Partnership or Compromise?

As discussed in last year’s MB Herald, it looks like some influential Canadian Mennonites have decided to go ahead and partner together to educate the next generation of church leaders…

WCMS is an inter-Mennonite partnership that facilitates the offering of graduate and professional theological education in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The primary role of WCMS is to link the church constituency with the resources of various Mennonite educational institutions. At this time, students can gain graduate theological education by seeking admission to the MA Theological Studies offered by the Canadian Mennonite University or the Certificate of Christian Ministry offered through Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary (MBBS) of Fresno, CA or Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) of Elkhart, Indiana. WCMS can also facilitate academic advising and coaching for those who train for vocational ministry. WCMS seeks to provide continued professional education for pastors and pastoral candidates through pastoral round tables, workshops and other special events.
[www.cmu.ca]

The WCMS centre, located on the Canadian Mennonite University campus in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is supported by the following Mennonite organizations:  Keep Reading >>>

Contemplative Prayer - Sinister Perversion

“Lectio Divina”

The next major topic covered by the source document brought into question in this series[i] is “Lectio Divina.”[ii] Our anonymous author merely refers to lectio divina as “Bible Reading” in his heading of the subject and provides this as his opening statement:

“For many Christian leaders Bible reading and study has become the means to preparing a teaching or preaching assignment.”

This is probably truer than most would care to admit; and I am willing to say that it may possibly be true of some, even many, who would profess to embrace reformed theology and the doctrines of grace; many more than we, who are quite orthodox and reformed, would care to admit.

Although the author of this piece quotes Emergent leader, Tony Jones, and states that the origin of lectio divina occurred approximately 500 years after Christ, instituted by a monastic priest, Benedict, aka Saint Benedict,[iii] he does n0t give much of a definition for lectio divina. Then again, he did not have to because he cites the four phases of lectio divina in his paper (which we will look at one by one). Prior to explaining each one of the components, however, the author does provide an especially revealing paragraph: Read it all HERE

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Up And Out, Not In

When a lot of Christian’s think about “spirituality” they tend to think of it monastically, individualistically. In fact, in his book on sanctification, Harold Senkbeil writes, “What has developed under the guise of the practice of the Christian faith borders on a new monasticism.” Many of us, in other words, think about spirituality exclusively in terms of personal piety, internal devotion, and spiritual formation. We focus almost entirely on ourselves and our private disciplines: praying, reading the Bible, and so on. That, we conclude, is what spirituality is first and foremost. And while personal disciplines are indispensable aspects of staying tethered to the truth of gospel (you’ll shrink without them), it’s interesting that when James makes his strong point in 2:14-26 about faith without works being dead, what he describes are not works of private spirituality but public service: Keep Reading...

Missional Church or New Monasticism?

Some of us remember the Tears for Fears song, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." Yet the mantra today is more about changing the world than ruling it. Lots of younger Christians are tired of spiritual consumerism and evangelism pitches about inviting Jesus into your heart so you can go to heaven when you die. There has to be more to Christianity than "soul-saving." Isn't there something in there about "the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting"? About a new creation? Don't we sing "Joy to the World," anticipating the blessings of Christ's kingdom extending "far as the curse is found"? 

Nevertheless, a legitimate question can be raised as to whether this newfound interest in creation redeemed is still guided by a paradigm that owes more to monasticism than to the world-affirming piety of the Reformation.

The New Monasticism

Medieval monasticism was divided between those who prized the contemplative life (spiritual ascent to heaven through private disciplines of the mind) and those who gave priority to the active life (spiritual ascent through good works, especially for the poor). Francis of Assisi—and the Franciscan Order named after him—emphasized the latter. 

First, today we see a revival of contemplative spirituality. It is a traditional evangelical emphasis on personal piety: discipleship as inner transformation through spiritual disciplines. Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline (1979) introduced many evangelicals to the medieval mystics and contemplative writers. From The Divine Conspiracy (1998) to The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus' Essential Teachings on Discipleship (2006), Dallas Willard has repeated this call to discipleship: inner transformation through the spiritual disciplines. Keep Reading>>>

Heresy of the Free Spirit

Marguerite Porete was a French mystic born in the thirteenth century.  She was part of the Beguines, a voluntary, informal semi-monastic community not unlike the new monasticism popping up in some urban centers. Marguerite, though unknown to almost all contemporary Christians, was influential and controversial in her day. She was burned at the stake in Paris in 1310 and her views later condemned at the Council of Vienne in 1312.

What got her in trouble was The Mirror of Simple Souls, Marguerite’s exploration on what she calls the seven states of grace. In the fifth and sixth states (the seventh can only be reached after death) the human soul is so united to God that it disappears. Our wills are completely replaced by the divine will, such that we are no longer capable of sinning. All our thoughts, feelings, and desires get swallowed up in the Divine. We do not even wish for the comforts of God because we are already one with God. Keep Reading>>>