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pecuniumEd Kilgore is discussing the, Broken Communion in the world of Christian believers.
On the night in question, the pastor offered a brief homily reminding the congregation that the Lord's Supper was limited to "believers" and "the godly." Knowing what I know about contemporary Southern Baptist views these days, I had to wonder if I was outside the circle of fidelity and godliness....
For nearly two millennia, of course, Christian "belief" was measured by adherence to creeds, confessions, and such big theological issues as the Trinity or the Atonement. Receiving the eucharist "worthily" also usually revolved around more than the moral condition of the communicant, and required in most traditions a common belief about the nature of the celebration itself--transubstantiation or consubstantiation, real or symbolic presence, sacrifice or memorial.
Nowadays, in the United States at least, such ancient indicia of "belief" have largely receded into the background. And among Protestants, the old disputes have been supplanted by one big dispute: the proposition of biblical inerrancy, and with it, a host of highly political and cultural arguments over issues of gender and sexuality, from the preeminence of men in family and community life, to gay and lesbian "lifestyles," to abortion.
Go read the whole thing.
On the night in question, the pastor offered a brief homily reminding the congregation that the Lord's Supper was limited to "believers" and "the godly." Knowing what I know about contemporary Southern Baptist views these days, I had to wonder if I was outside the circle of fidelity and godliness....
For nearly two millennia, of course, Christian "belief" was measured by adherence to creeds, confessions, and such big theological issues as the Trinity or the Atonement. Receiving the eucharist "worthily" also usually revolved around more than the moral condition of the communicant, and required in most traditions a common belief about the nature of the celebration itself--transubstantiation or consubstantiation, real or symbolic presence, sacrifice or memorial.
Nowadays, in the United States at least, such ancient indicia of "belief" have largely receded into the background. And among Protestants, the old disputes have been supplanted by one big dispute: the proposition of biblical inerrancy, and with it, a host of highly political and cultural arguments over issues of gender and sexuality, from the preeminence of men in family and community life, to gay and lesbian "lifestyles," to abortion.
Go read the whole thing.
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Date: 2008-12-29 02:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-29 04:00 am (UTC)And it's the thrice-curséd "political and cultural arguments" that do it, too. But they can't figure out how to get past them.