Doctrine of Fulfillment
Christianity and Non-Christian Religions 209
stood in this relationship, and, of course, no other ever can. It is also recognized that in some religions there is very much more that
is contrary to the Gospel and much less in accordance with it than
is to be found in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, it is insisted that
as the Gospel is now brought to the people of non-Christian religions it does come to hearts more or less—however little in some instances—prepared for it by their former religions. This prepara-
tion should be viewed discriminatingly but gratefully by the missionary as a preparatory work of God. The Christian should, with
alert, critical care, but also with outgoing, sympathetic understand-
ing, cooperate with non-Christians wherever and however feasible
without compromise of Christian principles. He should also be
sensitively open to truth or grace which God may offer to him
through the adherents of other religions. Always, looking to Christ
as Lord, he welcomes or discards by reference to the norm of Christ.
2. Arguments for a Carefully Discriminating Doctrine of Fulfillment
It is impossible here to do more than outline in the briefest" form some of the main considerations which the author believes should commend to the Church, and especially to Christian missionaries, the last of the four views which have been summarized. I hope to develop some of these considerations much more fully elsewhere.
A. THE BIBLICAL TESTIMONY We are assured in Acts 14:17 that God "did not leave himself without witness" even among peoples who knew none of the Biblical revelation. Moreover, the nature of this universal witness is suggested in the further words, "for he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness." The non-Christian religions give compelling evidence that many peoples of the world have responded gratefully to these very disclosures of God's mercy. That many of the doctrines and practices which accompany their responses to God's material and spiritual gifts (for not all the "sladness" He has given has been induced by material blessings) —__ 2 are mistaken should not lead us to despise the truth and grace which | have been vouchsafed to those peoples. We can be grateful that __ God does not reject all our worship as idolatry until all our doctrines are in proper order—else who could hope to stand before
Him? If, as Kraemer would have us believe, God's revelation is
210 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
given only through Jesus Christ, then how can the Gospel speak of "the true light that enlightens every man'? ?4 There is much other Biblical testimony of similar import.
B. THE LOGOS DOCTRINE IN CHURCH HISTORY In the early Church it was believed that the Logos made flesh in Christ did, in-
deed, enlighten every man, whether or not that man had ever heard of Jesus. The apologists of the second century saw too clearly the truth and goodness in some of the teachings and some aspects of the lives of men like Socrates to regard them as evil. Yet, convinced as they were that the one true God was the source of all good, such men as Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria accounted for the wisdom of the nobler pagans as due to revelations of that same Logos. Considering both Justin's faithfulness unto death and the effectiveness of the Greek apologists in extending the Gospel, as well as the intrinsic persuasiveness of the doctrine, we should be slow to cast aside the doctrine of Christian fulfillment of which the Logos view is one specific form.
C. THE INEVITABLE MISSIONARY USE OF PREPARATION BY OTHER RELIGIONS Actually, among adherents of other religions, Chris-
tian missionaries always do build on selected concepts, understandings, and valuations previously provided by the other religions, whether they are aware of the fact or not—although they might often do better if they understood what was taking place. When the missionary speaks of God, or goodness, or life, or death, or spirit, he must use words which have been fashioned and given meaning in communication of the old religion. To be sure, the meaning must be corrected so that the words will become carriers of new meaning. Nevertheless, something of the old meaning is held to be sound, else there would be no means of communicating the new.
: For example, in preaching the Gospel to the Mashona of ___ Rhodesia~(where I had most of my own brief missionary experience), as the missionaries preach and translate the Bible, they use
the Shona word Mwari for God. Some ideas conveyed by the word are unchristian, as, for example, the notion of one who is not normally concerned for the individual person. Yet the word does imply, in the old religious culture of the people, the sovereign ruler
_ of the universe who, when he acts, always acts justly. The meanings of just action, universe, and sovereign rule will also need cor-
_ rection. However, nearly everywhere in Africa the missionaries are
ke In 19.
Christianity and Non-Christian Religions 211
grateful that the doctrine of a single sovereign high god has so well prepared the way for Christian preaching. This preparation must explain the fact on which H. A. Junod is quoted as commenting in
the words, "It is wonderful to notice how easily the idea of the
Christian God is accepted by the Bantus." 2? Of course it is not
only the idea of God, but also ideas of spirit, holiness, goodness,
prayer, love, and many others, which, through traditional religious
teachings, have provided language by means of which the mis-
sionary can communicate the Christian message.
In several regions of Africa I asked first-generation Christians why they had accepted Christ. Various answers were given, all of them complex, but one element was included without exception. Every man questioned said that he had recognized that the Gospel offered a way to the actual living of the kind of life which he had : dimly sensed before as the life which ought to be lived but of which he had never before held a clear idea or a lively hope. Many of the missionaries who had evangelized those regions had believed in radical displacement, but in the experience of their converts the Gospel had come, nevertheless, as fulfillment.
D. THE HOLY TRINITY What is needed in resolution of the problem before us is that we should understand anew and take more seriously the doctrine of the Trinity. If God has revealed Himself to men solely as the Son and only in Jesus of Nazareth, then we cannot hope to find any sign of His revelation of Himself where there is no knowledge of Jesus. Such a unitarianism of the Second Person implies the doctrine that God has left Himself without witness in most of the world through most of the centuries. Precisely such unitarianism of revelation is implied by the logic of Kraemer's theory.
But God is not only the Son, the Word spoken i in Jesus. Even © that Word was active in creation and "enlightens every man." But God is also the Father of all, who gives good gifts,2? gladdens the heart *4 and convicts the conscience *° of men gna women eee where. ee
Beneath the fearfulness with which some would seek to excludes = all real exchange of communication between the Christian Church _
* Bouquet, op. cit., p. 262; cf. pp. 255-68. = Cf. Mt. 4:45. *Cf. Acts 14:17. * Cf. Rom. 2:1-4, 14-16.
212 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
and the non-Christian religions is a lack of faith in the Holy Spirit. With a renewal of this faith we shall be eager to share our testimony to Christ—testimony both of word and deed—in every possible way with the people of other religions, entrusting to the present action of the Holy Spirit the guarding and nurturing of the precious seed.
In all of our homelands, even in all of our home churches, the wheat of Christian faith grows in the field with tares of every ungodly motive and thought. Yet we know that we must be in real and constant communication with our culture in all its depths. As Christians we cannot accept everything in Western culture. Much of it is hedonistic, materialistic, nationalistic, and hateful. All that must be condemned and rejected. But we do not reject all of Western secular culture. We seek to welcome every good element in it and to fulfill its best promise by bringing all into subjection to the lordship of Christ. Whether we are dealing with modern science, literature, industry, government, family life, or religious institutions, whether professedly Christian or not, this is the way of faith in the Triune God. It is He who made all men and is sovereign over
all, who informed all creation by the Word of His active meaningful purpose, who disclosed Himself most fully in Jesus the embodiment of His Word, and who is actively seeking, by His loving Spirit, every one of His children everywhere.
