354 - Freedom For Ministry: A Critical Affirmation of The Church and Its Mission

Freedom For Ministry:
A Critical Affirmation of The Church and Its Mission
By Richard John Neuhaus
San Francisco. Harper & Row, 1984. 232 pp. $7.95 paper.

As its subtitle indicates, Neuhaus' book is "a critical affirmation of the church and its mission" and, in particular. of its pastoral ministry.

356 - Freedom For Ministry: A Critical Affirmation of The Church and Its Mission

Published originally in hardcover in 1979, this stimulating and perceptive work analyzes and puts into perspective the series of fads which have besieged the church in the past decade or two (and which still continue), and which have done much to denigrate the vocation of Christian ministry. Within this context, Neuhaus' intent, as I perceive it, is that of being "radical," of recalling the biblical/theological "roots" or pastoral ministry, and thus of providing the gift of encouragement for beleaguered ministers. Neuhaus does this out of his own being and experience as a Lutheran pastor who ministered for many years in an inner-city, New York parish.

One of the controlling notions of the book is what Neuhaus calls a "disputed sovereignty" (p. 60). What this means is that the church is a community which has "sighted" the coming of God's royal reign in the Christ. The church's ministry, in the light of that-and in-the interim before "the end," is to "signal" and "celebrate" that reign through its word and life, precisely because what was embodied in the Christ is humanity's future. But Neuhaus is insistent upon maintenance of the eschatological tension. Even if what has been apprehended in the Christ, through word and by faith, is a true foretaste of "the end," "the end" is not yet.

This recalling of a basic biblical /theological root points to the "awkwardness" with which the church and its ministry simply have to live. It is an awkwardness that has to do with the authority and legitimation which lie at the heart of vocation: " . . the justification for Christian ministry is derived from him who forbids us to seek our authority from any existent reality, short of the reality of his Kingdom come" (P. 61 ). Until "the end," that sovereignty is in question.

With this as the theological perspective, Neuhaus sees ministers as being "ambassadors of a sovereign who is to come; who, until he comes, is enthroned on a cross, exhibiting his majesty in love that suffers with a world that suffers because its defiance delays his rule" (p. 61). The ambassadors of such a sovereign cannot find their authority in "contemporary notions of professionalism" (p. 56). Decrying clergy offices "littered by diplomas and certificates" in "pitiable imitation of the doctor's office," Neuhaus suggests, in the light of this awkwardness of Christian vocation that, "if the wall of the pastor's office Is to make a declaration worthy of the calling, let it display a simple cross or crucifix" (pp. 55-57).

Another controlling notion, not unrelated to the eschatological tension, in which Neuhaus finds freedom for ministry, is Luther's "simul iustus et peccator"-simultaneously justified and sinner. He applies this, for example, to what he calls "the thus and so-ness" of the church of empirical experience. The church is the whore, marked by "the hustling that dominates the electronic church of religious broadcasting, the mile-long cathedrals of glass made possible by the avoidance of controversy, the multimillion dollar commerce in books that reinforce every prejudice and stereotype…" (p. 6). But that is the church Christ loved

358 - Freedom For Ministry: A Critical Affirmation of The Church and Its Mission

and for which he gave himself. "The bride of Christ mentioned in Revelation 21 will be something quite new to our eyes, but she will be no stranger, for we will recognize her as the whore of Christendom transformed" (p. 11).

In the interim, ministry in the empirical church, with all of its "thus and so-ness," is that of love, of helping it become what it is, for its reality, to be fully existent in "the end," is bride of Christ "without blemish" (Eph. 5). Neuhaus claims that many of the radicalisms of recent years have forgotten Martin Luther King's aphorism, "whom you would change you must first love." Adversary postures too often have forgotten ..that prophecy is an office of love and not of contempt" (p. 14). "When we stop loving, we stop winning, no matter how many points we think are ours" (p. l 3).

Under the rubric of reconciliation-the church as a healing community-Neuhaus deals with counselling and with the necessity for what he calls "a robust skepticism toward the imperium of psychology" (p. 72). While not advocating scorn of psychology, Neuhaus indicates the need for skepticism because of the "not yet" of the Kingdom. "The Christian proposition is that the discontents, the feelings of alienation, the inability to be 'at home' with existent reality, are all signs of health to be celebrated. The fatal disease is the premature 'resolution' of that which cannot be and must not be resolved except by the resolution of all things in the consummated lordship of Christ" (pp. 71-72).

Reconciliation is not resignation to things as they are, is not coping by conforming. A ministry of reconciliation often involves a prophetic stance against a world short on the shalom which is God's salvation. Reconciliation has to do with transformation, with sanctification, with new ways of being and acting. "The therapeutic mind-set must be challenged in a Christian community that calls people to believe that they are instruments of divine purpose, that fulfillment is to be discovered in loss, that life at its highest is devotion to the lowest, that the air we breathe is shared by angels and archangels, that pure joy is to be identified with a convicted criminal on Calvary's continuing road to life through death" (pp. 73-74). At a basic level, the eschatological "not yet" of the Kingdom puts Christian ministry at variance with psychology's therapeutic model.

Three chapters of the book deal with the minister's role in worship and preaching. The worthwhileness of worship is premised upon nothing but "the unsurpassable worthiness of God" (p. 120). Judging getting in touch with one's own feelings or with the feelings of others to be only marginally related to worship, Neuhaus claims that "the utterly singular thing about worship is that it is the communal response of unqualified encounter with the Absolute" (p. 122). Preaching is a central part of liturgy. being "the articulation of the evangelion of what God has done. is doing, and will do in Jesus Christ" (p. 140). Great preaching is marked by an Emmaus-like experience in which the Scriptures are opened, Christ is recognized, and, in him, one perceives the truth about

360 - Freedom For Ministry: A Critical Affirmation of The Church and Its Mission

oneself and the world. In this enterprise, God employs the preacher's unique, distinct personality. "Preaching is the communication of truth through sanctified ego and sanctified rhetoric" (p. 155). Though the term now has derogatory connotations, Neuhaus calls for a reclaiming of "rhetoric," the art of expressive speech.

I found the author's delineation of homiletical modes particularly interesting: the forensic mode, in which one argues a case; the conversational-reflection mode, in which the hearer is invited to explore a question; the narrative mode, in which points are made indirectly the lecture mode; the manifesto mode, in which a carefully wrought position is articulated, the expository mode, in which texts are taken apart and put together again.

Neuhaus has succeeded in reaffirming the biblical/theological nature of Christian ministry. And he has done this while putting into proper, critical perspective the many fads which have tempted the church of late and which have denigrated the sense of vocation to ministry. The main reservation I have about the book is some of its once-over--lightly treatments, its tendency toward caricature. For example, though I appreciate what Neuhaus is intending, it is not enough, after referring to Barth's statement about preaching with the Bible in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other, to dismiss liberation theology by writing :"It has been said of some styles of liberation theology that they preach with the newspaper in one hand, a gun in the other, while standing on the Bible" (p. 170).

For one who has worked as pastor and preacher for thirty years. this book has been a stimulating and critical affirmation of ministry. I commend it to pastors and to students studying for ordination to Christian ministry, and those who teach them.

Stanford R. Lucyk
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church
Toronto, Ontario