Warts and all
In one of the closing lectures I sat in last week for Ancient and Medieval Church History, Dr. Calhoun was discussing the idea of a "pure church" or pure line of churches one can claim in order to wash their hands clean of some of the bad actions, ideas, teachings, events which happened in the name of Christ, or the Church.
He said that it is basically a stretch to try and claim that one particular group is part of a pure line because it doesn't represent true history.
I began to think of the allure of being a member of a pure line of church history and it became obvious why it is so attractive.
To have such a claim means that you bring more to the table (metaphorically speaking) than everyone else.
You did better.
That sounds great if you believe that it takes more than just God's grace for God's approval, but it does not bear out that way.
The Church is made up of sinners who have been redeemed by God's grace, and sinners still sin.
I completed a timeline for this class. It was a powerpoint of 100 Important Dates in Ancient and Medieval Church History. I chose 99 pictures and 100 dates which were important in my estimation.
I completed this project in a few days, but while working on this project I saw names, events and movements of the history of all Christians.
It's our history and there are things I wish weren't there.
There has been brutal persecution of fellow Christians.
There has been needless war caused for material gain.
There have been, dare I say, attrocities commited in the name of Christ.
It's sad, but there is a problem with only focusing on the negative.
If you look, you can see the power of the Gospel piercing through the bad times in Church History.
When you read of the Crusades, you still are able to read of Francis who went to preach the Gospel to the Muslim shieks-with love.
There are countless other acts that we could talk about forever, but you still see the handiwork of God in history.
So in spite of the bad things, I'll take Church history warts and all because I believe that grace isn't about being 100% pure in linage, or practice....that cannot completely happen, (maybe close, but not all the way), but grace is about a Gospel transformation. God letting us sit at the table, not us bringing our best to the table.
He said that it is basically a stretch to try and claim that one particular group is part of a pure line because it doesn't represent true history.
I began to think of the allure of being a member of a pure line of church history and it became obvious why it is so attractive.
To have such a claim means that you bring more to the table (metaphorically speaking) than everyone else.
You did better.
That sounds great if you believe that it takes more than just God's grace for God's approval, but it does not bear out that way.
The Church is made up of sinners who have been redeemed by God's grace, and sinners still sin.
I completed a timeline for this class. It was a powerpoint of 100 Important Dates in Ancient and Medieval Church History. I chose 99 pictures and 100 dates which were important in my estimation.
I completed this project in a few days, but while working on this project I saw names, events and movements of the history of all Christians.
It's our history and there are things I wish weren't there.
There has been brutal persecution of fellow Christians.
There has been needless war caused for material gain.
There have been, dare I say, attrocities commited in the name of Christ.
It's sad, but there is a problem with only focusing on the negative.
If you look, you can see the power of the Gospel piercing through the bad times in Church History.
When you read of the Crusades, you still are able to read of Francis who went to preach the Gospel to the Muslim shieks-with love.
There are countless other acts that we could talk about forever, but you still see the handiwork of God in history.
So in spite of the bad things, I'll take Church history warts and all because I believe that grace isn't about being 100% pure in linage, or practice....that cannot completely happen, (maybe close, but not all the way), but grace is about a Gospel transformation. God letting us sit at the table, not us bringing our best to the table.
posted by Bobby's blog at 1:38 PM
1 Comments:
I wish Southern had a class on Medieval Church history -- that's the period I want to focus my research on, especially late Medieval/pre-Reformation.
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