Further, if the church is to adopt a mission rather
than a maintenance mode, it will have to come to terms with its
addictive tendencies. Michael Crosby's The Dysfunctional Church:
Addiction and Codependency in the Family of Catholicism (Ave Maria
Press, 1991) is a devastating critique of the Catholic church's
hierarchy's retreat to a pre-Vatican II ecclesiology. Crosby posits
two ecclesiologies: the Matthew 16 church (hierarchical) and the
Matthew 18 church (collegial). The first discourages dissent,
encourages conformity, to preserve entrenched power and tradition.
The 'addictive process' = the preservation of the white, male,
celibate, clerically controlled church. Many Catholics, says Crosby,
exhibit patterns of classic codependency which reinforce this
addiction. His denunciation of the Catholic Church in the terms
of the Matthean woes is compelling reading. He kept me up until
3.30 a.m. one recent evening!
Three good pocketbooks from Albatross Books to use
in evangelism are Ross Clifford's Leading Lawyers look at the
Resurrection (in the Who Moved the Stone? tradition, but pithier);
How to Mend a Broken Heart by Dick Innes (written from his own,
and others' experience) and Graeme Rutherford's The Heart of Christianity:
Romans 1-8 (it will fit into your purse or pocket).
Two important books for thoughtful Australians: Alan
Black (ed.) Religion in Australia: Sociological Perspectives (Allen
& Unwin, 1991) has chapters by well-known sociologists Ken
Dempsey, 'Tricia Blombery, Philip Hughes, Gary Bouma, Alan Black
and others. Gary Bouma's Religion: Meaning transcendence and community
in Australia (Longman 1992) is an excellent introduction to the
literature and key ideas. (One idea: do child-raising patterns
- eg. by Calvinists - determine the way people think about God,
or vice versa?).
Pot Pourri: If you want a brief but caring booklet
(98pp.) on the thorny issue of what to do when a pastor 'sins',
I would highly recommend Don Baker, Forgive and Restore: The healing
touch of church discipline, Marshall/ Pickering, 1986. The New
Zealand Prayer Book (1989) is a marvelous resource, not only for
public worship, but also for Daily Devotion. Two versions of the
Daily Office (daily services and daily devotions) are offered.
Get it in any Anglican Book Shop. And the first book (I think)
from the senior pastor of the largest charismatic congregation
in NSW: Faith, by Phil Pringle (Pax Ministries, Locked Bag 8,
Dee Why, NSW 2099).
.....
One way I judge the worth of a book is the number
of 'quotable quotes' I file from it. Manning Clark's two autobiographies,
The Puzzles of Childhood and The Quest for Grace (Penguin, 1989,
1990) rank among the best, with about 300 memorable sayings in
200 categories...
Manning Clark says he's a polyphon, a man of many
voices. He viewed life as generally a tragedy, 'where individuals
could not get what they wanted because of some flaw in their being.'
He yearned for someone, somewhere, 'up above the sky so high'
or here on earth who would take pity on us all and forgive everyone.
He loved cricket, the Carlton Football Club, Mozart's Magic Flute,
and the idea that rearranging the ownership of the means of production,
distribution and exchange would usher in a millennium of peace
for humankind.
Manning Clark was a complex, somewhat cynical man
who all his life searched for an authentic Australian ethos, a
compassionate political ideology, and a Christian conviction.
His 'refrain', cited fifteen to twenty times in the two volumes,
is Karamazov's 'I want to be there when everyone suddenly understands
what it has all been for.' Once or twice he adds the next sentence:
'All the religions of the world are built on this longing, and
I am a believer.' And once or twice Ivan's 'great truth': 'There
is no sin, no crime, only hunger'.
Manning Clark's mother was somehow sinned-against:
there's a mysterious Dark Secret she hoped 'Mann dear' might never
discover: a clue is suggested towards the end of Grace. But his
clergyman-father is also sinned-against - by religious 'straighteners'.
