Transcript Education, Restoration and Antithesis

Restoration, Antithesis, and Education
Michael Goheen
Trinity Western University
God’s Response
While justly angry
God did not turn his back
on a world bent on destruction;
he turned his face to it in love.
With patience and tender care he set out
on the long road of redemption
to reclaim the lost as his people
and the world as his kingdom (CT, 19).
Genesis 3:15: Mother Promise
Although Adam and Eve were
expelled from the garden and their
work was burdened by sin’s effects,
God held on to them in love. He
promised to crush the evil forces they
unleashed. (CT, par. 20)
Genesis 3.15
 Promise of battle
 Promise of a Champion
 Promise of victory
Observations on redemption
 Redemption is progressive in its outworking
 Redemption is restorative in its nature
 Redemption is comprehensive in scope
Progressive in Outworking
Act One: God Establishes His Kingdom: Creation
Act Two: Rebellion in the Kingdom: Fall
Act Three: The King Chooses Israel: Redemption Initiated
Scene One: A People for the King
Scene Two: A Land for the People
Interlude: A Kingdom Story Waiting for an Ending: The
Intertestamental Period
Act Four: The Coming of the King: Redemption Accomplished
Act Five: Spreading the News of the King: The Church’s Mission
Scene One: From Jerusalem to Rome
Scene Two: To the Ends of the Earth
Act Six: The Return of the King: Redemption Completed
Story of God’s Mission
“The Bible renders to us the story of God’s
mission through God’s people in their
engagement with God’s world for the sake of
the whole of God’s creation.” (Chris Wright)
Story of mission
 God’s mission: Long term purpose to restore the
whole creation and all of human life
 Israel’s mission: Embody God’s original creational
purposes for the sake of the world
 Jesus mission: Reveal and accomplish God’s final
redemptive purpose for the creation
 Church’s mission: Continue Jesus’ mission to make
known the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth
in life, word and deed
Mistaken Notion
Very often people have come to the
New Testament with the presumption
that ‘going to heaven when you die’ is
the implicit point of it all. . . . They
acquire that viewpoint from
somewhere, but not from the New
Testament. (N. T. Wright)
Restoration of this life
. . . it is precisely ordinary earthly existence
that is redeemed (G.C. Berkouwer).
Redemption is restorative
 The creation is very good, the way God intended it
 Human beings are created to live a bodily life in the context of
creation.
 Sin is the problem not materiality.
 Old Testament views future kingdom as restored life on new
creation.
 Jesus proclaims the gospel of the kingdom.
 Jesus’ resurrection is a preview.
 The biblical language of redemption, restoration, renewal all
point to the return of the good creation to what it was meant to
be.
 Destruction of the creation would mean a Satanic victory.
Restoration is comprehensive
And he made known to us the mystery of his
will according to his good pleasure, which he
purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when
the times will have reached their fulfilment—
to bring all things in heaven and on earth
together under one head, even Christ
(Ephesians 1:9-10).
As Far as the Curse is Found
For God was pleased to have all his fullness
dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to
himself all things, whether things on earth or
things in heaven, by making peace through
his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians
1:19-20)
Mission of Israel: Embody a
Comprehensive Restoration
 Israel called to embody a comprehensive salvation
for the sake of the nations
 OT Story: Formation of people and placed on land
to be light to nations
 Law: Orders whole life of Israel
 Wisdom: Orders whole life of Israel
 Prophets confront Israel for not embodying God’s
salvation in whole of their lives
Comprehensive restoration made
known in Jesus
Everything he said and did was directly
related to the coming of the kingdom. He
reversed all the consequences of evil in the
world: disease, possession by inhuman
spirits, guilt, ritualistic and empty religion, a
caste system of purity and impurity, scarcity
of food, a hostile nature, commercial
exploitation and death (Andrew Kirk).
Comprehensive restoration
accomplished in crucifixion
 Gustav Aulén: “The work of Christ is first and
foremost a victory over the powers which hold
mankind in bondage: sin, death, and the devil.”
 John 12.31-33; Col. 2.15; Rev.12.7-12
 Public battle and victory for the whole creation
 Lesslie Newbigin: We “privatize this mighty work
of grace and talk as if the whole cosmic drama of
salvation culminates in the words ‘For me; for
me.’”
Comprehensive restoration
inaugurated in the resurrection
 Resurrection in Jewish thought: Arrival of
life of new creation
 Jesus: Dawning of new creation


