2019/09/05

교회 다시 살리기 - 인터넷교보문고



교회 다시 살리기 - 인터넷교보문고








교회 다시 살리기
JOHN B.COBB,JR. 지음 | 구미정 옮김 | 한국기독교연구소 | 2001년 08월 30일 출간
리뷰 0개 리뷰쓰기





정가 : 6,000원
판매가 : 5,400원 [10%↓ 600원 할인]
통합포인트 :
쪽수 176쪽
책소개
이 책이 속한 분야
종교 > 기독교(개신교) > 교회 > 교회론/교회사
오늘날 교회에서 젊은이들과 고학력자들이 빠져나가는 현실은 무엇 때문인가? 대부분의 교회들은 어째서 미적지근함이라는 영적 질병에 걸려버렸나? 이제 교회는 새로운 시대에 살아남기 위해 과거의 교회 역사로부터 무엇을 배워야 하는가? 교회의 쇠퇴 원인을 역사적으로 분석하고 교회를 다시 살릴 수 있는 처방을 제시한다.


저자소개

저자 : JOHN B.COBB,JR.


역자 : 구미정

목차
-서론 "미지근함"이라는 영적 질병 ...17

1. 공통의 확신을 잃어버린 세대 ...27
2. 새롭게 떠오르는 문화적 지주 ...61
3. 변혁을 위해 일하시는 하느님 ...97
4. 회개를 통한 일치 ...125
5. 하느님과 함께 일하는 사람들 ...153

-결론 서로를 묶어주는 대화 ...174
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"Abba Father" - What Does This Name of God Mean?



"Abba Father" - What Does This Name of God Mean?

The Wonderful Implications of God being Our “Abba Father”

Bible /
Bible Study /
Topical Studies /
The Wonderful Implications of God being Our “Abba Father”

Blair Parke
Thursday, May 24, 2018




It is likely that most Christians have heard God referred to as “Abba Father” throughout their lives: in prayers, at church, while reading the Bible in quiet time, etc.

However, God’s title of “Abba Father” is only found referenced in the Bible three separate times, in the passages of Romans 8:15, Mark 14:36, and Galatians 4:6, which are all in the New Testament. Only two speakers utter these words in these passages: Jesus and the apostle Paul.

So why would a title mentioned so sparingly in the Scriptures be so monumental in describing not only Jesus’ and Paul’s relationships with God but our relationship with God as well?

This name of God is rich with meaning and implications for our lives. Read on to learn more about the meaning of Abba Father and why this title of God is so important for our theology and relationship with Him.Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/beerphotography






What is the Meaning of “Abba Father”?


To begin our exploration into God as Abba Father, let’s begin by understanding what “Abba” means in definition. As stated from Dictionary.com, “Abba” is the defining term for father in the Aramaic language, spoken by Jesus and Paul as an intimate term to characterize their personal relationships with God. It is also a term of reverence for bishops and patriarchs within the Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopian churches.

We will view the definition of Abba as father in Aramaic, as this is how it is shared in the three Scripture verses in the New Testament:

Mark 14:36: “And He [Jesus] said, ‘Abba Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.’”

Romans 8:15: “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’”

Galatians 4:6: “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba Father!’”

The scripture from Mark is stated by Jesus, while the verses from Romans and Galatians are shared by Paul. Both had deep relationships with God that emerged in miraculous ways, and both met one another in a miraculous way. Hence, this would explain one reason why they would share the same intimate name for God that is not mentioned by any of Jesus’ disciples or those found in the Old Testament.

Photo credit: Pexels/Luis Quintero




Abba Father in Jesus’ and Paul’s Eyes:


With countless names of God in the Bible, why is Abba Father only referenced by Jesus and Paul? To answer this question is to look more at what Jesus and Paul represent in the Christian faith.

One is the Son of God and savior for all mankind; the other was once determined to destroy the belief about Jesus and who He is, until Jesus changed his life on that dusty road to Damascus.

The two men couldn’t be more different in the eyes of those around them, but in the eyes of God they were created from the same cloth; closer than physical brothers as they had become spiritual brothers for eternity.

