Thomas Oden:
There is a fantasy abroad that the Christian community can have a center without a circumference. Since we gather around Jesus, it is argued, it is our center, not our boundaries, that matter. But this is the persistent illusion of complulsive hypertolerationism. A community with no boundaries can neither have a center nor be a community (Thomas Oden, ‘Why We Believe in Heresy,’ Christianity Today, March 4, 1996).
Beautiful! Thanks, Chris!
Throughout history, God has been calling to Himself a people for Himself. The Bible is focused, cover to cover, on defining the circumference of that community. We like to call the Bible God’s Word, but do our efforts at Christian community even suggest a serious desire to take the Bible as our authority? I look forward to your next post on this subject.
Thanks also for the useful new word (“hypertolerationism”) – I think Chesterton would have loved it!