Faith, Leadership and Public Life. Preston Manning

Faith, Leadership and Public Life - Preston Manning


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the Mosaic law, Jesus illustrated the merits of always taking a hard look at what I call “the dark side of the moon.” In other words, whatever doctrine or philosophy of life we may adhere to—be it religious, political, or cultural—in our mind’s eye we should push it to its extreme and take a hard look at what that really looks like and the results it may produce. If that image of the extreme is ugly and deformed and the results of its pursuit are evil and deplorable, as the image and products of extremism most frequently are, then that realization ought to strongly incentivize us to back away, to resist movement in that direction, to avoid association with that extreme, and to warn others to do likewise.

      For example, the Rule of Law as given to Moses by God when genuinely followed by ancient Israelites was a noble and beneficial concept originally given as an instrument for establishing and maintaining right relationships between God and his people and among the people themselves. But pushed to the fanatical extreme to which the Pharisees pressed it—whereby the Rule of Law was transformed into an arid, crippling, and hypocritical legalism—it became a barrier, not a means, to right relations with God and a burden instead of a boon to the people—the very opposite of the results that it was originally intended to produce.

      With respect to Sabbath observance, Jesus dealt with the extreme interpretations and practices of the Pharisees in three distinct ways.

      Second, Jesus drew a distinction between the spirit and the letter of the law, maintaining that acts of mercy (healing) and acts of necessity (satisfying hunger) were completely within the spirit of the law, which the Pharisees were violating and quenching by their extreme interpretations and extensions of the letter of the law.

      Third, he taught that the proper practice of Sabbath observance required an understanding of the original design and purpose of such practices and the need for adjustments to conserve that design and purpose under changing circumstances.

      Original Design and the Necessity of Change in Order to Conserve

      As Bruce observed,

      In dealing with Sabbath observance in this way, Jesus practised and illustrated one of the most important principles of managing orderly and constructive change—conserving the original rationale and purpose of a practice or institution while simultaneously changing it in certain ways to accommodate new demands and circumstances. At first blush, we may think that the idea of conserving something by changing it is illogical and contradictory. But Jesus, particularly in relation to Sabbath observance, teaches us that conservation and change can be, and in some instances must be, complementary.

      Implications for Us

      1. Unlearning and learning

      When we come to Jesus we should be open to unlearning and learning under his tutelage. The disciples all had their faults, but to their immense credit they were teachable, open to the unlearning and learning that Jesus had to offer. Which raises the question, are we? Most of us are much more highly and broadly educated than the disciples. This should be a blessing, but it may also render us less open to the teaching and influence of Jesus because we think we know. Unlearning often needs to precede learning on both the religious and political fronts.

      In my own case, for example, I grew up with a fairly narrow conception of what the Christian faith was about, namely that it was primarily the means to my own personal spiritual well-being and salvation. If I had been one of the disciples and held this one-dimensional conception of faith, my unlearning and learning under the tutelage of Jesus would likely have included,

      • Unlearning the narrowness and singularity of this vertical perspective of faith without in any way abandoning the importance and necessity of a personal relationship to God through Jesus.

      • Learning to expand my conception and experience of the faith to include its horizontal and social dimensions, i.e., adding the crossbar of the cross to my vertical upright.

      On the other hand, if you grew up with a conception of the faith that focused exclusively on its social and horizontal dimension but with little or no appreciation of the necessity of attending to your own personal relationship to God through Christ, your learning and unlearning experience under his tutelage might be the reverse but equally necessary.

      2. Visiting the dark side of the moon

      As previously mentioned, Jesus’ approach to guarding his initial followers against the extreme teachings and practices of the Pharisees illustrates the merit of taking a hard look at the dark side of the moon—the image and results of pushing any philosophy of life to its extreme—and utilizing that visualization as a warning and a caution to avoid the negative and destructive aspects of that extreme.

      Jesus’ use of this approach provides us with an excellent example of how to guard religious believers today against the extremes to which we in our age are susceptible. But this approach is also highly applicable to guarding political ideologues and activists against the dangers of political extremism.

      Political pragmatists, for example, proud of not being committed to any ideology or fixed set of principles and striving only to do the right thing under the


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