The embedded theology of most Christians still revolves around a non-cruciform model of God's holiness, character, and power, and a crucial corrective is needed.
This brings us inevitably back...to politics, to the “normal” god of civil religion that combines patriotism and power. Nationalistic, military power is not the power of the cross, and such misconstrued notions of divine power have nothing to do with the majesty or holiness of the triune God known in the weakness of the cross. In our time, any “holiness” that fails to see the radical, counter-imperial claims of the gospel is inadequate at best. Adherence to a God of holiness certainly requires the kind of personal holiness that many associate with sexual purity That is one dimension of theosis. But participation in a cruciform God of holiness also requires a corollary vision of life in the world that rejects domination in personal, public, or political life—a mode of being that is often considered realistic or “normal.” Kenotic divinity and a corollary kenotic community constitute “both the best possible commentary” on Paul and a “frontal assault” on “normalcy.” [Crossan & Reed, In Search of Paul, p. 296]—Inhabiting the Cruciform God, p. 128
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All I can say is, "Amen! Good preaching!"
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