His revelation, like all communication, depends on reception by the hearer, as well as on the disclosing by the one who speaks. Both in Christendom and in the non-Christian religions, His disclosure
is clouded, distorted, and confused with illusions by the sin and ignorance of men. Yet nowhere has He left Himself without witness and everywhere we need to walk with quiet step and sensitive ear lest we miss some new disclosure of His grace. We must not presume to dictate to God the channel through which that disclosure may come.
elke Christian Mission
in Larger Dimension
BY FLOYD H. ROSS
Modern man is in serious trouble. - The last global time-space barriers to human intercourse have S fallen to the jet age. The physical barriers to world community are gone. The crying need of the times is a world community in which people everywhere can participate productively and peacefully. Yet the walls of fear, prejudice, and anxiety stand all too firmly in the midst of our out-dated tribalisms. Modern Western man is at home neither with himself nor with the realm of nature. How can he become at home with his human brothers of other nationalities and creeds? In a sensitively written book, Van der Post has said, "The human tide of unreality is running full. The human being, the natural person, has never had so little honour from life and from him-
self as to-day. He is imprisoned in theories, in petrified religions, and above all, strangled in his own lack of self-awareness." 1
Modern man is being forced to cross a new frontier. ee This is the frontier of a greatly heightened awareness of what it ae means to be a human being. In the words of a member of the a Jewish community, "I get tired of being continually reminded by my fellow Jews that I am a Jew. I would like to be reminded more often that I am a human being!" The problems of nationalism have
1Laurens Van der Post, Venture to the Interior (New York: Morrow, 1951), p. 213. ee
214 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
not been resolved, yet the problems of internationalism must now also be faced.
Modern Christian man is in serious trouble also. He is prone to use the language of the nineteenth century, the period of great missionary expansionism, as he faces the ending of the twentieth century. His language is archaic; his arguments are usually unconvincing save to those already within the theological circle. The great issue of the hour is not Christian ecumenism but human ecumenism. Laudable as are the efforts of the World Council of Churches to bring some measure of understanding and charity into the relations of non-Roman Christian groups, the greater issue is practically untouched by that organization—namely, how to enter into a significant and mutually rewarding dialogue with the Asian faiths that are now beginning to show fresh life.
How rewarding these continuing conversations can become is determined to a large degree by the attitude of those seeking such conversations. In the words of a sensitive scholar whose spirit embraced both East and West, "We cannot establish human relation-
ships with other peoples if we are convinced of our own superiority or superior wisdom, and only want to convert them to our way of thinking." His further admonition to the modern Christian is just as appropriate for the modern Hindu, Buddhist, or Moslem.
The modern Christian, who thinks of the world as his parish, is faced with the painful necessity of becoming himself a citizen of the world; he is invited to participate in a symposium and a convivium; not to preside—for there is Another who presides unseen—but as one of many guests.?
* The Christian mission today involves bearing witness to a pro__found search for living truth which can never be confined within
_ any language, theological or nontheological, Christian or non-
Christian. Certainly no one of us is qualified to preside in that search. Each can only hope to be a concerned participant.
In the effort to establish genuinely human relationships with
_ thoughtful people of religious faiths other than our own, we need
not fall into the trap of too many "Brotherhood Week" programs
_ where politeness or a sweetness-and-light approach sometimes sub- . _ stitutes for persistent grappling with the important issues of human
F 7 Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Am I My Brother's Keeper (New York: 'John Day Company, 1947), p. 36. . Foe
The Christian Mission in Larger Dimension 215
diversity. Each of us who approaches the dialogue situation should be willing to set forth his presuppositions fairly frankly, but without brittleness, in order that they may be taken into account by those participating in the discussion. A few words revealing my own operational assumptions will suffice here.
Man's basic needs are fundamentally the same although they find radically different ways of coming to expression, both because of the suppleness of human nature and because of the diversities of geographical and cultural conditioning factors. The term needs is not to be confused with the term wants. By basic needs I refer to the need for orientation or a frame of reference, for self-worth, for self-transcendence. (Various writers use different terms here, depending on whether they are primarily psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, theologians.) The conditions for growth toward physical and spiritual maturity are built into the structure of reality, from the simplest molecule to the complicated human brain.
Growth, even in the religious life, is on the whole "carelesss" of man's formulas about the growth process; it goes on in spite of our — misformulations. Man is never a purely passive agent, however. es Responsiveness, capacity for deepened awareness, sensitivity, are : all important personal qualities which_seem to encourage the growth process.
The religions of mankind arise out of man's deeply felt need for self-transcendence, wholeness, reconciliation, expressed variously
as the need for the beatific vision, for communion with God, moksha, nirvana, blessedness, etc. All religions are relative to man's specific condition or situation, though all religions seek to point beyond themselves to some transcendent dimension of meaning, power, or grace. The gods men worship reveal much more about the nature of man's search and the shape of his needs at the moment than they reveal about an ultimate reality. However, since man is a significant part of the totality of reality, what every religion "reveals" is never to be ignored,
', Ue at Bid es t
The "God behind the gods" is always known relatively through his activities, theophanies, incarnations. What any man calls God —
or the will of God is subject to further clarification and possible repudiation in the light of deepened awareness. God is known in
relative ways only, even in those traditions that claim special revelation or "the keys to the kingdom." In the language of Chris- —
tian orthodoxy, God is ever known in partially distorted ways be-
216 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
cause of man's "sinful condition." Christians sometimes make a
distinction between the "Gospel of Jesus Christ" and "Christianity," to avoid the relativities and ambiguities associated with the latter term. But the Gospel is not so delivered from the relativities of history; it too is known, professed, and interpreted in history by
finite men.
Tillich reminds us of these things when he points out that Christianity is neither final nor universal, even though, according to him,
it witnesses to that which is final and universal.? Another Christian scholar reminds us that Christianity "can never be more than a hint in history. Its subject is the eternal God, but its mode of communication is history, and in history nothing is evidently eternal." * And in a similar vein Berdyaev has written that Christianity has remained "an unfinished revelation about the absolute significance and calling of man." > To recognize that our best interpretations of the will of God for us in history are finite, not final, is to avoid one of the more subtle inducements to idolatry.