Their stories display deep connections with God, following guidance to live lives on earth that placed them in danger but facing that danger knowing God conquers all in the end.

Photo credit: Getty Images/elinedesignservices






“He was tethered to God in a way that no one ever could or ever would be able to undo.”


Jesus was God in the flesh, letting the Father speaking through Him as He went about His ministry of spreading the Word of God to all who would hear and obey. Because of His intimate connection with God in heaven, before He was placed on earth, shows why Jesus would refer to God as Abba Father. He was tethered to God in a way that no one ever could or ever would be able to undo.

When He calls God “Abba Father” in the garden of Gethsemane in Mark 14:36, He says it as a way of acknowledging the power of God and the greatness that will come for Him through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. It’s an expression of humble admiration for His Father, as well as an intimate request asked of God, for God’s will to be shown in this “cup” of sacrifice, that Jesus wouldn’t ask of anyone but God.

Photo credit: Unsplash/Aaron Burden




Paul's Encounter Changed His Perspective Forever


For Paul, witnessing his transformation from Christian-hater to a lover of Christ was ground-breaking to him as he was a highly educated, well-to-do man from Tarsus. After encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul endured three days of blindness that changed his whole perspective about Christ-followers and faith in God in general.

He went on to embark on a ministry that witnessed to several churches around what is considered Europe today, including the church of Rome and churches of Galatia where the verses with Abba Father were written. Paul’s letters to these churches proclaimed to them that they were now all children of God, like he had become. They all now had the Spirit of Jesus within them, as he did, and were close to God as the Savior, justifying the reason for calling God “Abba Father.”

Photo credit: Wikimedia/Public Domain:Valentin De Boulogne




Why We Should See God as Our “Abba Father”


Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul had their obvious reasons for seeing God in an intimate manner compared to others in the Bible. But why should God be viewed as Abba Father to several of us who may not have had the transformational encounters that our Savior and His beloved follower had? Why should we also praise God as our Abba Father when we are not Jesus and we may not have witnessed God while temporarily blind as Paul did?

Well, each one of us was created in God’s image, similar to how Jesus was fashioned to represent God on earth (even though He was one and same with God in heaven). Making us as Himself was God’s plan from the beginning, as quoted from Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Knowing that we are made in the same image as God, this establishes an unbreakable bond we share with the Father and a solid form of intimacy that cannot be replicated with any other god or human. The potter made the clay, us, and with the making of us, He put time, attention, and love into us that He also placed within our Lord and Savior Jesus and in the beloved apostle, Paul.

Photo credit: Unsplash/Jake Givens




Abba Father Knows Our Greatest Strengths and Weakenesses - And Loves Us


This is the reason for why we should view God as Abba Father, as He made and molded us as an earthly father does. But He does so in a way that is closer and more personal than an earthly father ever could. He knows us more than we know ourselves and handcrafted our personalities before we were twinkles of thoughts in our parents’ eyes.

So, the term “Abba Father” is not one that is just to exclaim in praise or recognition, such as with heavenly Father or Father God. Abba Father, as conveyed through Jesus and Paul, reflects the knowledge of knowing that God knows us better than we know ourselves and that He established paths for us before we took our first steps as humans.

When you state “Abba Father” in prayer or hear it referenced in a sermon, you should envision a Father who knows your greatest strengths, your greatest weaknesses, and knows your beginning and end: but instead of forcing His will on you, He allows you to meet Him in your own way, with intimacy that can only be felt between the Creator and the created.

For these reasons, that is why God is our “Abba Father.”

Blair Parke is a freelance writer for BibleStudyTools.com and editor for Xulon Press. A graduate of Stetson University with a Bachelor's in Communications, Blair previously worked as a writer/editor for several local magazines in the Central Florida area, including Celebration Independent and Lake Magazine in Leesburg, Florida and currently freelances for the Southwest Orlando Bulletin.

Debbie McDaniel is a writer, pastor's wife, mom to three amazing kids (and a lot of pets). Join her each morning on Fresh Day Ahead's Facebook page, for daily encouragement in living strong, free, hope-filled lives. Find her also on Twitter and at her blog www.debbiemcdaniel.com.



