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Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations
3-1-2015 Toward a Corporeal, Biblical Narrative: A Study in Church Transformation David C. Scafide George Fox University, [email protected]
This research is a product of the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program at George Fox University. Find out more about the program.
Recommended Citation Scafide, David C., "Toward a Corporeal, Biblical Narrative: A Study in Church Transformation" (2015). Doctor of Ministry. Paper 95. http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/dmin/95
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GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY
TOWARD A CORPOREAL, BIBLICAL NARRATIVE:
A STUDY IN CHURCH TRANSFORMATION
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO
THE FACULTY OF GEORGE FOX EVANGELICAL SEMINARY
IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY
BY
DAVID C. SCAFIDE
PORTLAND, OREGON
MARCH 2015
George Fox Evangelical Seminary George Fox University Portland, Oregon
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL ______
DMin Dissertation ______
This is to certify that the DMin Dissertation of
David C. Scafide
has been approved by the Dissertation Committee on February 18, 2015 for the degree of Doctor of Ministry in Semiotics and Future Studies.
Dissertation Committee:
Primary Advisor: Jared Roth, EdD
Secondary Advisor: Phillip Carnes, DMin
Lead Mentor: Leonard I. Sweet, PhD
Copyright © 2015 David C. Scafide All Rights Reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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To my wife, Joy, who is the embodiment of her name.
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A man is always a teller of tales, he lives surrounded by his stories and the stories of others, he sees everything that happens to him through them; and he tries to live his own life as if he were telling a story.
- JEAN-PAUL SARTRE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………..ix
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………….……………….xi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………...... ……………1
The Problem…………………………………………………...... ………..1
Transformation Defined……………………………………………...…….5
Corporeal Biblical Narrative Defined……………………………..…….…7
Current Trends……………………………………………………………..12
Ecclesiological Trends…………………………………....…….….12
Lack of Transformational Change……………………….…..…….15
Theological Shifts………………………………………..…….…..18
Resurgence of Narrative Focus……………………………………..…...…22
Conclusion…………………………………………………………..……..26
CHAPTER 2: SCRIPTURE AS IDENTITY NARRATIVE………………..…….28
Introduction……………………………………………………...……..….28
Identity and Narrative…………………………………………….…….…28
Identity Narrative and Interpretation of Scripture……………………....…31
The Narrative Approach to Scripture……………………………………...35
Act 1: Creation…………………...………………………………..37
Act 2: Fall………………………….………………………………41
Act 3: Redemption Initiated……….………………………………44
Act 4: Redemption Accomplished……………...………………….49
Act 5: Mission of the Church.…………………….………………..53 v
Act 6: Redemption Completed…………………………………….56
Conclusion……………………………………………………....…………59
CHAPTER 3: NARRATIVE FORMATION IN CHURCH HISTORY……..…...61
Introduction……………………………………………………………...... 61
The Early Church and Identity Formation….……………………………...61
The Loss of an Identity Focus……………………………………………..66
Middle Ages and Cenobitical Monasticism…………………………….….71
Martin Luther…………………………………………………………...…76
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………80
CHAPTER 4: NARARTIVES AND THEIR INFLUENCE……………………...81
Introduction………………………………………………………………..81
Organizational Culture……………………….……………...…………….82
How Underlying Narratives Dictate Organizational Culture……...84
The Reinforcing Nature of Organizational Culture….…………….89
How Organizational Change is Resisted…………………………..91
Summary………………………………………………………...…95
Narrative Identity……………………………………………………….…95
Why Narratives are Significant…………………………………....96
Narrative Identity and Organizational Change…………………………97
Summary…………………………………………………………..103
Psychology of Narrative…………………………………………………...103
Schema…………………………………………………………….104
Belief Defined as Schema…………………………………………105
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Sensemaking……………………………………………………….106
Summary……………………………………………………………109
Narratives Related to Church Culture……………………………………...110
How Corporeal Narratives Affect Programs and Processes……….110
How Corporeal Narratives Affect the Individual………………….111
How Narratives Shape Belief, Faith, and Identity………………...113
Summary…………………………………………………………...116
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………117
CHAPTER 5: ELEMENTS AND EXPRESSIONS OF NARRATIVE……….….119
Introduction………………………………………………………………..119
Interactive Elements of Narrative………………………………….………120
Play……………………………………………………….………..120
Rituals…………………………………………………...…………122
Role Elements of Narrative……………………………………...…………126
Mythologies……………………………………………..…………127
Heroes…………………………………………………...…………130
Symbolic Elements of Narrative………………………………..………….133
Sacred Stories…………………………………………..………….133
Language…………………………………………….…………….135
Metaphor………………………………………….……………….139
Context Elements of Narrative………………………………...…………..141
Memory…………………………………………………..………...141
Differentiation…………………………………………….……….144
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Conclusion………………………………………………………….……...146
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION……………………………………………....……148
Introduction………………………………………………………….……148
Discussion Review…………………………………………………...……148
Key Findings………………………………………………………………152
Assumptions and Limitations……………………………………………...156
Ministry Application………………………………………………………156
Suggestions for Further Research…………………………………………162
Concluding Remarks……………………………………………………....163
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………...165
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation represents the culmination of a three year story. There were challenges and villains and setbacks, as all good stories have. But there was also a fellowship of others who have gone before, some who have gone with, and others who supported even though they could not make the journey themselves. This epic would never have existed had it not been for many significant people participating in the journey with me. I want to give my heartfelt thanks to those who sacrificed and encouraged me the most during this journey.
To my academic support who helped get me across the finish line. George Fox
Seminary directors and administrators and especially Dr. Cliff Berger who was so faithful to my cohort always seeking to understand and encourage us when we came to you with our problems. Dr. Leonard Sweet who taught me, against my initial desires, how to live freely in the story of God. My advisor, Dr. Jared Roth, for his encouraging nudges that helped me get to the end of the journey in one piece. My readers, Sonja Madera, Lindsay
Folkerts and Dr. Randy Millwood, for their tireless efforts wading through my drafts.
Your questions and insights helped me refine the thesis and keep me on track. My editor extraordinaire, Dr. Donna K. Wallace, who helped polished this dissertation and make it shine much brighter than I could alone.
To my cohort, SFS11, I am eternally indebted. The wisdom I gleaned from each of you and your own stories with Christ have enhanced my own. I thank God often for your friendship and partnership in the narrative God is unfolding within us and around us.
To my family, I love you and thank you. My grandmother who covered me with prayer every day of this journey. Mimi and Uncle Richard without whose support and ix encouragement to do my best, I would never have finished. My mother who first taught me the story. My children, Sam, Micah, and the one I will meet in a few months, who daily show me new insights and wonders contained within the story of God. And to my wife, Joy, who constantly supported me and gave me the space and time to complete this adventure.
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ABSTRACT
This dissertation claims that church leaders can enact healthier church-wide transformation when changes are processed on the narrative level of culture. As the church’s narrative is transformed, the church lives out her new identity more readily and with less resistance. Chapter 1 defines key terms and examines the state of current transformation models and why they are not having widespread impact in transforming churches. Without understanding underlying narratives, church leaders face unnecessary resistance resulting from the attempt to impose changes that are not assimilated by the narrative of the church. Chapter 2 demonstrates how people always live out their perceived identity and that identity is always in narrative form. The chapter concludes with examining Scripture as an identity narrative and how it can be used to shape the identity of parishioners. Chapter 3 explores how church leaders have used narratives throughout history to facilitate healthy transformation. The chapter also explores the consequences of diluting a strong biblical narrative. Chapter 4 discusses the power of narrative. People tend to organize themselves around a narrative. This narrative is what all information is processed though. If any transformational concept does not fit into the perceived story, it may be rejected. Chapter 5 gives examples of how narratives can be altered within a church context. Using the various expressions of narrative, church leaders begin enacting healthy change at a narrative level. Chapter 6 presents key findings and concrete ministry applications for church leaders desiring corporeal, biblical transformation.
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
The Problem
One afternoon, Pastor Hare confided in Pastor Chamelin about a passionate concern of his that was shared by Pastor Chamelin also—how one might move a spiritually stagnant church in a Christ-centered direction where disciples are enthusiastically made and parishioners actively bring redemption to their communities.
Over the past decade the two pastors had each gone to numerous conferences and attempted to implement several “tried and true” models of church transformation. While their congregations showed initial excitement, and even several changes were approved when the models were first implemented, enthusiasm waned and in time both their churches returned to old habits and frameworks.
No matter what programs, studies, or series the two pastors poured their hearts into, it seemed that their parishioners were just as self-centered, unloving, and unsubmitted to Christ as the average non-Christian. The parishioners’ thoughts were focused on keeping the church going, rather than on being and making disciples. Pastor
Chamelin summed up both ministers’ feelings when he said, “My heart breaks over the apathetic rut of our congregations. There has to be a better way to help move our churches to love God, each other and the world as Jesus commanded.”
This story illustrates the plight of many Christ-centered church leaders. Pastor
Hare and Pastor Chamelin represent leaders who are passionate for evangelism and discipleship, ones who are personally raising up other leaders,1 as well as pursuing the
1 Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson. Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can Too (Nashville: B & H Pub. Group, 2007), 38.
1 2 personal growth required to make necessary changes that will affect the church.2 Is it possible, or even plausible then, for plateaued and declining churches to experience new life and health? George Barna, the founder of the market research firm, The Barna Group, notes, “The typical experience seems to be that, once a church loses its momentum, the most probable outcome is either death or stabilization at a much smaller size.”3 In sharp contrast, the picture of the New Testament Church is an army advancing against the enemy. Specifically, Christ says that the defenses of Hell will not be able to withstand the progress of the Church.4 Barna’s research data begs the question, how has this become the normal future of a stalled church?
Church transitional material being published in recent years tends to focus on the right type of leadership, vision casting, programs and policies.5 While these topics appear to be important and necessary to examine, they have not resulted in widespread transformation, as subsequent data will demonstrate. Pastor and professor, Jim Belcher, notes that both traditionalists and those who seek fresh expressions of church “accuse the
2 Robert E. Quinn, Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996), 32. Quinn’s work is a great primer on the need for leaders transform first. Too often the pattern of leadership is to want to change everything around them while remaining the same. As is noted throughout his book, deep organizational change can only happen when leaders choose to makes deep changes in their own lives (p. 6). This dissertation is written under the assumption that the leadership of the plateaued or declining church is already moving in the direction they need to be spiritually, emotionally, and organizationally. For more on spiritual and organizational leadership, it is recommended to read Spiritual Leadership by Henry Blackaby, I Am a Follower by Leonard Sweet, Leading Turnaround Churches by Gene Wood and Comeback Churches by Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson. For more information on the emotional intelligence necessary for transformational leadership, read The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Pastor Leadership in Turnaround Churches by Jared Roth. All of which can be found in the bibliography.
3 Gene Wood, Leading Turnaround Churches (St. Charles: ChurchSmart Resources, 2001), 17.
4 Matt. 16:18.
5 Dan Southerland, Transitioning (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000); Alan Nelson and Gene Appel, How to Change Your Church Without Killing It (Nashville: W Pub. Group, 2000); Wood, Leading Turnaround Churches.
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Western church of being shallow, ahistorical, and more focused on pragmatic issues than on real transformation and cultural renewal.”6 Attitudes like the one Belcher describes can paint a bleak picture of traditional American churches. Consequently, the focus of many Christian denominations and organizations has been to focus on planting new churches to the neglect of reviving older ones. This has led many church leaders to sever ties with declining traditional churches in hope of beginning new churches that operate with paradigms that reflect more of Christ’s virtues and values.7 The old adage appears true: “It is easier to give birth than it is to resurrect the dead.”
While the forsaking of declining churches in favor of new plants may seem quicker and more effective for building a movement, negative attitudes towards traditional churches can pose problems in the long run. One of the theories, put forth by management consultant Karen R. Adler, and professor Paul M. Swiercz, is that nearly all organizations go through a lifecycle bell curve of start-up, growth, maturity and decline;8 therefore, one might conjecture that the natural lifecycle of any organization includes becoming ineffective and fading to its final death. While it is true that many churches fall into a similar pattern, two questions demand consideration: Are too many churches declining and dying prematurely? Can the lifecycle of a church body change to involve more life steps such as: birth, maturing, dying; resurrection, maturing, dying; resurrection...?
6 Ibid., 13.
7 Jim Belcher, Deep Church (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press), 9.
8 Karen R. Adler and Paul M. Swiercz, “Taming the Performance Bell Curve,” Training and Development 51, no. 10 (October 1997): 34.
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This bell curve described by Adler and Swiercz is evident even in church plants that are birthed out of the desire to have fresh expressions of faith. In reaction to the status of the traditional church, Belcher, argues that the issue is not a stylistic one. He notes, “Ironically, thirty years ago the protest was pioneered by the traditional wing of evangelicalism. Unhappy with what the Western church had become…the traditional church condemned the worst elements” of the church.9 Stylistic and programmatic changes, in effect, led to the impotency of the church a mere three decades later. In that regard, understanding church transformation becomes a subject of study not only among those currently in declining churches, but also for church leaders who desire continuation and improvement of their churches so that thirty years hence, they will not fall into the same trap.
In 2005, a special report in Leadership Journal claimed an estimated 340,000 churches were in decline.10 The declination trend continues as a report in 2013 predicted the annual growth of Christianity in North America to be only 0.62 percent, well below population growth.11 Church consultants and researchers, Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, further note that between 70 and 80 percent of North American churches are in decline and 3,500 to 4,000 churches close each year.12 Sociologist, David Olson, notes that if nothing changes, by 2050 church attendance will drop in half from what it was in 1990.13
9 Belcher, 9.
10 Eric Reed, Marshall Shelley, Angie Ward, and Skye Jethani, “Back From the Brink: A Leadership Special Report” Leadership Journal 26, no. 4 (Fall 2005): 24.
11 Gina A. Bellofatto and Todd M. Johnson, “Key Findings of Christianity in its Global Context, 1970-2020,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 37 no. 3 (July 2013): 159.
12 Stetzer and Dodson, 19.
13 David T. Olson, The American Church in Crisis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008), 16.
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The projected trajectory of any evangelical or mainline church attendance percentage shows significant decline,14 despite the estimated 4,000 new churches started every year.15 Unless the underlying factors of decline are examined, churches, both old and new, can easily find themselves in similar positions of inefficiency a few years down the road, leading to nonperformance and implosion.16 This provides fertile ground for the justification of the study of transformation and its potential implications in the years to come.
Transformation Defined
When the term, “transformation,” is mentioned, especially in regards to a church, many different definitions can be assigned to it. Because of the similarities between church transition, church growth, and strategic planning, these terms are often lumped together under the heading of transformation. This section will define what this dissertation means by transformation.
First, what transformation is not. Transformation is not equivalent to numeric growth of a congregation. Ultimately, the role of church leaders is not to grow the church numerically. It is Christ’s job to build his Church.17 Genuine transformation can be hindered by a focus on numerical growth. Theologian Richard Niebuhr says that if churches are not careful, they can fall into error by “the temptation of making their own
14 Olson, 177.
15 Ibid., 145.
16 Stetzer and Dodson, 17.
17 John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, eds., Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook Publishers, 1983), 57.
6 self-preservation and extension the primary object of their endeavor.”18 Church consultant Don Cousins sums up this error by calling it, “the success heresy.”19 Churches that focus on numeric transformation alone fall into an inward mindset where they exist to keep the individual church alive and functioning with little regard for making disciples.20
Similarly, transformation is not equivalent to making a church more efficient with its resources. Willow Creek found that virtually no correlation was found between increasing levels of activity within a church and spiritual growth.21 One of the reasons genuine transformation is not experienced in churches heavy with classes, materials, and programs is that the focus becomes set on promoting programs rather than proven ways of effectively developing people. Barna, supports this claim, “classes and groups are often embraced as a way to organize large groups of people into an orderly process that can be easily managed or controlled” rather than releasing parishioners into spiritual growth.22
For this dissertation’s definition of “transformation”, we borrow from Dallas
Willard’s seminal work, Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ.
18 H. Richard Niebuhr, The Social Sources of Denominationalism (Hamden: The Shoe String Press, 1954), 21-22.
19 Don Cousins, Experiencing Leadershift: Letting Go of Leadership Heresies (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2008), 59.
20 Leonard Sweet “Orcas Island Advance 2014” (lecture, Eastsound, WA, May 29, 2014).
21 Greg L. Hawkins, Cally Parkinson, and Eric Arnson, Reveal: Where Are You (Barrington: Willow Creek, 2007), 35. “Spiritual growth,” in this context, is defined by Jesus’ words in Luke 10:27: “loving God and loving others”.
22 George Barna, Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs: Waterbook Press, 2001), 93.
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Transformation is where Christians23 choose to enter into a divine process that “brings every element in our being, working from inside out, into harmony with the will of
God.”24 While it is generally true that healthy organisms, including churches, grow,25 the focus here is not primarily on numeric growth, but on bearing the image of God to the world.26 Similarly, highly efficient programs and ministries may or may not be an outcome, but these are not the primary focus of transformation.27 In order to enter into transformation, churches can begin to focus on a corporeal, biblical narrative.
Corporeal, Biblical Narrative Defined
While there are numerous theories and answers for how to facilitate healthy transformation among churches, the thesis for this paper is that healthy and lasting transformation is possible only when church leaders create space in the life of a church to allow the Spirit of God to form the parishioners into a corporeal, biblical narrative. This thesis will be supported by biblical investigation, church history and current
23 “Christians” in regards to this dissertation refer to people who have been born again by God (John 3:3) and have begun to submit their lives to Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8).
24 Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ (Carol Steam: NavPress, 2012), back cover.
25 Christian A. Schwartz, Natural Church Development: A Guide to Eight Essential Qualities of Healthy Churches (Carol Steam: ChurchSmart Resources, 1996), 8.
26 Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 393.
27 Many practitioners have described effective ministry not as being professional, but as being chaotic. Some of the resources include: Mike Yaconelli, Messy Spirituality (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002); Mark Buchanan, “Messy, Costly, Dirty Ministry,” Leadership 30 no 2 (Spring 2009), 98; Matt Chandler, Josh Patternson, and Eric Geiger, Creature of the Word: the Jesus Centered Church (Nashville: B & H Publishing Group, 2012); R. Kent Hughes and Barbara Hughes, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1987).
8 organizational theory. The study will conclude with practical methods of examining and changing a church’s corporeal biblical narrative.
Corporeal in this context refers to that gathered group of Christians who are often referred to in Scripture as the “Bride”28 of Christ as well as the “body of Christ.”29 The church then is a living organic entity. This term is used rather than a definer of structure such as “corporate” or “organizational” as many management materials utilize because fundamentally, transforming a church is not about transforming an organization, but about creating an ideal environment for God to transform people.30 Christ’s last command to his followers in Matthew was not that they build an organization, but they make disciples.31 Management professor David Boje asserts that organized groups of people, such as churches, should be seen as living entities that can develop, change, and
“have a life of their own.”32
Narrative, as defined by this dissertation, refers to the underlying story that churches use to make sense of themselves, God, and the world. Narrative is the natural way humans perceive and experience their lives. In this sense, Jerome Bruner, professor of psychology at Harvard and Oxford asserts, “narrative imitates life, life imitates narrative.”33 It is a way of documenting, expressing, and making sense of a particular
28 Rev. 19:7.
29 1 Cor. 12:27.
30 Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Grand Rapids: Revell, 2006), 21. Coleman notes that Jesus’ method, to which Christians ascribe, is not about “programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow.”
31 Matt. 28:18-20.
32 David M. Boje, Storytelling Organizations (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications: 2008), 25.
33 Jerome Bruner, “Life as Narrative,” Social Research 71, no. 3 (Fall 2004): 692.
9 culture,34 in this case, church culture. A culture is not seen as it is, but rather within the context of a story the culture wants to believe.
When people describe their lives and when congregations describe themselves,
Bruner asserts, “it is a selective achievement of memory recall; beyond that, recounting one’s life is an interpretive feat. Philosophically speaking it is hard to imagine being a naïve realist about ‘life itself.’”35 It is the underlying narratives that give cultures significance and meaning. The value does not come from an action itself, but from what meaning is associated with the action; “even though stories are the inevitable results of action, it is not the actor but the storyteller who perceives and ‘makes’ the story.”36 It is the interpretation of the actions that “make” the story and give value. Underlying narratives rationalize behavior and help process why culture believes and behaves the way it does.37 Professor Peter H. W. Lau writes,
For more than thirty years, narrative has been recognized as intrinsic to our perception of experience. This has been recognised [sic] in fields as diverse as: the philosophy of history, where narrative is thought to be basic to historical understanding; medicine, where patients use narrative to express and understand the aetiology of their illnesses; and sociology where narrative is viewed as the appropriate mode for recounting experience.38
34 Karl E. Weick, Sensemaking in Organizations (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 1995), 127. Because of the close relationship between narrative and culture, quotes are often used with the term “culture”, yet “narrative” could be used in its place.
35 Ibid., 693.
36 Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition, 2d. ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 192.
37 Weick, 14.
38 Peter H. W. Lau, Identity and Ethics in the Book of Ruth: A Social Identity Approach (Göttingen, Germany: Hubert & Co., 2011), 40.
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According to Robert Quinn, professor of organizational behavior, the more established a narrative is, the more reinforcing it becomes,39 which is why churches with unhealthy narratives that are in decline, tend to remain in decline. The corporeal narrative reinforces the errant beliefs and behaviors. Similarly, churches with healthy narratives tend to continue to grow.40 Because of this, in order for churches to transform, at some level the underlying narratives need to be examined and transformed as well.
The notion of a corporeal or cultural narrative, while rising to the surface in the last few decades, is not new and can be traced throughout history.41 Philosopher and semiotician, Roland Barthes, noted:
The narratives of the world are numberless. Narrative is first and foremost a prodigious variety of genres, themselves distributed amongst different substances…Able to be carried by articulate language, spoken or written, fixed or moving images, gestures, and the ordered mixture of all these substances, narrative is present in myth, legend, fable, tale, novella, epic, history, tragedy, drama, comedy, mime, painting, stained glass windows, cinema, comics, news item, conversation. Moreover, under this almost infinite diversity of forms, narrative is present in every age, in every place, in every society; it begins with the very history of mankind and there nowhere is nor has been a people without a narrative.42
Because of the pervasiveness and influence of narrative within humanity, church leaders seeking transformation may benefit from focusing transformational efforts in this area.
The term, biblical, is used here in the sense that this is a church’s building block for their story. As will be discussed, there are many narratives to believe and to utilize
39 Quinn, 133.
40 Robert Lewis and Wayne Cordeiro, Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church From the Inside Out (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005), 184.
41 Barbara Czarniawska, Narrating the Organization: Dramas of Institutional Identity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997), 11.
42 Ibid.
11 while trying to make sense of the world, but this author holds that the only true narrative is the revealed truth of God within Scripture.43 A recent Barna Research study supports this claim with data showing that “most Americans do not have strong and clear beliefs largely because they do not possess a coherent biblical worldview. The study found that
44 fewer Americans were embracing a traditional view of God and the Bible.” Professor
Richard Lovelace in his seminal work Dynamics of Spiritual Life notes that the Apostle
Paul’s “detailed understanding of the contradictions between the non-Christian thought world and the biblical world gave him intellectual traction in resisting any dilution of the
Christian outlook through fusion with the antichristian thinking.”45 According to
Lovelace, one of the first necessary tasks in returning a church to health is to sever ties with the “godless culture of the surrounding world” and be transformed by the Spirit working through Scripture.46 Church consultant Christian Schwartz further notes that
“personal use of the Bible” was one of the eight indicators of a healthy church.47 Willow
Creek’s Reveal Study also showed a correlation between the frequency of reading the
Bible, Christ-centeredness, and practices such as evangelism, serving, and tithing.48
Stetzer and Dodson have found that one of the keys to successful transformation has been
43 1 Cor. 3:19.
44 Audrey Barrick, “2007 Trends Analysis: Americans Reformulating Christianity,” Christian Post, accessed July 10, 2014, http://www.christianpost.com/article/20071204/30332_2007_Trends_Analysis:_Americans_Reformulating _Christianity.htm.
45 Richard F. Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1979), 173.
46 Ibid., 185.
47 Schwartz, 26.
48 Hawkins, et al., Reveal, 43-45.
12 strong Biblical emphasis especially in the realm of preaching.49 All of these data point to the importance of cultivating a biblical culture and mindset.
It is this corporeal, biblical narrative that will be catalytic when attempting church transformation. Pastor and church consultant, Robert Lewis, notes that the cultural narrative “is the most important social reality in one’s church. Though invisible to the untrained eye, its power is undeniable.”50 Without narrative transformation, all other transformation in widespread church culture will be limited, cosmetic, and often impotent. In speaking of organizational change, Quinn notes, “We can tear down all the hierarchy, but they will all reappear because no matter what we utter, at the behavioral level, we continue to enact the old map.”51 If church leadership can effectively examine and change the hindering aspects of a church’s story, the church will naturally open to greater health and function.
Current Trends
In order to elucidate the impact of traditional church transformation, this section will explore and critique current ecclesiological trends, identity narratives, and the lack of widespread corporate transformational change. This section will conclude by noting relevant questions concerning effective church transformation for the 21st century.
Ecclesiological Trends
According to Shawna L. Anderson, et al., in a study published in Journal for the
Scientific Study of Religion, preliminary studies have been done which suggest that on a
49 Stetzer and Dotson, 90-95.
50 Lewis and Cordeiro, 3.
51 Quinn, 102.
13 national level, churches in America dissolve at a rate of 1 percent per year.52 While this may seem to be a nominal problem, this is no indicator of health or future trends. Decline in church attendance has been steady since at least the 1970’s.53 When looking below the surface, current trends show approximately 85 percent of churches are plateaued or in decline.54 In terms of demographics, Gallup shows around 40 percent of Americans attend church nearly every week;55 yet, those numbers have been criticized for their accuracy. Other research shows the number set at less than half of what Gallup reports.56
In spite of the declining numbers, many churches continue to exist, operate and appear to hold their ground. Churches can still function while in a steady decline because they are considered “minimalist organizations,” meaning that they can use volunteer labor and endowments and can be flexible with their activities to remain viable.57
Anderson claims, “Minimalist organizations are…more likely to continue to survive even after they become shadows of their former selves.”58 In spite of poor health, these congregations can continue to live on even though they are in a permanent state of decline. This can present a problem to leaders desiring to transform their declining
52 Shawna L. Anderson, et al., “Dearly Departed: How Often Do Congregations Close?” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 47, no. 2 (2008): 325. 53 “Church Attendance is Declining,” FamilyFacts, accessed April 17, 2014, http://www.familyfacts.org/charts/620/church-attendance-is-declining. 54 Leonard I. Sweet, SoulTsunami: Sink or Swim in New Millennium Culture (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 75. 55 “American Church Attendance Inches Up in 2010,” Gallup Well-Being, last modified June 25, 2010, accessed April 7, 2014, http://www.gallup.com/poll/141044/americans-church-attendance-inches- 2010.aspx. 56 C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny L. Marler, “How Many Americans Attend Worship Each Week? An Alternative Approach to Measurement,” Journal For the Scientific Study of Religion 44, no. 3 (2005): 308. 57 Anderson, et al. “Dearly Departed,” 326. 58 Ibid.
14 churches. Once a church enters into a survival culture due to decline, it becomes extremely risk averse, and therefore closed to change, because, in their perception, even the slightest changes threaten its survival.59
While mainline churches are affected most by decline,60 even the Southern Baptist
Convention, the largest evangelical denomination in the United States,61 is showing a decline as well, both in baptisms and church membership. According to LifeWay
Christian Resources, in 2012 there was a 5.5 percent drop in baptisms, two thirds of a percent decline in membership and a 3 percent drop in attendance. Data indicates a drop in membership six out of the last ten years, which is a record decline.62 David Olson, director of American Church Research Project, sums up the American Church’s dilemma with this statement, “In no single state [from 2000 to 2005] did church attendance keep up with population growth!”63
These findings stand in sharp contrast to the rest of the world. In the last one hundred years Christianity has grown by significant numbers and percentages throughout the world. According to a 2010 Pew Research study, the percentage of Christians in Sub-
Saharan Africa has grown in the past 100 years from 9 to 63 percent. In the Asia-Pacific
59 John Flowers and Karen Vannoy, Adapt to Thrive (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2011), viii.
60 “The Reason for a Restart,” Ministry Matters, accessed June 25, 2014, http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/3125/markthe-reason-for-a-restartmark.
61 Eileen Lindner, Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, 2010 (Nashville: Abingdon, 2010), 11. 62 Bob Allen, “Southern Baptist Numbers Drop for Baptisms, Membership” Christian Century July 10, 2013. 63 Olson, 37.
15 region the percentage of Christians has climbed from 3 to 7 percent.64 Pastor and professor Daniel Meyer states, “Across the planet, followers of Jesus are increasing by more than eighty thousand disciples a day. Five hundred and ten new congregations of
Christian worshipers form every day, which is 3,750 every week. The irony is that, except for the Middle East (where it was born) and Europe and America (to whose civilization it gave birth), Christianity is expanding everywhere today.”65 While the numeric decline alone is not necessarily an indicator of church health or a reason for the need of transformation, the numbers, coupled with the subsequent data will show a strong need for churches to engage in more effective transformation.
