The Hidden Tradition: Women of the Reformation, Part III

The Hidden Tradition:
The Women of the Reformation, Part III

Reformation historian Roland Bainton proposed that the Reformation had a primary effect on the role of women in society. The dropping of monasticism in Protestant lands “made for the exaltation of the home, the especial domain of the wife, as the sphere for exercise of the gentler virtues of the Sermon on the Mount. In Catholic thought these have been called the counsels of perfection to be observed by monks. Protestantism made no distinction between the counsels to be observed by the few and the precepts binding upon all. The entire Christian ethic was held to be incumbent upon every believer.”[i]

Reformation Wives: Daughters of the King of Kings

Ruth Tucker explains the impact of this titanic change upon marital relationships. “For the first generation of Protestants, marriage was a far more significant decision than it was in the generations that followed. Renouncing celibacy was viewed by the Catholics as giving in to the sin of lust.”[ii] For the leading male Reformers, the decision whether or not to marry was thus mired in complexity, culture, and conflict. For the women who married them, the nature of their husband-wife relationship was equally multifaceted.

Idelette Calvin: The Unfading Beauty of a Gentle and Quiet Spirit

Idelette Calvin (1510-1549) met John Calvin when she and her first husband fled persecution in their native Holland. Coming to Strasbourg, they connected with Calvin’s church and converted to the Reformed faith. When Idellete’s husband died in a plague, Calvin conducted the funeral. He was impressed with how she had cared for her dying husband as well as for her two children. He also noted that she was an intelligent woman who was unafraid to speak her mind.[iii]

Calvin communicated his idea of the ideal wife in a letter written to his friend William Farel even before he met Idellete. “But always keep in mind what I seek to find in her; for I am none of those insane lovers who embrace also the vices of those with whom they are in love, where they are smitten at first sight with a fine figure. This only is the beauty which allures me, if she is chaste, if not too fussy or fastidious, if economical, if patient, if there is hope that she will be interested about my health.”[iv]

Though unlike the modern ideal of romantic love, Calvin saw in Idellete the unfading beauty of her gentle and quiet spirit. She ministered soul care to her husband through her patient love, and that was exactly what Calvin needed to counter his own “impatience and irritability.”[v]

Since Calvin’s mother died when he was three, and he had received little love from his stepmother, Calvin had modest experience of a loving home. His best model was Martin Bucer’s family life. “In his family during the entire time I saw not the least occasion of offense but only ground for edification. I never left the table without having learned something.”[vi]

Calvin saw Elizabeth Bucer as a good mother, a hospitable homemaker, and her husband’s best critic. Idelette played a similar role. Calvin called her “the faithful helper of my ministry” and “the best companion of my life.” Calvin’s biographers speak of her as a woman “of some force and individuality.”[vii]

From the beginning, Idelette’s marriage to John was filled with complications and frustrations. In addition to his pastoral ministry, Calvin was a teacher and houseparent at his own boarding house, governed by a domineering housekeeper with a sharp tongue. To make matters worse, sickness would plague them both throughout their marriage.[viii]

External circumstances improved when Calvin was called back to Geneva. Idelette had become “first lady” of the parish, and she could have enjoyed a lavish lifestyle. Instead, she chose to extend her soul care ministry beyond her home. “Idelette, if she had chosen, might have passed her time in presiding over brilliant social gatherings. But like her unostentatious husband, she devoted her time and energy for the most part to the performance of charitable duties. She often visited the sick, the poor, and the humble folk. On many occasions she entertained visitors from communities who sought inspiration from her husband.”[ix] Like so many feminine soul care-givers before her, Idelette cared for the body as well as the soul, living out Christ’s call to care for the least of these (Matthew 25:35-40).

John and Idelette endured traumatic personal grief together. Idelette became pregnant three times, but none of the children lived beyond infancy. Soon after coming to Geneva, Idelette gave birth to a boy, but baby Jacques lived only two weeks. At his birth, Idelette became quite ill. His death piled sorrow on top of her physical anguish. The next month, Calvin wrote a friend, sending greetings from his wife, who was unable even to dictate a letter due to her heartache. Calvin added, “The Lord has certainly inflicted a severe and bitter wound in the death of our infant son.”[x] Coming from a man like Calvin, known more for his head than his heart, these words are vital reminders of the normalcy of grief for all Christians.

Working through her grief, over time Idelette became known throughout the first-generation Protestant world. “Your hospitality in the name of Christ is not unknown to anybody in Europe,” wrote an acquaintance.[xi]

After only nine years of marriage, Idelette succumbed to her frequent illnesses. On her deathbed, she and her husband prayed together. He witnessed and wrote of her peaceful composure, and recorded her final words of tribute to God. “She suddenly cried out in such a way that all could see that her spirit had risen far above this world. These were her words, ‘O glorious resurrection! O God of Abraham and of all our fathers, the believers of all the ages have trusted on Thee and none of them have hoped in vain. And now I fix my hope on Thee.’ These short statements were cried out rather than distinctly spoken. These were not lines suggested by someone else but came from her own thoughts.”[xii] As Idelette lived, so she died—choosing to exalt God by encouraging others.

After her death, Calvin shared his profound sorrow, offering insight into what Idelette had meant to him. “I have been bereaved of the best companion of my life, who, if our lot had been harsher, would have been not only the willing sharer of exile and poverty, but even of death. While she lived she was the faithful helper of my ministry. From her I never experienced the slightest hindrance.”[xiii]

Soul care historically and currently takes many forms. Idelette Calvin epitomizes soul care in the home through loving, caring, patient empathy and encouragement, as well as soul care outside the home through holistic ministry to “the least of these.”


[i]Bainton, Women of the Reformation in Germany and Italy, 7.
[ii]Tucker, Private, 40.
[iii]Peterson, 25 Surprising Marriages, p 73.
[iv]Van Halsema, This Was John Calvin, 113.
[v]Peterson, “Idelette: John Calvin’s Search for the Right Wife,” 13.
[vi]Peterson, 25 Surprising Marriages, p 77.
[vii]Ibid.
[viii]Tucker, Private, 40-41.
[ix]Hyma, Life of John Calvin, 85.
[x]Van Halsema, 147
[xi]Ibid., 148.
[xii]Peterson, “Idelette,” 15.
[xiii]Walker, John Calvin: The Organizer of Reformed Protestantism, 1509-1564, 236.

The Hidden Tradition: Women of the Reformation, Part II

The Hidden Tradition:
The Women of the Reformation, Part II

Many readers are familiar with the names associated with the male leaders of the Reformation era. Few, however, recognize the unheralded names of the women of the Reformation. By unveiling their hidden tradition, we gain insight not only into Protestant feminine soul care and spiritual direction, but also into the roles, self-concept, value, and worth of women in the early Protestant tradition.

