Christo-dramatic re-traditionalization explained

Rodney Clapp, in his “Practicing the Politics of Jesus,” discusses the narrative logic of Christian political practices. Christian mission begins with the memory of a story; like Jesus, who knows his mission by knowing the story of Israel and Israel’s God, YHWH (Clapp, 26). Jesus of Nazareth embodies the story of Israel, with climaxes with his resurrection, which means the reconstitution of the nation of Israel and its temple (27). Thus, the church, must remember the story of Jesus, which is firmly grounded in the narrative of Israel, which in turns aids us in creating rules of grammar and practices (doctrine and sacraments) for remembering Christ’s story (29). Some of the problems with the narrative turn in theology was exposed in Kevin Van Hoozer’s The Drama of Doctrine: A canonical linguistic approach to Christian theology. One of these problems include the way in which the narrative functions within the Christian community; the story, as true with Clapp’s essay, becomes more important than the performances (actions) taken by the community. Doctrine, therefore is given primacy, as it has traditionally had, over and against praxis. This should not be the case; doctrine and praxis go hand in hand. The doctrine of the Trinity and its development has very concrete implications for how Christians are to live in community with one another as well as within the world.
The narrative turn in biblical studies is represented by Walter Brueggeman, and for my purposes, in particularly his essay, “Always in the Shadow of the Empire.” Over and over again, Brueggeman emphasizes that the history of Israel, and therefore the recorded history in the Hebrew Bible, was constituted by a struggle for the Israelites to maintain their particularly theologically constructed national identities against the imperial religions and oppressive forces of the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and Persians. Brueggeman, like Clapp, prioritizes the story over practices; for example, he excuses Nehemiah’s and Ezra’s stances against interracial marriage as an example of their dedication to the YHWH-ist formed identity of the Jews (54). The other problem with narrative theology is that persons are very selective in which part of the story they will tell. Moses was married to someone of another ethnicity; it seems unreasonable for Brueggeman to remain silent on that issue when he claims that the Exodus story remains the formative story for Israel.

Proponents of Christian particularity find notions such as syncretism and intercultural exchange to be problematic. This is founded upon the fear that the religious assembly will fall into unfaithfulness and disobedience. It is a valid fear, no doubt, but one cannot say that practicioners of world Judaisms and Christianities have been left in isolated boxes, down to this day, without being influenced by other cultures, religions, and philosophies. Christian beliefs and practices have been shown to have cross-cultural and cross-generational connections; things such as the care for the widows, the orphans, and destitute can be found across religious lines. According to Ogbu U. Kalu, during an era where Japan was trying to modernize its industry, there was something called “traditionalization,” or patterning Japanese industrial practices consistently with traditional Japanese mores (Kalu, 9). In agreement with Stanley Hauerwas (in his “The Nonviolent Terrorist: In Defense of Christian Fanaticism”) and thus Alasdair MacIntyre, I believe that traditions are contextually formed and informed by local truths and praxis (Hauerwas, 96). Traditions within world Christianity do not remain the same. The story may not change, but the story-tellers do, as well as the situations in which they must enact and perform the story of Christ.

Dramas on Broadway as well as the silver screen require the actors to perform a story, to act out a particular narrative to both general and specific audiences. The story is just as important as the performance; there is no division between the actor, the actions s/he takes within the narrative, and the story that may or may not be original. The great thing about movies is that they can have sequels, prequels, or even remakes. Therefore, the term I have come up with to express the Universal Church’s need to dramatize the story of Christ throughout the centuries and within differing contexts is Christo-dramatic re-traditionalization. To Christo-dramatically re-traditionalize the Christian faith is to simultaneously recognize the differences between Christianity and other religions as well as the changing nature of Christian tradition from generation to generation as well as from culture to culture. For example, Nathaniel Turner’s Christian rebellion against his enslavers would probably not fit into Stanley Hauerwas’s model of nonviolent terrorists, but one could perhaps analyze Turner’s revolt in light of Christian violent activity such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s failed assassination attempt against Adolph Hitler. Christo-dramatic re-traditionalization, therefore, rejects the notion that every Christian ought to be converted into the image of Stanley Hauerwas who wants everyone to be a pacifist, but rather that every Christian actor performs the drama that Christ has called her/him to act out in their particular stage of the world and in history (Hauerwas, 90).

RodtRDH

Formerly known as Rod of Alexandria, Rod the Rogue Demon Hunter Preacher of Hope | Black Scholar of Patristics | Writer for Nonviolent Politics. Destroyer of Trolls. It must be that angry puppy.

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