To approach the dialogue between the religions with open minds and hearts is not to succumb either to syncretism or to indifference. No Christian is asked to be untrue to his confession of faith and each participant must respect the right of the other to be true to his own integrity. If the conversations are approached with mutual respect and seriousness by all parties concerned, the circle of one's own faith may be deepened as well as broadened. There has been a tendency for Christians to underestimate the non-Christian religions at their deeper levels through concentrating on the more obvious. features of the religious behavior and attitudes of "popular" religion. This is a practice which common courtesy demands that we eliminate. If a Protestant wants to be challenged by Roman Catholicism, he will normally pick out an alert Jesuit or Dominican teacher rather than enter into debate with a harried parish priest in a Mexican village, off the main track of theological conversation. Individual missionaries to non-Christian peoples have done
*Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1951), Vol. I, p. 134. "Carl Michalson, "The Issue: Ultimate Meaning in History," Religion in Life, Vol. XXVIII (Summer 1959), p. 376.
* Nicolas Berdyaev, The Meaning of the Creative Act (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1954), p. 331.
The Christian Mission in Larger Dimension 217
this in notable cases, but most of the people in the home churches who finance the missionary programs have not been given the chance to listen to the case for Hinduism made by a Radhakrishnan,
a Coomaraswamy, an Aurobindo, a Gandhi, or a swami of the Vedanta Society.
There are significant differences between the major Oriental religions on the one hand and the Semitic religions on the other. For example, attitudes toward nature are not the same. In general the Hindu has been taught to be wary of nature, her illusive and bewitching ways (described as maya); he tends to flee from her. The Buddhist traditionally has been inclined to try to make his peace with nature through finding a "middle way" between asceticism and self-indulgence. The Japanese Shintoist has felt both an esthetic and a divine dimension in nature, and has practiced living in loving interaction with her, as Shinto shrines, Japanese gardens, and the love of poetry illustrate. The Christian has been inclined to dominate nature, in an earlier period because he felt nature to be the abode of Satan and his demonic helpers. After the Renaissance and the Reformation, European Christian man sought to dominate nature "for the glory of God." Western man still tends to think of nature as something to be conquered—latterly, outer space.
Not only are there differing attitudes toward nature; there are also different attitudes regarding man, his nature, the nature of his predicament, the highest good which he should aspire to, and the techniques which he should use to actualize the summum bonum. In some cases the differences are greater than in others. But the search for differences should not displace the search for deeperlying similarities. Research into all of these areas must draw increasingly upon the nontheological disciplines rather than being = based primarily on Biblical studies. One's appreciation of his own ae heritage can be enriched by this kind of study even while he may Soe become aware of the partial perspective which his own faith has supplied him. For the purposes of this chapter I shall confine my-
self primarily to treatments of the different attitudes toward history.
It has been stated repeatedly that it is the historical character of Christianity, its affirmation of "once-for-allness" in history, which sets it off from all other faiths, and thus undergirds its claim to ex_ clusiveness. Something which was not true before became true in
218 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
the once-for-all Incarnation in Jesus the Christ. "Something happened on Calvary for the first time. God's redemptive activity in history reached its culmination there." ® God became flesh, once for all. This kind of incarnational doctrine cannot be paralleled in any other religion, the Christian usually hastens to add. He will admit that Hinduism in its Vishnuite form has a doctrine of incarnation (avatara, or "descents"), but he can point out that according to the Bhagavad Gita the deity descends whenever there is a decline of dharma ("righteousness" or, better, that which binds things together) and a rise of adharma." Deity does not incarnate himself once for all, nor does deity become fiesh.
I would agree with the Christians who stress that there is a distinction of fundamental importance here which should not be glossed over by a purely Vedantic interpretation. But it should be pointed out that what is intended by the Hindu teaching of recurring incarnations is not as far removed from the Christian doctrine of incarnation as is sometimes claimed. In each case, the intention is to say something significant about the nature of an ultimate reality that "cares" and "reaches out" toward men redemptively. The devotional path (bhakti marga) of Hinduism does affirm that the ultimate invades history, contrary to some Christian statements. However, Hinduism holds that the ultimate invades history in a variety of forms, places, and times; whereas the Christian's affirmation has been that the decisive invasion took place once for all. Niles has pointed out that in the Saiva Siddhanta form of Hinduism the claim is made that the truth of Saiva Siddhanta is the only saving truth, but "this truth is not pegged down in history
°D. T. Niles, The Preacher's Task and the Stone of Stumbling (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), p. 32.
Cf. Carl Michaison, op. cit., p. 379: "In the New Testament a single event is endowed with finality by virtue of the presence of God in history. The 'possibility of an ultimately meaningful history is formed by that event."
Cf. Charles W. Forman, "The Challenge to Christian Exclusiveness," Religion in Life, Vol. XXVII (Summer 1958), pp. 355-56: "There can be no doubt that it is the historical character of Christianity that makes for exclusiveness.... The thing that is involved here is the exclusive character
of history itself, and this can be overcome only by denying history or getting outside of history. If something has happened in history, then it is by its very nature exclusive. It can never be duplicated, repeated, substituted for, or recalled. It stands forever in its exclusive identity and all the ages are its
heirs." _ The Bhagavad Gita 4.7-8.
The Christian Mission in Larger Dimension 219
as is the case with Jesus Christ." § For the Christian, speaking to Christians, there is no fault here. But in speaking to non-Christians, the Christian must bear in mind that truth is "pegged down" in different ways in different confessional points of view even within Christian circles. Does not the devout Roman Catholic find truth pegged down in a papal utterance bearing on faith and morals? Does not the Fundamentalist find truth pegged down in his interpretation of the Bible? Each of us runs the danger of self-deception in trying to peg down truth too decisively. It is a matter of human history, which the student of religious behavior must take seriously, that truth has been made real to persons in many ways and guises.
The early Christians did put forth the claim that "There is no other name given under heaven for the salvation of men." That the early Christians may have been overzealous in stating it in this way is a possibility the Christian must live with. For such a claim is subject neither to historical proof nor disproof. One either believes it
or he does not. For the Christian, the decisive act of God is seen in the person and work of Jesus Christ. But believing this in faith does not rule out entertaining the possibility that this decisive act : may point to that which has been experienced as reality in other modes and under other names. A faith experience cannot justify a particular concept or interpretation of that experience.®
The case for the distinctiveness of the Christian stress on history is also overstated when it is claimed that Jesus Christ is the only saviour in the history of religions who is a historical figure.1° This would involve disproving the Hindu claim that behind the Lord Krishna of the Gita lies a historical figure, and proving the nonSs historicity of Gautama the Buddha who lies back of the many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of Buddhist faith affirmations.™! ie Do the non-Christian religions find no ultimate meaning in life or history? According to Michalson the non-Christian cultures have —
* Op. cit., p. 38. s
° Nor should we soreuook what in Roman Catholic teaching is calling ' 'invincible ignorance." = = 2° Cf. Forman, op. cit., p. 355. ee
1 A. C. Bouquet has shown that the valuation of the historical is a variable, even in Asian lands in the past; it is a variable which is dependent upon culture and ideology and is not something which is permanently favored or discouraged by any particular geographical area. See his "The Evaluation of the Historical," in W. R. Inge et al., Radhakrishnan: Comparative Studie cng (New York: Harper & Brothers, n.d.).