Firstborn from the dead (Rev.1:5)
Firstfruits (I Cor. 15:20)
Prophetic Expectation
Spirit Messiah
Sin
Death
Evil
Satan
Knowledge
of God
Love
Joy
Justice
OLD AGE
AGE TO COME
New Testament Fulfillment
Powers of
sin
death
evil
Satan
OLD AGE
Power of
Spirit’s
renewing
work
AGE TO COME
Mission as meaning of overlap
The meaning of this ‘overlap of the ages’ in which
we live, the time between the coming of Christ and
His coming again, is that it is the time given for the
witness of the apostolic Church to the ends of the
earth. The end of all things, which has been
revealed in Christ, is—so to say—held back until
the witness has been borne to the whole world
concerning the judgment and salvation revealed in
Christ. The implication of a true eschatological
perspective will be missionary obedience, and the
eschatology which does not issue in such obedience
is a false eschatology
Comprehensive salvation given by
Spirit
 Spirit is deposit of kingdom


Real money now
Promise of more in the future
 Spirit is firstfruits of kingdom


First part of crop now
Points to the rest of the harvest in future
Foretaste and Preview
 We have a foretaste of the Kingdom


Actual taste now
Complete meal in future
 We are previews of the Kingdom


Actual footage of movie/kingdom
Designed to interest viewer in future
movie/kingdom so they will want to participate
Church’s mission to make known a
comprehensive restoration
The Spirit thrusts God’s people into worldwide mission.
He impels young and old, men and women,
to go next door and far away
into science and art, media and marketplace
with the good news of God’s grace. . . .
Following the apostles, the church is sent—
sent with the gospel of the kingdom . . .
In a world estranged from God,
where millions face confusing choices,
this mission is central to our being . . .
The rule of Jesus Christ covers the whole world.
To follow this Lord is to serve him everywhere,
without fitting in, as light in the darkness, as salt in a spoiling world.
Acts 1.1-8
 Acts 1.6: Question about the kingdom
 Receive Spirit (firstfruits, deposit)
 ‘You will be my witnesses.’
Battle for creation
Kingdom of darkness
Kingdom of God
one domain
Antithetical encounter
 Israel’s battle with idolatry
 Church takes up Israel’s mission (Ex.19.3-6;
cf. 1 Pet. 2.9-10)
 Very different situation:

Part of another culture based on different faith
commitments
Dilemma of the Believing
Community
 Part of western culture


Creational mandate: responsible for cultural development
Christ’s redemption is comprehensive
 Whole of western culture distorted by sinful
idolatry

Incompatibility between Scriptural and western story
In the world but not of it
Jesus’ Prayer for His Disciples
I have given them your word and the world has
hated them, for they are not of the world any more
than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you
take them out of the world but that you protect
them from the evil one. They are not of the world,
even as I am not of it. As you sent me into the
world, I have sent them into the world.
- John 17:14-18
I didn’t realize until I took INT, and
now this course how much I try to make
Western culture and the Biblical
worldview fit together. I realize more
and more that they are actually opposite
and against each other. Yet I must live
in this culture because I am a part of it.
Many times I struggle with how to do it.
- Redeemer Student
Conflict Between Stories
 Dominant story in culture seeks to become
exclusive story (e.g. European vs. Native)
 Minority communities


