Speaking of the life...
Illustration
Object:
Speaking of the life of Christians, a first-century anonymous treatise titled The Epistle to Diognetus (V) claims that "they dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners… They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh" (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, pp. 26-27). The lesson teaches that the faithful are resident aliens in the world. To be an alien in a foreign land entails that you are never fully identified with the culture in which you are residing. You don't seek power in that nation, because as an alien you can't get elected.
Reinhold Niebuhr makes clear the implications of our alien status for everyday life. As aliens, Christians, he says, don't get sucked into the world's power games. We are people who check their individual egos at the gate, and so we might be more likely to seek the interests of others and enlarge areas of cooperation (Moral Man and Immoral Society, pp. 274-276). We can illustrate this point sharply with the observation of modern Methodist theologian Stanley Hauerwas: Christians believe that "Jesus is Lord, and everything else is bull!"
Reinhold Niebuhr makes clear the implications of our alien status for everyday life. As aliens, Christians, he says, don't get sucked into the world's power games. We are people who check their individual egos at the gate, and so we might be more likely to seek the interests of others and enlarge areas of cooperation (Moral Man and Immoral Society, pp. 274-276). We can illustrate this point sharply with the observation of modern Methodist theologian Stanley Hauerwas: Christians believe that "Jesus is Lord, and everything else is bull!"