220 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
been satisfied with less than ultimacy in history whereas the Christian proclamation has given rise to a history "in which it has been revealed that there is an absolute meaning in life." " The person who does not feel that there is any ultimacy in history, according to Michalson, falls either into revolt or resignation.
The human thirst for ultimate meaning, while felt in varying degrees, I would regard as universal. But I do not think evidence can be adduced to support the claim that only in Christianity can this thirst be satisfied. Arguments for the "ultimacy" of Christianity come perilously close to revealing a singular lack of feeling for ultimacy and a preoccupation with proximate concerns. The nonChristian religions at their best have, in their own way, been just as critical as prophetic Christianity in refusing to identify proximate goals with ultimate values. Or it might be more accurate to say that all the living religions have often fallen short of their own best insights in this area. In any event, faith in ultimacy can readily coexist with recognition of the purely relative and tentative character of one's arguments in support of ultimacy. Jew, Christian, and Moslem are now being invited to face up to some of the problems which arise when primarily Semitic (i.e., Near Eastern and European) categories of religious interpretation are used as though they alone can throw significant light on the divine—human encounter;3*
The Christian would move more readily into a dialogue with nonChristians if he would recognize consciously the two levels on which he moves when he talks about his own faith. These two levels
are the confessional and the historical. Historical here is to be understood in its more ordinary usage, involving the methods of historiography and the attempt to establish the occurrence or nonoccurrence of objective events. "Sacred history" and historiography often are not talking about the same events at all, or, if they are talking about the same events, they talk about them in two radically different ways. "Sacred history" may make use of historical methods, but the "events" it seeks to establish can only be made to
4 Op. cit., p. 378. aes * William §, Haas, The Destiny of the Mind, East and West (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1956), has made a contribution to the clarification of some of the issues. Haas sees many of the major differences between East and West as being rooted in different forms of consciousness. Hocking,
_ Toynbee, Northrop, and Coomaraswamy have made interesting contributions
+ in this area, though in widely differing modes and vocabularies.
The Christian Mission in Larger Dimension 221
appear to be established by such methods. Jesus of Nazareth is a historical fact or event. The Christ of faith is an inner reality. When
a Christian says, "Jesus Christ is the only way," he is making a Sid ee of faith just as he is when he testifies to his faith in the "once-for-allness." The confessional viewpoint may point to "outer events" in history as vividly illustrating inner response, but it cannot establish a logical or factual connection between them. A con-
fession of faith always testifies to what has happened in my or our
history, not in history as such.
The confessional viewpoint is intimately related to the mythic. In myth and its correlated rituals mankind has ever sought to make his experience intelligible and meaningful to himself. The "Janguage" of religion is the language of myth and poetry. Back of the myths which are reflected in narratives and rituals are mythic archetypes which are always operative in the life of faith. Philip Wheelwright has said that the very essence of myth is "that haunting awareness of transcendental forces peering through the cracks of the visible universe." ** Myth relates to' that which is felt to be ~ "eternally true." The great mythic themes are timeless ones which : have recurred again and again in human history—myths of the ' dying and rising god, of the great mother, of resurrection and rebirth, of the beatific vision, of salvation.*® Tillich has written that "myths are symbols of faith combined in stories about divine-human encounters." 7° Myths wax and wane, but myth is never absent from man's spiritual life "for the myth is the combination of symbols of our ultimate concern. ... There is no substitute for the use of sym-
bols and myths: they a are the language of faith." 1"
All of the early Christians' affirmations about Jesus the Christ were in the mythic dimension. They believed that Christ was in —
"Quoted by Mark Schorer in "The Necessity of Myth," in Daedalus (Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences), Spring 1959,
360. ~ * Cf. Mircea Eliade, Birth and Rebirth (New York: Harper & Brothers,
1958); Myth of the Eternal Return (New York: Pantheon, 1954); Joseph =F Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces (New York: Pantheon, 1949); — as Masks of God (New York: Viking, 1959); A. K. Coomaraswamy, Hinduism and Buddhism (New York: Philosophical Library, n.d.); Henrich Zimmer, _ Myths and Symbols in Indian Art & Civilization (New York: Featbece: ;
1947). ne
%*" Dynamics of Faith (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1957), p. 49. * Tbid., pp. 49, 50.
222 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
some sense the "Messiah," or the "Son of Man," or the "Son of God." Some believed that he had a "virgin birth." All of these themes are ancient mythic themes, paralleled over and over again in the religions of mankind. That God "chose" one race to be "His people," that Jesus was a preexistent "divine being" whose coming marks the end of the "present age," that God let "His Son" die on a cross in order that the "Son's" death might obtain "atonement for the sins of man," that through Christ's "resurrection" the demonic powers of the world have been robbed of their dominion, that Christ will return on the clouds in his glory to finish his work of destroying sin, suffering, and death, that "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved"—all of this is mythic.?®
To say that it is myth is obviously not to say that it is fictitious. Myth is a vehicle of faith. Faith, myth, and poetry all refer to and reflect a dimension of life that is deeper than the purely historical, or the realm of objectification. The confessional viewpoint draws its vitality, not from the historical events to which it may point, but from the depths of the spirit where myth in the deeper sense always resides, though often partially sleeping, as it were. Interpreters of the Christian Gospel may think that they "demonstrate" its truth by an appeal to "history," but all of their language points to the primacy of the mythic. In ordinary history it can be said that every event is unique or once for all; but in "sacred history" once-forallness refers to a dimension of meaning that is felt to be timetranscending and time-transforming.
Most statements regarding the "scandal" of Christianity thus miss the vital point.1® The scandal lies in taking what is definitely
* Cf. Rudolf Bultmann, Jesus Christ and Mythology (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958); Karl Jaspers and Rudolf Bultmann, Myth and Chris-
_ tianity (New-York: Noonday Press, 1958); Hans W. Bartsch, Kerygma and _ Myth, A Theological Debate (London: S.P.C.K., 1954); G. V. Jones, Christology and Myth in the New Testament (London: Allen & Unwin,
1956). a *Cf. Douglas Webster, What Is A Missionary (London: Highway Press,
_ 1956), p. 13: "It is a scandal that God should be selective and choose just
_ one race, the Jews, to be His own people and to receive special blessings and special knowledge. It is a scandal that God should take upon Himself
our flesh and become a baby. It is a scandal that God should let His Son die on a cross. It is a scandal that He should count a man's attitude of faith
Jesus Christ as more important than his moral achievements.... It is scandal that the Church should claim to have the only message that can
The Christian Mission in Larger Dimension 223
mythic-confessional language and treating it literally or historically, thus confusing many of those who stand outside the circle of faith and also excluding discussion of other temporal formulations of the eternal-mythic theme in other circles of faith, Hindu, Buddhist, and
the like. The mythic theme underlying the New Testament is time-
less but the language and forms of the New Testament definitely are
not. They are archaic. To identify faith with a particular expres-
sion of faith is to fall into idolatry. No man's interpretations of the
action of God should be canonized.
