bobjots : redux

.. What interests me is the question of whether the story of the rich young ruler provides us with a model for normal Christian praxis ..

.. The disciples will have to live in this state of liminality, of radical trust, of social dislocation, until the moment of eschatological fulfilment ..

.. the Jesus story reaches backwards and forwards, into the national life of Israel and into the evolving life of the New Testament churches, which to judge from Paul’s letters did not overtly draw their inspiration from the model of concrete Jesus-discipleship ..

Liminality .. something that seems to be an occuring theme to me lately, both as a Christ follower as well as a participant in the fast evolving socio-political scene of this country.

I generally would still endorse Claiborne's ideas as normative for the church; as radical as they may sound; but I'd be less willing to propose it as wholistic. As Perriman suggests ..

.. we need to bring the whole biblical story into view if we are going to understand adequately what it means to exist in the world as God’s creational microcosm

Of course with the general demographics and attitudes of the modern church in Malaysia in mind, this would probably be used as an excuse to dump the Clairbornes of the world. Sure, we can do that .. but it would to our own loss.

I believe the abundant life that Jesus talks about includes radical discipleship. Its just that like many things in our walk with God, the overwhelming grace covers a multitude of omissions and commissions, and we tend to get away with doing less and then wonder why our faith doesn't seem to be working out.