Bonhoeffer asked us, How do we be the church in the modern times? This question has been bothering me for a while. Perhaps it has been haunting me, a spectre in the back of my mind that I have been trying to get a grasp of. I think that this question that Bonhoeffer confronts us with is one of, if not, the most important question that has been posed to us.
I am not going to pretend that I have an answer to such a question. However, I think I have an insight that is worth sharing. Yet, before I get to that, I feel that I need to do some background work.
You see, I have recently decided to try to get into a Doctoral position at a local seminary. As I was talking to one of the professors, it was recommended that I read James C. Livingston's Modern Christian Thought (2 vols.). This work is a primer on how Christian thought has developed since the Enlightenment, which will help me understand how the philosophical insights have shaped the Church. In short, it will answer the practical part of Bonhoeffer's question. That is, it will tell us how the Christian church has come to be in the modern era. However, we cannot say that how the church is is how the church should be.
So, I invite you on another little quest. As I read Livingston's book, I will be posting what I glean from the text in light of Bonhoeffer's question.
No comments:
Post a Comment