The Boneman

Tribal Leadership

I am fascinated by organizational design and culture in business, church life, and wherever else I stumble upon it.  Watching the way people behave as individuals within their working context is very revealing at many levels - and trying to change organizational behavior is even more interesting.  I had to do a fair amount of reading on this during my MBA program so while I am not an expert in this area, I have developed a high appreciation for those who spend their careers trying to make sense of it all...

Yesterday I picked up a book called, "Tribal Leadership," by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright.  The paradigm that they are asserting is based on years of research on "twenty-four thousand people in two dozen organization, with members around the world..."  What they have discovered is that people operate in tribes of 20-150 people.  Each person in the tribe and tribe itself is characterized by the language they use to self-assess as seen in this table:

 
For whatever it is worth, I think this is truly insightful and brilliant.  It totally resonates with my experience.  I haven't digested the whole book, but the goal is to chronicle how people move through the stages with tips on how to be an effective tribal leader.  I can't wait to dive in deeper.

Think about this for a moment as it applies to church.  How rare is it to find a "Stage 5" church?  Rare indeed.  The church is full of victims, warriors, and pockets of tribal pride.  We need more tribal leaders in the church to lead us back to the heavenly experience of "innocent wonderment" where "life is great."

Nate Wilson and Fyodor Dostoevsky

(Sorry for the limited blogging, but the "new year" just started for me 2 weeks ago...)

Review of "Leepike Ridge," by N.D. Wilson

I'm not going to do a normal review here about fun plot, great characters, lyrical phrasing, and the rest.  No, I'm going to go right for the last line of the book which reads, "In the ground, the best seed is never wasted."  I don't know if it is just me, but that sure sounds like John 12:24, which says, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abides alone, but if it dies it bringeth forth much grain." 

The reason this caught me is because it was THE verse Fyodor Dostovesky wove throughout such novels as The Karamazov Brothers and Crime and Punishment.  For Dostoevsky the "metanarrative" of death - resurrection shapes all reality.  He hammered this motif in the structure of his books and sprinkled the verse here and there to make sure readers couldn't miss it.  For me, it is Christian literature at its best.

Kudos to Nate Wilson for taking up the death-resurrection narrative torch and topping it off with a paraphrased version of John 12:24 (my favorite verse).  Bravo, Nate!  Keep it coming. 

And folks, make a point of reading this as soon as you can.

Generous Orthodoxy - A Review (Part 1)

I finally and belatedly read the manifesto of the "emergent" church, "A Generous Orthodoxy," by Brian McLaren.  The central thesis of the book is revealed by the subtitle which says something to the effect of, "Why I am a Methodist/Anabaptist, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, evangelical, Roman Catholic, Liberal/Conservative, Missional, Eastern Orthodox, Emergent Christian..." 

I opened the book with great expectations because I have come to appreciate the disaster of a pompous cul-de-sac sectarianism that cannot see or charitably converse beyond itself.  My tour of duty through micro-Reformedom opened my eyes to this problem - although I know full well that such psychologies are alive and well in all branches of the church.  There is nothing new under the sun.

In many respects, McLaren has opened up a very helpful conversation.  Each orthodox tradition has distinctives that we should embrace.  No tradition has it all figured-out and we really can learn from one another.  I am no Wesleyan, but I can appreciate the need for a personal holiness that is rooted in spiritual disciplines.  I'm not a fundamentalist, but I know there are truths that cannot be compromised without sacrificing the Christian faith.  I am not Eastern Orthodox, but I do believe that our Trinitarianism needs to be more at the forefront of our faith and practice.  Etc., etc., etc...

Here is the, "BUT."

The problem I have with McLaren's book and his brand of "emergent" Christianity is that is superficial and naive in a bad way.  His analysis of the respective traditions he interacts with are all caricatures at best.  It is like having a caricaturist trying to deliver on a medical anatomy text.  It makes a certain point, but the details are an ugly and misleading mess.  For example, he equates Calvinism with "determinism."  Belief in inerrancy is slapped with endorsing "dictation theory."  Roman Catholicism is complimented for it's focus on the resurrection of Christ.   I could go on and on with the vague inaccuracies that he ascribes to each tradition he assesses. 

