Amicus Dei

The late James McLendon, a "little b" baptist by his own description, paints a clear, yet disturbing picture of the evolution of the Christian journey in the history of  the church.  In his weighty first volume of systematic theology titled Ethics, McLendon says that by the time of Thomas Aquinas:

"The way was no longer the way of disciples walking with the crucified, risen, returning Jesus…rather the way had become a journey to God…"

"To concede in it that something has been lost, that the journey is no longer as it was in Scripture a journey with God but now only a journey to God…."

McLendon’s point here is that the Christian journey shifted from being a pilgrimmage with God as companion, provider, and guide to a lone pilgrimmage with the destination, rather than companion, being God.

Marcus Borg says something similar in his book, The God We Never Knew.  Borg, of course, argues for panentheism, our being in God even if we do not recognize God’s presence about us.  Borg describes panentheism as meaning "everything is in God."   Borg certainly gives us a new vantage point from which to see God — not just the transcendent/immanent dualism that classically defines God’s distance from us or closeness to us. 

Whether you agree or disagree with Borg, he at least places us in God, so whatever journey we are on, God is with us on that journey.  McLendon makes the same point — as the Great Story has evolved (by our own manipulation) it has become less about us with God, and more about us and God.   

Missional thinking demands we understand our position as with God on God’s mission.   God’s presence surrounding us, and our response to that Presence, is where friendship with God occurs.  Every person called a friend of God in Scripture, walked with God, knew God intimately, even argued with God as they journeyed with God on God’s mission. — Amicus Dei