glorycloud's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cruciformity Cruciformity I am home from picking up Joe in GR at RBC-I got there just as the conference ended-good timing-I had time to talk to one of the conference speakers-I told him my sad tale of woe-my existence-I must have come off totally mad but who cares? I am just a crazy old holy man dying a slow death in a pit of egg slop. Before picking up Joe I visited bookstores-I bought one book titled "Cruciformity:Paul's Narrative Spirituality of the Cross" by Michael J. Gorman-the book just came out this week-published by Eerdmans-the book looks interesting-I am into Pauline ethics-here is a quote from a book titled "The Paul Quest:The Renewed Search For The Jew Of Tarsus" by Ben Witherington III "Who or what provides the ethical paradigm? The answer to this question is not the law but Christ, and in particular Christ in his humble, loving. self-sacrifical way of life, in his death, on the cross, in his resurrection. Christ's teaching is brought into the discussion chiefly to flesh out these motifs (see Rom.12). Thus Hays is right that the cross is what undergirds and shapes Paul's ethics. "For Paul, Jesus' death on the cross is an act of loving self-sacrifical obedience that becomes paradigmatic for the obedience of all who are in Christ." this should not, as Hays is right to add, be taken to mean that Paul simply sees the death of Christ as an ethical example. For Paul it is a unique and unrepeatable event that provides reconciliation and redemption for humankind. The cross has both theological significance and ethical implications. Philippians 2:4-11 shows Paul offering the cross as ethical example. Just as Christ suffered obediently to the point of death, so the Philippians should stand firm in the gospel, even if it should cost them their lives (Phil. 1:27-30; 2:12). "The twin themes of conformity to Christ's death and imitation of Christ are foundational elements of Paul's vision of the moral life (. . . Rom. 6:1-14; 8:17,19-30; 15:1-7; I Cor. 10:23-11:1; 2 Cor. 4:7-15; Gal.2:19-20; 5:24; 6:14)." . . ." pg.273 Gorman's book "Cruciformity" is an extended treatment of the above quote-it should be interesting reading. I am tired-I should go take a nap-another hot day-nothing came in the mail for me-I suppose I will close to lay down and rest my broken body. 6:20 p.m. - 2001-07-21 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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