Many of the women of the Reformation had a share in the public controversies it unleashed. Given the dynamic tensions of the day, they were not only accused of doctrinal heresy, but also of behavioral and relational sin for usurping their supposed proper role. They did not stand silently by when so indicted.

Katherine Zell: Afflicting the Comfortable and Comforting the Afflicted

Katherine Zell (1497-1562) likewise defended her right to minister in Christ’s name, though always doing so in a spirit of humility. Speaking of her relationship to her husband, she describes herself as “a splinter from the rib of that blessed man Matthew Zell.”[i]

Matthew Zell was a celibate Catholic priest turned married Lutheran pastor. Marrying Katherine Schult, he found a life partner with courage and conviction. As she portrays herself, “Ever since I was ten years old I have been a student and sort of church mother, much given to attending sermons. I have loved and frequented the company of learned men, and I conversed much with them, not about dancing, masquerades, and worldly pleasures but about the kingdom of God.”[ii]

Protestant leaders concurred with her self-assessment. Church historian Philip Schaff noted that the well-known Reformers of her day who frequented her home said that she “conversed with them on theology so intelligently that they ranked her above many doctors.”[iii] The admiration and the ministry were mutual. “I honored, cherished and sheltered many great, learned men, with care, work and expense. . . . I listened to their conversations and preaching, I read their books and their letters and they were glad to receive mine.”[iv]

To her ministry in her home, Katherine added a public ministry—often in defense of her husband and their ministry. When Matthew was excommunicated for marrying her, opponents of the Reformation circulated the tale that she had caught him with their maid and that, when she protested, he had thrashed her. She published a refutation, saying, “I have never had a maid. . . . And as for thrashing me, my husband and I have never had an unpleasant 15 minutes. We could have no greater honor than to die rejected of men and from two crosses to speak to each other words of comfort.”[v] Katherine exemplifies a rare and worthy-to-be-followed balance of confronting enemies while comforting loved ones.

In the same tract, she not only refutes this particular slander, but provides a vigorous defense of her ministry. “You remind me that the Apostle Paul told women to be silent in the church. I would remind you of the word of this same apostle that in Christ there is no longer male nor female and of the prophecy of Joel: ‘I will pour my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters will prophesy.’ I do not pretend to be John the Baptist rebuking the Pharisees. I do not claim to be Nathan upbraiding David. I aspire only to be Balaam’s ass, castigating his master.”[vi] Thus with wit and wisdom she offers shrewd biblical confrontation based upon the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers—male and female.

At her husband’s funeral, Katherine assures her listeners that she did not seek to become “Doctor Katrina” as rumor had it. “I am not usurping the office of preacher or apostle. I am like the dear Mary Magdalene, who with no thought of being an apostle, came to tell the disciples that she had encountered the risen Lord.”[vii]

Such courageous boldness might mistakenly cause us to think that Katherine was above suffering and grieving. However, the ceaseless criticism along with her overwhelming grief after Matthew’s death exposed her human neediness. Friends arranged for her to stay in the home of a pastor in Switzerland, and the renowned Reformer Martin Bucer sent a letter of introduction. “The widow of our Zell, a godly and saintly woman, comes to you that perchance she may find some solace for her grief. She is human. How does the heavenly Father humble those endowed with great gifts!”[viii] It truly is normal, human to hurt.

Even in her ongoing grief, Katherine ministers to others. In less than a year she was back in the parsonage in Strasbourg. To one of the displaced Protestant leaders she wrote, “I have been allowed to keep the parsonage which belongs to the parish. I take any one who comes. It is always full.”[ix]

Yet she was able to candidly admit that she still struggled. In a letter to two Protestant Reformers, whom she helped to hide from authorities, she apologizes for what she perceived as a lack of hospitality. “I wish I could have done better for you but my Matthew has taken all my gaiety with him.”[x]

Out of Katherine’s grief, she was able to comfort other grieving wives, offering them both sustaining empathy and healing encouragement. At Kensingen in Breisgau, the minister was forced to leave by those enforcing the Edict of Worms against Luther and his followers. They evicted one-hundred-fifty men of the parish along with the pastor. One man was executed. The rest fled to Strasbourg where Katherine housed eighty in the parsonage and fed sixty for three weeks, while finding shelter and provisions for the rest.[xi]

Katherine pens a letter of scriptural exploration to the wives left behind. “To my fellow sisters in Christ, day and night I pray God that he may increase your faith that you forget not his invincible Word. ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, saith the Lord’ (Isa. 55:8). ‘Whom I make alive I kill’ (Deut. 32:39). The Lord would wean you from the world that you may rely only on him. Has he not told us that we must ‘forsake father and mother, wife and child’? (Luke 14:26). ‘He who denies me him will I deny in the presence of my father,’ (Matt. 10:33). ‘Those who would reign with me must also suffer with me’ (2 Tim. 2:12).

Katherine continues with healing words of spiritual conversation. “Had I been chosen to suffer as you women I would account myself happier than all the magistrates of Strasbourg at the fair with their necklaces and golden chains. Remember the word of the Lord in the prophet Isaiah (54:8) ‘In overflowing love I will have compassion on you.’ ‘Can a woman forget her suckling child? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you’ (Isa. 49:15). Are not these golden words? Faith is not faith which is not tried. ‘Blessed are those that mourn.’ Pray, then, for those who persecute you that you ‘may be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect’ (Matt. 5:4, 44, 48).”[xii]

Katherine did not limit her soul care ministry to other women. In 1558, though ill herself, she ministers to Felix Ambrosiaster, the chief magistrate of Strasbourg who had been diagnosed with leprosy and quarantined. Her letter to Felix depicts a sensitive awareness of his level one external suffering. “My dear Lord Felix, since we have known each other for a full 30 years I am moved to visit you in your long and frightful illness. . . . We have often talked of how you have been stricken, cut off from rank, office, from your wife and friends, from all dealings with the world which recoils from your loathsome disease and leaves you in utter loneliness.”[xiii]

Not stopping there, Katherine’s words also represent brilliant insight into his level two internal suffering—and how to face it with faith. “At first you were bitter and utterly cast down till God gave you strength and patience, and now you are able to thank him that out of love he has taught you to bear the cross. Because I know that your illness weighs upon you daily and may easily cause you again to fall into despair and rebelliousness, I have gathered some passages which may make your yoke light in the spirit, though not in the flesh. I have written mediations on the 51st Psalm: ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness,’ and the 130th: ‘Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord,” and then on the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed.”[xiv]

One would hope that such ministry to others would always lead to ministry from others. However, Katherine’s last days were filled with strife and betrayal. Ludwig Rabus, a former resident in her home and indebted to her for spiritual counsel, preached against her, calling her a “disturber of the church.”[xv]

Bold to the end, Katherine responds with the light of truth. “A disturber of the peace am I? Yes indeed, of my own peace. Do you call this disturbing the peace that instead of spending my time in frivolous amusements I have visited the plague infested and carried out the dead? I have visited those in prison and under sentence of death. Often for three days and three nights I have neither eaten nor slept. I have never mounted the pulpit, but I have done more than any minister in visiting those in misery. Is this disturbing the peace of the church?”[xvi] Like the Apostle Paul throughout 2 Corinthians, false accusations forced her to “the foolishness of self-defense,” but always for the purpose of defending a woman’s right to biblical ministry.