Photo credit: Unsplash/Dino Reichmuth

This article is part of our Names of God Series featuring the most used names and titles of God found in the Bible. We have compiled these articles to help you study all that God says He is and to help you understand His nature and character. Our hope is that you would focus on these truths and find hope as you rest in the promise of God’s presence, no matter the circumstances.

7 Meanings of Yahweh - God's Name in the Bible
Son of Man - Jesus’s Favorite Name for Himself
Meaning of Elohim in the Bible
Abba Father - What it Means and Why it’s Important
What Does it Mean that Jesus is the Lamb of God?
God is the Alpha and Omega - Meaning & Understanding
The Meaning of Hosanna - Powerful Name of Jesus from the Bible
Jehovah Jireh: “The Lord Will Provide” Name of God
Jehovah Nissi: "The Lord is My Banner" Name of God
What is the Meaning of the Name El Shaddai?
What Does Yeshua Mean? Biblical Name for Jesus
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Hymn to the Cosmic Christ (Why Christ is Not Jesus’s Last Name) | Mark Longhurst



Hymn to the Cosmic Christ (Why Christ is Not Jesus’s Last Name) | Mark Longhurst

Hymn to the Cosmic Christ (Why Christ is Not Jesus’s Last Name)
AUGUST 14, 2019 BY MARK LONGHURST




Christ is not Jesus’s last name, as Richard Rohr says so powerfully in his latest book The Universal Christ. Jesus’s last name would have likely been, following the custom, Jesus bar Joseph as in, Jesus “son of Joseph.”

But if Christ is not Jesus’ last name, what does it mean to call Jesus, Christ?

Christ comes from the Greek word Christos, which is a translation of a Hebrew word that means Messiah. Christ is the Messiah, we might say, except if we were to say that, we’d really be repeating ourselves, as if to say, Christ is the Christ, when what we probably mean, or what we’ve probably heard, at least from Handel’s Messiah, is that Jesus is the Messiah.

Jesus, the earliest Christians affirmed, is the Messiah, the longed-for individual ruler in Jewish imagination who will overthrow the foreign empires, who will re-gather the exiled and those in diaspora, and who will institute a reign of justice and peace. Jesus is the Messiah, which is to say Jesus is the Christ.

It gets more interesting: Messiah is related to the Hebrew word mashach, which means “to anoint.” Ancient Jews anointed objects and people with oil, especially when they dedicated that object or person to a God-given purpose. “Get up, you officers,” prophet Isaiah cries, “Oil the shields!” (Isaiah 21:5) Make them slippery for battle, in other words, so they protect from flying darts and enemy hands.

Most importantly, though, priests anointed kings with oil, leaders set aside for the divine role of ruling with justice and compassion. Solomon and David are anointed kings, which means that a priest has poured oil over their heads in a symbolic ritual to dedicate their rule to God. To call Jesus the Christ is to name him the anointed one.

For the writer of Colossians, though, Jesus is Christ and Messiah, but Christ also means more—far more. He is not only the ruler, the anointed one, but “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (1:15) Jesus is the face of the divine mystery, the first creative act from that mystery, even before the creation itself is created.



The verses of Colossians 1:15-20 are an ancient song, a hymn Christians sang before the letter was written, a canticle that is still sung in monasteries today, known as the Colossians Canticle: “For in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” (1:16)

But wait a minute. This is starting to become a little esoteric.

Isn’t Jesus the rabble-rousing Jew from Nazareth? Joseph’s son who teaches subversive stories called parables? Isn’t he thrown out of a synagogue during his first sermon for heralding the arrival of God’s realm?

Isn’t Jesus born from Mary, brother to James? Isn’t he the Jewish healer, the teacher, the nonviolent revolutionary who overturns tables in the Jerusalem Temple? Isn’t he the Jesus who is handed over by the religious leaders, put to death by Pontius Pilate?

Yes, Jesus is Jesus bar Joseph from Nazareth, but Christians throughout the centuries have also affirmed that Jesus is also the Christ, or reveals, or participates with, the Christ!

