The New Age - Part 7

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

Part 6 concluded with the following:

 

(p.291) " This character of the Roman church is brought out further by St

Ignatius writing in the second century to the Roman church, again not to the

bishop but to the church. He speaks of the church as " presiding over the

charity " ('prothestos tes agapes') or, perhaps, " presiding in charity " . Again it

is a difficult phrase to translate, let alone know the exact meaning of, but it

looks as though the church herself is considered as a charity, a school of love.

The Pope has this function of " presiding over the charity " or " presiding in

charity " . The point is that it is a presidence of love rather than of power.

That takes us back to the second century. But now we have to go further back

still, because Irenaeus speaks always in terms of episcopacy which was fully

developed by this time in the second century. But when we go back to the New

Testament there is neither episcopacy nor priesthood in the usual sense. On the

other hand we find a great many other different ministries. St Paul speaks of

apostles and prophets but also of evangelists, pastors and teachers, helpers and

administrators. So that was the structure of the church in the New Testament and

it seems that we have to go back to the New Testament itself to restructure the

ministries of the church. In that light the ministries of other churches which

have no bishops could be reconciled with the church as a whole. We should also

be aware that in the New Testament women played a very considerable part in the

ministry of the church, and any attempt at renewing the structures of the

ministry of the church would involve women having ministries in equality with

men. (p.292) That would be the normal development that we would expect. So this

is how the development of the ministries in the church could be envisaged, while

remembering, of course, that in the New Testament the position of Peter among

the apostles still remains a valid and unquestionable fact which has meaning for

the church today just as it had then. "

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and Christian Faith)

Chapter 13, p.291.

 

Here now, is part 7.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

 

The New Age - Part 7

 

(p.292) When the church has been opened in this way to a more universal

structure of ministry it would be much more possible for her to open herself to

the cultures of Asia and Africa and to answer the needs of the people in the

Third World. So far the church has had a European structure. In its liturgy,

theology, canon law and organisation it is a totally Western structure. We are

only today beginning to discover the possibilities of structuring the church,

not in the light of Europe, but in the light of Asia, Africa and South America.

That is clearly where the future lies.

 

It may be that the basic communities in South America, particularly in Brazil,

could provide a model for the church in the Third World. In these communities

lay people, men and women, meet regularly to study the Scriptures, to celebrate

the Eucharist, and to reflect on their life and experience in the light of the

Bible and the Eucharist. They also relate their political and socio-economic

problems to their experience of the Bible and the Eucharist and try to develop

these aspects of their lives within this context. These basic communities, in

Brazil in particular where there are tens of thousands of them, are all in

communion with the bishops and the clergy, but they are lay communities. This

kind of involved and committed community may well be the model for a renewed

Christian church. Such communities could be compared to the monastic communities

at the break-up of the Roman Empire. In many respects we seem to be entering a

period not unlike that of the Roman Empire in the fifth century when the entire

structure began to collapse. (p.293) It was monastic communities, integrated

communities with a physical, social base and a religious character, which were

the sources from which the new civilisation emerged. As economic, social and

political tensions increase in the present world there will be an ever stronger

need for small communities, based on the new vision of life, which could in time

form the basis of a new civilisation, like the monasteries in the Middle Ages.

These communities would be communities of men and women, married and single,

basically Christian but also open to people of other religious traditions and of

other understandings also, where a new culture would gradually be formed.

 

Along with this a new theology would be developed, particularly as the church

comes into contact with the religious cultures of Asia and Africa. Again we must

remember that our present theology was first built up entirely in contact with

Greek philosophy. The whole system was based on divine revelation in the

Scriptures interpreted in the light of Greek philosophy. Today theology has

drawn on modern philosophy, especially existentialism, but nowhere until the

present time has the church succeeded in evolving a theology based on the

experience and the wisdom of Asia and of Africa. Our present theology was

evolved in Europe and we have to look forward to a theology which would evolve

in contact with Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian thought and at the same

time a liturgy which would develop from contact with the art, music and dance of

Asian and African peoples. It would be an assimilation of the cultures of Asia

and Africa into the life of the church, just as in the early centuries there was

an assimilation first of the culture of the Greeks and the Romans and then of

all the " barbarian " peoples of Europe. That was how the church emerged in the

Middle Ages. It brought its original Semitic wisdom, religion and faith and

interpreted it in the light of the Greek and the Roman world. (p.294) Then later

it assimilated the " barbarian " peoples with their wonderful gifts, creating that

great church of the Middle Ages which we have inherited.

 

In this way we can envision the emergence of a new world culture as the present

materialist and mechanistic system breaks down under the continued crisis of

economic, social and political conflict. One of the characteristics of this new

culture would be its feminine aspects. For three thousand years the world has

been dominated by patriarchal cultures which overcame the ancient matriarchal

cultures of the earlier ages. We have now reached the limit of this masculine

culture with its aggressive, competitive, rational, analytic character. We are

moving now into an age where the feminine principle will be valued, the 'yin' in

contrast to the 'yang'. In the Chinese understanding 'yang' is the masculine

principle, 'yin' is the feminine and as the 'yang' reaches its limit it begins

to move back again to the 'yin'. We have now reached the limit of the 'yang',

the masculine culture, and we are moving inevitably back to the feminine. The

feminine will sooner or later begin to take its proper place with its

characteristics of intuition, empathy and co-operation, and with its holistic

approach. This will necessarily affect not only the economic, social and

political orders but also spirituality and religion. The Christian religion has

developed an entirely masculine concept of God. We always speak of God as

Father, and of the incarnation of the Son. Even the Holy Spirit, which is neuter

in Greek but masculine in Latin, we have conceived normally in masculine terms.

In the Old Testament, however, the Spirit, the 'ruach', is feminine and in the

Syrian church this same word was used of the Holy Spirit when they spoke of " our

Mother, the Holy Spirit " . That is found in the second and third centuries but it

does not seem to have survived after that. The masculine character of the

Godhead has always prevailed since then. (p.295) There was however a feminine

aspect in God in the Old Testament and to some extent in the New, and in the

Christian tradition we have particularly Julian of Norwich, who speaks of Jesus

as our Mother. St Anselm of Canterbury does the same. So apart from a few

exceptions the masculine character of God has strongly prevailed in the West. By

contrast, in India God is conceived both as Father and Mother. Obviously

theologically God may be conceived as both Father and Mother. Being neither

masculine nor feminine he can be represented as either Father or Mother, or

both, in masculine and feminine terms. In the Tantric tradition, which derives

from the ancient matriarchal culture, the mother aspect of God is dominant. In

that tradition the whole universe is seen to derive from the Mother and all

worship is offered to the Mother. That is precisely the opposite of the

Judaeo-Christian tradition. We may expect therefore a corresponding development

in Christian theology recognising the feminine aspect of God and the place of

women in the ministry of the church. There is of course no question of a return

to a matriarchal society. It is a matter of the recovery of feminine values and

the reconciliation of the masculine and the feminine.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith) Chapter 13, p.292-295

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0