Church Matters: Retrieving the Great Tradition

Ses s i on 4: Chur ch Mat ter s and Go i ng Back to the Future 85

B. The Great Tradition affirmed the role of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the Church as its Guide and power.

1. Spirituality occurred in the midst of the gathered assembly where the Spirit resided, “Do not crush the Holy Spirit who dwells in you. Otherwise, He may entreat God against you and withdraw from you” (Hermas, c. 150, [cf. David W. Bercot, ed. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998, p. 343]). 2. Spirituality was connected to a fundamental celebration of the Christ event in community, “So now let us, receiving the Spirit, walk in newness of life, obeying God. Inasmuch, therefore, as without the Spirit of God we cannot be saved, the apostle exhorts us through faith and chaste conversation to preserve the Spirit of God” (Irenaeus, c. 180 [cf. David W. Bercot, ed. A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs . Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1998, ibid]). 3. Commemoration, celebration, and remembrance were hallmarks of their faith (i.e., the Eucharist was the center of spirituality in the Great Tradition), cf. 1 Cor. 11.23-26 (ESV) – For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, [24] and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” [25] In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

4. Contextualized freely through innovation and theologizing so both elite and popular might come to know the truth in Christ (i.e., becoming all things to everyone), 1 Cor. 9.22 (ESV) – To the weak I became weak, that I might