beyond the fighting and
between the fighters in order
to carve out a middle way.
The Third Way captures and sustains the good in both the conservative and the liberal. It is the Jesus Creed at work in the church's theology and praxis. It affirms the great traditions of the Church and seeks to embody those traditions in a new way for a new day. It is not afraid of change but has a deep desire to remain faithful.
Some of these posts will be a part of our Friday is for Friends posts, where we will be discussing Adam Hamilton's new book, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White: Thoughts on Religion, Morality, and Politics. Today's reflections are spurred by Adam Hamilton's book.
Adam Hamilton tells the story of many in his chp called "Are you liberal or conservative?" Converted in a Pentecostal church, educated at Oral Roberts University, became a United Methodist, and then was educated at a liberal seminary, Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist. This journey gave him the opportunity to "explore the truth found on both sides." (By the way, Adam, you look very much like my agent, Greg Daniel.)But Hamilton's very important discovery and question is this: Are these the only two options? Do we have to choose between liberal and conservative? Do we have to line up always with one or the other? Do we have to make this black and white, or is there a big gray patch in the middle?
There are many today who argue that the middle road, The Third Way, is not clear enough to be a genuine option. I hear this all the time: "It muddies the waters. It creates ambiguity." The problem is that I continue to bump into people, some of them on the conservative side and some on the liberal side, who say to me "I'm really in the middle." Recently a Baptist pastor said to me "I'm where you are." He knew I stood for The Third Way. What I find is that many who find themselves embedded in either side are afraid to say they are Third Way. So, this is a "coming out" opportunity for some. Folks, there is a Third Way and lots of us are journeying on the Third Way -- some are to our left and some are to our right and we are in between and have no desire to fight with either side.
If "conservative" means hanging on to the great tradition, I'm for it.
If "liberal" means embodying the gospel in new ways for a new day, I'm for it.
What I'm learning is that lots of folks are like this. We don't want to be stereotyped into "liberal" or "conservative." We want to be Third Way. (We need some of you designers to come up with some logos for The Third Way and we'll post them here and get others to post them on their blogs and websites.)
My final point is this: a Third Way approach is not new with me or new to the world. Lots of folks want this and have said so. I've been saying this for years. My own books [you can link to them in our Sidebar], from Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others to Embracing Grace and Praying with the Church and A Community called Atonement to our recent book The Blue Parakeet, are "third way" books. I hope to rankle the liberals and to irritate the conservatives, not because I like disagreement but because I hope these books can't be stereotyped. I want both sides to say "I'm with you here but not there." That's fine.
At the heart of our Third Way project is fashioning the gospel as robust enough to be both a "kingdom" gospel and a "salvation" gospel, a salvation that is both spiritual/personal and social. A salvation that means complete liberation. We're tired of the old-fashioned, thin gospels of both the conservatives and the liberals. It is hard to hold both sides of this debate together, but we will attempt to do so ... and I think many of you want to as well.
Welcome to our series called The Third Way, a way of being Christian and doing theology that seeks to live out the implications of the Jesus Creed. I'm keen to hear your responses.
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But the problem with the "Third Way" tag is that there can be as many third ways as there are Christians.
And I am grateful that God has carved a narrow gate into his kingdom for each one of us so that none who wish to enter are blocked.
I think Michael Kruse's comments are very helpful in this discussion.
Also, like a few others, I would question whether or not talking about a "third way" communicates, perhaps unintentionally, that the grid we're standing on is valid; and that all we need to do is chart a new course. But I think we need to go further - as opposed to farther. We need a new grid. I actually think the emergence we are going through right now is all about this question, this process. Because so much of the liberal/conservative continuum lives and dies with the assumptions of modernism. So the way forward is not so much a third way, as a different plane - if you will - altogether.
I suppose I'm too postmodern to see two camps even when and where more modern sorts describe themselves as falling into one of two categories. So I don't see a liberal/conservative divide between, around, or away from which a third way could be distinguished.
To use the language of circles mentioned somewhere above, I take it as axiomatic that a group that can be described as 'Christian' is centered around the Jesus they worship. Some worship a Jesus that is more similar, some less similar. As a result, their respective circles are more or less overlapping. When I first approach a tradition, I try to grasp how they perceive Jesus. To the extent I can understand that, I find that much else tends to fall into place.
As we borrow from various traditions or even develop new ideas, we are adapting our own perception of Jesus in ways that are more or less similar to the Jesus at the center of other circles and thus our circle will overlap in different ways and in different places.
Of course, unlike a pure text or a more flexible religion, Jesus, as well as the other members of the Trinity, was and is a real, actual person. The more the Jesus we worship aligns with the actual person of Jesus, the more our circle of faith will conform to reality. The problem,and perhaps the reason there appears to be such a gulf that more modern perspectives tend to reduce to a binary divide, is that there are some pretty different Jesuses out there anchoring the different circles. I'm not sure some of the circles overlap much at all.
None of that should be taken as a commentary on who is 'saved' and who isn't. I don't even find that a particularly interesting question. Rather, I think his question, "Who do you say I am?" is even more important than we have typically thought it to be. That's especially true if we become like that which we worship.
I'm not sure I can fit the idea of a 'third way' into that framework.
Oh, and RJS, perhaps that illustrates what it looks like to be flying a kite while others are engaged in boxing matches. ;)
RJS, truth to be told, part of my problem with the church and church folks is probably tied up with some issues particular to my situation. I'm a homeschool mom, so I tend to run into a lot of a particular type of Christian. (Some how word got out that we aren't creationists and now my children are not welcome in many other homeschooler's homes.) I'm married to an African American man in a part of the country with a minority population of under 3% outside of a couple of urban centers. There are 3 lutheran churches in my town of 10K, so the variety of churches is pretty narrow. (Not to mention that 2 of these churches are heavily rooted in Scandinavian or Norwegian heritage!) In fact, none of the more liberal denominations even have churches in our town. Etc, etc. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a really cold version of the deep south!
So, I readily acknowledge that there are some peculiarities to my situation which probably make my experience with church more negative than it would be in many other places. (As a matter of fact, when I was in Chicago, I attended Willow Creek and loved it, so I know that this isn't the way it is everywhere.) But, I'm sure that there are other people like me who have been planted in soil which isn't real hospitable to anything new, different, challenging, etc. It is good to hear about people such as yourself who have found a safe church home. I need to be reminded that it isn't like this everywhere. :)
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