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Power Relations in the Christian Ministry: Theology, Order, Politics and the Holy Spirit

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Power Relations in the Christian Ministry: Theology, Order, Politics and the Holy Spirit POWER RELATIONS IN THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY: THEOLOGY, ORDER, POLITICS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT by DIETER QUICK A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Theology and Religion School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham October 2017 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. 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ABSTRACT This thesis for the first time demonstrates that power relations, which are as disparate as juridical frameworks, political engagement, spiritual experience, theology and God, can be fully accounted for in a single theory approach that is descriptive analytical, post-structuralist and rhizome ontological. This is achieved through an exploration of Christian ministry practice and theological approaches, the politics of the Confessing Struggle, Barthian dogmatics and Pentecostal power accounts. It is argued that a conventional normative-theological reflection of the Christian ministry obstructs both practical-theological accountability and having an empowering pastoral approach. Thereby, the conceptual creation, counter-modern capacities and limitations––as well as the ministry-internal effects––of different forms of Christian agency formation are explored, using Foucauldian terms. These include: Barth’s ‘theological existence,’ Pentecostal empowerment through Spirit baptism, and the distributed-charismatic and prayerful pursuit of divine power and presence. It should be possible to engage and reconcile all forms of Christian empowerment to one another on the basis of a rhizomic ministry practice; one which, when established upon a charismatic-revivalist ethos, is able to facilitate the occasional formation and coming to life of a distributed divine presence and power. Keywords: power, order, spirituality, theology, Church, organisation, politics, embodiment; Foucault, ANT, Deleuze-Guattari, rhizome; Barth, Barmen, Pentecostal, Bartleman blank page For good friends who encouraged me, for my wife and children, for a God whose love melts mountains ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to the brilliant academic team and fellow students at the Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies for their ever stimulating research seminars and student-led discussion groups (thanks Dik for organising us!). My supervisor Allan Anderson demonstrated great wisdom and patience in allowing me to pursue the research, even whilst clarity was on the horizon, rather than at hand. At various stages of my project, Christoph Seibert, Andrew Davies and Andrew Shanks offered valuable academic feedback and encouragement. Carla Pickering was of considerable help sorting out my grammar and punctuation, as well as suggesting tweaks for better readability. However, all errors, mistakes and weaknesses remain mine. Many years ago, Günter Thomas first introduced me to Weimar theology; likewise, it was Tilman Alert who introduced me to social theory. Michael Welker taught me a way of undertaking theology and systematic research which was capable of integrating many of my concerns at the time––and much beyond. There are many, often unknown Christian leaders who have had a significant impact on my journey and learning, in terms of strategic prayer, ‘five-fold’ networking, servant leadership and the pursuit of the Kingdom rather than ‘church.’ I would like to name just a few: John and Christine Noble, Henry Emmanuel, Karl Ubrig, E. Larry Miller and Klaus Achhammer. Thank you for the blessing you left in my life. The team at Passion for Jesus Ministries in Bolton both funded and supported a trip to Tanzania and Kenya which was the impetus for considering theological teaching. Without the friendship, encouragement and financial support of Rosemary and Steve Williams, Halina Tegetmeyer and Marcel Bohnenkamp, this thesis could not have been written. Thank you everyone who continues to pray for us. Thank you, Astrid, Marcus, Serena and Elisabeth, for bearing so well with the uncertainties and limitations of having a student husband and dad. Dieter Quick Münster October 2017 blank page TABLE OF CONTENTS 0 Introduction: is it possible to account for power in Christian ministry? 