within the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. It is noteworthy that the AG and COGIC met in powerful reconciliation meetings in the 1990s known as the Memphis Miracle (Underwood  AGCOGIC )

WOMEN

Like the story of African Americans, women were also active participants in the seminal Pentecostal revival meetings (chapters 12-16). Several women were prominent evangelists within Pentecostal enclaves, and a few (e.g., Florence Crawford, Aimee Semple McPherson) achieved wider recognition. Unlike blacks, and unlike women in many other denominations, Pentecostal women were credentialed and served as evangelists and missionaries. However, numerous discussions led to various rules limiting acceptable pastoral duties. In discussing an early debate over women serving as elders, Kenyon noted, “the issue of distinction was clearly one of authority (153).” Kenyon refers to the ethical stance toward women as a dogmatic ethic. By this, he means that scripture, or more properly an interpretation of scripture, held sway. Today, women are visible leaders in the AG. See the AG position paper on the role of women in ministry for their current position (2010).

WAR

Finally, Kenyon examines the significant reversal of Pentecostals’ stance on participation in war (chapters 17-21). In the early years, the position of the American AG was decidedly pacifist. Some cited Jesus’ ethic of loving one’s neighbors and enemies. And some referred to the sixth commandment forbidding killing. Others argued that the proper focus of ministry is on reaching the lost with the gospel—there was a sense of urgency because they viewed the outpouring of God’s Spirit on believers and the horrific World War I as signs of Jesus imminent return. The pacifist position changed when America entered the war. The Espionage and Sedition Act of 1917 significantly dampened public pronouncements against war and encouraged the new movement to assure the government that they were loyal citizens and not a group of rebels. World War II delivered the knockout blow (my opinion) to any pacifist inclinations as the AG demonstrated pride in their young servicemen and gave considerable effort to support their spiritual needs. See the AG position paper on peacemaking (2015).


*****


Reading Ethics as a psychologist, I thought it was much like a case study illustrating the three binding dimensions (purity, authority, loyalty) of moral foundations theory explained by Jonathan Haidt in The Righteous Mind (2012), which is supported by recent research among Pentecostals and evangelicals (Sutton, Kelly, & Huver, 2019). Segregation, the aforementioned purity quote, prohibitions against interracial marriages, and antimiscegenation laws (overturned by SCOTUS in 1967) exemplify both racial (e.g., see Nacoste, 2018) and sexual purity concerns (e.g., see Sutton, 2016)


The language of the struggle for women’s right to be fully engaged in pastoral work was aptly presented as a struggle over authority and reveals the tension between women’s recognized gifts of preaching versus the authority issues attributed to select Pauline texts. Finally, Kenyon’s explanation of the loyalty issue faced by AG pacifists, reveals the tension experienced by those who felt torn by loyalty to God versus loyalty to the government.

Readers familiar with behavioral science may also want to consider the power of psychosocial factors influencing the ethical considerations of Christian organizations. For example, it seems quite ironic that despite early ethical wrangling over supporting war, the two wars served as catalysts for the rights of African Americans and women based on their substantial contributions to the war effort at home and on the battlefield. Women got the right to vote and a slow but traceable path approaching equality. 


Under threat of protest organized by A. Philip Randolph, Roosevelt banned racial discrimination related to war production in 1941 (Gates, n.d.). Also, at about the time Rev. Harrison was dealing with discrimination, the U.S. Supreme court ruled against school segregation (1954) and in 1957 president Eisenhower ordered the National Guard to protect nine black students entering a white high school in Arkansas (history.com)—four decades after the AG was formed in the same state. Finally, reminiscent of their study of Appalachian Pentecostals (Hood, Hill, & Williamson, 2005), the theory of intratextual fundamentalism may also be applied to understand the dynamic at work when AG leaders employed biblical texts to support authority and loyalty concerns related to women and war issues.


*****

Ethics in the Age of the Spirit deserves a place in the libraries of Christian colleges and seminaries. It will surely be a valuable resource in courses on Christian ethics, especially for those in Pentecostal and Evangelical institutions. I think it also highlights the value of archival analysis to examine shifts in patterns of moral foundations.


Personal note and disclosure

I became friends with Howard Kenyon via social media connections and for a brief time, his father was the pastor of the church I attended in my early teen years. I learned about this book from a mutual friend, Marty Mittelstadt, who wrote the foreword. It is possible that I have been favorably biased in writing this review.

I have written an academic review, which has been accepted and I hope will be published in 2020 but that process is slower than posting on a blog. 

I cannot guarantee that the links in this blog will always work. I hope you have enough information to search if the information is still available.


A related book: A House Divided on AMAZON














References


Gates, H.L., Jr. (n.d.). What was black America’s double war? pbs.org. retrieved December 16, 2019 from https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/what-was-black-americas-double-war/


Haidt, J. (2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. New York: Pantheon.


Hood, R. W. Jr., Hill, P.C., & Williamson, W. P. (2005). The psychology of religious fundamentalism. New York: Guilford.


Sutton, G. W. (in press). [Review of the book Ethics in the age of the spirit: Race, women, war, and the Assemblies of God by H. N. Kenyon]. Journal of Psychology and Christianity. Accepted 20 December 2019.  ResearchGate         Academia

Sutton, G. W., Kelly, H. L., & Huver, M. E. (2019). Political Identities, Religious Identity, and the Pattern of Moral Foundations among Conservative Christians. Journal of Psychology and Theology (online first). https://doi.org/10.1177/0091647119878675 Prepublication version at ResearchGate   or Academia


Also relevant: Christian Morality on AMAZON and other sellers worldwide.
















