Abstract
Through a consideration of four christological titles used to identify Jesus and his work, this essay will demonstrate that Jesus’ theological, ethical, historical, and eschatological relationships make it impossible to collapse his work into that of a moral exemplar—whether of a soul-saving evangelist or a sociopolitical revolutionary. Instead, these titles suggest that a trinitarian way of construing the identity and work of Jesus is required if the church is to be faithful to both the biblical witness and the social contexts in which it finds itself. Increased faithfulness to the biblical witness and one’s social context will result in both ecclesiastical renewal and the renewal of creation.
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Notes
- 1.
It should be added that Brazilian evangelicalism is a large and diverse movement, as is evangelicalism in general. Many of the chapters in this book document that diversity. Consequently, some of the observations in this essay, while rooted in my experience of Brazilian evangelicalism in particular, apply just as well to tendencies in evangelicalism in general, as both are informed by a Western enlightenment conceptuality that is dualistic and reductionistic in nature. This inheritance continues to undermine the inner logic of the Christian story, as it is rooted in a very different set of assumptions about the nature of the world.
- 2.
I’d like to mention in particular Gustavo Oliveira, Henrique Pereira, and Tiago Meireles. Gustavo, upon learning that I was a beer aficionado, saved me from purchasing some generic Brazilian beer in a Teresopolis gift shop. He advised me that I would have a more authentic experience of Brazil if I would forgo the beer and allow him to introduce me to the history of cachaça in general, and the flavor of Germana cachaça in particular. My roommate Henrique had a breadth of knowledge about Brazilian history and culture that was extensive. His genuine love for all things Brazil (and ‘all things Brazil’ seemed to frequently originate in his home province of Natal) was unapologetic and infectious. In light of this, it pains me to say that I’m most grateful to Henrique for introducing me to fresh tapioca and churros from a Rio street vendor! Tiago, with his training in sociology of religion, was as curious about the ambiguities of human nature and religious observance as I was. He had a sarcastic sense of humor and a rich knowledge of Brazilian music. During our time in Brasilia, he returned from a visit to his brother with a long list of musical styles and artists that my son Elliot and I are working through to this day, with Seu Jorge, Marcelo D2, O Rappa, and Chico Science/Nação Zumbi among our favorites. As I write Marcelo D2’s 2013 release Nada Pode Me Parar is playing in the background.
- 3.
When speaking of ‘creation’ in this essay, I am speaking of creation in its broadest and most inclusive sense. As such, I include not only humanity and the physical world of nature, but also the sociocultural and immaterial features of creation.
- 4.
The Swiss theologian Karl Barth used this phrase to condemn the anthropocentric theology of his day, particularly the versions represented in the thought of Feuerbach and Schleiermacher, where talk of God was reduced to talk about humanity. Ray S. Anderson turned the phrase around to describe Barth’s christocentric theological method, one that did not reduce talk of God to talk of humanity, but also would not permit talk of God that did not take into account the humanity of Jesus.
- 5.
As Marina Silva noted, ‘It is completely incoherent to say that we love the Creator while neglecting his creation.’ These themes also emerge in the essays by Janine Paden Morgan and Suzanna Greenwood in this volume.
- 6.
For an engaging sociological consideration of the causes of human flourishing and destructiveness, see Christian Smith, To Flourish or Destruct: A Personalist Theory of Human Goods, Motivations, Failure, and Evil (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015), chapter 7.
- 7.
The sadness I speak of is complex and nuanced and rooted in the fact that much of this misery exists alongside, and even generates, incredible beauty, creativity, and human sensitivity. There is a mysterious dynamic at work here. This dynamic was especially clear to me upon visits to Rio’s favelas (gambiarras on a grand scale) and is captured in the words of Antônio Carlos Jobim regarding the power and nuance of human sadness, something he considers a defining quality of the Brazilian cultural ethos: ‘Sadness is the story of Brazil. It’s in our music, this sadness of the Africans, the Portuguese, and the Indians; three races who understand the human condition. This is not a negative philosophy. Only people without a soul cannot understand what there is to be sad about in life … our music is beautiful because sadness is more beautiful than happiness.’
- 8.
Antônio Carlos Costas was himself quoting the Brazilian Roman Catholic priest and liberation theologian Frei Betto.
- 9.
In addition to these widely known individuals, Eastern has nurtured a host of other graduates and faculty members, both from the USA and abroad, who are doing incredible work in the world under the influence of Eastern’s faculty and in line with the charge of Eastern’s mission.
- 10.
For an exploration of the value of skilled manual labor (such as that involved in gambiarra) in the face of increasingly bureaucratic and disembodied knowledge professions, consider Matthew B. Crawford, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work (New York: Penguin, 2010). Of course, what Crawford is advocating here is an epistemology of praxis, the very kind of epistemology liberation theologians have been advocating for decades as being essential to a Christian theological method.
- 11.
See Eric G. Flett, “‘Dingolayin’: Theological Notes for a Contextual Caribbean Theology,” in A Kairos Moment for Caribbean Theology: Ecumenical Voices in Dialogue, ed. J. Richard Middleton and Garnett Roper (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2013).
- 12.
Bricolage is an affiliated term with French origins that carries similar meaning, although bricolage is less focused on the solution of a practical problem.
- 13.
Although I’m highlighting conversations in Rio at this point, the concerns with the conservative theology of the Pentecostal church showed up in our conversations in Brasilia and Manaus as well. It seemed that most of our conversation partners understood the withdrawal of the conservative church from the public square in a similar fashion, hence my interest in exploring this issue further.
