“The church does not believe that you should have no story except the story you chose when you had no story. Rather, the church believes that we are creatures of a good God who has storied us through engrafting us to the people of Israel through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Christians do not believe that we get to choose our story, but rather we discover that God has called us to participate in a story that is not of our own making. That is why we are called into the church as well as why we are called ‘Christian.’ A church so formed cannot help but be a challenge to a social order built on the contrary presumption that I get to make my life up.”
–Stanley Hauerwas, “America’s God,” Communio 34, no. 3 (Fall 2007): p. 480
This was so well said. Thanks for posting it, Kendall.
Every since I read Resident Aliens more than 15 years ago, I have been a very big fan of Stanley Hauerwaus – probably because when I agree with him, I feel almost as uncomfortable as I do when I disagree with him. He does say it very well indeed.
Hauerwas comes in for a bit of analysis in an article in the current issue of First Things, which I think all readers of this blog would be interested in: Joseph Bottum, “The Death of Protestant America,” First Things, no. 185 (August/September 2008), pp. 23 ff.
Bottum is referring to the death of liberal, or mainline, Protestantism. And he has much to say about the history of the American Episcopal Church over the last fifty years.
Hmmm. I agree with the point he’s making, but unlike Mugsie and Dan, I thought it very awkwardly phrased.