Timothy Keller: Justiça Generosa.

Achei na net, uma resenha sobre o livro de Keller, como sempre ele primeiro fala das abordagens da questão do ministério de misericórdia.

O texto Mark Meynell, no blog Quarentia. Pelo que dá para entender Keller segue mesmo o padrão da série de mensagens HOPE, você acha disponível os textos  no site Redeemer City to City e as mensagens pregadas no RENEW.  Um autor fundamental para entender o  texto de Keller é sem dúvida Kuyper, e sua (in)diferenciação entre igreja corporal e espiritual e sobre a reponsabilidade pessoal a fonte é Edwards assim como em Ministries of Mercy.

 

A complex battleground

But part of the approach is to identify his interlocutors from the start (from page xi) and then interact with each as he goes along – I’ve tried summarise them like this:

The Instinctive Advocate: those Christians with the gut feeling that poverty and justice are important but who have never been able to integrate that with their faith. To them, Keller seeks to give a thought through, biblical rationale for why this instinct is god-given.

The Sceptical Evangelist: those who fear any journey down this road will inevitably lead to doctrinal compromise and the ‘social gospel’. We’re here just to evangelise, aren’t we? To which Keller challenges by articulating both Old & New Testament motivations and commands to love the poor, and to question what a reluctance to such love might indicate about their ministerial context and personal spirituality. He doesn’t think they are the same thing - and this is important to what he goes on to say – but he does argue that we can’t have one without the other:

… to consider deeds of mercy and justice to be identical to gospel proclamation is a fatal confusion. I propose a different way to understand evangelism and social justice. They should exist in an asymmetrical, inseparable relationship. (p139)

It is also impossible to separate word and deed ministry from each other in ministry because human beings are integrated wholes – body and soul. When some Christians say, ‘Caring for physical needs will detract from evangelism’, they must be thinking of only doing evangelism among people who are comfortable and well-off. (p141-142)

The Revisionist Campaigner: frustrated by evangelicals’ sluggish or avoided engagement, these go further than Instinctive Advocates and blame what they perceive as the ‘individualism’ of protestant orthodoxy. Their solution is to water down or distance themselves from it. To them, Keller is resounding in his appeal to evangelical orthodoxy – not just because he seeks to prove its biblical faithfulness, but also because he sees it as the fundamental bridge to a changed life and ethical behaviour, when it is properly understood. This quotation could serve as a summary of a point that he frequently returns to:

But as we have seen, doing justice is inseparably connected to preaching grace. This is true in two ways. One way is that the gospel produces a concern for the poor. The other is that deeds of justice gain credibility for the preaching of the gospel. In other words justification by faith leads to doing justice, and doing justice can make many seek to be justified by faith. (p140)

The Atheist Accuser: those who follow the likes of Christopher Hitchens by claiming that ‘religion poisons everything’. Keller has interacted with such issues before, most notably in The Reason for God. But the focus is narrower here. His approach is to question the ethical basis for human rights in the forbidding frigidity of a godless universe, and then to suggest that talk of human dignity is an inevitable corollary of divine creation and redemption. He even seems to have Derrida on his side on that point! (p167) It is a trenchant argument – proving that far from being poisonous, religion, and Christianity in particular, is pivotal for the protection of the vulnerable and the weak. This is, of course, why it is such an affront and scandal when Christians don’t do that.

I suppose for a number of years I fell very much into the first camp – troubled by the world’s injustices, but unable to articulate an integrated theological response. Many friends, whom I hugely respect, were in the second – and part of the problem, I think, is that they would not read or engage with many who think differently on this issue (because of their lack of orthodoxy in other areas). What is so refreshing therefore about Keller’s approach is that he is explicitly and deliberately approaching the question from the vantage point of the classic reformed doctrines of creation, substitutionary atonement, justification, sanctification and so on. Some attack him because his social involvement leads to suspicions that he has gone soft on these. But Keller retorts by saying that it is precisely this gospel that drives him to it. And he enjoys great precedents in reformed luminaries as diverse as Jonathan Edwards, Murray M’Cheyne and Abraham Kuyper (all of whom he quotes at various points).

Getting back to the Non-Question

Having lived in the two-thirds world for a number of years, it was impossible to ignore the  appalling conditions and social realities of people’s lives. It would have been callous to do so. That, in part, is why very few African friends understand the western church’s hang up on social action and evangelism. It’s a non-question for them. But inGenerous Justice, Keller convincingly argues in a coherent, accessible and readable way why it should be non-question for us all. I sensed when we lived in Uganda, and I sense all the more strongly having read this book, that one mistake is to get lost in the intricacies of working out theoretical priorities (a necessary activity, of course). You start pitting this life against the next life and … well … it seems no contest.

But suppose we take the concern for justice out of the mission equation, just for a moment (don’t panic – I do think that it is an integral part of what God is doing on earth, which is why we should be involved. But bear with me just for a moment.) Instead, place justice and poverty in matters of holiness and discipleship and suddenly the landscape changes. It’s not then primarily a question of priorities. It’s a question of godliness. We don’t ask, ‘is it more important to be honest, humble or generous?’ That would be ludicrous. We shouldn’t expect to have to choose – we should strive after all three.