The appeal to history never establishes the validity of a religiously interpreted event even though certain events may have precipitated the faith response. There is no "objective" security for the man. who lives by faith. What the Christian calls the "facts of redemption are themselves objects of faith and are apprehended as such
_ only by the eye of faith. They cannot be perceived apart from
faith... ." ?° The vitality of a religious experience is rooted in the mythic dimension of man's being, and is appropriated existentially in the living now, never in some "then." Faith expresses itself symbolically through mythological language and sacramentally through a rituals and in the so-called fruits of the spirit. Christian myth is © "truer" than Christian history for those-who believe, for myth has
its vitality prior to either the proof or disproof of any specific event or series of events. The vital outward expression of a profound myth is a life lived sacramentally. Whitehead has somewhere said that expression is the only sacrament. The expression of myth at its — best is in art forms or poetry.
Why has there been this reluctance to state the case for the 5 Christian myth? Part of it lies in pejorative uses of the term myth in ze nineteenth-century rationalism and so-called liberalism. Some of — the hesitancy revolves in various uses of the terms myth and oS mythological by contemporary writers. Tillich seeks to introduce — S clarity into the picture by distinguishing between natural myths and historical myths. He refuses to follow those Christian. a
we must be saved' (Acts 4:12)."
*R. Bultmann, Jesus Christ and Mythology, op. cit., p. 72. Cf. ee "The action of God is hidden from every eye except the eye of faith. Ont
224 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
who would limit the term myth to repetitive natural processes understood in their ultimate meaning. Christianity for him roots in a historical myth—that Christ appears in the fullness of time, lives, dies, and is resurrected. But Christianity nonetheless speaks the mythological language, he insists, like every other religion.** I am not persuaded that the distinction is too fundamental. What one religion sees as cyclical or repetitive (a "natural" myth), for example, the struggle between the powers of good and evil, or incarnations, another religion may view in a once-for-all pattern
("historical" myth). A myth becomes "historical" by confessional proclamation: e.g., the Christian confession about "fullness of time" is a nonhistorical category growing out of Christian faith. If the mythic dimension is as important for the understanding of the religious life as it seems to be, it is important in spite of whatever adjectives we may choose to put in front of the term myth.
However, an additional source of the confusion over whether the Christian faith is mythic arises from Bultmann's use of the term "demythologizing" (Entmythologisierung). The term is subject to considerable confusion. Bultmann is concerned with discovering the deeper meanings behind the New Testament mythological conceptions. But in doing this he tends to equate mythology, or the myth, with one of its dimensions only, i.e., its objectifying tendency. He says, for example, that
Mythology expresses a certain understanding of human existence. It believes that the world and human life have their ground and their limits in a power which is beyond all that we can calculate or control. Mythology speaks about this power inadequately and insufficiently because it speaks about it as if it were a wordly power.... Myths give worldly objectivity to that which is unworldly.2?
Bultmann is not unaware that there is another, and deeper, reason to the mythic; for in speaking of "God as ee, he
*Tillich, op. cit., pp. 53-54: "Christianity is superior to those religions which are bound to a natural myth. But Christianity speaks the mythological
language like every other religion. It is a broken myth, but it is a myth; otherwise Christianity would not be an expression of ultimate concern."
Cf. Henderson, op. cit., p. 54, where he makes a distinction between transcendent myths and nontranscendent payihes (such as the Nazi myth of blood : and soil).
_ ™ Jesus Christ and Mythology (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958), p. ee: (Italics mine.)
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pieSl fp, «
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The Christian Mission in Larger Dimension 225
points out that it is within the so-called natural, secular events that God's hidden action takes place. This hidden action is visible only
to the eye of faith.
If someone now insists that to speak in this sense of God as acting is to speak mythologically, I have no objection, since in this case myth is something very different from what it is as the object of demythologiz-
ing. When we speak of God as acting, we do not speak mythologically
in the objectifying sense.?3
In attacking outdated mythic expressions in the New Testament, Bultmann has not been concerned to state the case for myth in this profound dimension. But vital demythologizing can only be carried on to the degree that the mythic, or faith, dimension has laid hold upon a man, inviting him to live ever more deeply by faith, not by fact.**
As it stands, Bultmann's process of demythologizing is incomplete. He regards the New Testament descriptions both of "the life without Christ" and of "the life with Christ" as mythological. Butthe transition from the one life to the other is brought about by the'
action of God through Jesus Christ, and this he refuses to regard :
as mythological.?° His reason seems to be that because of the nature of sin, man cannot make the transition on his own. Man is "fallen" and every attempt to establish himself on his own power is doomed to failure. For Bultmann "fallen man" sees sin as mythological when he ought to see it as nonmythological.?®
But if the "fall" is mythological, so also is "sin" or "fallenness." as Sin is a religious-mythological category and not an empiricalete historical one. Immorality and morality are social-historical terms; : sin and grace are religious-mythological terms. The man who says, = "I have done a wrong" stands in an entirely different frame of = reference than the man who says, "I have sinned." Sin carries the connotation of an offense against the transcendent source of being,
* Op. cit., p. 62. (Italics mine.) ae *Tn this sense the term "re- -mythologizing" would be just as appropriate, —— for faith never appeals to history for its certitude though the ae = make use of analogies from history.
*® Cf. Henderson, op. cit., p. 17. * "Talk about sin ceases to be mythological as soon as man is met by thelove of God... which accepts him for what he is not and so frees him from what he is." Kerygma und Mythos, p. 41, as i in Henderson, ee eit, Baa
226 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
and thus is a category of religious faith. This is not to try to deny the actuality, for the religious man, of sin and of the love of God which redeems; but it is to point out that the language throughout is mythic and not historical.
For the person who may not find it possible to use the archaic language of the ancient mythic theme, it is not necessary to try to describe the transition from "old being" to "New Being" in any one specific fashion, nor necessarily with reference to the Christian event. How or why some people do, and some do not, make the transition from what, in New Testament language, is called "the
life without Christ" to "the life with Christ" is still a mystery to both psychologist and theologian, sinner or saint! Like sin, "The work of God in Christ" is a mythological category, the significance of which cannot be grasped by the man who stands outside the circle of Christian faith. The transition from the state of no-faith to the state of faith is a mystery. Nothing is gained either for human understanding or for the Christian faith by claiming that the transition is nonmythological.??
