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annotate HeavenOnEarth/notes.txt @ 209:59f4ab0279f7
End of part I
author | Henry S. Thompson <ht@inf.ed.ac.uk> |
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date | Thu, 24 Jun 2021 22:32:33 +0100 |
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206 | 1 Tim Peat Ashworth: Paul as focussed on the transformation of all |
2 creation, originating in the transformation of ourselves. Finding | |
3 that throughout the NT. | |
4 | |
5 "The William": There's a big gap in the New Testament narratives: the | |
6 Romans, the resistance, Masada (73 CE), etc. Why? | |
7 | |
8 Stuart M: Tension between the quiet, inward worship practice and the | |
9 noisy, outward, charismatic behaviour it underpinned. | |
10 | |
11 The struggle to survive post-Restoration plus the failure of the | |
12 expectation of external transformation put the previous public | |
13 aspect of Quakerism had to be reined in. | |
14 | |
15 Barclay gives up on radical equality: God's plan allows for | |
16 different wealth for different people. | |
17 | |
18 Branston-Hicks metaphor! Is there still a real labour and birth | |
19 still to come? | |
20 | |
21 TPA: But note that in early Christianity the challenge of organisation | |
22 vs. inspiration leads to an emergence of hierarchy, but that never | |
23 happened among Friends... | |
24 | |
25 Ben Dandelion: Fox appealing to "30 minutes of silence" in Revelation, | |
26 and the inward communion in Revelation 3:20 (?: "Here I am! I stand at | |
27 the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I | |
28 will come in and eat with that person, and they with me."). | |
29 | |
30 Evangelical framing of their situation in the 18th century falls in | |
31 line with the "sometime in the distance" for the expectation of the | |
32 2nd Coming | |
33 | |
34 How can we reframe the idea of Heaven on Earth, reinvent the | |
35 tradition, to keep the possibility of transformation alive. | |
36 | |
37 How do we make sense of what is essentially a 2nd coming liturgy? | |
38 | |
39 If we're waiting for humanity to respond to the opportunity, what | |
40 will it take for that to happen? [TPA: When we realise there is no | |
41 alternative] | |
42 | |
43 TPA: What accounts then for the "20% of London and Bristol were | |
44 caught up by Quakerism" in the 1650s? BPD: [The context: finding | |
45 certainity and hope in a catastrophic situation] | |
46 | |
47 The contrast of "anyone can be saved" with much of what the other | |
48 churches were saying. | |
49 | |
50 ----------TPA video 1---------- | |
51 | |
52 Luke: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" are Jesus's first public | |
53 words. Thereafter we don't hear much about the Spirit, but the | |
54 unspoken sub-text is, wrt Jesus himself: "Look at Jesus: This is what | |
55 the Spirit-led life looks like". The Spirit gives a foretaste of what | |
56 is to come... Paul describes the Apostles as 'Ambassadors of life in | |
57 the Spirit'. Manifesting life in the Spirit as it was in Jesus, | |
58 because they saw it in him. [Note that this makes Paul's claim to | |
59 _be_ and Apostle a bit tenuous] | |
60 | |
61 Early Christian communities: spiritual families ('brother' and 'sister') | |
62 Boundaries crossed/erased -- manifestations of the Spirit -- but a | |
63 diversity of gifts. Their community life is manifesting what the | |
64 Spirit is bringing and will bring. | |
65 | |
66 Revelation: taking away a veil, now, and coming. Normal way of seeing | |
67 boundaries between e.g. classes is falling away, seeing things in new | |
68 ways. Not a new set of teachings, but a new kind of perception [and | |
69 of living?] | |
70 | |
71 Crunch time: how much can you rely on this? First conflict over the | |
72 dietary laws. The Law vs. the new vision. Matthew keeps a strong | |
73 place for the Law, Jesus as a teacher in the Jewish tradition | |
74 (radical, but in the same tradition). | |
75 | |
76 Humanity is to be transformed, and continue, in the Spirit, (and so | |
77 the whole of Creation is transformed). | |
78 | |
79 Luke has what Eden Grace described: "Creation waits with eager/anxious expectation" | |
80 A sense of bringing to birth, with the attendant hint of anxiety. | |
81 And we have the Spirit as midwife to the change: support with firmness | |
82 | |
83 Humanity refashioned not just in, but as, the image ('ikon') of God | |
84 | |
85 And this has to begin with a dying of the old form of life. | |
86 "_I_ live no longer, but Christ lives in me" [Paul, somewhere] | |
87 | |
88 TPA (responding to SM): There's a _lot_ about newness in the NT, but | |
89 it's almost all about people coming into a new understanding of what | |
90 it is to be human, and not much about seeing the whole of creation in | |
91 a new way, as early Friends would. | |
92 | |
93 PBD paraphrasing TPA (responding to BPD): Jesus's resurrection is the | |
94 _beginning_ of the fulfillment of the prophesy of universal | |
95 resurrection: "a justification that something major has begun, if if | |
96 it hasn't been completed". | |
97 | |
98 TPA (responding so SM 42:10): Was it a time of constant upheaval, | |