So it is with seeking justice and loving the poor. And as that is God’s heartbeat, so it should be ours. As Keller points out, it’s fascinating that God introduces himself as

‘a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows’ (Ps 68:4-5). This is one of the main things he does in the world. He identifies with the powerless, he takes up their cause. (p6)

To be like God is to do the same thing – to care for what has been called the “quartet of the vulnerable” (the widows, orphans, immigrants and the poor cf. Zech 7:10-11). (p4)

Grace changes everything

The thrust of this book’s argument is that grace is the heart of everything. And so Keller returns to the well-worn but crucial paths on the dangerous road to Jericho. His earlier book Ministries of Mercy was subtitled the Call of the Jericho Road. And here he is very clear why we should:

Before you can give this neighbour-love [e.g. as the Samaritan does], you need to receive it. Only if you see that you have been saved graciously by someone who owes you the opposite will you go out into the world looking to  help absolutely anyone in need. (p77)

This is why the gospel of grace is absolutely pivotal – both for motivating and modelling an all-round holistic ministry, and for reminding us of our own deep needs and equality with those we serve and love.

In the next post, I’ll pick up some of the more practical and political aspects of Keller’s case.

Timothy Keller: Generous Justice

Saiu o novo livro de Timothy Keller, Justiça Generosa; como a graça de Deus nos faz justo. O livro tem a ver com a série de mensagens Hope, infelizmente, está bloqueado o download para América Latina via Kindle.  Na apresentação do livro no Redeemer City to city, fica claro que Keller continua a explanar seu conceito de justiça para além da resolução de conflitos, baseada mais na Shalom, como a igreja emergente faz e muito próximo da escatologia de N.T. Wright, como vemos em Surpreendidos pela Esperança.

No entanto, muitas pessoas têm absorvido não apenas a ressonância emocional dos direitos e da justiça de nossa cultura, mas também um consumismo que mina abnegação e gratificação atrasada. Embora eles possam dar algum do seu tempo, gastam grandes quantias de dinheiro em entretenimento, a sua aparência, eletrônicos e viagens. Para um grande número, então, o voluntariado é parte da sua carteira de vida, enriquecendo as atividades, mas não é uma característica de toda uma vida moldada por um compromisso de fazer justiça, incluindo a generosidade radical com suas finanças.

Uma das coisas que me surpreendeu quando eu estava estudando o ensino da Bíblia sobre a justiça foi quantas vezes generosidade financeira é considerada parte de fazer justiça.Jó diz, "Se Eu mantive o meu pão para mim, não compartilhá-lo com o órfão ... se eu já vi ... um homem carente, sem uma capa, e seu coração não me abençoou para aquecer-lhe o velo de as minhas ovelhas ... estes também seriam pecados para serem julgados, pois eu teria sido infiel a Deus nas alturas ". (Jó 31:13-28)

Muitas pessoas acreditam que a "justiça" é estritamente a punição do delito, ponto final. Não acho que devemos ser indiferentes para com os pobres, mas quando nós ajudá-los a eles chamariam de caridade tal auxílio, não de justiça. Mas Jó diz que se ele falhou em sua comida ou o seu velo - seus bens - com os necessitados, que teria sido um pecado contra Deus e, por definição, uma violação da justiça de Deus. É claro que podemos chamar de misericórdia tal ajuda ou caridade, porque deve ser motivada pela compaixão, mas uma falha de viver uma vida de generosidade radical é considerado injustiça na Bíblia.

A nossa cultura dá-nos uma mensagem mista. Ela diz: ganhar muito dinheiro e gastá-lo em si mesmo, ter uma identidade, o tipo de roupa que você veste e os lugares que você viajar e viver. Mas também fazer algum trabalho voluntário, se preocupam com a justiça social, porque você não quer ser apenas um porco egoísta. Porém, as atitudes dos cristãos em direção ao nosso tempo e nosso dinheiro não deve ser moldada pela nossa sociedade, que devem ser moldado pelo Evangelho de Cristo, que se fez pobre para que pudéssemos tornar ricos (2 Coríntios 8:9).

O tema principal do meu livro é que o evangelho da graça vai virar alguém que realmente acredita em uma pessoa que faz justiça para os necessitados. Fazendo jus inclui não só corrigindo o de erros, mas também a generosidade e preocupação social, e uma vontade de viver uma vida mais modesta, a fim de ser generoso à Igreja e aos pobres. Esse tipo de vida reflete o caráter de Deus (Deuteronômio 10:17-18, Salmo 146:7-9). Nós temos os recursos bíblica e espiritual para superar a superficialidade da nossa cultura e se tornar o que os descendentes espirituais de Abraão deve ser - uma verdadeira bênção para a nossa cidade e para os pobres (Gênesis 12:1-3, Gálatas 3:7).

