Scripture & Discernment: Decision Making in the Church

Rating:
Summary: Great resource for laity, students, and clergy
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Decisions, decisions...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: "Themes of Scripture guide us to God's Will"
Review: The author joins several other modern scholars who point out quite rightly I think, that one must avoid the Biblical fundamentalism of proof texting the Bible. You can prove anything you want from the Bible if you simply pick your passages. Rather the person who is really seeking the Lord's will in modern life, should note the broad themes of scripture. We should see how God has dealt with His people in the past, and apply that learning to our present situation. The Word revealed in the words of scripture will guide us into all truth.