爱的形状

心，通常用来描绘爱的形状，因为爱发自内心。感恩时节，仔细打量爱，发现爱的形状其实非常多。

小时候，爱的形状是一件棉袄。快近年关，母亲请来的弹棉花兼裁缝师傅，手握一个木锤，肩背一个弹棉机，连续几小时，一锤接一锤，打在机弦上。震动的机弦把能量传递到桌子上的一大堆棉花里，直到棉丝重组，联为均匀的一团，成为新棉袄的填料。过年那天，一家人都穿上新棉袄，温暖而惬意。弹棉机弦的颤音，至今仍然回荡在心间。

上大学，爱的形状是一张汇款。午饭时，团支书把我叫去，递给我一张汇款单，是二舅从乡下寄来的。支书感叹：遭孽的孩子。他是说，可怜的孩子。八十年代初，五块钱对二舅是可观的付出，对我算是雪中送炭。我记住了那五个字，更记住了那五块钱。

出国读研期间，爱的形状是一枚书签。黑白照片，周围是一针一线的锦绣。看书累了，我看看养眼的照片，调剂一下发直的双眼，继续看书，为了照片里的她。

第三次当父亲，爱的形状是一打玫瑰。得知妻子又有喜了，我高兴得按撇不住，平生第一次上网订购了玫瑰，附了一首即兴短诗，委托花店送给她。最近才告诉小女儿，这则十三年前的轶事。

上月，爱的形状是一块馅饼。弟兄会那天早晨吃的烤肉饼，是乔迁新居的乔治太太琳达周五请假在家提前预备的。一边吃一边觉得食之有味而受之有愧。又比如邻居王太太马利亚的牛肉煎饼，直让人体会近邻胜远亲的滋味。

上月，爱的形状是一辆新车。妻子同学会归来，带来内弟的厚礼。买了一个iPad给大女儿，又买了一辆本田新车，和谐的款式。知道这恩典过于我当受的，我整整一个月不敢碰新车。

上月，爱的形状是一粒白球。夏弟兄请我同场切磋球艺，说是生日礼物。不日他去国还乡，恐怕连回报的机会都难找。

上周日，爱的形状是一瓶白水。滞留在水牛城的机场三个小时，来美访问学者一家游完大瀑布，准备回德州休士顿。妻子渴了，丈夫买来水，竟有我的一份。我送给他一本新鲜出炉的《海外校园圣诞特刊》，里面充满了爱的故事，其中一则，是关于心的。一个山东乡下的小孩，如何在中美爱心人士的帮助下，来美修补心脏漏洞的真人真事。

当然，对我而言，爱的形状当首推十字架。没有它，爱至多处于朦胧与失语状态。有了它，爱找到落脚点，虽然仍然找不到休止符。

读书报告：关于姐妹在教会事奉的角色问题

Summary for “Women in the Church”

Stanley J. Grenz and Denise Muir Kjesbo articulate an egalitarian view of biblical theology for women in ministry in relation to men. This view is in contrast to the complementarian or hierarchical view which states that women should play a functionally subordinate role to men’s leadership in both family and church. Both views agree to the equality in the essence or personhood of women and men, but egalitarianism extends such equality to their role play also. Both sides claim their views to be more biblical than the other. In this paper, I will summarize the egalitarian arguments presented in each chapter of the book, with necessary reference to the complementarian view.

Women in the churches

Two camps exist today since 1980’s. One side is the traditionalist, complementarian or hierarchical view, represented by the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. The other side is the emerging, egalitarian view, represented by Christians for Biblical Equality. Seminaries are caught in the debate since 1950’s as a growing percentage of women enroll in seminaries and seek ordained ministerial roles after graduation. Various denominations and local churches within the same denomination have wrestled with woman ordination differently. Sometimes schism breaks out within the same denomination. In general, Baptists are complementarians, while the Christian Reformed Church allows local churches to decide. The Evangelical Free Church permits women to serve in church leadership except as senior pastor. Seeking clarity to this divisive issue, the authors intend to show in the following chapters that complementarian view “is simply wide off the mark historically, biblically and theologically”.

Women in Church History

The fact that women have served as a secondary role in church history is interpreted differently by complementarians and egalitarians. Complementarians see the paucity of women in church leadership as a reflection of biblical mandate. Egalitarians assert that such paucity is a result of institutionalization of church in a culture of male dominance after the early church and episodic revival movements involving women leaders. Women served as bishops (elders) and deaconesses in early church. Female monastic movement predates that of the male counterpart. Women played key initial leadership roles in Wesleyan revival and North American revivals as well as in the formative years of evangelicalism. Women’s partnership with men in church leadership was all the more remarkable in a male-dominated world culture.

