Five Key Concepts of Ministry – My Cannon

I listened to Natalie Angier’s book The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science on CD while driving to and from visiting family over the most recent Thanksgiving holiday. Early in the work, Angier asked something like “What would you identify as the five key concepts from your field? What is your field’s cannon?”

The question first forced me to think about what my field is. I hold a Master of Divinity degree, generally recognized as the basic requirement for ordained ministry in main line churches. I and many of my seminary alums would agree, however, that our seminary education prepared us more to be theologians, and even biblical scholars, than pastors engaged in parish ministry.

After over ten years of parish ministry I earned a Doctor of Ministry, generally recognized as the highest level of professional education relevant to pastoral ministry short of the more academic Ph.D. While some Doctor of Ministry programs focus on preaching, counseling, or spirituality, mine focused on Reformed Theology, perhaps the most academic of the various Doctor of Ministry programs offered by the seminary where I worked on and earned it. Working on that degree reinforced my self-identification as a theologian.

In addition to having served in both full time and part time pastoral ministry for over thirty years, during those part time years I also served six years as part time staff for a church regional governing body. I also taught as an Adjunct two semesters at a small Roman Catholic Liberal Arts College where I taught courses in Theology and ten semesters at a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) related Liberal Arts College where I taught courses in Religion and Philosophy.  My adjunct teaching experiences reinforced my self-understanding as a theologian.

This leaves me still pondering the question - what is my field? Is my field theology or ministry? I find it hard to separate one from the other. My theology informs my practice of ministry and my practice of ministry informs my theology in a cyclical dialectic. That is the perspective from which I answer Angier’s question about what I identify as the five key concepts from my field, or my field’s cannon.

The first key concept I think is essential to both theology and ministry and that I want worshipers in the pew as well as spiritual but not religious people and those who shun Christianity to know and understand is that the Bible is not one book dictated by God or written by a single author in one place at one time. The Bible is like a little library bound together. It is a collection of sixty-six writings (or more if you are a Roman Catholic) written by dozens of authors from various places and over nearly two thousand years whose original work was later edited by others and assembled together in one collection, a process that took centuries. These writings were assembled first by Jews and later adopted and added to by Christians because many found these writings to be theologically informative and spiritually meaningful.

Related to the above concept is understanding that The Bible was not originally written in the King James English, or any form of English. Most of the writings Christians consider the Old Testament were originally written in ancient Hebrew and  Aramaic and later translated into the ancient common Koine Greek. The Hebrew and Aramaic writings that were later translated into Greek were later translated into Latin. The Greek and Latin were eventually translated in English. That means that when we read the Bible in English that we are sometimes reading a translation of a translation of a translation.

A third key concept is the recognition that while there are certainly unique beliefs that separate Christians from Jews and from other people of faith, beliefs such as the affirmation that the mystery of God is best experienced, understood, and experienced as a Trinity, and that  Jesus is God in the flesh, Christianity is one of many world religions. As a religion or system of belief, Christianity shares many ideas and concepts with other world systems of belief or religions. Christians share with Jews and Moslems the core belief that there is only one God, and we believe in the same God, the God of Abraham and Sarah, although we have different understandings of what the God of Abraham and Sarah calls us to do and be. Some Christians have found affinity with Buddhism, although some would consider Buddhism more of a philosophy than a religion.

A fourth key concept is the interdisciplinary approach to ministry. Parish ministry is certainly informed by the Bible, but it is also informed by the history and tradition of theology and the church as well as the disciplines of philosophy, psychology, and sociology. The Apostle Paul often drew upon Greek philosophy in his writings. Augustine and other early Christian writers relied so heavily upon Plato that they can be said to have baptized Plato. Thomas Aquinas was influenced by Aristotle. Most parish pastors would probably agree that their counseling practice is as informed as much by Psychology as the Bible and Theology. Sociology has helped me understand the human dimensions of the Church and how congregations and even denominations have been influenced by the economic, educational, political, and racial ethnic background of their members.

