“That was the day we eradicated eradication.”
That line was the conclusion to a story a much older pastor was telling during a meeting I attended last Fall. He was talking about a time when all the pastors on his district got together and talked about holiness, particularly the Nazarene doctrine of “entire sanctification.”
When he said, ” we eradicated eradication,” I thought, “They must have been thorough as I have no idea what eradication is!” And I have both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from Nazarene institutions and am a Senior Pastor.
Of course, I did some brain searching and with great effort remembered that day 10 years ago in “holiness class” where I was taught that “eradication” referred to the old Holiness Movement idea that upon receiving the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” God completely eradicated the sinful nature and made it possible to live a completely sinless life.
I will pause for a few moments while you laugh at that ridiculous idea……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..before pointing out that 50 to 100 years ago most Nazarenes believed it. And now you probably can’t find more than 10 who do and they will all be over 70 years old.
This is just one example of the ways that the defining doctrine of the Church of the Nazarene, “Entire Sanctification” has been redefined over the last decades. Its original formulation proved too high minded and optimistic for the pessimism that gripped the Western nations in the latter half of the 20th century. Moreover, as the Church of the Nazarene globalized we struggled to articulate our ideas in different cultures. It seems that the further away from California 1900 AD we got, the less sane our doctrine sounded.
Therefore over the last decades there have been countless conversations which sought to reexamine, redefine and reexplain holiness to a global church and a cynical constituency. These conversations have happened everywhere from large auditoriums to tiny Sunday School classes and from as close as your local pulpit to as far away as an underground church in China.
The editors of “Renovating Holiness” sensed that these conversations are increasing in number so last year they set out to help the global conversation along by asking over 100 leaders from all the world areas to weigh in on their recent conclusions regarding holiness. More than that, they are probably the first editors of their kind to prioritize younger voices over older ones. The result is that the majority of essays are written by people under the age of 35. (I should take this moment to note that I was one of them.)
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The project was nothing short of momentous and would not have been possible before the internet age. Now for the first time voices from many world areas and many generations weigh in on why holiness is important and what vocabulary and conceptual changes need to be made in order to keep it viable.
Due to the sheer amount of contributors it is impossible to write a critique that would hold true for every essay. For example, a few essays come dangerously close to saying nothing while a few others say entirely way too much. Most though, are succinct and readable, adding their 1200 words to the conversation in an effective way.
The book is also hard to critique because its goal was not meant to finish a conversation or to posit timeless and unassailable theological truths. Instead the essayists want to introduce readers to the conversations that are happening all across the world and to invite the readers to join them.
With that said, I do not entirely agree with every essay and opinion but it was those places of disagreement that proved the value of the book. The reality is that I am not having the same conversations about holiness in Elgin, OR that some are having in inner city LA or a village in Africa. Hearing those voices both agree and disagree with me is a great gift.
This makes “Renovating Holiness” a wonderful contribution to the church and a must read for anybody who wishes to discuss “holiness” as coherently and contextually as possible.
Therefore I would recommend not only reading the essays but using them to begin and lead discussions about Holiness wherever possible.
Hopefully within a week I will follow up this post with another one about what discussions are worth prioritizing and where the conversations should happen.
Until then, may God, God’s very self, the God of peace sanctify you through you and through and may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless before the coming of our Lord.
Go-Before Grace 