Her own words best summarize the nature of her lifelong ministry. In 1534, she issued a collection of hymns that she had compiled, publishing them in four pamphlets that sold for a penny each. Her ministry goal was to inspire lay people of all ages, all walks of life, and both genders toward greater spirituality. “When I read these hymns I felt that the writer had the whole Bible in his heart. This is not just a hymn book but a lesson book of prayer and praise. When so many filthy songs are on the lips of men and women and even children I think it well that folk should with lusty zeal and clear voice sing the songs of their salvation. God is glad when the craftsman at his bench, the maid at the sink, the farmer at the plough, the dresser at the vines, the mother at the cradle break forth in hymns of prayer, praise and instruction.”[xvii] In all her ministry endeavors, spiritual equality in Christ motivated Katherine Zell.


[i]Bainton, 55.
[ii]Tucker, Daughters of the Church, 182.
[iii]Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 7, 633.
[iv]MacHaffie, 92, emphasis added.
[v]Bainton, 55.
[vi]Ibid.
[vii]Tucker, Private Lives of Pastor’s Wives, 33
[viii]Ibid.
[ix]Ibid., 34.
[x]Ibid.
[xi]Bainton, 61.
[xii]Ibid., 62-63.
[xiii]Ibid., 69.
[xiv]Ibid.
[xv]Ibid., 72.
[xvi]Ibid.
[xvii]Ibid.

The Hidden Tradition: The Women of the Reformation, Part I

The Hidden Tradition:

The Women of the Reformation, Part I

Many readers are familiar with the names associated with the male leaders of the Reformation era. Few, however, recognize the unheralded names of the women of the Reformation. By unveiling their hidden tradition, we gain insight not only into Protestant feminine soul care and spiritual direction, but also into the roles, self-concept, value, and worth of women in the early Protestant tradition.

Many of the women of the Reformation had a share in the public controversies it unleashed. Given the dynamic tensions of the day, they were not only accused of doctrinal heresy, but also of behavioral and relational sin for usurping their supposed proper role. They did not stand silently by when so indicted.

Argula von Grumbach: Refusing to Bury Her Talent

Argula von Grumbach (1490-1564) was a Bavarian noblewoman from the house of Hohenstaufen. Following in their tradition of dissent and scholarship, in the early 1520s she became a serious student of the Bible and Lutheran doctrine. In 1523, the University of Ingolstadt tried a student, Arcasius Seehofer, for his Lutheran sympathies and extracted a humiliating recantation from him. Von Grumbach took up pen on his behalf, arguing with university and secular officials in a series of letters in which she insisted that the Bible was on his side and that she would prove it.[i]

In her letters, Argula proclaims the importance of Scripture and her right to determine faith and practice thereby. “I beseech you for the sake of God, and exhort you by God’s judgment and righteousness, to tell me in writing which of the articles written by Martin or Melanchthon you consider heretical. In German not a single one seems heretical to me.”[ii] She continues by quoting Luke 7, 1 Corinthians 9, Psalm 36, John 2, 8, 9, 10, 14, 16, Matthew 24, and Isaiah 40 highlighting the Word of God and illumination.

Argula then defends her source of authority and commitment to it. “I have always wanted to find out the truth. Although of late I have not been reading any [information published by the Reformers], for I have been occupied with the Bible, to which all of Luther’s work is directed anyway. . . Ah, but what a joy it is when the spirit of God teaches us and gives us understanding, flitting from one text to the next—God be praised—so that I came to see the true, genuine light shining out. I don’t intend to bury my talent, if the Lord gives me grace.”[iii]

She certainly was tempted and confronted to bury her talent. Argula’s husband was fired because of her and he mistreated her as a result. Her family reviled her, others wrote against her. In a letter to her cousin, Adam von Torring, she explains, “I hear you have heard that my husband has locked me up. Not that, but he does much to persecute Christ in me. At this point I cannot obey him. We are bound to forsake father, mother, brother, sister, child, body, and life. I am distressed that our princes take the Word of God no more seriously than a cow does a game of chess.”[iv] Bury her talent she did not!

Responding to rebuke for not remaining silent, she retorts, “I am not unacquainted with the word of Paul that women should be silent in the church (1 Tim. 1:2) but, when no man will or can speak, I am driven by the word of the Lord when he said, ‘He who confesses me on earth, him will I confess and he who denies me, him will I deny,’ (Matt. 10, Luke 9), and I take comfort in the words of the prophet Isaiah (3:12), ‘I will send you children to be your princes and women to be your rulers.’”[v]

And speak she did. “When I heard what you had done to Arsacius Seehofer under terror of imprisonment and the stake, my heart trembled and my bones quaked. What have Luther and Melanchthon taught save the Word of God? You have condemned them. You have not refuted them. Where do you read in the Bible that Christ, the apostles, and the prophets imprisoned, banished, burned, or murdered anyone?”[vi]

As was typical of the women of the Reformation, Argula based her confidence upon Christ and His grace, not upon herself. “I do not flinch from appearing before you, from listening to you, from discussing with you. For by the grace of God I, too, can ask questions, hear answers and read in German.”[vii] Here we detect Argula boldly applying to her life as a woman the Lutheran doctrine of the priesthood of all believers.

Of her, Martin Luther reported to Spalatin, “I am sending you the letters of Argula von Grumbach, Christ’s disciple, that you may see how the angels rejoice over a single daughter of Adam, converted and made into a daughter of God.”[viii] To another friend, Luther wrote of Argula, “The Duke of Bavaria rages above measure, killing, crushing and persecuting the gospel with all his might. That most noble woman, Argula von Stauffer, is there making a valiant fight with great spirit, boldness of speech and knowledge of Christ. She deserves that all pray for Christ’s victory in her . . . . She alone, among these monsters, carries on with firm faith, though, she admits, not without inner trembling. She is a singular instrument of Christ. I commend her to you, that Christ through this infirm vessel may confound the mighty and those who glory in their strength.”[ix]

Since her confidence was neither in herself nor in Luther, but in Christ, Argula adds these final words. “And even if it came to pass—which God forbid—that Luther were to revoke his views, that would not worry me. I do not build on his, mine, or any person’s understanding, but on the true rock, Christ himself, which the builders have rejected.”[x] Thus Argula von Grumbach offers all women, and men, the biblical reminder that we base our ministry upon Jesus, the ultimate Soul Physician and Spiritual Friend.


