Back to the Garden

Allow me to begin with a bold claim. There are, it seems to me, two general ways to make an argument. One way, the way of the polemicist, is to make grand, totalizing assertions, dismissing contrary positions as out-of-hand or ignorant. The second, the way of the academic, is to qualify claims by nuancing a position so that it can nimbly avoid most obvious objections. Of course, many academics are polemical, and some folks who make bold claims have done the hard work to nuance them properly. But it seems as though, in an intellectual climate where all claims are met with a hermeneutic of suspicion, assuming, of course, that all assertions are merely veiled power-plays, even the most nuanced of position is open to misunderstanding or death by virtue of the failings of whatever rational system makes the claim intelligible.  Now, don't get me wrong, there is an important place for careful argumentation and close analysis of evidences in order to find conceptual clarity. There ...

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend Mennonite Church Manitoba's annual general meeting. Our church conference has been having an ongoing disagreement over how we understand marriage and have been through a long process of discernment, argumentation, and study on the issue. This meeting was a huge encouragement as I witnessed church leaders who deeply disagree with each other on a host of issues surrounding the issue of marriage and sexuality extend deep grace and hope for continued peaceful worship together. My congregation issued a statement that attempted to be as gracious in its assertions as it could be and was responded to by leaders from other congregations with open hands and open hearts in spite of our deep disagreements. This image of peace-through-disagreement is exactly the kind institution the church has always and will always be. Our unity in Christ is not based on uniformity, but on our willingness to keep Christ at the center, even as we have deep d...