wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Scholar says God's love may be more inclusive than

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Note #8930 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05516
Sept. 27, 2005

Scholar/author cites 'generous' Bible texts

God's love may be more inclusive than churches know, W. Eugene March says

by Alexa Smith

SACRAMENTO, CA - A prominent Presbyterian Bible scholar said in a lecture
here that Christians need to keep the 'more generous' Biblical texts in mind
as they witness to Christ in a diverse world.

	W. Eugene March, a retired Old Testament professor at Louisville
Presbyterian Theological Seminary, spoke about his new book, The Wide, Wide
Circle of Divine Love: A Biblical Case for Religious Diversity, published
this fall by Westminster/John Knox Press. 

	March spoke at the invitation of the Presbyterian Publishing
Corporation (PPC) and the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly,
two denominational agencies represented at last week's meeting of the General
Assembly Council (GAC).

	 March's lecture was billed as an "optional event" on the GAC docket,
unlike the other dialogue-session scheduled with the Peace, Unity and Purity
Task Force, (See related story) which presented its report during a
joint-agency session, which included COGA, PPC and the Presbyterian Church
(USA) Foundation, the denomination's investment arm, and the Presbyterian
Investment and Loan Program.

	One council member had protested the book discussion's inclusion in
the formal meeting. Elder Mike Kruse of Kansas City, MO, objected that
March's book violates theological principles upheld by the PC(USA) General
Assembly and reduces Jesus to irrelevance.

	"There are two primary aims for the book," March said. "The first is
to illustrate how Christians can and should understand and witness to God in
a more inclusive fashion. And the second is to identify some of the 'generous
texts' of the Bible, so that they can."

	March, who described himself at the beginning of his lecture as a
disciple of Jesus Christ, said most Christians readily quote dogmatic texts
that are troublesome in interfaith dialogue, such as Jesus' comment to Thomas
in John 14:6: "No one comes to the Father, but by me" - a real
conversation-stopper when Christians share faith stories with people of other
faiths.

	However, March said, the Bible assumes some overlooked truths that
Christians seldom consider, such as the oft-stated notions that God's love
extends to all people and that God works with non-Christians to move humanity
toward the fullness of God's reign.

	"God's agenda for peace and justice didn't start with us," he said.

	March said the Bible tells two tales explicitly 3/4 the liberating
message of Exodus, in which God brings justice and freedom to establish
Shalom on earth; and the "cherished, life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ that
is offered graciously to all."

	Those stories offer what March calls "positive guidance." Some is
found in well-known texts that may be re-interpreted. The rest is found as
sub-text 3/4 in which God works with more subtlety, putting assumptions into
place that are a backdrop for the larger, better-known story.

	For instance, March said, the prophet Isaiah attests that God is the
God of Israel - yet God is capable of using Assyria to teach Israel a lesson.
The underlying assumption in that story, March said, is that God is the God
of all nations.

	The Biblical wisdom tradition is also more inclusive. March asserted.
It is much like the wisdom literature of other faiths, not assigning truth a
capital-T, but a small one. "Wisdom is, I think, a gift of God ... and a lot
of people's insights are truthful," March said, adding that the Gospel of
John testifies that the "logos," the Word, touches all the world and its
people, but limits its truth to a select few.

	March said God uses supposed "outsiders" to bring revelation to the
faithful who have been blind to it. He noted that the Good Samaritan is,
after all, a Samaritan, a hated enemy of Israel. Ruth is a Moabite, yet she
participates in the redemption of Israel.

	One of the "scandals" in Biblical interpretation, March said, is that
texts are frequently examined in isolation from each other. Biblical texts
must be explored contextually, he insisted - for example, considering how a
text like John 14: 6 ("I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to
the Father except by me") would be heard in the fledgling Christian community
where it was written. He said Thomas raises a question with Jesus that would
be familiar to Jews cast out of synagogues for following him. They know that
Jews are loved by God, but the question is: Are we still loved by God now
that we are not practicing Jews?

	March contends that Jesus's answer must be taken in context. It is an
assurance that they, too, are loved. 

	"God's love trumps all human declarations," March said, emphasizing
the wideness and bigness of it. "We try to get around it ... but the rule of
love comes along. And we can't quite do it (the way we'd like.)"

	March said many Christians are backing away from theological
assumptions once taken for granted. As an example, he mentioned the doctrine
of supercessionism, which holds that Christians replaced Jews as God's chosen
people in Christ's new covenant. Many theologians, he said, now think that
was a wrong assumption.

	To engage people of other religious faiths in dialogue requires two
things of Christians, March said - a deep understanding of Christian
tradition and the Bible, and a willingness to believe that the Spirit
addresses others in ways unfamiliar to Christians.

	He said it is important to turn to the Bible and to Christian creedal
statements for positive guidance. Reformed Christians ought to understand, he
said, that the tradition always is re-interpreted by new generations, and
that new understandings emerge - as in the Protestant Reformation.

	"We have to ask ourselves what it might mean to witness while
respecting the reality of difference and the wideness of God's love," March
said. "The way God's Spirit addresses me may not be the way God's Spirit
addresses others. The Christian movement always needs new disciples, but not
everyone is called to be a disciple. And my 'Yes' to Jesus Christ says
nothing, nothing of others' response or relationship to God.

	"(We can't just say), 'If I said, 'Yes,' everybody has to say 'Yes.'"

	March said his book is based on 40 years of listening to students'
questions in seminary and in Sunday School classes, and of his own engagement
in Christian-Jewish dialogue.

	He said the "old answers" don't work anymore for people who have
engaged folks from other faiths or who no longer believe religious diversity
is some kind of "divine blunder."

	"(Do we think that) God only wants one part of the human family to
know God's mercy and grace? ... If you look at people who claim to be
faithful Christians, Jews, Muslims or Hindus - and you look at their lives -
and it is difficult to see anything different, then you come to the
conclusion that no faith (has the) truth. They all have some truth," he said.

Introducing March, Davis Perkins, WJKP's publisher, said that
Westminster/John Knox has printed controversial, radical books - but this
isn't one of them. The Wide, Wide Circle of Divine Love, he said, affirms the
centrality of Jesus Christ, exegetes scripture carefully and confronts
Christian theology self-critically to illuminate a "loving, all-embracing God
who regularly surprises us with love beyond imagining."

	PPC had proposed adding March's lecture to the GAC's meeting agenda
because several actions of the 2004 General Assembly strained relations
between the U.S. Jewish community and mainline churches. The most
inflammatory action was a vote to consider applying shareholder pressure to
U.S. corporations that profit from or contribute to violence in
Israel/Palestine.

	March's lecture was sparsely attended because the GAC committees were
holding group dinners off-site.

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