Blast Zone

Ever had a hand grenade go off in your theology? The impact, the debris field, the repercussions are beyond anything imagined. This recently happened to me and to say I’m over it is truly just a lie. This explosion has rocked all my prior beliefs (which is a good thing). I’m going to lob the residue of this event at you and let you somewhat experience what I encountered. To some of you this will seem like I’m just throwing mud at your face, while to others it will have the same explosive impact, if not greater, which happened to me. For those of you who feel left out, just wait, this is a slow delay blast.

Let me make this claim right up front: Grace, as we know it, as I’ve taught it, as we’ve experienced it, is not what we think it is. Right now, I’m still trying to figure it out – all over again.

At the beginning of 2018, I read a book written by Cynthia Bourgeault entitled The Wisdom Jesus, Transforming Heart and Mind—a New Perspective on Christ and His Message. I found it very enlightening and it became a springboard for the journey which I have been on since then.

This year (2019) a study group that I am a part of began reading and discussing the same book. While we haven’t gotten very far along in it, I am seeing things in a completely different light from when I initially read it. Which brings me to the blast I experienced recently. I can’t explain it any better than allowing the author to speak to you.

The early church fathers used to speak of a pathway of perception they called epinoia, which meant knowing through intuition and direct revelation, not through the linear and didactic dianoia of logic and doctrine and dogma…

The main difference between the Christianity we’re familiar with through our Western filter and the Christianity coming to us from these new sources can be captured in two words which are not nearly as formidable as they first sound: the difference is between a soteriology and a sophiology. What do these two words mean? “Soteriology” comes from the Greek word soter, which means “savior.” The Christianity of the West has always been savior-oriented. Jesus is seen as the one who died for our sins, who rescued us both individually and corporately from the exile and alienation brought about through the disobedience of Adam and Eve. “Do you believe Christ died for your sins?” is still the core question for Christian orthodoxy: the dividing line between a believer and a nonbeliever. This emphasis entered the theology of the West early, and it entered through the apostle Paul…

The Christianity of the East saw things radically differently. Theirs was not a soteriology, but a sophiology. The word “sophiology” has as its root the word “wisdom.” (Sophia is the Greek word for wisdom.) Christianity was supremely a wisdom path. For the earliest Christians, Jesus was not the Savior but the Life-Giver. In the original Aramaic of Jesus and his followers there was no word for salvation. Salvation was understood as a bestowal of life, and to be saved was “to be made alive.” Entering the waters at the hand of John the Baptist, Jesus emerged as Mahyana, “the Life-Giver.” He came forth also as the Ihidaya, “the Single One” or “the Unified One.” Nowadays we’d call him “the Enlightened One,” a person whose life is full, integrated, and flowing. Jesus’s disciples saw in him a master of consciousness, offering a path through which they, too, could become ihidaya, enlightened ones. A sophiological Christianity focuses on the path. It emphasizes how Jesus is like us, how what he did in himself is something we are also called to do in ourselves. By contrast, soteriology tends to emphasize how Jesus is different from us – “begotten, not made,” belonging to a higher order of being—and hence uniquely positioned as our mediator. At first the sophiological take may seem strange to you: definitely a variant and perhaps even a heretical position. But as the evidence begins to pour in from the other 270 degrees of the Christian circle, we begin to see that it is the West that holds the variant position.

Bourgeault, Cynthia. The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind–A New Perspective on Christ and His Message (p. 19-21). Shambhala. Kindle Edition.

I recognize that there is a lot contained within this passage and that many of you will simply ignore everything I claim from here on out because you’re lost. That is okay; you can come back later, as often as you need, to digest all that is there. For you valiant and intrepid few, those who grasped a hold of what was said and are trying to figure out how this is such a big deal, sit back and buckle up Dorothy, Kansas is about to appear in your rear-view mirror.

My entire Christian walk has been under the premise that I, nay, all of mankind, is a wretch that needs to be rescued from the demise of the Adamic nature. We, according to Cynthia, needed a savior. Once we had confessed the lordship of Jesus over our life, we were then encouraged, with all means available to the pastor, to go forth and win those fellow lost souls for the Kingdom with our soteriological gospel. Since Constantine, the entire advance of Western civilization and the religion which encapsulates it, has been pushing the good fight for a “savior” into a lost and forsaken people group. This is still the foundation of foreign ministry and evangelism throughout the Western church.

When you mention grace in this type of environment it wildly smacks at the need for a savior who has strict requirements of what you must do to be worthy to be saved. The Grace movement of today is fighting a battle against the proponents of soteriology who believe all man must be saved or face going into eternal damnation. Grace in this battle is your “get out of jail free card.” Grace lowers the minimum standards of soteriology and boldly proclaims, “Jesus saves all!”

I hope you understand that there isn’t anything new with what I’ve just said. This is the norm for all Western Christianity. The language I’ve employed in describing this is quite common to those of us in or out of the Church. That said, I trust that you realize the explosion hasn’t happened yet. So, take moment to collect your thoughts around what I’ve just said and see if there is anything that you feel needs to be added which I missed. Now, let’s get saved all over again!

Jesus claimed in the fourth gospel that he came to give us life and that life more abundantly. This is Jesus, a life-giver, not a savior. This is what sophiology, the wisdom of Jesus, looks like. The book of Proverbs tells us to get wisdom because it is the principal thing; and in all of our getting, to get understanding. Why? Not because we have to lead lost souls to Jesus, but because we have a life to live that requires us to make wise choices; choices which will reveal heaven on earth. Jesus gives us life, a full life, an overflowing life. His influence on the original disciples formed a movement known as The Way. Life is The Way in sophiology.

Consider how the present-day church is losing members by the droves simply because the people do not find any relevance in the message. They are seeking answers to life situations which they believe the church refuses to address. The church can’t help in this life if its only concern is saving the lost. Every Sunday is another alter call for lost souls to come forward, and if there aren’t any to be found, just search your hearts to see if there is something you need saved from. Even grace negates the issue of being lost. But none of that matters if the serious questions which life is throwing at you isn’t being addressed or at least a means being offered to find wisdom.

Speaking of grace, what do you now do with grace in a life-giving wisdom culture? What does a kingdom of Grace, the spirit of grace, and the grace of the Father look like from a wisdom perspective? What does Paul truly mean when we’re told that we’re saved by grace if Jesus is a life-giver rather than a savior? So many questions, so little time…in this life.