Director's Blog

Conversion--a topic that repeatedly comes to mind as I write curricula--“If our children (and adults) aren’t converted to Christ, what difference do these lessons make?” I came across a Protestant theologian, Scot McKnight, who used the term, “liturgical conversion.” In a few sentences, he noted that liturgy uses ritual and symbol, and then went on the next category. I was left with the desire to explore “liturgical” conversion, and I will do so with this blog which will contain authors, key passages of their works, and initial thoughts. If this topic interests you, please contribute to the blog by sending comments to aodce@aol.com.

I will also blog passages from the works of Harakas, Coniaris, and Boojamra. In addition, I have found insights in, The Transforming Moment, by James Loder. The book that began this exploration is, Turning to Jesus: The Sociology of Conversion in the Gospels, by Scot McKnight. He is the one who posits three models of conversion, one of which is “liturgical.” I have used it as a point of departure for my study, “Liturgical Conversion.”

Turning to Jesus: The Sociology of Conversion in the Gospels,

(Scot McKnight, WJK Press, Louisville 2002).

Scot McKnight is the Karl A. Olsson Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at North Park University.

Note: these are direct quotes, but emphasis is mine. Page numbers precede quotes.

Introduction

1 In abstract terms there are three orientations to conversion: socialization, liturgical acts, and personal decision. Each is aligned with a major component of the church, and each appears to be allergic to the others.

Question 1: What is liturgical conversion? Can we nurture it?

4 Asking any one of these orientations to change is like asking the desert to cool off--it's just plain silly. Instead because each orientation discussed herein reflects a deep need in the human heart, the aim of this book is conscious appreciation. If the request is answered, the church will be more salubrious, a fountain of healing. But neither is the dream of this book the old ecumenical dream, for that movement sought too resolutely a lowest common denominator and, as a result of that reduction, lost its power and then its steam and then its push.

5 I will argue that conversion is a process, sometimes more sudden than others. At its core, conversion is a process of identity formation in which a person comes to see himself or herself in accordance with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The I who is I is an I related to Jesus after conversion.

5 Socialization

. . . First, for many Christians conversion is a process of socialization, which is to say that many Christians "become Christians" by being nurtured under the sacred umbrella of a particular church. . . . This sacred umbrella was the primary force shaping their Christian conversion, and many have no comprehension of a time and date on which they became a Christian. The process of becoming a Christian for such persons is imperceptible yet palpable, like the soft-step dance of evening shadows. . . .

Mix into this special brew an ethnic identity, and you have the conversion realities that many Christians experience.

. . .

Socialized converts never remember when they weren't Christians and the questions "When did you become a Christian?" or "Are you born again?" or "When were you saved?" make no sense to them.

Liturgical Process

7

Alongside this first approach, and perhaps a dimension within it, it is a second orientation where a convert's primary moments emerge from a liturgical process. Socialization into the faith can focus itself for some on key moments and sacramental rituals that are performed by ordained priests empowered to dispense grace. Here an emphasis is on what the priest is authorized to accomplish for the benefit of the parishioner. If the "liturgical convert" and the "socialized convert" share a similar growth process, they diverge when it comes to the value laid on the rites performed by priests. . . .

The socialization or liturgical orientations share not only a similar process of conversion but also a common understanding of how faith develops in the lives of those who are nurtured within the walls on a specific faith. From the cradle to adulthood a person's religious life evolves no less developmentally than does one's body, one's emotions, one's psyche, and one's relationships with others.

[He will later laud the liturgical process primarily for its attention to the psychological/developmental needs of people! Clueless!]

Personal Decision

9

This leads to a third orientation, the decision orientation, which emphasizes the importance of personal faith (In contrast to a socialized and implied [therefore impersonal] faith) on the part of a converting individual. Some call this "born again Christianity." Conversion, as personal decision, is often understood as crisis and release, and the experiences of the apostle Paul, St. Augustine, and Martin Luther are paradigmatic for this orientation. . . .

. . . This orientation concentrates on individual responsibility before God as well as a thorough integration of faith into all the complexities of a person’s life. The witness of thousands of converts from a socialized or liturgized background makes me think their emphasis is important.

