Since I have been spending time on a university campus, in a crash course on cross-cultural incarnational mission to secular postmodern young adults, I have been learning the language. The first step in understanding a culture is learning the language. The language is more than just words: it conveys the richness of meanings and symbols, values and worldview.
We did the same thing when God sent us to South America. I spent two years studying Spanish at Ohio State University, and another two years in Bogotá, Colombia, learning how to ‘think’ in Spanish and view the world through the cultural eyes of Colombians. It changed our lives—there are still some phrases that we can only express in Spanish because no English equivalent exists: words like inquietud, or like 15 different ways to say ‘hello” and almost as many to say “goodbye.”
Learning how to talk to secular young adults has almost been harder than learning Spanish (note: I am talking about secular young people, not ‘church’ kids – big difference). I am only now finding myself relaxing and able to connect fluently in my communications.
Along the way I have been looking for ways to translate biblical concepts into their vernacular. This is not as simple as it sounds, because it requires a good translation of the concept, not just the word. For example, I have found the best way to translate what we used to say in evangelicalism as “getting saved” into something like, “learning how to love God with all of your heart,” or “developing an interactive friendship with Jesus.” Having the “grace of God resting on your life” can be translated (you might not like this one--sorry), “having positive energy in your karma.” The nuanced explanations about the source of “positive energy” and “good karma” may have to come later.
One of the most important terms that I have been looking to translate is "the kingdom of God". The biblical concept of the kingdom of God is so central to the Old and New Covenant scriptures, even more so than the concept of ecclesia, at least in the gospels.
Even with evangelical baby boomers, “the kingdom of God” lost something in translation. We don’t have kings anymore, and almost all associations of Jesus with the kingdom of God lose the edgy, electric energy that must have been in that phrase in the time and place that he lived, with the Jews under the political dominion of the Romans, and looking for the coming liberator who would lead them to victory over the gentiles and restore the throne of David.
My friend, Dr. Dow Robinson faced this dilemma in translating the concept for Aztec Indians. They had no word for “king” or “kingdom” …only chiefs and tribes. He finally settled on “Father’s loving rule” in Nahuatl. Not a bad translation for us.
Out of the four gospel writers, John is the one who uses “the kingdom of God” the least. He only uses the phrase twice: both times in chapter 3. So how does he communicate the truth of God’s active and present leadership in our lives? He often uses the term “eternal life,” not in the sense of going to heaven and living a long time, but in the sense of a radically different kind or quality of life that is available to us now through Jesus. For John, eternal life = the kingdom of God.
Although the book of Acts makes it clear that St. Paul taught incessantly about the kingdom of God (see Acts 14:22; 19:8; 28:23; 28:31) he did not use the phrase very often in his letters. I only counted 9 times in all of his letters that the phrase is used, compared to nearly 50 times in the four gospels. Paul uses the concept of “life in the Spirit” or some variation such as “walk in the Spirit”, “mind set on the Spirit”, etc. to express the active idea of God’s rule or present leadership in our lives leading to healing, wholeness and liberation. In Paul’s letters alone, he uses the word “spirit” in some variation of life in the Spirit 126 times.
I have even looked at some of the other major world religions to see if there is any equivalent to the Judeo-Christian concept of the “Kingdom of God”. According to my nephew who is fluent in Arabic, istislaam lillah means submission to God and the closet phrase to our “kingdom of God” is hakayaat allah – the sayings or stories of God (referring of course to the Koran), which are equivalent to the rule of God for a muslim. How many of you know that the symbolic meaning of hakayaat allah might not be something we would find desirable, especially depending on which group of Muslims uses the term. But then of course, I don’t think I would want to live under “the kingdom of God” as defined by some portions of the religious right either.
I had started using the unwieldy phrase “moment-by-moment surrender to God’s leading” as my current translation based on my own recent experiences. My friend Michael Cook sometimes uses the phrase, “the eternal purpose” (Eph. 3:11) to describe God’s master plan for the universe. Another possibility was suggested to me recently in a conversation with Bob Mumford: “The Agape government of God”. Even better might be the “Agape Conspiracy”, or Bob's own phrase, the "Agape Road". Scot McKnight, in The Jesus Creed, suggests the “movement for good.”
Brian McLaren, in his recent book, The Secret Message of Jesus (2006), devotes an entire chapter to this issue of how to contextualize the concepts of the kingdom of God for the current generation. I really liked several of his suggestions, and I am going to summarize them for you below.
The dream of God. The Lord’s prayer: “May all your dreams for your creation come true.” I can invite my young grad-school friends to change their way of thinking and enter into God’s grand dream for the cosmos.
The revolution of God. When I was young, for a short time I belonged to the Socialist Workers Party and my hero was Che Guevara (please don’t tell anyone in Miami – especially my Cuban friends!). McLaren suggests that the concept needs a qualifier like: “the peace revolution of God,” “the spiritual revolution of God,” “the love revolution of God,” or the “reconciling revolution of God.” He also mentions favorably Dallas Willard’s term, the “divine conspiracy.”
The mission of God. This is probably my least favorite because of the tendency to view it as non-relational or task oriented. Of course, that is not how God views it. McLaren believes that it is of great value as a metaphor as long as we complement it with relational imagery. It might be a good antidote to the inward, self-referential focus of the attractional church.
