A Review of After Our Likeness by Miroslav Volf
It is always a distinct pleasure when one comes across an author which one has not read before. Although I have perused articles by Dr. Volf before, this was the first occasion in which I really read his text. The fact that upon finishing this book I began to seek out more of his books is a sign that something he wrote really caught my attention. Maybe it is the fact that as one raised in what can be called the free-church tradition, it is always delightful when I find a well thought out theologian who shares those same convictions. Or indeed it could be that the intention of the series to provide a Christian Theology for a postmodern age resonated within me. It is the purpose of this brief essay to discuss After Our Likeness, focusing primarily on the Second Part of the book in which he provides his own thoughts and indeed “contributions”. I will begin by first discussing the text as a whole, seeking to show the broad themes and patterns, then focusing more closely on two chapters.
After Our Likeness begins with the discussion of two very different ecclesiologies. The first is the great Catholic theologian, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. The second is the Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas. Both are esteemed within their respective Church and they are quite able representatives of their traditions. In doing this, Volf seeks to first establish the foundations of these distinct understandings of what it means to be a church, which more or less represent broadly Western and Eastern thinking as a whole. It is because of his real intent that he feels this is necessary. The primary goal of Miroslav Volf in this text is to, “contribute toward making the Free churches and their ecclesiology (or ecclesiologies) presentable, Free Churches that are dogmatically orthodox and that are numerically becoming increasingly significant.” He is essentially seeking to provide a theologically developed ecclesiology which could be in dialogue with the older, and rather now defensive, ecclesiologies of the traditional churches. An example of why this is needed is found in the Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry document which was published by the World Council of Churches. Here one from a Baptist tradition feels completely left out of the so-called dialogue.
Having briefly discussed the traditional ecclesiologies, Volf then proceeds to develop one which takes into account the ancient and the modern, seeking to provide a theological model which will be useful for this century, understanding that the global church will increasingly reflect a Free Church form with or without the approval of the World Council of Churches. He begins by looking at the foundations of what the Church is, seeking to show what is at the roots and core of the creation and continuation of the Church in this world. Understanding that the Church is essentially part of “God’s eschatological new creation”, Volf develops how a church can be identified as such. The core idea is that the Church is an assembly, an assembly which gathers in the name of Christ, committed as individuals to allow their lives to be determined by Jesus Christ. Volf then develops what this means, dealing with the issues of faith, God’s being, the specific structures which result from this core idea, and the question of how differing perspectives can still be united into one whole catholic church. In many ways, what Volf is offering is more of a starting point than a completely thorough treatment, but a starting point which demands to be included in global ecumenical discussions as representing the fastest growing understanding of what being the Church means.
In the third part of his discussion on Faith, Person, and Church Miroslav Volf writes on how personhood in the Ecclesial community is understood, specifically attempting to understand how the individual is understood within the community context, noting that the tendency is to “lose ‘person’ within the ‘whole Christ’”. The Church according to Volf is not an entity which produces or absorbs “clones”. Volf argues that “each human being is constituted into a person by what in each case is a different relation of God to that human being.” The entrance into the Church actually emphasizes a person’s individuality by acknowledging the person has a unique role to contribute and has a unique relationship with the Creator who loves each person equally. This is not an isolated individualism at all, though, rather the individual is precisely unique because of the value of the community. It is in the obvious contrasts that the individual reality of each person contributes to the fuller picture of the community as a whole. Even before salvation, God has made each person unique, as an act of his own creative power, but these individuals are not fully able to realize this individuality outside of the sanctified community. Becoming a Christian neither ignores nor creates this individuality, but rather enhances and integrates this reality in an always unique way, making the person more of who they already are.
As part of the community, the individual, Volf argues, is constituted by the relationships which are held, being shaped by the human and natural surroundings, but still retaining the freedom to shape how these relationships affect the individual, being part of yet still above what these relationships demand. Somehow though, the individual is subsumed within the community without losing the distinctive individuality which is so vital to the community. To maintain this Volf argues for what he terms “personal interiority” in which as seen in the Trinity the person “is internal to the other person without the persons suspending their personhood.” This is true throughout theology as one Divine person interacts with another, or a Divine person interacts with the human, both are one but both are still unique. This is why, Volf suggests, that a pneumatological understanding of salvation and the Church must be developed. Essentially this maintains that the Spirit is both in all people and outside of all people, constituting the community into one people by being uniting presence which does not make a unified person of the church but “creates a differentiate communion both with and among them”. Individuals are united with and are counterparts to the Spirit and to each other. The unity is thus grounded in the diversity itself, allowing for an openness to the other individuals who are giving and receiving, not becoming less of an individual, but becoming more so within the confines of the community as one is built up and continually shaped by the creative power of the Spirit and the other individuals.
In the first part of his sixth section on the Structures of the Church, Volf deals with the charismata and the participation of people within the Church. He begins by acknowledging that all churches would agree that “the church lives through the participation of its members, that is, the laity and the office holders, and is constituted through them by the Holy Spirit.” The dispute comes, he suggests, in the way churches answer how this occurs. He begins by showing the emphasis the older traditions place on the person of the Bishop and the Priest as being constitutive of the church, creating a “monocentric-bipolar community”. Volf argues, however, that the church is “fundamentally a polycentric community” which is constituted by the Christian call to faith and by the charismata. Because of the work of the Spirit in the life of the entire Church for ministry, all those who are part of the church provide essential contributions to the work and life of the church as a whole. Volf writes, “That all Christians have a task in church and world is grounded in Christian calling; which concrete ministry (or ministries) they have is determined by the gifts of the Spirit given to them at the moment.”
Thus each person provides, by the presence and work of the Spirit in their lives, a unique participation in the work of God in the community, adding to the life and to the worship in a unduplicatible way. The Church, writes Volf, “arises and lives insofar as salvation is mediated through mutual service with the pluriform gifts of the Spirit.” These contributions are neither identical in manner or form, but all are necessary. The church is not ordered around those who are the anointed office-holders, rather each person is able to be the most significant individual in any particular setting depending on the will of the Spirit which constitutes the community. Every member is vital to every other member, with all participants being vital to every other in the fullness of the work of the Spirit in their midst in a continually unique way.
Having established this, Volf then briefly suggests the practical consequences of such an ecclesiastical understanding. He writes that really this is just a theological description of what is already happening in community life, where faith is maintained and spread primarily through the continued activity of the so-called laity. Throughout society the bulk of the religious, Spiritual activity is carried on by those who are not anointed officeholders. However, these roles tend to be slighted in many traditions, with the laity often not able to likewise participate in the formal worship of the church. Participation in the weekly worship service, however, does not constitute the whole being of the church, and those who are most involved in the continued, fuller mission of the church should be confirmed in their continual contributions.
By over-emphasizing the roles in a worship setting, and devaluing those who are not office holders, a passivity on the part of the people in all aspects of church develops which increases the bipolarity of the structures. Continued passive roles devalues the fuller body of the church and replaces it with an overwhelming demand on the part of the office holders to accomplish on their own that which all together have been called to do. If, however, all roles are maintained as vital, and lay persons are encouraged to be active in both worship and ministry settings, the church will find a fuller and more vibrant ministry not only within the local community but within the broader community of the society of which they are a part. To counter this tendency, which Volf admits is also a result of the “divisions of labor” and the elevation of the pastoral role by the laity itself, the church must actively seek to elevate the role of the laity, broadening and developing an understanding of who the Spirit has brought to the community so that the community can thus be shaped and led by the unrestrained movement of the Spirit in its midst, bringing joy, fullness, and salvation to all who are a part.