McLaren labors to make disclaimers about his approach - that he is not an academic and is probably wrong about a great many things.  That is a nice gesture, but his readers would be better served if they were alerted to the fact that his portrayals of each tradition are purposefully disproportioned for him to make the points he wants to make.  The book is short on accuracy and long on editorial impressions.

In part 2 of this review, I will look at McLaren's larger / real project, which is an experiment in applying postmodernism to Christian theology...

Book Tag

I've been tagged by The Craw:

One book that changed your life:
The Sovereignty of God, AW Pink

One book that you've read more than once:
Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

One book you'd want on a desert island:
The Bible (I know, but c'mon)

One book that made you laugh:
Picasso at the L'Apin Agile, Steve Martin

One book that made you cry:
Les Miserables, Victor Hugo

One book you wish had been written:
Prebyterian & Reformed Sub-Cultures - What You Need To Know

One book you wish had never been written:
The Koran

One book you're currently reading:
Godless, Ann Coulter

One book you've been meaning to read:
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

Tag others:

I think I'm the last one to be tagged in Reformedom - kind of like the last kid to be picked for the kick-ball team!  Anyway, I don't really know who all my readers are out there, but if you're so inclined, I pick "you."  Go ahead, post in the comment section.  I would like to know who some of the blog hits are coming from anyway!  Go ahead!  C'mon now.  Reveal yourselves.

Decoding the "Sacred Feminine"

In preparation for our church study and discussion of Dan Brown's, The Da Vinci Code, I finally read the book a few weeks ago.  From the stand-point of pure story telling, Dan Brown spins quite a yarn.  Even though I was disturbed and disgusted at many points in the book, it was definitely a page-turner.

Even if you haven't read the book, you have probably heard that it is a de facto attack on Christianity.  It is - and even though it is chock-full of misinformation and lies, Dan Brown effectively leaves the church with a black-eye (certainly nothing fatal).

What fascinates me more than Brown's attack is what he subtly proposes as the substitute for Christianity.  Instead of the Gospel of the incarante Son of God come to save sinners, he holds forth the gnosis of the so-called "Sacred Feminine."  Oooooh - now that sounds so intriguing! 

Let me tell you something - Dan Brown is brilliant to repackage what he is really proposing with this language.  The Da Vinci Code religion of the "sacred feminine," is nothing more than the ancient "fertility cult" of paganism.  Ancient fertility cults conceived of the gods or forces at work in the world in sexual terms.  When these masculine and feminine gods / forces came "together" they would stimulate activity in the world.  So for example, the way for humans to make sure their crops grew was to have sex rituals to stimulate the gods.

Make no mistake - Dan Brown is not just attacking the Gospel or the church, he is subtly promoting pagan fertility cults / sex rituals as a way to stimulate and experience the gods.  How people miss this fact simply amazes me.  Instead of embracing the good news of Christ, they flirt with ancient paganism.  That's what you get when you imbibe the religion of the, "Sacred Feminine."  I'll take a pass.

Dissing the Da Vinci Code

You ever get dumped by a girl before the big dance?  The best revenge isn't going out with the boys instead of going to the dance.  The best revenge is taking a hotter girl to the dance.  What does that have to do with the Da Vinci Code?  Not much, but I thought it would be funny to introduce this blog with that image in your head...

I haven't read the Da Vinci Code, but I understand it wears blasphemy as a "badge of courage."  What should Christians do about that?  A Christian screenwriter in Hollywood has some thoughts:

1. Don't ignore it - the box office is a ballot box.  We need to vote with our dollars.
2. Don't protest it - that never works and makes us look like petty free-speech haters.
3. Don't see it and discuss it - no one is listening.
4. Go to another movie on 5/19, the opening night of Da Vinci Code.  This will get the attention of the media, of the people, and of the studios. 

