PDF Download Scripture & Discernment: Decision Making in the Church, by Luke Timothy Johnson
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Scripture & Discernment: Decision Making in the Church, by Luke Timothy Johnson
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From the Back Cover
Luke Timothy Johnson begins his study of the practical issue of how decisions are made in the church by admitting to a bias: that there ought to be a connection between what the church claims to be, and how it does things. Because the church claims to be a community of faith, it does not reach decisions simply on the basis of good management policy, or the analysis of market trends, or efficiency, or even ideological consistency, but in response to God's activity in the world that presses upon us and urges us to decision. Faced with how to respond to God's leading, the church decides what to do on the basis of two realities: Scripture and discernment. Because it calls the church into being Scripture is the fundamental authority in the church's life. Yet it is not enough for a congregation simply to turn to the Bible when a decision must be reached, for Scripture does not directly address all issues which face the church today, and those it does often reflect greatly differing historical and social contexts than our own. Thus, added to the authority of Scripture in the church's decision making is a process of discernment, in which the members of the community, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, recall how God has worked in their lives as individuals and as a community and discern together God's direction for the future. Johnson argues that this very pattern of decision making can be found in Scripture itself, notably in one of the central events of the book of Acts. Beginning with the conversion of Cornelius and culminating in the Apostolic Council of Acts 15, we see how a string of smaller narratives combine to tell the story of God's movement within their midst, and how thisnarrative became the basis for the reinterpretation of Scripture and the inclusion of Gentiles into the fellowship of the church. Looking at a number of thorny issues facing the contemporary church, Johnson demonstrates how the interaction of Scripture and discernment can and must become the basis for how we respond to the decisions with which the church wrestles today.
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About the Author
Luke T. Johnson, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of new Testament and Christian Origins, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia (The Roman Catholic Church).
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Product details
Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: Abingdon Press; Subsequent edition (March 1, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0687012384
ISBN-13: 978-0687012381
Product Dimensions:
6 x 0.4 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.8 out of 5 stars
6 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#270,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
All of church leadership should read this book...too often we get caught up in the finance of the church and forget about the purpose & health of The Church. All of church members should read this book - if we can not learn how to discern what God has planned for us as individuals and as a family...how can we figure it out as a congregation....READ THIS BOOK!!! LTJ is an amazing writer, amazing person, and has many wonderful things to teach us.
This is a book by Timothy Luke Johnson, which is a pretty well known name in the churches of Christ, and mostly for Christianity in general. This book will end in a direction that few, if any members of the churches of Christ will go, but the process of the journey is worth the reading. The book goes into the process of discernment of the early church. The majority of the work, and the material that is the most insightful is from the exegetical research into Acts 10-15. This is the famous discussion of the Cornelius situation. For us today, this is safe territory, but for first century Jews, this was radical teachings and behaviors. He charts the process of the group seeking to discern the will of God in this situation. You have those appealing to the Old Testament doctrine, the example of Christ, both ways (gentile mission or coming to the Jews), and the process of discerning the acts of the Holy Spirit. Some of his insights into the process of group discern are great. He states "Groups have, therefore, only limited tolerance for diversity. When that tolerance is overstepped , the group will either dissolve or make decisions." p. 14. And he observes "Many group decisions, as a result, tend to be made implicitly, following the path of least resistance. This is the path of "what we have always done."p. 16. Throughout the book he attempts to create a model for narrative discernment within the body of Christ. He highlights some of the misuses of the Bible. "Sometimes the talismanic use of the Bible is obvious, as when we swear on the book or incense it. Sometimes it is more subtle. Is it "theology" to extract a handful of verses, arrange them in a set of propositions, and apply them to every circumstance without ever actually reading them?" p. 46). But before you believe he goes with a reader response method, he believes strongly in discerning truth. "reader. The authority of the community is absent, the authority of the creed is not determinative, and now even the authority of the text (as some sort of historically verifiable entity) is abandoned. What remains is the principle of free interpretation, rooted in the subjectivity of the individual reader. What remains, in other words, is chaos." p. 50. His work on the Acts chapter is just great. It is interesting the process that the church went through. There was a radical departure from circumcision, but there is the respect to tradition of the blood laws. He continues the book through a study of Paul's process of discernment. And provides some advice for the community of God today. He moves in a radical direction, at the end when he uses this model to cast out all teachings on homosexuality, and the role of women in the worship. But the journey is deep, but the conclusion is shocking.
