An Introduction to the Church and the Kingdom

Module aims

The Church exists for the good of the world, because God desires “life in all its fullness” for his people.

But- How do we know what is 'good'?− Who gets to decide what is 'good'?− How do we know what others regard as 'good'

This module will help you research these questions using the Pastoral Cycle.

You will need

Module Handbook

Reading Block

Access to information on your local community, including internet access.

Session 1 – Ethics:What is good and how do we know?

Thomas Midgley Jr on Trial

History's biggest serial killer?

Invented 'ethyl' (lead in petrol)

Invented CFC's

Thomas Midgley "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history." (Historian J R McNeil – Something new under the Sun 2001)

Thomas Midgley on Trial

Is it intentions or outcomes that matter?

Is it causes or effects that determine responsibility?

Is responsibility individual or collective?

2 very different questions!

How do people make moral decisions?

How should people make moral decisions?

Ethical models

How do we make moral decisions, especially if the right choice is not obvious?

What criteria should we use to tell right from wrong?

Where should we look for moral insight, guidance or authority?

What influences should shape our moral judgement?

Three important contexts

The Traditional/classical (pre-enlightenment)

The Modern (c1500AD -1930sAD)

The Postmodern

(~1914AD+, or 1930s+, or 1980s+)

The ClassicalPlato (~399BC):

Socrates vs Euthyphro

Euthyphro's father had let a man die through negligence. Euthyphro wanted to prosecute his father for manslaughter, though the law only allowed the victim's relatives to do this.

Socrates is astonished that Euthyphro has taken it upon himself to be his father's judge, against convention. How can Euthyphro claim such moral knowledge?

Euthyphro argued that what is good is so because the gods will it.

Socrates claims that what is good is universal and knowable independantly of the gods. We can and should judge what the gods command.

Is the pious (moral) loved by the gods because it is pious? Or is it pious (moral) because it is loved by the gods?

Classical positions

Divine command theory – God/the gods command it. But which gods and who says so?

Protagoras – The person is the measure of all things – there is only what is good from where we stand (like hot and cold are relative to my temperature, good and bad are relative to my views and my community). But can't we have opinions on other communities? - eg FGM?

Absolute moral goods – but how to discover it? How do we know what is real and absolute and what just appears to be good? Are these 'goods' actions, rules, outcomes etc.

Virtue – good acts come from good character. Good character comes from true knowledge. We must work out and teach what is right. (But don't good people do bad things?)

Classical morality and the BibleDivine Command Theory –

The Law – because I AM THE LORD

Absolute moral goods - “Will not the judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25) The wisdom and narrative traditions.

Virtue – good people do good things, “The wicked” do evil things.

Jesus “had no ethic” (Bultmann)

Did Jesus teach/live principles flexibly applied situation by situation?

Natural LawBackground is found in the Hebrew Scriptures and

the Wisdom literature

Cicero “True law is right reason in agreement with nature...It is applied universally and is unchanging and everlasting.” (De Re Publica 54BC)

Brought together by Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica. God as ruler of the universe governs all things. His will is expressed in scripture and in the structure of creation, despite 'the fall'.

Humans, as rational creatures, follow God’s plan. Every act is a means to an end. To be good the act much be a means to the end (purpose) of creation.

Emmanuel Kant(1724-1804)

Deontology/Rule SystemsThere are absolute moral rules that must be obeyed, this is a matter of duty• They are based on what is good without

qualification (never makes a situation worse) as discovered by reason (only).

• The only thing that is good without qualification is a good will.

• What is good is what we would all want to be a universal law (human rights? - US Constitution..self evident...)

• Therefore intention is key• The rightness or wrongness of an action

does not depend on how much good it brings about but on the intention behind it..

Bentham(1798) and Mill(1861)

Utilitarianism/consequentialism

Jeremy Bentham

• The right action is the one that brings about the greatest good

• That is, the greatest happiness for the greatest number

• Results not intentions are key to moral decisions

John Stuart Mill

• There are different types of happiness or pleasure and some are more intrinsically valuable than others

The Recovery of Virtue, Alisdair MacIntyre (b1929)

VirtueThere is no neutral ground on which to build rational proof of what is good. Reject both moral absolutes and the abandonment of morality.

Morality is a question of history as well as philosophy.

Virtue is a property of people.

It is not actions that are good or bad it is people.

The question is not “Is lying bad” but “what does it say about that person's character that they chose to lie in that situation”.

Intentions and consequences are important but the over-riding factor is the goal of human flourishing.

A virtue is a quality that allows the bearer to succeed in their purpose. (It is 'virtuous' for a knife to be sharp as this helps it cut).

