I suppose I'm a Transformist

I stumbled upon Kary Oberbrunner via Evotional.com, Mark Batterson's blog.  Kary wrote a new book called The Fine Line.  I've got it on my "want to read list" on Facebook.  Kary draws a distinction between 3 historic approaches to following Christ:  the Separatist, the Conformist and the Transformist.  

(This list represents a condensation of Reinhold Niebuhr's categories defined in his classic work Christ and Culture.  To me Oberbrunner's list is simpler, more intuitive and easier to appropriate so for those reasons I like it a bit better.)

 

The problems of the Separatist?  "Us v. them" thinking, functional rejection of the image of God in every person, fear-driven, off-putting when engaging people who've never encountered Jesus would be a few.

 

The problems of the Conformist?  Weak biblical theology, confusion about why your message matters if we're all the same anyway, diminishing of sin's effect on all of creation and humanity, failure to have a message with teeth when engaging people who've never encountered Jesus.

 

I believe the Transformist (or Niebuhr's Christ Transforming Culture) is the place Jesus invites His followers to in His prayer in John 15-17.  The Transformist engages Jesus deeply, knowing Him and loving Him and also engages culture deeply, learning it, honoring and joining in what is good, rejecting what is destructive and treading gently on areas that aren't so easy to discern.  As Oberbrunner admits, that is a Fine Line to walk.

Here's a thoughtful video from the author that condenses the message of the book:

The Fine Line Extended Version (HD) from josh franer on Vimeo.

Comments

[Mo]

Thanks for this. I've never heard of him before.

I should be sleeping and instead I'm listening to his podcast 'Episode 1 - Whose shirt are you wearing?'

"Description - God’s vision is the holistic redemption of all creation; is that your vision too?"

I am glad that he mentioned the Christian worldview, which is so rarely talked about.