“To the King of Ages”

A LOVING DOXOLOGY: 1 Timothy 1:17

To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Paul closes his reflections on sin, life, and grace with a spontaneous burst of praise. As a deeply observant Jew, such an expression of glorification would come as naturally as breathing. Yet for Paul, there is something extra; it is the joyful fireworks of a soul which has known at first hand the blessing of unmerited redemption.

In the Middle Ages, such expressions would become the basis of a way of doing theology called “apophatic”, i.e., theologizing-by-taking-away, or the “negative way” (via negativa). The name most frequently connected with this is that of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, an otherwise unknown monastic philosopher-theologian who was mistakenly identified with the Dionysius who was converted by Paul at Athens on Mars Hill (the Areopagus). The general idea is that, when we follow an apophatic method, we are more likely to avoid errors in what we say about God. For Ps.-Dionyius and others, it was more than just a method for pursuing rigorous spiritual thought, it was a form of spiritual discipline and prayer in itself, a contemplation of the mysteries of God.

Thus also the hymn based on this passage:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise
In light inaccessible hid from our eye
Most blessed, most glorious, the ancient of days
Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise!

Paul has brought us to the junction of understanding and mystery, of recollection and amazed wonder, of intellectual rigor and ecstatic praise.


Great and incomparable God, bring me again to the wonder-filled contemplation of Your Majesty, and to joys both deep and explosive in Your Presence. Let my life be as a fountain of glorification to You. Amen.


Lusby, Maryland

SEEING THE SIGNS FROM STREET LEVEL

BOOK REVIEW: David Leong's Street Signs

David Leong has done us all a great service. With his recently-published book Street Signs, he has added appreciably to an understanding of what it means to live and proclaim the word of God speaking both from and into the cultural landscape.

Using Seattle as his paradigmatic exemplar, Leong, who serves as Assistant Professor of Missiology at Seattle Pacific University's new seminary, writes compellingly about what it means to exegete the neighborhood (the "signs" at street level) and to weave it into a theological context for embodying and witnessing the good news of Christ. His insights, which draw broadly on semiotics and sociology as well as missiology, will provide an additional and likely powerful filter for local churches, parachurch ministry, judicatories, and the academy in their understanding of the nexus of religion and American life -- with untold potential. Especially evocative is his three-"lens" model for urban contextual theology, discussed at length in the book but graphically encapsulated with a diagram on page 220.

As an opening salvo in the emerging subdiscipline, Leong's work does have a few rough edges and places which call for more development. The book reads a bit like a dissertation -- which, apparently, it is, in reworked form. (Leong has his Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary.) At times, the insistence upon reading with the culture and being influenced by insights from the context threatens to overshadow the Biblical mandate to speak into the human story of history, culture, and society. I would have liked to see a bit more of the "hows" of practical application -- which, to be clear, are there to be mined and have great potential for working even interculturally.

For those who are serious about urban ministry, about Christianity's confrontation and interplay with culture, and about how the everyday characteristics of neighborhood life can be potent memes with semiotic significance for mission, this is a book not to be missed. David Leong has given the future of urban Christian work -- indeed, all ministry -- a true gift.

(Leong, David P. Street Signs: Toward a Missional Theology of Urban Cultural Engagement. American Society of Missiology Monograph Series, vol. 12. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick, 2012. Pp. xx + 250)


Prince Frederick, Maryland (Providence)