- 14.
Seminar participant Gustavo Oliveira suggested that inadequate theological reflection in each of these areas further fueled the marginalization of the particularities of Afro-Brazilian culture and religiosity, making it all too easy to demonize these particularities as being rooted in the occult (Pentecostal and evangelical postures), or to absorb these particularities into a larger, homogenizing whole (Catholic postures). As we will see later in this essay, a robust doctrine of the Spirit ought to mitigate against such postures.
- 15.
The essays in this volume by Eric Miller and by Ronald J. Morgan and Henrique Alonso Pereira chart the dynamics of evangelical social ethics with more nuance and greater historical detail than I am able to provide in this essay.
- 16.
I like his call for a christological revolution, but that revolution will require a hermeneutical revolution as well, one that refuses to de-historicize the Bible or the Jesus to whom it bears witness. The de-historicized exemplars of Jesus as soul evangelist and social revolutionary can’t be woven into the fabric of the biblical narrative without violating its historical integrity. Instead, let’s start with who Jesus claimed to be—the Messiah of the Jews—and see how far that claim will take us toward the christological revolution called for by Pastor Vieira.
- 17.
Marina Silva also felt that binary categories were unhelpful in generating creative thought, and in our conversation with her in Brasilia she consistently refused to allow such categories to determine her approach to solving problems.
- 18.
Douglas John Hall notes in his Imagining God: Dominion as Stewardship that ‘civilizations are spun out of visions, world views, images of the human; and these are always, in some measure, the products of religion. To state it differently: behind every culture there is some cult’ (24). I believe this connection to be true, and it explains in no small way the urgency of the progressive branch of the church in Brazil to get the portrait of Jesus right. If the church is to be socially engaged then the Jesus they follow must be socially engaged. Our religious narratives deeply shape the boundaries of our moral worlds and, consequently, our agency in the world. For a sociological exploration of these dynamics see Christian Smith, Moral, Believing Animals: Human Personhood and Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
- 19.
Indeed, Clemir Fernandes of UERJ suggested that one way to draw divergent groups together for the purposes of faithful thought and collective action was to read the Bible together and to engage in open dialogue around its narrative and symbols.
- 20.
Canadian theologian John G. Stackhouse, Jr. makes a similar assertion when he argues that the ‘redemption commandments’ in the biblical story are relative to the ‘creation commandments.’ See John G. Stackhouse, Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 205–20.
- 21.
Of the liberation theologians mentioned above, Leonardo Boff makes extensive use of the doctrine of the Trinity in his theological work. See in particular Leonardo Boff, Trinity and Society, Theology and Liberation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988).
- 22.
Quoted in Miroslav Volf, “The Trinity Is Our Social Program: The Doctrine of the Trinity and the Shape of Social Engagement,” Modern Theology 14, no. 3 (1998).
- 23.
Colin E. Gunton, Christ and Creation: The 1990 Didsbury Lectures (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 75.
- 24.
The work of N. T. Wright comes to mind here. A broad, concise, and lucid treatment of Jesus’ social context and its implications for Jesus’ identity and mission can be found in N. T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999).
- 25.
See again Stackhouse, Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World, chapter 6.
- 26.
J. Richard Middleton, The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1 (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2005).
- 27.
Douglas John Hall refers to this priestly vocation as ‘representative creaturehood.’ See his John Douglas Hall, Imaging God: Dominion as Stewardship (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), chapter 6.
- 28.
From the ancient heresy of docetism that suggested Jesus’ humanity was only apparent, not real.
- 29.
Gunton, Christ and Creation: The 1990 Didsbury Lectures, 110.
- 30.
For ‘Abba’ see Galatians 4:6, for ‘Lord’ see 1 Corinthians 12:3. For further development of this notion, see Thomas A. Smail, The Giving Gift: The Holy Spirit in Person (London: DLT, 1994).
Bibliography
Boff, Leonardo. Trinity and Society, Theology and Liberation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1988.
Crawford, Matthew B. Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work. New York: Penguin, 2010.
Flett, Eric G. “‘Dingolayin’: Theological Notes for a Contextual Caribbean Theology.” In A Kairos Moment for Caribbean Theology: Ecumenical Voices in Dialogue, edited by J. Richard Middleton and Garnett Roper. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2013.
Gunton, Colin E. Christ and Creation: The 1990 Didsbury Lectures. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992.
Hall, John Douglas. Imaging God: Dominion as Stewardship. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986.
Middleton, J. Richard. The Liberating Image: The Imago Dei in Genesis 1. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2005.
Smail, Thomas A. The Giving Gift: The Holy Spirit in Person. London: DLT, 1994.
Smith, Christian. Moral, Believing Animals: Human Personhood and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
———. To Flourish or Destruct: A Personalist Theory of Human Goods, Motivations, Failure, and Evil. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015.
Stackhouse, John G. Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Volf, Miroslav. “The Trinity Is Our Social Program: The Doctrine of the Trinity and the Shape of Social Engagement.” Modern Theology 14, no. 3 (1998): 403–23.
Wright, N. T. The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999.
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Flett, E.G. (2019). A Christological Gambiarra: Jesus and Social Engagement in Brazil. In: Miller, E., Morgan, R. (eds) Brazilian Evangelicalism in the Twenty-First Century. Christianity and Renewal - Interdisciplinary Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13686-4_10
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