I think this is definitely the path of wisdom in this case.  Let's go to the movies, just not to the Da Vinci Code.  Don't miss the dance, just go with a hotter date.  That's the best way to diss it.

The Coming Revolution

I don't usually go out of my way to read books on the best seller list, but I couldn't resist "Freakonomics," by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.  The book applies certain principles and statistical modeling tools of economics to questions that don't include the speed of money as it is related to inflation.  For example, they seek to determine what factors in a child's home are most likely to impact their standardized test scores.  In one interesting comparison, they show that a child's test scores are more likely to be positively impacted by the number of books in their home rather than the amount they are actually read to by their parents.  The point is that the number of books in a home generally reflect the intellectual life and education level of the parents - and the overall culture of the home is more significant than the sheer number of times Dr. Seuss is read in the life of a child...

In one of their more interesting and controversial theses, they posit that the crime rate dropped unexpectedly and precipitously in the 1990's because of legalized abortion in the early 1970's.  Using econometric techniques, they rule out the financial boom, policing techniques, and other explanations - and reason that crime dropped because the unwanted children that would have become criminals in the 1990's simply... didn't exist.  Keep in mind that they do not make any moral / ethical judgments one way or the other, they simply "run the numbers."  Far from using this as an argument for abortion, they argue late in the book that abortion is an economically "inefficient" way to manage crime. 

I'll tell you what - they didn't supply the data that would allow their numbers to be validated or disputed.  Let's say for hypothetical purposes that they're correct - that crime really did drop because hoards of potential criminals never lived.  With 1.5 million abortions a year in the United States - who could deny the impact of a missing generation?

Here is my prediction 50 years in the future...  50 years from now almost two generations of Christians will have been educated and expressly equipped to form a thorough going Christian culture.  Classical Christian schools and Christian schools in general have been taking education far more seriously for the past 15 years or so - and I give them another generation and a half to have major impact.  The gap between a public school and private (Christian) school education has never been bigger.  When I grew up the difference was that private school kids wore better clothes and played lacrosse.  The difference now is that private school kids are lean, mean, thinking machines - and public school kids are... ready to use the internet?

Talk about freakonomics.  Take hold for the coming revolution.

Impotent Aslan

"The Magician's Nephew," C.S. Lewis

I read "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe," (TLTWTW) in sixth grade, and that was it for the Chronicles of Narnia.  I just picked-up the series again because my boys are reading it - and I started with the first book in the Narnia chronology, "The Magician's Nephew."

It was a pretty fun read and helps connect some dots in LTWTW.  The story also gives a more revealing glimpse into some features of Lewis' theology of God, creation, and the fall.  For those reasons and many more, it is worth reading.

One thing that stuck in my Calvinist craw was how simultaneously close and far away Lewis came to a Calvinistic theology of sin and salvation...  Late in the story, after Aslan had created Narnia, it was invaded by an evil witch because of the meddling of the sons of Adam - particularly the sinful meddling of Uncle Andrew.  That loose allegory works just fine for me.

Lewis scores another point by portraying the effects of sin on "unrighteous" sons of Adam.  In contrast to "righteous" sons of Adam, they cannot understand or converse with the creatures of Narnia - or Aslan Himself.  Their sin causes them to "suppress the truth" in unrighteousness - when Aslan speaks, they only hear a roar.  When Aslan's creatures speak, the "unrighteous" only hear noise.  Wonderful stuff.

And then... one of the children asks Aslan to speak words of comfort to Uncle Andrew because he is so frightened by Narnia and Aslan.  The allegory seems clear enough, the children are asking Aslan (God) to save unrighteous Uncle Andrew.  Aslan responds that he cannot speak to Uncle Andrew because Uncle Andrew would only hear a roar.  He is impotent to save Uncle Andrew.