[He also states that people change denominations because of expectations and needs]

13 . . . the emphasis on personal decision can lead to private Christianity. And the latent emphasis on a one-time decision settling for all time the issues is also worthy of criticism. As we will see in what follows, Jesus gives absolutely no attention to "the big decision" or to a single-event conversion. Instead, he continues to call the same group of followers to renew their commitment to following him in love, service and obedience. Whether one is socialized into the faith, is liturgized into the faith, or makes a decision later in life does not matter: at the end is the challenge from Jesus to follow an unknown path of surrendering to him, of loving God and others, and of experiencing joy in the journey.

13 . . . in general, the liturgical convert has come to appreciate the centrality of the cross and the importance of worship. The absence of liturgy for many prohibits those converts from what is humanly normal: rites are a part of the human need to express faith in physical form. . . . The emphasis in socialization conversion on family and community cannot be eliminated without doing damage to the corporate form of Christianity. And the decision orientation focuses its energies on personal responsibility as the framework in which all true religious expression takes place. One cannot evade this emphasis in the marvelous preaching of the prophets or their threnodies over Israel's exile.

15 . . . Can we go to [the Bible] to understand conversion? Yes. But how to proceed? If we settle ourselves into ancient Jewish history, we would have to settle for either the socialization or the liturgical orientation. Ancient Jews were raised into the faith; they underwent various rituals in life's development, but it was an ethnic identity and a faith heritage that shaped faith development. If we proceed through the biblical texts, one standard approach for the Christian is to examine the apostle Paul--and whether from the angle of his biographer or himself matters--who was converted from a form of Pharisaism to faith in Jesus Christ on a trip to Damascus for the purpose of persecuting early converts to Jesus. . . .

16 . . . or Peter, or Zacchaeus, or Nicodemus

What About Today

18

Are the conversion stories in the Gospels the experience of only one ethnic dimension of humanity? . . . William James claimed sudden conversions are more typical of specific psychological conditions than others . . .

19 zeitgeist . . . Is there a difference between someone converting in an agrarian society and a capitalistic empire? Between the conversion of the homeless and a senator? Between the religious experience of a factory worker and a royal family member? Do adults convert differently than teenagers?

20 . . . Jesus' vision for his converts is a singular Jewish vision for Israel, it follows that we have here "Jews" converting to Judaism." More particularly, we are not dealing with Galilean Jews who are leaving their religion to form a new religion but with Galilean Jews who are intensifying their Judaism by shifting its focus onto Jesus' vision for Israel . . . Therefore, we need to understand Jesus in his own terms and what is implied in his own world . . .

[This would seem to apply to Orthodox, who by a conversion experience, intensity their faith.]

21 . . . Complicating the entire process is that the modern concept of the "self" or "selfhood," especially as fashioned in the capitalistic West, differs dramatically from that of the ancient Jewish world, as well as parts of the Orient today. Our own view of the self leads to, but also impedes, our understanding of the Gospel stories about conversion. We might say that the personal-decision orientation previously discussed is the most out of tune, at the social level, with first-century conversions. It is more out of step than the socialization or liturgical orientations because for these the self is conceived more corporately while the former, because it radically fashions "self-hood" individually, constructs the conversion process in a highly individualized, even privatized.

[Doesn’t the individual idea fit so well into our American culture?]

___

More to come.

The keynote speaker at the Orthodox Institute this fall will be Dr. Maria Khoury of Palestine. Here she shares about the miracle of Holy Fire in Jerusalem.

Carole

--

Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D.

April 26, 2008 - Pilgrims from all over the world gathered in Jerusalem today to witness the greatest of all miracles-the Miracle of the Holy Fire. The miracle has turned into a magnificent cultural event but many simply could not get anywhere near the Holy Sepulchre. The soldiers, the police, the large crowds, the noise, the drums of the Boys Scouts and the Girl Scouts anxiously waiting to receive the Holy Fire from the Life Giving Tomb of Christ is a day long adventure. It was a miracle in itself that Sam and Janet from our Sister Parish, Annunciation Church in Little Rock attended.

It was an exciting celebration with the sound of many languages at the same time where representatives of many churches from all over the Holy Land come to receive the Holy Fire and carry it back in small lanterns to their particular churches for the Midnight Resurrection Service. Special permits were issued for Christians from Gaza to enter Jerusalem but the large crowds meant no entry to the Holy Sepulchre.

