Atheist Turned Believer

      We shall continue our deep dive into The Problem of Wineskins , and I shall continue using Dr. Snyder's own words.  Where I interject my own thoughts and ideas will be separated by either announcing paragraphs or bracketed sentences as appropriate.      The next chapter is subtitled "The Mind of Christ," and the concept is introduced with an overview of the prevailing philosophy developing within our increasingly technological age.  Snyder declares that we live in a world increasingly hostile to all that is truly human.  While there is much talk of expanded consciousness, sensitivity training, new forms of community and the like, fundamental forces are moving to undermine the uniqueness of being human.  In the words of Phillip Morrison ("The Mind of the Machine", Technology Review , Jan. 1973), the human mind is more and more being framed as "a slow-clockrate modified digital machine, with multiple distinguishable parallel pr...

     I want to take a short break from our examination of The Problem of Wineskins to once again address and, one hopes, clarify my position on pride.  There are several reasons for doing so here: (1) the subject has come up in at least three separate conversations I've had in the last week. (2) I have gathered from these conversations that my main points on previous posts have not been clear. (3) If I am successful in the following clarification, it speaks to what I see as the single flaw in Snyder's otherwise brilliant work. (4) Starting with the next chapter under scrutiny, the tone of Wineskins changes and the subjects yet to be discussed can be interpreted as mysticism if the points I am about to attempt to make are not crystal clear.     I cannot say that this effort will be successful.  It is possible that the idea I'm trying to express is one of those that simply transcends words altogether. However, if clarification is to be made, I mus...

      Koinonia (meaning "fellowship"), along with agape (meaning "love"), are some of those Greek words that Western Christians enjoy bandying about, but we mainly use them to name things; Koinonia Class, or Agape Chapel.  I'm always half expecting to find Koinonia Toothpaste at the grocery store or see an ad for the new Ford Agape SUV.  I'm not convinced that we actually know what the words mean.     In Chapter 7 of The Problem with Wineskins (subtitled "The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit"), Dr. Snyder has a lot to say about koinonia , and all of it is important.  I cannot hope to condense the entire chapter into this post without leaving out a good deal of insight.  What is to follow is a series of quotations of what seem to me the most important sentences within an important chapter with only so much verbiage from myself as is needed to make the whole thing coherent.  If my efforts fall short, I highly recommend the read...

      In The Problem of Wineskins , Dr. Snyder does not discuss in any detail what the staffing of the Renewed Church should look like.  Indeed, the reason I began writing these recent posts is in a poor attempt to "flesh out" the ideals set forth in that work.  What follows, then, are my own observations and ideas.  One prays that these ideas are being guided by the Holy Spirit.      If our churches no long have professional staffs, how will we get anything done?  The same way the first century church did during its most explosive period of growth, before Romans came along and explained how to get organized and church membership started dropping off (until Rome made church membership compulsory, of course).  Nowhere in the New Testament do we have a literal list of job titles and descriptions for the early church.  However, by poring over the epistles - especially those from Paul - we can begin to piece together a reasona...

      The next chapter of Wineskins is subtitled 'Must the Pastor be a Superstar?'  It's likely the shortest chapter in the book.  In it, Snyder describes a suburban church pastor who "can preach, counsel, evangelize, administrate, conciliate, communicate, and sometimes even integrate.  He can also raise the budget.  He handles Sunday morning better than any quizmaster on weekday TV.  He's better with words than most political candidates.  As a scholar, he surpasses many seminary professors.  No church function would be complete without him.  His church, of course, counts itself fortunate.  Alas, not many churches can boast such talent."     That's pretty much it from Snyder.  I take full responsibility for everything that follows.     Western Protestant churches tend to load all the responsibility for carrying out church mission onto one person, whom we'll gladly pay to do the job, aide...

      We continue our examination of Howard A. Snyder's The Problem of Wineskins , but first, let me reiterate those contributions of my own, not from the book: (1) I am convinced that the reason Snyder's dynamic plan for church renewal has not yet succeeded is the lack of acknowledgement that no plan for church renewal can succeed until we start with a renewal of the individual Christians that make up the church.  To this end, I recommend to anyone attempting to implement these principles start with a focus on prayer and meditation, coupled with built-in safeguards to see that each member understands the principles and is able to use them on a daily basis through some means that do not allow for a digression into a sort of lip service.  The main focus of this effort is to be the utter annihilation of Self. (2) Any person or group attempting to implement these principles will undoubtedly encounter legal and financial issues inherent in any corporate organiz...

     Let us begin our examination of what this renewed church will look like where Snyder begins The Problem of Wineskins .  In Chapter 1, Snyder advocates giving Western youth of today not a theology to believe, nor a cause to live for nor a catechism to memorize, but an experience to feel.  We need not dive into this concept too deeply to realize that, if we settle on the usual sort of "mountaintop high" emotional experience that typically comes to mind, we need do nothing; the Evangelicals and Pentecostals have that market cornered.  To duplicate that sort of experience would be to simply reinvent the wheel.  However, if one looks at the statistics, such "feel good" experience isn't working too well.  Sure, these churches bring in tens of thousands of young people every year, but the retention levels are abysmally low.  In the late 60's and early 70's, hundreds of thousands of youth worldwide came into the church through the "feel good" mo...

    C.S. Lewis once opined that the avid reader should alternate between new books and old favorites.  I have recently taken up once again The Problems of Wineskins by Howard A. Snyder (1975, Inter-Varsity Press).  The subtitle of the book is "Church Structure in a Technological Age" and the subject is a deep and rather critical look at modern Western ecclesiology (the study of the church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its discipline, its eschatology, and its leadership).  I first read the book as a junior theology student in 1983.  It has been in and out of print in various media and under various titles ever since (an updated edition was published in 2005 under the title Radical Renewal ).  I own 3 copies of the book, two from the first 1975 printing and one from 2017.  Most of what will follow will be taken from this work, but I have no intention of re-typing the entire volume here.  I...

Okay, I've been at this awhile now, and I have a confession to make; there's something going on.  Something big, and I cannot for the life of me think of how to describe it.  I know this, though; it involves you, whoever you are. Keep watching this space.  Updates as available. Pax