The reality of these posts are hitting hard but this question still remains. Are denominations/differences a result of sin? Seems like Franke is ready to tell us no.

Taylor, I’ve never asked John that question, but I suspect he’d say they are “inevitable” in a world of Christians who remain finite and fallen and therefore armed with a theology that can’t be final.

This book is in the mail and I am really looking forward to it. We lived in a SE Asian predominantly Muslim village for a while and discussed what a group of Christ-followers would look like there as people started to show interest in the Way. Those more experienced than we told us that we probably had some foreign pre-conceived notions about what it ‘should’ look like and that if what grew were truly native then we probably wouldn’t feel comfortable in it. This discordance between what we imagined beforehand and what actually grew there is a beautiful thing, evidence of God’s faithfulness as well as his particularity in blessing the folks there with something that was truly theirs. His ways are better than our ways.

My friend, Mark Thames, has been quoted as saying, ?As we get to look more and more like Jesus we don?t get to look more and more like each other, we get to look more and more like ourselves.? I believe this to be true of the individual within community in reference to their personality, gifts, and missions/calling, as well as within church history and denominations. And yes. Sin is a factor. But so should be love and unity across the God-create gaps.

Does anybody know how Christianity stacks up against other faiths in terms of variety like this? For instance, Islam seems (from my very inexpert perspective) to be more homogenous in terms of bringing Arabic culture with it, rather than adapting to where it finds itself.

Travis-
Interesting question.
With other faiths more culturally based, and Christianity focused more on a Person/Trinity, variety may come easier to Christianity.
Where there has been an overly strong cultural element in Christianity (various Eastern Orthodox traditions, “American” Evangelicalism, etc…), it seems to have hindered impact.

by “hindered impact”, I am referring to the inability of the church to grow and have have a strong influence in lives and society.

I’m in Minnesota at the moment doing some speaking at Bethel University based on the book. I’m enjoying following the conversation here at Jesus Creed. The discussion about the difference with Islam is interesting. Let me cite Lamin Sanneh (one of the endorsers of the book) on Christian and its openess to culture:
?There are two basic ways to proceed. One is to make the missionary culture the inseparable carrier of the message. This we might call mission by diffusion. By it religion expands from its original cultural base and is implanted in other societies primarily as a matter of cultural identity. Islam, with which Christianity shares am strong missionary tradition, exemplifies this mode of mission. It carries with it certain inalienable cultural assumptions, such as the indispensability of its Arabic heritage in Scripture, law and religion. The other way is to make the recipient culture the true and final locus of the proclamation, so that the religion arrives without the presumption of cultural rejection. This we might call mission by translation. It carries with it a deep theological vocation, which arises as an inevitable stage in the process of reception and adaptation.”
This commitment inevitably leads to the kind of plurality we see in the history of a community that is faithful to its missional vocation.
Also: my view is that human plurality is the result of finitude, not sin and that therefore plurality will characterize our life with God for all eternity.

The comment above is from John Franke–not sure why my name wasn’t included.

John, I like that last comment on #8. I hadn’t seen that, I don’t think, but finitude vs. corruption/sin are two different things and it means God wants plurality.

John or anyone else have details on the speaking at Bethel? I’m near there and would love to attend.

There is a diversity across time, but it’s not all plurality. Some of it is falling away.
The Pre-Nicene church made some very clear statements about what constitutes the historic Christian faith, though they called it the rule of faith. Their statements are very consistent.
I put a link on my name that gives some of those things, and you can find quotes on the rule of faith at that web site, too, so that you don’t have to take my word for it.

There is a diversity across time, but it’s not all plurality. Some of it is falling away.
The Pre-Nicene church made some very clear statements about what constitutes the historic Christian faith, though they called it the rule of faith. Their statements are very consistent.
I put a link on my name that gives some of those things, and you can find quotes on the rule of faith at that web site, too, so that you don’t have to take my word for it.

Though I agree that our finiteness results in different perspectives (almost by definition) I also believe our awareness of sin plays an important role in helping us to be self critical.