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RENEW International has resuscitated individuals trust in parishes and communities all over the world. It has helped more than 25 million Americans and people in twenty-two countries experience the inspirational transformation of living in Gods grace. RENEW International shows its ministry how to live according to Scripture and to strengthen their kinship with God.

RENEW International is a non-profit Catholic organization which came from the forward-thinking visionaries, Msgr. Tom Kleissler and Msgr. Tom Ivory. They wanted to involve laypersons more deeply into the Church and have them help manage parish, civic, and international issues. The mission of RENEW International is to encourage inspirational replenishment by following the Catholic tradition of showing individuals how to observe Gods work in their lives, strengthen their trust, and connect trust with action. Their most successful programs consist of separating a parish into small Christian communities. Participants learn how to live the gospel and support each other while gaining a deeper understanding of core Catholic beliefs.

RENEW International grants people a greater knowledge of what it means to be Catholic. They have a revived spirited and are committed to their belief. Participants in RENEW International curricula celebrate the Holy Spirit and are satisfied by their relationship with God.

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Many individuals find themselves at a time in their life where the next step is not an obvious one. You might be a student who’s just got your degree, or perhaps you are in your 60s and just retired from work. Perhaps you’ve been been made redundant and are demoralised at having no job, but every bit as demoralised by the type of work opportunities out there. In times like these, we often seek an alternative course of action. An organization known as DNA (dna-uk.org) are providing a new choice - a chance to make great use of your sabbatical year by joining a discipleship christian course.

DNA are offering an 11 month long experience of complete immersion into Christian Discipleship, running from October to August. This is seen as a “year in with God, not a year out.”, needing the enrollee to live inside a Christian environment - either in your own church if you currently attend one, or an assigned church if you are not currently a member of a church. Your normal day will require assisting with the day to day activities of the church, and to be schooled by its fellow members in bible studies. The course guarantees faith in action, so those who enroll can expect a very pragmatic experience of Christian faith, and not simply the study of it.

Further advantages of the courses include:-

• outfitting you for church based leadership
• your maturation in skills, understand and character
• providing an accredited programme via the National Open College Network
• relational, non religious Christianity; it’s fun!

There are three types of course open : Track 1 is the predominant access point to DNA - it is the fullest DNA expereince. The overwhelming bulk of individuals choose this as the best-fit option for them. Track 2 is more appropriate to you if taking a full “year-out” is not pragmatically viable. This could be for reasons like work or family commitments. Track 2 thus proffers some flexibility. Track 3 offers individuals the opportunity of joining us for as many individual training sessions or days as they wish.

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The American theologian Horace Bushnell also played a vital role in the advancement of liberal theology. Bushnell’s liberalism included historical tradition and took into account the emotional nature of religion. He espoused the supernatural character of personality and the immanence of God in personality. By means of preaching, teaching, writing and personal practice, Bushnell attempted to divert man away from dogmas and to seek satisfaction and security in experience. In his book, Religion in America, Hudson pointed out:

…the real key to the influence of Bushnell upon his contemporaries was his success in fashioning a definitely Christocentric theology that was based upon Christian experience rather than upon any external dogmatic authority. Thus the believer was no longer under compulsion to find his security in biblical proof texts. He could not accept the conclusions of biblical scholars with relative equanimity and appropriate the results of other scientific investigations without great difficulty because his faith was validated by the inward testimony of the heart…Bushnell found a freedom denied to those who felt compelled to meet a rationalistic assault with a purely rationalistic defense.

By acknowledging Christ as the center and goal of history, Bushnell helped move man away from an arid rationalism to the Christ; away from a mechanical view associated with theology to the natural and the human; away from dependence upon external authorities to the Divine authority. Certainly, Bushnell could be considered a good friend to orthodoxy.

The leaders in the Romanticist movement, including Rousseau in France and Shelley in England, were intensely interested in religion. Its later period of “phasing out” must not blind us to the relative worth of its earlier contributions, among the main of which was its strong belief that the intellect was not the only road to truth.

The modernist phase of theological liberalism is marked by the significance of historical time and an emphasis upon the notion of progress. A representative personification of this mode of liberal theology can be found in the German Protestant theologian Friedrich Schleirmacher. Commonly referred to as the “father of modern theology,” Schleirmacher developed a constructive empirical method of religious inquiry that was both descriptive and historical. Religion to him was an inner experience separated and independent from science, morality, knowledge and philosophy. He considered the essence of religion to be a personal “feeling” of absolute dependence on the universe (God). Authority was not to be found in scriptures, creeds, churches or dogmas, but rooted in the heart of the believer. Schleirmacher adamantly maintained that the great debates over proofs of God, the authority of Scriptures, miracles, and the like, were all on the outside boarder of religion. The heart of religion was and always had been “feeling” as opposed to rational proofs and discussions. According to Schleirmacher, God to the religious man was an experience; a living reality.