Finally, even though Christians believe that the church is the body of Christ, that body often seems to be torn asunder by various expressions we call denominations. While some consider our plethora of denominations an affront, I think it is a gift. If we think of the church as the place we come to be spiritually fed and nurtured, then we might consider the universal church as a spiritual restaurant. I prefer Wendy’s, but when there is no Wendy’s around, I will satiate my appetite at McDonalds, Taco Bell, Arby’s, Chick-fil-A, or any other number of franchises or independent establishments. Even though I prefer Wendy’s, sometimes I tire of a single with fries and want to eat something else. It is all food. It is all nourishing. But I also trust that wherever I eat that the kitchen is observing sanitary practices and has passed its health inspection. Just like there are some eating establishments I would not eat in because of health inspection violations and unsanitary conditions, some congregations can be unhealthy and even dangerous. Stay away from them.  Find one that serves a varied menu of spiritually satisfying  and religiously healthy entrees.

Still Tutoring

I started tutoring over eight years ago. Since then I have tutored students as young as sixth grade and as old as graduate students. I have tutored students in math, language arts, chess, philosophy, and theology. I have seen students raise their grade twenty-five points and two letter grades while I tutored them.

I am currently tutoring two female eighth graders who have been struggling with Algebra. I also first encountered Algebra in the eighth grade so I have empathy for these two teenagers, but my eighth grade Algebra course was forty-six years ago!

I excelled in high school math, acing the most difficult courses offered, as well as an optional course in slide rule back when we used those stone aged instruments instead of calculators. I did so well in my first year of college math that my professor had me tutoring students in the course the following fall. While I have not taken a math course in thirty-eight years, I still remember enough math, love math, and have maintained enough math proficiency to enable me to help both high school and college students with Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Algebra II.

I tutor each of my current students between one and two hours a session once a week, one Monday evenings and the other Tuesday evenings, both at a public library. I love helping them better understand and finally fully grasp often difficult algebraic concepts, from PEMDAS to linear equations, and quadratic equations to FOIL. I have come to realize that public school teachers often do not have the time or resources to devote to struggling students but that an hour or two of one-on-one tutoring can make a big difference.

I am offering my tutoring services to anyone within more-or-less a ten mile radius of Wellsburg, West Virginia. That includes Follansbee and Weirton, West Virginia and Steubenville, Ohio. If you or a person you know might benefit from tutoring, please visit this link to arrange for sessions.

https://www.wyzant.com/match/tutor/77187020

Statement of Faith

      In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), when Candidates are examined for ordination as Teaching Elders (Ministers) and when Teaching Elders (Ministers) are examined for transfer from one presbytery (Council / Regional Governing Body) to another, they are usually required to present a written Statement of Faith.  I recently presented the Statement of Faith below as I was seeking to transfer from one presbytery to another.  My self-imposed restrictions were to keep it to one page with twelve point type and one inch margins.

STATEMENT OF FAITH

     I trust in Jesus Christ my Savior, acknowledge him Lord of all and Head of the Church, and through him believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

     I accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ in the Church universal, and God's Word to me. My favorite Scriptures are the Psalms and the Gospel According to John.

     I sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable expositions of what Scripture leads me to believe and do, and I vow to be instructed and led by those confessions as I lead the people of God. My favorite confession is A Brief Statement of Faith.

     I affirm the faith of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, recognizing the canon of Scriptures and the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds with their definitions of the mystery of the triune God and of the incarnation of the eternal Word of God in Christ Jesus. I baptize "in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost" but recognize that "the church shall strive in its worship to use language about God which is intentionally as diverse and varied as the Bible and our theological traditions." The Celtic Christian tradition’s earthy and everyday emphasis on the Trinity and the Eastern Orthodox tradition’s concept of perichoresis has helped me better understand, appreciate, and experience the mystery of the triune God. 

     I affirm the tradition of the Protestant Reformation, including the rediscovery of God's grace in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, and the Protestant watchwords—grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone. I resonate with Calvin's definition of faith as "a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolences toward us, both sealed upon our hearts and revealed to our minds by the work of the Holy Spirit" but fear we Presbyterians too often emphasize the intellectual dimension of faith while neglecting the affectonal and experiential dimension, including contemplative prayer and mysticism.