99 heavy oppresive behavious from the occupying Roman forces, etc.? A | |
100 lot of scholarly debate pro and con on this. Ed Saunders (sp?) yes | |
101 life was tough, harvests failed, but Roman rule was by-and-large _not_ | |
102 obtrusive, and largely implemented through local intermediaries. | |
103 | |
104 BPD: Are the Gospels trying, as they tell it, to reconfigure what | |
105 happened leading up to and in Jesus's crucifixion to fit with new | |
106 sense of delay [in the Kingdom] [that they were experiencing 20/30 | |
107 years later]? | |
108 | |
109 The coming of the Spirit to the Gentiles, which happened very quickly, | |
110 was "the knock-down argument" that the coming resurrection was for | |
111 _all_ people, not just the (people formerly known as the) Chosen of | |
112 God. | |
113 | |
114 ==============Forum discussions========== | |
115 I need to say something in this thread: | |
116 https://moodle.woodbrooke.org.uk/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=14517 | |
117 about (FK's reading of) Aquinas's approach to free will and Grace: | |
118 not just us, not just God, but (a mystical union of) both... | |
119 | |
120 ---------TPA Video 2----------- | |
207 | 121 Back to what is coming, that is heaven on earth, is understood as the |
122 transformation of humankind. So, not so much heaven on earth as | |
123 heaven _in_ earth, 'in earthy stuff'. Ref. Phil. 2:5-8 | |
124 | |
125 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: | |
206 | 126 |
207 | 127 6 who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God |
128 something to be used to his own advantage; | |
129 | |
130 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a | |
131 servant, being made in human likeness. | |
132 | |
133 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by | |
134 becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross! | |
135 | |
136 Ref. Genesis -- "made in the image of God" -- we can do this ourselves. | |
137 | |
138 Day of Atonement, in the Temple, in Jerusalem: the only day the High | |
139 Priest goes in to the Holy of Holies. Wearing this-day-only | |
140 vestments, with imagery of Creation and the Garden. In the | |
141 forgiveness that follows, the whole of creation is restored to the | |
142 purity of the Garden. | |
143 | |
144 The New Testament is usually approached (i.e. we 21st century folk | |
145 were taught it) through and from the perspective of the later | |
146 developments of the Christian Church. | |
147 | |
148 And of course that also has influenced how it is translated. | |
149 | |
150 As the community/communities of Early Christians grow and stabilise, | |
151 external pressure on them grows, which in turn leads to a need to have | |
152 an account of their origins that's coherent and reliable, which in | |
153 turn leads to downplaying e.g. the early internal frictions, even as | |
154 the New Testament is still being written... | |
155 | |
156 At first there's a lot of flexibility, stories, metaphors, adaptations | |
157 of the Hebrew scriptures. | |
158 | |
159 But as the community gets more public, more confident, with more | |
160 impact on the wider world, pressure from outside grows, which | |
161 generates pressure within the community as to how they live in the | |
162 world, what must be held on to and what can change to accommodate to | |
163 outside pressure... And so a structure of authority and reliable | |
164 doctrine emerges | |
165 | |
166 *Quakers: three keys to unlock what was happening in earliest | |
167 Christianity* | |
168 | |
208
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169 1) *The living word* |
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170 'This is the word of the Lord' |
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171 But in the NT, 'the word of the Lord' does _not_ mean Scripture. |
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172 As in the OT, it is something that comes to _people_, in the OT |
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173 the prophets, in the NT the new Christians themselves. |
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174 Ref. Hebrews, quoting Jeremiah 31:31-34, several times. This is |
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175 the longest quote of the OT in the NT: "The days are surely coming..." |
207 | 176 |
177 31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a | |
178 new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. | |
179 | |
180 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their | |
181 ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the | |
182 land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their | |
183 husband, says the Lord. | |
184 | |
185 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of | |
186 Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within | |
187 them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their | |
188 God, and they shall be my people. | |
189 | |
190 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, | |
191 "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of | |
192 them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their | |
193 iniquity, and remember their sin no more. | |