He ended his days 'breeding ducks in the back yard of the vicarage
at Mentone, ducks which laid the eggs no one wanted.' As a preacher
he was certain about things like Jesus' resurrection ('I am more
certain...'), but out of the pulpit he can't give a personal apologetic.
This man wanted 'all of us to be nice to each other because he
[went] to pieces if anyone [was] not nice to him'. (Terry Lane
once asked Manning Clark how he could be so sure of his father's
thinking and motives? Clark's reply: 'One of my roles in life
from very early on has been that of an observer... I stood a pace
or two apart from lots of other people, and watched closely...
If you're going to write about others you've got to have the gift
of empathy. It was said of D H Lawrence that he knew what it was
like to be a cow').
Back to the 'straighteners': Clark holds a mirror
for wowsers to see themselves as they appear to others. His bitterest
diatribes are leveled against these evangelicals and their mind-set:
they are 'miserables', 'frowners', 'life-deniers'. Their Christianity
focusses on the punishment of transgressors. They are the 'dry
souls of the Christian Church.' They speak of religion 'as if
it were a theorem in geometry.' They have a morality but lack
charity, 'a morality but not a faith.' They 'have corrected Christ's
work... [these churches] have been captured by the pharisees.
[They are] so confident of their virtues, so smug, have such a
cocksure air...' They thank God constantly that they are not like
other people - adulterers, and liars and drunkards. They believe
they alone will have reserved seats in the Members' Stand on Resurrection
morning...
Manning Clark was attracted to Christ - 'the Galilean
fisherman' (sic, several times!) - but not to Christian dogma.
The words of Christ and the ideals of the Russian revolution were,
for him, the great hopes of humanity.
In radio interviews Clark said he felt the second
work was more hopeful and more serene. Those would not be this
reviewer's adjectives. The two volumes left me with a great sadness.
He was so near the kingdom, and yet, he felt, so far from it:
or, at least, the kingdom as interpreted by the evangelicals/pharisees.
He was an excellent asker of questions ('It was all there [in
the words of the Anglican Prayer Book] if only it were true.'
'Does Australia have to be a kingdom of nothingness?') but not
so good at finding answers. His life was a wistful and plaintive
search for truth, and faith, and reality.
Rowland Croucher.
The same Jesus who commissioned us to make disciples
(Matthew 28:18-20) also had as his mandate preaching good news
to the poor (Luke 4:18-19). People who begin with justice and
mercy as integral to mission like the Luke 4 text. Those for whom
mission = evangelism (with a bit of added compassion) major on
the Matthean text. Few integrate both emphases. Take one of the
best recent books on church growth: Robert Logan's Beyond Church
Growth: Action Plans for Developing a Dynamic Church (Revell,
1989): a quick reading found nothing on Luke 4 or justice, but
a lot on evangelism, church planting and being culturally relevant,
(and nothing on the gospel's prophetic critique of culture). But
Denham Grierson's A People on the Way: Congregation, Mission &
Australian Culture (David Lovell Publishing, Melbourne, 1991)
has the opposite emphasis - on the gospel's power to transform
culture. (Denham seems to use the term 'mission' roughly in the
sense this GRID talks about compassion/mercy). From a conservative
(or progressive) evangelical viewpoint, Michael Green's 574-page
(!) magnum opus Evangelism through the Local Church (Hodder &
Stoughton, 1990) is essential reading (even at RRP $45). The chapter
on Evangelism in a Multi-Faith Society has an excellent discussion
of such issues as pluralism, Islam, and the uniqueness of Jesus.
(Then go to Lesslie Newbigin's The Gospel in a Pluralist Society
for a quite brilliant summary of those issues). Peter Corney's
The Gospel and the Growing Church (AIO 1991) addresses practical
implications for your elders/vestry to work through. And why not
ask Impact Evangelism (people involved include Dudley Foord, Brian
Willersdorf, Kim Hawtrey) to send you a copy of their latest newsletter
(GPO Box 1415, Sydney, 2001; phone 02 982 4092).
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