The party of God. McLaren’s re-tells Tony Campolo’s story about throwing a birthday part for a 38-year-old prostitute who had never had a birthday party. When the owner of the donut shop asked him what kind of church he went to, Tony answered, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.” The owner said, “If such a church existed, I would go to it”. Think of the father in Luke 15 when the prodigal comes home.
The network of God. This plays off of the idea of communication, interconnectedness and living systems in ecology: the metaphor of an ecosystem. God’s truth is in everything and holds all things together by the word of his power. Governing principle of God keeps the universe working.
The dance of God. There is a rich tradition in the early church fathers of comparing the relationships within the Trinity to a holy dance of creation and love. “The universe was created to be an expression of and extension of the dance of God—so that all creatures share in the dynamic joy of movement, love, vitality, harmony, and celebration” (McLaren:147). This metaphor for the kingdom of God is probably the one that would work the best with most of my new friends….they love to dance and to party and to experience the joy of life.
The Agape revolution/dance of God is here, now and is within us. We enter the agape revolution/dance of God with great tribulation, but we find righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Three cheers for the agape revolution/dance of God!!!
Apparently even Jesus felt that the depth and substance of the meaning behind the kingdom of God defied easy, linear definitions. Jesus said: "How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?” (Mark 4:30). And then he proceeded to describe the kingdom of God (rather than define it) with parables comparing it to sowing good seed in a field (Matthew 13), a mustard seed, leaven hidden in three pecks of meal, a treasure hidden in the field, a merchant seeking fine pearls, a dragnet cast into the sea, and a little child (Matt. 18). Jesus never tried to define it, he just described it (in a dozen different ways), demonstrated it and invited people into it.
Perhaps the kingdom of God just simply cannot be defined. Perhaps that is why Jesus sent us out to announce its nearness (Matt. 10:7) and to show how it works (Matt. 10:8) rather than to explain it. I dreamed last night that I had finally learned how to dance.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
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Joseph, Good thoughts. Lots to chew on.
ReplyDeletethanks Michael. Did you have a large celebration today? John said he was going to try to go if he could get awake....
ReplyDeletethis came to me from my friend Dennis Coll via email:
ReplyDelete"I really liked what you did with the KOG mining many resources. I think Bob was right last year at CSM when he said it is undefinable but describable by metaphor.
Anything we can define we can control which gets us to the message Bob brought this year. I think there is a deep connection between those two messages that is found in the agape love revelation we had at lunch. You can't define God's love either. I Cor. 13 doesn't define love but highlights it's attributes to say what kinds of things it does and doesn't do.
You can add this little bit to the blog discussion if you think it has merit."
~ Dennis Coll
Joseph, I enjoyed reading your essay - it's a stimulating approach to survey such a breadth of alternative ideas and phrases. Here's a couple of comments in response.
ReplyDeleteYou hint at a narrative significance to 'kingdom of God' in the context of the Gospels (Jews under political domination, etc.) that gets lost when we get to the modern alternatives. It seems to me that something of fundamental significance has gone missing if we translate 'kingdom of God' as 'eternal purpose' or 'movement for good' or even 'mission of God'.
Likewise, can we be so sure that biblical expressions such as 'eternal life', 'life in the Spirit', etc., function as simple alternatives to 'kingdom of God' - that they refer to the same thing? Undoubtedly they are related, but if Jesus was talking about an event (eg., the restoration of the throne of David), is that the same as a state such as 'life in the Spirit'?
I see it as a major challenge for contemporary theology to recover that original narrative significance and understand how we connect with it today. I rather feel that the sort of approach that you have taken, while stimulating in many respects, doesn't really solve that problem.
Hi, J.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the best way to influence people's thinking is to appeal to what holds authority for them.
Most young adults do not trust or value govt.--human or divine--or traditional family. They are skeptical of such things, which have not "worked" since before they were born, and they generally only trust their own experience.
So I explore their experience and values then try to move from that to discussing what makes a life full (Jn. 10:10). I find amazing degrees of agreement on what makes a life full regardless of life experience. The challenge is getting agreement on what steps lead to one becoming fully alive, but I think most young people are open-minded enough to listen to and discuss whatever works or has worked experientially for others. They may feel your approach is not for them now, but it's a start.
I'm convinced the wisest thing a sower can do is to plow the ground or at least choose fertile soil before sending out seeds.
Bless you as you search and share.
hi Steve, thanks for your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteyou should come over and join us at the Covenant Thinklings blog... John Meadows and Steve Humble are participating in addition to my son John and a lot of young people. Here is the url:
http://covthinklings.blogspot.com/
hope to see you over there.
j
Good thoughts indeed. In truth, I feel that in our generation there is no connecting factor. There is no "throne of David." I'm trying to think of what would be the next closest thing, and all I can think of is something like Chronicles of Narnia. Many young people have at least seen the movie, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. It's possible that they could relate to the Lion as a "good force" who is active in the world. You also could possibly delve into a couple other movies to find similar connections.
ReplyDeleteIn the Count of Monte Cristo, God's plan is often called Providence. Maybe coming up with another word for providence would be a good way to describe The Plan?
did you read Jamie's response to my paper (and the others)? It was pretty good.
ReplyDelete