Although Schleirmacher’s theology seem to possess certain pantheistic touches, his reinterpretation of the Christian religion nevertheless, provided succeeding generations of theologians with a reasonable alternative to orthodoxy. He opened the door to a vast universe beyond absolutes and rationalism; to an exploratory realm beyond the Bible.

Well, if Schleirmacher was the “father of modern theology” then Rauschenbusch was the “father of the Social Gospel.” The social gospel was a movement that attempted to utilize, in the spirit of Christ, the material thrown up by the social sciences for the building of the kingdom of God. Rauschenbusch seemed to integrate all the major elements of the liberal tradition. He emphasized the unity between God and humanity and thereby saw the working of God in and through the working of humanity. His emphasis was society’s impact on Christianity and the regeneration of man. Rauschenbusch was concerned with the social welfare of the sinner and felt that this was an issue that was not forcefully addressed by the church. He continually emphasized the deep need for dealing with the issue of social justice. And although the Social Gospel looked upon scientific contributions with favor, it did not and does not relinquish its firm grip on the fact that no permanent salvation is possible without the creation of a new spirit.

The decisive events stimulating liberal interest were the Industrial revolution and the explosion of the sciences. Following the general acceptance of Darwins’s evolutionary theory, historical interest reached higher plateaus which gave rise to a concern with development of new forms of various fields. Science gave impetus to a new drive toward modernization and a seemingly vehement stressing of the primacy of the present. Christian doctrine was transformed into Starbuck’s “Psychology of Religion” or William James’ “The Varieties of Religious Experience” or Leuba’s “Psychological Study of Religion,” or the like. William Sumner’s “folkways,” a sociological study of human behavior which emphasized the social aspect of religion, rejected ideas of the absolute and the eternal. Consequently, modernists sought to consolidate religious thought with scientific knowledge. The authority of the Bible in theology began to wane as philosophy and various sciences assumed ascendancy in the interpretation of religion.

One of the best known advocates for Protestant liveral theology was Harry Emerson Fosdick. He devoted his entire career as a preacher, professor and author to the conflict between religion and science. Fosdick’s theological viewpoints focused primarily on four major ideas and were described by Ferm in his “Tribute to Harry Emerson Fosdick.” He stated that Fosdick:

1) Attempted to express the abiding truths of the Christian faith in the changing categories appropriate to the modern world. 2) Stressed the importance of reason in faith. 3) Grounded his faith in personal and social experiences. 4) Appreciated, accepted and utilized the scientific method of inquiry. Felt very strongly that science had its place and that the task of theology was interpreting the Christian message in light of scientific knowledge.

(continued in Part 3)

Rev. Saundra L. Washington, D.D., is an ordained clergywoman, veteran social worker, and Founder of AMEN Ministries. She is also the author of two coffee table books: Room Beneath the Snow: Poems that Preach and Negative Disturbances: Homilies that Teach which can be reviewed on her site. Her new book, Out of Deep Waters: My Grief Management Workbook, is expected to be available in July.

You are welcome to visit AMEN Ministries: Your Soul’s Service Station for spiritual refreshing, soul edification or to browse our newly expanded mini shopping mall.

Blessings to all!

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Word of instruction: Accommodation

Terry Dashner

Have you ever wondered why the Bible describes God as having
arms, hands, and other human characteristics when, in fact, He
is Spirit?

The technical term for this is called anthropomorphism. That’s a
fancy way of saying that writers use the language of
“accommodation” to describe God in ways that can be best
understood by the reader. And the reader can best understand the
abstract characteristics of God by seeing Him in concrete, human
terms.

Let me illustrate this. If I use the term “beautiful” in a
conversation with you–because the term is very abstract–the
meaning may be misunderstood, unless I put it in concrete terms.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? Right. So, in order
to paint you a clear picture of beauty, I simply point to a
“beautiful” person. Now you have a concept of beauty, and the
term is no longer abstract.

Here are some legitimate uses of the Biblical language of
accommodation: (1) In the realm of theology, God is often
described as having physical properties (hands, eyes, etc.). (2)
In the realm of cosmology, nature is often pictured in the
language of appearance rather than in the language of exact
science (the sunsets, the moon rises, and etc.). (3) In the
realm of ethics a stronger brother may, in matters indifferent,
accommodate himself to the scruples of a weaker brother (ICor.8;
Gal.2:3-5). (4) In the realm of doctrine, parabolic language may
be employed to accommodate the deeper mysteries to the minds of
the unenlightened (Matt.13:10-17).

With this brief lesson, I hope you see the importance of God
seeking out man and not the other way around. You see, God is
too abstract for the human mind, and we can’t possibly know
Him–unless He reveals Himself to us in a way that we can
understand. Jesus became flesh so that we might know what the
Father in Heaven is like.

Keep the faith. Stay the course. Jesus is showing us the Father,
until He comes again.

Pastor T

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