It is on this Great and Holy Saturday that the Holy Fire was received by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, His Beatitude Theopilus as it has been done every year, on the same day, in the same manner, at the same time, at the same holy place of Christ's Life Giving Tomb. This is the miracle that allows us to believe that Christ is alive and offers eternal life. This is the miracle that tells us that Christ is truly among us. This powerful miracle is another way that God communicates. As we chant in our Midnight Resurrection Service: "Come ye and receive light from the unwaning Light, and glorify Christ, Who a rose from the dead."

A spectacular parade was also held to receive the Holy Fire entering our village of Taybeh by five in the evening. The priests of all three churches, Fr. Daoud, Fr. Raed and Fr. Jack with the mayor of the village, my husband, David, led the faithful with the choir chanting to meet our cousin Ibrahim with his six year old son Philip who traditionally go to the city of Ramallah to receive the Light from a patriarchate representative who brings it from Jerusalem to Ramallah for all the Palestinian Christian communities that cannot reach the Holy City. Philip made his dad put a sign on the white car this year that read “Light of Christ,” and wanted to ride on top but was forced to patiently sit with the flame until he said “Christ is Risen” and gave it to the adults.

Eight years of violence in the Holy Land, back and forth, surely we have been living in the darkness of all evil where children do not even have a childhood. "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:5) The strong Christian message on this holy day is that our hope lies in Christ and the streets were simply filled with faithful who came to witness in Christ’s love.

Thus today we all received the Light that proceeded from the core of the stone that covers Christ's Life Giving Tomb and once again celebrated the oldest unbroken Christian ceremony that exists in the world.

In Luke 16:15 we read that Jesus said: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" We witness the truth and received the Holy Fire today so that all who are not blessed to live in the land of Christ's Holy Resurrection can believe that Christ is the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9)

"And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things." (Luke 24:47)

Our Christian community is small and diminishing but with God's help can survive the daily hardships that make life unbearable. Truly the Lord is Risen!

Greetings from Boston, Massachusetts. I’m here for the weekend with my daughter Kyra and her friend Gabi, attending the National Girls Orthodox Retreat at Hellenic College/ Holy Cross Seminary. There are more than 60 girls here and we will be discussing the role of women in the Church. Our event began last evening with icebreakers and continued this morning with Matins in the chapel and breakfast in the cafeteria. They’re treating us now to a tour of Boston and then we will come back and attend the classes, workshops, and sessions. There are 60 girls here from all over the country.

Carole

Today is the feastday of the Three Holy Hierarchs, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, and St. John Chrysostom. In graduate school I studied the writings of all three. St. Basil, in order to combat heresy, and present Christianity to the Greek world, used his academic background in Greek philosophy. His writings are dense, but inspiring to the reader who prayerfully and patiently reads his words. I asked St. Basil to be the patron of my studies, and prayed to his icon at my church each Sunday. As I gazed upon him, I knew he was supporting me. Recently I was discussing mentors with a counselor, and when I mentioned being inspired by St. Innocent, she said, “See, you even have a mentor from the past,” as if this was news to me. I explained to her that I have long had mentors who are called “patron saints.” I attempted to describe the very real relationship one has with patron saints, and I mentioned St. Basil and my graduate studies. She seemed somewhat interested. I felt bad for her that she did not have the saints as patrons and intercessors.

I have begun listening to Ancient Faith Radio, the music option. It streams into my speakers as I sit here. Ancient Faith Radio was recently accepted into the Conciliar Press Department of our Archdiocese. What a wise decision Metropolitan PHILIP made. Ancient Faith is now expanding like a seed that has received bountiful sunshine. It is listener-supported and I will make a donation. If you haven’t experienced it, visit Ancient Faith Radio, and choose “music” (there is also a “talk” stream). I just spoke of being connected through time with the saints; listening to the music streaming from Ancient Faith Radio, I feel surrounded by a cloud of fellow Orthodox—those whose voices come from the speakers and those around the globe who are listening with me. How blessed it is to be Orthodox.

Ancient Faith Radio (AFR) has also posted our Antiochian Gospel Program as a podcast.

May you have a blessed day!