Smoke More. Alice Digs It.
Interestingly, one of the ablest scholars of the Christ-follower movement, the late John Howard Yoder, made a very similar point in many of his books. Basically his argument can be summed up very simply:
1. The call to follow Christ appears throughout the New Testament.
2. However, the specifics do not often appear. In fact, there is only one specific way in which Christians are commanded to follow the example of Christ. It's not in the growing of beards or wearing sandals or walking around Galilee (or as Piper said, the hanging about and talking and not writing books). The only specific that's given is to love our enemies as he did.
Interestingly, so many specifics grew out of the Yoder-follower movement.
Is that necessarily a bad thing, Leslie? After all, there are rather a lot of specifics in the New Testament.
Seriously, I think Piper is tilting at a paper dragon here. I don't know of anyone who takes following Jesus seriously who thinks we should limit ourselves to hanging round, talking to people, and not writing books. As Yoder says, it's not about wearing a beard and sandals, learning carpentry and walking everywhere.
What it is about, as the suggested Rule of Life in the 1958 Canadian Anglican Prayer Book puts it, is 'Putting into practice the teaching and example of Christ in our daily life'. And that's not a faddish contemporary thing; that's simply mainstream catholic spirituality.
Its about consistency, Tim. First you say specifics dont often appear and then you say there are rather a lot of specifics in the New Testament.
Respectfully, I continue to find it an insult to the dialogue Piper tries to raise when opponents of the idea (an its not just you, youve demonstrated a reaction I find common amongst serious Christ followers) assume that a phrase like -- hanging round, talking to people, and not writing books -- is intended literally.
***Hes talking about the importance of the role of a theologian vs the role of someone feeding the five thousand. Study is something many whom Ive run across in the Christ follower movement belittle. ***
Tony Campolos Red Letter Christian movement is a prime example of overfocusing on imitation of the actions of Christ without embracing the black letter context -- that is, he is God and we are not -- and causing people to run the risk of turning their once charitable acts into forms of human idolatry.
Consider it: Let us all be Jesus to the masses.
(Grins)
Actually I wasn't being inconsistent., but perhaps I wasn't being clear enough.
I didn't actually say, in a general way, 'specifics don't often appear'.
I was actually referring to one idea, the idea that following Jesus means imitating the things that Jesus did. In this respect, Yoder says that, although the idea is definitely found in the NT, specifics about how to apply that particular idea to daily life are quite rare. The only specific that's mentioned is imitation of his non-resistance and love for enemies (see 1 Peter 2:11-25).
Neither I nor Yoder said that there are no specifics, in general, regarding Christian conduct in the NT. There are - Paul's letters give all sorts of specifics, and of course Jesus' sermon on the mount is pretty clear about stuff as well. All I, and Yoder, were saying is that in the application of that particular idea (following the example of Jesus), specific applications are thin on the ground.
I'm not very familiar with the contemporary Christ-follower movement, but I certainly don't think you can accuse Yoder of belittling study. He did his doctoral study under Karl Barth and ended up as Professor of Theology at Notre Dame.
Could you say a little more about your last sentence, Leslie? If you're being ironic or 'belittling', I think I'd like to assert that there's a surprising amount of New Testament support for that sort of an idea.
>>I'm not very familiar with the contemporary Christ-follower movement, but I certainly don't think you can accuse Yoder of belittling study.
Yoder is not very contemporary at all and in fact, I'm not sure what he has to do with any of it in the first place.
Think...emergent church movement. Tony Campolo. Brian McLaren. Whatever it is that seems to be seeping out of Regent.
"Being Jesus" to someone is a fine idea until you get so focused on relevancy and action that you've strayed from the truths of every page of God's word and start to think you are the savior of the world.
Something along the lines of "We are the ones we've been waiting for!!"
For the record, when I say "you" that is a generic pronoun and not to be taken personally...by you.
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