[i]MacHaffie, Her Story, 99-100.
[ii]Ibid., 119.
[iii]Ibid, emphasis added.
[iv]Bainton, 105-106, emphasis added.
[v]Ibid., 97-98.
[vi]Ibid., 97.
[vii]MacHaffie, 120.
[viii]Bainton, 106.
[ix]Ibid.
[x]MacHaffie, 120.

Common Themes in African American Acceptance of Christ

Common Themes in African American Acceptance of Christ

Note: Excerpted from Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, by Kellemen and Edwards

During slavery, if spiritually famished African Americans were going to convert to Christianity, then they had to convert on the basis of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection as revealed in the Bible, not on the basis of Christianity revealed in the lifestyles of the Christians they knew. Ironically, to find redemption in Christ, African Americans had to redeem Christianity as they saw it practiced. “By some amazing but vastly creative spiritual insight the slave undertook the redemption of a religion that the master had profaned in his midst.”[i]

Christ’s suffering for humanity’s sin was the key that unlocked their hearts and enlightened their eyes. “Jesus quickly became the ardent personification of the slaves’ own suffering.”[ii] Their suffering at the hands of Christians caused them to identify with a suffering Savior who suffered at the hands of religious leaders.

At the same time, African American Christians clearly recognized and constantly emphasized the difference between Christ’s sinlessness and their personal need for forgiveness from sin. The recurring theme of the conversion narratives was salvation from sin, not from suffering. Yes, Christ shared with them the experience of unjust suffering. But more importantly, they shared in Christ’s suffering for their sins.

The Sin of Slavery and the Slavery of Sin

Pastor James W. C. Pennington, reflecting on his conversion, seamlessly expresses his understanding of suffering and of sin. Without minimizing for a moment the evils of slavery, he maximizes for all eternity the horrors of his own enslavement to sin and Satan.

"I was a lost sinner and a slave to Satan; and soon I saw that I must make another escape from another tyrant. I did not by any means forget my fellow-bondmen, of whom I had been sorrowing so deeply, and travailing in spirit so earnestly; but I now saw that while man had been injuring me, I had been offending God; and that unless I ceased to offend him, I could not expect to have his sympathy in my wrongs; and moreover, that I could not be instrumental in eliciting his powerful aid in behalf of those for whom I mourned so deeply" (Pennington).[iii]

Rejecting the “slaveholding gospel” of the institutional Church of that era, the enslaved African Americans gave birth to a regenerated Christianity that reflected fundamental Christian doctrine while maintaining compatible African traditions. Their cultural practice of biblical Christianity provided the new orientation toward existence that they needed given their shattered external circumstances and sinful internal nature. It created the new narrative of present resilience made possible by a Savior who suffered with them because they were sinned against. It also created the new narrative of future hope made possible by a Savior who suffered for them because they were sinners.

Their focus offers an indispensable caution for all soul physicians. While we are called to sustain and heal people in their suffering, if we neglect to address their sinning, if we fail to offer reconciling, then we may enable people to become more self-sufficient sinners. Such one-sided ministry attempts to empower people to live this life more successfully while giving them little incentive to turn to Christ’s resurrection power for eternal life later and abundant life now. We should shudder at the thought.


[i] Thurman, Deep River, p. 36.
[ii] Andrews, Practical Theology, p. 18.
[iii] Pennington, “The Fugitive Blacksmith,” in Katz, Five Slave Narratives, p. 52, emphasis added.

The Invaluable Legacy of the Invisible Institution

The Invaluable Legacy of the Invisible Institution

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, in his now famous, or infamous, depending upon your perspective, speech to the National Press Club on April 28th, declared that attacks on him are attacks on the black church “by people who know nothing about the African American religious tradition.”

Rev. Wright also stated, “Maybe now we can begin to take steps to move the black religious tradition from the status of invisible to the status of invaluable for all the people in this country.”

To that, I stand and shout a hearty “Amen!”

The True Invisible Institution

Of course . . . that requires that we provide historically accurate analysis of the “Invisible Institution.” Historians coined the term “Invisible Institution” to describe the secretive worship services that African American Christians held under slavery. Without these, enslaved black Christians were forced to endure message after message by white preachers telling them repeatedly, “Slave obey your Master. Slave don’t steal from your Master. Slave don’t cheat your master.”

In order to enjoy true worship and biblically relevant preaching, slaves had to slip away into the woods or quietly worship in their cabins—away from the ever-watching eye of the Master or overseers.

Here’s the point relative to Rev. Wright’s insistence that the Invisible Institution must become invaluable. What message was preached? Was it a message of hatred, vitriolic anger, and resentment? Or, was it a biblically-based message of hope through mutual reliance upon Christ and the Body of Christ? Perhaps some eye-witness accounts might help to answer these essential questions.

Eye-witness Accounts

One ex-enslaved African American Christian known to us as “the Preacher from a God-fearing Plantation,” offers us our first glimpse of the Invisible Institution. “Meetings back there meant more than they do now. Then everybody’s heart was in tune, and when they called on God they made heaven ring. It was more than just Sunday meeting and then no more godliness for a week. They would steal off to the fields and in the thickets and there, with heads together around a kettle to deaden the sound, they called on God out of heavy hearts.”[1]

What occurred during these covert worship services? Pastor Peter Randolph, himself an ex-slave, provides the details we seek. “Not being allowed to hold meetings on the plantation, the slaves assemble in the swamps, out of reach of the patrols. They have an understanding among themselves as to the time and place of getting together. This is often done by the first one arriving breaking boughs from the trees, and bending them in the direction of the selected spot.”[2]

Once there, then what? “Arrangements are then made for conducting the exercises. They first ask each other how they feel, the state of their minds, etc. The male members then select a certain space, in separate groups, for their division of the meeting. Preaching in order by the brethren; then praying and singing all around, until they generally feel quite happy. The speaker usually commences by calling himself unworthy, and talks very slowly, until feeling the spirit, he grows excited.”[3]

But that’s not all. Randolph elaborates on the inner condition and the interpersonal consolation they experience. “The slave forgets all his suffering, except to remind others of the trials during the past week, exclaiming, ‘Thank God, I shall not live here always!’ Then they pass from one to another, shaking hands, bidding each other farewell, promising, should they meet no more on earth, to strive to meet in heaven, where all is joy, happiness and liberty. As they separate, they sing a parting hymn of praise.”[4]