“All things were created through him and for him.” (1:16)

The letter to the Colossians, written around the time the Gospels are written, lifts Christ up to the level of God. Christ rules over all authorities, emperors and presidents, empires and corporations, all principalities, which is to say, all cosmic realities, galaxies and multiverse.


Christ is what is ultimate, and not the other allegiances we pledge.



To say that all things are created through Christ, and for Christ—or, as the Greek reads towards Christ—is to say, mysteriously, that Christ is there at the beginning of it all and the end of it all.Christ is there when the Spirit hovers over the deep waters before the first day. Christ is there when the universe first expands. Christ is dynamic, somehow coalescing alongside and within hydrogen clouds, stirring forth stars. And Christ is there at the end when the new heavens and new earth are unveiled. Christ is there, at the end, when death itself has passed away.

We’re not used to thinking about Jesus, or Christ, like this.

For progressive Christians like my colleagues and congregants, we are comfortable with the historical Jesus, the Jesus we can prove with footnotes and peer-reviewed papers. The resurrection might cause us to scratch our heads, but we really only talk about it once a year, so it’s not too much to stomach.

We are comfortable, too, with the political Jesus, that he was a Jewish man, a healer, an activist who led a poor people’s campaign from the margins, who he faced imprisonment as a subversive threat to the religious/political order. We’re familiar with this Jesus, and we should be. This Jesus and his way propel our lives.

But what if Jesus the nonviolent revolutionary is only half the story?

How do we trust that history is moving in an ultimately hopeful vision, as the Bible dares to say that it is?

How do cultivate loving presence when children are dying from hunger in Yemen, when oceans are heating even faster than we thought they were, or when immigrants face cruel punishment?

How do we stay grounded, in solidarity with those suffering, during a time of international movements of ethno-nationalism, hatred and lies?

What if there is a larger vision, a more whole view through which to see reality?

What if Christ is the love, hope, and inclusive faith we’re looking for?

“He is the head of the body—the church, he is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead.” (1:18)

He is the head of the body, and the body is far larger than the church. The cosmos, the universe, and Mother Earth, too, is the body of Christ, anointed as set apart, of service and filled with divine presence. Christ’s body is nothing less.

The universe is alive with God. It expands and contracts with God’s own rhythms. Then the author inserts into a likely pre-existing hymn the very localized word “church.”

The writer throws church in to make a point:[1] the recognition of Christ in the world has to start somewhere, and where better than the gathered, local community?

Christ has been there from the beginning, all things were created through him and towards him, but for Christians use the word “church” as a communal reminder that the world is filled with God, and that this Christ-image in all beings is recognizable.
------

[1] The scholar I’m following suggests that the church is the author’s addition to the earlier hymn material. See Eduard Lohse, Colossians and Philemon.

Photo by Kevin Gutowski on Unsplash
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ProgressiveChristianity.org : Jesus' Abba: The God Who Has Not Failed



ProgressiveChristianity.org : Jesus' Abba: The God Who Has Not Failed



Jesus’ Abba: The God Who Has Not Failed


by John B. Cobb Jr. on July 1, 2016 | 0 Comments


purchase for $22.62


1
The church has emphasized ideas about God that have marginalized Jesus’ understanding of his spiritual Father, his Abba. We commonly think of God as a demanding lawgiver and judge, an omnipotent ruler, or an ultimate philosophical principle. None of these works well today.


In contrast, Jesus’ view of God as spiritual Abba still truly works when it is given a chance. Christians should be open to accepting the ideas of the one they call Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ Abba, one of the greatest theologians of this generation boldly argues for a new view of God, through the eyes of Jesus.


John B. Cobb Jr. interprets the whole of Jesus’ life and ministry, and death and resurrection, in light of Jesus’ understanding of God. He also shows that Paul shared this understanding and that it played a central role in Paul’s churches. Ultimately, Cobb argues that Jesus’ view of God fits our actual experience today, that it is supported by the evidence of the sciences, and that it encourages appreciative learning from other wisdom traditions and cooperation with them in redeeming the world. With this book, John B. Cobb Jr. makes his ultimate and most impassioned plea for us to rediscover God through Jesus.