Faithfulness and conflict
OR
Accommodation and peace
 Yes Biblical story is translatable
Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing:
Christ or Idols
No one can serve two masters. Either he will
hate the one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to one and despise the other. You
cannot serve both God and mammon.
- Jesus, in Matthew 6:24
Unbearable Tension of
Living at the Crossroads
Unbearable Tension
Christians are:
 Members of western community
Shaped by cultural story
 Members of covenant community
Shaped by Biblical story
Two incompatible stories
Unbearable tension
Do western Christians feel this
unbearable tension?
“Why did I not hear about modernity and its affect
on me before? I really never knew how much
modernity shapes my life until I came to
Redeemer. It was always called ‘worldly’ but I
never knew what that meant. Modernity affects all
of my life and I wish I had known.”
-Redeemer student
Tension Between
Gospel and Culture
The deeper the consciousness of the tension and
the urge to take this yoke upon itself are felt, the
healthier the Church is. The more oblivious of this
tension the Church is, the more well established
and at home in this world it feels, the more it is in
deadly danger of being the salt that has lost its
savour.
- Hendrik Kraemer
Tension: Healthy in Early
Church
It is worthwhile to have a look at the struggle with
adaptation by paying attention for a moment to the
conflicts of Christians in their professions. The great
question was, How far is a Christian allowed to enter into
the professional jobs of those days with their mores and
customs, without denying Christ and without becoming
polluted by participation in idolatry?
- Hendrik Kraemer
Suffering as normal badge of
discipleship
No human societies cohere except on the basis of some
kind of common beliefs and customs. No society can
permit these beliefs and practices to be threatened
beyond a certain point without reacting in self-defense.
The idea that we ought to be able to expect some kind of
neutral secular political order, which presupposes no
religious or ideological beliefs, and which holds the ring
impartially for a plurality of religions to compete with
one another, has no adequate foundation. The New
Testament makes it plain that Christ's followers must
expect suffering as the normal badge of their
discipleship, and also as one of the characteristic forms
of their witness (Lesslie Newbigin).
The Gospel speaks:
 Word of grace… culture is good creation
 Word of judgement… culture is idolatrously
twisted and sinfully distorted
Test everything. Hold on to the good.
Avoid every kind of evil (I Thess. 5:21f).
Biblical Position: Affirmative/Antithetical
Approach to Culture
 Affirm
 Gospel/Yes
 At home
 Good creation
 May not withdraw
Reject
Gospel/No
At odds
Sinful distortion
May not accept
status quo
Faithful Cultural Strategy
 Faithfulness and relevance
 Avoids withdrawal, absorption, common
ground
 Affirms both responsibility for cultural
development and antithetical challenge to
idolatrous development
 Subversion: Affirmation and rejection
What do we do with nonChristian education?
 What is creational insight/structure?
 How has that insight been twisted by
idolatrous direction?
What do we do with this idolatrous
institution called the ‘school’?
 Subversive fulfillment!
 Creational structure
 Idolatrous twisting and misdirection
Another Biblical Example:
Household
OIKOS: extended family in Roman empire
structured hierarchically and oppressively
 Fundamental social building block of Roman
empire
 Undifferentiated institution made up of marital,
family, economic, political relationships
 Oppressive and hierarchical distortion
Response of the early church
 Reject?
 Affirm?
 Subvert!
Subversive Fulfillment
 Discerned creational relationships
 Subverted relationships creating new
institution recognizable as good news to
culture
School?
 How can we participate in broader tradition of
humanistic education, be at home, offer
relevant witness (much creational good)
 Where has purpose, structure, curriculum,
pedagogy, etc. been twisted by idolatry
(rationalism, consumerism, etc)?
Aiming for Christian Education
 Alternative kind of education to public school
system
 Rejects cultural idolatry that shapes these
schools
 Based on distinctive and comprehensive
philosophy of education
 Christian approach transforms the whole
enterprise: goals, curriculum, pedagogy,
evaluation, structure, etc.
Settling for Christians Educating
 Christianity-enhanced public school
education
 Adds moral integrity, devotional piety, and
biblical insight to select topics
 Maintains status quo about education
Christian Perspective
on Education
 Efforts at worldview and Christian educational
philosophy sharpened vision for Christian education
 Language of Christian perspective: Christ-centred
curriculum, inner reformation of the sciences, biblical
perspective on all areas of learning, or Christian worldand-life-view
 Kuyper’s vision of comprehensive scope of gospel
challenges assumptions:



