Whole and Reconciled , livre ebook

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2018 by F. Albert Tizon
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1552-6
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Endorsements
“ Whole and Reconciled speaks of the entirety of the gospel without discarding the uncomfortable truths and demands of biblical justice, peacemaking, and reconciliation. Tizon explains how the gospel necessitates the type of reconciliation that penetrates the deepest aspects of individual and community relationships with truth, love, and vulnerability. Read this important book to learn and be challenged to embrace what it means to be truly whole and reconciled.”
— Mae Elise Cannon , executive director, Churches for Middle East Peace; author of Social Justice Handbook: Small Steps for a Better World
“In this engaging work, Tizon presents a powerful vision of the social implications of a genuine Christian commitment. As he masterfully weaves together themes that are both personal and universal, he names the integral connection between the healing of the human heart and the healing of the world. In doing so he speaks about not only the task of reconciliation but also the call to bring together the head and the heart, the grass roots and the academy, and the church and its mission to the modern world.”
— Daniel Groody , Kellogg Global Leadership Program, University of Notre Dame
“Tizon’s deep theological insights and comprehensive analysis of our present conditions make this provocative book a must-read. Whole and Reconciled brilliantly tackles the hard questions of colonialism, racism, empire, and Christendom. The book ushers readers toward the reconciliation, peacemaking, and wholeness that people and the world desperately need.”
— Grace Ji-Sun Kim , Earlham School of Religion
“This book should be a blessing to the individual Christian, the church, and the theological academy. It brings fresh insight to old questions and offers an integrated approach that exemplifies wholeness. In this regard, it holds together virtually all aspects of theology—biblical, historical, systematic, and practical—and, of course, all of this comes from a missiologist. In its practical outlook, the book is an instrument for the mission of God, and its autobiographical flavor and down-to-earth style, along with questions meant to provoke further reflection, all underscore an inspiring and useful work. Any student of theology, practitioner, or aspiring practitioner of mission (and aren’t all Christians supposed to be missionaries?) must get a copy of this book.”
— B. Y. Quarshie , rector, Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission, and Culture, Akropong-Akuapem, Ghana
“A more timely book for this strategic moment in the life of the church cannot be imagined. This is what the global church needs in our divided and fragmented world. A godly thinker and superb writer, Al Tizon is directing us on the right path.”
— Las G. Newman , global associate director for regions, Lausanne Movement
“Tizon provides not a new but a renewed orthodox theology of missions that brings all missiologists and theologians to the core of the missio Dei . In my home of Jerusalem, I have seen all kinds of gospels—what Al calls false gospels—affect my people badly, and they have been like stumbling blocks to the salvific knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are working on the ground to bring the whole gospel to transform our nation and bring true reconciliation with God. We are living in a changing world that has faced new trends of communication, including social media that broadcasts these false gospels. In the face of such false gospels, a true gospel of love and mercy and compassion for the nations is very much needed, a contextualized gospel that acknowledges the redeemable elements in culture. Whole and Reconciled points the way toward this gospel.”
— Jack Y. Sara , Bethlehem Bible College; ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in the Holy Land
“This book is a clarion call to the church to fully embrace the ministry of reconciliation. Our evangelism and social justice need reconciliation if they are to be part of a truly holistic mission. Tizon presents us with a prophetic call: to embrace a ministry of reconciliation that is at the heart of a whole mission and a whole gospel, and that transforms the whole church and the whole world. This is one of the most important books I’ve read in a very long time. There is no greater or more urgent work than reconciliation.”
— Graham Hill , Morling Theological College; author of GlobalChurch and Healing Our Broken Humanity
Dedication
I dedicate this book to Tomas Alex Tizon, my Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist brother, whose untimely death in March 2017 has left what feels like a permanent void in my life. After reading one of his brilliant pieces, I paid him a compliment, saying that I wished I could write like him, to which he replied, “Brother, I may be a good writer, but you have something to write about.”
Contents
Cover i
Title Page ii
Copyright Page iii
Endorsements iv
Dedication v
Foreword by Ruth Padilla DeBorst ix
Preface xi
Introduction xv
Part 1 Whole World 1
1. Globalization: Mission in a Reconfigured World 5
2. Post-Christendom: Decentered Church and Multidirectional Mission 21
3. Postcolonialism: Postcolonial Mission or Bust 37
Part 2 Whole Gospel 57
4. On False and Half Gospels 63
5. Gospel of the Kingdom: The Reconciliation of All Things 77
Part 3 Whole Church 91
6. Whole Persons: Reconciliation Beginning with Me 97
7. Church of the Trinity: Community, Diversity, and Reconciliation 111
8. Spirituality of Mission: The Church in the Power of the Spirit 129
Part 4 Whole Mission 145
9. Word and Deed: The Greatness of the Great Commission 155
10. Reconciliation and the Great Commission: Peacemaking as Mission, Part 1 171
11. Reconciliation and the Great Commission: Peacemaking as Mission, Part 2 183
Conclusion 211
Afterword by Ronald J. Sider 217
Author Index 219
Subject Index 223
Back Cover 231
Foreword
A bomb blast here. Summary executions there. Children recruited as soldiers. Students murdered at school. Wars and rumors of war. Violence in streets and in homes. While the weapons industry rules supreme, vulnerable people are forced to leave behind their home and land in search of safety, often finding nothing but rejection and further oppression. The current global scene is not unlike the one faced by the first followers of Jesus.
As Roman armies plundered conquered lands and people were taxed into grinding poverty, children, women, and men were forced to wander in search of safe haven. Vulnerable migrants traversed deserts, braved oceans, and were thrown together in unlikely mixes in haphazard cities. Anyone who dared to question the system was silenced. All this in the name of the Pax Romana, a repressed “peace” pounded precariously together by cross-nails.
In the midst of that reality, Jesus declared to his fear-filled disciples as he was preparing to return to the Father, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” (John 14:27).
The peace of Christ, Pax Christi, contrasted starkly with imperial “peace.” It was a peace brokered not by weaponry or economic oppression but by self-giving love. Through his life, death, resurrection, and loving rule, Christ embodied, made, and proclaimed true peace (Eph. 2). It was into this subversive peacemaking endeavor that Jesus called his followers. “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21)—as peacemakers, reconcilers, wall-breakers, bridge-builders, and mediators in a fractured and violent world.
This calling is surely not new to the readers of this book. Since you’ve chosen this title among the many out there, you’re surely acquainted with, or at least interested in exploring, the implications of this calling for your understanding and engagement with the gospel, church, and mission. You will not be disappointed!
What my dear friend Al manages in this deeply theological and creatively practical book is exactly what he sets out to do. Through solid biblical reflection and making heard the voices of followers of Jesus from around the world, he faces the bad news of colonialism, racism, Christendom, the false gospels of hate, prosperity, comfort, and empire, and the reduced gospels of personal salvation or social liberation, with the good news of God’s reign of shalom and whole, healthy relations. In doing so, he provokes a hard reset in our understanding of the church and its mission. Broken and in constant need of confession, repentance, lament, and forgiveness for their complicity in the bad news, the people of the Triune God are called to wage reconciliation through whole-life evangelism, peacemaking, and stewardship. This book helps us see what that looks like in our everyday lives.
When tempted to respond to violence with further violence, to legitimize repression with religious veneers, to nourish conflict by denying t