Lack of Transformational Change
Quinn notes that there are several common factors among organizations that are in decline. Aside from the commonly stated problems such as leadership and vision issues, one problem that stood out as significant to the American Church was that of pervasiveness.66 According to Quinn’s research, if an entire industry is in decline, individual organizations within that industry are less likely to change due to a collective victim mentality and coping mechanism under the belief that slow death is inevitable.67 In
64 “Global Christianity – A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population,” Pew Research Religion, accessed June 25, 2014, http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/.
65 Daniel Meyer, “A defense of Christianity’s Influence on History,” Christianity Today, last modified July 31, 2012, accessed June 23, 2014, http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/evangelism/influenceonhistory.html?start=5.
66 Quinn, Deep Change, 18.
67 Ibid., 21.
16 a culture wherein 85 percent of churches are stagnating or in decline,68 it may be easy to see that “change is needed, but this need is denied…[in]…don’t rock the boat’ cultures.”69 In other words, a culture of defeat and decline can become embedded into a church’s identity, if their milieu is one of defeat and decline.
In spite of cultural pressure to concede defeat, many churches attempt to transform. However, church consultants, Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson, acknowledge that the churches that truly transform are few and far between because the process is so difficult.70 “The path of change is often tortuous,” says Quinn, “with no clearly defined structures for determining if our action is right or wrong.”71 The transition process can be difficult to navigate because deep change can only occur by stepping out of the familiarity of the past and embracing the mystery of the future,72 a journey of
“surrendering control” akin to “walking naked into the land of uncertainty.”73
Models and formulas are typically consulted, yet one must question how, without first examining a church’s narrative and culture, can leadership determine which one should be adopted? Theologians Gene Getz and Joe Wall note how confusing church growth literature can be. Each strategy, whether knowingly or unknowingly, is a part of a unique narrative and many strategies end up contradicting each other, as a result of being
68 Wood, 34.
69 Quinn, Deep Change, 18.
70 Stetzer and Dodson, X.
71 Quinn, Deep Change, 83.
72 Ibid., 5.
73 Ibid., 3.
17 bound by their own narratives.74 Without examining a church’s identity, inadequate and inappropriate changes can be made, which may lead to further failure.75 Business consultant, Margaret Wheatley, states, “I don’t believe that organizations are ever changed by imposing a model developed elsewhere. So little transfers to, or inspires, those trying to work at change in their own organizations.”76 Instead, Wheatley believes lasting change comes from within an organization as their story begins to change.77
Transformation can also be hindered by national culture. Professors and organizational consultants, Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal suggest that “management practices and theories are inevitably culture-bound.”78 By this, the authors mean that national culture greatly affects how organizations identify themselves, and can attempt to impose national values and processes upon the desired method of transformation. A church’s narrative frequently touts its own political and socio-economic milieu as a biblical ideal.79 With so many cultural and narrative issues pushing and pulling against church transformation, it is not surprising why church leaders are saying that the
74 Gene Getz and Joe Wall, Effective Church Growth Strategies (Nashville: Word Pub., 2000), 96. 75 This can be seen, for example, in churches that view the pastor as the caretaker of every parishioner. Growth models can be imported with initial success, but as the church grows, the pastor will face resistance as the personal care starts to diminish. Without analyzing and addressing this piece of the culture, it is assumed that it could lead to division.
76 Margaret J. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1999), 8-9. 77 Ibid., 9.
78 Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal, Reframing Organizations: Artistry Choice, and Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008), 273. 79 David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1991), 294.
18
“primary resistance to change is 90 percent social/emotional, and 10 percent is logical/physical.”80
Theological shifts
Even though declining trends in church attendance are not hidden and have been widely researched, there has not been much, if any, statistical improvement in recent years.81 This is due to the focus of transformation having been placed on symptoms, such as attendance, budget or music, rather than discovering the underlying theological problems. As Christian psychologist Neil Anderson claims, “People cannot consistently behave in ways that are inconsistent with the way they perceive themselves.”82 For example, if being faithful to Christ is perceived as coming to a church building faithfully, or holding services faithfully, then that will lend itself to a certain result. However, if faithfulness is defined by fruitfulness or continuing Christ’s mandate to make disciples, then that theology will yield itself to more desirable outcome.83 Similarly, a skewed view of God will hinder churches that are attempting to transition. For example, a warped vision of Christ and his grace and mercy can lead to legalism. This identity will foster a
80 Alan E. Nelson and Gene Appel, How to Change Your Church Without Killing It (Nashville: Word Publishers: 2000), 71. 81 Apart from those already mentioned by D. T. Olson, Stetzer and Dodson, Gallup, Christianity Today, and Christian Century, research has also been done by The Barna Group (https://www.barna.org/barna-update/culture/661-americans-divided-on-the-importance-of-church#.U8cp- HxOXIU) and Pew Research (http://www.pewforum.org/2013/08/19/event-transcript-religion-trends-in- the-u-s/)
82 Neil T. Anderson, Victory Over the Darkness (Ventura: Regal, 2000), 47.
83 Wood, 25-26.
19 narrative that removes Christians from those who are hurting and attempt to motivate others using fear, guilt and shame.84
Apart from how churches view themselves and God, other historically unorthodox theologies will hinder effectiveness and ministry in the Gospel as well.85 Many transitioning materials today overlook this truth,86 yet theology plays a crucial role in how churches operate.87 Stetzer and Dodson, in their interviews, note that the number one faith factor for transformation is “a renewed vision of who Jesus Christ really is.”88
Professors C. Peter Wagner89 and Thom Rainer90 both list theologies they find critical for church growth and health. Lovelace notes that the first precondition to renewal is an
84 Neil T. Anderson and Charles Mylander, Setting Your Church Free: A Biblical Plan for Corporate Conflict Resolution (Bloomington: Bethany House Publishers, 2014), 35.
85 Getz, Effective Church Growth Strategies, 57ff. Getz and Wall frequently touch on the benefits of proper theology and the detriments of improper theology, however Chapter Five is especially helpful in understanding the role of the congregation in church growth and transformation.
86 It is not in the scope of this dissertation to critique various models; however, books such as, Transitioning: Leading Your Church Through Change, How to Change Your Church Without Killing It, and Leading Turnaround Churches barely touch on this truth. Yet, they are the template many churches use for transformation.
87 Jason Clark, “Via Media: The Necessity of Deeper Theological Reflection for the Genuine Renewal of Church in the Emerging Culture and Context” (DMin diss., George Fox Evangelical Seminary, 2005), 4.
88 Stetzer and Dodson, 57.
89 C. Peter Wagner, Strategies for Church Growth (Ventura: Regal, 1987), 39-40. Wagner suggests that the critical theologies are: the glory of God is the chief end of humans, Jesus Christ is Lord, the preaching of the Gospel is the preaching of the Kingdom of God, the Scriptures are the only normative authority for believers, sin, salvation and eternal death are eschatological realities, God wills all men to be saved from sin and eternal death, and God has given his people a responsibility for saving souls, and the Holy Spirit works through them to accomplish the task.
90 Thom S. Rainer The Book of Church Growth: History, Theology, and Principles (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1993), 73ff. These include: The glory of God as the chief end of humans, sovereignty of God and human responsibility, exclusiveness of salvation through Christ, authority of Scripture, present and eschatological realities of sin, salvation, and eternal death, and present and future reality of the kingdom of God. It is interesting to note the similarities between Wagner’s and Rainer’s conclusions, especially in light of the average American Christian theology that will be discussed subsequently.
20 awareness of God’s holiness as revealed in his justice and love.91 In their critique of the declining mainline churches, Professor of sociology, Benton Johnson and his team notes,
“If the mainline churches want to regain their vitality, their first step must be to address theological issues head-on.”92 Barna further notes, “The viability of the Christian faith, it turns out, is intimately related to engagement in discipleship.”93 This is often expressed in a church’s ingrained theology and worldview.94
If healthy theology lends itself to healthy renewal and transformation, then the inverse can be true as well.95 The result of skewed theology presents itself in actions. The
President of the Barna Group, David Kinnaman, and innovator, Gabe Lyons, found that
44 percent of “born-again Christians” under 41 believe sex outside of marriage is morally acceptable. One-third of born-again Christians interviewed believed getting drunk and viewing pornography are morally acceptable as well.96 George Barna notes that 60 percent of Christians want to develop their spiritual life, “but they are not involved in any intentional effort to grow spiritually.”97 Eight out of ten Christ followers believe that
91 Richard F. Lovelace, Renewal as a Way of Life: A Guidebook for Spiritual Growth (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Pub., 2002), 21.
92 Benson Johnson, et al, “Mainline Churches: The Real Reason for Decline,” First Things, no. 31 (March 1993): 18.
93 Barna, Growing True Disciples, 23. Barna explains in Chapter Two how the marks of discipleship are intimately tied to theology, especially practical theology including narrative, which Barna states on p. 27, “Disciples mature into a changed worldview.”
94 Ibid., 27.
95 Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual life, 83ff. The author gives an excellent picture of these two paradigms throughout Church history.
96 David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity – And Why It Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007), 53.
97 Barna, 35.
21 success and meaning are found outside their life with Christ.98 Only 49 percent of
American Christians disagree that one cannot earn his way into heaven. More than half of
Christians interviewed do not believe in a literal being called Satan, and 62 percent of
Christians do not believe the Holy Spirit is a living entity. Almost half believe that “All religious faiths teach the same basic principles.”99 One can surmise then, that when errant beliefs characterize a large percentage of self-identified believers, there is a systemic theology problem within the Church. Barna sums this up by asking, “How healthy is the church when a majority of believers claim that there is no such entity as the Holy Spirit or Satan?”100 If Anderson’s premise about how people cannot consistently behave in a way contrary to their identity is correct, then it would be difficult for churches with this degree of errant theology to attempt the transformation process based on a vision or programmatic focus. Instead, the reorienting of a church around a corporeal, biblical narrative is a way to reorient a church’s theology, which in turn will create a culture of transformation. As Leonard Sweet notes, three things are needed for any revival: a return to the Scriptures, a reading of the Scriptures in the language of their culture, and the rediscovery of Jesus.101
These cultural factors are important to understand because, as is referenced in the opening vignette, a stalled congregation may not be in an “apathetic rut;” rather, they may simply be expressing a lack of understanding or context for the changes being
98 Ibid., 38.
99 Ibid., 67.
100 Ibid., 69.
101 Leonard Sweet, “Bring Back the Table” (lecture, First Mennonite Brethren Church, Wichita, KS, April 24, 2014).
22 presented. Some parishioners may have never seen a healthy congregation and have no concept of what one looks like. Rather than condemning the church as apathetic, perhaps other factors such as fear, errant theology, and unrecognized faulty understandings of church culture are partly to blame. If these hindrances can be brought to the surface and renounced, it will free the church to take hold a new direction and identity.
Resurgence of Narrative Focus
If narrative transformation has been so successful in recent studies and so hindered when ignored, why has it been kept in the shadows for so long? Why has narrative been a subject for individuals and only gaining ground in organizations in the past twenty-five years in the West?102 One of the reasons for this is the influence of rationalism on modern, Western culture. It was Rene Descartes, the “founder of modern philosophy”103 who most prominently brought the notion of rationalism to the center of
Western thought. The premise is that most, if not all, knowledge comes from thought, devoid of experience or perception.104 His famous philosophical proposition, “I think therefore I am,” became the foundation for Western Philosophy beginning in the 17th century.105 Theorist, Vernon Bourke, notes that rationalism is a theory “in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory, but intellectual and deductive.”106 In the model, truth
102 Annette Simmons, The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence and Persuasion Through the Art of Storytelling (Cambridge: Basic Books, 2006), xiv.
103 Bertrand Russell, The History of Western Philosophy (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967), 525.
104 Ibid., 546.
105 Ibid., 564.
106 Vernon J. Bourke, “Rationalism,” in Dictionary of Philosophy, ed. Dagobert D. Runes (New York: Citadel Press, 1962), 263.
23 becomes objective and ascertainable through proofs such as using the scientific method.107 This theory often bleeds into transformational materials where leaders are encouraged to transform the church by casting vision statements, writing purpose and vision phrases around the church, and doing small group vision studies,108 all which serve the argument about why it is rational for transformation to happen.
Descartes rationalism and intellectualism has been heavily criticized.109
Missiologist and philosopher, Lesslie Newbigin, argues that Descartes’ starting point could have been any number of propositions such as, “I act, therefore I am,” making action central or even suggesting, “I love therefore I am,” making love central. Instead,
Descartes chose to place thinking at the center. Yet, “by isolating the thinking mind, detaching it from the world of acting and loving, Descartes reintroduces this classical dichotomy,” says Newbigin.110
Rationalism continued to thrive in the West for three hundred years as the foundational basis that all people hold true. Finally, during the 20th century, there began a stream of critiques against the notion that people were only rational beings. Philosopher
Esther Meek critiques the Rationalist approach to knowledge:
107 Philip Higgs and Jane Smith, Rethinking Truth, 2d ed. (Cape Town, South Africa: Juta & Company, 2006), 95. However, as Higgs and Smith rightly note, even when scientists do research they do not start off with a “blank slate” and use assumptions to get to their conclusions as Michael Polanyi (Personal Knowledge) and others have demonstrated.
108 Dan Southerland, Transitioning: Leading Your Church Through Change (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 90.
109 Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, & Certainty in Christian Discipleship (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1995), 22.
110 Ibid., 23.
24
Many people don’t think much about how we know because we take it for granted. But we tacitly presume some things about knowing. We tend to think knowledge is information, facts, bits of data, “content,”…true statements justified by other true statements. And while this isn’t exactly false, we tend to have a vision of knowledge as being only this. We conclude that gaining knowledge is collecting information—and we’re done—educated, trained, expert, certain.111
Meeks goes on to say, however, this notion of knowledge is destructive because knowledge is not equivalent to wisdom.112 Accepting knowledge and truth is more than a simple download of information because everyone sees the world from their own perspective.
Jean-François Lyotard in his seminal work on Postmodernism, La Condition
Postmoderne: Rapport sur le Savoir, argued that if Postmodernity was summed up in a phrase, it would be “incredulity towards meta-narratives.”113 Lyotard recognizes that there is no single, over-arching worldview, or meta-narrative, to which every individual agrees—that instead, each person holds their own narrative comprehension of life.
Contrary to Descartes’ position, all people have their own story, which determines what is real and true in their lives.114
This thought process is not only true on an individual level, but an organizational one as well. Organizations tend to create their own interpretation and memory of past events, which color their concept of what is true in the present. The collective memory of an organization then begins to influence and impose on the perception of truth, ideas, and
111 Esther L. Meek, A Little Manual for Knowing (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2014), 2.
112 Ibid., 3.
113 James D. Williams, Lyotard: Towards a Postmodern Philosophy (Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), 32.
114 Lemert, Charles C., “After Modern.” Social Theory: The Multicultural and Classic Readings, 1993 ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 456.
25 notions upon the individuals therein. French philosopher and sociologist, Maurice
Halbwachs, writes,
In particular, the individual memory, in order to corroborate and make precise even to cover the gaps in its remembrances, relies upon, relocates itself within, momentarily merges with, the collective memory. The collective memory, for its part, encompasses the individual memories while remaining distinct from them.115
When individuals remember, they “do so, 99 percent of the time, with the thoughts, ideas and feelings of various groups, of which we are a part.”116 This collective memory determines much of an organization’s actions.117 As will be explained more fully in Chapter 4, many secular researchers and practitioners have had significant success in using narratives to foster an environment for transformation. According to William
Starbuck and Paul Nystrom, professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, if leaders continue to pursue change from a Rationalist mindset, offering proofs for their desired future without examining the narratives of the organizations they lead, they will continue to be unnecessarily resisted in their efforts.118 Often church leadership, as demonstrated in the opening vignette with pastors Hare and Chamlin’s experience, centers on the notion that if they lead better, then the church will be healthier. This reasoning is found to be in error, however, as evidenced by the many good godly leaders who are placed within an unhealthy church context. Developing better leadership skills is important for church health, but it is not the only area that determines transformation. As developing leaders grow in their perception of church culture, they will be able to
115 Maurice Halbwachs, Collective Memory, trans. Francis J Ditter, Jr. and Vida Yazdi Ditter, (New York: Harper and Row, 1980), 51.
116 Boje, 81.
117 Ibid., 84.
118 Paul C. Nystrom and William H. Starbuck, “To Avoid Organizational Crises, Unlearn,” Organizational Dynamics 12, no. 4 (Spring 1984): 55.
26 pinpoint problems and be better equipped to release their church from the bondages of false narratives.
Conclusion
The research has demonstrated that churches in the West are declining.
Subsequently, transitional materials are not resulting in widespread change because they have mainly engaged in transformation and programmatic changes through a framework of Rationalism, while neglecting underlying corporeal narratives. Church leaders, for the most part, have not analyzed the effect of narrative in the transformation process. Still, the data shows that many declining organizations can and do make the changes necessary to transform using narrative formation. Narratives have been the undercurrent for many of the changes made in contemporary organizational theory. Rethinking church transformation as corporeal, biblical narrative transformation and helping church leaders recognize, work with, decipher, and alter the cultural narratives of church bodies, will lead to healthy and lasting transformation.
Corporeal narrative transformation is not intended to be a stand-alone model of church transformation. The intent is to fill in a gap that is missing from the current literature of church transformation and offer church leaders complimentary frameworks to assist them in the transforming process. As this dissertation is a primer, its intent is not to examine the minutia of the scope of narrative transformation, which is quite expansive, but rather to examine major themes in hopes that others will continue to mine the depths of narrative and its effect on church vitality.
To address the problem of the lack of corporeal biblical narrative in church transformation strategies, this dissertation explores the biblical and historical foundations
27 of this study and demonstrates how a narrative focus on a corporate level has had remarkable success in transforming organizations. These findings will then be applied to a local church context demonstrating how a corporeal biblical narrative can have lasting transformative qualities that will assist leaders desiring those ends. The next section will examine Scripture as an identity narrative and offer a theological argument for studying and applying a corporeal biblical narrative.
CHAPTER 2: SCRIPTURE AS IDENTITY NARRATIVE
Introduction
While speaking of identity, professor of philosophy David Loy notes, “To be a person requires more than self-awareness: it involves some understanding of how I became who I am, and where I am going. Both are narrative.”1 To illuminate what it means to be a person—narrative—this chapter will discuss three things: the relationship between identity and narrative, the relationship between narrative identity and Scripture, and a brief survey exemplifying how a storied approach to Scripture can shape corporeal identity and transformation. This chapter is not intended to present a sole means of interpreting Scripture; many valid hermeneutical approaches to Scripture exist. Rather, the intent here is to make the case for church leaders to add a narrative hermeneutic to their repertoire so that through this framework, a corporeal biblical identity may be established to foster a healthier environment of which the Spirit can use to enact transformation
Identity and Narrative
The concept of identity has been a popular topic of discussion among social scientists in recent years. As Yale professor and sociologist Kobena Mercer notes in his groundbreaking volume, Welcome to the Jungle, “Just now everyone wants to talk about
‘identity’…identity only becomes an issue when it is in crisis, when something assumed to be fixed, coherent and stable is displaced by the experience of doubt and uncertainty.”2
1 David R Loy, The World is Made of Stories (Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2010), 24.
2 Kobena Mercer, Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies (New York: Routledge, 1994), 259.
28 29
Subsequently, sociologists have used the term, “identity crisis,” as a label for the current
Western world due to the social upheaval taking place.3
In the past, local identities were generally assumed by individuals and societies who were bound together geographically, yet in the recent globalization of the world and exponential growth of communications media that has taken place in a relatively short time, local, cultural, national, and ethnic identities are now only one of many that can be chosen. There are many outcomes to having so many choices. One is “detachment of identity from community and place.”4 Such detachment is significant to church transformation because simply growing up in a Christian home or community does not necessarily mean that parishioners will adopt a Christian identity. Many more pervasive and competing identities are readily available to American Christians than there were present even fifty years ago.
Recent studies have shown that the way people create their identity, both individual and corporeal, is through narratives.5 Alasdair MacIntyre surmises, “I can only answer the question, ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question, ‘Of what story do I find myself a part?’”6 This is why narratives are central to transformation—a church’s identity narrative may be at odds with the transformation that leaders seek to implement. Church leaders can stand in the pulpit and talk about obedience, but if the frameworks being preached conflict with parishioners’ perceived stories, the church will
3 Katherine Woodward, Identity and Difference (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 1997), 15.
4 Ibid., 16.
5 Jens Brockmeier, Donald A. Carbaugh, eds., Narrative and Identity: Studies in Autobiography, Self and Culture (Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing, 2001), 1.
6 Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984), 216.
30 adopt little change. Newbigin offers, “The way we understand human life depends on what conception we have of the human story. What is the real story of which my life story is a part?”7
Although narratives can be uncompromising in allowing the adoption of ideas that conflict with them, the narratives themselves are fluid and can change over time.
Professor of Theology, Peter Lau offers, “Since both somatic and character traits are associated with personal narratives, these can be modified through reading (or hearing) other narratives. In this way, narratives influence the personal identity of the reader, along with his/her attitudes, values, and actions.”8 Narratives have the ability to create and solidify personal transformation as they change an individual’s sense of self and identity. As church leaders focus on developing a corporeal biblical narrative in their members, it will create capacity for those members to embrace biblical truth and provide a space within their sense of identity for transformation to take place.
For church leaders, the challenge is to reengage the biblical story as a means of transformation. Sociologist John Carroll claims the “waning of Christianity as practised in the West is easy to explain. The Christian churches have comprehensively failed in their one central task—to retell their foundation story in a way that might speak to the times.”9 One example of this is what a Hindu scholar once said to Newbigin:
I can’t understand why you missionaries present the Bible to us in India as a book of religion. It is not a book of religion—and anyway we have plenty of books of religion in India. We don’t need any more! I find in your Bible a unique interpretation of universal history, the history of the whole of creation and the
7 Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 15.
8 Lau, 42.
9 John Carroll, The Existential Jesus (Brunswick, Australia: Scribe Publications, 2008), 7.
31
history of the human race. And therefore a unique interpretation of the human person as a responsible actor in history. That is unique. There is nothing else in the whole religious literature of the world to put alongside it.10
Many modern hermeneutical models follow the same pattern alluded to by this Hindu scholar of dissecting pericopes and looking at individual pieces of the story rather than looking at Scripture as a single drama.11
Identity Narrative and Interpretation of Scripture
The Bible is rich with narrative identity that can shape Christian communities, yet in spite of the transformational power of the biblical story, not all Christians have embraced it. Why? Many Western Christians have bought into national and philosophical cultures. The Bible, rather than functioning as a holistic narrative, has been dissected and segmented into small bits of propositional truth.12 When the narrative of Scripture is ignored in favor of bits and pieces of information, the pieces of Scripture then become placed within the context and interpretation of a differing narrative. Rather than
Christians conforming their thoughts to Christ and his narrative, biblical fragments devoid of the biblical story can be conformed to and falsely interpreted within a worldly cultural context;13 thus, leading Christians to find their identity in the world rather than in the biblical drama. Theologian Michael Horton notes, “Nobody has to be taught the world’s story; we are born with it, as fallen children of Adam. However, we have to be
10 Lesslie Newbigin, A Walk Through the Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1999), 4.
11 Anthony C. Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermaneutics: The Theory and Practice of Transforming Biblical Reading (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 209-216. Thiselton highlights Friedrich Schleiermarcher’s critique of rationalism to the neglect of a cohesive narrative in spiritual formation.
12 Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen, The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004), 22.
13 Ibid., 22.
32 taught out of it by persistent pastors and teachers who know that we prefer by nature to think differently of God and ourselves than the Scriptures require.”14 In a similar vein,
Alister McGrath, professor of Theology at Oxford, claims, “To become a Christian is not merely to learn the Christian story; it is to enter into it, and accept it as a part of our own existence.”15
The fragmented truth that many churches currently espouse is most apparent in the distortion of the basic Gospel message. Theologian Scot McKnight notes that when trying to recount the Gospel to others, Christians have often disregarded the identity story of the Bible in favor of a few propositional truths:
We have crushed the Story of Israel and the Story of Jesus…[and as a consequence] the gospel has lost its edge and meaning. Nothing proves this more than the near total ignorance of many Christians today of the Old Testament Story. One reason why so many Christians today don’t know the Old Testament is because their “gospel” doesn’t need it!16
Without the premise that Scripture is a cohesive narrative, parishioners are likely to fragment, distort, and even discard the Bible’s teachings. Theologian George A.
Lindbeck writes, “What is the literary genre of the Bible as a whole in this canonical unity? What holds together the diverse materials it contains: poetic, prophetic, legal, liturgical, sapiential,17 mythical, legendary, and historical? These are all embraced, it would seem, in an overarching story… .”18 In understanding the Gospel, McKnight notes,
14 Horton, 26.
15 Alister E. Mcgrath, Christian Spirituality (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 1999), 119.
16 Scot McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 44.
17 Wisdom literature.
18 George A. Lindbeck, The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Age (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1984), 120.
33
“there is no way to reduce this to four points, and there is also no way to sketch the gospel in a minute or two. To grasp the gospel…we’ve got a story to tell.”19
Because of the multitude of underlying social narratives available, the way a
Christian or a church approaches Scripture determines the shape of one’s spiritual identity. Philosopher Paul Ricoeur notes that a passage of Scripture is not merely text, but rather, it creates a framework in which people are transformed.20 If one’s identity is built on a faulty or misguided framework of interpretation, then Scripture can be used to justify many evils and propagate many cults.21 Therefore, “no task is more important for
Christians than hermeneutics,” claims Professor Klyne Snodgrass in his article,
Introduction to a Hermeneutics of Identity, “for hermeneutics determines everything else.
Hermeneutics is the process by which texts are understood and appropriated.”22
Snodgrass confirms this while teaching how the understanding of one’s Christian’s identity takes place when the Bible informs its reader about, “how we fit into God’s story.”23
The way to enter into the “Christian story” then, is by examining Scripture through an identity hermeneutic. Snodgrass asserts, “Scripture is about identity
19 McKnight, 148.
20 Paul Ricoeur, “The Model of the Text: Meaningful Actions Considered as a Text,” Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences: Essays on Language, Action, and Interpretation, ed. John B. Thompson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), 201.
21 A modern example of this was the Branch Davidian cult, which claimed the Bible was the ultimate source of authority. The framework used to interpret the Bible, however, was errant and led people astray and into all kinds of evil. See, Derek Davis and Barry Hankins, eds. New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2003), 97.
22 Klyne Snodgrass, “Introduction to a Hermeneutics of Identity,” Bibliotheca Sacra 168, no. 669 (January – March, 2011): 3.
23 Snodgrass, “Introduction,” 4.
34 formation. In the end, the whole discussion regarding the authority of Scripture is about identity. Do we allow Scripture to tell us who we are and who we are to be, or do we give that authority to something else?”24 Snodgrass’ solution to the problem of the lack of biblical identity is to adopt “a hermeneutics of identity.”25 This is a way of examining
Scripture as the primary story that people enter into, “it functions to shape persons’ identities so decisively as to transform them.”26 In this way, he believes that church leaders should see themselves as interpreters of the holy narrative and entrepreneurs of identity.27
Church leaders viewing themselves as entrepreneurs of narrative identity has been a relatively new orientation to mainstream American Christianity.28 However, the method itself is not new to the larger world of Christianity. Christian writers as early as
Augustine have written on the subject and frequently practiced the hermeneutic.29 This method of narrative identity continued to be widely practiced in the West until the rise of
Humanism during the Renaissance when historical interpretations were replaced with
24 Ibid., 5.
25 Klyne Snodgrass, “Jesus and a Hermeneutics of Identity,” Bibliotheca Sacra 168, no. 670 (April – June 2011): 131.
26 David Kelsey, The Uses of Scripture in Recent Theology (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975), 91.
27 Klyne Snodgrass, “Paul’s Focus on Identity.” Bibliotheca Sacra 168, no. 671 (July-September 2011): 259.
28 George W. Stroup, The promise of Narrative Theology: Recovering the Gospel in the Church (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1981), 6.
29 Matthew D. Drever, “Image, Identity and Embodiment,” Genesis and Christian Theology, ed. Nathan MacDonald, Mark W. Elliot, and Grant Macaskill (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2012), 121.
35 rhetoric and language studies.30 According to Brad S. Gregory, a new culture of intellectualism culminating in “Pyrrhonian skepticism” began to move to the forefront of
Christian thought.31 Beginning around 1520 and continuing through the modern era, all
Christian doctrines and beliefs have been critiqued by this skepticism resulting in countless divisions and associations based on intellectual understandings of pieces of
Scripture, while neglecting the larger epic of Scripture.32 Scholars who have seen the damage done to the Christian worldview by such frameworks have begun to return to an identity narrative model. In regards to seminary training, professor David Kelsey believes that “except for basic language courses, courses in all subjects could address two questions: Who are we? and How is our communal identity best nurtured and best kept under critical scrutiny?”33 The next section will examine Scripture from a hermeneutics of identity and demonstrate how at Scripture’s central core one discovers an identity narrative.