For the Christian, the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith are inextricably intertwined, just as the entire Gospel is a mixture of the mythical and the historical. Both of these poles of the Christian faith must be kept in view. Neither should be ignored. When the historical has been practically denied, Christians have escaped into flights of allegory, fantastic speculations about emanations, and invidious forms of esotericism where the only canons applied have been those of private wish or private myth. Where the mythic has
been denied or repressed, Christians have taken refuge in sterile
_ literalisms, legalisms, fundamentalisms and brittle dogmatisms. The quest for the historical Jesus can always contribute some____ thing not only to the Christian's interpretation of the historical setae ting of his faith but also to his own moral and religious life. But the ____ deeper realms of the life of prayer and worship lie in the poetic and
_ mythic depths of man's spirit, not dependent upon the historical _ knowledge that his studies may reveal. Most of the early Christians " believed in the imminent end of the age and the return of the Christ.
The nonfulfillment of that literal expectation did not kill off the
a _™ The use of 'pihotesiens categories very definitely does not hand over |
"the Christian faith into the camp of nontheistic humanism. Study of the __ deeper dimension of myth can lead to a theistic position which is more ac-
; oe than that of the older Christian apologetics.
The Christian Mission in Larger Dimension 227
'Church, very probably because that belief, like others, was rooted in
the mythic depths of their lives and was not tied to historical "fact."
To live by faith is not to live "by the facts" but by a power that has somehow seized one and transformed him from a person living in extreme self-centeredness to a person who can accept his finitude and live and work with others in compassion and understanding. Such a person does not demand final "answers." When we insist on the timeless significance of the basic Christian affirmations and then
cling to time-bound parochial interpretations of the mythic theme,
we take a loyalty oath to one interpretation of human history, thus
denying our deeper humanity.
Early Christians said such things as "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life," and "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." These confessions of faith, evoked by a man who had a place in history and who had an incomparable faith in God, were drawn from the same deep recesses of the human spirit as the ancient Chinese symbolism of the Yin-Yang, the Shiva-Shakti symbolism of Hinduism, the Yab-Yum symbolism of , Tibet. All these seem to root in the human dream of a reconciliation, of a return to the source of all. Symbols and their local interpretations may periodically fade away, but the mythic theme goes on being reborn anew in seers and poets and sages.
Because of man's finitude, all interpretations of myths and symbols are relative. To be able to accept the relative as relative is one sign of the strength of the faith that is in a person. As Christians, we should go forth seeking converse with men of other faiths, not offering an absolute message but seeking to express the faith that is in us. In these conversations, one attitude which must be excluded — is the attitude of exclusiveness. For he who feels he already "has" the truth does not enter fully into dialogue. He is much teadier to speak than to listen.
As we learn to live more profoundly in faith, we talk less and Jess about "the only way" even though we nourish the hope that we pay be "in the way." Hocking has pointed out that
consciously or not, each one is seeking not "a" Way, but the "Only a Way": just as any scientist is concerned to have not "a" truth, but The
' Truth, so the worshipper in whatever name will ane his way the
Only Way, not as a proprietary nostrum but as The Truth indivisib and The Life, and as universal for just that reason. S
230 THEORY OF THE MISSION
hopes and fears, in his triumphs and failures, his generosity and his need, the power to break down separation, the power to be at one.
To speak of the power of love in a world of power struggle is to lay oneself open to the charge of sentimentality. This charge can only be met if it is clearly recognized and then translated into practice that love, Christianly understood, signifies an outward moving of the will in service, in service to which no limit is attached. The call to love is a call to a life of unlimited liability. The goal of this service in the common life of men is right living, which means a reflection of the divine righteousness. A just society is one in which
this righteousness finds expression.
But where is the just society? In experience its realization is always being postponed. And the ground of postponement is man's refusal to love the highest when he sees it, in his preference for discovering the highest in the realization of his own desires. Society so organized needs redemption and rescue. The Christian reading of the meaning of life and history is that into this situation there has already come the power of love, that it is always at work, and that
it is ceaselessly seeking to find outward expression in the acceptance of its dominion by individuals, groups, and societies. This is but to define in other words the Christian belief in revelation as the unveiling of the true meaning of creation, incarnation, redemption, resurrection, and the indwelling of Holy Spirit. And the focal point of revelation, now as always, is incarnation—the point where a principle becomes personal.
The best expression of this whole argument that I have met recently is found in a passage in that important contribution to our
_ subject by Dr. Kenneth Cragg, entitled The Call of the Minaret.
This book is an attempt to come near the world of Islam by way ____ of identification—not the identification of Christianity with Islam, but the costly effort of the Christian to enter into a real conversation with the Moslem, never overlooking the cost this will also involve for the Moslem. This effort to establish communication,
communion, involves for the Christian—and this must be our point of departure—a real attempt by the Christian to enter into the will of God for the Moslem, an entrance which will bring both Christian . and Moslem to a new understanding of what that will demands.
_ The need for a fresh approach to the world of Islam, the need for
: some new kind of initiative from the Christians of the West, would
The Meaning of Identification 231
found in the humility which will be demanded, the self-emptying of much pride of possession which will be involved, and the readiness
to take the form of a servant—a threefold attitude of mind seldom
found as a natural endowment among the Christians of the West.
In Dr. Cragg's book, which develops this whole approach with great imagination and courage, there occurs the passage which I would quote as giving us a lead into our understanding of the phrase "identification with." He writes:
In our time we may be unable to see the way out of the human problems of the world. But the way in is clearly evident. It is to invest our lives in the service of those problems as they bear upon people. Indeed the meaning of Christian compassion is that problems become persons, and cases people.
The way in to the problems of our time, not the least of which is the struggle for power, is the way of incarnation, the following of the Incarnate Lord.
Let us clarify our Christian task as being a twofold one. The Church has to identify itself with the world as Christ did and with — the same purpose of redemption and rescue. That is one part of
the task. At the same time, as we have-already seen, there is another task which lies within the life of the Church—the need to arrive at a new degree of identification between the Christians of the West and the Christians of Asia and Africa. In a special sense within the context of contemporary problems, success in the second operation is a precondition of success in the first.