     I affirm the Reformed tradition, including the majesty, holiness, and providence of God, who creates, sustains, rules, and redeems the world in the freedom of sovereign righteousness and love. I also affirm the great themes of the Reformed tradition related to the central affirmation of God's sovereignty such as the election of the people of God for service as well as for salvation; covenant life marked by a disciplined concern for order in the church according to the Word of God, a faithful stewardship that shuns ostentation and seeks proper use of the gifts of God's creation including the enjoyment of God's good gifts, and the recognition of the human tendency to idolatry and tyranny, which calls the people of God to work for the transformation of society by seeking justice and living in obedience to the Word of God.

    I affirm the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as means of grace. Baptism is the sign and seal of our incorporation into Christ. The Lord’s Supper is the sign and seal of our eating and drinking in communion with the crucified and risen Lord who is spiritually and mystically present.

Easter 2014

John M. Buchanan writes in the April 16, 2014 issue of The Christian Century that the canonical gospels not only provide us sparse accounts of the resurrection but what they do tell us they tell from different perspectives.  “It is almost as if they are telling us, like someone who warns us not to look directly at the bright sun, that we should not try to look too directly, that we should perceive this event in a different, deeper way—more heart than mind, more wonder than analysis.  Some things are bigger than our ability to say them.” (p. 3)

After what has seemed like one of the hardest, coldest, snowiest winters I can remember I am now enjoying longer days as the sun seems to be moving ever northward and stays up longer than the day before as I read Buchanan’s words. With Easter being almost as late as possible this year, the longer, warmer, and brighter days of spring have coincided with the approach of Easter.  I know that the cold, dark days of Lent, I mean winter, will end with the rising of the Son, I mean sun.

Thanks to John Buchanan and Bruce Springsteen, who reminds us that “Mama always told me not to look into the eye of the sun”, a caution reiterated by Astronomers appearing on public media every time we are about to experience a solar eclipse, we know not to look directly at the sun. Looking directly into that celestial object even with dark glasses can cause permanent eye damage. Yet something compels the astronomer as well as the non-scientist to study the heavenly sphere that warms us, illuminates us, and provides the energy our planet needs to sustain life. I remember making a pinhole box viewer to watch a solar eclipse and using a small telescope to project sun spots unto the ceiling of my bedroom.  Even though I was not looking directly at the sun I was still mesmerized by its brilliance.

I know that the sunlight now reaching the earth and tanning my skin as I sit poolside left the sun about eight minutes ago and that any sun spots I might project onto the ceiling I am seeing where they were about eight minutes ago.  Just because it takes light from the sun about eight minutes to reach us does not mean we cannot appreciate or observe it. Even though it is eight minutes old it can still illuminate, warm, and yes, even burn and blind.  It might be eight minutes old we can still wonder-- is it a wave, a particle, or a string?

I also know that in the strictest, most literal sense, the sun does not rise.  Our senses deceive us.  The sun only appears to rise as we, standing on the surface of a rotating earth, rotate with our planet on its axis, completing a rotation cycle about every twenty-four hours.  I also know that in the spring the sun only appears to be climbing ever northward.  What is actually happening is that the earth, constantly tilting on its axis in a yearly cycle, is now beginning to present its northern hemisphere toward the sun after having presented the southern hemisphere for six months. In spite of knowing better, however, I still talk about, and appreciate the “miracle” of a sunrise rather than a morning turnaround and relish in a northward marching sun even though I know it is not true.  Sometimes historical and culturally loaded language better describe our experience and enables us to share it rather than the sometimes hard, cold, precise language of science, but that does not mean I disregard science.

The good news reported by the canonical gospels comes to us from nearly two-thousand years ago yet it is still reaching us, still warming us, still illuminating us, and still granting us life.  As a trained theologian and amateur philosopher I could employ any number of metaphors and play language games in an attempt to both explain and make sense of what the gospels describe happening nearly twenty centuries ago. I could hopefully do so without breaking any of the laws of physics.  Long ago, however, I learned that any god that can be fully explained and understood is not a god worth praise and worship.  At the heart of the cosmos and faith is mystery, a mystery that compels us to explore, to ponder, and to understand, but a mystery nevertheless. If I could fully understand and explain what the gospels describe as a resurrection, perhaps it would no longer be worth believing in.  Like a darkened sun, collapsed in on itself as a black hole, it would lose its ability to illuminate and give life.

