Spring 1999 - Quarterly Review

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einforced an image of "equilateral." 12This led to a GeneralConference debate over the primacy of scripture. Even in thisdebate, though, United Methodists managed to avoid a literalismof words that has proved so divisive in other communions.• making disciplesThis phrase made popular by contemporary church growthliterature and the Book of Discipline 1996 claims a basis inMatthew 28:19-20—"make disciples of all nations, baptizingthem ... and teaching them to obey everything that I havecommanded you." Of course, the formation of persons whowill follow Jesus in his commands, namely, love of God andneighbor and witness to the signs of God's reign in the world,is indisputably the Spirit's work through the church's practices.The problem lies in our words. In the Greek original of theseverses, disciple is an imperative, with baptizing and teachingthe participles that explain what the imperative entails. Theword make is added by English translators simply to conveythe imperative sense of the Greek.As a denominational slogan, however, making implicitlybecomes an economic metaphor, colluding rhetorically withthe production mentality of Western commercial societies. Themore product, the more value created and the more notoriety.Big congregations are more "successful" because they have"made" more disciples. The word disciples is also striking,since it seems wholly to have replaced holiness as a descriptionof the Christian life. Disciple becomes a noun (an object withidentifiable attributes or beliefs) supplanting the verbs ofChristian practices.The phrase as a whole thus emphasizes the human institutionsof church, not the triune God, making people into somethingand focuses on the people formed ("disciples") more than onthe Holy One in whom they live and move and have theirbeing. 13But few voices even debate the theological logic of thephrase "making disciples" in a church so intent on reversingperceived losses of members.• nicheWith this word comes a whole construct of the world as amarketplace. Religion is a commodity that must be effectively12 QUARTERLY REVIEW / SPRING <strong>1999</strong>
marketed to consumers. To achieve this one must identify the"niche" or "target group" in the potential audience and devisethe message to appeal to the needs or wishes of the "niche."There is a certain hard realism about the term, as if one werenodding and saying, "We just have to face it, it's a competitiveworld; and besides, we already have a niche, we just haven'tbeen talking about it that way." This implicitly denies, ofcourse, that how we speak about things makes all thedifference.• crisisNo rhetorical device has been more popular in this generationthan the appeal to an impending "crisis." If one can convincean audience that their situation constitutes a "crisis," then onecan perhaps move them to take decisive action in the directionone is advocating. This requires that the audience adopt thepremise that this particular situation, and not some other one,is the real "crisis" or that this reading of the evidenceestablishes beyond a doubt that a "crisis" exists."Crisis" rhetoric is essentially a form of drama. It creates abuildup of negative factors or conflicting elements; identifies apoint of denouement or resolution; and shows a new directionthat will follow from the speaker's ideas. The most commonform of this dramatization in the UMC uses membershipstatistics to induce a sense of failure, loss, decline, andimpending death. Detailed examination of the data, such as therole of a lower birth rate (a factor significant enough toaccount for the numbers, according to some sociologists), isnot in the script. The script is about action that right-mindedpeople will take to "turn this thing around" and stop "losing"members (implying that people are "leaving," a claim forwhich there is some anecdotal but limited statistical evidence).Many other rhetorical terms and devices could be added to this list.United Methodist writers and speakers pronounce and repeat manyother words in ways that could benefit from more critical thought orjudgment of appropriateness. All of us find it easy to borrow phrasesfrom popular culture with little attention to expressions from withinChristian traditions that more authentically shape dispositions of theChristian life. "I feel your pain" replaces 'The sufferings of thisMINDING WHAT WE SAY: RHETORIC IN CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE 13
Page 2: Editorial BoardTed A. CampbellWesle
Page 8 and 9: add to it add to it To add complete
Page 11 and 12: Thomas E. FrankMinding What We Say:
Page 13 and 14: ulbs into the bright sunshine. But
Page 15 and 16: and reinforces the individual's ide
Page 17: question is not whether all persons
Page 21 and 22: Kairos is also a word central to Je
Page 23: Notes1. "Large Minutes" of the Meth
Page 26 and 27: You have nothing to do but to save
Page 28 and 29: Jesus promises that those people wh
Page 30 and 31: and living space of others. Others
Page 32 and 33: Son of God which stills the hunger
Page 34 and 35: than just recruiting new church mem
Page 36 and 37: validates our lives, whether we are
Page 38 and 39: eaches out to those who desperately
Page 40 and 41: 7. Coll and Response: Biblical Foun
Page 42 and 43: does in his "Letter to Dr. Middleto
Page 44 and 45: God's will, but because he resists
Page 46 and 47: foundation of liberty and personal
Page 48 and 49: forms of evangelism and revivalism
Page 50 and 51: Christ." 31The topic here is knowle
Page 52 and 53: conclusion: "By this means, on the
Page 54 and 55: Whether we can be happy at all here
Page 56 and 57: idea of "getting saved" that usuall
Page 58 and 59: Anderson, ed., Methodism (Nashville
Page 60 and 61: seemed to me that both projects cal
Page 62 and 63: theological mistake is to confuse t
Page 64 and 65: he applies Christ's words to one li
Page 66 and 67: PERIOD Phase 1: Phase 2: Phase 3: P
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and 1745 to the effect that works a
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tension between the Wesleyan herita
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deduction from philosophical a prio
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tradition. But theology confined to
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methodology is made up by a body of
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Douglas W. RuffleHoliness and Happi
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holiness and happiness, shall cover
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letter that he would send financial
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emphasis on a "lifestyle" evangeliz
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Wesley saw the need to bring "real"
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Kenneth G. DavisStill Gringo after
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considered her casual demeanor to b
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like to give attention to the lumin
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into the light of these luminarias.
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ecause I cannot be other than what
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one might choose to look at the som
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Jesus was not, however, a crowd-ple
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coming of the kingdom (9:35), they
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about Jesus has been forever known
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Although the message comes from the
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would strike at the very fabric of
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these little ones." The parallel an
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(16:18-19) was vying for recognitio
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July 18,1999—Eighth Sunday after
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Matthew's "little apocalypse" descr
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Spring 1999 - Quarterly Review

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