Connections

   My Page    www.suttong.com
   My Books   AMAZON     GOOGLE PLAY STORE
   FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton
   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton

Publications (many free downloads)
  Academia   Geoff W Sutton   (Ph.D.)     
  ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton   (Ph.D.)

Monday, May 14, 2018

Moral Teaching of Paul --A Book Review

THE MORAL TEACHING 

OF PAUL

SELECTED ISSUES

3RD EDITION

     BY

VICTOR PAUL FURNISH

Reviewed by

Geoffrey W. Sutton


The Moral Teaching of Paul is one of the books I cited in A House Divided. This third edition comes some 30 years after the first edition and aims to expand our understanding of the sociocultural context of Paul's Ministry related to contemporary moral issues.

Before discussing the moral topics, Furnish reminds readers in Chapter 1 about Paul's authorship, which at this point appears firm for Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. Disputed works include Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy. The disputed works have been variously dated in a range from the 70s to the early second century. The importance of identifying Paul's works is a matter of emphasis thus, Furnish focuses attention on the undisputed texts to understand Paul's moral theology.

Furnish advises readers of the problem with a Sacred Cow view of the biblical texts. Such a view leaves readers bound to Paul's words because they are really the words of God given to all people for all time. Furnish argues that the biblical authors addressed situations in their sociohistorical context. Furnish realizes he must deal with those who quote 2 Timothy 3: 16-17. He makes the point, as others have, that the verse about inspired scripture probably referred to the Jewish texts since there was no New Testament at the time Paul wrote. The other point rests on an understanding of the concept, inspiration. As is commonly known, some view inspiration as the very words of God but others interpret the term in various ways (see Chapter 1 for more details).

Following the groundwork in Chapter 1, Furnish begins to address the moral topics that capture our attention. Chapter 2 deals with Sex, Marriage, and Divorce. There is no surprise to see Paul's view of sex as limited to the marriage relationship. Furnish offers background points about marriage during the Roman period. The purpose of marriage was to establish a household where children could be raised and elderly parents receive care. Approved marriages were important to the transfer of property to future generations. Girls married in the age range of 12 to 15 and men married by age 25. Furnish notes Paul's reason for marriage as "good" to meet sexual needs. Paul avoids the reason others have given of marrying to procreate (Gen 1:28).

Divorce was easy to obtain during Roman times, according to Furnish. Adultery was the usual cause of a divorce. Furnish notes Jesus' restrictive stance on divorce and guides readers into a consideration of other reasons beyond infidelity by considering circumstances as does Paul in some of his reasoning.

Chapter 3 is titled, "Homosexuality?" Furnish makes the point early on that there were no ancient words for homosexuality in the biblical languages. Furnish departs from a discussion of Paul's works to provide context from the Jewish laws about same-sex sex. He then proceeds to a discussion of Jewish and Roman cultures in the first century. For Jews, same-sex sex was unnatural and unlawful. He refers to Greek culture and the presence of same-sex relationships. Some practices by people of the time involving sex with boys were condemned by other writers and Furnish thinks these condemned practices may be what Paul had in mind. He offers quotes from ancient extrabiblical texts to make his point about the condemnation of exploitation. Furnish closes the chapter by addressing current concerns about same-sex unions. He reminds readers of the limits of what the biblical texts say and do not say when it comes to contemporary notions of sexual orientation and relationships.

Ad. See related chapters in A House Divided


________________________

In Chapter 4, Furnish addresses Paul's view of "Women in the Church." As in previous chapters, Furnish provides the sociohistorical context applicable to the texts that appear to limit the role of women in ministry. He includes quotes depicting the inferiority of a woman's human nature e.g., seeing women as easily deceived and having poor reasoning powers. Next, Furnish examines the sometimes confusing array of teachings from Paul's letters. On the one hand, there are texts restricting what women can do but on the other hand, there are texts documenting the important role of women in early church ministries--including Paul's work.

The final chapter (5) addresses the moral challenge of "The Church in the World." We see that Paul expects Christians to live as citizens, which suggests an active role in social life. We also see guidance on how to behave; that is, Paul refers to such virtues as love, gentleness, kindness, and so on. Furnish makes a point that Christians are called to honorable conduct without connecting good works to the conversion of unbelievers to Christianity.

Furnish's analysis of Paul's teachings in the context of Jewish and Roman cultures provides a useful backdrop to consider contemporary interpretations of several hot-button issues that continue to divide contemporary Christians. Thus, Furnish's book remains relevant as Christians sincerely seek to appreciate what the Apostle Paul wrote, the traditions of the church, and how one ought to think about contemporary moral issues. The book will likely not be helpful to those who adhere to an interpretation of Pauline texts that does not permit a nuanced view based on cultural contexts and understanding old words and phrases in the ancient languages of scripture. The Moral Teaching of Paul will likely be useful for those in a variety of Christian ministries and students in Christian colleges and seminaries.

Ad. For a related book on Christian Morality, See Christian Morality on AMAZON and at other booksellers.











Sex and Christianity topics: Women in the church, marriage, adultery, divorce, same-sex acts

Religious perspective: Progressive Christian, moral theology




Connections

My Page    suttong.com

My Books  
 AMAZON     GOOGLE PLAY STORE

FACEBOOK  
 Geoff W. Sutton

TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton

Publications (many free downloads)
     
  Academia   Geoff W Sutton   (PhD)
     
  ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton   (PhD)


References

Furnish, V. P. (2009). The Moral Teaching of Paul: Selected Issues, 3rd Ed. Nashville: Abingdon.

Sutton, G. W. (2016). A House Divided: Sexuality, Morality, and Christian Cultures. Eugene, OR: Pickwick.