The Fine Line Blog Tour
It’s time for the COLLIDE stop on The Fine Line Blog Tour! The new book from author Kary Oberbrunner releases December 5 and in order to build a little anticipation I asked Kary a few questions about the book. Here’s what Kary had to say:
COLLIDE: The title of your book, The Fine Line, refers to what you believe is a fine line between being in the world but not of the world. What are some misconceptions in the Church about what it means to be in or of the world?
KARY OBERBRUNNER: Many Christ followers for many years have misunderstood what being in the world, but not of it truly entails. For fear of being of the world, the Separatists (in the book “deceived God lovers”) have forever attempted to escape the world. Their motives are correct, wanting to be righteous, but their outcome are always skewed.
Sometimes the Separatists have built a Christian subculture -a cheesy, vanilla flavored, sanctified copycat version of pop culture. Other times Separatists have done some farily epic, but irrelevant acts, like a guy named Simeon Stylites a monk type figure alive in the 400’s who lived on top of a 50 ft. pillar for over 36 years, in order to escape the wicked world.
The plan backfired and he became a rock star in his own right, only attracting more “worldly” fame.
For fear of going out of the world, the Conformists (in the book “deceived people lovers”) have forever become of the world. Their motives are correct, wanting to be relevant, but their outcomes are always skewed too.
Many Conformists become church haters and hypocrites. Conformists want to change the stereotype of Christians being lame, but they cross the line and the limits by simply conforming to the world, instead of transforming it.
COLLIDE: What authors or thinkers influenced you in the in/of conversation?
OBERBRUNNER: Two books rocked my world, about 8 years ago. Although most people think I’d mention Niebuhr’s seminal book Christ and Culture, published in 1951, I don’t. It didn’t speak to me. It was simply too theoretical and academic. I mean it put a skeleton out there, but the flesh is lacking. I prefer two other books: Michael Horton’s Where in the World is the Church and Bob Briner’s Roaring Lambs. These books put the cookies on the bottom shelf. They got me in the conversation, but I think The Fine Line does a great job of taking the conversation (of how to be in the world, but not of it) to the next level.
COLLIDE: Rather than be Separatists or Conformists, you challenge Christians to be Transformists. How do you know a Transformist when you see one?
OBERBRUNNER: A Transformist is one who walks The Fine Line of being in the world, but not of it (in the book a “God lover and a people lover”). As you know, I present a new paradigm. I show how this paradigm has been right there for us to see since the garden of Eden, yet for quite some time, it’s kind of laid there hidden. I take this model, dust it off, and then demonstrate it throughout the pages of Scripture and in the lives of people alive today in my world.
Forget theory. Let’s see some flesh. So readers will meet people like Paul the Apostle, and Daniel the prophet. But they’ll also meet people like Mark, Jennifer, Amy, and Micah and see their courage as they inspire a community of faith called the Landing Place in the Short North, an artistic hub of Columbus. They’ll listen to John and Kori share their stories about engaging suffering and creating paths of hope for children otherwise headed into the sex slave industry in Asia.
COLLIDE: In the book you make the distinction between a dualistic worldview and a holistic worldview. Talk about that distinction and its effect on how we practice Christianity in our context.
OBERBRUNNER: The dualistic and holistic worldviews differ in the way that they see the relationship between Christianity and culture. Let me explain:
The perceived opposition between Christianity and culture stems from a dualistic, Western worldview that divides life into categories-categories like sacred or secular. Within this view, prayer and evangelism are spiritual activities, while exercise and eating are secular. Christian schoolteachers and missionaries are spiritual vocations, while businessmen and computer programmers are secular ones. God shows up in spiritual places, like church and nature; he is absent from secular venues, like sports arenas.
This type of worldview is toxic on multiple levels. The theologian Abraham Kuyper recognized these dangers and said, “There is not an inch in the entire domain of our human life of which Christ, who is sovereign of all, does not proclaim, ‘Mine!‘“ Kuyper understood that all of life is God’s and that God shows up in every place, no matter what we might assume about it.
As God’s people, we’re called to fight against this human tendency to compartmentalize, represented in what I call the Fragmented/Dualistic worldview. We must replace it with a worldview that harmonizes with God’s Word—one that believes Christianity and culture should be integrated, what I call the Connected/Holistic worldview. This worldview doesn’t allow a separation between the sacred and the secular; instead they’re intimately related to one another.
The Connected/ Holistic worldview was embodied by God’s people in the Old Testament, the Israelites. For example, a Hebrew farmer would recite a special prayer (Deuteronomy 26:5-10a) in order to remind him that the occupation of tilling the soil is sacred. The Connected/Holistic worldview is also consistent with God’s people in the New Testament, the church. In fact, the Apostle Paul instructs local churches in this same vein, in light of his strong Hebrew upbringing. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). This generous worldview affects everything, from agriculture to education to technology. It includes the way we mow our lawn, the way we view our sexuality, and the way we treat our neighbor.
These two worldviews, the Fragmented/Dualistic and the Connected/Holistic, are completely different. One views Christianity as part of life and the other views Christianity as all of life.
COLLIDE: How do you the concepts of Transformist living and a holistic worldview manifest themselves in the local church? How do those churches model “the fine line” for their communities?
OBERBRUNNER: Let me give two concrete examples (I am a simple guy and I like simple illustrations).
My church (Grace Church) has started a free medical clinic called Grace Clinic (check out the video clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE8wR-sNv9g). Doctors, nurses, and volunteers show up every Wednesday night to offer free health care to those who have no insurance. We offer prayer first. Some people accept it and some refuse.
We give people a taste of the Kingdom and some want more. Some just want a prescription. We now have several people in our church who started out as Grace Clinic patients. Although initially unbelievers, they made the decision to follow Jesus. Some of these people are hardened people: ex-convicts, drug addicts, and people wanting sex changes. Still Jesus has freed them from their addictions and given them holistic peace in this life and the next.
Because not all readers can do a “Grace Clinic” I’ll share a less glamorous story. A few months back I’m at the YMCA doing my routine workout. I see a man next to me obviously struggling with his mp3 player. I asked him if he needed help. Turns out Bob, a 71 year old, African American, needed an introduction into the technological age.
After several encounters and several lessons with iTunes, Bob started attending our church. Just last month he stayed after the service and informed me that he wanted to give his life to Jesus. Evidently, the light he saw in his mother’s eyes before she passed was the same light he saw in people’s eyes at our church and he wanted it.
Order The Fine Line by Kary Oberbrunner here or here and check out the sweet video below:
[…] THE FULL STORY HERE […]
posted at 11:35 am on November 22nd, 2008 by COLLIDE - Where media and the church converge « RECOVERING PHARISEE