The Visible Institution

Of course, in the North, and later after Emancipation in the South, there arose the great African American churches. Historically, what type of preaching of the Word do we uncover? Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne, the great pastor, educator, and historian of the African Methodist Episcopal Church speaks about the Word preached in the Church. “So that whensoever the Gospel is preached in this house, it may descend with all its purity, power, and demonstration upon the hearts of the unrepentant, turning them from darkness to light, and from power of sin and Satan unto God; that its sanctifying influences may be felt in the souls of all believers, lifting their desires, their hopes, and their affections, from earth to heaven, and leading back the wandering sheep of the house of Israel, into the fold of eternal life.”[5]

According to Bishop Payne, the Word preached in the church was then to be lived out and depended upon in every day life during the week as daily nourishment and spiritual direction. “An individual man or woman must never follow their own conviction in regard to moral, religious, civil, or political questions until they are first tested by the unerring Word of God. If a conviction infringes upon the written Word of God, or in any manner conflicts with that Word, the conviction is not to be followed. It is our duty to abandon it. The only safe guide for man or woman, young or old, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, pastor or people is the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible.”[6]

Celebrating the Historic Value of the Black Church

Absolutely—the Invisible Institution of the historic Black Church is invaluable—when we understand with historical accuracy the nature of the Invisible Institution. These brief glimpses can only whet one’s appetite. For a full course meal, you may want to consider my work, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.

Throughout this book we learn that African American Christians—pastors and lay people—unlike the caricature displayed in Rev. Wright’s recent comments, lived Word-based lives that focused upon applying biblical truth to their horrific suffering. Never minimizing their suffering; instead they maximized God’s grace and the healing power of salvation from sin and the hope-giving power of a caring Savior and a connected congregation. Indeed, these are invaluable lessons of the Invisible Institution!

[1]Johnson, God Struck Me Dead, p. 73.
[2] Randolph, From Slave Cabin to Pulpit, pp. 112-113.
[3] Ibid., p. 113.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Washington, James, ed. Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans, p. 36.
[6] Payne, Daniel Alexander. Recollections of Seventy Years, pp. 233-234.

Church Racism

Church Racism

Let’s be clear—there is no “typical” African American church. Just like there is no “typical” white church. Any statement coming from any person of any color that suggests there is one, monolithic, stereotypical style of “doing church” that represents and summarizes all black churches, is quite simply wrong at best, and racist at worst.

So, what has my dander up today? The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former Senior Pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago (Barack Obama’s home church), launched into a diatribe at the National Press Club on Monday, April 28. Now, lest someone label me “racist” for taking on the Rev. Wright, please realize that even Barack Obama, who until recently tried to give his former pastor the benefit of the doubt, has now expressed outrage at Wright’s recent comments.

My outrage is directed primarily toward one specific claim in Wright’s speech to the National Press Club—that his fiery denunciations of white America and his radical accusations against the American government (which Barack Obama disavows) are par for the course for the typical African American church, and that historically, the African American pulpit has always spewed such vitriolic, hateful, and angry messages.

As just one example of many that counter Wright's contention, consider Charles Babington's (of the Associate Press) interview with John Overton of Chapel Hill, NC. Overton noted, "I was the only white person" for about a year at a black church in Beaufort. "I never heard anybody talk like that."

Rev. Wright claims that disagreements with him are an attack on the black church. Such could be the case only if one viewed Wright as representative of the typical black preacher.

Having studied in detail the historical African American church (please see my book, Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction), having worshipped and preached in scores of African American churches, having trained hundreds of African American pastors, and being friends with scores of faithful African American ministers, I can tell you authoritatively that many pulpits in black churches historically and today have focused on rightly dividing the Word of truth. When they have exhorted America and/or white Americans, it has been in a humble spirit of biblical and prophetic ministry, calling all Americans, including blacks, to salvation in Christ and social justice for all.

But the Rev. Wright is not the only man of color who has recently stereotyped the black church. In an otherwise excellent book (The Decline of African American Theology), the Rev. Thabiti M. Anyabwile declares that the stereotypical black church has moved from biblical faith to cultural captivity (for my full review go to: http://www.rpmbooks.org/labels/Anyabwile.html).

Again, while respecting the Rev. Anyabwile, I respectfully disagree with his stereotyped assessment. Many black pulpits historically and currently highlight the biblical preaching and teaching of the Word.

Honestly, I’m confused what value people think it may bring to offer one-sided, stereotypical, inaccurate views of the black church and the black pulpit. If we are ever to heal racial divides, then we must start with facts and with truth. And the facts are clear—the black church, just like the white church, comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors—many remain faithful to the Lord and to the Word. To say otherwise is, frankly, church racism.

Held

Held

This Sunday I spoke at the three morning services at Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, Indiana on 2 Corinthians 1:3-11. Before each message the song Held written by Krista Wells and performed by Natalie Grant was sung.

Here's the link to the powerful song and here are the words themselves.

Held, Written by Krista Wells, Sung by Natalie Grant
http://music.clevver.com/video/14229/natalie-grant-held.php

Held

Two months is too little. They let him go. They had no sudden healing. To think that providence would Take a child from his mother while she prays Is appalling. Who told us we’d be rescued? What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares? We’re asking why this happens To us who have died to live? It’s unfair. Chorus: This is what it means to be held. How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life And you survive. This is what it is to be loved. And to know that the promise was When everything fell we’d be held. This hand is bitterness. We want to taste it, let the hatred know our sorrow. The wise hands open slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow. (Chorus) This is what it means to be held. How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life And you survive. This is what it is to be loved. And to know that the promise was When everything fell we’d be held. Bridge: If hope is born of suffering. If this is only the beginning. Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior? (Chorus) This is what it means to be held. How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life And you survive. This is what it is to be loved. And to know that the promise was When everything fell we’d be held.

Bitter or Better?

Bitter or Better?

The “buzz” of late has focused on one presidential candidate’s statement that during times of hardship, bitterness leads people to turn to God. Whether taken out of context or not, perhaps it will be helpful to reflect on someone in Church history who faced hardship beyond imagination, and instead of turning bitter, turned better—by focusing on God’s-perspective.

Olaudah Equiano, a Christian and an enslaved African American, began his life story with these words, “I acknowledge the mercies of Providence in every occurrence of my life.” His words might seem trite until we realize that they introduce the narrative of his harrowing kidnapping and enslavement.

Equiano was born free in 1745 in the kingdom of Benin on the coast of Africa. The youngest of seven children, his loving parents gave him the name Olaudah, signifying favored one. Indeed, he lived a favored life in his idyllic upbringing in a simple and quiet village where his father served as the “chief man” who decided disputes, and where his mother adored him dearly.

At age ten, it all came crashing down. “One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as usual, and only I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two men and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized us both; and, without giving us time to cry out, or make resistance, they stopped our mouths, tied our hands, and ran off with us into the nearest woods: and continued to carry us as far as they could, till night came on, when we reached a small house, where the robbers halted for refreshment, and spent the night.”

