On Robert Webber 1933-2007

Three panel experts, each representing a particular Christian tradition (evangelical, mainline, and liberal), sat on barstools facing the 1000 plus crowd. The interviewer -- Brian McLaren, was poised to ask the evangelical representative the next question.   "What does your tradition do so well that you could lead the rest of us in?"  I winced, as I had been part of some intra-faith dialogues where evangelicals did not fare so well. I prepared for the worst.

"PASSION is what other Christian traditions can learn from us." He went on, but I don't remember the rest -- I didn't need to hear it. I felt great relief -- he nailed it. I needn't have worried. For the evangelical answering the question was none other than Robert Webber.

It made me recall a conversation that I had previous to that Emergent Convention, with a social activist/professor working in downtown LA. Knowing his liberal theological leanings, I asked him how he felt about the evangelical students from Fuller that would come down to work with him. 'I love the evangelicals," he said, "they have passion -- they really think they can change the world." Yes, I think Bob Webber was on to something...

His work on Ancient/Future Worship opened up a new world for the many who wearied of singing endless praise choruses. His encyclopedic knowledge of worship served the church at a time when many began to mine the depths of the past. His work with the Institute of Worship Studies will insure that his contributions will continue to form the worshippers of tomorrow.

I only met Robert Webber once -- we served on a panel on the Emerging Church at Talbot two years ago. During the past year, I also worked with him as one of the writers aka the "Board of Reference" of "A Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future". Webber impressed me with his commitment to worship, to theology, to evangelicalism and ecumenism.

Robert Webber served as an ambassador for the Christian faith -- an evangelical truly worthy of the name...

Comments

[Kelli Daniel]

Hi Ryan,

I work as a publicist for Doubleday Religion at Random House, and I was wondering if you would be interested in receiving copies of some of our titles. We would just ask for blog postings in return (they can be either positive or negative).

If you are interested, please email me with your mailing address.

Thanks!

Kelli

[Patrick]

I had the privilege of taking historical theology with Robert Webber about ten or so years ago. At the time I was a little more rigid and closed off from other Christian traditions but he was masterful at teaching the timeline of Christian thought in a way that brought it all together. Very much opened my eyes and my mind to the idea of pursuing other sources of influence. He was the first professor, the first Christian leader, I ever knew to talk about the Eastern Orthodox church, something which has very much influenced me since then.

I still have the notes and the charts from that class. He always had a great tan and loved to talk about his time at Jaw Bones.

In fact, I was excited to take him because my dad had taken him twenty years earlier, when he was the young, hip, flashy new professor at Wheaton.

He was a great thinker, a great leader, and a great teacher. He will be missed. But now he's really getting to worship so I'm sure he's even more excited and passionate.

[Steve Hayes]

Interesting -- Orthodox Christians believe that they should aim at dispassion (apatheia).

Either Orthodox Christians and Evangelicals are travelling in opposite directions, or we have a communication problem.

[Patrick]

Steve, 'passion' can have various meanings. The Orthodox are not opposed to the 'passion' of Christ, for instance and so it's not necessarily a miscommunication issue as much as a matter of understanding how 'passion' is used in a given context. The Orthodox are not in pursuit of the bland or the resigned. Acedia is that.

Webber, no doubt, is using 'passion' in regards to the pursuit of God, the quest towards theosis and participation with the Triune God in this world. That is heartily encouraged, and the kind of effort that the Orthodox should encourage.

The glossary to my copy of the Philokalia says this about 'passion':
"in Gree, the word signifies literally that which happens to a person or thing, an experience undergone passively; hence an appetite or impulse such as anger, desire, or jealousy, that violently dominates the soul. Many Greek Fathers regard the passionas as something intrisically evil, a 'disease' of the soul: thus St. John Klimakos affirms that God is not the creator of the passions and that they are 'unnatural', alien to man's true self. Other Greek Fathers, however, look upon the passions as impulses originally placed in man by God, and so fundamentally good, although at present distorted by sin (cf. Isaiah the Solitary, section 1). On this second view, then, the passions are to be educated, not eradicated; to be transfigured, not suppressed; to be used positively, not negatively."

Webber sees 'passion' in this second regard, and sees Evangelicals as bearing a teaching in this regard. To be sure some Orthodox and Evangelicals are traveling opposite directions, one going East, one going West, but those that are truly seeking God are not at all, as they are traveling North and finding all sorts of commonality, if they are committed to the work of the Spirit above all.

[Kent]

I came across your blog today, and I thought you might be interested in an electronic edition of Robert Webber's Ancient-Future Series. It's currently available for pre-order from Logos Bible Software.

Thanks!

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