The Narrative Approach to Scripture
In recent years, numerous models have been employed through which the narrative of Scripture has been presented into sections or acts. It is helpful to view
Scripture through the division metaphor of acts in a play because it creates cohesion
30 Alan J Hauser and Duane F. Watson, eds., A History of Biblical Interpretation: The Medieval Through the Reformation Periods (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2009), 280.
31 Brad S. Gregory, The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012), 45.
32 Ibid.
33 David Kelsey, “A Theological Curriculum about and against the Church,” Beyond Clericalism: The Congregation as a Focus for Theological Education, ed. Joseph C. Hough and Barbara G. Wheeler (Atlanta: Scholars, 1988), 43.
36 within Scripture. As each act in a play builds upon another, so each act of Scripture builds upon itself. To remove an entire act in either a play or in Scripture could create significant confusion and misunderstanding. Each act is understood fully because of its relationship to the others. While each act has its own specific themes and motifs, each is helping move the drama along to its completion. A popular four-act model has been used extensively. The headings are traditionally titled: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.34 While simple and popular, these parameters can neglect the story of Israel, about whom most of the Old Testament is written, and unwittingly the role of Israel in the story of God can be diminished as a result.
N.T. Wright, one of the most famed promoters of viewing Scripture as a narrative, brings Israel back into the narrative. Wright argues that Scripture is a five-act play consisting of: creation, fall, Israel, Jesus, and church.35 Both of these approaches can be used to tell the biblical narrative; however, theologians Craig Bartholomew and Michael
Goheen suggest still another model building upon Wright’s model and adding a sixth act.
These acts can be understood simply as: creation, fall, redemption initiated, redemption accomplished, the mission of the Church, and redemption completed.36 While there are numerous valid ways to outline the biblical narrative, this dissertation will follow
Bartholomew and Goheen’s six-act model as it makes a clearer distinction between this present age and the age to come.
34 Bruce Ashford, ed., Theology and Practice of Mission: God the Church and the Nations (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 6.
35 Nicholas T. Wright, New Testament and the People of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992), 141-143.
36 Bartholomew and Goheen, 27.
37
To attempt an exhaustive list of narratives and how to employ them would lend itself not to a chapter in a dissertation, but to many books solely devoted to the subject.
As such, this section is merely an example of how Scripture has been used for biblical narrative identity formation within the six-act framework. Each section will give a brief description of the act, how it is portrayed throughout Scripture, how it forms a Christian’s identity, and implications for transformation.
Act 1: Creation
The Creation account found primarily in Genesis 1 and 2 serves as an identity narrative first for the Israelites to whom it was written, but also serves Christians today as well. The first chapters of Genesis are not a random collection of facts, but the words and metaphors have been carefully chosen to frame humanity’s identity and reveal the character and nature of God.37 This act reveals how the universe was brought into existence by the sovereignty of God and how humanity is specially created in God’s image.
Harkening back to the creation narrative is a frequent occurrence throughout both the Old and New Testaments. God, pictured as Creator, is a main theme of the New
Testament authors.38 Jesus brings this identity narrative found in the Creation Act to the forefront in Mark 12:15-17. In this interaction with the Pharisees, Jesus goes beyond rules of paying taxes and straight to the biblical narrative implying that because humanity
37 Bartholomew and Goheen, 28.
38 Bruce E. Shields, “The Areopagus Sermon and Romans 1:18ff: A Study in Creation Theology,” Restoration Quarterly 20, no. 1 (1977): 23.
38 is created in God’s image they are to give themselves to God.39 Jesus’ declaration fosters an environment where people ask the questions, “In whose image are we made? To whom do we belong? What is reality?”40 In essence, Jesus asks the question: “What is your identity narrative?”41
Paul also uses the Creation account to build an identity among the early
Christians. In places such as 1 Corinthians 11:7, Paul argues that specific action should be taken because of the Corinthian identity found in the biblical narrative in the Creation
Act.42 In 2 Corinthians 3-5, Paul uses the creation story to help the Corinthians regard one another as equals, maintaining confidence in Christ, and the close relationship God has with believers.43 In the Areopagus sermon, Paul returns to creation and in the book of
Romans, begins by drawing his arguments from the Creation Act.44
Finally, even at the end, in the book of Revelation, there are numerous places where John harkens back to the Creation account. The “image of the beast” is a phrase that is used seven times. Each time he divides humans into those who worship Christ and those who worship the image of the beast. In doing so, John is calling Christians not to worship the creation, but the Creator in whose image they are made.45 One also finds a new creation motif, especially as the book comes to a close when God makes a new
39 Deborah Krause, “Keeping it Real: The Image of God in the New Testament,” Interpretation 59, no. 4 (October 2005): 359.
40 Ibid.
41 Ibid.
42 Ibid., 364-365.
43 Ibid., 365.
44 Shields, 23ff.
45 Krause, 364.
39 heaven and a new earth. Many of the same attributes in Genesis 1 and 2 are shown in
Revelation 21 and 22, such as peace, harmony, joy, and freedom from suffering and evil.
The final book of the New Testament even mentions the tree of life reminiscent of the tree of life in Eden.46
It has been argued by many scholars that much of the Creation Act was written as a polemic against creation accounts found in Egypt47 and Mesopotamia.48 Rather than these competing origin accounts, Scripture speaks of the truth of creation. In a culture where deities are typically regional, this could be problematic as the Jewish nation entered into the Promised Land. There would be temptations to call out to other gods, especially to the gods who were thought to live and have domain over the land in which the Israelites were now living.49 The Creation account speaks of the One True God and how he is the maker of all that is. There is only one God, the Lord, and not many gods with competing powers.50 God is the One who brings all things into being and all things
46 John F. Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
47 A H. Sayce, “The Egyptian Background of Genesis 1” Studies Presented to F. Ll. Griffith (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1932); Also, James K. Hoffmeier, “Some thoughts on Genesis 1 and 2 in Light of Egyptian Cosmology,” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 15 (1983): 40-42.
48 Jon Levenson, Creation and the Persistence of Evil (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), 66.
49 Bartholomew and Goheen, 27.
50 For a fuller explanation of the various nuances in this polemic, see Gordon H. Johnston, “Genesis 1 and Ancient Egyptian Creation Myths,” Bibliotheca Sacra 165, no. 658 (April-June 2008): 178- 194; and Gerhard F. Hasel, “The Polemic Nature of the Genesis Cosmology,” Evangelical Quarterly 46 (April-June 1974): 81-102.
40 at their creation are good.51 Even though this God is supremely powerful, he is pictured as a parent eagle who watches over and protects the world as his young.52
Another aspect of the Creation account is that it tells of the relationship between
God and humanity. “The high point of the Genesis story of creation is the making of humankind.”53 Man, created in the image of God, provides humanity with its origin story.
It explains from whence humans came. It describes the power, nature and unique relationship God has with humanity.54 Many theologians embrace the Creation Act, and specifically Genesis 1:26-27, as one of the central passages for understanding who and what humans are.55 Being made in the image of God puts humans in a separate class from animals56 and recognizes that God is intimate and involved in our personal creation. If
Karl Barth is correct, being made in the image of God “is not just a silent image, but a being that is in conversation,” and relationship with God.57
While the world bombards Christians with alternative origin narratives; the biblical story presents a loving God who created humanity unique and with special purpose. Humans, therefore, have meaning, value, dignity, and a direction to follow.
51 Bartholomew and Goheen, 31.
52 Kenneth A. Mathews, The New American Commentary: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture: Genesis 1:1-11:26 (Nashville: B&H Publishers, 1996), 136. The picture in Genesis 1:2 of God hovering over the waters is likened to an eagle protecting its young as found elsewhere in Scripture (Deut. 32:11; Isa 31:5).
53 Bartholomew and Goheen, 32.
54 Gordon J. Wenham, World Biblical Commentary: Genesis 1-15 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1987), 30-32.
55 Jason S. Sexton, “The Imago Dei Once Again: Stanley Grenz’s Journey Toward a Theological Interpretation of Genesis 1:26-27,” Journal of Theological Interpretation 4, no. 2 (Fall 2010): 187.
56 Graeme Auld, “Imago Dei in Genesis: Speaking in the Image of God,” Expository Times 116, no. 8 (May 2005): 261
57 Claudia Welz, “Imago Dei: References to the Invisible,” Studia Theologica 65, no. 1 (2011): 81.
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Christians are God’s ambassadors and seeing themselves with that identity will help them live into their truest calling. Understanding that God created this world helps Christians rest in his sovereignty, knowing that nothing is beyond his capability.
Act 2: Fall
The Fall describes how sin and evil entered into the world. The world that was created good is plunged into chaos in this second act. Evil is set into motion when the first humans choose to attempt to live in their own will rather than in the life that God gave them.58 They are tempted by God’s adversary, Satan, and rebel against God’s rule.
As Genesis 2 pictures humankind in a good environment where everything is in peace and harmony with one another, Genesis 3 focuses on the tainting of those relationships.59
When humans chose to live apart from their relationship with God, not only did that relationship suffer, but their relationship with self, others, and creation also experienced loss.60 Humankind’s knowledge of truth and their narrative was lost as well. God now becomes someone to dread and from whom humans vainly attempt to hide;61 their subsequent “death” is still experienced all around the world today through violence, corruption, selfishness, and the like.
The Fall is shown to be the problem throughout Scripture; for example, passages like Romans 16:20; Galatians 4:4; Isaiah 7:14; I Timothy 2:14; Romans 5:12; Hosea 6:7;
I Corinthians 15 all mention the Fall and its consequences. In the New Testament
58 Bartholomew and Goheen, 40.
59 Ibid., 41.
60 Ibid., 42.
61 Sidney Greidanus, “Preaching Christ from the Narrative of the Fall,” Bibliotheca Sacra 161, no. 643 (July – September 2004): 268.
42 especially, The Fall is referenced heavily. Christ is mentioned as the second Adam, referencing his role as restorer of the creation that was broken by the first Adam. In
Revelation, the ending of time portrays God remaking the Heavens and Earth as a remedy to the destruction of The Fall. It also pictures the Adversary as a snake with legs, a dragon, being defeated, a reversal of his role in The Fall when he succeeded in tainting creation.62 In other words, Revelation foretells the final solution to and perfection of the corruption of the world described in Genesis.
For the ancient Hebrews, this narrative speaks of the true origins of evil. In the surrounding cultures of the ancient Israelites, “good things came from good gods or spirits, and evil things came from evil gods or spirits.”63 The Hebrews’ culture of a single
God creating only good things was counter-cultural for the ancients.64 It was a new identity narrative for the new people of God to believe. In the New Testament, Paul warns against the deceptive nature of sin that though the fruit appeared to be good and life-giving, it was false and led only to ruin and death. He makes this argument in
Romans 7 and even uses similar imagery and words to describe his battle with sin.65
In a contemporary secular context, there have been attempts to explain away the notion of evil and of moral accountability. One recent work, Explaining Hitler, attempts
62 Leonard Sweet, “Orcas Island Advance 2014” (lecture, Eastsound, WA, May 28, 2014).
63 Leonard Swidler, “The Garden of Eden Story – Source Often Mis-read Wisdom: a Jewish- Christian Dialogue,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 46, no. 2 (Spring 2011): 143.
64 Ibid.
65 D. B. Garlington, “Romans 7:14-25 and the Creation Theology of Paul,” Trinity Journal 11 (Fall 1990): 207-208.
43 to reason away the evil of Adolf Hitler.66 There have also been attempts by neuro- scientists to justify concepts that have traditionally been defined as evil.67 Many religions and philosophies do not necessarily believe in evil,68 yet understanding The Fall helps
Christians understand the severity of participating in evil and sin, the consequences thereof and the need for redemption. Without an understanding of the consequences of
The Fall, Christ’s death may only serve as an example of how to truly love others, but will not help people to see the need of redemption.69
Understanding Act 2, The Fall, also helps to understand the Adversary and the scope of evil. The Adversary is not equal with God, but is subject to him; because of his actions, the Adversary is cursed himself, and his power will eventually come to an end.70
This theme continues throughout the Old Testament. God’s power is displayed against any and all other beings who would try to oppose him. This display of power is most notably shown in pericopes such as The Ten Plagues of Egypt, which were aimed at specific Egyptian gods; also, Elijah and the prophets of Baal; and God’s judgment on
66 Ron Rosenbaum, Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil (New York: Random House, 1998).
67 Dean Buonomano, Brain Bugs: How the Brain’s Flaws Shape Our Lives (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2011). See also, Simon Baron-Cohen, The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty (New York: Basic Books, 2011). Baron-Cohen notes on page xii that his “main goal is to understand human cruelty, replacing the unscientific term ‘evil’ with the scientific term ‘empathy.’”
68 Wendy D. O’Flaherty, The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1976), 4. Karma, Whitley Kauffman, “Rebirth and the Problem of Evil: A Reply to Critics,” Philosophy East & West 57, no. 4 (October 2007): 560. Ester S. Buchholz and Joshua K. Mandel, “Reaching For Virtue, Stumbling on Sin: Concepts of Good and Evil in a Postmodern Era,” Journal of Religion and Health 39, no. 2 (June 2000): 123.
69 D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1991), 386.
70 Gen. 3:14-15. Mathews expounds on this in Mathews, The New American Commentary, 244- 248.
44
King Nebuchadnezzar. This hope in the Omnipotent God would help sustain God followers throughout very troublesome times.71 New Testament writers, too, frequently reference The Fall, with the ultimate destruction of the Adversary being a beacon of hope. In words similar to those expressed in Genesis 3, Paul writes in Romans 16:19-20a,
“For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush
Satan under your feet.”
The implications for transformation from Act 2 of the biblical narrative are found when churches understand the nature of evil, its roots and consequences, and parishioners become aware of their own standing before God. Understanding the nature and offense of sin helps to create humility. It helps individuals understand that they are accountable to
God and that they cannot on their own merit stand before him. The foreshadowing nature of redemption is also shown—namely, that salvation is not merely a passage to enter
Heaven when one dies, but that Christians have been bought back to the relationship and status Adam and Eve had when God walked with them in the Garden of Eden.
Act 3: Redemption Initiated
The narrative of Act 3, Redemption Initiated, encapsulates the majority of the Old
Testament. Even though through humanity evil was unleashed into God’s good world, he has not fully rejected them. God’s calling and seeking out of Adam and Eve and making clothes to cover their shame is a beautiful picture of a relationship; for the first time the
Creator is seen “as the preserver of a humanity which fails to accept the divine will and
71 The pericopes of Daniel and the Lion’s Den, Meshack Shadrack and Abednego’s confrontation with Nebuchadnezzar, Stephen’s Stoning, and Paul and his comparisons between trials and his confidence in God all speak to this truth.
45 guidance.”72 Even though God alludes to redemption in Genesis 3:15,73 the world still chooses to reject God and falls deeper into corruption as evidenced by the Noah and
Tower of Babel pericopes.74
God’s answer to a world that refuses to follow him is to call one family out of the world as his own people, Abram and Sarai. God makes a covenant with this family that forms as the basis of the Hebrew identity and relationship with God.75 They are to cut ties with their family and move to an unknown land. In this way, a literal severing of ties from their previous identity narrative takes place and they move into a new one. As their faith in God grows, God cuts a covenant with them and changes their names to Abraham and Sarah. They are given circumcision as a sign of the covenant with God, which sets them further apart from the surrounding cultures.76 This “covenant relationship becomes the basis for Israelite identity,” writes professor Victor H. Matthews, author of Old
Testament Turning Points: The Narratives That Shaped a Nation, “their claims to the
Promised Land, and the central theme of the prophets, who repeatedly call the people back to obedience and right conduct under the terms of the covenant with God.”77
By the end of Genesis, the growing tribe has moved to Egypt, which paves the way for subjugation and the story of Moses, Israel’s first national leader. Matthews points
72 Henry Novello, “Redemption as an Integral to the Gratuity of Creation: An Eschatological Reading of Genesis 1-3,” Australasian Catholic Record 88, no. 4 (October 2011): 473.
73 Mathews, The New American Commentary, 247.
74 Bartholomew and Goheen, 50-51.
75 Victor H. Matthews, Old Testament Turning Points: The Narratives That Shaped a Nation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 37.
76 J Fleishman “On the Significance of a Name Change and Circumcision in Genesis 17,” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia University 28 (2001): 23.
77 Matthews, Old Testament Turning Points, 38.
46 out that, “[Moses] is the model of all future leaders (until David becomes king) and the one who becomes the model of the later prophetic figures.”78 God through Moses shows his supreme dominance over the Egyptian gods and by association, the local deities of the
Canaan cultures which all had gods who were thought to control nature.79 Once again, this narrative was designed to draw the Hebrews toward relying on God’s power rather than looking to the gods of the world. Throughout the Old Testament and especially in the prophets, one finds a harkening back to the Exodus.80 Often their messages begin with a remembrance and reflection of this event. Variations on phrases such as: “I brought you up out of the land of Egypt,”81 reminded the Jewish people of their story and “just what they owe to God.”82
Through many other stories and men and women that the canon of biblical narrative chooses to highlight, the Israelites eventually become a nation; with the first legitimate king,83 David, becoming the archetype for all future kings of Israel. As
Matthews notes:
It is interesting to see the way in which the editor of the books of Kings provides summary judgments of the reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah based on whether each “did what was right in the sight of the LORD just as his ancestor David had done”…or “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, walking the
78 Ibid., 61.
79 Ibid., 67-69.
80 Ibid., 9.
81 Amos 2:10; Hos. 11:1; Mic. 6:4.
82 Matthews, Old Testament Turning Points, 9.
83 Ibid., 82-84. While Saul is portrayed as the first king of Israel, his reign was more like a war chieftain who was never really able to centralize power and create infrastructure of a true monarchy.
47
ways of Jeroboam and in the sin that he caused Israel to commit”…This transcends politics, wars, and petty concerns of everyday administration… .84
The summery judgments in the books of Kings looks into the narrative that the nation of
Israel enters. David places the capital city in Jerusalem. This would not only be a city of earthly kings, but also a city for God with the building of the Temple. This follows suit with, and stands as an alternative narrative to other Mesopotamian cultures that had temple cities such as Nippur, Babylon, and Lagash.85 In essence, David’s establishment of the capital city in Jerusalem here in Act 3, as noted by Matthews, becomes “an origin story for the presence of Yahweh in Jerusalem. Both David and Jerusalem will eventually become idealized icons within Israelite tradition.”86 Jesus is called the “Son of David”87 and Jesus calls himself the “descendant of David.”88
In addition to providing a narrative of Israel’s historical and spiritual identity, this formative act reveals part of the identity of God. Under a Hebraic mindset, “God is what
God does.” Instead of giving a truth statement about an attribute of God, much of the Old
Testament is filled with stories describing who God is. For example some of the themes in the Abrahamic narrative include monotheism,89 personal relationship with God,90 and
84 Ibid., 9.
85 Ibid., 99.
86 Ibid., 100.
87 Luke 18:38.
88 Rev. 22:26.
89 Kenneth A. Mathews, The New American Commentary: Genesis 11:27-50:26 (Nashville: B&H Publishers, 2005), 61.
90 Ibid., 65.
48 the consequences of living within or without the covenant of God.91 The Mosaic
Narrative brings up, among many themes, the notion of the extent to which God will go to rescue his people, “how he thinks of his people…and the proper response of God’s people to this great deed.92 Within the Davidic narrative, some of the main themes are the power and protection of God,93 obedience to God, and the grace of God that overcomes any evil.94
Understanding the narratives of the Old Testament helps one see practically what life looks like under the present reign and rule of God. When Christians’ identities are secure in the Abrahamic covenant, then there is freedom in the relationship. When one sees that he or she has a new identity as a people brought out of slavery to the world in the Mosaic narrative, God’s people can begin to explore this new corporeal identity and how it differs from their old life. Within the Davidic narrative themes, there exists comfort in times of trouble,95 rest in times of worry96 and hope in times of repentance.97
As transformational leaders help parishioners see themselves within the Act 3 narratives, they can become grounded within a long history in which they play a part.
Their identity narrative is not only found in their physical and geographical ancestry, but in their spiritual ancestry as well. Christians belong, not the world and its systems, but to
91 Ibid., 69-71.
92 Peter Enns, NIV Application Commentary: Exodus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 31.
93 Israel P. Loken, The Old Testament Historical Books: An Introduction (Xulon Press, 2008) 126- 127
94 Stephen J Andrews and Robert D. Bergen, I and II Samuel (Nashville: B&H Publishers, 2009), 3-4. 95 Psa. 142.
96 Psa. 46.
97 2 Sam. 12.
49 the God who rescues them. The heroes and villains of the faith become their history and can shape their individual and collective identity and projected future.98
Act 4: Redemption Accomplished
The Jesus Story, itself, found in Act 4: Redemption Accomplished is the center and climax of the narrative of Scripture.99 Jesus is the hope to which Old Testament prophesies (Genesis 3:15) look forward, and he is the one to whom the Apostles and other New Testament authors look back.100 As Scot McKnight argues, it is only by understanding the biblical narrative that one can understand the extent of what Jesus came to do.101 Bartholomew and Goheen echo this sentiment: “According to the biblical narrative, the meaning of our whole world’s history has been most fully shown to us in the person of Jesus.”102
Understanding the Old Testament as part of the holistic Scripture narrative helps round out the portrait of Jesus Christ. The Davidic narrative alone has much to inform
Christians of the person of Jesus Christ. The Davidic covenant written in 2 Samuel 7
“sets the stage for the concept of the Messiah when the monarchy comes to an end.”103
Jesus is the long awaited King. He is portrayed as sitting on the throne of David.104 Yet,
98 For more on this, see Chapter 5 of this dissertation.
99 Bartholomew and Goheen, 135.
100 Heb. 12:2; 1 John 1:1-3; Titus 2:13.
101 McKnight, 24.
102 Bartholomew and Goheen, 21.
103 Matthews, Old Testament Turning Points, 101.
104 Luke 1:32.
50 more than once during his time on earth, the ruling classes of the Jews failed to understand the narrative of the Scripture and instead placed bits and pieces of Scripture within a worldly narrative concerning the Messiah and how he would conduct himself— they expected a ruler whose power was political rather than spiritual.105 Not even his disciples fully understood what it meant for Jesus to be the King and Messiah; as seen when Peter flatly contradicted Jesus’ announcement of his approaching death on the cross.106
Not only through the Davidic narrative does Jesus reveal himself to the world as
King, he also delineates his mission of compassionate justice and mercy. Luke records
Jesus’ reference to the Old Testament narrative, specifically Isaiah 58 and 61, to explain his mission.107 This mission was almost a complete departure from the dominant social philosophy within Judaism. Jesus admonished his followers to provide for the poor, right injustice, and show mercy and compassion to everyone, including strangers and enemies.108
Jesus’ kingdom is not limited to a particular race or closed group of people, but the invitation is to all. This is demonstrated by his continual compassion and solidarity with those that traditional religion excluded, such as lepers, tax collectors, and Gentiles.
It is also a kingdom of unlimited power as he demonstrates through his miracles. Carl F.
H. Henry, in an article titled, “Reflections on the Kingdom of God,” writes,
105 Carson, 392.
106 Bartholomew and Goheen, 165.
107 Jeffery S. Siker, “First to the Gentiles: A Literary Analysis of Luke 4:16-30,” Journal of Biblical Literature 111, no. 1 (Spring 1992): 74.
108 Paul Hertig, “The Jubilee Mission of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke: Reversals of Fortunes,” Missiology 26 (April 1998): 168.
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Jesus in his own person is the embodied sovereignty of God. He lives out that sovereignty in the flesh. He manifests the kingdom of God by enthroning the creation will of God and demonstrating lordship over Satan. Jesus conducts himself as Lord and true King, ruling over demons, ruling over nature at its fiercest, ruling over sickness, conquering death itself. With the coming of Jesus the kingdom is not merely imminent; it gains the larger scope of incursion and invasion.109
Throughout Jesus time on earth, he constantly demonstrates this power and control and concludes his earthly ministry in the book of Matthew by reassuring his disciples in 28:18 that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Another theme of the life of Christ is his death and resurrection. As part of the identity narrative, his death and resurrection are the only way in which humans receive spiritual life and their freedom from the bondage of sin.110 In this motif, Christ is pictured as the second Adam. The apostle Paul provides a list comparing what the “first” Adam brought to the world and what the “second” Adam brought.
Adam Christ
Death Life
Sin Righteousness
Transgression Free gift
Condemnation Justification
Reign of death Reign of life
Disobedience Obedience
109 Carl F. H. Henry, “Reflections on the Kingdom of God,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 35, no.1 (March 1992): 42.
110 David T. Ejenobo, “‘Union With Christ:’ A Critique of Romans 6:1-11,” Asia Journal of Theology 22, no. 2 (October 2008): 311-312.
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Sin Grace
Death Grace111
These comparisons between the first and second Adam give a clearer picture of Christ’s role and purpose in coming to earth as a man; he was healing the wounds that the sin of the first man had wrought upon creation. Jesus’ arrival as the Messiah in the line of
David foretells the restoration of rightful kingship that was displaced by the Fall.
The biblical narrative uses the term, “Son of David,” to form a more cohesive identity—Jesus is the rightful King who has comes to claim his throne and display his reign completely.112 As McKnight adeptly argues, “The fundamental solution in the gospel is that Jesus is Messiah and Lord.”113 Jesus is given all authority and power114 and announces that his kingdom has arrived. Christ’s followers are under his lordship and sent with his authority and power to proclaim the reign and rule of Jesus Christ.115 This can help Christians to rest in his sovereign control knowing that nothing can overpower his authority. If this is grasped, it may also led to greater submission to Christ knowing that he is far superior to protect and guide than anything else in the world.
Another way this narrative helps form the collective identity of redeemed sons and daughters is by understanding who Christians are in Christ. Because of Christ coming
111 Peter J. Leithart, “Adam, Moses, and Jesus: A Reading of Romans 5:12-14,” Calvin Theological Journal 43 no 2 (November 2008): 263.
112 McKnight, 136-138.
113 Ibid., 137, italics his.
114 Matt. 28:18.
115 McKnight, 152.
53 as the Second Adam, Christians are united with Christ with all of the inheritance that entails.116 Not worthless, or filled with sin, but from the list mentioned above, Christians are “new creations in Christ” as Paul claims. Where once Christians “were in darkness” they are “now light in the Lord” Jesus Christ.117 He has repaired the relationship with
God that was broken in the Garden by paying the penalty of their sin, so that they may be covered by his righteousness, trading their death for eternal life as sons and daughters of the living God.
Understanding this exchange of identity is imperative to helping Christians live the life they have already been granted. Because of their profound value in Christ, they do not need to pursue finding their value in the world’s culture. Neither do they need to carry the weight of their sin for they are already forgiven. They are able to rest in the identity that is already theirs in Christ.
Act 5: Mission of the Church
In the fifth act, Christians are being discipled into their new identity. One of the classic texts in this regard is 1 Peter 2:9, wherein Peter calls his readers, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for [God’s] own possession.” In this verse and in the surrounding verses, Peter is calling the believers to a new identity, one that stands in contrast to the world giving Christ followers a new story in which to believe. David
116 Horton, 587-619.
117 Eph. 5:8.
54
Horrell rightly notes the usage here of the many social signifiers “suggests an almost deliberate attempt to pack the verse with ethnic identity labels.”118
Paul, as well, attempts to form a new identity among the people of God by breaking with the former worldly one. One of Paul’s main purposes in Romans was to redefine the boundaries of cultural identity within the Church.119 He goes so far as to say that Christians, in relation to God “are no longer strangers and aliens, but…are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”120 Professor Benjamin
Dunning, in an article published by the Harvard Theological Review, points out that this saying resonates with 1 Peter 2:9-10 and is used by Christians to create a strong identity narrative.121 These passages help foster not only an identity; but a distinctiveness among
Christians that would be clearly evident in which narrative they were living.122 In Paul’s mind, as well as the other apostles, national and geographic identities are transcended by a Christian’s new identity in Christ.123 Precisely the opposite of the wider culture,
Christianity operates specifically as a “non-ethnic, all-inclusive identity” which rejects any racial identification for membership.124
118 David Horrell, “‘Race,’ ‘Nation,’ ‘People’: Ethnic Identity-Construction in 1 Peter 2:9,” New Testament Studies 58, no. 1 (January 2012): 129.
119 Garlington, 202.
120 Eph. 2:19.
121 Benjamin Dunning, “Strangers and Aliens No Longer: Negotiating Identity and Difference in Ephesians 2,” Harvard Theological Review 99, no. 1 (January 2006): 4.
122 Ibid., 16.
123 Denise K. Buell and Caroline J. Hodge, “The Politics of Interpretation: The Rhetoric of Race and Ethnicity in Paul,” Journal of Biblical Literature 123, no. 2 (Summer 2004): 235.
124 Ibid., 236.
55
Not only were much of the Epistles written to promote a new healthy identity; they were written in such a way as to intentionally distance themselves from the old one.