Bathed in Tears

His kidnappers then unbound Equiano and his sister. Overpowered by fatigue and grief, they had just one source of relief. “The only comfort we had was in being in one another’s arms all that night, and bathing each other with our tears.”

Equiano and his sister were soon deprived of even the comfort of weeping together. “The next day proved a day of greater sorrow than I had yet experienced; for my sister and I were then separated, while we lay clasped in each other’s arms; it was in vain that we besought them not to part us: she was torn from me, and immediately carried away, while I was left in a state of distraction not to be described. I cried and grieved continually; and for several days did not eat any thing but what they forced into my mouth.”

It was during these evil circumstances, and many more to come, that Equiano acknowledged his heavenly Father’s good heart and Christ’s merciful providence in every occurrence of his life. He makes the sweeping affirmation that, even in the face of human evil, God is friendly and benevolent, able and willing to turn into good ends whatever may occur. He believed that God squeezes from evil itself a literal blessing.

By Observation We Become Better and Wiser

Equiano ends his narrative with these closing words of counsel. “I early accustomed myself to look at the hand of God in the minutest occurrence, and to learn from it a lesson of morality and religion; and in this light every circumstance I have related was to me of importance. After all, what makes any event important, unless by it’s observation we become better and wiser, and learn ‘to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God!’”

Oluadah Equiano moved beyond the suffering. He faced his suffering candidly reminding us that it’s normal to hurt. He suffered face to face with God, recognizing that it’s supernatural to hope. He turned from bitterness because he choose a better perspective—God’s eternal perspective.

The Future of Biblical Counseling: Dreaming a Dozen Dreams, Part III

The Future of Biblical Counseling:
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams, Part III

Note: Please read my April 17, 2008 blog for Part II of this post.

Dream Number Eight: Biblical Counseling Will Be Holistic in Theory

Biblical counseling will focus on the full range of human nature created in the image of God (imago Dei). A holistic biblical understanding of the imago Dei includes seeing human beings as relational beings who desire (our spiritual, social, and self-aware capacities), rational beings who think, volitional beings who choose, emotional beings who experience, and physical beings who act. Biblical counseling models of change will focus on each of these areas, seeing the human personality as holistically united.

It will not deny the interplay or the complexity of our mind/brain and body/soul connection. Such biblical counseling will take seriously the role of the brain (in a fallen world in an unglorified body) and its impact on healthy human functioning.

Dream Number Nine: Biblical Counseling Will Be Holistic in Methodology

In Christian counseling today, there seems to be a great divide between models that focus on suffering and those that focus on sinning. Biblical counseling will treat both suffering and sin by recognizing that God’s Word is profitable for dealing with the evils we have suffered (soul care) as well as with the sins we have committed (spiritual direction). True biblical counseling offers comfort for the hurting as well as confrontation for the hardened. It provides sustaining and healing for those battered by life as well as reconciling and guiding for those ensnared by Satan.

Sustaining and healing (soul care for suffering) are classic terms in the history of Christian pastoral care.[1] Through sustaining and healing, biblical counselors will offer parakaletic care (called alongside to comfort—like the Holy Spirit our Divine Comforter, John 14:15-31; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11).[2]

Reconciling and guiding (spiritual direction for sin and sanctification) are equally historic terms.[3] Through reconciling and guiding, God will use biblical counselors to empower repentant and forgiven believers to apply principles of growth in grace.

Dream Number Ten: Biblical Counseling Will Be Holistic in Equipping

Many training models for biblical counseling tend to focus either on content (biblical truth), competence (relational skillfulness/counseling techniques), character (the counselor’s spiritual formation), or on community (connecting as the Body of Christ). Future equipping in biblical counseling will make no division between content, competence, character, and community.

Scriptural insight, learned in the context of intimate Christian community, and applied to the spiritual character development of the counselor-in-training will result in the relational competency necessary to interact soul-to-soul and deeply impact others for Christ. This holistic, four-fold model, applied in lay, pastoral, and professional Christian counseling training, will produce maturing wounded healers.

Dream Number Eleven: Biblical Counseling Will Be Universal

The Apostle Paul insists that all mature, equipped believers are competent to counsel (Romans 15:14). Therefore, biblical counseling is universal—it is what lay people do as spiritual friends, what pastors do as soul physicians, and what professional Christian counselors do as caregivers.

Put another way, biblical counseling and Christian counseling are synonymous. That thought is sure to surprise some and raise objections from others. However, biblical counseling is a mindset, a perspective, a worldview, a way of looking at life that informs how we understand people, problems, and solutions. It is universal in that it shapes our view of the universe based upon the view of the universe revealed by the Creator of the universe.

Sometimes we fail to grasp that all counselors counsel out of some worldview. The Bible provides the worldview out of which Christian counselors minister. It doesn’t imply an endless stream of Bible quotes thrown at a counselee or parishioner like a lucky charm from our toolbox of canned verses. Instead, it results in unique, person-specific, situation-specific, naturally-flowing spiritual conversations and appropriate, relevant, shared scriptural explorations built from a comprehensive worldview.

Dream Number Twelve: Biblical Counseling Will Be Multi-Cultural

The fact that biblical counseling is universal in no way excludes the truth that biblical counseling should be and will be multi-cultural—integrating into its universal worldview the unique Christian perspectives of both genders, all races, and all nationalities (Revelation 5:9).

The day of exclusive theory-building by white males (I am one) and of history-making by dead white males, thankfully, is over. Historical and contemporary insights and practices derived from Christian women and men from all people groups must be integrated into our biblical counseling worldview. Otherwise, it is hypocritical to call it a worldview.

Conclusion: Daring to Dream

I dream of the day when I speak on biblical counseling and someone says, “When you say ‘biblical counseling,’ do you mean lay, pastoral, and professional Christian counseling that is scriptural, theological, historical, positive, relational, relevant, transformative, holistic in theory, holistic in methodology, holistic in equipping, universal, and multi-cultural?” Together, let’s make that dream a reality so that when we place “biblical” in front of “counseling,” pastors, seminary students, professional Christian counselors, and lay spiritual friends respond with joyful anticipation.


[1]William Clebsch and Charles Jaekle. Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective. New York: Harper & Row, 1964, p. 8.
[2]See Tim Clinton and George Ohlschlager, Competent Christian Counseling: Foundations and Practice of Compassionate Soul Care. Colorado Springs, Waterbrook, 2002, pp. 54-61. See also, Robert Kellemen, Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2007, pp. 39-57.
[3]William Clebsch & Charles Jaekle. Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective. New York: Harper & Row, 1964, p. 9.

The Future of Biblical Counseling: Dreaming a Dozen Dreams, Part II

The Future of Biblical Counseling:
Dreaming a Dozen Dreams, Part II

Note: Please read my April 16, 2008 blog for Part I of this post.