Reality is segregated into two realms, sacred and secular, and gospel
belongs only to the sacred
Gospel transforms only individuals but not society
Enlightenment notion that public life, including education is
religiously neutral
Does Christian perspective
transform school?
 Perception: Christian education will result from
Christian perspective
 Gap between rhetoric of Christian education and reality
of Christian schools
 Gap produces:


Vague sense of task
False sense of security
 Connection between perspective and implementation:


Persuasive: Biblical
Elusive: “As far as I can tell, Christian schools do not provide an
alternative Christian education, if by that term we mean that our
biblical perspective on life leads to a biblical model of education.”
Gap Challenge and Gap Problem
 Gap challenge: Rhetoric proclaims ideal toward which
reality is moving--not there yet! (positive)
 Gap problem: Rhetoric and reality utterly inconsistent
(negative)
 Majority problem in Christian education is gap problem
 "When confronted by all this evidence, my own allegiance
to the ideal of Christian education sometimes wavers. The
challenge of implementing a different, biblical model of
schooling appears so far out of reach that I am tempted to
think the whole idea might be wrong-headed. At times I
wonder if there really is such a thing as a Christian model
of education."
Educational Faithfulness
 Christian education: difference
 Christian educating: enriching additions
 Third way: educational faithfulness


Difference may be consequence
More emphasis on common task with different faith
 Questions:



What does faithful education look like?
What obstacles hinder us from implementing faithful
education?
What can we do to remove these obstacles?
Understanding the Reigning
Educational Paradigm
 Need to understand reigning secular
paradigm in education
 To enable Christian school to encounter this
paradigm
Missionary Encounter in
Education
 Normal position of Christian school in cultural context if it
is faithful
 Clash of ultimate and comprehensive stories
 Spiritual battle
 Requires Christian school community that believes gospel
(true, story, comprehensive, power)
 Committed to living out of it and shaping whole life by it
 Requires a school that knows idolatrous story of culture
 School that wrestles with dominant education paradigm
 Encounter takes place in all areas of education
 Embraces insights; rejects idolatry
Faithful Christian Education?
 Purpose of education: First battle?
 Then: What needs to be taught to equip
children for that purpose? (Curriculum)
 Then: How can this be achieved? (Pedagogy,
structures, evaluation)
Purpose:
Why do we educate anyway?
 Traditional African education:


Teach traditional life values
Goal of integration into tribal community
 Muslim education:


Teach universal shariah law
Goal of integration in theocratic community
Teach certain things so that children will be
socialized into a certain kind of community.
Purpose governs educational activity.
Modernity and the
Purpose of Education
 Pass on a unified body of universal scientific
knowledge
 Equip a world of rational citizens
 Build a more rational world leading to
freedom, justice, truth, and material
prosperity
Postmodern Challenge to
Modern Education
 If (in modernity) education was guided by
the story of progress towards a better society
by science and technology but we no longer
believe that story...
 If (in modernity) education was to pass along
a unified body of universal knowledge but
we no longer believe that exists...
 Then what is the purpose of education?
Postmodernity and
Purpose of Education
 Postman’s trinity: economic utility,
consumerism, technology
 Vendor of useful information and marketable
skills
 Enables student to compete or survive in the
jungle of the market
Biblical Story and
Purpose of Education
 “Serviceable insight”
 Education for witness
 Education as witness
Questions: Curriculum
 What needs to be taught to equip students for
witness?
 How does this differ from state
requirements?
 Are there any specific omissions?
 How does modern and postmodern
worldview affect curriculum?
What now?
 Size, complexity, and difficulty of task can lead
to discouragement
 Need to return to gospel for forgiveness and
renewal
 Need for ongoing study (individual, community)
 Continuing baby steps in joy


As individuals
As community