Like Abraham and Sarah, members of the Early Church had to leave their old sense of self behind to allow them to embrace the new identity Christ’s apostles were instilling in them. John M. G. Barclay, Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at Durham University asserts,
“An extraordinarily high percentage of the documents in the New Testament are steeped in polemics, arguing with opponents…who were perceived to be an external or internal threat to the writer’s Christian community.”125 His tactics were common in his day and echoed tactics used among philosophers arguing with sophists.126
Worth noting is the fact that even though the writers of the Epistles talked frequently of the new identities given in Christ, they were not breaking completely with the old biblical narrative. Rather, the church fathers were solidly grounded in, and wrote out of the biblical narrative. Within the context of the first half of 1 Peter 2, Peter uses rich biblical narrative imagery from the Old Testament to create a new identity for his disciples.127 The terms “race,” “nation,” and “people” have strong Old Testament leanings and significance.128 D. B. Garlington, professor at Toronto Baptist Seminary notes that Paul “undertakes to demonstrate that the new creation has dawned in Jesus of
Nazareth. God’s plan to remedy the ills of the old creation has been realized not in Israel
125 John M. G. Barclay, “Mirror-reading a Polemical Letter: Galatians as a Test Case,” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 31 (October 1987): 73.
126 Robert J. Karris, “The Background and Significance of the Polemic of the Pastoral Epistles,” Journal of Biblical Literature 92, no. 4 (December 1973): 551.
127 Horrell, 123.
128 Ibid., 125-126.
56 and its Torah but in Jesus Christ and his church.”129 Likewise, much of Paul’s writing focuses on how Christ fulfilled the Old Testament.130 Paul goes as far as to say in
Romans 11 that the Gentile believers are grafted in to the “living vine of Israel.”131 In
Galatians 3 and Romans 4, Paul goes to great lengths to demonstrate how Christians are
Abraham’s descendants.132 It is not that the writers are breaking with the biblical narrative; rather, they strive to connect all believers to it.
Act 6: Redemption Completed
The final act of the biblical narrative, Act 6: Redemption Completed, is eschatological, yet not a concluding topic as Horton notes, “but, an indispensable lens through which we come to understand the whole system of Christian faith and practice…eschatology comes even before soteriology, since the consummation…was the goal of Adam’s trial.”133 In other words, it is hard to understand the marvelous nuances of the final act without a proper understanding of the biblical narrative. Horton goes on to say, “Eschatology and creation are interdependent themes.”134 It is central to the idea of a narrative identity that there is some form of end or completion because it answers identity questions such as “For what do we hope?”135 While this is not a total completion of the
129 Garlington, 203.
130 Ibid., 203.
131 Horton, 682.
132 Horrell, 130.
133 Horton, 906.
134 Ibid.
135 Ibid.
57 story of God and humanity, it is the completion of the world as humans currently understand it in its fallen state.
This completion includes the physical bodies of those who follow Christ.136 Many religions and philosophies claim that the physical body is evil and at death the soul that survives merges into some great entity where personhood is lost.137 This is not the way the Bible speaks of what happens after death. The hope that was forfeited for Adam and
Eve was immortality, not merely for the soul, but for the whole person. Similarly, the hope found in the Apostle’s Creed is not a release from an evil body, but “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” This is the hope of Paul, “We wait eagerly for adoptions as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved.”138 The promise of the narrative identity in the Bible is that our whole selves will be resurrected to a pre-Fallen state.
Not only does a person not merge into a cosmic force, or cease to exist; there are two destinations for a person to travel. Eternal punishment, Hell, has been reserved for people who choose to reject Christ and his offer of salvation. “Jesus speaks more directly and vividly of the reality of hell than any Old Testament prophet or New Testament apostle.139 Not only does this serve as an imperative to follow Christ, because of the imminent consequences of rejection, but it also manifests the extent of the grace and
136 Ibid., 915.
137 Ibid., 907.
138 Rom. 8:23-24.
139 Horton, 975. Cross reference: Matt. 5:30; 8:10-12; 13:40-50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; and Luke 16:19-31.
58 mercy of God in salvation. This part of the narrative shows the punishment that humanity deserves for their mutiny, contrasted starkly with the reward of fellowship with Christ.
The world as it is known by humankind will not continue the way it has been going for the entirety of human history. There is decay, tragedy, evil, and death. The future will see redemption of creation. Along with the co-heirs of Christ, Heaven and earth will become new.140 Revelation 21 and 22 speak of a perfect dwelling place between God and his people and a final end to sin, evil, and the effects of the fall. It will be a place of unequaled splendor.141 All of creation “will be wholly saved, and yet wholly new.”142
Jesus Christ will take his rightful place as king of the universe. The ultimate aim of Act 6 is “that the whole cosmos should once again live and thrive under his beneficent rule.”143 All those who oppose God and his rule are banished where they will receive the wages of their sin.144 God will reign supreme and all rebellion will end.145 The eternal kingship of Christ will be the restoration of God’s authority that was rejected by Adam and Eve.
For identity, this final Act of Redemption Completed informs believers that the end goal of their struggle is worth the fight; that there are good things in the future for them and God, and that this world is not all there is. Hope of future glory and reward
140 Ibid., 915.
141 Ibid., 985.
142 Ibid., 989.
143 Bartholomew and Goheen, 227.
144 Horton, 920.
145 McKnight, 153.
59 helps believers to stay the course in the midst of opposition. As Paul says, “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”146 Christians’ efforts have significance and meaning because this current state of life is not all there is. Understanding the eternal consequences of sin and the grace of redemption—knowing from whence they came and to where they will now be going—has helped Christians endure many trials, without which, it would have been easier to fall away or give up hope. Knowing that what happens here on earth has eternal significance is a good reminder for believers to stay focused and press on with the mission that God gives them. Because of this act,
Christians will be better able to follow Paul’s command in 1 Corinthians 15:58,
“Therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
Conclusion
A narrative approach to Scripture is nothing new. From its creation, one of the main purposes is to help form a new narrative identity among its adherents. This is the
Scripture that is sharper than a two-edged sword. It is vaster and deeper than any rulebook, as many believe, but rather it is an identity epic into which believers live in and out. The story is able to teach and guide and disciple Christians into their true identity, which in turn will radically alter individuals and churches alike. This was the view of the biblical authors. When Scripture is studied with a narrative hermeneutics of identity, the
Kingdom of God is placed at the center and Jesus as the central hero who will one day return for his bride. It reminds believers that following Christ is more than intellectual
146 2 Tim. 2:10.
60 assent, but that they enter into the pages of God’s story and live it out. This is what the early Church believed. As the six Acts of Scripture are learned and lived in, identity is shifted from the world to the biblical narrative. Meaning, hope, and values are reoriented leading to healthier churches. Many church leaders in the past understood this and framed their discipleship in a corporeal narrative approach, which will be discussed in the next chapter.
CHAPTER 3: NARRATIVE FORMATION IN CHURCH HISTORY
Introduction
Narrative formation concerns itself with using underlying narratives as a means of discipling Christians into their true identity in Christ. Throughout history, narrative formation has been employed to help grow Christians to maturity. Because there has been significant impact on the Church when this framework is used, it is important to survey some its movements and glean the wisdom therein. This chapter examines the effectiveness of four movements in Christianity when corporeal narrative identity formation was implemented or disregarded. The first movement highlighted is the Early
Church from c. 30 A.D. until 313 A.D. The second is the loss of a strong narrative beginning with the Edict of Milan and continuing for much of the Middle Ages. The third section examines the cenobitical monastic movement beginning in the fourth century.
The final movement examined is Martin Luther and the Lutheran Protestant beginnings.
The Early Church and Identity Formation
The Early Church, marking the period from Christ’s ascension until the Edict of
Milan in 313 A.D., continued to maintain a focus on narrative identity as was imparted to the first disciples by Jesus Christ and the Apostles.1 Often this identity was expressed through rites, rituals, and lifestyle formation and was a way of entering into the corporeal identity of the church. Scholar Alister McGrath writes concerning these expressions,
1 See: Klyne Snodgrass, “Hermaneutics of Identity.” Snodgrass makes a compelling argument for Jesus’ focus on identity and how the Apostles continued in that tradition.
61 62
“Beliefs and values affect the way in which people live; the story of how they live thus shows us the way in which those ideas and values shape their real historical existence.”2
Christians during the first 300 years of Christianity tended to separate themselves from worldly identities. Often, believers would sever ties with the world so formally and dramatically that Celsus, a pagan philosopher and strong critic of Christianity quipped,
“If all people wanted to be Christians, the Christians would no longer want them.”3
Referencing Augustine, William Harmless, professor of historical theology notes that church culture fostered a belief in a new identity that was demonstrated by a “rigorous, sectarian strain running through much third century catechumenal literature.”4 Likewise,
Hippolytus (170 – 235), a church leader in Rome, set his standards very high for inclusion into the church. In his work, The Apostolic Tradition, anyone with morally unsuitable vocations such as prostitutes, soldiers, idol makers, or even city magistrates were rejected from church membership.5 For Hippolytus, the standard for which a person was to be accepted into his church required him or her to break ties with the world (and its culture) from the very beginning, rather than a gradual change over a period of time.6
This then was followed by three years of spiritual training and only when the candidate was living a rhythm of life similar to the culture of the church would he or she be allowed
2 McGrath, 119.
3 Celsus, quoted by Origen, Contra Celsum 3.9, trans. Henry Chadwick (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 133.
4 William Harmless, Augustine and the Catechumenate (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1995), 39.
5 Mary Gerhart and Fabian Udoh, The Christianity Reader (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), 351.
6 Harmless, 41.
63 to enter church membership through baptism.7 This form of training helped keep the identity narrative of Hippolytus’ church pure and focused. He cared much more about culture and practices of the church than how many members it contained.8 In regards to narrative formation, McGrath notes that this helped the new convert “not merely to learn the Christian story; [but] to enter into it, and accept it as part of [one’s] own existence.”9
In the same vein, Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225), who lived in Egypt, can be viewed as one who highly valued a strong corporeal identity narrative. In writing about Tertullian and the culture of the church he was a part, historian Timothy Barnes notes, “the dominant motif of African Christianity was: uncompromising rejection of an alien world”10 and choosing instead, the biblical narrative. Much of Tertullian’s writings were polemics either attacking errant theology or defending the traditions that he felt were central to Christianity.11 He formed a majority of his arguments based on an identity centered within the biblical story as opposed to a worldly one.12 In one of his works, On
Penitence, Tertullian writes against the postponement of baptism by catechumens who wanted to justify living for a little while longer within the world’s narrative. He writes,
7 Ibid., 42-43.
8 Ibid., 41.
9 McGrath, 119.
10 Timothy D. Barnes, Tertullian: A Historical and Literary Study. Reissued with Corrections and a Postscript ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985), 62.
11 J. E. Wynne, Holy Spirit and Religious Experience in Christian Literature Ca. AD 90-200 (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2006), 226.
12 This will be discussed more in Chapter Five, but is worth mentioning here that the process of differentiation is important to the forming of a new identity. Knowing who one is not is as important as knowing who one is. Tertullian in his apologetic literature was able to articulately describe and define a biblical identity both to those within and without the Church. This gave clear indicators in his day for what it means to be a part of the Christian narrative.
64
“They say indeed, that they renounce the past, and they do begin to do penance, yet they fail to bring it to completion.”13 He continues his critique of them by using an identity argument: “We are not baptized so that we may cease committing sin but because we have ceased, we are already clean of heart. This surely is the first baptism of the catechumen.”14 His intention is to remind the catechumens of their true identity.
Similar practices to those of Hippolytus and Tertullian can be seen throughout
Christendom such as Egeria’s notes from her trip to Jerusalem, written approximately
381 AD. She writes concerning baptismal candidates saying that they were asked rigorous questions concerning their worthiness of baptism. Their godparents would be asked if the candidates were living in accordance with the life of Christ. If the candidate was accused of anything, he or she would be dismissed with the charge, “Amend your life and when that is done, approach the baptismal font.”15
Pantaenus, who would be succeeded by Clement, founded a “school of catechesis” in Alexandria during the latter part of the second century.16 This was not merely an intellectual endeavor, but included real and continued identity formation.
“There is no doubt that the converts were not admitted to the sacrament until they were examined on the seriousness of the conversion…There is every indication that this vital
13 William P. Saint, Treatises on Penance: On Penitence and On Purity (Westminster: Newman Press, 1959), 24.
14 Ibid., 26.
15 Robert L. Wilken, Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 37.
16 Michel Dujarier, A History of the Catachemunate: the First Six Centuries, trans. Edward J. Haasl (New York: Sadlier, 1979), 41.
65 conversion required formation over a certain period of time…at least three years after inscription,” writes historian, Michel Dujarier.17
The forming of the corporeal identity was not primarily to a church, but to a church’s perception of the biblical epic. A brief sketch of this epic was often found in the rite of baptism. Baptism during the first few hundred years of Christianity was primarily seen as the way people were received into a church and therefore an important step in identity formation.18 As candidates would prepare themselves for baptism over the course of many weeks, the biblical narrative was frequently told to them. Church leaders such as
Cyril of Jerusalem,19 Tertullian,20 and Origen21 all had pre-baptismal catechetical education that highlighted how participating in baptism was an important step for the convert in adopting the biblical story as their own.
This identity formation was not merely ceremonial in substance, but led to very stark differences between Christianity and the Roman culture. Eusebius notes that in practice, “The vast majority of our brethren” were engaged in charitable activities often contracting terminal diseases from the ones they were helping. These Christians were
“greatly esteemed” by their local communities. This was in contrast to the pagans who
17 Ibid., 42.
18 Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought Seeking the Face of God (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 36.
19 Westerhoff, John H. A Faithful Church: Issues in the History of Catechesis (Wilton: Morehouse-Barlow, 1981), 60; McGrath, 120.
20 Wilkin, 40-41.
21 Westerhoff, 55.
66
“behaved completely the opposite.”22 Historian Rodney Stark claims that the lives of
Christians became so compelling that what began as a small Jewish sect on the fringes of the Roman Empire, endured and grew even in a culture of systematic persecution. Within
300 years Christianity became the dominant religion and would then become the central faith of the Western World.23
The Loss of an Identity Focus
In forming a corporeal narrative identity, the Christians of the first 300 years mainly saw themselves as incompatible with the secular narrative.24 This would not have been a difficult recognition for the new converts of these early centuries who saw much persecution demonstrated towards Christians.25 Even though Christians were highly esteemed for their charitable work, their refusal to submit in other areas was cause for conflict. For example, emperor worship was central to the culture of the Roman Empire.
Because Christians only worshipped the Lord, emperors were never able to bring
Christians under mainstream Roman cultural.26 However, the climate of the first three centuries began to change during the fourth.
22 A. D. Lee, Pagans and Christians in late antiquity: A Sourcebook (New York: Routledge, 2000), 39.
23 Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996), 3.
24 McGrath, 20.
25 Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation (New York: HarperOne, 2010), Chapters 4-6 and 10.
26 Allan Doig, Liturgy and Architecture from the Early Church to the Middle Ages (Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2008), 22.
67
In 312 A.D. Constantine was in a battle for control of the empire. He claimed that he had a vision from God “to mark the heavenly sign of God on the shields of his soldiers” and they would be granted victory.27 This began a truce with Christians ultimately leading to the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. This edict established religious toleration and legal rights to Christians as well as returning any previously confiscated property.28
Beginning with the legalization and national legitimacy of Christianity, those who identified with Christianity began to change. Because the state now preferred
Christianity, in many areas it became politically and socially beneficial to convert.29 The purity of the Church’s narrative began to decline as “quality unfortunately gave way to quantity.”30 The most serious threats to the Church during this time were “defective motivations,” meaning identity narratives, for conversion.31 Cyril laments at how slaves began to ask for church membership to please a master, and men and women came to gain favor with the family of those they wanted to marry.32 Likewise, Augustine warned one of his baptismal candidates to sincerely become a Christian and not merely “to obtain the hand of Christian girl he wanted to marry.”33 Eusebius complained of “the unspeakable hypocrisy of men who crept into the Church and who took on the name and
27 Ibid., 21.
28 Encyclopaedia Britannica, accessed September 12, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/382119/Edict-of-Milan.
29 Harmless, 53.
30 Dujarier, 79.
31 Ibid., 80.
32 Ibid., 81.
33 Ibid.
68 the character of Christians.”34 These examples point to a shift in the trajectory of
Christian identity beginning in the fourth century.
In many instances the narrative of the Church was reduced from changed lives to mere intellectual assent when debates and controversies over doctrine began to surface.35
Gregory of Nyssa lamented, “If you ask anyone for change, he will discuss with you whether the Son is begotten or unbegotten. If you ask about the quality of bread, you will receive the answer that ‘the Father is greater, the Son is less.’ If you suggest that you require a bath, you will be told that ‘there was nothing before the Son was created.’”36
This intellectual shift would affect the way that Christians were spiritually formed. Because of the influx of people desiring admittance into Christianity, the catechumenate37 could no longer be overseen as they had been previously. In the third century, each catechumen would be watched over by a leader in the church so that one could better evaluate one’s lifestyle and conformity to Christ and the church. In the fourth century, this was no longer possible due to the relatively small number of disciplers in relation to the large number of converts.38 This formal training in identity within the biblical narrative became diluted and was given over to less spiritually mature disciplers.
Dujarier writes,
34 Eusebius, Vita Constantini 4.54, trans. Colm Luibheid, The Essential Eusebius [New York: New American Library, 1966] 208).
35 Harmless, 53-54.
36 Ibid., 54.
37 The catechumenate was the formal discipleship that a new convert or one exploring Christianity would be a part of prior to their baptism and admittance into a church. The catechumenate, as discussed earlier, focused extensively on narrative formation.
38 Harmless, 58.
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The title of catechumen had lost its profound significance, since it no longer corresponded to a true conversion, so the catechumenate itself declined. Scandalized by this massive indifference, the bishops hurried the catechumens into baptism, with all the attendant dangers of formalism. Much was said about catechumens in this period, but though there were many catechumens, there were few true converts.39
The number of years required in the catechumenate began to decrease as it was losing its significance. At the turn of the fourth century the catechumen in Spain required two years, yet within 100 years, those minimums were dropped altogether.40 What began as a three-year intensive process of identity formation under the biblical narrative dwindled until in many areas it was virtually non-existent except in small pockets of devout communities.41
Not only did Constantine’s changes affect those entering the Church, but the
Church’s leadership was altered as well. Bishops were granted many special privileges including “immunity from burdensome and often financially disastrous civic obligations…judicial powers comparable to high magistrates…they were allowed to use the imperial post for transportation (something previously reserved only for imperial messengers and high state officials).”42 With these new privileges, however, came new responsibilities within the Roman narrative. The bishops suddenly found themselves performing the duties of a patron and entering into the false identity of the “often corrupt system of patronage that held together late Roman society.”43
39 Dujarier, 84.
40 Ibid., 94.
41 Ibid., 134-135.
42 Harmless, 52.
43 Ibid.
70
Thus, Christian identity of the first 300 years of the Church became radically diluted. Leonard Sweet suggests that “the life story of all Christians should be ‘they left all and followed Jesus.’”44 Instead of this newfound reality, the fourth century saw a union forming between the Body of Christ and world. The identities, values, principles, and frameworks of the world were being brought into the Church from people who began using Christianity for personal gain, not submission to Christ. What began as a faith was becoming a full-fledged religion.
This does not mean that there were not Christian leaders who attempted reform by returning to a corporeal narrative identity. Augustine’s Confessions is a prime example of a narrative identity at work.45 Similarly, the Macarian Homilies, written at the end of the fourth century, urge the readers to consider their new identity found within the biblical narrative, “Recognize therefore thy nobility, that thou art called to kingly dignity, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation,”46 and that Christians are
“prophets of the heavenly mysteries…sons, and lords and gods.”47 Despite such pleas of faithful church leaders, the tide was turning and the truths that were so central to early
Christianity were beginning to fade.
44 Leonard Sweet, I Am a Follower: The Way Truth, and Life of Following Jesus (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2012), 20.
45 Michael DeLashmutt, “Paul Ricoeur at the Foot of the Cross: Narrative Identity and the Resurrection of the Body,” Modern Theology 25, no. 4 (October 2009): 590.
46 Arthur J. Mason, Fifty Spiritual Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921), 202.
47 Ibid., 142.
71
Middle Ages and Cenobitical Monasticism
As mainstream Christianity drifted towards finding their identity within the world, many believers responded by forming communities that distanced themselves from the pull of worldly narratives. The way they accomplished that end was by forming monasteries. Catholic priest and professor, Henri J.M. Nouwen, writes about the formation of monasteries, “But if the world was no longer the enemy of the Christian, then the Christian had to become the enemy of the dark world.”48 This expression of the
Christian life helped revive a strong narrative identity wherein the world’s narrative could be renounced and a new identity with an opposing corporeal story could be fostered, grown and guarded.49 The disassociation with the former life, social supports, and the adherence to a new rhythm of life and social identity helped create a completely different culture out of which Christians could live.50
During this era, there were examples of Christians who, in order to escape falling into the world’s narrative, lived lives as hermits. Many of the more famous ones are known as the Desert Fathers and Mothers. Over time, individual monks began to come together and form communities. Cenobitical monasteries and nunneries began to develop in the beginning of the fourth century. Pachomius (c. 292 – 346) is generally regarded as the father of communal monasticism.51 And while formation was slow, cumbersome, and
48 Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart: Desert Spirituality and Contemporary Ministry (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1991), 14.
49 Bentley Layton, “Rules Patterns and Exercise of Power in Shenoute’s Monastery: The Problem of World Replacement and Identity Maintenance,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 15, no. 1 (2007): 45
50 Ibid., 46.
51 Philip F. Esler, The Early Christian World (London: Routledge, 2004), 351.
72 often led in errant directions as the experimental communities developed,52 over time the communities began to figure out rhythms that worked for spiritual formation. Beginning at the end of the fourth century, both men and women flocked to isolated monastic communities or created “quasi-monastic communities” within the boundaries of their own cities.53 By the mid-sixth century, the creation and implementation of several generally accepted rhythms such as the Rule of St. Augustine and the Rule of St. Benedict were well known as well as the wisdom expressed in the Apophthegmata patrum.54
Monastic communities were able to have such influence and effectiveness in transforming their people because of their corporeal biblical story. It formed a counterpoint to corruption of the mainstream Church culture, which in contrast, had very little biblical identity formation.55 Strong identity formation was important for the creation and advancement of not only the Gospel, but of the monastic communities themselves. From the earliest days of monasticism, it was an international movement.56
Pilgrims traveled from all over the world to join monastic communities. In order to blend those individual identities and cultures into one single identity and culture, the communities employed themes. The first theme was an overt awareness of the
52 Layton, 45.
53 Brian Patrick McGuire. Friendship and Community: The Monastic Experience, 350-1250 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2010), 39.
54 Conrad Leyser, “The Uses of the Desert in the Sixth-Century West,” Church History and Religious Culture 86, no. 4 (January 2006): 117.
55 Christian Classics Ethereal Library, accessed September 14, 2014, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc3.iii.vii.vii.html.
56 Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony, “Territory, Anti-intellectual Attitude, and Identity Formation in Late Antique Palestinian Monastic Communities,” Religion and Theology 17 (2010): 244.
73 distinctiveness of their community from other competing identity narratives.57 For example, in Cyril’s plea to emperor Anastasius, they had developed a community name:
“Inhabitants of this Holy Land,” and distanced themselves from groups like the
Nestorians and anti-Chalcedonians.58 As professor and literary theorist, Edward Said, stated in his seminal work on the subject, “No identity can ever exist by itself and without an array of opposites, negatives, oppositions.”59 Monastic communities knew who they were and just as importantly, they knew who they were not.
In order to keep a vigilant watch on their culture, it was typical of early monastics to center their liturgy, and therefore their identity, around reading, interpreting, and applying Scripture in a communal context.60 Daily, psalms were sung, homilies given, and hymns were sung about biblical events and motifs.61 Theology was rigorously taught.62 All of these disciplines served to help foster the formation and commitment to their understanding of the biblical narrative in a corporeal setting.
Monasteries that were not vigilant with maintaining a biblical narrative would often find themselves influenced by differing narratives. In Frankish Gaul for example,
Gregory recounts the story of Wulfoliac whose asceticism was suppressed due to worldly
57 Ibid., 253.
58 Ibid.
59 Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism (New York: Vintage Books, 1994), 52.
60 Susan Boynton, Shaping a Monastic Identity: Liturgy and History at the Imperial Abbey of Farfa, 1000-1125 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006), 65.
61 Ibid.
62 Ibid., 69.
74 bishops and monasteries.63 Monasticism in some circles was used as a “weapon…to claim moral authority over those who never had” been in a monastic community.64 Some large monastic communities went so far as becoming virtual mobs, intimidating and attacking those who opposed them, including the destruction of temples and synagogues.65
Yet despite the outliers, most of the early monastic communities by and large fostered an environment where Christians could more readily adopt the biblical narrative as their own.66 The centeredness of Christians that the monastic models produced can hardly be overstated and for many monasteries, the fruit of changed lives and societies were evidence of the power of identity change. Specific monasteries in Scotland,
England, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Austria, Bohemia, and Switzerland can all be used as examples of how living from a corporeal biblical narrative carries with it the ability to lead societies from paganism to Christianity.67 For example, monks such as
Euthymius in the fifth century began outreaches to people groups in their surrounding lands.68 Monasteries such as the one in Cluny, founded in 910 A.D., ardently fought
63 Leyser, 114.
64 Ibid.
65 Michael Gaddis, There Is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005), 209. For a more comprehensive study on the subject, read pages 208-250.
66 Leyser, 117.
67 The Catholic Encyclopedia, “Monasteries,” accessed September 20, 2014, http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=8092.
68 Esler, 355.
75 against social and religious abuses of their day.69 The mercy and charitable endeavors of monasteries have been widely researched and scholars have regarded monasteries as the
“template for the late antiquity hospital.”70 It should come as no surprise that it was the monasteries that held the Christian faith together throughout the years of mainline spiritual decline.71
The “Golden Age” of monasticism is generally regarded to have transpired between the 8th and 12th centuries.72 Over time, however, the strength of many monasteries began to fade. This was due to a number of factors including wars.73 In the
East, when Constantinople fell to the Turks, monasteries that were under Muslim control were “forced to remain silent.”74 When the Danes invaded England, monastic life dwindled to “near extinction.”75 Another oppressive force was interference from papal authority. For example, the abbey at Farfa was one of the most powerful monasteries in central Italy during the Middle Ages, yet a steady decline was seen when much of the
69 Mayeul de Dreuille, From East to West: A History of Monasticism (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1999), 94.
70 Andrew T. Crislip, From Monastery to Hospital: Christian Monasticism and the Transformation of Health Care in Late Antiquity (University of Michigan Press, 2005), 8. This charity work was counter-cultural to the general societies of the medieval time period which not only saw care for the needy as “nonsensical” but, “actually discouraged it” (55).
71 Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church: Third Period: Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity: From Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great A.D. 311-600 (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1884), 175.
72William M. Johnston, Encyclopedia of Monasticism (Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000), 1, 294- 295, 446.
73 Esler, 357.
74 de Dreuille, 98.
75 Johnston, 446.
76 control was given to the papacy after the Concordant of Worms in 1122 A.D.76 During the 16th century and the Reformation wars it contained, Protestant countries and localities would suppress monasteries, leading to much of their decline in the West.77
The strengths of the monastic traditions are well documented and in recent years there has been a push for many Christians to become part of the movement labeled “The
New Monasticism”.78 The influence that monasteries have had on the history of the
Church is immeasurable;79 Christianity “offered a quiet refuge to souls weary of the world, and led its earnest disciples into the sanctuary of undisturbed communion with
God.”80 At their best, monasteries stood as a directional beacon pointing away from worldliness and towards repentance leading to a life of devoted love for God and mankind.
Martin Luther
The spiritual climate of Europe in the early 1500’s was one of steep decline.81
Salvation and absolution could be bought and sold in mainline Christianity.82 Church leaders exploited the fears and vulnerabilities of their parishioners.83 Justo L. González,
76 Boynton, 1.
77 de Dreuille, 96-97.
78 See Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, New Monasticism: What It Has to Say to Today’s Church (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2008); and Paul R. Dekar Community of the Transfiguration: the Journey of a New Monastic Community (Eugene: Cascade, 2008).
79 Esler, 364.
80 Philip Schaff, “The Rise and Progress of Monasticism,” Bibliotheca Sacra 21 (April 1864), 411.
81 Justo L. González, Story of Christianity: Volume 2: The Reformation to the Present Day (New York: Harper Collins, 1985), 6.
82 James Patrick, Renaissance and Reformation (New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2007), 1231.
83 González, Volume 2, 6-7.
77 in his seminal work, Story of Christianity, writes that under Pope Alexander VI (1492-
1503), papal corruption found its apex in a leader who bought his way into the papacy and “was said to commit publically all the capital sins – except gluttony, for his digestion was not good.”84 In this cultural environment, once again, corporeal identity formation would be beneficial in re-centering and realigning a form of Christianity that, in many areas, had lost its foundation.
Martin Luther in particular was able to develop strong corporeal identity among his followers. Some scholars believe that it was because of his strong narrative identity formation that the Lutheran movement was successful.85 In much of his writing and his preaching, Luther frequently recounted the biblical stories as expressed in Chapter Two.86
He encouraged his followers to see themselves within the biblical narrative. He “never hesitat[ed] to imagine the biblical characters into his world or himself into theirs.”87 This identity framework is displayed most notably in his lectures on Genesis during the last decade of his life.88 Scholar John Maxfield writes that through the lectures, Luther
“attempted to form in his students a new identity” by helping them “make sense of the rapidly changing society and church which they were being prepared to serve.”89 Because
84Ibid., 373.
