Book Review of No Fixed Address

No Fixed Address: faith as journey by John Bodycomb. Review by JohnHurst

Baptism is a public statement of Faith - but what is that Faith? The FaithDevelopment group has been wrestling with how best to encourage and develop the faith of members of the congregation. As the Uniting Church Regulations say, the Church Council is about building up the Congregation in faith and love, and it has delegated that task to the FaithDevelopment group.

But what is the faith that we share? The Uniting Church in Australia is a very broad church, and I suspect that very few of us with agree with the Nicene Creed in its entirety. The Basis of Union says: The Uniting Church acknowledges that the faith and unity of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church are built upon the one Lord Jesus Christ ... and goes on to say more, much more. But let's just stop there and reflect.

In my discussions with people across this congregation, I am struck by how many grains of salt people have taken in their approach to faith. I recall offering a caveat to Malcolm Chamberlain when he first invited me to become an Elder (some 20plus years ago!), saying that I had my own misgivings about much of the church's doctrine. I was rather taken aback when he said (and I paraphrase) John, we all have those doubts. So when I came to read John Bodycomb's book recently, I am still taken aback that here is a minister of the Uniting Church (and an ex-Dean of Theology at that) saying much the same things that I had always felt, but was too polite (yes, too polite is the phrase I use!) to espouse openly.

Dr Bodycomb's book is in five parts:

  1. Born To Dissent
  2. The Falling Edifice
  3. The New Age of Discovery
  4. God, Humanity and Cosmos
  5. The New Mystics

In the first part, he describes his background as a dissenting protestant, congenitally suspicious of dogma and dogmatists. This very much resonated with me, as I first met John when he was Director of Christian Education for the SA Congregational Union, and harboured similar thoughts. John (back in the present) talks about the old mainstream of the church, which may in twenty years [time] have neither a message nor a market.

In the second part, he takes to task the three spires of Christianity: how Jesus became a god-man, how Christianity arrogantly assumed a monopoly on truth, and how theology has failed to keep up with the times. The first of these, Jesus as a literal Son of God, has been one of the huge stumbling blocks of Christianity relationship with the other great religions of the world, to say nothing of how it has challenged the understanding of faith throughout the ages (witness John Robinson's Honest to God).

The third part is where Bodycomb's real thesis begins. He asserts that it is in the quest for the historical Jesus that Christianity may assert itself in the 21st century. Here he resonates so strongly with my own thinking. What was it about this man that so gripped the hearts and minds of the early Christians? It was the six aspects of Jesus as a pathway to God, rather than being God himself, that gripped them. First there was the fact that Jesus was enlightened, or so in tune with God that he became a vehicle for God's self-expression in the world. Secondly, Jesus was a charismatic teacher, and we all know the power of that. Thirdly, he was an agent provocateur, or what we would now call a whistle blower. Just say Wiki Leaks, or Edward Snowden, to see the power of the modern day equivalent.

Fourthly, we have the Herald of the End Time, often translated in eschatological terms (such as in the Book of Revelations), or the Messiah, the one who leads us into new times. Fifthly, Jesus is an Icon, an image of something else. The Christian believes that the perfect image of God in human terms is Jesus Christ. Note that this is not saying that Jesus is divine, or is God.

Finally there is the Archetype - of a new sort of humanity. A difficult concept to convey in a few words, but Paul the Apostle says of Jesus that he is a prototokon (literally first-born; Rom 8:29). In biology, we talk of such prototypes as mutants, which can be the way that completely new species evolve. Perhaps Jesus is just such a new man, radically different from any previous man?

Bodycomb goes on the expand in the fourth section of his book that, in Paul Davies' terms, The Mind of God, the way in which we see the world, and particularly the cosmos, gives us a far better ineffable view of God than Christianity ever dreamt up itself, and gives the lie to those who dismiss cosmology, the natural sciences, and evolution.

In the last section Bodycomb returns to the here and now, giving pointers to listening to the Holy Whispers, the eastern view of Enlightenment, and refocussing ourselves upon spirituality and service. We come back to knowing God through prayer, through worship, and through service to our fellow human beings. Dogma and Doctrine have little part to play in this.

So why have I been so taken by this book? Because as I said previously (and here is my brightly coloured T-shirt to remind you!), all this is very liberating, and frees us from some much dogma that we are expected to believe in our understanding of faith. Hallelujah!

I want to leave you with this challenge, engendered by something that Bodycomb talks about in his book. What do we mean by miracles? Jesus was seen by many to work miracles, and he himself said that those who have faith can move mountains (Matt 17:20) What is a miracle for us?

I am sure that many of you have said, perhaps without thinking too much about it, that an everyday event was 'a miracle'. I described to you early last year when my Mother died, that being near her in her last hours created a "force field of love". That was a miracle for me, but it was an everyday event of just being with someone in their hour of need.

I want you to think, in your own spare time, of an everyday event that you thought was a miracle. In a moment of quietness, reflect upon it, write it down, and if you feel able to share it, the Faith Group in the coming weeks will be creating opportunities for us to collect all those thoughts together, to make a compendium of miracles in our church. Who knows, maybe the spirit of Serving And Loving Together (our new SALT vision, arising out of the ashes of last year) - will be such a miracle?

JohnHurst would like to acknowledge MargaretAllan for the loan of the review copy of the book.

If you want further details of this book, or are looking to purchase a copy, here they are:

You can purchase it online at the above web site.

CategoryFaith

FaithNoFixedAddress (last edited 2014-01-19 06:38:35 by JohnHurst)