1 0.1 A practical-theological task and impasse 6 (1) Systematic theology and dogmatics (2) Sociology and anthropology of religion (3) Political and organisational power theory Theological accountability 0.2 Research question, strategy, rationale 37 0.2.1 Deploying power-theoretical toolboxes 41 0.2.2 Case studies and theological reasoning 57 (1) Clegg and organisational politics (2) Subverting theological and pastoral control (3) Foucault and Pentecostal experience/practice (4) Barth, Foucault and the Kantian form of an ethical argument (5) Foucault on liberalism and neo-liberalism (6) DG and Pentecostal-charismatic organisation (7) Rhizomic emergence of a theological argument 0.3 Review 99 (1) Power in theology and Pentecostal studies (2) Foucault, Deleuze and theology 1 A (single) distributed and strategic analytics of power 135 Promise of theoretical integration 138 (1) Clegg: organisational power (2) Foucault: practice, discourse, embodiment (3) ANT and DG: rhizome-metaphysical analytics Evaluation PART I POWER RELATIONS OF THE MODERN MINISTRY AND ITS THEOLOGY 2 Church-order politics in a secular-political environment: protestants under Hitler 166 2.1 Clegg’s organisation-political framework 172 2.1.1 Complexities of organisational power: Clegg’s three circuits 172 2.1.2 Organisational structure vs. politics 180 2.1.3 Relationship of dispositional and facilitative power 184 (1) Passage points (Callon) (2) Outflanking (Mann) (3) Isomorphism (DiMaggio and Powell) (4) Competitive pressure and innovation (Hannan and Freeman) 2.2 Nodal fixing of the Barmen Declaration 192 (1) A Lutheran-theological memory (problematisation) (2) Bonhoeffer’s failed interessement devices (summer 1933) (3) Relevance of biographic rationales (4) Establishing the Barmen Synod as an OPP (5) Lutheran controversies and betrayals Power-analytical evaluation 2.3 Moving the goalposts to outflank theological resistance 214 (1) DC and Barmen (1933–34) (2) Failed takeover of the intact churches (1934) (3) Tightening of state–church regulatory conditions (1935–37) (4) Localised coercive action and harassment (1937–40) (5) Warthegau: post-war Nazi church policy (1940–41) Conclusion 232 3 Normative-theological agency: Barth and Barmen 242 3.1 Liberal accountability: a radio interview 247 3.2 Normative theology 249 (1) Normativity as power (2) Barth and twentieth-century theology 3.3 A radical, counter-modern theory of action 279 (1) Ongoing neo-Kantian influence (Lohmann) (2) Structural totalitarianism? (Rendtorff, Wagner) (3) Reintroducing christological realism (Korsch) (4) Inverted practical-transcendental theory (Pfleiderer) (5) Barth’s interpretation of Romans 1:17 3.4 A Foucauldian rescripting of Barth’s practical theology 314 3.5 Political deployments of status confessionis 323 (1) Confronting totalitarian dictatorship and apartheid (2) Engaging neo-liberal economic globalisation 3.6 A Foucauldian analysis of neo-liberal globalisation 335 (1) Human capital and self-interested calculation (Robbins) (2) Homo œconomicus and penal reform (Becker) (3) Social-contract and interest (Hume) (4) Homo œconomicus and the invisible hand (Smith) (5) Economic self-interest and the social bond (Ferguson) 3.7 Homo spiritualis and homo œconomicus 361 (1) The strength and limitations of Barth and Barmen (2) Conceiving homo spiritualis (3) Counter-modern Pentecostal Christianity 4 Never fully charismatic: ministry of a modern pastor 370 4.1 Only considering a charismatic ecclesiology: Käsemann’s lecture of 1949 375 (1) Charismatic order and discipline (2) Heresiological polemics (3) Paul’s ongoing challenge 4.2 Restoration of top-down church order in 1945 383 4.3 The power relation of the Protestant pulpit 388 (1) Ministry in the Augsburg Confession (2) Two rationales of power (3) Limitation to charismatic empowerment 4.4 Professionalism 396 (1) Technologies and resources (2) Academic formation 4.5 Transforming theological competence into charisma 406 Conclusion 409 PART II GOD AS RELATIONS OF POWER ACCORDING TO PENTECOSTAL-CHARISMATIC EXPERIENCE 5 Embodied experience as counter-modern power dispositive: Spirit baptism in Azusa Street testimonies 418 5.1 A Foucauldian analysis of Pentecostal empowerment?
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