Boy, was I disappointed.  This is precisely where Aslan should have breathed on Uncle Andrew - changing his heart / ears so that he could hear Aslan speak and respond accordingly... because this is what God does with sinners.  God changes hearts of the unrighteous (regeneration) so that they will hear Him and respond when He speaks (faith).  If God doesn't "regenerate" people before speaking to them, everyone would walk around creation deaf and dumb (spiritually dead). 

This was a supreme moment to demonstrate the total grace of God in salvation, but instead we are left with an untenable and unbiblical quandry.  If Aslan can create worlds, heal sicknesses, rule with authority, and conquer death - but can't give fallen creatures ears to hear, then where does salvation ultimately lie?  Is salvation of Aslan or the totally fallen will of the sons of Adam?

I love CS Lewis and Narnia - my prayer is that God would raise up a greater CS Lewis to touch us in similar ways, but ways that are more thoroughly faithful to the power of God's grace. 

Would You Like Fries With That?

(Written while longing for a Big Mac… seriously)

A good Christian buddy of mine recently recommended that I read, “The Message,” by Eugene Peterson.  I was remotely aware of it as a “contemporary translation” of the Bible, but hadn’t picked it up - and have only recently become acquainted with Peterson’s excellent devotional works for pastors (eg. The Contemplative Pastor).  I have really been enjoying and profiting from his meditations, so I was anxious to check-out The Message for myself…

The other day when I was at the book store, I picked-up a copy and began perusing it.  My first move was to quickly turn to some passages I had just preached through since I was most familiar with the details of those texts.  Let me give you a very small example of what I found in comparison to the NASB - probably the most (hyper!) literal English translation there is…

• The Message translation of Matthew 18:17
  "If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love."
• The NASB translation of Matthew 18:17
  "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."

In this case (and there are many others), The Message translation signifantly departs from the original languages and more literal English translations.  I believe this departure represents a subtle distortion of the Word that is not necessary or helpful.  For example, in this text you would not understand from The Message that the sinning “brother” at this point in the discipline process should be cast out from the covenant people as an unbelieving and unclean “Gentile.”  I’m not sure how starting over “from scratch” communicates this reality in English.  Does that mean we go back to verse 15?  Do we keep bringing it before the church?  Peterson made this less clear in his translation, not more clear.

It doesn’t stop there, though.  Christ goes farther and says the church should view such a person as a “tax collector” or a traitor who was willing to exploit God’s people, but Peterson passes by this and talks about offering “God’s forgiving love.”  Now don’t get me wrong, when someone is disciplined out of the church, we should continue to hold forth the hope of the gospel to them and admonish them to repent and believe.  However, Peterson has severely muddied the clarity of the Biblical process and perspective which Jesus colorfully and powerfully gives with words like “Gentile” and “tax collector.”  True enough, someone might need to consult a Bible dictionary to fully appreciate Jesus’ choice of words, but how hard is that to do?

My concern is this - if The Message (or another “contemporized” text) is where people are going to regularly feed on God’s Word, I would worry about their spiritual health and development in the same way a medical doctor would worry about someone who eats fast food most of the time.  Sure, it is fast, easy, cheap, and pretty good-tasting sometimes.  However, if you eat fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner - if fast food is your sustenance, then you’re going to have health problems.  You’re going to miss nutrients you need and get too much of what you don’t need.  It is a supplement - a fun devotional diversion, but not food for the hungry.
Reading the Bible takes work - just like healthy cooking at home and eating raw vegetables.  It takes time, energy, practice, and tools.  When we make the effort it is not only a better experience - it is much better for our health.

If that analogy doesn’t work, try this.  Would you like a pencil sketch of the Mona Lisa to simplify it for you?  Would you only like to hear the first 10 bars of Beethoven’s 5th symphony so you are not overwhelmed by the complex ways it is recapitulated throughout the piece?  Can Toliken’s hobbits be properly understood by seeing them drawn in comic books?

If you are ingesting a “contemporized” version of the Bible on a regular basis, I must ask, “Would you like fries with that?”