85 See: Robert Kolb, Luther and the Stories of God: Biblical Narratives as a Foundation for Christian Living (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2012); also John A. Maxfield, Luther’s Lectures on Genesis and the Formation of Evangelical Identity (Kirksville: Truman State University Press, 2008).
86 Kolb, 30.
87 Mickey Leland Mattox. “Defender of the Most Holy Matriarchs”: Martin Luther's Interpretation of the Women of Genesis in the Enarrationes in Genesin, 1535-1545 (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 1.
88 Maxfield, 8.
89 Ibid., 2.
78 of Luther’s position as a Wittenberg University professor, he was able to form his students intellectually and theologically through a new way of interpreting Scripture “that allowed the word of God to speak directly to their contemporary experience.”90 Luther was not creating a subculture within the Catholic or social context, but rather attempting to create a new, biblically-based culture for his followers; one worth dying for.91
The strong identity established under Luther’s radical influence would continue to develop with the creation of a new name for those who followed Luther and most other reformers: “evangelical”.92 This label “distinguished those who adopted the Reformation from adherents of the Catholic Church.”93 Luther’s methods would further redefine the
Christian life. He established new ways for his followers to study Scripture as well as redefined what holiness and life are about.94 Luther’s reinterpretation of the history of the
Church was no longer grounded in Rome and the papacy, but instead reached back to
Adam, thereby diminishing the cultural gravity of the Catholic Church as being the one true church.95 Luther substituted in place of the Catholic Church a definition of a true church that is marked by faithfulness to Scripture and the narrative therein.96 This identity was so well ingrained in his followers that at his funeral, his eulogizer, Philip
90 Ibid., 217.
91 For a study on the social impact and identify formation generation of martyrdom, see Brad S. Gregory, Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009).
92 Maxfield, 3.
93 Ibid.
94 Ibid., 9. Maxfield notes that holiness and life are “defined by the activity of God in justifying sinners and making them holy, as that divine activity is unveiled in the narrative of the patriarchs.”
95 Ibid.
96 Ibid., 220.
79
Melanchthon, placed Luther within the story of the prophets and apostles “whose teaching and career should be considered along with the histories of such leaders of the church as Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Paul.”97
Martin Luther’s focus on identity formation resonated throughout Germany and the surrounding areas. Aided by the newly invented printing press, Luther was able to spread his ideas and polemics to a much wider audience than in previous generations. He has been regarded as the “greatest master of the printed text in his age.”98 Luther was the first person in Germany to make the biblical narrative accessible on a large scale by writing and mass-producing the first German translation of the Bible. The accessibility of
Scripture and Luther’s method of “approach [to] scripture and theology in light of the human experiences that are embodied in the sacred narrative”99 helped foster an environment that made the biblical narrative something humanity lives into and becomes a part of rather than a static view of the past. Therefore, when the papacy threatened excommunication of Luther if he did not recant, his followers more willingly rejected the
Catholic Church’s demands. His followers no longer saw themselves in the Catholic
Church’s narrative and readily severed ties to align with Luther’s.100
Luther, through utilizing the power of corporal narrative identity was able to build a movement that challenged the status quo of his day and righted many wrongs that
97 Ibid., 215.
98 Maxfield, 10.
99 Ibid., 217.
100 Rudolph W. Heinze, Reform and Conflict: From the Medieval World to the Wars of Religion A. D. 1350-1648 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005), 94. Also, the pre-reformation social climate of Europe was frustrated with the practice of clergy initiated excommunication as it was seen as a means of oppression and suppression. See James M. Estes, “Johannes Brenz and the Problem of Ecclesiastical Discipline,” Church History 41, no. 4 (December 1972), 465.
80 plagued the mainline Church. Through creating a distinct identity, which returned to the biblical narrative, Luther was able to bring transformation to those around him, with the effects of his formation having resonance throughout Europe.
Conclusion
Using narrative identity to spiritually form groups of people is not a new concept.
It has been used throughout Church history to disciple Christians and to facilitate corporeal transformation. The early years of Christianity saw heavy formation under the biblical narrative. As a result, and even through persecution, the Church grew and better exemplified Christ. When the narrative began to be lost, monasteries were formed which often centered around the biblical narrative. At their best, monasteries not only formed the spiritual identities of monks and nuns within their walls, but the devotees carried that narrative into their communities, thus impacting and leading toward a more transformed world. Martin Luther, as well, was able to help his followers discover the biblical narrative anew. As the biblical narrative took root in people’s lives, they were transformed and led lives more in line with Christ, which ushered in the reformation of the Church. As demonstrated, corporeal narrative formation has played a large role in helping the Church align and realign itself to Christ.
CHAPTER 4: NARRATIVES AND THEIR INFLUENCE
Introduction
Throughout global history, the notion of identity formation had largely been left to the local society. Personal identity was culturally assumed and roles were given to individuals based on factors such as caste systems, gender, or family status. Anyone shirking their role in society would have been ostracized or considered an outcast. As social psychologists James Cȏté and Charles Levine note, “For most of human history, identity formation was not a matter of individual choice and negotiation, so problems associated with these activities were not common.”1 In the present world, however, cultures, identities, and narratives have all collided together as people become more transient and cognizant of the wide world. This has led many people to identify with others who are not in their immediate proximity. Rather than accepting a socially assigned role, individuals and organizations have begun to negotiate their own identities.
As a result, identity crises are rampant among individuals and subcultures, such as the
American Church, to the point that they are considered normal in many respects.2 At the core of this problem for the Church is the loss of a strong, comprehensive, corporate narrative. Snodgrass notes,
Identity formation must be the focus of the church. At least in part church is the place people go to take their identity and declare their allegiances. Individuals all go somewhere to take their identity, assert their allegiances, and relate to others like themselves. Evangelism and preaching are articulations of a needed and new identity. As Kierkegaard insists, ‘Christianity is not a doctrine but an existence-
communication.’ Our society is bombarded with messages attempting to tell
1James E. Cȏté and Charles G. Levine. Identity, Formation, Agency, and Culture: A Social Psychological Synthesis (Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002), 1.
2 Ibid., 2.
81 82
people who they are, what they should look like, how they should spend their money, and what success will look like. Christians have the task of telling people who God says they are and who they are to become.3
With this focus and task in mind, this chapter will explore four broad topics relating to corporeal identity formation. The first is an examination of organizational culture from a narrative perspective: how organizational culture is created, how organizational cultures create systems that reinforce their beliefs, and why organizational change is resisted from a narrative perspective. The second broad topic defines what a narrative identity is. The questions of why stories are significant and how they can be used as a means for corporeal transformation will be considered. The third section focuses on the psychology behind what makes narratives so powerful in transformation. This section defines schema, belief as schema, and discusses the importance of sensemaking as it relates to narrative. The final section examines several specific issues of narrative formation as related to the Church, such as how cultural stories affect programs and processes, how corporeal narratives affect the individual and shape Christians’ faith.
Organizational Culture
Organizational narratives are an important dynamic in organizational change.
Cultural forces gravitate towards stability and predictability rather than risk, change, and the unknown. Leaders who do not take culture seriously may find themselves entrenched in a battle they know not of. Bolman and Deal inform leaders that, “change agents fail when they rely mostly on reason and structure while neglecting” elements of narratives
3 Snodgrass, “Introduction to a Hermeneutics of Identity,” 5.
83 such as “human, political, and symbolic elements.”4 Culture, for the purposes of this paper, is defined by Edgar Schein, management professor at MIT, as “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that a group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”5 Therefore, culture is essentially the way in which an organizational narrative is believed in a practical sense.
Two disclaimers should be made before continuing. The first is that this section deviates from the standard terminology used thus far in this paper, by substituting the word, “organizational,” in place of “corporeal.” The term, organizational, will be used throughout this chapter. Because the focus here will be mainly on contemporary theories relating to organizational change based on corporations, the deviation is deemed necessary. The second disclaimer to be made is the correlation between organizational change and church transformation. The church is not an organization. It is more of an organism. Frequent words used to describe the Church in Scripture are “bride” and
“body.” However, there is a correlation between a corporeal church and an organization.
Organizational consultant, Barbara Czarniawska, argues that businesses and organizations can be viewed through a corporeal metaphor labeled as “Homo collectivus, or Organization Man.”6 While the Church is not the same as a traditional corporation,
4 Bolman and Deal, 394.
5Edgar H. Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 4th d. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010), 12. 6 Barbara Czarniawska discusses how organizations often behave like individuals, or “super- persons,” and how organizations can be viewed through a corporeal metaphor. See: Czarniawska, 41-42.
84 principles and truths can be gleaned from current thought and used as a means for corporeal transformation within a church context.
How Underlying Narratives Dictate Organizational Culture
As organizations develop and thrive, their values and customs flow from the conscious level to the subconscious level as ideas turn into shared assumptions, thus creating the culture of an organization. Practitioners and organizational consultants, Paige
Teegarden et al., note that “Early in an organization’s development, the leader is contributing his or her beliefs and assumptions to the group; if these assumptions about what works and why prove to be successful, they will be taken for granted over time.
Such assumptions become deeply embedded in the organization’s culture.”7 Because of this embedded culture, transformation can be difficult.
While much of the recent organizational material focuses on creating systems from a policy standpoint to assist in substantive transformation, such transformation rarely takes place because these methods fail to reach people on the narrative level.
Professors of organization and management, Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn note that three- quarters of organizational transformation have failed and the main reason given is neglect of organizational culture. 8 As Schein notes, “Inattention to social systems in organizations
7Paige Hull Teegarden, Denice Rothman Hinden, and Paul Sturm, The Nonprofit Organizational Culture Guide: Revealing the Hidden Truths That Impact Performance (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011), 12. 8 Kim S. Cameron and Robert E. Quinn, Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011), 1-2.
85 has led researchers to underestimate the importance of culture…in how organizations function.”9
The study of narrative formation had not been actively studied in the Modern
Western context until about 50 years ago.10 One of the reasons narrative has been neglected in terms of corporate transformation is that unless it is challenged, the underlying narrative goes unnoticed, working subconsciously to affect the DNA of an organization. Only when an alternative narrative is presented does the current narrative come to light.11 One way to understand this is through a cultural pyramid:
Explicit Behavior Ar facts
Policies
Narra ves 12
In this pyramid, Cameron and Quinn note that the base begins with unobservable belief and moves upwards toward more observable behavior. In other words, the explicit
9Edgar H. Schein, “Culture: The Missing Concept in Organization Studies,” Administrative Science Quarterly 411 (1996): 229. 10 Brockmeier and Carbaugh, 6.
11 Cameron Quinn, 19.
12Adapted from Cameron and Quinn, 19. Their term “Implicit Assumptions” has been changed to “Narrative” and “Conscience Contracts and Norms” to “Policies” for simplicity sake and conformity to this dissertation. The definitions, as defined by their terms on pp. 19 and 20, are virtually the same.
86 behaviors of the culture are easily analyzed, but the reasoning behind them, the narratives, often go unnoticed and unmonitored.13
The “Narratives” section of the pyramid diagram includes assumptions like how people within organizations view the world, themselves, their place within the organization, God, and their future. These narratives dictate how they perceive their organization and what defines goals and success.14 For example, a true story is told about retreating German troops from the Netherlands in April 1945. During the retreat, the culture was consumed with selfishness and retaliation. During the retreat many bicycles were stolen from the Dutch population. In 2009, a church in the Netherlands received a letter from one of the German soldiers who had stolen a bicycle. The letter noted that the soldier wanted to make amends for his crime. Presumably a cultural shift played a major role in changing the values of the soldier from a selfish person into one who desired to give back.15 This anecdote is an example of how organizational narratives can create values and how, when culture changes, new values are implemented. Narratives are the foundations that drive and dictate the values of an organization.16 According to Hofstede et al, what this means in terms of transformation is that changing overt policies does not
13 Ibid., 20.
14 Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede, and Michael Minkov, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival, 3d ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010), 20.
15 Ibid., 12.
16 Bolman and Deal, 7-8. The authors use an example of this called, “The Curse of Cluelessness” to demonstrate how actions are justified, even if they do not yield results for which they are hoping, because of underlying narratives.
87 dictate a change in implicit values so much as implicit narratives dictate changes in overt policies and values.17
Policies then determine artifacts. Artifacts are markers that are the signs and symbols of the organizational narrative. They encompass all the things tangibly noticed about a culture such as: the language, dress, architecture, symbols, music, products, mission statements, goals, rewards, punishments, rituals and ceremonies.18 Artifacts are the tangible items used to tell the perceived story of the organization and serve as a way to pass on the story along to others. Professors Anat Rafaeli and Michael Pratt assert that simple artifacts such as décor, language, and logos, to more complex ones such as buildings and day-to-day work rhythms, tell the story of the organization and facilitate in interpreting events conforming the community to the underlying narrative.19
Explicit behavior is the most obvious indication of perceived narrative.
Everything from what is tolerated at business meetings, to how conflict is handled, to social interaction is wrapped up on this level. This level has been described as “just the way things are around here.”20 While much of church transformation methods are focused on this level,21 it is the narrative that dictates the behaviors. Even though explicit
17 Hofstede et al., Cultures and Organizations, 20. The authors go as far as to say, “Never believe politicians, religious leaders, or business chiefs who claim they will reform national values. National value systems should be considered given facts, as hard as a country’s geographical position or its weather.” While cultural practices can be easily changed, values, which are closer to the foundation of culture, are changed through much more resistance, 19.
18 Cameron and Quinn, Diagnosing and Changing, 20. See also, Edgar H. Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 4 ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010), 23.
19 Anat Rafaeli and Michael G. Pratt, eds., Artifacts and Organizations: Beyond Mere Symbolism (Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006), 2.
20 Cameron and Quinn, 20.
21 As shown in Chapter One.
88 behaviors are the easiest observable level of the organizational narrative, this is also the level with the least amount of genuine transformation. Attempting to fix things only on this level within churches may result in repressed behaviors, which then result in manifestations such as hypocrisy and legalism, or in changes that only last for a season because the pressure to conform to the underlying narrative continues to be felt.
While explicit behavior can be changed quickly, and often through force or pragmatic changes, more time and focus is needed for genuine narrative level transformation.22 Narrative level transformation is a process that happens organically rather than a rigid step-by-step process of policy change. Cultures tend to “evolve naturally”23 as their narratives begin to change.
Leaders who are unaware of their organizational narrative and how to respond to the narrative, often find themselves entrenched in transformation battle. Leaders who do not take time to study their culture may interpret artifacts of the culture a certain way and respond accordingly. This interpretation, however, may not be an accurate assessment.
Assuming a mutual understanding without genuinely examining the organizational culture could mean failure.24 Conversely, as Bolman and Deal note, leaders “who understand the significance of symbols and know how to evoke spirit and soul can shape more cohesive and effective organizations.”25 For example, both the church leadership team and the parishioners may view discipleship as paramount. However, the church
22 Hofstede et al., Cultures and Organizations, 19.
23 Quinn, Deep Change, 99.
24 Nelson, and Appel, 87.
25 Bolman and Deal, 269.
89 body may anticipate that discipleship means retreating from the world or adding more programs as a means to accomplish the goal, whereas, the leadership team may see more engagement with the world and de-centralizing the church as the way to more effectively make disciples. If these cultural symbols are misinterpreted, both sides could misinterpret the other as a lack of desire to make disciples. And with any organization, the longer the narrative has been in place, the more reinforcing the culture has become around certain symbols. If leaders are able to understand the symbols of their culture, they will be better equipped to help parishioners reinterpret the symbols or dissolve them altogether.
The Reinforcing Nature of Organizational Culture
Professors Lisa Berlinger and Thomas Tumblin sum up the plight of many pastors who have attempted transformation in two consecutive questions, “Why is it that as soon as a problem seems solved, it becomes unsolved? Why is it (even though we pray about it every day) so difficult to lead our congregation congruently with our faith, principles and belief?”26 Robert Quinn, in his book Deep Change would say one of the main reasons for this is the power and reinforcing nature of the cultural narrative. “It is natural for organizations to discourage transformation. Organizational structures and processes encourage equilibrium, not change.”27
Organizations by definition exist because of their commonality. Their common behaviors, artifacts, policies and beliefs bind them together and help make working together more cohesive and unified. While acknowledging that truth, Quinn asserts that
26Lisa A. Berlinger and Thoms F. Tumblin, “Sensemaking, Discernment, and Religious Leadership” Journal of Religious Leadership 3, no. 1 & 2 (Spring/Fall 2004): 75.
27 Quinn, Deep Change, 133.
90 today’s policies, artifacts and explicit behaviors “often represent solutions to yesterday’s problems.”28 Even though change may be needed in a church, the present culture tends to resist that change because the culture justifies their actions and thought patterns.
“Virtually every dominant [culture], in every organization, has a sacred and self-sealing model. It represents the most sacred of common belief patterns because it justifies the present behavior of the most powerful [culture]. It justifies the current equilibrium and limits change to incremental rather than transformational efforts.”29
When new people join the church, the culture therein can often be so strong that their ideas and perceptions will conform to the current culture of the church. Unfamiliar ideas and changes are generally rejected by the dominant culture as it assesses all ideas through the filter of its own worldview.30 Instead the culture seeks to conform the new members to its own ideology. As Nystrom and Starbuck offer, “Organizations learn.
They encase their learning in programs and standard operating procedures that members execute routinely. These programs and procedures generate inertia, and the inertia increases when organizations socialize new members and reward conformity to prescribed roles.”31 Typically, the new person to the church is eager to learn and apply the rules of the new culture with which they are involved32 or they refuse to change and leave to find an organization that better fits their narrative. Either way, the organization
28 Ibid., 156.
29 Ibid., 92-93.
30 Diane Vaughn, The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 62.
31 Nystrom and Starbuck, “Unlearn,” 53.
32Czarniawska, 42-43.
91 effectively solidifies its narrative. This is not necessarily an evil. When a church is healthy, this is a process that could be encouraged, however, when a church is unhealthy, it can perpetuate a culture of unhealthy narrative formation.
How Organizational Change is Resisted
Organizations gather strength from their common culture and when the culture is strong, it can be a powerful force.33 The reinforcing nature of culture can bring strong uniformity and resonance to strategies and structures. However, while this reinforcing nature “foster[s] autonomy, efficiency, and consistency,” the flip side of is, “[it] also promote[s] blindness, rigidity, and self-deception.”34 This rigidity explains why churches seldom see change. Congregations generally do not embrace an alternative model simply because one is presented. Churches, like most other organizations, do not tend to embrace change rapidly. In speaking of organizations in general, Nystrom asserts, “They know that their current beliefs and procedures have arisen from rational analyses and successful experiences, so they have to see evidence that these beliefs and procedures are seriously deficient before they will even think about major changes.”35
Unless transformation can take place at the cultural level, very few efforts will have a lasting effect for the church as an organization. As Quinn notes, “When a seemingly rational strategy conflicts with an existing set of implicit governing rules, little
33 Starbuck, W. H., and Nystrom, P. C. Why Many Firms Run Into Crises, And Why Some Survive. Working paper. Stern School of Business, Management and Organizational Behavior. (1997): 5.
34 Ibid.
35 Nystrom, “Unlearn,” 55.
92 change occurs.”36 This is exemplified by Professor Diane Vaughan’s analysis of the culture problems surrounding NASA and the Challenger space shuttle disaster. When given evidence of the problems, Vaughan notes concerning organizational culture,
They may puzzle over contradictory evidence, but usually succeed in pushing it aside – until they come across a piece of evidence too fascinating to ignore, too clear to misperceive, too painful to deny, which makes vivid still other signals they do not want to see, forcing them to alter and surrender the world-view they have so meticulously constructed.37
This same phenomenon takes place within churches. Even though churches may be given facts and data that show change is necessary, their underlying cultural narrative may keep them from making the necessary transformations.
Philosopher Lev Vygotsky brought this theory of embracing or rejecting data based upon one’s social milieu to the forefront of modern philosophy with his framework of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). ZDP refers to “the difference between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving…in collaboration with more capable peers.”38 According to Vygotsky, there are things that cannot be learned through transfer of information alone, but through other means, whether in close relation to culture or other people.
36 Quinn, Deep Change, 100.
37 Vaughan, 63.
38 Vygotsky, Lev. S., Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978), 86. While Vygotshy’s work mainly centered on children and their developmental process, others have taken his concepts and frameworks and applied them, as in this dissertation, to the development and transformation of adults. See: Ron Tinsley and Kimberly Lebak, “Expanding the Zone of Reflective Capacity: Taking Separate Journeys Together” Networks 11 no 2 (Fall 2009): 1-11.
93
Two of the main concepts of ZPD, especially in regard to transformation, are those of imitation39 and collaboration, meaning that for transformation to occur, data alone will not suffice. Only information that is understood and accepted by others within the culture will be assimilated. For example, in some forms of organized crime, the explicit laws of the country are rejected, yet the cronies are fiercely loyal to the syndicate’s rules. Merely demonstrating to them why murder and extortion is wrong on an intellectual level will not change their minds because of their ZPD. Belief and values are changed, not merely though intellectual means, but also through relationships with others who can guide and direct them.40
Because of transformation being relationally-bound, not only can relationships affect transformation, but they can also hinder transformation. If the main influencers of a church have an errant narrative, they will propagate their views as well. Information preached from a pulpit or taught in classes is not enough to enact healthy transformation.
There are already influential relationships within the church body that will resist and attempt to jettison any new information that is not in line with the collective beliefs of the church. Psychologist Mark Baldwin asserts that “Most psychologists would argue that past interpersonal experiences can exert a powerful influence on current behavior and on the construal of new social information…people develop cognitive structures
39 “Imitation” in this context is not merely copying one’s behaviors or attitudes. Imitation is designed as a means of growth. Vygotsky notes, “Imitation is possible only to the extent and in those forms in which it is accompanied by understanding.” Vygotsky, L. S., The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky, vol 4: The History of the Development of Higher Mental Functions, trans. M. Hall, ed. R. W. Rieber (New York: Plenum Press), 1999.
40 For more information on ZDP as it relates to learning and education, read Vygotsky’s Educational Theory in Cultural Context (pp. 39-64).
94 representing regularities in patterns of interpersonal relatedness.”41 This means that not only is raw information important to transformation, but how churches interpret that information according to their cultural context is equally important. What many church leaders write off as insubordination to the Spirit of God may actually be better diagnosed, and therefore better altered, as an aberrant culture. If the underlying culture can be altered, the interpersonal relationships will become healthier as well, creating a perpetual environment for healthy transformation.
Leaders who are caught unaware of narrative culture may end up with undue pressure to resign or suffer needless conflict because of not heeding these underlying forces. Even when strong leaders are able to push through the resistance and introduce healthy systems, it is not a guarantee that transformation will take place. As Baldwin asserts, “We can tear down all the hierarchy, but they will all reappear because no matter what we utter, at the behavioral level, we continue to enact the old map.”42 Leaders can cast vision and set goals and direction, but if the narrative level of culture remains untouched, very little transformation occurs. “Sometimes things are not as they seem.
Organizations have publically stated goals. These goals usually can be found in the published documents of the organization… Behind these public goals, however, reside operative goals that often override the espoused public goals.”43 Because of the influence of the operative goals, transformation becomes centered around the operative goals, rather than focus primarily on the espoused ones.
41 Mark W. Baldwin, “Relational Schemas and the Processing of Social Information,” Psychological Bulletin 112, no. 3 (1992), 461.
42 Ibid., 102.
43 Ibid., 91.
95
Summary
Because of organizational culture and its resistance to change, church leaders will benefit by first understanding the culture before attempting any change. The foundation for culture is the narrative that the church believes. Figuring out the narrative may take more time than examining specific behaviors, yet this is where healthy transformation takes place. If leaders focus on the more observable markers of an unhealthy culture, but do not change the narrative, they risk running into heavy resistance. Even when policies and artifacts are changed on an organizational level, it is no guarantee that the church body has accepted and adopted those changes within their culture. The church body will continue to live and operate as much as possible their perceived story, not the one that is imposed on them. Leaders will constantly have to put out fires as the church’s natural resistance to change begins to take effect. Leaders can raise good arguments as to why transformation should take place, but resistance tends to be more emotional than rational.
As leaders find flaws in their church’s narrative, they can begin to tell the biblical one highlighting the areas of discrepancy. As the parishioners begin to orient themselves around the biblical narrative they will more naturally live it out. As the beliefs of the leaders and the beliefs of the parishioners align, they will be able to go forward together rather than having to pick sides.
Narrative Identity
Narrative, as mentioned in Chapter One, refers to the underlying story that churches use to make sense of themselves, God, and the world. Narratives are an identity into which people live. While individuals have their own personal narrative, they are not
96 created in a vacuum: it is the cultural narrative that influences and what ultimately gives people their personal identity.44 This includes their assumptions, expectations, habits, beliefs, and taken-for-granted values, many of which are never explicitly articulated.
Cultural narratives answer the questions, “Who are we?” and “What do we do around here?” They define the boundaries of who is a part of a particular culture and who is not.
As leaders begin to present the biblical story in a compelling manner, parishioners will begin to discover for themselves the discrepancies in their church’s story and God’s story leading to an environment more conducive to enact transformation.
Why Narratives are Significant
Generally accepted is the fact that organizations contain a substantial amount of folklore.45 The way an organization relays stories, recounts events, and uses other narrative modes plays an important part in how values and meanings are transferred to others.46 Likewise, the way in which churches tell stories, histories, and anecdotes about themselves and others shows not necessarily the facts of what happened, “but something as equally important: what people want to believe to have happened, and why.”47 This means that the corporeal narrative assesses facts based on the narrative and highlights or disregards them in accordance to what the narrative says is true. By understanding the power and implications of these perceived stories, leaders can better understand the
44 Stroup, 115.
45 Yiannis Gabriel, “On Organisational Stories and Myths: Why it is Easier to Slay a Dragon Than to Kill a Myth,” International Sociology 6, no. 4 (December 1991), 428.
46 Ibid., 428.
47 Ibid., 429.
97 values and beliefs within a church in order to address narrative level transformation.48 By interpreting these stories, their meanings and the highlights, within the biblical narrative, leaders can bring about change by influencing thought patterns and values while not overtly asking people to change.
McGrath notes that the reason why stories are so important is because “Stories are about finding one’s identity, and learning the story of one’s own people.”49 Narratives delineate who is a part of the community and who is not. 50 For Christians, learning the narrative and becoming a part of it can be seen as what separates Christians from those in
“in the world” with competing narratives.51 Helping Christians see themselves in a strong biblical narrative should help Christians to better assess actions and thoughts as being either Christ-centered or stemming from a worldly narrative. When a strong narrative is present, it has the ability to distinctively tell who is finding their identity within a specific narrative and who is not.52
Narrative Identity and Organizational Change
While the reinforcing nature of culture can make transformational change difficult, it does not make it impossible.53 One way to begin the process of change is
48 Ibid., 441.
49 McGrath, 119.
50 Woodward, 15.
51 McGrath, 120.
52Paul Du Gay, et al., Doing Cultural Studies. The Story of the Sony Walkman (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 1997). This is a good example of how strong narrative culture can shape personal identity.
53 Hofstede, et al., Cultures and Organizations, 20.
98 through a process coined by social scientists: “analytical strangeness” meaning, “to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange”.54 By this, Amanda Coffee explains, it is meant that the assumptions, process, and rhythms of the current cultural narrative are brought to the surface to be analyzed and examined before attempting to offer a differing solution to a problem that may not exist in the collective mind of the culture.55 Starbuck and Nystrom, suggest, “Past learning inhibits new learning: before organizations try new ideas, they must unlearn old ones by discovering their inadequacies and then discarding them.”56 In other words, because organizations hold on so tightly to their cultural narrative, they cannot readily accept new forms and frameworks. It is only by consciously letting go of broken ideals that churches can take hold of new ones. This is easier said than done. Says Starbuck and Nystrom, “Unlearning brings morale to a very low state—so low that many firms simply cannot go on. Like punishment, unlearning brings an end to one line of behavior without substituting a new line of behavior, so crisis-ridden firms discover that their old policies and strategies do not work without discovering new policies and strategies that do work.”57 This “punishment” however, is a necessary step for releasing transformation.58 Because identity springs from a narrative, losing a narrative can feel like losing a part of oneself. If leaders recognize the pain
54 Amanda Coffey, Reconceptualizing Social Policy: Sociological perspectives on Contemporary Social Policy (New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 2004), 21.
55 Ibid.
56 Starbuck and Nystrom, “Unlearn,” 53. 57 Starbuck and Nystrom, Why Many Firms Run into Crises, 13.
58 Ibid., 12.
99 associated with losing a narrative, and walk with people through it, it could yield great fruit.
