Thorvald Lorenzen, Toward a Culture of Freedom: Reflections on the Ten
Commandments Today (Cascade Books, 2008).
Thorvald Lorenzen, currently Professor of Theology at Charles Sturt
University, is one of Australia’s most gifted theologians. His other
books include Resurrection and Disciple****p: Interpretive Models,
Biblical Reflections and Theological Consequences (1995, 2003), and
Resurrection-Disciple****p-Justice: Affirming the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ Today (2003).
He brings two special strengths to his work as a theologian: he is a
pastor (most recently, Canberra Baptist Church in Australia’s capital
city) and his cross-cultural background (he has taught in Europe and
Australia, and is fluent in German and English, as well as the Biblical
languages).
This volume on the Torah’s ‘Ten Words’ reads like something produced in
a theologian’s study, but honed in real-life situations. So the chapters
begin with a few pages of theological comments but then apply the
ethical principles of the Judeo-Christian commandments to life, and to
contem****ary global questions. The book is a marvellous resource for
preaching on the Decalogue.
Thorvald Lorenzen is a progressive theologian (as I read him), but who
takes the biblical text seriously. So the conservatives – except for
some in Eastern Europe who ‘wrote him off’ for not sharing their views
about a personal Devil – will generally benefit if they have an open
mind about how a competent biblical exegete unpacks the text. And the
progressives will connect, for example, with his refusal to use
masculine – or any - pronouns for God; Deuteronomy was written in the
7th century BCE etc.
The ‘ten words’, writes Lorenzen, are not restrictive, seeking to spoil
humans’ fun. Rather they are liberating, aimed at our enjoyment of life.
‘The ten words are guidelines in our quest to affirm life.’ They’re not
intended to be laws or dogmas (note that in the four Gospels Jesus did
not quote all of the commandments).
It’s packed full of marvellous insights. How about this, for example: ‘A
generation that ignores the wisdom and errors, achievements and failures
of its predecessors is ill-prepared to face the future. Would the
revolutions of Germany’s youth in the 1960s and of America’s youth in
the 1970s have happened if their parents had talked about their war
experiences and the associated horror and guilt and doubts?’ (p. 86).
Ever thought of that?
Another profundity: ‘Each of us has, or rather is, a conscience.
Conscience is the centre of our personhood. It makes us who we are. It
shapes our identity. It is worth understanding and caring for’ (p. 20).
And throughout Thorvald writes as a prophet. Try this, for example:
‘When some reformers in the sixteenth century took down the pictures and
removed the statues from the churches, they wanted to make room for the
living voice of the gospel. They wanted to celebrate Jesus as the one
word that we need to hear, trust and obey in life and in death. But soon
others, lesser minds and lesser hearts, came along and put a book where
the pictures had been. So for many Christians the living voice of the
gospel has been frozen into a book, the Bible. And around the world
there are many Christians who spend more time and energy fighting about
the Bible than in wor****pping and obeying the Christ to whom the Bible
points’ (p. 52).
Challenging stuff. If you’re a pastor, ‘Preach it, sister/brother!’
Rowland Croucher
May 2008
--
Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/
(20,000 articles 4000 humor)
Blogs - http://rowlandsblogs.blogspot.com/
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