Restorative Christ

Geoff Broughton

Description

The conviction that Jesus is the restorative Christ demands a commitment to the justice he articulated. The justice of the restorative Christ is justice with reconciliation, justice with repentance, justice with repair, and justice without retaliation. The Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts portray the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ through the radical concept of "enemy-love." In conversation with Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Jesus-for-others), John Howard Yoder (a nonviolent Jesus), Miroslav Volf (an embracing Jesus), and Chris Marshall (a compassionate Jesus), Broughton demonstrates what the restorative Christ means for us today. Following the restorative Christ faithfully involves imaginative disciplines (seeing, remembering, and desiring), conversational disciplines (naming, questioning, and forgiving), and embodied disciplines (absorbing, repairing, and embracing).

Sujets

• Love
• Love (disambiguation)
• Christianity
• Theology
• Denomination
• Christian Church
• Group
• Christian theology

Informations

• Publié par: Wipf and Stock Publishers
• Date de parution: 02 janvier 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781630877484
• Langue: English

Extrait

Restorative Christ
Jesus, Justice, and Discipleship
Geoff Broughton


RESTORATIVE CHRIST
Jesus, Justice, and Discipleship

Copyright © 2014 Geoff Broughton. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8 th Ave., Suite 3 , Eugene, OR 97401 .

Pickwick Publications
An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W. 8 th Ave., Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401

www.wipfandstock.com

isbn 13 : 978 – 1–62564 – 052 – 9
eisbn 13 : 978 – 1–63087 – 748 – 4

Cataloging - in - Publication data :

Broughton, Geoff

Restorative Christ : Jesus, justice, and discipleship / Geoff Broughton.

xiv + 190 p. ; 23 cm. —Includes bibliographical references and index.

isbn 13 : 978 – 1–62564 – 052 – 9

1 . Bible. Luke—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2 . Justice—Biblical teaching. 3 . Christian life. I. Title.

BS 2595 . 6 P 5 B 83 2014

Manufactured in the U.S.A.



For my varied and various teachers: on the streets, at the seminaries, and in the churches.





Preface
I t was thirty years ago on a warm summer evening when I sat down on the grass under a tree outside the local Anglican church where I had been baptized, confirmed, and subsequently nurtured. I was still in my teens but had volunteered for the “Parramatta Youth Mission” held in the two weeks prior to Christmas. The mission was primarily for the street-kids but attracted many passers by. I recall the first night vividly. A large and rowdy group of “head bangers” (it was the middle of the 1980 s) were gathered near the street and directly in front of the main stage. Most of the volunteers steered clear of this crowd. I was young and näive but earnest and direct. I went and sat in the middle of this group. They were only a couple of years younger than me. I was there because I loved Jesus and was trying to follow him faithfully and in practical ways. I was raised in a stable and loving Christian home where I had been well fed and educated. I knew nothing about justice. My ignorance dissolved the moment Chris held a knife to my throat asking if I was a “shark-f•••er” (slang for “surfer”)? I was wearing a Bali singlet, a gift from my cousin after her recent trip to the tropical paradise, renown for its great surfing. Wearing a Bali singlet among street-kids in the western suburbs of Sydney, I discovered, was tantamount to wearing an orange vest at a nationalist rally in Belfast. For reasons I have never been able to explain, I was not afraid of Chris nor the knife at my throat nor what might happen next. Chris recognized my lack of fear, pulled away his knife commenting: “you weren’t scared by that, were you?” I replied with honesty; “no, I was not scared_ (he still had a knife in his hand). Then a long conversation began about fear, life, Jesus, and justice. The conversation with Chris eventually ended. That was nearly thirty years ago. But a longer conversation has continued in the churches and on the streets of inner city of Sydney; in theological seminaries in Australia and America; and, more recently, in academic research and teaching. This book is the fruit of the continuing conversation about Jesus and justice that began under a tree, outside a church, with a young man, living on the street, armed with a knife. The manuscript began as a doctoral dissertation with the title “Restorative Justice and Jesus Christ: Why Restorative Justice Requires a Holistic Christology” presented to Charles Sturt University in 2011 . Readers seeking more detailed scholarly argument and Scriptural exegesis should consult that work which is available through “Digital Theses Online.”