A preocupação social sempre esteve na mente de Keller, num dos seus primeiros livros, Ministries of Mercy, vemos um livro dedicado totalmente a isto e a implementação prática de ministérios de misericórdia na igreja local a partir da parábola do Bom Samaritano. O interessante da leitura de Keller é a conciliação que ele faz entre serviço e evangelho, o agir como reflexo vivo da obra do novo nascimento.

Achei na internet a entrevista dele a Kevin DeYoung, no Gospel Coalition:

I’ll start with the million dollar question, what is justice and what does it mean to do justice?

Doing justice means giving people their due. On the one hand that means restraining and punishing wrongdoers. On the other hand it means giving people what we owe them as beings in the image of God. Nick Wolterstorff says that, as a creature in the image of God, each human being comes into your presence with ‘claim-rights.’ That is, they have the right to not be killed or kidnapped or raped. Of course there is plenty of room for disagreement on the specifics of these things, but that’s my basic definition. Doing justice, then, includes everything from law enforcement to being generous to the poor. (I believe Job 29 and 31 include generosity as part of a just life.)

You explain at the beginning of the book that you are writing for four kinds of people: those excited about doing justice, those suspicious, those who have expanded their mission to include social justice, and those who think religion poisons everything. In a sentence, what do you want to say to each group?

I hope that the 1^st group gets a more sustained commitment to doing justice through growing in theological and spiritual maturity.

I hope that the 2^nd group becomes aware that what Jonathan Edwards says is true, namely that there is “no command in the Bible laid down in stronger terms…than the command of giving to the poor.”

I hope that the 3^rd group would be more patient with warnings to not let a justice emphasis undermine a church’s work of evangelism and making disciples. Careful balances have to be struck. (Whoops—that’s two sentences!)

I hope that the 4^th group will be able to recognize that much of their understanding of rights and justice has come from the Bible, and even to critique the church they have to use standards borrowed from Christianity.

What is one of your favorite verses that speaks to either God’s heart for the needy or our call to generous justice?

I don’t have just one. The entire parable of the Good Samaritan has shaped my thinking profoundly.

Why are you so passionate about this issue?

I read the Bible and I’m overwhelmed with the amount of Biblical material that expresses concern for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the alien. My main gifting is evangelism and I’ve never had extensive experience in a poor community or country. So I reason—if Ican see all of this in the Bible, despite the fact that I’m not especially oriented to do so—it must be important to God. I’m passionate about it because I’m passionate to be shaped by the Bible.

What do you do in your own life to pursue generous justice?

At Redeemer, we have an excellent diaconate that works with those in need within our community. In addition, years ago I helped a group of people establish “Hope For New York,” a separate but closely aligned organization, that helps our church members give of their time and money to the needs of the whole city. As I say in the book, many churches who work among the poor establish a 501(c)3—often a ‘community development corporation’—to do much of the direct ministry to people in need. That way the elders of the local church can concentrate on building up the flock. That fits in with Abraham Kuyper’s insight that it is best for much of Christian work in society to happen through voluntary societies and associations, run by lay people. In the end, then, my main personal contribution to justice in New York City has been to establish and lead my church in a way that makes all this possible.

Any cautions you would give to Christians who are eager to transform the world or make the shalom of the city their church’s mission?

I believe that making disciples and doing justice relate (not exactly) but somewhat in the same way that faith and works relate to one another. We would say that faith alone is the basis for salvation, and yet true faith will always result in good works. We must not “load in” works as if they are an equal with faith as a salvation-base, but neither can we “detach” works and say that they are optional for a believer. Similarly, I would say that the first thing I need to tell people when they come to church is “believe in Jesus,” not “do justice.” Why? Because first, believing in Jesus meets a more radical need and second, because if they don’t believe in Jesus they won’t have that gospel-motivation to do justice that I talk about in the book. So there’s a priority there. On the other hand, for a church to not constantly disciple its people to “do justice” would be utterly wrong, because it is an important part of God’s will. I’m calling for an ‘asymmetrical balance’ here. It seems to me that some churches try to “load in” doing justice as if it is equally important as believing in Jesus, but others, in fear of falling into the social gospel, do not preach or disciple their people to do justice at all. Both are wrong. A Biblical church should be highly evangelistic yet known for its commitment to the poor of the city.

I think you’re at least a little familiar with some of things I’ve said and written about social justice and the mission of the church. Any cautions or corrections for me?

I must confess I don’t read your blog religiously. However, I look at it fairly often and I’m always impressed with your thoughtfulness. Here’s one thought. When you say, “the church’s mission is to make disciples, not change the culture,” on one level I’d agree with you, as you can see by my answers under #5 and #6 above. However, you have to disciple people to follow Christ not only inside the church but outside in the world. For example, when a Christian actor asks “what roles can I take as a Christian—and what roles should I turn down?” or when a hedge fund manager asks: “can a Christian do short selling?”—these are discipleship questions. If you disciple people to bring their faith to bear on all of life, you will be equipping them to do justice and also, inevitably, “do culture-making”.  I’m pretty sure you’d agree with me here. I’m only proposing that, when you say, “we must make disciples, not do justice or engage culture” you might give the impression that disciples simply do evangelism, follow-up, and recruiting people into the church. But disciples do more than that.