Reviews


… Dr. Cobb reminds us he has not and cannot prove the existence of Abba, but that “belief in Abba makes a lot of sense today.” (pp. 155,6). It is a more reasonable, sensible and satisfying option than accepting the modern worldview and leaving God and the Bible aside entirely. And there are many things, including some beliefs about God that we can disprove, such as a God who is both all-powerful and all-beneficent. He says, “The basic argument of this book is that, although many ideas associated with God and Christian faith have been disproved, Jesus’ teaching about Abba has not…. I commend a faithfulness to Jesus that shares Jesus’ confidence in the love and empowering power of Abba.” Click Here to Read Full Review by Howard Pepper


Professor Cobb’s book is a wonderful culmination of several decades of scholarship and teaching. In this volume, he captures the heart and essence of the spiritual life of Jesus, and describes it in a way that invites the reader to follow the example of this truly and profoundly spiritual person. Dr. Cobb, while fully aware of all the ways that “transcendence” is understood in our time, does not want us to forget what is most basic about God, that God is love and this love is unlimited and available for all to receive and embrace. Abba, the Aramaic word describing a truly loving Father (Parent), was how Jesus understand and related to God, and while he is sensitive to the gender issue, he asks the reader to claim the God-consciousness that was so central to the life of Jesus and manifested in a life epitomized the commandment to love God with one’s whole being and one’s neighbor as oneself. -Duncan S. Ferguson


purchase for $22.62

The church has emphasized ideas about God that have marginalized Jesus' understanding of his spiritual Father, his Abba. We commonly think of God as a demanding lawgiver and judge, an omnipotent ruler, or an ultimate philosophical principle. None of these works well today.

In contrast, Jesus' view of God as spiritual Abba still truly works when it is given a chance. Christians should be open to accepting the ideas of the one they call Lord and Savior. In Jesus' Abba, one of the greatest theologians of this generation boldly argues for a new view of God, through the eyes of Jesus.


John B. Cobb Jr. interprets the whole of Jesus' life and ministry, and death and resurrection, in light of Jesus' understanding of God. He also shows that Paul shared this understanding and that it played a central role in Paul's churches. Ultimately, Cobb argues that Jesus' view of God fits our actual experience today, that it is supported by the evidence of the sciences, and that it encourages appreciative learning from other wisdom traditions and cooperation with them in redeeming the world.


With this book, John B. Cobb Jr. makes his ultimate and most impassioned plea for us to rediscover God through Jesus.

Showing 1-8 of 29 reviews


J. Speers
3.0 out of 5 starsI do like Cobb’s Abba
July 13, 2016
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I cannot be as glowing about this book as the other reviewers so far. I do like Cobb’s Abba, but I am quite unconvinced that it was also Jesus’ Abba. I accept that the characteristics Cobb ascribes to God from the Jewish tradition that shaped Jesus were probably part of how Jesus understood God, but I am not convinced that Jesus necessarily rejected some of the characteristics that Cobb rejects. In other words, I think Cobb may be guilty—as I think many other progressive Christians are—of sifting the evidence so as to find the Jesus he wants to find.

I also find Cobb’s extended rant against modernity to be off the mark. What he is really ranting against is scientific materialism, which is the pathology of modernity rather than its true achievement. Christianity will only become increasingly irrelevant if it rejects modernity and turns back to premodern belief. I realize that is not what Cobb is advocating, but the book could leave one confused on that point.

As I said, I like Cobb’s Abba. He outlines an understanding and emotional stance toward God that has great merit for progressive Christians. I just think the book has significant weaknesses.

12 people found this helpful

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Judith R. McGoogan
4.0 out of 5 starsLove God & Love One Another is Cobb's Theme
June 30, 2016
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
Cobb's book inspires us to work hard and consistently to build a deep and joyful relationship with Abba. This relationship can lead to faith and confidence in the love and empowering power of Abba to work through people to build loving, welcoming, embracing, caring communities - uniting all races, religions, and belief systems.