Virtuous people form and are formed by virtuous communities held together by shared narratives.

Post-modernism

Reaction to the failure of modernism to provide a sure ground for morality.

Rejection of all moral authority and order?

Fundamentalism?

Creation of moral communities, with their own values and traditions that hold for them but no-one else? “My/our morality”?

Rejection of moral systems but not of morality itself? Just live as best you can?

Creation of moral icons? Celebrities?

Democratic will?

How do we make moral decisions today?

Goals?

Rules?

Virtues?

Emotivism?

Relativism?

Harm?

Who decides?

Case Study: The Destruction of the Rain Forest

What might be the contribution of Natural Law Deontology Utilitarianism Virtue

Session 2 – The Kingdom of God

Exercise

Where was God?

and therefore what were the missionaries doing?

What is the Kingdom?

Looking at some of the passages below

Is the kingdom of God:

Present/Future

Heavenly/Earthly

Gradual/Cataclysmic

Social/individual

The Church/not the Church

Human or Divine Action

Mark 1:15, Mark 6:10

Matt 13:44, Luke 12:32

John 3:3, Luke 13:29

1 Cor 15:50, John 18:36 Luke 4:18-21, Rev 5:10 Mark 4:26-28, Matt 25:1-6 Luke 19:11-27, Ps 99:1-2 Matt 6:33, Col 4:11 Matt 16:19, Matt 7:21

Poles of the Kingdom

Models of the Kingdom (Snyder)

The Future Kingdom

(Acts 3) 19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

The Future Kingdom

Mark 13: the Little Apocalypse

The Book of Revelation

The end will be sudden and cataclysmic

Participants – True Christians (and Jews?)

The Kingdom as Inner Spiritual Experience

Teresa of Avila The Interior Castle Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God

is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,

Participants – those who come to full spiritual union.

The Kingdom as Mystical Communion

Luke 22:29 And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Last Supper)

Worship (Orthodox to Pentecostal)

Heavenly Kingdom, present when “two or three are gathered”

Vatican II – “The Church is the Kingdom of heaven now present in mystery – a sacrament of the eschatological Kingdom”

Participants- those who are spiritually aware, with eyes to see

The Kingdom as Institutional Church

Matt 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven...

God reigns in and through the Church and its authority

Revelation “a kingdom of priests” “reign on earth”

The Church is the sign of the kingdom

Participants – those in communion with the Church (and the Vicar of Christ)

The Kingdom as Countersystem

Luke 6:20 Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven.

A way of conceiving life contrary to current social realities – Seek ye first... the Subversive Kingdom.

Church may be part of the problem.

Prophetic, Christocentric, Church as counterculture, Peaceable (trust God for victory)

Sermon on Mount = Manifesto. What sort of community is required?

Participants – those excluded and marginalised

The Kingdom as Political State Revelation 1:5 Jesus Christ..the ruler of the Kings of

the Earth

The Kingdom provides the values (and methodology?) for the social, political and economic organisation of society.

Law is based on biblical morality, authority comes from God

The church is dominant, either numerically or in political power.

Calvin's Geneva to Established Church to .... the US Republic...a Christian Country, Moral Majority?

Participants are the nation

The Kingdom as Christianised Culture

Kingdom as a theme for the transformation of society.

Kingdom already present embryonically

Social change is Spirit led

Works through gradual enlightenment.

Leaven and mustard seed.

Christian Social Ethics in dialogue with the world

Participants are those who belong to the Christianised society

Match the Models and Actions

The Future Kingdom

Inner Spiritual Experience

Mystical Communion

Counter-system

Political state

Christianised Culture

Social action

Pray

Live radically

Sacraments

Legislate

EvangeliseWhich is your church?

What is the CiW understanding of the Kingdom and how is it

expressed?

The Future Kingdom

Inner Spiritual Experience

Mystical Communion

Counter-system

Political state

Christianised Culture

The Ethical Kingdom

•Jesus life and teaching as the source of the Kingdom provides Christians with their own ethical system which exists to be proclaimed and lived, not justified.

The Church and the Ethical Kingdom

Compatible with all models of the Kingdom

Life must be lived in the 'now' but in relation to the Kingdom

Christian ethics can be argued for by action, rather than philosophical debate.

The Church needs to earn the right to be heard

IF the ethical kingdom has relevance beyond individuals and their interpretations, the Church must listen before it can act or speak relevantly.

Session 3 The Pastoral Cycle

The Pastoral Cycle

Ethical Research

Share the nature of your investigations with your subject.Tell them what you are doing, how and why, and what you will do with their information

Be clear on confidentiality and its limits. Abide strictly by them.

Respect your subject at all times. Your role is to observe their ethics not judge them or change them.