Here is the link to my Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 post for Easter, where I reflect on all six, primary and alternate, Lectionary Readings for Easter morning.

Random Reflections on the Trinity

Even many non-Christians are probably familiar with the basics of the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity, the Doctrine that talks about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But even many devout Christians would probably confess that they do not fully understand the Trinity. For me, the Trinity is a mystery we must ponder.

This coming Sunday many Christian Churches will be observing Trinity Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost and a Sunday to celebrate, reflect upon, and scratch heads about the Trinity. Here are some  random reflections that might get you to scratch your head.

One of the Professors in my D.Min. program at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary argued in our Reformed Theology Seminar that the Doctrine of the Trinity is not biblical but it is essential. I think what he meant was that nowhere in the Scriptures does the word “Trinity” appear and while Scripture in places talks about God in terms of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, there is no fully developed Doctrine of the Trinity. The Doctrine of the Trinity is a creation of human reason as we have sought to make sense of, understand, and somewhat systematize Scripture.

I have recently been thinking about the Doctrine of the Trinity in terms similar to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. The Heisenberg Uncertainty principle states that one cannot determine the mass and the velocity of an electron at the same time. If one determines it mass, there is no velocity. If one determines the velocity, there is no mass. Similarly, if we focus on any one “person” of the Trinity then we can no longer see the Triune God. But if we focus on the “Triune God” then we can longer see any of the individual “persons” of the Trinity.

Another analogy I find helpful is that of determining whether light is a wave or a particle. If God is at all like light (Jesus is, after all, proclaimed to be the light of the world) then perhaps our understanding of light can serve as a metaphor for our understanding of God. Sometimes light seems to behave like a wave. Sometimes light seems to behave like a particle. Neither understanding, even combined, fully explains the nature of light and in a sense light is still a mystery.

While the Doctrine of the Trinity can (sometimes) help us make sense of the way God behaves in Scripture, I am becoming increasingly convinced that it does not give us a complete picture of or fully explains the nature of God. The Doctrine of the Trinity helps us to conceptualize and understand the mystery of God, yet God still remains a mystery we must ponder, a mystery that invites us to marvel at God with the same childlike wonder of the Psalmist in Psalm 8:3-5, only more so.

In his book The Journey to Truth, George F. Garlick, Ph.D., discussing the work of Dr. Michio Kaku, writes “the best way to understand the mystery of light is to admit that light is not a part of this world, but instead has its source in the fifth dimension. Kaku concludes, ‘This alternative theory gave the simplest explanation of light; that it was really a vibration of the fifth dimension.’” (p. 108) Just as physicists are beginning to understand light in new ways, maybe it is also time theologians begin to understand God in new ways beyond the Doctrine of the Trinity.

It has been a while since I last read Carl Jung, but I think he argued that the Doctrine of the Trinity was not psychologically complete, that what humans need psychologically is not a Trinity of Father – Son – Spirit but a Quarternity of Father – Son – Spirit – Wisdom/Mary, and that for Roman Catholics the Doctrine of the Assumption of Mary comes close to fulfilling this function. While this is a somewhat esoteric argument, here is a link to an equally esoteric article about Jung’s theory of the Quartentity.

The Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, Ph.D., offers a thoughtful analysis and some words of caution about Jung’s Quarternity and the possible inclusion of the feminine within the Trinity and the Quartentity in her article THE SHAPE OF GOD: Deepening the Mystery of the Trinity.

I generally believe that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we might find, that we often find more grace in our search for understanding than we do in adopting a posture of dogmatic certainty. Therefore I posit the above reflections as questions, discussion starters, and head scratching conundrums to help us think about, reflect upon, ponder, and ask questions about the Triune God and the Doctrine of the Trinity. And I have not even mentioned perichoresis!

Parallel Paths

I wonder how much of my theology and faith has been influenced by my environmental awareness and love of the natural world, and how much of my love for the natural world and commitment to the environment has been influenced by my Christian faith. My hunch is that they have both influenced each other and developed together in tandem, on parallel paths.

