Pelikan provides eighteen different historical and
cultural perceptions or “images” of Christ. Among other things, Jesus has been
historically and culturally perceived as a bridegroom of the soul, a crusader
of holy war, a pacifist, a teacher of common sense, a poet of the Spirit, and
the liberator of those who are socially oppressed. Pelikan’s
book underscores the truism that people tend to accentuate the features of
Jesus they find most appealing and minimize His other marvelous, mystifying,
and emotionally troubling qualities. Pelikan helped me to see that Jesus is far
beyond what I perceive Him to be. The book brought an awareness to the cultural
baggage that I bring to my own perception of Christ.
6. Gabriel Marcel, Homo Viator:
Introduction to a Metaphysic of Hope
During my Ph. D. studies I was introduced to Marcel
by one of my mentors. Marcel was a French theistic-existentialist philosopher.
He maintained that humans approach the struggles of life as problems to be
solved or fixed through rigorous rational explanations. In contrast to this
approach, Marcel believed that life’s struggles are to be viewed in a concrete,
experiential, transparent, and relational way. One comes to terms with
disappointment not so much through philosophizing, but more so in the context
of meaningful person-to-person communication. All humans have an inner sense of
emptiness that Marcel termed “mystery.” This emptiness is not something that can
be satisfied through the rigors of reason. The ambiguities, conundrums, and
emptiness experienced in life are what comprise "mystery" and what
leads the soul to hope, faith, and love. Hope is both individual and relational
in scope. The possibility for hope cannot exist without despair. However, his
insights yielded a number of significant implications for my personal and
professional life. His category of “mystery” allowed me to see that hope for
the future is learning to live with the tribulations, tensions, and
disappointments that life poses. Marcel’s ideas underscored the relational
dimensions of eschatological hope. My hope is MORE an issue of being rightly related to
Christ and others than it is for being delivered out of tribulation(s). Marcel’s ideas
also allowed me to come to peace with my intellectual limitations. Moreover,
being relationally healthy has taken precedence over always having to be right.
Marcel also showed me the pitfalls of trying to fix people.
7. Ron Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of
Hunger
My earliest days as a Christian were spent in
churches where the social responsibilities of the Church were not discussed. I
was under the impression that “liberal” Christians engaged in discussions of
how to address and change the evils in society. I first heard of Sider’s book in my senior year of college in
a political science course. With some degree
of embarrassment, I admit that I did not read the book until later, in my
second year in seminary. Being a part of an inner-city church in Dallas caused
me to think more seriously about how Christians are to respond poverty. Sider
pointed out that American evangelicals reflect much of the excessive
materialism of American culture. I had often wondered why in my involvement in
different suburban evangelical churches I had seen very few impoverished
people. His book opened my eyes to the fuller implications of the parable of
the Good Samaritan. Jesus taught that loving neighbors “as yourself” means
extending mercy to people in misery, people with whom we may not normally
associate (Luke 10:25-37). This translates into feeding the poor, clothing the
naked, helping widows and orphans, ministering to strangers and foreigners.
This kind of ministry invites a simplicity of lifestyle that allows God’s
material blessings to be given to those who are truly in need. At the same
time, this ministry of mercy is one of balance, wisdom, and discerning
stewardship. By ministering to neighbors in need, God’s kingdom presence is
made known in the world.
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