Cobb takes us back to the essence of Jesus' teachings, exposes fallacies in many supposedly Christian beliefs that resulted in abominations like the Holocaust, and explores common ground between Abba's message of unfailing love and the key tenets of other major religions and beliefs.

Cobb is a brilliant theologian and philosopher. Those of us without his deep grounding in these fields may have trouble following some of his arguments. Nevertheless, his book is worth reading - and perhaps re-reading - just to be reminded that Abba's deepest desire is to enjoy an intimate parental relationship with each individual on Planet Earth - and the second wish is "like unto it": that we might "love [our] neighbors as ourselves."

5 people found this helpful

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Michael Cevering
1.0 out of 5 starsPoor Product of Process Theology
September 18, 2018
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I've enjoyed the works of Hartshorne, Griffin, and Mesle (and Griffin and Cobb's "Process Theo" introduction). However, this book was poor quality.

Apart from the fact that Cobb's book is absent of scholarly notations (virtually empty of referential evidence for any of his claims), Cobb's premise itself lacks backbone. He claims to be writing about Jesus' Abba, but fails to explain and substantiate why anyone should care what Jesus thought about Abba. In fact, he undermines biblical authority; which begs the question, "Why believe Jesus' teachings at all?" It's not that there isn't evidence for the historical Jesus, but if Jesus wasn't "God" then what makes his beliefs about Abba any better than Muhammad's belief about Allah? Or the mystical incarnation of Krishna?

Suffice it to say, Cobb fails on this one. And fails badly.


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Raf Zayas
4.0 out of 5 starsMy favorite part of the book was a critique of his ...
January 28, 2017
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I'm not a process person but I found Cobb give language to thoughts and ideas people I serve have. The reason in bought the book was because he would be at a conference I was attending. The book itself was a very loving picture of Abba and a correct critique of credal Christianity.

My favorite part of the book was a critique of his own camp and it's failings of creating the atmosphere for Christians to love one God the God of the Bible.

Cobb doesn't shy away from his beliefs and because he is able to see the faults in his own tribes thinking gives me the opportunity to really listen. He is as loving in person and his writing and I have a lot of respect for this work.

His five points that he considers throughout the book are food for thought and he does a very good job explaining there implications on the church.

Thank you Dr Cobb for this book and for signing my copy.

3 people found this helpful

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J. Thomas Wilkes
5.0 out of 5 starsThere a new God on the block
October 18, 2017
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
This book describes the God Jesus and Paul worshiped. This God is not the God that the early and late Churches promote. Their God has very little room to wiggle in view of the science that has developed. It is clear that that God has failed. There is no room for an omnipotent God in todays world. Jesus's God is a gentle nudging God who operates in you and wants the best for you. As a Christian I have been looking for a description of this God who I can believe in and work with

The book is not easy, but in the end it presents a new view of an old God.

One person found this helpful

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Edgar W. Hennig
5.0 out of 5 starsBrilliant, Caring, Assertive, and Practical
August 15, 2016
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I have read John Cobb's excellent process theology books for years (I'm 82). He integrated in this book his brilliant grasp of the content with his personal faith. I really liked his affirming his own position that for him Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life and, yet, with full respect for, and in unconditional dialogue with, those who would disagree. His great wisdom so well articulated in his latter years is a great inspiration for me in my latter years to "keep on keeping on." Thanks John!

4 people found this helpful

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T Mark Hightower
5.0 out of 5 starsA founding Christian process theologian shares his view of Jesus in relation to God His Loving Father who is also ours
June 13, 2018
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
Dr. John Cobb Jr. is among the founders of process theology with a very long and distinguished career. In this book he shares his view of God as the Loving Father (papa or daddy) of Jesus and how our view of God our Father should be the same as that of Jesus.


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zrose
3.0 out of 5 starsOK read
March 29, 2018
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
I read it with a church book group. It was helpful in debunking the idea of an all powerful domineering God, using scripture and history to explain how some religious traditions had gotten off track, and suggesting an alternate approach.


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