From a theologically informed intellectual viewpoint I must argue that Christianity is a communal faith. A Christian cannot live the Christian life nor worship God as an isolated individual. Christians, by definition, assemble for worship, share bread and cup, and participate in community. On the other hand, from a purely personal viewpoint, I can feel just as close to God, if not closer, on a mountain top, on a wilderness trail, on an exposed rock face, or on open water in a kayak.

Preachers Answer "Who Is Jesus?" Question

At the workshop on Delivering the Gospel in which I recently participated, I preached a four minute segment of a sermon I had earlier preached at North Church Queens in which I asked “Who is Jesus?” The workshop participants answered the question just like those in attendance at North Church. Here are the answers offered by seminary educated and experienced preachers. I asked them to limit their responses to ten words or less.

The very presence of almighty God
God’s living and glorious Word made saving flesh
Jesus was a Palestinian! (Jesus was a Jew!) Karl Barth
Faithful friend who ups life in and around me
Jesus is God’s son our salvation
Jesus is the anointed one for the world, all that is
Jesus: (One with) Heart the size of God
The one wholly in communion with the Holy
Jesus – is my friend. He is God’s Son and my Savior.
Jesus is what moves through the leaves

And your answer in ten words or less?

Who is Jesus?

In Mark’s Gospel there is a story about Jesus asking his disciples who people said he was. You can find the narrative in chapter 8 verses 27 through 30. The disciples told him that some were saying he was John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others one of the Prophets. Jesus then asked the disciples point blank “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered “You are the Messiah.”

There is a similar account in Luke chapter 9 verses 18 through 20 where Peter responds "The Messiah of God." In a parallell account in Matthew chapter 16 verses 13 through 16 Peter replies “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

This morning I asked a couple younger worshippers at North Church Queens who Jesus was. The youngest responded “The baby of God.” Another answered “The Son of God.” Before returning to the pews, the younger worshippers assisted me by handing out 3x5 index cards to all the other worshippers at North Church Queens as I asked worshippers to anonymously write on the index cards their answer the question, in ten words or less, “Who is Jesus?” After a few moments the younger worshippers collected the cards and returned them to me. Here, in no particular order, are some of the answers that were returned.

“The Messiah, our greatest Teacher, and God’s Earthly Reflection”
“The Son of God”
“Jesus is the Messiah, Son of God, who came and died for us to save us (world) of our sins.”
“The son of God, our Savior on this earth”
“The Son of God, our Savior”
“Son of God & Holy Spirit & Son of Man”
“Our Savior, Son of God, way to Eternal life”
“God, as he came to walk the earth as a man.”
“The Son of God, our Redeemer, our Savior”
“Jesus is our Savior & the Creator of Heaven & Earth”
“God, Father, Son, Redeemer, Holy Ghost, Giver of life”
“Jesus is our Savior; the Son of God.”
“Son of God, our Savior, Teacher of the Holy Word, Preacher”
“Jesus is the Son of the Father and the Son of Man, our Savior”
“Jesus is our Savior, Redeemer, and friend”

This is how some of the worshippers at North Church Queens answered the question “Who is Jesus?” But who do you say that he is?

Dance of the Trinity

About five years ago, while reading a working paper of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) entitled The Trinity: God's Love Overflowing, I was introduced to an ancient theological concept. Yes, it was an ancient concept but one new to me. The concept is communicated by the Greek word perichoresis. The term, perichoresis, and the theological concept associated with it has helped me think about the doctrine of the Trinity.

As the paper Trinity: God’s Love Overflowing made me aware, “God’s triune life in ineffable communion is described by ancient church tradition as a perichoresis: the mutual indwelling, mutual interaction, and mutual interpenetration of the persons of the Trinity. In this everlasting and interactive divine communion, each lives with, in and for the others. All is held in common except the distinctiveness of the persons in their mutual relationships of love. Confessing God as Triune, we affirm that this eternal life-in-communion of the Triune God is freely and gladly extended to us and to the world.” John of Damascus, in the 8th century, used the Greek term perichoresis in his attempt to explain Jesus’ statement, "I am in my Father, and my Father is in me."

