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Friday, May 10, 2013

as the sign of highest personal respect, call me by my first name


Kraybill, The Upside Down Kingdom:
  • "In one stroke, Jesus erases titles (Matt. 23:8-10). Tagging each other with titles has no place in the upside-down kingdom where everyone stands on equal ground" (226).
  • "Titles are foreign to the body of Christ. Terms like Doctor and Reverend perpetuate status differences unbefitting the spirit of Christ."  Titles pay tribute to position, degree and status rather than to personhood.  Members of flat kingdoms call each other, as the sign of highest personal respect, by our first names" (239, emphasis mine)
  • "We call each other by our first name, for we have one Master and one Lord, Jesus Christ" (256).

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4 comments:

  1. Rabbi Adam J. Bernay2:21 PM, May 10, 2013

    I seem to recall saying this recently...

    ReplyDelete
  2. dave4:41 PM, May 11, 2013

    Adam: that is cool..you said it recently! Love you man, but you better change your name above (: Ultimate irony! (:

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rabbi Adam J. Bernay7:07 PM, May 11, 2013

    My point at the time -- this was at the men's group breakfast, you may recall, is I don't believe the titles are bad, it's the constant use of them verbally, i.e. calling you "Pastor Dave" or me "Rabbi Adam," hut in formal writing is another issue.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kimberly11:34 PM, October 03, 2013

    I use the term Pastor as a term of affection, much like brother or sister, and calling someone Doctor is simply respecting that achievement. I probably wouldn't do it all the time but why not acknowledge the effort. Titles aren't the problem it is the attitude that we have toward them. Simply changing words won't fix that.

    ReplyDelete

Hey, thanks for engaging the conversation!