Johnson begins conveniently by defining terms and concepts to be used throughout the book.Johnson defines church as by various terms throughout, including an intentional community, a living organism (juxtaposed to an organisation), but perhaps the most fundamental is this: 'The church in the strict sense is found where there is a specific group of people who assemble together to call on the name of the Lord in prayer and fellowship.'Key to the definition and existence of the church is faith. Faith is defined as the response in trust and obedience, a deeply responsive hearing of another's word or call. Faith in God, theological faith, the faith of the church, is therefore the hearing of the call of God. And the distinctiveness of the community called 'Church'Johnson's definition of faith is different from many theologians in that is requires a recognition that God acts now, and continues to act. Johnson's faith is 'not attachment to a body of doctrines but a process of responding in obedience and trust to God's Word,' which continues to speak to us through the interpretive prism of community and experience.Johnson then proceeds to discuss the normative use of scripture, which he returns to in each chapter. Two quotes are essential from the text here: 'It is an expression of the church's faith to regard these writings as prophetic for every age, and therefore as speaking God's Word.' Also, 'The theologian serves the church by allowing the text from the past and the text of the present to enter mutual interpretation.'Johnson proceeds to discuss techniques to show how diversity of voices can be recognised and accepted without any single voice being dominant or neglected. These include typology, midrashic, and allegorical techniques in reading, which each have their own pitfalls. Johnson contends that the literary diversity of the New Testament provides a framework for a plurality of faithful responses, individual and communal, to the Word of God.In the second and third parts of the book, Johnson moves beyond theory to talk about issues regarding specific applications and how they inform the general principles of decision making in the church.In talking about difficulties, Johnson concentrates on Acts 15 as a model (often neglected, as he characterises it). He states that the narrative aspects of the prophetic witness is key to the process, 'because it gives the fullest picture in the New Testament of the process by which the church reaches decisions.'Moving on to decisions, Johnson gives us examples of decisions that were made by the early church, but says that they do not provide a good model for decision-making, as they primarily concentrate on the outcomes rather than the process.Discernment is described by Johnson as a vague but necessary and very real part of the decision-making process, akin to (and derived from the Greek words for) testing and judging, as well as understanding. Again, Johnson (interpreting Paul) is more concerned with 'the integrity of the ekklesia, God's convocation' than with individuals, who have a responsibility in discernment (in a later chapter he discusses the mutuality of responsibility of listener and speaker in this process), but not necessarily a decisive one. The goal for discernment is holiness and edification of the entire community.Johnson proceeds under the Practice section to concentrate primarily on three topics as illustrative of his model of decision-making and discernment: the status of women (leadership), homosexuality (fellowship), and possessions and economics (stewardship).In Johnson's final chapter, he discusses the need for a 'conversational model' of hermeneutics that involves leadership and fellowship in a broader and more listening mode than has existed, and that the responsibility for theological thinking and speaking needs to be carried to all members of the church.The primary question I would ask of the book as a whole is, How do application of the principles of discernment and decision-making work for a church organisation that goes beyond the parish/local congregation level? Can the principles of listening and decision-making be applied to a macro-organisation such as regional/national/international churches in a constructive and thoughtful way in the same way they are applied at local levels? And what becomes of local discernment when it is out of line with the discernment and decision-making of the larger organisation?Johnson gives many examples, again arising from the diversity of voices found in the scriptures, of different circumstances and applications, and looks for general principles that guide all decisions, which include a listening to narrative experience, leadership by the Holy Spirit, and discernment in community. Johnson admits that this is often a vague process, and that care has to be taken in making sure that 'the proper spirit' is being heard -- he even gives examples of how Paul seems to violate his own principles (leaving aside the possibility of later revisions/redactions of the text and such problems), which remind us of the passage read at the beginning of the course about listening to other gospels, even if taught by angels, etc. Johnson categorises the status of women as an issue of leadership and the issue of homosexuality as one of fellowship. I would argue that both could be reclassified under the other's heading. I would have liked for Johnson to expand upon the Devices section, and perhaps include more on how to reach those outside the church (if indeed the church is supposed to be evangelical -- calling out to the world to bring those outside in).I am biased in that Johnson was a professor of mine during my undergraduate days at Indiana University, and I have read almost everything he's ever written. He is very consistent; many points will be made across chapters and books using the exact same language and construction. The readings for this evening will provide a good framework for further discussion of how communities form their identities, canons and codes of action.
Dr. Johnson has updated this book, making it a fantastic resource for anyone interested in the ways the church should use scripture to discern the will of God. Johnson hits important issues, including the place of homosexual Christians in the church, but rather than using the book as a soapbox to take stands on issues, he uses the issues to demonstrate the way scripture is used and understood. The book is helpful to religion/seminary students and clergy, but is accessible to lay persons who care about making scripture the basis for their decisions and those of their church.
A 'must read book for anyone involves in the ministry! The content was altogether helpful, not only in the preparation of sermons, but for Bible Studies.Luke Timothy Johnson's methodology was easy to understand for church leadership, as he shows how to discern the Scriptures with authority for interpretation; reinterpretation and interaction. Making decisions are difficult when dealing with thorny issues that are ever present in all settings and have to be responded to because the issues are timely and are applicable to the decision-making processes today with the membership, in fellowship and with the help of the Holy Spirit.
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