As leaders study their culture, deconstruct the negative aspects and celebrate the healthy aspects, transformation can be implemented more efficiently. Noted organizational change leaders Paul Strum, Denice Hinden, and Paige Teegarden summarize:
We saw, time and again in our research and the case studies…successful…change agents were the ones who took time to understand, then make use of organizational culture to facilitate change and enhance their organization’s effectiveness. Those who didn’t were likely to fail in their change efforts. Culture is an organization’s DNA. Try to fight it, and the culture wins almost every time.59
Becoming aware of one’s organizational culture will enhance and inform virtually all transformational decisions made.60
The power that is contained within a strong, true organizational narrative is hard to overestimate. As Edgar Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management at MIT, notes, “If we don’t understand the operation of these [narrative] forces, we become victim to them.”61 Many studies have shown, as reported by Cameron and Quinn, that,
as many as three-quarters of reengineering, total quality management (TQM), strategic planning, and downsizing efforts have failed entirely or have created problems serious enough that the survival of the organization was threatened…Several studies reported that the most frequently cited reason given for failure was a neglect of the organization’s culture. In other words, failure to change the organization’s culture doomed the other kinds of organizational changes that were initiated.62
59 Paul Sturm, Denice Hinden, and Paige Teegarden, “Organizational Culture: It’s in the Walk, Not Just the Talk,” Nonprofit World (November/December 2011): 22.
60 Teegarden, The Nonprofit Organizational Culture Guide, 5.
61 Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 7.
62 Cameron and Quinn, 1-2.
100
Cameron and Quinn go on to remark about the observable impact a strong cultural narrative can make, “It is difficult to name even a single highly successful company, one that is a recognized leader in its industry, that does not have a distinctive, readily identifiable organizational culture.”63 This is because the identity narratives of an organization are not something to behold, like a monument or a static object, but rather stories are “dwelling places. People live in them.”64
This is important to note because there are many stories to believe. “It is possible to have an overarching single identity, but it will always be made up of several, if not myriad, separate identities, some of which may be contradictory. Some will be stronger than others and the pattern will change over time,” claims Cameron and Quinn.65 With the vast amount of compelling stories that people can believe, for a church not to create a strong identity narrative will lead to schizophrenic parishioners espousing one belief with their lips yet living incongruently in their actions.66
Similar to these secular studies, the Church can become a victim of an unhealthy identity narrative. One of the most notable ways this is felt is when church leadership encounters resistance to transformation. Many leaders wonder, “Why do normal, rational human beings become so irrational when the idea of change is discussed?” The answer is found in underlying cultural narratives. Schein concludes, “If we understand the
63 Ibid., 5.
64 Stephen Crites, “The Narrative Quality of Experience,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 39, no. 3 (September 1971): 295.
65 Richard Miles, Constructing Identities in Late Antiquity (London: Routledge, 1999), 5.
66 This is demonstrated various surveys of beliefs of professing Christians as noted in Chapter One.
101 dynamics of culture, we will be less likely to be puzzled, irritated, and anxious when we encounter the unfamiliar and seemingly irrational behavior of people in organizations, and…also why it is so hard to change them.”67
Narrative is also important because it helps frame both organizational and individual values. This is especially important in transformation. A plaque on the wall listing core values may or may not reflect the deeply held values of church parishioners.
As cultural guru, Geert Hofstede, notes, “Values are implicit.”68 The genuine values that the church body holds are not necessarily manifest on Sunday morning in a sermon or in the by-laws, but during the week in its day-to-day life. While parishioners may outwardly agree with stated values, those values get filtered through the narrative of the church body and individual narratives, which can significantly alter their meaning and application. 69 A healthy biblical narrative that can resonate with the parishioners during the week will help to solidify the explicit values espoused on Sunday, which can be lost in other competing narratives in their social context. For example, small groups can be a place where frustration with and resistance to the biblical narrative can be expressed and processed in a healthy way, thus providing support to parishioners as they struggle to distance themselves from an unhealthy narrative while moving towards a healthier one.
To be part of a community, such as the church, means to a certain extent to “exist in a community composed of those who both tell their own lives and listen to those of
67 Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 9.
68 Hofstede, et al., Cultures and Organizations, 23.
69 D. Scott Cormode, Making Spiritual Sense: Christian Leaders as Spiritual Interpreters (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2006), 21. A good example is provided here of how stated values can be interpreted differently due to preconceived narratives.
102 others, and shape their accounts accordingly.”70 This is why there can be such misunderstanding and suspicion between people in different cultures even within different churches or denominations. Every action is filtered through the collective narrative so that meaning is brought to the action. Therefore actions can have multiple implications depending on how it is interpreted.71 Church leaders without understanding underlying narratives may assume certain attitudes are behind various actions, yet there are a myriad of reasons why parishioners do things.72 Similarly, if church leaders attempt to enact change without allowing their narrative to be understood by the church, then parishioners may assume attitudes and goals that are contrary to those of the leaders.
Finally, organizational narratives can be a solid ground when attempting organizational transformation because it provides a level of stability, especially within a church. Some parishioners and clergy may leave and others may join, but the narrative will be unifying constant. Narrative provides belonging to the congregation.73 It is what defines an organization and therefore will not be disregarded lightly.74 Those who do not have the shared narrative of the church will be discipled not only through explicit
70 Richard Harvey Brown, ed., The Politics of selfhood, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003), 194.
71 Ibid., 195.
72 For example, many churches sing Happy Birthday during the worship service. While some can interpret this as a distraction from the greatest commandment of loving God above all else (Matt. 22:37), the parishioners may view it as a way to value the Body of Christ by recognizing individuals and the connection they have with each other, thus fulfilling the second greatest commandment (Matt. 22:39).
73 Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 99.
74 Ibid., 16.
103 teaching, but through implicit interaction and assimilation of language, metaphors, and rewards for adopting the corporeal narrative.75
Summary
Cultures are developed around narratives. Strong narratives create cultural boundaries meaning that the narratives help describe who is “in” the group and who is
“out.” As leaders begin to tell a strong biblical narrative, discrepancies will surface between the biblical narrative and the church’s narrative. If the story is continuously presented in a strategic way, a sense of strangeness will develop around the church’s narrative that once felt so familiar. The solid narrative that held the culture together may become destabilized and allow the biblical narrative to take its place.
The knowledge that parishioners live within their perceived narrative helps church leaders better understand their people and why they make seemingly irrational decisions.
The truth is, they are not acting irrational; they are merely living out their narrative. With this insight, church leaders are able to have compassion and empathy especially when disagreements arise. Rather than attacking a parishioner, understanding one’s orientation will help leaders to speak truth into that person’s narrative.
Psychology of Narrative
In order to understand why narratives affect individuals and communities, especially in regard to transformation, the psychological term “schema” will be examined. Narrative and schema are terms that are closely linked, yet in the discipline of psychology, the standard term, schema, is used.
75 Ibid., 107-110.
104
Schema
A schema is, as professor of psychology Richard Eiser denotes, “an abstract or generic knowledge structure, stored in memory, that specifies the defining features and relevant attributes of some stimulus domain, and the interrelation among those attributes.”76 A schema is a cognitive framework that helps individuals and groups evaluate, organize, and interpret information that is received. Professor of narratology
Edward Branigan notes that narratives act similar to a schema in that narratives help make “our world of experiences and desires intelligible. It is a fundamental way of organizing data.”77 Schemata are not random and isolated bits and pieces of information, but rather they are connected and organized data made into stories. Philosopher, Alan
Milchman writes,
The quandaries of moral life are typically negotiated by way of reflective mythologizing. We find out what we ought to do by determining what our roles are in a story that concretely embeds us in life. Principles, propositions, and logic have their place in political philosophy to be sure. The effectiveness of these instruments of argumentation, however, largely rests on the appeal of the narratives they supplement and support.78
In other words, the information that people receive is filtered through their schema based on their perception of the story in which they find themselves. A key component as churches look to transform themselves will be the alignment of corporate schema to the biblical story.
76 J. Richard Eiser, ed., Attitudinal Judgment: Springer Series in Social Psychology, (New York: Springer, 2011), 197.
77 Edward Branigan, Narrative Comprehension and Film (London: Routledge, 1992), 1.
78 Alan Milchman and Alan Rosenberg eds., Foucault and Heidegger: Critical Encounters (Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 2003), 214.
105
Belief Defined as Schema
In regard to faith, Daniel McIntosh, who is a professor of both psychology and theology at the University of Denver, believes that religion can be defined as schema.
McIntosh adeptly perceives a connection between parishioners and their resistance to change. As the parishioners collect information and filter it through their schema, they reject any incongruent information. Quoting “the father of cognitive psychology,” Ulric
Neisser, McIntosh writes that people notice, “only what they have schemas for, and willy-nilly ignore the rest.”79 If a certain desired outcome advocated by leadership is not in the scope of a church culture’s schema, the outcome could be incomprehensible to the parishioners and therefore resisted.80
Despite the resistance to change, schemas are not set in stone. They are “built through experience”81 and as such, can adapt to new information. This adaptation is generally not an instantaneous event. Studies have shown that adapting schema to new information takes longer to process than information that can readily fit into schema.82
79 Daniel N. McIntosh, “Religion-As-Schema, With Implications for the Relation Between Religion and Coping.” The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 5, no. 1 (1995): 3.
80 For example, as international attention to HIV in Africa began increasing in the late 1990s and early 2000s, American public health workers looked to existing community structures, including local churches, to reach out to people who were infected. Initially, many churches refused to work with the public health agencies because to them, helping HIV-infected people was tantamount to condoning sin. Charitable work to ease the suffering brought on by sin was outside their schema. However, many churches were willing to help children who were infected by HIV or who had been orphaned by it, since they were seen as innocent victims. Working with HIV-affected children and their families gradually changed the schemas of these churches, and as their grace and compassion expanded, so did their willingness to work with adults and all their neighbors who were infected. Churches in Africa today are once again leading their communities in caring for the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the sick, including people living with HIV. Interview with Interim Country Coordinator, President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) - Kenya, US Embassy Nairobi, Sonja Madera, 9/17/14.
81 Ibid., 6.
82 Ibid., 9.
106
This is one of the reasons why transformation can be a long process. Once the schema is altered, however, it more readily accepts newly familiar information. Therefore, as schema begins to change, transformation becomes easier and quicker.83
Understanding religious faith as an aspect of schema will help church leaders in understanding how parishioners interpret information to which they are subjected. While some people may resist the new information or direction that is being given them, this does not necessarily mean that they love God any less or do not desire his kingdom.
Instead, understanding faith as schema will help church leaders demonstrate empathy towards those individuals or groups and help them assimilate new truth in a more holistic way.
Sensemaking
Sensemaking refers to a collective interpretation of events that is processed into an organization’s schema.84 Carl Weick, asserts that for interpretation to take place, the collective self, rather than the environment, is the key to interpreting events and ideas.85
Business executive, Goran Carstedt, who revolutionized Volvo’s French Division, noted,
“The world simply can’t be made sense of, facts can’t be organized, unless you have a mental model to begin with.”86 Organizing facts within this mental model is the process of sensemaking.
83 Jim Collins called this process the “flywheel effect.” A good primer on this is Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t (New York: Harper Collins, 2001), 164-187.
84 Berlinger, “Sensemaking, Discernment, and Religious Leadership”, 78.
85 Weick, 23.
86 Charles Hampden-Turner, Creating Corporate Culture: From Discord to Harmony (Reading: Addison-Wesley Pub., 1992), 197.
107
Sensemaking helps order the world and individual and collective experiences under preconceived assumptions. Sensemaking can go as far as altering individual memory to conform to a group’s collective perspective.87 Groups fill in the missing gaps of events to help process various experiences. This is how churches and parishioners make sense of themselves and their part in the world. Consequently, what can be comprehended through underlying cognitive structures such as worldviews, goals, and artifacts, is internalized; whereas items that are not a part of the narrative or schema, or are contradictory to it, are discarded.88
What is kept and what is dismissed through sensemaking is important to church transformation because transformation, or lack thereof, is grounded in and filtered through the schema. Professor and mythologist Joseph Campbell notes, “when the story is in your mind, then you see its relevance to something happening in your own life. It gives you perspective on what’s happening to you.”89 When assessing behaviors and attitudes, they can only be understood properly in their specific cultural and narrative settings.90 Writing in regards to ethical and political leanings, Milchman recognizes that logic alone does not change people’s behaviors or attitudes, but rather by identifying and internalizing stories.91 In this regard, sensemaking is not primarily about facts, but the story in which the facts lie. These stories are what assign certain facts significance while
87 David M. Boje, Narrative Methods for Organizational and Communication Research (London: Sage, 2001), 75.
88 Nystrom and Starbuck, “Unlearn”, 55.
89 Joseph Campbell, Bill D. Moyers, and Betty S. Flowers, The Power of Myth (New York: Anchor, 1991), 2.
90 Czarniawska, 12. 91 Milchman and Rosenberg, Critical Encounters, 214.
108 disregarding others. It is this sensemaking process that determines what the viable options are for church transformation. If the church does not have a way to assimilate a method of transformation within their schema, they will reject it.92
Sensemaking through a narrative framework is becoming increasingly more self- evident. Many in the rationalist mindset93 believe that logic and argumentation alone are enough to enact change, yet scholar Jerome Bruner has noted that “logical thought is not even the most ubiquitous mode of thought” believing that narratives far outweigh the impact of logic alone.94 The same is asserted by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre as he remarks, “a man is always a teller of tales, he lives surrounded by his stories and the stories of others, he sees everything that happens to him through them; and he tries to live his own life as if he were telling a story.”95
Because making sense of life is primarily in a narrative framework, it also creates a “moral analysis.”96 The way in which a person recounts their life story will highlight certain events while leaving out or downplaying others in order to justify their beliefs about who they are. In this way people live out their perception of their life, the values and morals, in which their autobiography narrates.97 Organizations do this as well.
Certain events are remembered and recalled regularly while others are forgotten. This
92 Weick, 77. The author notes that organizations use the sensemaking process to create strategies for change.
93 See Chapter One.
94 Jerome Bruner, “Life as Narrative,” Social Research 71, no. 3 (Fall 2004): 691.
95 Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea, trans. Lloyd Alexander (Canada: Penguin Books Canada Limited, 2007), 39.
96 Brown, 194.
97 Ibid., 194.
109 creates its own organizational autobiographical soil in which the culture is planted and grown. Certain values and behaviors are commended while other divergent ones are condemned. In that vein of thought, Bruner suggests:
The heart of my argument is this: eventually the culturally shaped cognitive and linguistic processes that guide the self-telling of life narratives achieve the power to structure perceptual experience, to organize memory, to segment and purpose- build the very “events” of a life. In the end, we become the autobiographical narratives by which we “tell about” our lives.98
To put it succinctly, Bruner goes on to reframe Oscar Wilde’s famous quote in that
“Narrative imitates life, life imitates narrative.”99 People live how they perceive their life and organizations move in the direction of their perceived collective identity. This is how sense is made and behavior and justified.
Summary
Understanding the psychology by which parishioners assimilate and reject data will enhance the effectiveness of leaders who desire transformation. When a church resists transformational change, it may mean that they cannot process some aspect of the biblical narrative. Leaders can therefore begin to work with the schema and take slower steps or a different strategy that will help parishioners better assimilate the biblical narrative. Understanding the sensemaking process a church goes through is important during times of transformation. As the biblical narrative is accepted—and more readily accepted by the parishioners, over time the transformational process will be become easier.
98 Bruner, “Life as Narrative,” 694.
99 Ibid., 692.
110
Narratives Related to Church Culture
This section will discuss some of the effects that narratives have specifically on the life of a church.100 How do narratives affect programs and processes in regards to church life? This section addresses the question and demonstrates how narratives affect individual spiritual growth as well. Rather than using business language like
“organization” and “corporate,” more organic terms will be used such as “organism” and
“corporeal” as noted in Chapter One.
How Corporeal Narratives Affect Programs and Processes
As Pastors Robert Lewis and Wayne Cordeiro write in the opening line of Culture
Shift, “Culture is the most important social reality in your church.”101 While the artifacts of culture, such as language, music, rituals, and explicit behaviors are the most obvious signs of brokenness on a cultural level, they point to a much deeper systemic problem regarding narratives. Artifacts and explicit behaviors, as mentioned above, are the result of narratives, not the cause. This truth is demonstrated throughout church life. For example, if the underlying narrative of a particular congregation is that it is a school for religious education, then its people may look to the credentials of the leaders; they will desire intellectuals who can teach them new truths about Scripture. If the church sees itself as a social action group, then the leaders are expected to be in the forefront of
100 “Church,” as used in this context refers to “the people of God…[in] the local character of a Christian congregation,” Tyndale Bible Dictionary, 281.
101 Lewis, et al., 3.
111 mobilizing the church for service to the community.102 While there is nothing inherently wrong with churches having a high view of instruction or social justice, without a biblical identity these ideals could be overemphasized while neglecting other important areas.103
This is due to the values Christians place on certain processes and programs. These values are a direct result of underlying assumptions created by the corporeal narrative.
Narrative, therefore, becomes highly strategic and powerful104 in the transformation or lack thereof in the church.
How Corporeal Narratives Affect the Individual
Corporeal narratives affect more than just corporeal transformation. They play a large role in individual discipleship and transformation as well. As the Body is made up of individual members so corporeal narratives exist because they are believed by individuals. As the individual is assimilated into the church, he or she will begin to adopt its narrative, whether it is healthy or unhealthy. Professor P.J. van der Merwe notes,
“Individual identity consists of personal processing of group values and the identification of an own place and role in the group.”105
Some churches continue to produce transformed disciples while others continue to struggle because churches can only produce what they are. Hofstede argues, “Culture is
102 For more examples of how narratives dictate these types of explicit behaviors, see: William Steuart McBirnie, The Search for the Early Church: New Testament Principles for Today’s Church (Carol Steam: Tyndale, 1978), 138-140.
103 William Steuart McBirnie, The Search for the Early Church: New Testament Principles for Today’s Church (Carol Steam: Tyndale, 1978), 139.
104 P. J. van der Merwe, “Church and Culture: A Religio-theological Perspective” Hervormde Teologiese Studies 61, no. 3 (S 2005): 777.
105 Ibid., 778.
112 learned, not innate. It derives from one’s social environment rather than one’s genes.”106
While the “nature versus nurture” debate is more complex than the definitive statement given by Hofstede, there is no real doubt that culture shapes people. Whatever the underlying story of the church is, new converts will adopt the story. In this way, a parishioner’s ZPDs will either expand or contract to the degree that they interact and are discipled by within a healthy or unhealthy church body. Conversely, those who wish to remain in a different narrative tend to leave. Either way, the church’s story is self- reinforcing. In other words, “The human being creates culture and is a product of culture as well.”107 Disciples make disciples.108
As mentioned earlier, narratives dictate policies and artifacts. As Dr. Charles
Scholl notes in his lectures on organizational cultures at the University of Rhode Island,
“Most systems of social organization attempt to control the variability of member behavior…[they] set up rules, procedures and standards, along with various consequences for compliance and non-compliance.”109 It is these consequences that begin to conform and transform individuals. Parishioners are honored or reprimanded for certain behaviors or beliefs. For example bringing the homeless into a worship service could be honorably viewed as an act of redemption for the community, or reprimanded as a safety and security violation depending on the narrative present. In this way, parishioners learn how to live as a part of the culture.
106 Hofstede, 6.
107 van der Merwe, 772.
108Paul W. Chilcote, ed., Making Disciples in a World Parish: Global Perspectives on Mission and Evangelism (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2011), 104.
109 Richard W. Scholl, Organizational Culture, accessed November 20, 2013, http://www.uri.edu/research/lrc/scholl/webnotes/Culture.htm.
113
If a healthy narrative is present, personal transformation can happen much more readily and naturally. Rather than relying on the pastor or key leaders to specifically promote ideals, new members will learn from interacting with the congregation at large.
If a healthy narrative is already the culture of the church, and not merely the hopes of a few key leaders, then the health will continue even if the leadership changes or some catastrophe happens.
How Narratives Shape Belief, Faith, and Identity
There is no lack of narratives to choose from in the world today.110 The question that is being asked today is perfectly articulated by theologian Stanley Hauerwas, “How we can make the story we believe to be true not only compelling for us, but for the whole world – a world caught between such unhappy alternative stories.”111 The answer is found in part in a quote written by Ira Glass, who founded This American Life. In an article published in Pacific Standard, Glass writes, “The power of anecdote is so great, it has a momentum in and of itself…no matter how boring the facts are.” He goes on to say,
“With a well told story, you feel inherently as if you are on a train that has a destination.”112 The American Church has by and large forgotten the grand story of God
110 Czarniawska, 24.
111 Stanley Hauerwas, After Christendom?: How the Church Is to Behave If Freedom, Justice, and a Christian Nation Are Bad Ideas (Nashville: Abingdon, 1991), 148.
112 Michele Weldon, “Your Brain on Story: Why Narratives Win Our Hearts and Minds,” Pacific Standard, accessed May 19, 2014, http://www.psmag.com/navigation/books-and-culture/pulitzer- prizes-journalism-reporting-your-brain-on-story-why-narratives-win-our-hearts-and-minds-79824/
114 in which truth has been revealed and reduced it to personal fulfillment or conformed truth under an American culture narrative.113
Business consultant Annette Simmons notes, “People don’t want more information. They are up to their eyeballs in information. They want faith—faith in you, your goals, your success, in the story you tell. It is faith that moves mountains, not facts.”114 As the adage says, “Discipleship is caught, not taught.”115 This is significant because if transformation is to have lasting impact, it will not be because of what churches have on a plaque or what they say they believe, but it will be the narratives they live out.
Bolman and Deal remind leaders, “In high-performing organizations and groups, stories keep traditions alive and provide examples to guide everyday behavior”116
Narratives facilitate conformity in worldview. Boje asserts, “Every story excludes. Every story legitimates a centered point of view, a worldview, or an ideology among alternatives. No story is ideologically neutral; story floats in the chaotic soup of bits and pieces of story fragments. Story is never alone; it lives and breathes its meaning in a web of other stories.”117 Facts apart from story are limited in their influence. It is when the facts are placed within a compelling narrative that they have the power to shape faith and identity.
113 Thomas Rester, “Finding Life: An Organic Model of Renewal for Existing Churches” (DMin diss., George Fox Evangelical Seminary, 2008), 126.
114 Simmons, 3.
115 Eric Russ, Discipleship Defined (U.S.: Xulon Press, 2010), 80.
116 Bolman and Deal, Reframing Organizations, 284.
117 Boje, Narrative Methods, 18.
115
Business consultant Steve Denning states that, “Through stories, our values and principles have been passed from one generation to another. Stories provide continuity in our lives, conveying a sense of where we have come from, our history, and our heritage.
Stories are immediate and unique…Storytelling brings people together in a common perspective, and stretches everyone’s capacity to empathize with others and share experience.”118 Czarniawska goes further saying, “For all the importance of tacit knowledge, there would be no continuity and no civilization if people were not able to narrate their past, present, and future actions to each other.”119 What these two scholars conclude is that stories give people an identity. They help people make sense of their past, present, and future and interpret events through a specific lens. For the purposes of this dissertation, that lens is the biblical narrative.
Donald Polkinghorne writes that people self conceptualize through narrative.
Their lives are understood “as an expression of a single unfolding and developing story.”120 As such, they attach themselves to other stories in which they believe line up with their own story.121 This is important as churches look to transform. A church’s culture will generally not attract who they want, but who they are.122 As a healthier, more compelling narrative is offered and lived out of, it will affect how each member sees
118 Steve Denning, The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations (Boston: Butterworth Heinemann, 2001), xviii.
119 Czarniawska, 24.
120 Donald E. Polkinghome, Narrative Knowing and the Human Sciences (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988), 150.
121 Ibid., 151.
122 Aubrey Malphurs, The Nuts and Bolts of Church Planting: A Guide for Starting Any Kind of a Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011), 129.
116 themselves and help foster and environment of growth and assimilation of healthier people.
For even a basic identity of self and the narrative in which one lives, there needs to be an “orientation to the good” meaning that, from a narrative framework, the direction of life movement is towards the good.123 Philosopher, Derek Parfit, in his seminal book on personal identity, notes “Identity over time just involves…psychological connectedness and/or psychological continuity, with the right kind of cause.”124
Individuals, as they constantly redefine their identity, also reconstruct the basis and objects of their faith as biblical stories feed into the construction of the self.125 As churches allow the narrative of God to enter into an individual’s narrative, the definition of good is changed and the individual reorients and redefines their life direction based on their new understanding of what is good.126
Summary
A strong biblical narrative provides a solid ground upon which to build a church.
A church that is grounded in the biblical narrative rather than the strength of a pastor or leadership team will be able to weather the storms of life, such as leadership turnover, with much more cohesion. Especially as churches grow, the influence of a pastor or a few
123 Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: the Making of Modern Identity (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 47.
124 Derek A. Parfit, Reasons and Persons (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984), 279.
125 Jeremy Punt, “Identity, Memory, and Scriptural Warrant: Arguing Paul’s Case,” Journal of Early Christian History 1, no. 2 (2011): 152.
126 Taylor, 47. While not speaking directly to spiritual formation, the implication is that the understanding of “good” is constantly changing and being redefined in one’s life as they encounter new information and narratives. See also: Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue (New York: Bloomsbury Pub., 2013), chapter 14.
117 individuals begins to wane, but if the central unifying factor is the biblical narrative, the influence of those people will be much less important to the direction of the church. This narrative will have discipleship effects on those who enter the church body. They will consciously and unconsciously begin to be transformed by the narrative. One of the reasons, as first mentioned in Chapter One, for the ineffectiveness of the Church in
America is that parishioners find their identity not in Christ, but in the world. As
Christians begin to be transformed by a strong biblical narrative, discipleship efforts within the church will become easier. It will show the incompatibility between the world’s narrative and the biblical narrative and how the biblical narrative is more holistic, life-giving, and prudent.
Conclusion
Current research has shown that organizational narratives can have more influence in fostering an environment for transformation than previously thought.
Attempting transformational work on the explicit behavior or artifact organizational level without at least examining narratives could find much more resistance than necessary.
Until the underlying narratives are changed, transformation is only superficial and short lived. This is because narratives reinforce themselves, building on each other. The longer the narrative is in place, the more solidified and rigid it becomes.
Narratives are the means through which people make sense of the world. They are an identity into which people live. They are not created in a vacuum, but are influenced by the culture around them. This is important because the way an organization tells its story affects how they see themselves, their community, their goals, and values.
Organizations live into their perceived stories.
118
These stories are the schema upon which organizations evaluate and process information and events. As churches strive to live in the biblical narrative, more and more information and events will be processed through a biblical schema. Sensemaking then occurs through a new God-scripted paradigm allowing a healthier environment for transformation to take place. As transformation takes place, and the corporeal narrative is realigned with the biblical narrative, not only does the church change, but individuals are better discipled as a result of entering into a healthier narrative. As the church body is realigned under the biblical narrative, they will find themselves less wrapped up in the world’s narrative and freer to follow Christ.
CHAPTER 5: ELEMENTS AND EXPRESSIONS OF NARRATIVE
Introduction
Narrative is expressed in many ways. These expressions have the power to shape people’s understanding of their narrative. The expressions can “evoke [narratives] to which they were relevant and position individuals with respect to those [narratives]. It is their pivotal role, as Vygotsky called it – their capacity to shift the perceptual, cognitive, affective, and practical frame of activity – that makes [narrative expressions] so significant in human life.”1 In this section, nine expressions of narrative will be examined as they relate to practical ministry application. The expressions are organized into the four elements of culture, as listed in Organizational Culture in Action: A Cultural
Analysis Workbook. The four categories are symbolic elements, role elements, interactive elements, and context elements. Each category will have examples of expressions of narrative that fit into the category. Each expression will be briefly analyzed through four topics: the definition of the expression, the significance of the expression, how a church can be hindered by it and how a church can overcome those barriers.
In Natural Church Development, Christian Schwartz asserts that healthy church growth comes not from programmatic or numeric means, but rather through creating the right environment for growth.2 Through understanding the various elements and expressions of narrative and applying them in their ministry context, church leaders will be better equipped to foster an environment for transformation.
1 Dorothy Holland, et al., Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001), 63.
2 Schwarz,16.
119 120
Interactive Elements of Narrative
These interactive elements are so defined because they can only exist as church members interact with one another. Whereas some elements of narrative, such as recalling memories or stories, can be done in isolation, these elements require the participation of others. They cannot “be observed in a single member.”3 Though not exclusive, the two elements discussed here are play and ritual.
Play
One aspect of narrative that deserves its own section is play. Bolman and Deal note, “The essence of high performance is spirit. If we were to banish play…we would destroy teamwork, not enhance it.”4 Play concerns itself with joking and banter that stands in contrast to the often-serious demeanor of an organization. Play, within an organization, is “a source of relaxation, stimulation, enlightenment, and spiritual renewal.”5
Play is often neglected within organizations and is seen as the opposite of work.6
However, good play can develop and possibly define the spirit of an organization.7 A spirit of play within an organization, “relaxes rules to explore alternatives, encouraging experimentation, flexibility, and creativity.”8 Not only does play give an organization a
3 Gerald W. Driskill and Angela L. Irenton, Organizational Culture in Action: A Cultural Analysis Workbook (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2011), 51.
4 Bolman and Deal, 290.
5 Ibid., 286.
6 Ibid., 268.
7 Ibid., 285.
8 Ibid., 269.
121 sense of freedom and lightheartedness, but it also helps release tension that forms among any group and create and strengthen bonds between group members.9 Joking and banter have narrative impacts because “humor is generally based on incongruity, that is, on deviation from the norm or a generally accepted convention.”10 Furthermore, in order to understand a narrative joke, one has to be aware of the “norms” of the narrative and be able find the humor contained in the deviation from the norms.
