Rethinking Faith: A Constructive Practical Theology

5: Faithful Churches Empowered by the Holy Spirit

77 I believe in the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, who provides everyday empowerment for the world. The Spirit strengthens the resilience of human beings in the midst of the complex relationships and the moral ambiguity of daily life. The Holy Spirit redeems human and natural life. I believe the church is called to be the body of Christ, a community of bodies and spirits, of humans and nature, in communion with the Holy Spirit, with the following marks: (1) inclusive love, (2) empowering justice, (3) nonviolent resistance to evil, (4) multiplicity and unity, (5) ambiguity and goodness. Through worship, the sacraments of baptism and communion, and programs of care and prophetic witness, the true church creates a resilient witness of hope for a suffering world. This chapter explores the question, What are the marks of the churches when they are faithful to God through Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit? I use the plural, “faithful churches,” to be consistent with the emphasis in this project on the complex relationality of human life and the moral ambiguity of living in a concrete world of material reality. There are many ways that churches claim faithfulness to the vision and memory of Jesus Christ, and sometimes they do not recognize one another as members of the same family. The history of the churches฀is฀fi ฀lled฀with฀ambiguity:฀ FIvE Faithful Churches Empowered by the holy Spirit What are the marks of the churches when they are faithful to God in Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit? 78 Rethinking Faith 1. the ambiguity of the Roman Catholic Church’s compromises with empire and its crusades against Jews and Muslims; 2. the ambiguity of the Orthodox churches’ accommodation to despotic regimes in the East; 3. the ambiguity of the Protestants in Europe and the United States, their support of the slave trade and slavery, their colonial missionary movements, and their support of U.S. military adventurism; 4. the ambiguity of the Pentecostal churches who often preach prosperity and election to the poorest people while taking their money. All of these ambiguities are well documented and disturbing. In this chapter I develop a normative set of marks based on Scripture , tradition, and religious experience that can guide our reflections on the nature of the diverse churches. Other writers develop criteria for the faithful churches that emphasize much different parts of the theological tradition. I lay out my own normative principles in hopes that I can be in conversations with those who come from other perspectives. The only truly authoritative statements about norms that would be inclusive of all churches would come from conversations that include all of the various communions. Such conversations are going on in the World Council of Churches, other international forums, and within national and regional groups.Iconsidermyprojectasacontributiontotheselargerconversations. ThE hOly SPIRIT I use the term “empowered by the Holy Spirit” as a continuation of the previous discussion of the trinitarian God.1 Theologically, the Holy Spirit is the least developed doctrine of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is commonly associated with empowerment and often focused on the work of the churches. While the Holy Spirit works in hidden ways outside of the churches because of God’s transcendence, the church is the community that claims the power of the Holy Spirit. If a doctrine of the Holy Spirit has been forgotten among theologians in recent decades, it has never been forgotten among the people. Spiritual revivals have exploded all over the world as people seek religious answers to the alienation and oppression of their lives. From New Faithful Churches Empowered by the holy Spirit 79 Age fascination with indigenous American, Asian, and African religions to the enthusiastic and emotional Pentecostal theologies, people seek knowledge of God through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not simply the subjective side of God’s revelation of [God] self, and faith is not merely the echo of the Word of God in the human heart. The Holy Spirit is much more than that. It is the power that raises the dead, the power of the new creation of all things; and faith is the beginning of the rebirth of human beings to new life. But this means that the Holy Spirit is by no means merely a matter of revelation. It has to do with life and its source. The฀Holy฀Spirit฀is฀called฀“holy”฀because฀it฀sanctifies...