Women in the Faith Community

All the way back to biblical era, women in the Hebrew community primarily took a subordinate role mostly as child-bearers in a strongly patriarchal culture. However, Old Testament bible does record women as leaders (such as Miriam and Deborah) and prophets (Huldah and Isaiah’s wife). In Jesus’ ministry, he broke away from the Jewish tradition and readily associated with women and taught women disciples. It was women who first witnessed Christ’s resurrection and proclaimed the good news to his disciples. In the apostolic church age, women Christians enjoyed far greater privileges as patrons, prophets, coworkers, deacons, bishops or elders (e.g., Phoebe) and apostles (e.g., Junia) in church life than possible in the society at large.

Women in the Writings of Paul

Paul declared the charter of gender equality in Gal.3:28. Complementarians interpret that as positional equality in the context of soteriology, whereas egalitarians take that as the Magna Carta of Humanity for a new social order and as having exegetical priority over other Pauline texts that may seem to constraint women in ministry (1Cor.11:3-16; 14:34-35; 1Tim. 2:11-15). Egalitarians further questioned the traditional exegesis of women wearing material head coverings in worship and pointed instead to culturally appropriate hairstyle. They believe the word “head” (kaphalei) connotes source or origin rather than authority. The injunction that women are to be silent in worship (1Cor. 14:34-35) is interpreted as cultural or specific for the Corinthian church, and cannot be universally binding since that would conflict with women praying and prophesying with proper coverings (1Cor.11:3-16). The prohibition of women teachers in 1Tim.2:11-15 is again interpreted by egalitarians as an instruction specific for Ephesians church, despite the cited primacy of Adam in creation and of Eve’s culpability of sin.

Women in Creation

Complementarians believe women were to be subordinate to men since woman was created after man, from man, named by man, and for man. Egalitarians reject this gender specific role assignment based on creation (apart from what is biologically predetermined) since the hierarchical relation (1Tim.2:11-15) is largely a result of the Fall (Gen.3:16), not the original creation intent of male-female mutuality. Despite a preponderance of male and masculine (over female and feminine) imageries analogically spoken of God (e.g., Father, Son, He, etc), God is not more male than female. In fact, God, being non-sexual, is best understood when both male and female images are used. Both men and women were equally created in the image of God (Gen.1:26-28). Likewise, full partnership in church ministry between men and women will better reflect the creation ideal. Complementarians cite the example of Christ’s submission to the Father as further support for functionally subordinate role for women. Egalitarian reject this forced association and believe Christ’s example is for both male and female members of his church, not just women. Further, the mutual dependence between Father and Son is a model for mutual submission of men and women.

Women in Church and Priesthood

The new creation in Christ requires men and women in the church community to part hands with the post-Fall hierarchy and to strive toward the original egalitarian ideal of creation. The traditional male priesthood in Old Testament is not an injunction barring women priesthood, since both men and women in New Testament are the royal priesthood. To say women cannot be ordained ministers is to ascribe gender specific distribution of certain spiritual gifts, which the bible never teaches.

Women in the Ordained Ministry

The authors argue that ordained office has representative and authoritative dimensions that demand the full participation of men and women. Women are as sacramentally and ontologically representative of Christ in his humanness (rather than maleness) as men. Christ’s redemption of mankind liberated men and women from the socially hierarchical bondage. The authoritative dimension entails facilitative empowerment and servant leadership, which is best fulfilled by men and women serving together in the church, including the ordained office. Authority and power are not to be associated with maleness or masculinity.

The book starts and also ends with the story of Sally who sensed God’s call to full time ministry, completed her M.Div. degree with highest honors, waited and found a part time position in a church while taking a secular secretarial job to make ends meet. She is torn between the two worlds and waits for the door swing open for her to become a full time minister without the baggage of gender specific restriction on church leadership. She is still waiting.

(This essay is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Paul Siu.)

悼念恩师萧保罗教授

是夜惊闻乃役宣道会神学院萧保罗教授当日下午教会开会期间阖然谢世，不胜唏嘘，扼腕叹息。恩师上周四晚，依然耳提面命十位神学生，音容笑貌，历历在目。恩师和蔼，可亲可敬，恒常鼓励后进，不吝鞭策指正。恩师学养深厚，执掌系统神学帅印，兼神学多科教学。铭记恩师每每感念上天恩惠，口若悬河，痴情可掬。如今恩师蒙主宠召，快步涉过死河，与主相会，其乐融融，非我足道。惟愿吾辈晚生，效法恩师，事主侍人，荣神益人。

下列拙文，乃恩师传世巨作之读后感。恩师勉励良言，今犹在耳，令我感沛无尽。

《神学的视野——建构福音派神学方法论》读后感

Prof. Paul Siu’s book titled “The Horizon of Theology: Constructing a Method for Evangelical Theology” (Chinese edition) will benefit any Chinese pastors who struggle to share the Word of God and shepherd God’s flocks in this rapidly changing and globalizing, post-modern world. This reflection paper is intended to highlight primarily two important issues, among many others, selected from several chapters that should be instructive and inspiring to the Chinese pastors. They are the functions of language (see Chapter 6) and the challenges of post-modernism (see Chapters 11-14).