Dream Number Four: Biblical Counseling Will Be Positive

The modern history of biblical counseling has all too often become enmeshed with negativity, biting criticism, territory-protecting, camp-building, and “againstness.” Biblical counseling has often defined itself by being anti-this or anti-that. That’s not biblical counseling; that’s “Corinthian counseling” (1 Corinthians 1:10-17), a carnal caricature of the truth.

In the future, biblical counseling will be known as “Berean counseling” (Acts 17:11). Biblical counselors will have a critical mind minus the critical spirit. They will seek to focus positively on rightly understanding the Word (2 Timothy 2:15), on searching the Scriptures to evaluate human theory with discernment, and on graciously interacting with those with whom they disagree, while emphasizing the affirmative attitude that all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

Dream Number Five: Biblical Counseling Will Be Relational

In the future, the Trinitarian roots of our faith will blossom as biblical counselors will be known by their fruit—the fruit of compassion and passion. As the God of the Bible is the eternal Community of intimate Oneness, so biblical counselors will eschews aloofness in favor of what one African American friend describes as “real and raw counseling.”

While techniques, skills, and tools of competency will not be ignored, soul-to-soul relating will be emphasized. When put into practice, those skills will highlight neither directive nor non-directive counseling. Rather, they will birth collaborative counseling where the counselor, the counselee, and the Divine Counselor form a trialogical relationship.

Dream Number Six: Biblical Counseling Will Be Relevant

The pejorative stereotype of biblical counseling as “take two verses and call me in the morning” will be replaced with the constructive identity of “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). When people think of the biblical counselor, they will think of “Jesus with skin on” and be filled with words of hope like, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

It is not enough to promote the sufficiency of the Word if we do not also minister in such a way that demonstrates the relevancy of God’s Word. Problems in living that most people label only as psychological disorders curable only by psychological methodologies will be seen as spiritual, relational, mental, volitional, and emotional issues addressed in the Book of Life by the Author of Life so that we can live the abundant life (John 10:10).

Dream Number Seven: Biblical Counseling Will Be Transformative

Biblical counseling applies the principles of progressive sanctification to the daily lives of believers. It does so through spiritual formation which cultivates communion with Christ and conformity to Christ through the practice of the biblical/historical individual and corporate spiritual disciplines. Historically these two fields of biblical counseling and spiritual formation were one. It is our dream that they once again become synonymous—hence our BCSF Network name and mission.

Such transformative biblical counseling will highlight God’s role and our responsibility in spiritual growth through its emphasis on the cultivation of the disciplines that connect us to Christ’s resurrection power. It will underscore the inner life through its emphasis on forming the character of Christ in us—our inner life increasingly mirroring the inner life of Christ. It will accentuate the Body of Christ by encouraging the corporate spiritual disciplines and by equipping believers in the individual spiritual disciplines.

Transformative biblical counseling will require the development of a comprehensive biblical theology of the spiritual life that provides the basis for a relevant biblical methodology for spiritual growth. Biblical counseling and spiritual formation will offer a theological and practical approach to sanctification that is effective in the “real” world where people hope, dream, stumble, fall, and live everyday.

The Future of Biblical Counseling: Dreaming a Dozen Dreams, Part 1

The Future of Biblical Counseling:

Dreaming a Dozen Dreams, Part 1

As I speak around the country on biblical counseling and spiritual formation, I’m frequently asked the question. “When you say ‘biblical counseling,’ you don’t mean ___________ do you?” Various people fill in that blank with different labels—all negative to them. What a shame that placing the word “biblical” in front of “counseling” causes so many in the church to recoil in fear. Something has gone terribly wrong.

What Makes Biblical Counseling Biblical?

But there’s good news—the tide is turning. Warped caricatures of biblical counseling are being replaced by scripturally and historically accurate portraits of counseling that are truly biblical—and attractive (Titus 2:10). While no one can provide the final, authoritative definition of biblical counseling, I offer for your consideration this summary understanding.

Biblical counseling depends upon the Holy Spirit to relate God’s inspired truth about people, problems, and solutions to human suffering and sin to empower people to glorify God by cultivating conformity to Christ and communion with Christ and the Body of Christ.

Given this working definition, envision with me the nature and shape of the future of biblical counseling—twelve dreams of one possible future for biblical counseling as practiced by lay spiritual friends, pastors, and professional Christian counselors.

Dream Number One: Biblical Counseling Will Be Scriptural

Biblical counseling will cling tenaciously to the supremacy, sufficiency, and profundity (depth of wisdom) of the Scriptures. God has provided us with all that we need for godly living (2 Peter 1:3). The Scriptures, rightly interpreted and carefully applied, offer us all-encompassing insight for life.

The Bible provides us with the interpretive categories for making sense of life experiences from God’s perspective. By building our counseling models on Christ’s gospel of grace, we obtain wisdom for bringing people healing hope, the stimulus for change (God’s glory), and the understanding of human motivation that energizes these God-honoring changes.

Dream Number Two: Biblical Counseling Will Be Theological

Too often, current models of biblical counseling start and end at the Fall—focusing almost exclusively on human depravity. As a result, they often counsel Christians as if they are still unsaved—apart from the justifying, redeeming, regenerating, and reconciling work of Christ.

Biblical counseling will unite Creation, Fall, and Redemption. In studying a biblical theology of Creation, biblical counseling will examine people—God’s original design for the soul (anthropology). In probing the Fall, biblical counseling will examine problems—how sin brought personal depravity and suffering (hamartiology). In investigating the Bible’s teaching on Redemption, biblical counseling will examine solutions—the gospel of Christ’s grace which offers eternal salvation and provides us with daily victory in our ongoing battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil (soteriology).

Creation, Fall, and Redemption also have psychological correlates. Creation is biblical psychology—the biblical study of the soul. The Fall is biblical psychopathology—the biblical study of the sickness of sin. Redemption is biblical psychotherapy—the biblical study of God’s healing of the soul through Christ.

In the minds of some, the use of these psychological terms is invalid. How sad that we have allowed the world to steal these solidly biblical, theological, and historical terms. It is time that we took back our heritage and redefined these terms. Franz Delitzsch, writing in 1861 (before the advent of modern secular psychology), noted that “biblical psychology is no science of yesterday. It is one of the oldest sciences of the church.”[i]

Psychology is native to our faith. Not secular psychology, but biblical psychology—understanding and ministering to the soul designed by God, disordered by sin, and redeemed by grace.[ii]

Dream Number Three: Biblical Counseling Will Be Historical

The future of biblical counseling is the past. During the last twenty years we have witnessed the Christian community returning to its proper respect for that “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1-3). History, Chesterton reminded us, is “the democracy of the dead.”[iii]

I vividly and sadly recall the “counseling wars” that occurred while I was in seminary—wars pitting competing modern counseling “camps” against each other. I also recall thinking, “Surely the Church has always helped hurting and hardened people.” That sentence sent me on a quarter-century search for the legacy of Christian soul care and spiritual direction. Simultaneous to that, God’s Spirit was moving many others along the same path.