That is a pretty heady theological definition of perichoresis. I like to think of perichoresis as describing a type of divine triune dance. The idea is not original. In his book Weight of Glory, C. S. Lewis, commenting about the Trinity, writes “The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us.”

Angels Dancing on the Head of a Pin

In the lobby of Barbour Library at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, there is a contemporary sculpture (photo right) entitled Angels Dancing on the Head of a Pin created and presented to the Seminary by Dr. Rudolph Weingartner in memory of his wife Fannia. The artist could place only eleven angels on the head of a pin. I love that sculpture and enjoyed seeing it evertimne I entered the lobby of Barbour Library. Personally, however, I am not at all concerned about knowing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. I am concerned, however, with knowing what dance they are doing, learning the steps, and joining in. I think the dance might be the same dance as the Triune God, a dance whose steps and rhythms might best be described by the Greek word perichoresis and the concept it points to.

I am not the world’s greatest dancer. It was a revelation to me not long ago, while trying to learn how to square dance, that “bowing toward your corner” meant bowing to the person or partner opposite you and not a space on the floor, and that “do-si-do” meant back to back and was not just some made up gibberish. Nevertheless, I think dancing must be like any physical activity. At first, when you are just learning, you have to think about what you are doing and the movement seems stilted, even mechanical and forced. You are not really dancing, not really enjoying the steps and rhythms of the dance, until you have practiced enough times to dance without thinking about it. Then the movement becomes fluid and organic. That is the sort of dance I imagine Angels dance on the head of a pin, and which might serve as an image of the Triune God, a fluid organic well rehearsed dance.

One reason I like and am fascinated by the image of dance as a way of beginning to appreciate the doctrine of the Trinity is because I think, as C. Baxter Kruger has written in his book The Great Dance, the image suggests that “God is not some faceless, all-powerful abstraction. God is Father, Son and Spirit, existing in a passionate and joyous fellowship. The Trinity is not three highly committed religious types sitting around some room in heaven. The Trinity is a circle of shared life, and the life shared is full, not empty, abounding and rich and beautiful, not lonely and sad and boring.”

Can a Prince Reclaim His Throne?

I was introduced to Neo-Orthodoxy in college in the late seventies. That introduction included helpings of Barth and the Niebuhr brothers along with side servings of Buber and Bonheoffer. My immersion in Barthian Neo-Orthodoxy continued at Princeton Seminary where by choice I also consumed heaping portions of Calvin and Tillich. Half of one of my Pittsburg Seminary Doctor of Ministry seminars was devoted to Calvin and I read in Barth’s Dogmatics while I was working on my D. Min. project and paper. Thus I have numerous volumes written by these theologians on my book shelf, but only one book by Schleiermacher, his Speeches to its Cultured Despisers.

While I have been exposed to other theological viewpoints throughout my education and have previously read a little Schleiermacher, I have recently rediscovered him. While on the campus of UnionPSCE for the last Colloquy on Prayer, I wandered into the Cokesbury Campus Bookstore and picked up a 75% off the retail price Wipf and Stock reprint of B.A. Gerrish’s A Prince of the Church: Schleiermacher and the Beginning’s of Modern Theology. It has been by far the most concise and clear overview of Schleiermacher that I have read. It has even prompted me to begin thinking of myself as a “Liberal Evangelical” and to think that it is about time that Progressive (i.e. Liberal) Christians re-claim the “Evangelical” label co-opted and held captive by conservatives.

It can be argued that Barth and neo-orthodoxy pounded the last nail in the coffin of Schleiermacher and 19th century Liberal Theology. But it can now also be argued that neo-orthodoxy no longer enjoys the theological monopoly it once did. Various Liberation Theologies, Process Theology, and other theologies have chipped away at the neo-orthodox consensus to the point where neo-orthodoxy is just one theology among many. With the end of the neo-orthodox consensus perhaps it is time to dust off the throne, remove the nails from Schleiermacher’s coffin, and see if there is still some theological life left in this one time prince of the church. Resurrections, after all, have been claimed to happen.