194 [NRSV https://www.biblestudytools.com/nrs/] | |
195 | |
196 Central to early Christian understanding (note reference to a "new | |
197 covenant", as in the blessing at the Last Supper). | |
198 | |
199 Hebrews 4:7 O that today you would hear his voice, harden not your | |
200 hearts [TPA] | |
201 | |
202 Hebrews 4:12 Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper | |
203 than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides | |
204 soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to | |
205 judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. [NRSV] | |
206 | |
207 Hebrews 6:4 ... those who have once been enlightened, and have | |
208 tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy | |
209 Spirit, (5) and have tasted the goodness of the word of | |
210 God and the powers of the age to come, | |
211 | |
212 Hebrews 12:22-25 | |
213 | |
214 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of | |
215 the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to | |
216 innumerable angels in festal gathering, | |
217 | |
218 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled | |
219 in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the | |
220 spirits of the righteous made perfect, | |
221 | |
222 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to | |
223 the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the | |
224 blood of Abel. | |
225 | |
226 25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking [NRSV] | |
208
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227 |
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228 2) *Jesus: how do you recognise the living word, the true prophet?* |
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229 |
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230 A sharpness in the way Luke talks about Jesus, particularly the way |
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231 in which he says you have to see things differently: the old ways of |
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232 recognition are not capable of seeing the new thing that is emerging. |
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233 |
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234 Unless you change, you will not perceive |
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235 |
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236 Prompting people into a new way of seeing -- not about ethics in |
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237 Luke, about how to live... |
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238 |
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239 Luke 7:18--21 - questions about John; how can this man be a prophet |
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240 -- what we you looking to _see_ when you went out to the desert to |
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241 find John? You get it wrong: John is mad, I'm a drunkard. [those |
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242 are the old ways of seeing]. At the end [7:35] "Wisdom is justified |
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243 [vindicate] by [all] her children". [NRSV] |
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244 |
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245 Parable of the Sower explained: "The seed is the word" [8:11]. |
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246 |
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247 "Then pay attention to how you listen; for to those who have, more |
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248 will be given; and from those who do not have, even what they seem to |
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249 have will be taken away" [8:18] |
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250 |
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251 Who are my mother and my brothers? "My mother and my brothers are |
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252 those who hear the word of the Lord and do it." [8:21] |
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253 |
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254 3) *All the faithful may prophecy* |
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255 |
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256 Pentecost |
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257 1 Corinthians 14: |
207 | 258 |
208
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259 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what |
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260 is said. |
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261 |
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262 30 If a revelation is made to someone else sitting nearby, let |
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263 the first person be silent. |
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264 |
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265 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and |
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266 all be encouraged. |