Another reason why play is important is because often the Christian life is seen as work. Even the language used is one of a work culture. Phrases like “useful for the
Kingdom,” “purpose-driven life,” and “valuable for Christ” use the metaphors and language of work in Western Christianity.11 Within this type of narrative, play can be neglected. According to a recent Barna study, Millennials frequently describe worship services as something that “feels like a boring duty.”12 Yet the biblical narrative speaks not only of growing up in faith, but also coming to Christ as a child at play and how the
Kingdom of Heaven belongs to children.13
9 Ibid., 281.
10 Argiris Archakis and Villy Tsakona, The Narrative Construction of Identities in Critical Education (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), 77.
11 Leonard Sweet’s book, The Well Played Life, is a good primer to how much the work metaphor has crept into the American Church’s language.
12 “Five Reasons Millenials Stay Connected to Church,” Barna Group, last modified September 17, 2013, accessed October 25, 2014, https://www.barna.org/barna-update/millennials/635-5-reasons- millennials-stay-connected-to-church#.VEZeo3x0zIU.
13 Matt. 18:3; Luke 18:16-17; 1 Pet. 2:2.
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Leonard Sweet aptly notes, “It is time to abolish work. It is time for a theology of play.”14 Celebrations, festivities, retreats, and many other forms of breaking with a routine of work can be life-giving to church bodies in several ways. They can be times when parishioners truly get to know one another and develop more solidified relational bonds. In that way, good play can “convey membership and gain perspective on negative or tragic organizational events.”15 In regards to transformation, Sweet writes, “There is no creation without play. Play is oxygen for the imagination, which sparks creativity, which ignites innovation, which combusts in paradigm shifts.”16 Building in a culture of play may help transformational leaders create the flexibility needed within a church to enact some of the changes necessarily for genuine transformation to take place.
Rituals
Another area, which can be used to transform an individual’s identity and the broader church’s collective culture, is rituals. Hofstede et al. defines rituals as “collective activities that are technically superfluous to reach desired ends but that, within a culture, are considered socially essential. They are therefore carried out for their own sake.”17
This includes practices like how parishioners greet one another, how and when services are conducted, and the church calendar. While the rituals may be visible to an outside observer, the meanings behind the rituals are often unspoken and only understood by
14 Leonard I. Sweet, The Well-played Life: Why Pleasing God Doesn't Have to Be Such Hard Work (Bonita Springs: Tyndale, 2014), 2.
15 Driskill and Irenton, 51.
16 Sweet, The Well-played Life, 6.
17 Hofstede et al., 9.
123 those in the culture.18 It is these underlying meanings that are connected to the narrative and why changing how a ritual is preformed can become a battle for transformational leaders.
This discussion is especially significant because rituals reinforce the underlying narratives.19 The reason rituals are practiced is because of a belief in something. Even though the act of the ritual is not necessarily essential to the church, it gives life and allegiance to the narrative, which explains why the ritual is being conducted. Bolman and
Deal, when discussing the value of ritual assert, “An organization without a rich symbolic life grows empty and barren. The magic of special occasions is vital in building significance into collective life…When ritual and ceremony are authentic and attuned, they fire the imagination, evoke insight, and touch the heart.”20
Within a church, rituals can be used as forms of induction for outsiders who desire to be a part of the community. It is a form of acceptance into a group.21 Bolman and Deal go so far as to say, “only a weak culture accepts newcomers without some form of hazing.”22 Thom Ranier, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, found similar results in a study done whereby church membership requirements where raised and the
18 Ibid.
19 Schein, Organizational Cultures and Leadership, 253.
20 Bolman and Deal, 408.
21 Ibid., 262.
22 Ibid., 263.
124 effect was that the culture was boosted and more people wanted to be a part of the culture.23 Where there are no rituals, the narrative of a church becomes weak.
Induction rituals have been a part of the local church since the beginning. As mentioned in Chapter Three, the early church especially had catechumen and baptism rituals in order to receive access into the church. Today, ordination counsels are still conducted for Christians who are about to be placed in leadership roles in order to demonstrate their worthiness of the position taken and to the culture in which they are now becoming a part. Church votes and parties designed to welcome new members are all forms of induction rituals.
Other forms of rituals include how a worship service is conducted and what elements are highlighted within that context. The forms of liturgy and even the translation of Scripture used are all rituals that have symbolic meaning to the parishioners. These rituals help share and reinforce the perceived narrative of the church.
Discussing why people do not know how to act within a society, Moyer states that, “Society has provided them no rituals by which they become members of the tribe, of the community.”24 Unfortunately, much of evangelical culture, and especially seeker- sensitive church models, in keeping pace with society, have gone about removing rituals and ceremonies.25 As a consequence, much of the Christian narrative has lost its resonance and sense of identity. Rainer notes, “the typical church in America today has
23 Thom S. Rainer, High Expectations: The Remarkable Secret for Keeping People in Your Church (Nashville: B & H Pub. Group, 1999), 51.
24 Campbell, Power of Myth, 9.
25 Dan Kimball, The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 31-32.
125
‘dumbed down’ the meaning of membership to a point where membership means nothing.”26 With a loss of meaningful narratives within the churches, parishioners find meaning in narratives outside of the church.27 Bolman and Deal note, “Rituals and ceremonies…enclose and define special forms of behavior. What occurs on the surface is not nearly as important as the deeper meaning communicated beneath visible behavior.”28
As churches add rituals to their narratives, they will enhance and help solidify the stories that they tell.
While rituals have the power to strengthen the narrative, they also have the power to restrict healthy narratives and propagate unhealthy ones. Again, Bolman and Deal speak to this:
When properly conducted and attuned to valued myths, both ritual and ceremony fire the imagination and deepen faith; otherwise, they become cold, empty forms that people resent and avoid. They can release creativity and transform meanings, but they can also cement the status quo and block adaptation and learning…Negative symbols perpetuate evil, just as positive symbols reinforce goodness. Symbols cut both ways.29
This means that the rituals of a church can be used to solidify and maintain good values, or if left unmonitored, the symbols and meanings of the rituals can perpetuate a resistance to transformation, creating an “us vs. them” mentality. For example, in the negative, if the ritual is that the sanctuary is a place of quiet and respect, a new mother may feel unwelcome and out of place if her infant begins to cry. The ritual may have been implemented as a way to draw close to God, but that value has been replaced by a
26 Rainer, High Expectations, 49.
27 Kinnaman, and Lyons, 28. Various false narratives are presented that non-Christians believe about Christians.
28 Bolman and Deal, 286.
29 Ibid., 267.
126 negative value only of quietness which can hinder, rather than foster, a person’s connection with God. If transformational leaders can highlight positive rituals and resign negative ones, it could prove a powerful tool for a church body’s transformation.30
Concerning the power of ritual and its connection to the biblical narrative,
McGrath writes, “The story is told at two main points in particular in the regular
Christians cycle of worship and prayer—baptism and the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist.”31
In this way, not only do rituals transmit the values of a church, but they transmit the narrative as well. Through ritual, a person is able to enter into a church’s story.32 Susan
Boynton speaks to this when writing about the Medieval Church, “It is no exaggeration to say that, for ecclesiastical institutions, liturgy and ritual formed the foundation of corporate identity.”33
Role Elements of Narrative
Role elements help assign a place to those within the narrative. They give examples and aspirations of how to live out the narrative. While there are numerous expressions that can be labeled within this heading,34 two expressions are addressed here: heroes and mythologies. Heroes are those whom the parishioners seek to emulate.
Mythologies are the stories in which heroes and their counterparts, villains, are given life.
30 Claude King related a story of how he re-signed the ritual of the Lord’s Supper in a church that was dealing with division and factions. As he taught every night for a week on the Lord’s Supper, God used this reframing to change hearts so that when the congregation went to the table on Sunday morning, many repented and turned from their pride. At the time of this dissertation, the church remains healthy to this day. Claude V. King, interviewed by author, Nashville, TN, April 16, 2012.
31 McGrath, 120.
32 Ibid., 119.
33 Boynton, 4.
34 Driskill and Brenton, 49. The authors list other expressions that would be included here such as “high priest, storyteller, and cabal member.”
127
Mythologies
Myths are not necessarily fictitious stories; often their truths are based on fact.35
Myths and “stories, like other cultural artifacts, do more than infuse organizational life with meaning and purpose; they provide a cathartic outlet for emotion, they offer a symbolic avenue for conquering pain and powerlessness and a protective armour against suffering and misfortune.”36 Organizational myths are stories about an organization’s values.37 Whereas “values are intangible,”38 stories about the values bring examples and concreteness to what they espouse. For example, a church may say it values evangelism, but if there is no myth to make the value tangible, then the value may end up being nothing more than empty words. However, if a myth can be attached to the value, such as a true story of how someone through much fear led their neighbor to Christ and that person became a great evangelist, then the value becomes a real life example of living evangelism.
The significance of a myth, as Campbell notes, is that when a myth is remembered and recalled, “then you see its relevance to something happening in your own life. It gives you perspective on what’s happening to you.”39 In essence, people see themselves within the myth. This is why the biblical narrative is so important. It offers to
35 Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 255.
36 Gabriel, 430.
37 Bolman and Deal, 255.
38 Ibid.
39 Campbell, Power of Myth, 2.
128
Christians true myths. It gives them perspective on events that are similar to their own circumstances and provides values that can shape people as they journey through life.
The problem comes when the biblical story is not recalled. Because values are encompassed by myth, if a church does not have a way to encompass their important values within a myth, those values could be replaced with lesser ideals. Milchman asserts,
Ethical…dispositions do not get settled, or even much realigned, with the lever of logic. These dispositions largely develop through the internalization of stories – through identification with characters, themes, and the struggles they depict. Individuals typically find their ethical…moorings by grounding themselves in narratives whose plots and characters valorize certain relationships and actions while depreciating others.40
Everyone believes in some sort of myths and the values contained therein. One of the ways to tap into the narrative level of transformation is through mythology, because, as
Bolman and Deal note, “Even a flawed story will work if it taps persuasively into the experience, values, and hopes of listeners.”41 If a church’s flawed stories can be replaced with the biblical narrative and with healthy myths, then transformational change takes place more readily.
Another problem with myth in the context of church life is that people tend to only highlight and perceive the values with which they are already familiar.42 This means that myths that are told by the parishioners tend to bolster the perceived narrative of the church whether or not it is actually true. For example, if the value is love, a church might only highlight how the parishioners care for one another while neglecting to assimilate
40 Alan Milchman, Foucault and Heidegger: Critical Encounters, 214.
41 Bolman and Deal, 370-371.
42 Meike Bal, Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative, 3d ed. (Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 2009), 122.
129 the stories they tell condemning those outside the church or even gossip within the body.
The adherents of the dominant narrative of a church tend to only assimilate mythical values that they expect to receive.
Schein asserts, “Myths tend to form around critical events in the organization’s history, especially ones that are difficult to explain or justify because they were not under organizational control.”43 Often this is seen where there has been crises and unresolved church conflict. Unless the hurt and suffering are dealt with by the church, the event can turn into a myth, which can negatively affect policies and attitudes towards others.
Commitments to the church body and leadership can be weakened to the point of becoming antagonistic44 due to the mythologizing of past wounds. If these mythical hurts are not brought to the surface and resolved, a pattern of problems could develop resulting in more unresolved hurt and the solidifying of the myth.
Because of these problems, negative myths are not changed easily since values are not changed easily. Schein asserts that often times these myths have to be “blown up” through scandal or disaster for them to change.45 Within many organizations, people are unwilling to experience transformation until the dysfunctions are so systemic that they are beyond the point of return and are in the initial stages of failure.46
While myths can be difficult to change, Bolman and Deal do not believe they are impossible. Their assessment is that in order for myth to take hold, it has to be something
43 Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 111.
44 Hugh F. Halverstadt, Managing Church Conflict (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991), 147.
45 Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 291-292.
46 James O’Toole, Leading Change: The Argument for Values-based Leadership (New York: Ballentine Books, 1995), 15.
130 that people want to believe.47 Myths cannot be imposed. Rather myths must be compelling enough to resonate with the values of the church. If those seeking transformation are able to examine the myths told about values and create better ones, they may be able to reorient good values into the church narrative, which then may enable transformation.48 Rather than resigning a church as a lost cause, learning to strategically implant healthy myths in a declining church could spark a change before the church reaches a point of no return.
Heroes
A subset of mythologies that deserves its own heading is that of heroes.49 “Heroes are persons, alive or dead, real or imaginary, who possess characteristics that are highly prized in a culture and thus serve as models for behavior.”50 Whereas mythologies are stories that convey values, heroes are people who embody values. Heroes, whether real or fictitious, are characters who churches aspire to be like. While heroes can influence others, people generally first create their values and project those values onto someone they lift up as a hero. Cowen gives the example of how Thomas Jefferson’s legacy of a founding father of America has shifted in many contemporary cultures to “a morally
47 Bolman and Deal, 370.
48 For example, if a church’s value is to obey God, the myth might suggest that obedience is “not doing anything wrong.” Instead, if transformational leaders can reorient that myth into one that shows that obedience is about “doing things right” then there becomes a different framework for the value of obeying God. 49 Ibid., 370.
50 Hofstede, et al., 8.
131 ambiguous slaveholder.”51 Jefferson has not changed, but people’s perception of him and his values have changed.
Heroes manifest the narrative in ways that others want to emulate. Often individuals dress, speak, and act like their heroes because of the values they embody.52 In the current American culture and in the ones previous, people “closely identif[y] with heroes”53 viewing them as people to emulate. As the hero lives into the perceived values, psychological bonds develop between the hero and a person.54 This can lead people to accept more readily other values that align with values of that hero, thus altering their own narrative.
Heroes abound in culture from politicians to sports figures to family members.
Movies have been viewed as “modern myths” which create hero archetypes based on social values.55 Yet as important as heroes are to value formation, a recent Barna study concluded that most Christians are not aware of many of the contemporary leaders within
American Christianity such as Rick Warren, James Dobson, Tim LaHaye, and T. D.
51 Tyler Cowen, “The New Heroes And Role Models” The Free Library (May 2000), accessed September 29, 2014, http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+New+Heroes+And+Role+Models.-a062162015.
52 Ty Montague relates the story of the success and failure of Hummer and how Arnold Schwarzenegger’s celebrity status helped build the market share because the culture saw him as a “big, tough” man driving a “big, tough” vehicle. He manifested the “big, tough” story that many people wanted to live and so many people followed his move and bought a Hummer. When Schwarzenegger sold his fleet of Hummers in 2006, it also marked the decline of the Hummer brand, which folded in early 2010. See: Ty Montague, True Story: How to Combine Story and Action to Transform Your Business (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2013), 25-28.
53 Benson P. Fraser and William J. Brown, Media, Celebrities, and Social Influence: Identification with Elvis Presley Mass Communication & Society 5, no. 2 (Spring 2002): 185.
54 Ibid.
55 Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations, 156.
132
Jakes.56 This is significant because if Christians are unaware of those in influencing positions, they will find their heroes elsewhere. And while these particular people may not necessarily be the right heroes for every Christian, it could indicate that Christians are not searching hard enough for Christian heroes that resonate with their faith.
Listening to churches describe and discuss their heroes can yield insights into the values they hold onto. An intentional practice of listening can help transformational leaders discover the true narrative that a church believes. Furthermore, a cognizant leader will keep in mind that church cultures have heroes whose values will help or hinder transformation. These may be able to be re-signed into better corporeal values. Biblical characters, previous godly leadership within the church, and contemporary heroes that members of the church align with could all be used to build in the values needed in transformation.
Another method of narrative transformation is to add new heroes. Heroes in a similar milieu to the parishioners may help them to see how values are translated into their context. Stories of lay leaders and businessmen who bring redemption to their communities can give pertinent examples of how people who are not in full time ministry can be spiritual leaders. Church history is another place to look for heroes which can add a sense of depth to their faith, much in the same way that Hebrews 12:1 uses the “great cloud of witnesses” to spur on Christians to “run with endurance the race that is set before” them. Rather than attacking a culture head on, by affirming good heroes and their values already embedded within a organization, leaders can come alongside the culture
56 “Most Americans Take Well-Known Bible Stories at Face Value,” Barna Group, last modified October 21, 2007, accessed October 19, 2014, https://www.barna.org/barna-update/congregations/92-most- americans-take-well-known-bible-stories-at-face-value#.VEAhyXx0zIU.
133 and be seen as an ally rather than a threat, all the while facilitating change on a narrative level.
Symbolic Elements of Narrative
Driskill and Irenton note that symbolic elements have a common focus on
“language, nonverbal symbols, and meaning.”57 These elements help interpret culture because “they represent an important value or meaning in the culture.”58 As with the other categories there are numerous ways this element can be expressed. For the purposes of this dissertation, three symbolic elements will be examined: sacred stories, language, and metaphor.
Sacred Stories
A combination of ritual and myth is sacred stories. Sacred stories are not only told like myths, but they are ritualized by the parishioners into a certain form; Crites writes,
“these stories seem to be allusive expressions of stories that cannot be fully and directly told, because they live, so to speak, in the arms and legs and bellies of the celebrants.”59
These are called sacred stories because “men’s [stet.] sense of self and world is created through them.”60 Sacred stories cannot be fully expressed in words because they resonate on a subconscious level. Whereas myths can be told to others and can be accepted or rejected, sacred stories are something one “awaken[s] to.”61 By this, it is meant that the
57 Driskill and Irenton, 46.
58 Ibid.
59 Crites, 295.
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid., 296.
134 sacred stories are not consciously created, but rather it “forms the very consciousness” of the one who has been awakened.62 In other words, a sacred story is not an anecdotal myth, but contains perceived personal and cultural history. The sacred story is “my” story.
Sacred stories are significant because they are not only talking about single virtues; they are stories that are believed on the narrative level of culture as described in
Chapter Four. They are not only stories about identity and worldview; rather, they become the identity and worldview themselves. These stories are the compass showing the direction to take in life.63 They create the frameworks for values. Paul says in
Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” This is a sacred story. Paul is not merely expounding on a general principle of identity in Christ, but rather this is his identity. This is at the center of his experience with Christ.64
Within churches, sacred stories are told and believed, but they may not necessarily be about the center of the biblical narrative. The sacred stories of churches are ones that create orientation and may only be outworking of the sacred story. These include ideals like social justice, mercy ministry, or self-actualization. Unless the sacred story becomes the Story of Christ and how churches enter into it, transformation will be limited.
62 Ibid.
63 Ibid., 295.
64 For a more in depth treatment of Paul’s theology of the cross, see: Michael J. Gorman, Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001).
135
Within a church calendar, there are ample ways to create an environment for the
Holy Spirit to use to awaken people to the sacred story. Crites asserts, “Life also imitates art. The stories that people hear and tell, the dramas they see performed, not to speak of the sacred stories that are absorbed without being directly heard or seen, shape in the most profound way the inner story of experience.”65 Within the church calendar alone there are special services such as Easter Sunrise, Maundy Thursday, Tenebrae, Christmas
Eve, and many others that take people out of the ordinary routine of spirituality. If these services can be conducted with effective experiences and the biblical narrative re- presented in a way that allows for personal reflection, this may be a way for people to allow the Spirit to open themselves to transformation. As Crites notes, “such stories, and the symbolic worlds they project, are not like monuments that men behold, but like dwelling-places.”66 These services when done well create lasting memories that can orient their lives.
Language
The way people formulate and make sense of their milieu is through language.67
Words limit the understanding of an event to certain parameters because words are not neutral; they carry emotion and past experience.68 Anna Wierzbicka, who is noted for her work in semantics and linguistics, notes that human beings are “classifying animals” in
65 Ibid., 304.
66 Ibid., 295.
67 Weick, 106.
68 James B. White, Justice as Translation: An Essay in Cultural and Legal Criticism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 35.
136 that people put labels on everything they desire to know.69 She has an extensive list of studies demonstrating how “every language imposes its own interpretive grid” upon which to classify things.70 Weick notes that one of the main tools in sensemaking is applying language to an event. Words are extracted from cultural vocabularies in order to help process and order a person or culture’s world.71 Words, however, only approximate a thing. They never fully describe it.72 Lee Freese, professor of sociology at Washington
State University, believes,
Constructing sentences to express statements about experience imposes discrete definitions on a subject matter that is continuous. One cannot report in a sentence an observation about experience without a concept that structures what one is observing. Observation statements describe not perceptions but planned perceptions. Data are not given by experience, but by the concept of the language used to interpret it.73
Because there is no perfect description, there can be loss of meaning in a vocabulary over time if the meanings behind words are not evaluated. Also, because of the parameters that words and phrases create, a thing can only be described with interpretation. That interpretation within a culture will determine how the culture views that thing.
69 Anna Wierzbicka, Emotions across languages and Cultures: Diversity and Universals (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 24.
70 Ibid., 26. The entire sixth chapter presents well documented information as to the importance of words.
71 Weick, 107.
72 Ibid.
73 Lee Freese, ed. “The problem with cumulative knowledge,” Theoretical Methods in Sociology: Seven Essays (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press), 13-69, 28.
137
The significance of language, in relation to formation, is that vocabulary is not used to describe reality so much as it is to create reality.74 Noted philosopher Richard
Rorty supposes that cultures change by losing certain vocabulary words and acquiring new ones that produce alternative concepts and emotions. He argues that a culture does not “decide” to change, but only after choosing different vocabulary, which in turn alters thoughts, does a culture begin to change.75 However, words are not created in a vacuum.
They are mostly extracted and applied through interaction with a culture.
Within a church culture, language carries profound levels of meaning as well. The way a church describes themselves, God, and those outside of the church will define how they interpret situations. If faulty or anemic language can be replaced with meaningful, heart-felt, and truthful descriptions of the biblical narrative, it could facilitate an environment conducive to change.76
In a similar vein, there may be words that once incorporated into the vocabulary of a church may prove to be a change agent. Often, if an artifact doesn’t exist for a particular truth or experience, it could be forgotten or disregarded. “Sociologists suggest that people have a difficult time describing or even identifying something that they don’t have the vocabulary for. Some even suggest that one can have a hard time experiencing
74 Richard Rorty, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 7. Rorty demonstrates throughout chapter one of his book how the world is neutral. On page 6 he notes, “The world does not speak. Only we do.” In this regard it is language that creates and assigns meaning to things, rather than describing their objective meaning.
75 Ibid., 6.
76 A good social commentary on how this is demonstrated in real life is found in Richard Beck’s, Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality, and Mortality (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2011), especially chapter three, where Beck describes the importance of metaphors in how people respond to situations.
138 something for which one has no corresponding word.”77 This is why each church creates unique artifacts embedded in their narrative.78 “Shared language allows team members to communicate easily, with minimal misunderstanding.”79
In many Christian traditions, language alters the direction of spiritual growth.
Certain forms of spiritual growth may be introduced or omitted because of their seeming correlation to practices of other religions. For example, many churches have shied away from meditating on Scripture because the word meditation is often associated with
Eastern Mysticism or the New Age movement.80 Even though the Bible speaks often of the importance of meditation to the spiritual life,81 many Christians can miss out on the fruitfulness of meditation in their lives because they do not understand it or have a way to describe it.
For churches, the biblical narrative provides language that can help define their culture. The epic contains stories of people experiencing similar situations to the ones they are going though which shows them different paths they can take and the consequences thereof. It has identity words such as Paul’s use of the word “saint” to describe Christians which can cast a different light on a Christian while metaphors like
“body of Christ” can hold implications for how churches view themselves as a whole. As
77 E. Randolph Richards, and Brandon J. O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 75. 78 Bolman and Deal, 284. 79 Ibid. 80 Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2014), 46.
81 Josh. 1:8; Psa. 1; Psa. 39:3; Psa. 119:98-99.
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Christians are better able to articulate their milieu through the language of the biblical narrative, the more inclined they will be to live it out.
Metaphor
Metaphor is a specific use of language concerned with “understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.”82 Metaphors frame how a thing is perceived within certain parameters. While metaphor is typically thought of in a linguistic sense, the definition of metaphor is broader and includes the way people “both think and act.”83
Metaphor is closely linked with narrative. Ricoeur calls narrative “a living metaphor.”84 By this, Ricoeur means that narrative synthesizes “the plot, goals, and chance…[into a] complete action” which creates a new semantic meaning or solidifies the current one.85 This semantic meaning refers to the way events are perceived and filtered through the schema. Metaphors behave in the same way. Just like narratives, metaphors have “the power to ‘redescribe’ reality.”86 In this way, metaphors act as
82 George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Metaphors we Live By (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), 5.
83 Ibid., 3. In this chapter the authors make use of the metaphor “argument is war” to demonstrate how metaphors shape how people view concepts. Phrases like “Your claims are indefensible,” or “I’ve never won and argument with him,” and “He shot down my argument,” all demonstrate how people frame arguments with a battle mindset. Lakoff and Johnson conclude by suggesting: “Try to imagine a culture where arguments are not viewed in terms of war, where no one wins or loses, where there is no sense of attacking or defending, gaining or losing, ground…[but] where an argument is viewed as a dance, the participants as performers, and the goal is to perform in a balanced and aesthetically pleasing way,” (5-6). Viewing arguments from this metaphor would affect how people act within an argument.
84 Paul Ricoeur, Time and Narrative, Vol. 1, Trans. Kathleen McLaughlin and David Pellauer, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), ix.
85 Ibid.
86 Paul Ricoeur, The Rule of Metaphor: The Creation of Meaning in Language, (Routledge: London, 2003), 5.
140 frameworks and parameters to interpret data. While narrative can be classified as a metaphor from the similar effects that they both seek to impart, the distinction is found in how semantic meanings are created. According to Ricoeur, narrative uses timelines and plot to affect change, whereas metaphor uses “impertinent attribution” to show the similarities between differing sets of things.87 It is this aspect of metaphor that will be discussed.
The significance of metaphor is that there is a literal component that is believed every time a metaphor is used. Yet the metaphor may be so pervasive that the literalness registers only on a subliminal level and therefore people “act according to the way [they] conceive of things.”88 Metaphors “capture subtle themes normal language can obscure.”89
A metaphor does not merely describe a thing, but it assigns that item certain value and perspective. These values are not neutral, but have lasting effects on the attitudes of a thing.90 Bolman and Deal assert, “metaphors compress complicated issues into understandable images, influencing our attitudes and actions.”91 For example, if the metaphor is that the church building is the house of God, i.e. where God dwells, then the church may see an orientation towards edifying the church building rather than towards using money and resources to plant other churches or ministries within the “Godless” world.
87 Ricoeur, Time and Narrative, ix.
88 Lakoff and Johnson, 5.
89 Bolman and Deal, 268.
90 Lakoff and Johnson, 22.
91 Bolman and Deal, 268.
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According to this perspective, one of the reasons a church may resist transition or remain in an unhealthy state is due to differing metaphors. Unless a church can “see” the item in a different metaphoric framework, attitudes may remain unchanged. If a church is to transition, healthy metaphors that are more in line with the biblical narrative may help to create an environment that facilitates change. As churches are able to interpret events, structures, and processes through healthy metaphors, they may be able to examine how daily concerns line up with the biblical narrative. The reason why many transformations do not happen may be that faulty metaphors force spirituality to operate on a certain trajectory. If these metaphors can be examined and replaced, it may give way to transformation. For example, if the main metaphor of a church becomes the Bride of
Christ, then the church is not merely to lecture or perform good deeds, but to sanctify and prepare herself for her betrothed, learning to see herself in a new identity and family.92
Context Elements of Narrative
Context elements “recognize that an organizational culture is substantially shaped by its placement in space and time.”93 A church located in New York City will look different from a church in Appalachia and a 200-year-old church will think of itself differently from a two-year-old church plant; the question is, why? As Driskill and
Irenton note, “It is hard to understand present organizational patterns without grounding
92 Randy Millwood, To Love and to Cherish From This Day Forward: A Portrait of a Healthy Church (Simplymillwood, 2010), 9-20. In this section, Millwood develops the bride metaphor more fully and how this metaphor of the Church can serve to reorient the Church around better virtues.
93 Driskill and Irenton, 54.
142 cultural understanding in the organization’s history.”94 For this element, the two expressions that will be discussed here are memory and differentiation.
Memory
Memory is not only about recalling past events, whether true or not, but also engaging in the interpretation of those events. As philosopher Ben Xu suggests, “Memory is not just a narrative, even though it does have to take narrative form; it is more importantly an existential relation between the past and the present, projecting a future as well.”95 Memory gives cohesion to successive events in life. It helps to make sense of life, where it has come from and where it is going. Memory helps people define and analyze their projection of the future because the future passes through the lens of the past. Quoting Augustine, philosopher, Peter Crites, notes that consciousness, “anticipates and attends and remembers”96 meaning that what the mind anticipates as the future, gets filtered through the interpretation of past and present events. These memories are collected and ordered into a story. These stories can be manipulated in a way that creates meaning to the one who is recalling events.97 This is why when recalling an event, each person gives a different shade to what happened based upon their perception of who is involved, how much they experienced, and the influencing views of others.
94 Ibid.
95 Ben Xu, “Memory and the Ethic of Self: Reading Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club,” in Memory Narrative and Identity, New Essays in Ethnic American Literature (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1994), 266.