We are dealing with a problem of reciprocal relationships, of eo genuine mutuality, which is by no means easy to define. Something will be achieved if we keep clearly in view the fact that at all times "identification with" must be an activity of persons. A church in the West cannot identify itself with a church in Asia or Africa otherwise than through the activity of persons. A lot of loose thinking would be avoided and much confusion of purpose and effort if that fact could be generally recognized. Bs
"Identification with" becomes, then, in the first instance the adventurous meeting between the messenger from the Church in the West and certain particular members of the Church in Asia or Africa. Likewise the reverse is equally true when the messenger Sa
1 Kenneth Cragg, The Call of ihe Minaret (New York: Oxford University : ; fe Press, 1956), p. 214. ma
228 CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER FAITHS
But he adds significantly:
Thus understood, the Only Way, so far as its essence has by valid induction achieved finality, is no longer the Way that marks out one religion from all others: it is the Way already present in all, either explicitly or in ovo. The several universal religions are already fused together, so to speak, at the top.?8
In all of our mission, whatever form it may take, we do well to keep in mind what Hocking in a much earlier writing called the nonintrusive work of God.?® There is a human tendency to assume that God works best, or only, in the way in which we have been taught to see God's work. Semitic man generally has made much of the claims for the intrusive work of God, his "mighty actions"—actions that lend themselves all too readily to Hollywood Biblical dramas. The mystics of all faiths, and the living traditions at their highest, have been much more interested in the nonintrusive work of God.
Bultmann makes a comment in another context which is not radically out of line with Hocking's statement.
He who thinks that it is possible to speak of wonders as of demonstrable events capable of proof offends against the thought of God as acting in hidden ways. He subjects God's action to the control of objective
observation. He delivers up the faith in wonders to the criticism of science and in so doing validates such criticism.3°
In these times no man and no religious tradition suffer if we . talk about "approaches" to God. All of us need to live more in faith; in this mood no one finds it necessary to cling to the faith. This includes our having more trust that God is ever making His nonintrusiveapproaches to all men everywhere. Our common humanity and our common need for reconciliation lie deeper within us than our Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, or Moslem confessions of faith. Where this profound feeling of our oneness with
_ all humanity underlies our mission, instead of remaining primarily instruments of the institutions that have nourished us, we may become instruments of the living God.
* William E. Hocking, The Coming World Civilization (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956), pp. 148-49.
* Review of "Is There a God," reprinted in above volume, p. 193. *® Bultmann, op. cit., pp. 65-66.
PART FOUR THEORY OF THE MISSION
The Meaning of Identification
BY MAX WARREN
Effective partnership between the Christians of the West and the Christians of Asia and Africa is one of the vital needs of the Christian mission of our time. But it is precisely now when it is most necessary that it is most difficult to realize. For one pattern of power in the world is disintegrating and the new pattern of power has not yet reached stability, and Christians by virtue of their involvement in history are inescapably related to one or other of these patterns of power. Here is the inner significance for the Christian mission of the revolt of Asia and Africa against the dominion of the West, of contemporary nationalism and racialism, in relation to the Church.
As might be expected it is among those who represent the most direct and immediate contact between the Church in the West and the Church in Asia and Africa that an awareness of this situation is most acute—that is, among missionaries from the West and some at least of their colleagues in the church in which they serve. — This awareness has been reflected increasingly in recent years by the use of the phrase "identification with" as providing acluetoa =_— new and creative relationship between East and West. There is, as we shall see, a shrewd Christian instinct at work in the choice of _ this word, a staking out of a claim that in a world of flux, ina world of power struggle, there is an incalculable potentiality in the
_ power of love, the power to identify oneself with another in his _ 3
22s
232, THEORY OF THE MISSION
of the Church in Asia or Africa comes over here to meet particular members of the Church in the West. If we in the West are more familiar with the first kind of meeting, that is an accident of history. It does not affect the principle. We may expect and hope that the latter kind of meeting will become increasingly common as messengers from Asia and Africa come in greater numbers to share in our domestic scene.
It should be obvious that in this interchange "identification with" must be mutual if it is to be a genuine partnership. This is often forgotten. "Identification with" does not mean loss of identity. It means the sympathetic entering into the life of another. Only by a deep mutuality of relationship can "identification with" be purged of a purely romantic and unreal significance. The missionary who leaves America or Britain for India does not go to meet his Indian colleague bearing all the burden of "identification with" on his own shoulders. Partnership involves for the Indian no less real an adventure of meeting, a no less difficult "identification with" the man from the West. The true dignity of relationship demands the recognition of mutuality. . But even that is not all. If identity is retained, as it must be if
- genuinely reciprocal relationships between church and church are
to be realized, then both parties to the meeting have responsibilities back to those whom they represent. The man from the West retains with his identity his identification with those who have sent him, just
as the Indian, in our illustration, has responsibilities born of his own identification with his own people. This applies pari passu if the Indian comes to the West. Beyond this still there is the responsibility
of those who send to be identified with the one sent. In a word
_ there is then a complex of relationships involved in all efforts at "identification with" which must be clearly understood and kept in mind by those who would engage in this spiritual adventure. There is nothing simple about incarnation. It stretches the imagination to the limit, and its sign is the sign of the cross.
All that I have said so far goes little beyond a general indication of what "identification with" must include within its range. As a first step toward understanding its deeper implications we must seek to understand the pattern set before us by Jesus Christ our Lord.
I would draw attention to three passages intimately linked with
a e
az : -
u \
The Meaning of Identification 233
the life, conversation, and death of our Lord. The first passage is Philippians 2:5—8:
Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
That passage corresponds to Bethlehem in the historic life of our Lord—Bethlehem in its fullest meaning which includes the fact that "there was no room for them in the inn" and the offering not only of gold and frankincense but also of myrrh.
The second passage, Psalms 40:6—8, may be said to correspond with the Temptation in the Wilderness and in the Garden of Gethsemane:
Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire; but thou hast given me an _ open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required. Then I said, "Lo, I come; in the roll of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart." :
The third passage is 2 Corinthians 5:21, which is linked with Calvary:
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
To this may be added by way of amplification the parallel passage | from Galatians 3:13-14: 23 Z
_ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse
for us—for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree"'— that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through: faith.
Those passages, linked as they are with Bethlehem, 'the ministry = ushered in by the Temptation in the Wilderness and closed ee Gethsemane, and the death upon the cross provide the theological — foundation for any true appraisal of the Christian meaning Sob
identification. Before, however, we draw from these passages cer- : tain inferences for practice let me add two other passages which — provide for the superstructure to be raised upon that foundation. —
234 THEORY OF THE MISSION
The first of these passages is found in Romans 5:18-19:
Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. For
as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.
The other passage is from Ephesians 2:8-10:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The foundation is laid in Jesus Christ. The superstructure built upon that foundation in human experience must take account of our human solidarity in sin and in grace and also the summons to partnership with God in which we discover the role of faithobedience.
These five passages yield the following guides to action. (1) From Philippians 2:5-8 we learn that identification involves mutuality. The Revised Standard Version—"Have this mind among yourselves" is an important clue. Identification is essentially a
social activity to which no bounds can be set. From the same passage we see that the abandonment of any privileged status is' demanded. Self-emptying denotes this at least. And there has to be the positive acceptance of the role of the servant.
