Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Who Are You?






(14) They know God (8:11)
(16) They share in Christ (3:14)

That surely is as important as who I am.




Coffee Snob said...

When I read the Manifesto, I see something different in their "need to reaffirm our identity." I see it as a need to RECLAIM their identity - specifically to reclaim the definition of the world "evangelical." Seems to me - and apparently to the signers as well - that the word has been hijacked and redefined. Wherever we see the term in the media these days, it refers to the policially conservative, politically active, the "religious right." As I see the Manifesto, it is an attempt to reclaim the "evangel" - the good news - aspect of the term evangelical.

Putting words into the mouths (and pens) of the signers, the word "evangelical" must be yanked out of the hands of the religious right. It is not a political word, it is a religious word first and foremost.

Or have I completely misread the Manifesto?

Eutychus said...

Good point Coffee Snob. I know from reading the names of signers their passion to "define themselves according to the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth" and that is important. I am not unsympathetic to their predicament, but I am sceptical as to the lateness of their stand. I mentioned before that I believe a fair hearing is necessary.
I admit that it would be better to undertand the word Evangelical as religious, rather than politcal. But it seems that too is a point of the past. The damage is done, will this damage control work?

Jim said...

I really appreciated the Hebrews survey on identity, Eutychus.

CS, I think you're right on in assessing their goals. I think the signers of the document were a bit too ambitious, if only in the name chosen for their document. It seemed to suggest an all-encompassing statement of who evangelicals are, yet the document spent a great deal of thunder on distinction between evangelicals and a particular political party. That's important to say, but it hardly amounts to a "manifesto." If only they had named it something less grandiose. If anything, the document served as a revealer of the media's inability to process what they were being told. Right away, CNN published a story with a headline asking if this was a sign that Christians are more open to the Democratic Party in this election. The media can't seem to get it through their heads that Christianity is something other than a raw socio-political conquest. Although I can't blame them too much, given the way prominent Christians have preached the need to "take back America for Christ."

Raffi Shahinian said...



Grace and Peace,
Raffi Shahinian
Parables of a Prodigal World