Barbara Brown Taylor, Speaking of Sin: The Lost Language of Salvation. Cowley Publications, 2001.
Referenced in: Ecclesiologies
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Theology of Mission and Ministry.
Summary: Speaking of Sin is not an ecclesiology per se, but it is related. Barbara Brown Taylor is one of the most respected and quoted Christian authors in America. This short book is not about church transformation per se, but about recovering our bearings on the meaning of sin, grace, and renewal. The portion that caught my attention regarding congregational renewal is chapter three, “Recovering Repentance.” Here Taylor introduces three types of congregations in terms of how they respond to the presence of sin. The first two are polarities: “church-as-clinic” vs. “church-as-courtroom.”
As one might expect, the “church-as-clinic” model treats sin as an illness from which one must recover. The very image breathes compassion and care into the church community. All come to the church as both suffering patients and sympathetic caregivers, some more one than the other. But the healing in this community is palliative rather than restorative. Our common experience of sin is not so much cured as it is shared, shared so deeply that each sees self as having fertilized the soil in which others’ sin may grow. “These churches subscribe to a kind of no-fault theology in which no one is responsible because everyone is.” People longing for acceptance are drawn to such a church.
On the other end of the continuum is the “church-as-court” which sees sin through a legal not medical lens. Sin is a crime against God and humanity in general. “Sins and sinners are named out loud, along with punishments appropriate to their crimes. On the whole, the sinners identified by this full-fault theology tend to be people who do not belong to the fold.” People with deep needs for certainty are attracted to this community.
The problem with both options, as is typical of polarities, is that neither measures up theologically.
“True repentance will not work in the church-as-clinic because repentance will not make peace with sin. Instead, it calls for people to take responsibility for what is wrong in the world – beginning with what is wrong in them – and to join with other people who are dedicated to turning things around.”
On the opposite end, “true repentance will not work in the church-as-courtroom either, because it is not interested in singling out scapegoats and punishing them. Instead, it calls for the whole community to engage in the work of repair and reconciliation without ever forgetting their own culpability for the way things are.”
Between these two polarities, Taylor suggests an alternative, “church-as-community-of-human-transformation.” In this church, “God’s grace is not simply the infinite supply of divine forgiveness on which hopeless sinners depend. Grace is also the mysterious strength God lends to human beings who commit themselves to the work of transformation.” Here one does not choose between compassion or responsibility, judgment or mercy. It lives responsibly in both spheres; or, as one might say, “lives in the AND.”
This book is certainly not a “how-to” on church transformation. I suggest, however, that it should be part of the spiritual diet of any church leader who anticipates a congregational renewal project. Reading through this volume provides good theological and devotional bearings for church renewal, especially if one adopts any of the plethora of prescriptive models, which tend toward polarities. Also, as Phyllis Tickle (quoted by Taylor) says with regard to how churches and church leaders may find compass in our times: “Postmodern, post-Christian, post-Protestant, post-denominational. What do all these posts mean? That we know where we have been but have no idea where we are going?” Books like Speaking of Sin help elevate the discussion beyond the anxious ambiguity and polarization of our time, at least in terms of moral responsibility. Certainly this is instructive for churches.
From the Publisher
In Speaking of Sin, Barbara Brown Taylor brings her fresh perspective to a cluster of words that often cause us discomfort: sin, damnation, repentance, penance, and salvation.
About the Author
Barbara Brown Taylor teaches religion at Piedmont College in rural northeast Georgia and is an adjunct professor of spirituality at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur. She is the author of twelve books, including An Altar in the World, published by HarperOne in February 2009. Her first memoir, Leaving Church, met with widespread critical acclaim, winning a 2006 Author of the Year award from the Georgia Writers Association. A contributing editor to Sojourners, an at-large editor for The Christian Century and sometime commentator on Georgia Public Radio, Taylor lives on a working farm with her husband Ed and a yard full of animals.
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