96 Crites, 298.
97 Ibid., 300.
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The same pattern is true not only of individuals, but of churches. Sociologists have recently discussed how corporeal memory impacts corporeal identity.98 Professor
Jeremy Punt claims, “The culture of recollection is a form of social obligation determining the identity or self-assessment of a group.”99 This is because collective memory is based on a shared perspective, which the group maintains.100 It is most often friends, relatives, and others within a culture, that highlight certain events, which an individual then recollects. It is also those people that an individual asks to remember a certain memory.101 If a nuance is neglected or mistreated in recalling the event, the culture tends to remind the individual of the proper way to recall the memory. In this way, memories are retold and passed on in a particular way leading to certain assumptions about themselves, their past, and their future among other assumptions.
Memories do not have to be only mental abstractions, but can have markers.
Pictures from vacations, various battlefields like Gettysburg, and symbols like the cross or a fish recall memories or events that shape collective memory. For example, within
Joshua 22:9-34, several times the Israelites are advised to remember what happened in the past among various sites and people. In this regard not only can the recollection of certain events create an identity, but also certain locations and artifacts can be a part of the collective memory in which a culture lives.102
98 Scholars like Maurice Halbwachs and Henri Tajfel have written widely on the subject.
99 Punt, 153.
100 Ibid.
101 Halbwachs, 38.
102 Peter Lang, On Memory: An Interdisciplinary Approach, ed. Doron Mendels (Bern, Switzerland: International Academic Publishers, 2007), 12.
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Because memories are always in narrative form and create a cultural trajectory, using memory as a means of transformation helps churches create better movement.
Psychologist Neil Anderson notes that many people have had trauma in their past, yet most of those people do not know how to resolve their past and use defense mechanisms to cope.103 The same is true of churches. Many churches have not have not resolved their conflicts or brought them under the biblical narrative. The memories of past hurts and sorrows can skew their present perceptions and the story in which they find themselves.
The biblical narrative offers much in the healing of the past. As Mendels notes,
“Public memory is nourished by canon. The Hebrew Bible is a text that nourished the collective memory of Jews and Christians for centuries.”104 This means that the
Scriptures, when applied properly, have effectively informed the past, present, and future of God followers since their creation.105 As leaders look to create a space for transformation to take place, the collective interpretation and application of Scripture is a tool that will help organize the culture’s memory while opening new paths for the future.
Drawing from Scripture privileged status Christians are given special ability to usurp other interpretations of the past and supplement its own.106 Leaders create space for those memories to be brought under the biblical narrative. In doing so, proper perspective is regained and hindrances brought down.
103 Anderson, 231.
104 Lang, 12.
105 This is a common form of memory found within Scripture themselves, especially in the Gospels and Paul’s letters. See also Punt, Identity, Memory and Scriptural Warrant.
106 Punt, 155.
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Differentiation
Differentiation is where one group, in this case a church, distinguishes itself from another group, whether that is a cross-cultural narrative, such as consumerism, or selfishness, or from a localized narrative such as a political party or ideology.107 As mentioned in Chapter 4, all narratives exclude some group. In order to know who a group is, it is also necessary to know who a group is not.
Chapter 3, discussed the way authentic Christianity has been carried forward throughout the centuries though groups of Christians who saw themselves in the world, but “not of the world.”108 While these groups conducted their lives in the world, they did not hold on to the values and desires of the world, but sought to find their identity in
Christ. This differentiation allowed them to free themselves from the desires and limitations of the world’s narratives. In his observations about these people, sociologist
James W. Fowler notes that when Christians release themselves of the worldly narratives and attach themselves to the biblical narrative, they become “a disciplined, activist incarnation – a making real and tangible – of the imperatives of absolute love and justice” which those who are still attached to worldly narratives cannot.109
107 “Social Differentiation.” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 1968. Encyclopedia.com, accessed November 12, 2014, http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2- 3045001158.html.
108 John 17:14.
109 James W. Fowler, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning (New York: HarperCollins, 1981), 200. Also, According to Daniel Darko, associate professor of New Testament at Gordon College, this was the problem that Paul addressed in the second half of the book of Ephesians. By using contrasts such as light/darkness, new/old, and wise/foolish, Paul was creating an argument for differentiation from the world’s narrative. See: Daniel K. Darko, No longer Living as the Gentiles: Differentiation and Shared Ethical Values In Ephesians 4:17-6:9 (New York: T & T Clark International, 2008), 11-12.
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This is significant because many church leaders have lamented over how
American Christianity has become more of a nationalistic endeavor than one that is primarily concerned with the Kingdom of God.110 However, this has been a common theme throughout the story of Christianity since its very inception.111 There will always be some aspects of world culture that are at odds with the biblical narrative. If the world culture is seen as something good and desirable, then a church may try to adopt some of the world’s narrative or place pieces of the biblical narrative within the world’s narrative.
As churches choose to differentiate themselves from the world under the biblical narrative, they become “contagious in the sense that they create zones of liberation from the social, political, economic and ideological shackles we place and endure on human futurity.”112
Another value of biblical narrative differentiation is that when people become aware of conflicting ideals between narratives, their sense of unity within their organization becomes strengthened.113 As differentiation is gained, group cohesion is solidified, which generally leads groups to create a culture of communication that encourages openness, positive support, stronger narrative formation, and commitment to the group is generally higher than those without differentiation from other cultures.114 In
110 A good primer to this line of thought is Gregory A. Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005).
111 Boyd, 189.
112 James W. Fowler, “Perspectives on the Family from the Standpoint of Faith Development Theory” The Perkins Journal 33 no. 1 (Fall 1979): 14.
113 Roy F. Baumeister and Kathleen D. Vohs, eds., Encyclopedia of Social Psychology (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2007), 387.
114 Ibid.
147 the area of transitioning, this can be a valuable framework for helping churches take hold of the biblical narrative. As a church begins to view other narratives as strange, they may more readily accept the biblical one.115
Conclusion
When examining church transformation, it is important to examine the various components and expressions of narrative and how they create and hinder transformation.
Everything from the language that is used to the stories that are told, to what is remembered, and with whom they identify all factor in to the narrative of the church. As faulty paradigms are brought to light and corrected, space may be created for transformation to happen naturally as people begin to change their narrative and place it under the narrative of God. These nine expressions of narrative and the practical ministry applications therein are examples of areas that any leader can begin to work to enact change within their particular context. As leaders become train themselves to become aware of the expressions of their church’s story, they will be able to enact more changes that help align a church within the biblical story. As leaders better understand how culture is changed in a healthy way, they will encounter less resistance and more cooperation in their endeavor.
115 Bolman and Deal, 106. The authors note that in organizations, “Making the familiar strange often helps the strange become familiar.”
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION
Introduction
This concluding chapter represents a summation of this dissertation. The first part contains a brief summary of the previous five chapters. The next section focuses on the key findings of the research in regards to corporeal biblical transformation. A brief synopsis of the limitations will then be examined, followed by how this research can be applied to ministry. This chapter will close with suggestions for further research and brief concluding remarks.
Discussion Review
Many church leaders feel helpless in their efforts regarding transformation. When transformation is attempted without regard to the narrative level of culture it may not reach the deep held beliefs of the parishioners. Because of this, transformation is often superficial and short lived and the pain of a failed transformation attempt may leave both leaders and followers feeling disillusioned and scarred. However, when focusing on a corporeal biblical narrative, transformation can occur much more holistically.
Narratives are the means through which people make sense of and express their lives. A corporeal biblical narrative is that of a church body who collectively sees themselves within the narrative of Scripture. Their views of God, themselves, and everyone and everything else are interpreted by the story of Scripture rather than the conflicting narratives in the world.
Every church has a corporeal narrative of some kind underneath, but it may not necessarily be rooted in Scripture. As church leaders come to understand their corporeal epic, they will be more aware of the elements of discordance between the church’s epic
148 149 and the biblical one. Understanding such discordance will better enable church leaders to address the roots of their transformation problem, rather than focusing on symptoms.
Focusing on narratives could also help create a culture that is more biblically centered resulting in a church body which functions more like Christ.
As long as a church’s story remains defined by the world, so too will its identity, because people rely on stories to provide a sense of who they are. People will always live into their identities, which means the more important question is not “What must I do?” but, “Who am I?” Once a group of Christians know who they are, they will know what to do.1 It is the stories in which one lives that give value and meaning. This is why it is so crucial to have a hermeneutic of narrative identity. Much of the focus of hermeneutics in the past few hundred years has been about dissecting the text rather than drawing out the narrative that it tells. Without a narrative identity hermeneutic, these dissections will be placed in and interpreted through another narrative, one that may be contrary to the biblical narrative.
Because of the tendency to use worldly narratives as a lens to interpret Scripture, it is recommended that church leaders help their churches rediscover their true story found within the biblical narrative. Scripture itself is written as an identity narrative to help form followers of God in the truth. The different acts of Scripture reveal who God is and who humans are. In addition to providing identity, Scripture gives humanity context by revealing both past and future. Much of Scripture was written as a polemic against other narratives and how followers of God are to live set apart from the world around them because of their holy narrative.
1 Snodgrass, “Jesus and a Hermeneutics of Identity,” 133.
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The focus of narrative identity is not a new concept within Christianity. From its earliest days, church leaders have used corporeal narratives to transform their converts, uprooting their worldly identities and teaching them to understand the world and themselves according to the biblical narrative. Their emphasis on internalizing holy narratives helped take the biblical narrative all around the Roman Empire. Even though there was much persecution and prejudice the biblical narrative was so compelling that within 300 years of its founding, it became the religion of the state.
Unfortunately, when the empire declared Christianity the favored religion, the state tried to marry itself to Christianity. This led to a loss of biblical culture as Roman culture began to take hold within the Church. As the Church’s virtues became more confused and diluted with worldly values, the growth of Christianity began to slow dramatically.
Cenobitical monasteries began to form as a way to keep Christians’ narratives pure from the world’s narratives. Many of these were successful in transforming not only the monks and nuns, but the larger community in which the monastery was located.
These groups of Christians helped to preserve the biblical narrative and carry it forward through the Dark Ages.
By the time Martin Luther began to question his own beliefs regarding
Christianity, much of the Western Church had become corrupt, believing a worldly narrative rather than the biblical one. In response, Luther began to retell the biblical story that had been neglected in many areas. Because of his new approach to Scripture and the identity framework that he used, many began to adhere to a biblical narrative, which then
151 created a new sect of Christianity and had ripples that would begin the Protestant
Reformation.
Just as internalized narratives in a person define individual identity, underlying narratives in a formal group dictate organizational culture. Policy change and vision casting are generally not enough to produce transformation within an organization. This is because outward behaviors are only symptoms of underlying beliefs, and although temporary behavior change can be instituted, the underlying beliefs remain untouched.
Unless these beliefs are changed, the tendency will be to find a way to operate within those beliefs and superficial behavioral change will be short-lived.
Organizational narratives are difficult to change because they reinforce themselves over time. The stronger the narrative is, the more that it will influence people joining that organization. New recruits will either embrace the narrative or leave, and long-term members will become more and more invested in maintaining and defending the existing narrative. While underlying narratives create cohesion and uniformity, if left unmonitored, they can become rigid and foster self-deception.
Narratives are important to churches because they delineate who is a part of the community of faith and who is not. A strong biblical narrative will help Christians expose false narratives that are trying to influence their lives. In regards to church transformation, as parishioners begin to see themselves in the biblical narrative, they will begin to see the dissonance of false narratives and lend themselves more naturally to join together as a single culture with shared desire for transformation.
Another reason why narratives are so powerful is because they act as a framework in which to interpret life. If a leader’s plan for transformation falls outside of the
152 framework, that plan runs the risk of being rejected because it does not fit into a church’s schema. As transformational leaders focus on changing the story of the church, new information will more readily be accepted within the schema allowing churches to transition more holistically.
Identifying the components and transference of the church narrative is a critical first step for a leader who wants to spur church transformation. There are many ways in which the narrative is passed on to others and solidified within themselves, nine of which were elucidated in this work. Through changing the narrative, as described in these components, leaders can begin telling and living a different story and see how profoundly the identity of a congregation is impacted. Everything from how language is used to the rituals performed, to how a church remembers its past—all affect the narrative of the church and frame the direction of its future. Understanding how these components create and solidify narratives will help leaders expose false narratives and substitute healthy ones.
Key Findings
At the beginning of this dissertation, the question was asked: is it possible, or even plausible, for plateaued and declining churches to experience new life and health?
The answer, as demonstrated throughout this dissertation is a resounding, “Yes.”
However, this does not mean that transformation will come easily or quickly.
Transformation is hard work, but it is accomplishable work. One of the most important factors to transformation is the perception of the church’s story. There have been numerous insights into transformational strategy; however, six key insights have emerged
153 from this research that can help church leaders implement transition in a more natural and healthy way by using narratives.
The first insight is that identity is always narrative-based. People live out their perceived narrative. Therefore, any genuine change within a person or a church takes place in that perceived narrative. Conversely, unless the narrative is changed, any changes implemented will be superficial and short-lived, because people always live out what they truly believe.
The second insight is that narratives are often lived out subconsciously. They only come to the surface when challenged by conflicting narratives. Because of this, leaders may have difficulty discerning the true narrative of a church. However, the more leaders observe a church, the more they will understand the narrative and know where the divergence is between their narrative and the biblical narrative.
Realizing that Scripture, as an identity narrative, is important to healthy transformation is the third insight gleaned. If the parishioners see themselves within the context of a competing narrative, they may lack the motivation to be changed. The transformational direction will be rejected out of their schema because it conflicts with their chosen narrative. Any portion of Scripture that is assimilated will be interpreted through one’s underlying narrative. When this happens, the intent and true purpose of the portion of Scripture may become lost in the act of interpretation. Instead, as leaders focus on retelling the biblical story, a distinction between the stories will become clearer.
Churches will be able to see better the disparity between the worldly narrative and the biblical one. Giving this space to parishioners to examine what they truly believe will allow the narrative to call for corporeal change. While there still may be resistance to
154 transformation, some of the resistance will be deflected towards the narrative and away from the church leaders. As parishioners begin to allow the biblical narrative to be their own narrative, their lives will be transformed by the change in their beliefs. As their schema accepts more truth, they will begin to live out their narrative in natural ways.
Fourth, because of the impact of narrative on transformation, the role of a leader should be redefined as well. In traditional transformational material, leaders are viewed as the primary change agents.2 They are the ones who tell the church where they are going. They are ones to whom God gives vision.3 Understanding the psychology of narrative identity helps leaders to see that true change happens not because of the strength of the leader alone, but that corporeal narratives play a part that should not be underestimated. The goal of the leader then changes from “discover my vision” to helping parishioners “discover their true story.” Leadership changes from primarily a vision-casting role to a narrative-casting role. Leaders help parishioners live into a better reality. Leadership professor and consultant Lee Thayer sums up how a leader is to orient himself:
A leader at work is one who gives others a different sense of meaning of that which they do by recreating it in a different form, a different “face,” in the same way that a pivotal painter or sculptor or poet gives those who follow him (or her) a different way of “seeing” – and therefore saying and doing and knowing in the world. A leader does not tell it “as it is”; he tells it as it might be, giving what “is” thereby a different “face”…The leader is a sense-giver.4
2 This is reflected in books such as, Leading Turnaround Churches, where interestingly enough, only one of the nine characteristics of good leaders discusses knowing the culture of the church. And that characteristic only touches on trying to figure out the culture of a church before the pastor ever accepts the call to join the church.
3 Books like Transitioning focus on how leaders can obtain vision and how to disseminate “one’s vision” to everyone else in the church, (85).
4 Lee Thayer, “Leadership/communication: A Critical Review and a Modest Proposal” in G. M. Goldhaber and G. A. Barnett, eds., Handbook of organizational communication (New York: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1988), 231-263, 250, 254.
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As leaders focus on the biblical narrative, they become sense-givers. They help parishioners interpret all of life within the framework of the biblical story. In this way it is not the leaders or their visions that are the focal point, but the biblical narrative.
Fifth, transformation generally does not take place as quickly as leaders would like because the psychology behind it is often neglected. Transformational leaders typically already have a transformational mindset. If a church body had that same mindset, they would already be in the process of transformation. In order to bring a church into that mindset, their culture has to begin aligning with the biblical one.
Changing a culture means changing an identity, which can provoke an acute sense of loss or grief. Leaders who understand the emotional stakes will be able to walk with parishioners rather than dictating change from on high. Resistance is a natural reaction to pain and loss. Understanding the psychology behind transforming cultures will help transformational leaders come alongside the church and demonstrate compassion.
Leaders will be less likely to become frustrated when change occurs slowly because changing a narrative is not an easy task.
Sixth, the effect of language on narrative and transformation was something that not many transformational materials cover,5 yet this was found to be a major factor in cultural change. Language includes which specific words and metaphors that are employed to describe an idea, but it also includes body language, images, dress, and music. All of this language factors in to how a church culture understands itself, God, the world, and everything else. As the end goal of transformation is defined and exemplified
5 Apart from themes like biblical teaching and preaching (Getz and Wall, 107) and crafting a compelling vision statement (Southerland, 43-66), no other focus on language was shown in current popular transitioning material.
156 by the right language, the parishioners’ thought process will begin to be defined by the new language allowing them to process the notion of change on a deeper level.
Monitoring the language used and helping churches define things through better use of language can be a neglected area of transformation that could yield significant results.
Assumptions and Limitations
This study examined the effect of narrative on the possibility of church transformation. The assumptions included are that a church has the resources, including time, funds, and leadership, available to enact transformation. This study did not analyze at what point in a church’s decline would a narrative approach not be a sufficient mode of transformation. Other variables that were not analyzed include the relationship between the transformational leaders and parishioners, the willingness of the congregation to submit to Christ, and the personality and leadership style of the transformational leaders, which may all factor into the transformation process.
Ministry Application
The purpose of this dissertation was to study corporeal transformation through the implementation of biblical narrative. The desired outcome was to find a way that healthy transformation of a church can take place by reorienting churches beginning with their identity and working outwards rather than beginning with behavior and policy modification and attempting to move, often unsuccessfully, inward. Using a corporeal biblical narrative is a means by which parishioners take hold of their true identity in
Christ and live out of that narrative. Rather than behavioral modification or
157 transformation that only touches the surface of culture, a narrative begins at the heart. It is the narrative that determines values and beliefs that will be lived out.
When leaders seeking church transformation are aware of cultural dynamics that both help and hinder transformation, change is possible. While modifying behavior or implementing different organizational rhythms may add to transformational process, without transforming the deeper levels of culture, leaders run the risk of only making superficial change. Fortunately for leaders, much of the Bible is written to create and define a narrative that differs from the world. As leaders begin to create environments where the biblical narrative can be expressed, it will allow space for parishioners to be transformed by recognizing and adhering to the narrative.
While many theoretical frameworks are presented within this dissertation, the ways in which corporeal, biblical transformation can be accomplished practically are not discussed. In conclusion, therefore, three steps are identified within the life of a church wherein leaders can begin to apply this framework. Each ministry context is different, but having various examples can help leaders begin to generate ideas for how best to implement these concepts within their specific ministry context.
These steps are about shifting the focus from “what to do,” to “why to do it.” For leaders living within a biblical narrative, it may seem obvious, but for those without the narrative, it will not necessarily make sense. All people live out what they believe.6 In order to help parishioners transform, leaders need to bring everything back to the narrative and have a high view of Scripture. As a large percentage of Christians in
America do not have a cohesive biblical identity, church leaders “should see themselves
6 Anderson, 141.
158 as entrepreneurs of identity.”7 As leaders orient themselves around helping parishioners understand why they are to be different, parishioners will more naturally live into their true narrative.
The first step is to discover what the primary false narratives are that are hindering the transformation of the church. Churches that are in decline tend to remain in decline in part because of the stronghold of false narratives. These emotional bonds can be hard to break. As noted in Chapter Four, “Primary resistance to change is
90 percent social/emotional and 10 percent logical/physical.”8 Most transformational materials, however, tend to focus on the expressions of the false narrative, such as explicit behaviors rather than the underlying assumptions and narratives that dictate the behavior. This is one of the reasons why transformation is seldom completely experienced. The narratives are not discovered and as a result, limited outward change takes place without the heart being transformed. Eventually the true narrative will display itself and will conform the church back to the narrative, undoing the leader’s attempts to change behavior within the church. As leaders study the narrative behind errant behavior, they will better understand what aspects of the narrative need to be taught and embraced as the body of Christ.
Elucidating the underlying corporeal narrative may take considerable time. Unless narratives are threatened, they generally operate on an invisible cultural level. Leaders will have to take time to be deliberate in their study to find the root beliefs that lead to behaviors. Once the errant narratives are discovered, the church leaders can begin to
7 Snodgrass, “Paul’s Focus on Identity,” 259.
8 Nelson, How to Change Your Church, 71.
159 orient a church around the biblical narrative. A way leaders can do this is by asking the parishioners to describe the history of the church and listening for common themes and beliefs that may lead them to believe in a false narrative. Another way is to listen to the stories that parishioners tell and how they describe their heroes. This will reveal a lot about their values. A final way is to listen to the metaphors and language used to describe
God, themselves, and non-Christians. Listening to the language used will give insight into what the parishioners truly believe and where a false belief might be held.
The second step is telling the biblical narrative. As church leaders discover the false narratives, they can begin to strategically introduce a healthy biblical one. Church leaders in this stage need to begin creating a solid narrative identity both among individuals and collectively. The question “who are we” needs to come to the forefront. 9
If there is not a strong biblical identity that is constantly being presented, then parishioners will continue to find their identity and belonging in other narratives. By strategically using the various components of narrative, leaders introduce healthy change on this narrative level. As the same story is continuously being told through the various mediums, especially highlighting where the false narratives contradict the biblical one, the differentiation between the biblical narrative and worldly narratives becomes clearer.
This in turns fosters an environment that encourages and supports parishioners as they choose to renounce the world’s narratives in favor of the biblical narrative.
One way to foster a healthy corporeal environment is to begin telling the biblical narrative in the midst of rituals. Giving new life to rituals carries lasting impact. For the
Eucharist, while it has many distinctions among the many tribes of Christianity, there are
9 Often churches promote a vision statement or value statement describing who they want to be rather than who they are. Unless it is a narrative change, those vision statements can be misleading or assume a reality that does not exist. This is not the type of identity referred to here.
160 certain themes, which all tribes believe. The story of the Last Supper is remembered and reflected upon. Going even further back to the Jewish roots of the Passover Seder brings the narrative of the Eucharist to span many centuries and biblical events. The foreshadowing of the broken body and spilled blood brings to mind the mercy, grace, holiness and justice of God. The death of Christ shows the depths needed to go for redemption, which destroys pride, and the love of God who was willing to do it, which gives significance to parishioners. In this one ritual alone, incredible depth is given. If the biblical narrative can be told well, it takes root in the listeners and becomes a sacred story.
Other ways of putting biblical narrative into practice include reframing the history of the church highlighting examples of how the church stayed true to the biblical narrative and the fruit that it yielded. Gaining a different perspective on past circumstances may give parishioners a new perspective on the trajectory of the future.
Not only looking to the history of the individual church, but Church history as a whole can provide parishioners with deep roots in the biblical narrative. The exemplary heroes contained within Church history can provide alternate heroes for the parishioners in which to attach themselves. Highlighting people who lived within the biblical narrative will give encouragement and a framework as to how to live and grow within that narrative.
Not only should the biblical story be cast on the large, corporeal level, but also on the small, individual level. For a culture of transformation to exist, both transformed environments and transformed people are needed. If there are no parishioners who can begin taking others individually down the path of transformation, the parishioners ZPD
161 will decrease lending themselves to lower amounts of spiritual growth. A way to begin increasing a parishioner’s ZPD is by helping create space to differentiate themselves from the worldly narratives. Bringing individuals out of the milieu of an unhealthy narrative and experiencing the healthy narrative of a transformational leader will help the parishioner see the difference between the stories. As individuals spend time within the context of a healthy narrative, sensemaking frameworks will begin to change, thus lending to the adoption of an alternate schema that will help individuals transform. Those transformed individuals will be able to increase the ZPD of others and affect the sensemaking process in a healthier direction.
Another method of putting the biblical story into practice is by helping ministry leaders articulate how their ministry or program fits not only into the church, but into the larger biblical narrative. An attitude of “we do this program, because this is who we are” will be central in helping people see themselves within the biblical narrative. In meetings and activities transformational leaders can help individual parishioners see how the meeting or activity is important by how it fits into the overall narrative.
The final step addresses resistance. Being aware of underlying narratives will help leaders better identify the schema of the church. Learning to ask good questions about beliefs and the transformational process, in turn helps leaders assess where more emphasis is needed and where leaders might be moving too quickly for the church and in danger of division. As leaders assess these concerns, they can see resistance not as insubordination, but rather as a potential lack of narrative framework that allows the church to assimilate the information. Rather than offering facts and rational explanations of the necessary changes, leaders will be ready to offer stories that provide a casing in
162 which truths can be held. Leaders should also be more willing to come alongside dissenters in order to create the relational connection and acceptance necessary for parishioners to begin to change their identities. Understanding the narrative roots of resistance enlightens leaders so they know which metaphors should be changed and how to speak narrative truth into a current false narrative.
During this reorientation phase of the transformation process it is important to monitor if and how the narratives of the church are being changed. Changing a narrative can feel like a loss, so leaders should be compassionate towards those embracing an acute sense of loss. This is a highly relational process. Understanding fears will help leaders better use metaphors and sacred stories that speak to those fears and allow parishioners safe space to solidify themselves within the biblical narrative. Stories of those who have gone before parishioners, who have dealt with similar situations guide and inspire and ultimately build faith in parishioners as they cope with loss.
As church leaders strategically seek to create space for corporeal transformation, both from a collective level and an individual level, their endeavor will prove much easier than if attempted without. In order for transformation to last, there needs to be both individuals who are transforming and cultures who are transforming. As leaders learn how to discover their church’s narrative, strategically create space to alter it, and help parishioners process their resistance, many more churches will be able to become healthier and have greater impacts in the world.
163
Suggestions for Further Research
First, most of the research of corporeal narrative transformation in regards to churches is in theoretical or anecdotal stages.10 Recently there have been many books and papers in the way of returning to a narrative view of Scripture, but the gap between narrative and transformation still remains. Some transformational materials do touch on church culture briefly but remain unclear in how leaders can discern and assess underlying narratives from a strategic standpoint. More tools and frameworks needs to be developed to help leaders better assess and analyze underlying narratives.
Second, because narratives generally operate on an implicit level, transformational leaders who are not aware of how to detect underlying narratives may find themselves at a loss for how to go about narrative transformation. While church leaders may see the need for narrative change, they most likely have never seen it done on a church-wide scale. Methods and techniques that can help church leaders recognize and draw out these implicit beliefs will enhance how leaders go about transformation.
Giving church leaders concrete methods of how to draw out their church’s narrative will go far in helping church leaders facilitate change.
10 Books such as Christian Spirituality by Alister McGrath, The Promise of Narrative Theology by George Stroup, and James K. A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview and Cultural Formation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009) discuss narrative change, but on an academic and theoretical level. Books like The Drama of Scripture by Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen; and Tommy Nelson, The Story of God: Understanding the Bible from Beginning to End (Plano: Hudson Productions, 2007), describe the story and are accessible to parishioners. The middle ground for pastors seeking corporeal transformation, however, generally has been neglected.
164
Concluding Remarks
The Church of Jesus Christ in Scripture is portrayed as an unstoppable force11 and one that is consistently having impacts on its host cultures.12 The first 300 years of its existence saw scorn and systematic persecution, yet the Church continued to grow. A strong corporeal biblical narrative was a key strength of the Church and the fuel that ignited the Church to live as Christ intended throughout history.
Today many churches in America have lost that biblical narrative. Consequently, many churches have become ingrown and unhealthy. Many church leaders have grown impatient and written off those churches as apathetic and unsubmissive to Christ. Yet history has shown that all churches can fall into the trap of losing their Christ-centered identity. Without church leaders taking the time to examine the underlying cultural problems and how to transform churches in a healthy manner, leaders run the risk of the same problems happening in the new and fresh expressions of Church that are being created today.
The challenge for church leaders seeking a turnaround is to return to, and be defined by, the biblical narrative. As churches choose to make the shift back to their true identity, they will look and act more like the actual body of Christ bringing integrity and legitimacy to the Gospel message that they espouse. Because the biblical narrative is so far above the world’s narrative, the more a church aligns with it, the more resonance that story will have in its neighborhoods leading to much greater redemption and transformation even beyond the limited scope of a single church community.
11 Matt. 16:18.
12 Acts 2:42-47.
165
It is not enough for leaders to make policy or procedural changes alone.
Transformational leaders need to examine the underlying narratives that have dictated unhealthy policies and procedures. Unless these narratives can be brought to light and corrected, the same problems will continue to resurface. Healthy churches as well should continue to monitor their narrative and continue to create ways in which the narrative can become stronger and passed more fluidly to newer people within the church body. Over time as churches begin to neglect their biblical identity, the church may plateau and decline. Yet the lifecycle of a church does not have to be one of birth, maturing, and dying. Instead it can be a picture of the Gospel itself. As leaders seek to root out the core narrative issues of a church, the lifecycle can instead follow a pattern of birth, maturing dying, resurrection, maturing, dying, resurrection. May the churches of North America find their story within the epic masterpiece of God’s narrative.
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