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267 |
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268 32 And the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets, [NRSV] |
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269 |
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270 Listen with the same spirit as what is being said... |
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271 |
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272 The priesthood of all the faithful 1 Peter 2: |
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273 |
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274 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, |
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275 |
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276 Doesn't last: ref. pressures above, _and_ conflict within[/between] |
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277 the communities, bishops 'overseers' and deacons 'servants' |
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278 emerge by the end of the NT era. |
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279 |
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280 Prophecy is unpredictable, elusive: importance of community in |
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281 discernment, emerging in Paul, prophetic testing, what builds up the community. |
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282 |
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283 ----- |
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284 |
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285 The problem of discernment emerges: The development of the Spirit-led |
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286 life, but Which of the developments are distortions, which are truly |
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287 spirit-led |
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288 |
209 | 289 -----Discussion------- |
290 SM: Wrt the focus being on the person, it's because the _problem_ is with | |
291 humanity, the Fall, (ref. Nayler and the Eastern church) | |
292 | |
293 TPA: We are not separate from Creation, and when things go wrong it has | |
294 _cosmic_ significance: if the image of God is lost in us, that's a | |
295 fundamental problem. | |
296 | |
297 BPD: What happens to Heaven on Earth as the pressure builds? | |
298 | |
299 TPA: That leads to serious questions about how Jesus is understood. | |
300 By John, Jesus has been considerably elevated ("my Lord and my God"). | |
301 The earliest Christianity as "living the Spirit-led life" is somehow | |
302 overshadowed by the role of faith in Jesus -> you will have eternal | |
303 life. The conflict makes the focus be on preservation rather than | |
304 growth. Keeping, protecting, holding the community. | |
305 | |
306 SM: We need to be ordered in order to survive. Parallel with early | |
307 Friends. Accommodating to the world is precisely what compromises the | |
308 vision. "They were possessed of the Spirit, and lost it" vs. "They | |
309 were crazy, and then settled down" Early Christians, and early | |
310 Friends. | |
311 | |
312 TPA: The tension is there, in the NT, between the focus being on | |
313 living the Spirit-led life, or being extraordinarily devoted to Jesus. | |
314 "If you start only with Jesus's divinity, that's a fixed point: it | |
315 [the NT] doesn't reveal its truth". | |
316 | |
317 BPD: So is the problem that they didn't have, as it were, Fox and | |
318 Fell, to take things in hand and lead them forward? | |
319 | |
320 TPA: Hmm. The network is there, there are links between the | |
321 communities, Paul is travelling, others are too. And there are things | |
322 that are shared/persist, e.g. Jesus, and the life in the Spirit, but | |
323 dealing with the world is less systematic, the problem [of outside | |
324 pressure] becomes more acute. This leads towards hierarchy and an | |
325 authority structure, centred on Rome by the end of the 1st century. | |
326 You have the Bishop of Rome writing to the community in Corinth in | |
327 95CE. | |
328 | |
329 SM: Parallel with the shift of power from Swarthmore Hall to London, | |
330 with the male Elders in the Second-Day Morning Meeting controlling | |
331 what can be published in the Quaker name. You see the need to control | |
332 the public image. | |
333 | |
334 TPA, responding to BPD: You see this in how Jesus goes about his work: | |
335 It's not [Gnostic] "we know and you don't", rather "the only way you | |
336 can come to this is by seeing it yourself", "there's no bit of | |
337 teaching that is going to do this [for you]", difficult, being really | |
338 creative: Parables are _not neat_, they're provocative. | |
339 | |
340 SM: [In a group where] two or three people had had significant | |
341 transformative spiritual experiences, and they felt that it isolated | |
342 them from their communities, where no-one else had had that... | |
343 | |
344 [Brilliant, speaking with the prophetic voice, post from Linda | |
345 Garrett: https://moodle.woodbrooke.org.uk/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=14564] |