Acknowledgments
T he dedication to my varied and various teachers reflects the multiple contributions to this book. The more formal assistance includes a compact funding grant from Charles Sturt University to revise substantially my PhD dissertation. I have enjoyed the privilege of being supervised, then employed, by a friend and mentor, Professor Tom Frame, who read and edited the entire manuscript. Another friend and mentor—Ched Myers—urged me to write and opened the doors that might otherwise have remained shut. It was Ched who first spoke about the intersection of “the seminary, the sanctuary and the streets.” My life and vocation has taken shape at that intersection and this book is the result. The usual disclaimer stands—any remaining errors and deficiencies are mine alone. Less formal (but no less essential) contributions came from a number of people including the formational role of two inner-city Anglican churches in Sydney (St John’s East Sydney and St John’s Glebe). The streets in which these Christian communities are embedded taught me how to follow the restorative Christ. Each chapter begins and ends with a true story from one of those communities. Although the individual names have been changed for publication I am indebted to them for the role each played. In what follows, 4 scholars-practitioners, who exemplify the kind of theological reflection I aspire to, are major conversation partners. Collectively their teaching, writing and encouragement has prodded and provoked my convictions about Jesus and my commitment to justice. Families are inevitably drawn into writing a book as well. My father, Glenn Broughton, displayed confidence that what I was writing was worth reading, while close friends, the Reverend Andrew Hudson and Reverend Dr Simon Holt never faltered in their father-like belief in me. Roger Hiller, my father-in-law, kindly made his seaside “fishermen shack” available during writing leave. My two children, Nick and Anna, ground my commitment to the restorative Christ and justice. Jackie, my wife for more than twenty years, knows intimately my failures in discipleship and loves me still. This book is offered in the hope and prayer that I—and they—become capable of living what I have written about.

Abbreviations
AVOApprehended Violence Order
BGADBauer, Walter, Frederick W. Danker, William Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979 .
DBWE Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works English



Introduction
Jesus and Justice
T he city streets exhibit a peculiar justice. Poets, filmmakers and songwriters romanticize it, but many of those found at the margins of city life must live by it. It is an adversarial justice, often enacted violently. It is a world where “just desserts” are meted out with Old Testament severity. Occasionally this includes demanding a “life for a life.” Security guards regulate access to many nightclubs and entertainment venues on the main strips. Cloistered inside the boardrooms and backrooms, albeit with slightly more sophistication, the same, adversarial justice reigns. Found amidst the rough justice of the alleyways, the clubs and the cops of the inner city are a handful of small communities of faith whose primary allegiance is to Jesus Christ. This book emerges from the life of two such inner-city communities in Sydney, Australia. The restorative Christ found in the Scriptures taught, lived and died by a very different kind of justice. Most disciples of Jesus Christ are familiar with the words of Luke 6 : 39 : “to one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.” The Anglican Churches in Darlinghurst/Kings Cross and Glebe aspired to follow the restorative Christ by practicing his justice. To many in the surrounding neighborhood we were seemingly naïve “god - botherers.” What impact could we make on the violence and brokenness characterizing these kinds of neighborhoods? What contribution could an ethic of “turn the other cheek” make in a place where any weaknesses is immediately exploited for advantage? The stories in this book of wrongdoing and justice, victims and wrongdoers, reconciliation and repair, emerge from the everyday life of the Christian communities in those neighborhoods. Following Jesus Christ delivers justice in the most broken parts of our cities and our worlds.
Some reading this book will share its convictions about Jesus Christ but remain skeptical about his vision of justice. I hope you become convinced that he is the restorative Christ. Four, reliable theological guides are employed across the main chapters to develop the restorative calling and character of Jesus Christ: Chris Marshall’s compassionate Jesus; John Howard Yoder’s nonviolent Jesus; Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Jesus for others ; and, Miroslav Volf’s embracing Jesus. Each chapter contains a core sample from Luke-Acts that provides the biblical-theological resources for my restorative Christ. Others reading this book will share its convictions about restorative justice but remain uncertain about Jesus Christ. Surely religion in general—and Christianity in particular—have caused as much enmity, violence and injustice in the world as they have solved? I believe discipleship of ordinary victims, wrongdoers and their local Christian communities described in this book provide a powerful witness to the justice of Jesus Christ.
Each chapter explores the discipl