A Mission Statement for Generous Orthodoxy?

What does the label "generous orthodoxy" really mean? Although I have applied this attractive yet elusive moniker to myself for years, I am still searching for an adequate definition and/or description of it. Well, just a few weeks ago one of my teachers humorously offered the following quote as a "mission statement for generous orthodoxy." I must admit, it may be the best statement on offer.  Check it out:

"To become obedient to Jesus is actually to become obedient to God, not a conceived and imaginary God, but to a God as he is in his inmost essence, the gracious God, the god in whom we may believe.  Jesus himself is the divine demand which confronts us as a genuinely compelling demand and which is also rigorous in the sense that it can be fulfilled only willingly or not at all; the demand upon us ourselves, which claims ours heart, and therefore the fulfillment of which really brings us ourselves into harmony with the will of God.  Nothing that we can do in fulfillment of the will of God is higher and deeper than to love Jesus and therefore to keep his commandments - just because they are his, just because we cannot love him without keeping his commandments.  We definitely fulfill the will the will of God when we do this.  And whatever is done in line with and in the sense of this action even where Jesus is no longer or is not yet known; whatever bears in itself something in the nature of this action and is therefore an actual witness to the fact that Jesus lives and reigns and conquers, is definitely a fulfillment of the will of God.  In all ages the will of God has been fulfilled outside the Church as well.  Indeed, to the shame of the Church it has often been better fulfilled outside the Church than in it.  This is not in virtue of a natural goodness of humanity.  It is because Jesus, as the One who has risen from the dead and sits at the right hand of God, is in fact the Lord of the whole world, who has his servants even where his name is not yet or no longer known and praised.  The Church can know and praise him.  The Church can live in the consciousness of what is said to us.  The Church can call all human beings to the consciousness of what has force and truth for all humanity.  How great, then, is the Church's primary task and obligation: to realize for itself that the only thing which has truth and force is that in the fact that Jesus lives and reigns and conquers humanity is claimed by God!"  (Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics II/2, pp. 568-569, translation revised and emphasis added)

This quote indicates that generosity is not some addition we add to our orthodoxy. Rather, we are generous because we are orthodox. The cosmic claim of Jesus Christ implies that he has servants outside the walls of the church. Therefore, as orthodox men and women, we actively and openly seek out his unwitting witnesses wherever they may be found.

Any thoughts?
Is this a minimally adequate description of generous orthodoxy?
If not, what are some other alternatives?
If so, what are some other insights that can be gleaned from this quote?

Comments

[Chris TerryNelson]

Thanks John for this insightful quote. If you have not done so already, I suggest skipping ahead to Church Dogmatics 4/3 (first half) to read Barth's treatment of Jesus Christ as the Mediator between God and the World. Here we get to see the above quote receive more rigorous treatment. Or, if you're short on time, read Hunsinger's epilogue in "How to Read Karl Barth."

I would not fiddle with a concept of "generous orthodoxy" unless I already had some idea of what Barth is talking about: namely, Jesus Christ as the revealed sovereign Lord of the world. Indeed, it is an adequate "foundation" for our epistemic generosity as the Church. How it relates to "orthodoxy" is hard, because this term is such a relative term. For we are all sinners, and as such remain heretics to some degree. But if "orthodoxy" remains committed to Jesus Christ as the One Word of God beyond all our human words, then I fail to see how it could not be adequate.

When you ask if it's an adequate "description," I think what could be missing here, at least for some, is a description of the every-day generous behavior. What constitutes the behavior of our generosity? What are we being generous with, exactly? I can think of a lot of bothersome scenarios between Christians and non-Christians that I want to solve. But I sense that this is not the right way to go about it.

I'll have to give this some further chewing, which is another way of saying "nice post."

[dlw]

For me, my studies of Church History and doctrinal conflicts have led me to see heresy as most often more about missiology than soteriology. In which case, one can dialogue on "Orthodoxy" without getting into a catfight over whether you or I are truly saved or not.

Orthodoxy matters, but if it matters primarily for guidance in how we let our lights shine before others and the sorts of discipleships we undertake then one cannot justify the use of political/economic might to attempt to root out "heresy" once and for all.

dlw

[Rex]

Before I used to believe mission was about what the church does. Over time I have come to believe that was wrong. Mission is about what God has done, is doing, and will do in the world and whether we will simply the life of Jesus (characterized by service, humility, and obedience) and join, as Jesus did, in what God is doing among his world.

I believe the apostle Paul understood this and that is why he could write from a prison cell to the church in Philipi "to live is Christ, to die is gain."

[Rex]

"we will simply the life of Jesus" should read:

"we will simply LIVE the life of Jesus."

[larry H]

hey
great post..
more later