Biblical counselors of the future will return to the ancient paths (Jeremiah 6:16). They will seek and apply the ancient legacy and consensual wisdom for living found in the writings of great historic Christian soul physicians.

Note: Future Blog posts will continue sharing further dreams for the future of biblical counseling.


[i]Franz Delitzsch, A System of Biblical Psychology. Second edition. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 1861, p. 3.

[ii]See Eric Johnson, “Christ: The Lord of Psychology,” Journal of Psychology and Theology 25(1), 1997, pp. 11-27. See also, Robert Kellemen, Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care and Spiritual Direction. Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2007, pp. 131-141.

[iii]G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, 2004, p. 3.

American Idol Shouts to the Lord . . . Without Jesus . . .

American Idol Shouts to the Lord . . . Without Jesus . . .

Last night the most viewed TV show in America, American Idol, hosted its second annual "Idol Gives Back" in hopes of raising over 100 million dollars for world-wide charities.

The shocker? The show's grand finale featured the eight remaining Idol contestants singing the Christian praise song, Shout to the Lord. America was shocked. Check out blogs and YouTube, etc., and you'll see quite the discussion. Much of the discussion relates not simply to Idol highlighting such an overtly Christian song, but to the Idol producers' decision to change the lyrics from "Our Jesus, Our Savior," to "Our Shepherd, Our Savior."

What to Make of This?

On the one hand, searches for Shout to the Lord are up exponentially on the Net. And, from the buzz, most people are finding the version with the original lyrics. On the same hand, clearly the One who is Shepherd and Savior is Jesus. Still on the same hand, the discussion alone is causing enough of a stir that millions are having conversations they otherwise would never engage in.

On the other hand, the song was written about Jesus. If the producers wanted to share a generic song, they could have chosen from any number of "inspirational ballads." What a blatant watering down and seeking to appeal to the masses.

Still, all hands considered, I'm glad the song was sung. Millions know exactly who was being praised. Millions of others are now hearing about the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as the only exalted Savior.

As Idol judge Simon Cowell might say, "Well, other than offending millions of Christians by blotting out the name of Jesus in a song written to worship Jesus, I think . . . (pause for theatrical effect and said with a heavy English accent and a heavy dose of sarcasm) . . . artistically, this was . . . amazing!"

Ammas: Spiritual Mothers

Ammas: Spiritual Mothers

Admittedly, hearing the word “Amma” can be puzzling. We’re more familiar with the word “Abba” from Romans 8:15 where we learn that through the Spirit of sonship we cry, “Abba, Father.” “Amma” comes from the same cultural context. Both Abba and Amma were terms of family endearment conveying honor and closeness. Calling a woman “Amma” communicated that she was a spiritual mother loved and respected by all her spiritual children.

Desert Spirituality: Experiencing the Geography of the Heart

Hearing the phrase “Desert Mother” or “desert spirituality” can also sound odd, ancient, foreign, and irrelevant to anything we experience today. And for some, these terms can even seem “unbiblical.” Yet, we will find that the desert spirituality of these Desert Mothers was scriptural and is relevant.

“Desert” did not necessarily mean a barren wasteland. Some of the Desert Mothers that we learn from in this chapter simply moved away from the city to rural, less-inhabited areas. Others did not move at all, instead selling most of their possessions in order to acquire enough land and lodgings to house a spiritual community of women and to accommodate the frequent spiritual pilgrims who sought them.

Regardless of location, the motivation remained the same. The Desert Mothers believed that the greatest enemies of the inner journey were hurry, crowds, and noise. They sought to create an environment that quieted the inner noise which kept them from hearing God’s Spirit speaking to their spirit through God’s inspired Word.[i] Desert Mothers like Amma Syncletica focused on the geography of the heart. “There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town, and they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one’s mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in the crowd of his own thoughts.”[ii]

To further understand and relate to their movement toward desert spirituality, we have to understand two characteristics of the early Church—it was a city-centered faith and a home-centered faith. The book of Acts tells us that the Apostles shared the message of Jesus in the urban centers of the day. The Apostles targeted the mass of hungry, hurting people in thriving cities like Jerusalem, Antioch, Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, and Rome.

The destruction of the temple in 70 AD and the persecution of the church in ensuing years resulted in domestic dwellings becoming the place for community meetings. Local believers gathered in homes for the Lord’s Supper, baptism, worship, and teaching. Lay men and women were involved in personal evangelism and works of mercy to the poor, the orphaned, and to prisoners.[iii]

Desert spirituality sprung from this city-centered and home-centered culture. The movement away from urban centers was motivated by the belief that the church in the city was compromising with the culture of the secular world. The Desert Mothers and Fathers believed that the church was losing its prophetic voice as it yielded to cultural and political pressures and became organized more like the government than like a living organism.[iv] Sound familiar? Sound relevant?

As patriarchs and matriarchs of extended families became more and more disenchanted with the political correctness of the church and the spiritual expediency of its leaders, they left the cities (or at least the secular attitude of the city), but rarely did they leave alone. The first “desert communities” usually included relatives, dependents, and household slaves (then considered family members). This inclusiveness had a deep impact upon desert spirituality. Life was centered around times of communal prayer, the group study and application of Scripture, joint ministry to the poor, and the collaborative application of the writings of the leaders of the movement.[v]

The Desert Mothers based their decision to leave the worldliness of the secular city upon Christ’s model. They read and desired to apply passages like Luke 4:1, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert” (see also Matthew 4:1). “At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place.” (Luke 4:42). “Very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35). “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place” (Mark 6:31-32). “After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone” (Matthew 14:23).

The Desert Mothers noticed and applied at least two major lessons from passages such as these. They saw the need for God’s people to find a respite from the worldliness of the world. Reading the verses that followed the ones quoted above, they also recognized the call for God’s people to return from their rest refreshed and renewed to be Christ’s servants in the world. The Desert Mothers that we study in this chapter were not secluded hermits. They were remembered as much for their public ministry to the poor and hurting as they were for their private spirituality. Their communal retreat away from secular urban centers was for the purpose of growing closer to Christ so that they could be empowered to share Christ’s truth in love to a lost and lonely world. While we might respond to our increasingly secular culture differently, while we might apply these passages differently, at least we can relate to their social motivation and biblical conviction.

[i]Swan, The Forgotten Desert Mothers, 15.
[ii]Kraemer, Maenads, Martyrs, Matrons, Monastics, 121.
[iii]Swan, 6-9.
[iv]Ibid., 9.
[v]Ibid., 8-9.