The Word witnessed to necessitates then the proclaimed Word in each situation because the validity made known in it is acknowledged in the believing Community, and it in turn makes it known, proclaims it to the world.This is obviously thorny and easily misunderstood. Is the word of the preacher also the Word of God? Well, yes and no. It is certainly not necessarily or inherently. It all falls on God, as the words of humans can only be God's Word by God's own work. It is only through God's promised presence in the Community via the Holy Spirit that the Community's proclamation becomes God's Word. As the Head of this Body, Jesus Christ has promised this presence('when two or three are gathered'[Mt. 18:20], 'behold, I am with you always'[Mt. 28:20]) as he is its Living Lord in such a way that he still speaks in it, to it, and through it.
Weber, 190.
As someone who gets a chance to preach occasionally, this is both comforting and terrifying: comforting because it is God who is responsible for his Word being present; terrifying, because of the awe-some responsibility it is to prepare for and participate in such an event. I go back and forth on whether the comfort leads to terror, or the terror to comfort.
The question that I have is about the difference between "preaching" and "proclamation". I've assumed that preaching was one specific aspect of the Church's greater and encompassing proclamation (for instance, the Church proclaims with its actions, its other words, its outward moving presence, etc.). Weber seems to use "preaching" and "proclamation" somewhat interchangeably (I'm not fine-tooth-combing this). Understanding that "preaching" is certainly a vehicle and form of God's Word, to what extent is the Church's greater and encompassing proclamation also God's Word?
Also, the word 'necessitates' bothers me. I don't think that God and/or Christ 'necessitates' anything, in the sense that God doesn't 'need' anything to be God. Weber's logic possibly seems to go somewhere down that route: God/the Word/Jesus Christ needs Scripture which needs proclamation. I don't think he means 'necessitates' in that fashion though. I think he means "causes to occur". Thoughts?
Note: 'Community' is another term for 'Church'. It was somewhat (and still is) en vogue because it put less focus on the building/institution/etc. and more on the people/family of God. I like the interchangeability of them because they both emphasize necessary aspects(people and institution) of the Body of Christ.
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This seems very close (if not identical) to KB's Threefold form in I/1 (you did mention in an earlier post that Weber bases his work here on Barth, correct?).
ReplyDeleteAs for the necessitates terminology, I'm not sure how much Weber talks about this here (or will further along), but KB was not shy about this language either. I think you're right that it doesn't "sit well" with us to think like this, but what KB was trying to explicate is something that I think he thought long and hard about.
In my final paper for the class on I/1, I dealt with Revelation's connection to Reconciliation in that part volume. My argument was that Rev. is directly connected to Rec. In short, we hear that we have been reconciled. One of the sections in that paper dealt with Barth's motif of actualism: when God speaks, it is pointless to look about for some related act--God's Word is God's action. Therefore, when we hear God's Word, the "there and then" of this threefold form (person of J.C., Scripture), becomes reality for us "here and now." I think this is why Barth wants to use language like "necessitate." He is concerned that the Word of God not remain some historical person who did such and such, or some writings about God, but alive and active. For this to be so, it is "necessary" that God reveal/act here and now. That is accomplished through the Proclamation, which is based on Scripture, which witnesses to Jesus Christ.
But it is purely through God's choice that He chooses to reveal Himself to us here and now, right? That would still take away the "necessary" clause.
ReplyDeleteQuestion for Matt: does proclamation in your statement above include individuals? For example, how are we to determine the proclamation of the Word through the actions of an individual part of the Community/Church in his/her workplace? School? Homeless shelter? Theater?
And what is meant exactly by the term proclamation?