The Church's Primary Task

"The very existence of the church is her primary task. It is in itself a proclamation of the Lordship of Christ to the powers from whose dominion the church has begun to be liberated. The church does not attack the powers; this Christ has done. The church concentrates upon not being seduced by them."

-John Howard Yoder from The Politics of Jesus

Comments

Jason said…
That is one of my favorite quotes because it is so very Biblical. It is interesting to me that we tend to focus on the "fighting" in Revelation, but there is also a "Whore" who is very seductive. It is very much our task, especially as a member of the American Empire, that we resist the allure of the whore.

Maybe this is why some reject the militant language of sections of Christianity. It is not our job to attack, but intentionally and actively resist.
Thursday, June 11, 2009 7:42:00 AM
Steve Heyduck said…
I read this almost a month ago, and am coming back to it now to share:
One of my earliest intersections with Hauerwas's stuff was Community of Character, in which, among other things, he states that
"The primary social task of the church is to be the church."
Thanks to you, I now know that Stanley didn't develop this thought, but learned it from Yoder.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 4:00:00 AM
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