In this connection it is worth noting that the word servant in Scripture implies not only the idea of subordination but also the concept of service as the pattern of leadership. It has, indeed, to embrace the pattern presented by the figure, with the basin and the towel, washing the disciples' feet. But it has also to find room for
_ Isaiah 53:11, "By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my serv_ ant, make many to be accounted righteous." Knowledge means
_ much more than the possession of factual information. In its root _ meaning it contains the idea of bringing together, and hence the
__ faculty of comprehension, the ability to give a balanced judgment.
_ It is knowledge used perceptively. The man or woman who is called 'See to be a servant may have his or her greatest contribution to make
_ through the capacity to see things in perspective. This has a direct
% bearing on our theme. "Identification with" does not mean sharing __ a lack of perception or being unable to form sound Ba
The Meaning of Identification 235
A final point from the passage in Philippians may be noted. What is called for is an attitude of humility—the ability to say "no" to oneself. That is the daily dying with Christ. Saying * 'no" to one-
self, by the way, does not necessarily mean saying "yes" to everyone else!
Passage (2), Psalm 40, presents us with a number of additional pointers along the road. We may note first that striking double negative with which the passage starts:
Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire.... Burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required.
That is, of course, hyperbole. What the Psalmist, who stands within the great prophetic tradition of Israel, is saying is that externals are not the essence of worship and that formal obedience to ritual law is no substitute for a right intention. Perhaps we 'can take a warning from these words that whatever the form which our identification with others may take there is no merit in the form
itself. And if the form should generate a feeling either of martyrdom or of complacency then it will cease to be the vehicle of spiritual power.
"Thou hast given me an open ear" says the Psalmist. In so saying he reminds us that for identification with the will of God in any situation what is required above all else is the ability to listen— listen to God and listen to our fellow men. This, being translated, means the central importance of a time of quiet for prayer. It also means an openness to life in all its many-sidedness.
Obedience to the will of God is, of course, central to this passage. . It is expressed in individual terms to remind us of an existentialist _ element in all obedience—the need for a response to a call, to a word spoken with an instantaneous demand. Such obedience will differ at different times and will not be the same for any two people, a thought which should save us from overready judgment of others. Incidentally, this would also seem to suggest that as we think of identification with others we should pause to consider hab ae in them it is that we wish to identify ourselves with. The will — which has to be done is God's will, not ours or the other man's.
A last word from the Psalmist reminds us that with our identifica tion we are to bring a sense of joy. "I delight to do thy will, Oo = God."
The third passage, 2 Corinthians 5:21, and its eles in
os SEA ae Na eR NC ee Po Sse Sa
236 d THEORY OF THE MISSION
Galatians 3:13—14 show us the purposefulness of the Incarnation.
It was for our sakes. Identification with others is never meant to be undertaken as a means to self-fulfillment, as an attempted escape from frustration.
The goal of that purposefulness was that those with whom the Christ identified himself "might become the righteousness of God." That is a tremendous phrase. There we see manhood being taken up
into the Godhead. It suggests a transformation, a transfiguration. Surely this has something very pertinent to say to the practice of identification with others. Our goal is not to pass out of and beyond our own racial and national heritage, to try to be more African than the African, more Indian than the Indian, an attempt foredoomed to failure. Our goal is that they may become the righteousness of God. Their goal should be a like transformation of ourselves. If it helps to this supreme end to "go native" then let us "go native," but the proof of the value of "going native" will lie precisely, neither more or less, in the extent to which it helps to that end.
"Identification with" is, we see, a profoundly theological principle related to the divine activity of redemption.
In the fourth passage, Romans 5:18-19, we are reminded of the great truth of our human solidarity. In the first place there is the solidarity of a common need. In this we are already identified with those to whom we go, and they with us. I wonder if the failure of some missionary enterprises may not turn on the unwillingness to recognize in our feelings as well as with our minds that what we already have in common with those to whom we go, in our common sinfulness, is a solemn and inescapable bond of union.
And there is also the solidarity of mankind in grace. There is a deep and profound sense in which every man and woman we meet has already been redeemed. We address redeemed men and women. The difference between them and us, which is itself of grace, beyond our understanding, is that we know we are redeemed and they may not. It is a big difference. But the solidarity remains; they and we are both redeemed sinners. Inasmuch as we believe this our approach to others will be subtly different from the one which would see them as benighted heathen and ourselves as obviously enlightened from on high. The subtle difference makes all the differ-
__ ence because the look in the eye is different. Identification means sit-
eea
_ ting with men where they sit (Ezek. 3:15). The Revised Standard
The Meaning of Identification 237
Version of that passage from Ezekiel renders it: "I sat there overwhelmed among them." To be overwhelmed by one's share in a common sinfulness, and in the common need for forgiveness, and in the knowledge that grace of forgiveness is available for all, is a long first step toward true identification with our fellow men.
Froin this it follows that if we believe that redemption has already been decisively accomplished, if as a result of Calvary our total human situation has been changed, then our minds will be open
to the possibility that God has already gone ahead of us into every
place, cultural, religious, or political, to which we may find our
way. We shall go then to meet God. There will be an air of ex-
pectancy about our identification.
From the last of our passages, Ephesians 2:8-10, we are reminded of two truths of great practical importance. "By grace you have been saved through faith." However much we may have been redeemed we only begin to enjoy redemption when we have made our own response to it by accepting it. This is, in fact, another aspect
of mutuality. The response of faith means trust. And trust, in the religious sense, always expresses a mutual relationship. It is the establishment of partnership. All this is of grace, whether it be what comes to us from God and returns to Him in faith, or the response which we receive from our fellows and give to them. On this basis partnership between men can be built. On no other basis is it pos-
sible.
The second of the two truths from Ephesians is that "We are his workmanship." We do not set out on this adventure of identification with others as an act of supererogation, something which is an op3 tional extra to which specially gifted prone called. Rather x one is something for which we have all been "created in Christ Jesus.' It is the good way in which we have to walk, the highway of God in which the wayfaring men, however foolish, will be saved fone stumbling and getting lost.
These inferences cumulatively considered provide us ath the. Sat material for an attitude of mind such as can enter creatively intothe — =
human situation in which we find ourselves. "We may be unable to
see our way out of the human problems of the world. But the way
in is clearly evident." What we have attempted to discover in study- —
ing these passezes from the Bible is clues to our equipment so
that "going in" we may be the better qualified to be the kind of —
persons through whom the love of God can penetrate into the heart
238 THEORY OF THE MISSION
of the power struggle of our time. By "going in" we seek so to labor that our human society may in some measure be more able to re-
flect the will of God. This is not utopianism but obedience. We cannot tell how God will bring His purposes for mankind and man's world to a conclusion. But in so far as we identify ourselves with the will of God as revealed in Christ we can be certain that we shall be working along the line of that purpose and not against it. This gives meaning and direction and poise to life.