Friday, February 22, 2008

"the church is our pastor"

Until today, I may not have  pulled out my little exercise book out for maybe twenty  years.

You smile and say "That explains your belly..."

Maybe...but I mean the delightfully-titled, "A Little Exercise for Young Theologians" by Thielicke; which I may not have touched since I was...well,  a "young (and thinner) theologian."



"...the church has the prior right to question us (theologians), even if it does not and cannot understand the details of our work....for we are members of that church.  Therefore, these questions ...may be highly relevant and constitute  fire through which we must always march.  Ultimately these questions always have in mind our Christian life behind  
our theological reflections,   They are therefore questions about our  soundness in the faith.  The church is our pastor."
(p 25-26)

All this reminds me of the old Johnny Larue exercise show on SCTV..Larue (John Candy) hosted an exercise/fitness show holding a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other..

Related:


Wikipedia on Thielicke
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2 comments:

  1. wezlo6:04 AM, February 23, 2008

    That book has some seriously funny anecdotes in it.

    I don't have too much of a problem with the statement, with two caveats:

    1. People read that as "the pastor is our church." This is an attitude that requires some serious whacking with the metaphorical wiffle-ball bat of doom.

    2. Thielicke doesn't apply this broad enough. Granted, he's writing to "young theologians," but the average lay-folk is bound to this as well. Sadly, a lot of people don't get this in the American church - much less have enough of a grasp on their collective story to apply it if they did get it.

    The metaphorical wiffle-ball bat of doom is your friend - just remember to whack yourself with it if no one else will.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9:53 PM, February 24, 2008

    Wezlo:

    sure appreciate your comments, and reading some about your ministry on your site

    Yeah, that church/pastor phrase
    sure tripped me up at first..

    I keep whackin

    be encouraged

    dave

    ReplyDelete

Hey, thanks for engaging the conversation!

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