Emerging Africa

Trinity in Human Community is a hybrid, a union of two streams: one theological reflection, and the other consisting of verbatim responses from the community itself. Typically, responses follow reflection in any given chapter.

Noting the mass exodus from British congregations, Holmes claims to "have found no new theologies or fairy-tale answers that give post-modern people the motivation to attend church and follow Christ ... I have felt ashamed of the way we as Christians can inadvertently give the impression to contemporary people that they must either join our congregations on our terms, or stay away."

Part of the problem is embedded in Western theology, with its underlying Greek philosophical categories. Augustine, in particular, trained in Greek classics and articulated his positions in those terms. What he lost out on was a full appreciation of Jesus' humanity: God-in-man-in-Christ-on-earth.

Question: Augustine seemed to elevate intellectual knowledge about God over an experiential knowledge of God. Is that fair comment? If so, can Western theology recover with integrity?

i agree with the above concept.

I believe being made in God's image, therefore, means that we are created for relationship - with God and others. life is not life without either.

"a person is a person because of other people " isn't just a clever African concept - it's Biblical truth

Apologies for the hiatus! Holmes' fourth chapter is dynamite, providing keen insight into being Church. John Macmurray, an opponent of Enlightenment individualism, suggested that

1. knowing I am in relation to another person must be the 'starting point of all knowledge'
2. freedom is not in our isolation from others, but in our being realized in and through relationship and community
3. only life in intentional community can fully reflect human nature

Deploring the selfism that occupies many congregations today, Holmes identifies each person in a local church as a God-given 'Other' to be loved in mutual personhood. Activities and programmes within the congregation should therefore be measured by their success in building relationships.

'Success' in wholeness and maturity should be measured by the growing capacity of members to give love to one another. Maturity would no longer be epitomized by the isolated, solitary Christian saint but instead, by our increasing capacity for deepening relational personhood.

What a standard for measuring church maturity! Bonhoeffer grappled with doctrinal orthodoxy and disobedient disciples. "Only he who is obedient truly believes, and only he who believes is obedient." Obedient to what? John 13:35 - nothing more, nothing less.

After all the theory, Holmes now considers concrete applications. First, what did community look like in the OT? Looking back to Israel's Early Settlement period, the main social idea in Palestine appears to have been that of kinship.

"The formation of community seems to have been Yahweh's central act. From the time of the Exodus He emphasized 'theocentric community', that is, He Himself as kinsman in their midst (Ex 34:4-7; 40:34, etc.), a society without rulers."

Holmes identifies the Hebrew mishpachah, a cluster of houses accommodating extended families that made up small villages, as the community model of the period. 'Households', of course, were not the families we know today. They typically contained several generations in distinctive 'four-roomed (pillared) houses'. Each room could be entered from a central space, without passing through the other rooms; ritual purity was thus maintained.

One notes a return to cluster-style 'village' living these days (eg. Camelot in Hillcrest, Durban) but even this is artificial and hideously expensive.

Travelling on the R28 from Pretoria recently, I was struck not only by the effect of a literal concrete jungle but also by the question: how many of these houses are occupied by just one or two people? Many complexes have a lapa (social entertainment area), but how effective are they at providing the necessary space for meaningful contact?

Christ extended the early OT idea of theocentricity by introducing the Kingdom. In Jesus, writes Holmes, "community returned to a focus on Yahweh and kinship relationship, though not centred on the mishpachah [see previous post] or the Temple, but on Christ Himself as Son of the Father."

The Greek word koinonia captures both concepts: Hebrew theocentric community as well as Christ's Kingdom community. Paul's community models "focused on charism (the exercising of spiritual gifts) within flat organizations (e.g. no professional, salaried full-timers) by a living koinonia that honoured both men and women."

Positive, personal change was expected and required of new converts: a minimum of three years of 'training and exorcisms' before a catechumen (convert under instruction) could be baptized into the community!

Chatting about leadership with Richard, it's interesting to note how organizationally 'loose' Paul's communities seemed to be. A contemporary issue would be: how much hassle is it for me to engage a church leader? In Paul's 'flat' house churches that embraced corporate leadership, this wasn't a problem.