Jun 18, 2019
In this episode, I am joined by the wonderful scholar
Taylor Petrey for a conversation on "church." Our
goal was to try to open up the concept of church to allow more
breathing room so we might consider it beyond a particular religion
and its various leadership, ritual, and community forms. In the
first part of our discussion, Taylor leads us through the origins
of the term and understandings of it in the New Testament and early
centuries of Christianity. We discuss whether Jesus deliberately
tried to set up a church with a particular organizational structure
that was to be perpetuated following his death. This leads us to
briefly reconsider the story of Apostasy and Restoration that have
been emphasized within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. We also consider "church" as it is used in Latter-day Saint
scriptures.
The second half of our discussion is more personal than historical
or theological. How do we approach church as participating members
who have studied, or at least become conscious enough of, the
difficult aspects of churches and their teachings, and as
organizations that naturally focus on "administering" their affairs
and providing messaging that will be safe and digestible for the
majority of its adherents, rather than "ministering" to and feeding
each and every member's particular needs? We ask about what church
means in our lives. We conclude with messages of appreciation, as
well, for the many good things a church can provide, and, of
course, I throw in my pitch for the secret to thriving within a
structured faith community (no matter its set-up) as being our
willingness to do our own inner work and commune directly with God
rather than imagine we are forced only to approach the Divine
through a church's authoritative structure and leaders. Interesting
and better "questions" are far superior when it comes to our
spiritual lives than are "answers"!