It is fair to say that no time throughout the world history has ever seen as wide and deep an impact of words as in our everyday living. Everywhere we turn, whether it is face to face or iPhone conversation, traditional TV or google TV watching, radio or iTune listening, Kindle book reading and wireless iPad web surfing, we are inundated with words and associated pixels of pictures and bytes of sound. The perennial challenge with pastoral preaching ministry of the Word is this: how can a Chinese pastor stand above the deluge of words and stand firm against the postmodern deconstruction of meaning while preaching the Word of God with conviction and power of conversion? The five functions of biblical language are no different than ordinary human languages in being informative, imperative, illuminative, performative and celebratory (p.165-166). The suggestion to apply speech-act theory in preaching the Word of God is worth heeding to (p.170-174). Oftentimes, the pastor preaches the Word of God (that is, locution in speech-act theory) by stopping short at the illocution level (what it means then), failing to reach the higher level of perlocution (what it compels us to do now). It is ultimately the action taken by the listeners that completes the edification of God’s people. Pastors have an important task to be the cook and deliveryman of God’s fresh manna. To see the well cooked and delivered manna left unconsumed by the congregation (i.e., only enjoying the sermon for its own sake, without receiving the message into one’s heart and initiating concrete, corrective actions) is wasteful. To have God’s manna half-baked and delivered without arousing people’s appetite (poor preparation and delivery of the sermon) is saddening. The pastoral ministry of the Word cannot afford to be the weakest link and produce malnourished flock with spiritual anorexia. One must learn to preach the Word with the full dose of its innate power. Prof. Siu’s book is a timely reminder.

Postmodernism poses both a grave threat and a great opportunity to any Christian church. Chinese church is no exception. How can a Chinese pastor wade through the perilous waters of postmodernism and remain faithful in preaching the Word of God as God’s absolute truth? It is helpful to note the two complementary aspects of truth (propositional truth of the written Word and subjective truth of the incarnate Word, see chapter 5). One must realize that while postmodern people flatly deny the existence of God and the absoluteness of any overarching truth (a metanarrative, p.303), they nevertheless affirm the subjective and perspectival nature of communally agreeable, relative truth (p.290, p.303). The Christian community that lives out the ideal of God’s love and truth can be an attractive model for the postmodern people (p.308-309). Such a community upholds unapologetically the essential biblical truth (see p.253-261 for the seven hallmarks of essential, unchanging truth), while maintaining open-minded flexibility in nonessential truth and sensitivity to cultural plurality (chapter 13, especially relevant to Chinese culture is the suggestions for handling ancestral cult, p.355-358).

To speak to their postmodern audience, Chinese pastors should emphasize the use of narratives in illuminating difficult biblical truth and should not shy away from sharing personal emotions in a holistic and authentic manner (p.309-310). Presuppositional approach (p.310), especially that of Francis Schaeffer (p.312-319) as recommended by Prof. Siu, can bridge the gap of dialogue with postmodern people. At least six aspects of Schaeffer’s approach are worth Chinese church’s attention (p.320-321). These include emphasis of personhood, preaching the holistic gospel, dialogue with intellectuals, cultural sensitivity, biblical inerrancy, and living out the biblical ideal in one’s own life.

The last chapter of the book should be especially helpful for Chinese pastors. Prof. Siu shared his personal mission experience and observations about the postmodern society in Taiwan as well as the rest of Asia and the need for constructing Chinese contextual theology. With the death of God comes inevitably the death of man. How to construct a Chinese brand of the doctrine of Man (p.375-377) is a prerequisite for this undertaking of Chinese contextual theology. The “integrative model” (p.377-384) championed by Prof. Siu combines the strengths of six different models (p.346-350), striking a balance between ortho-doxy and ortho-praxy. Being person-oriented, this model starts with the lost man and ends with the found, new creation, going through sin, grace, family, Christ and God (see diagram on p.381).

Lastly, Prof. Siu’s scholarly depth of theology that is constantly beaming off the pages throughout the book, coupled with his pastoral compassion toward wayward humanity (as evidenced by his personal sharing of the gospel with his dying father, see p.96-98), should serve well to remind all Chinese pastors that theology and Christian life are inseparable twins.