Mere Discipleship

Wow this book was GREAT!!! Here is a quick synopsis and some comments.


“Jesus was, in his divinely mandated prophethood, priesthood, and kingship, the bearer of a new possibility of human, social, and therefore political relationships.”
-JOHN HOWARD YODER-

1. Reenvisioning Discipleship

“Radical Discipleship”

“Christianity without Discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer-

Camp says that claiming ‘Jesus as Lord’ is a radical claim that is ultimately rooted in the question of allegiance, of ultimate authority, of ultimate norm and standard for human life. Christianity has to often sought to ally itself comfortably with allegiance to other authorities, be they political, economic, cultural or ethnic. He then goes on to explain what he calls the Constantine Cataract, which has so drastically affected our Christianity. He explains that the word Radical simply means ‘to the root’ so radical discipleship is an attempt to put Christ first as our norm of imitation.

God’s way of working
The Constantine Cataract has used the philosophy of ‘the ends justify the means’ to the detriment of the Christian faith. This philosophy has led to the justification for much violence in the Christian tradition, wars, crusades and the like. One response is the question ‘What would happen if everybody did or did not do that?’ This question is itself flawed and the wrong one. Instead we should be asking “What would happen if Disciples acted like Jesus?”

Pledging Allegiance to the Kingdom of God
The Christendom Cataract has also led us to believe that it is the Christian task to be in control, to run the world and to make things turn out right. Along with this we are taught that the power brokers in the world are the only major players in human history. Camp tells a story about a man who was a chaplain for the military who was told by the Chief Chaplains office that, “compromise is essential for becoming a successful military chaplain.” Camps says that “Robinson concluded that chaplains are not on military bases to bear witness to theological convictions, but to serve the military establishment: what was desired was a ‘morale officer’, the chaplain only succeeds in encouraging soldiers to accept the preferences of the state without question.” The question is one of allegiance and identity. The question ‘Who do you say I am?’ rings loud and clear. “Thus to reenvision discipleship without the cataract of Christendom requires that we renew our pledge of allegiance to the kingdom of God, revealed most fully in the way of Jesus, the suffering servanthood.”

2. What Disciples Believe

The Gospel: Repent for the Kingdom is at Hand
“The Constantine cataract makes the ‘Christian religion’ something ultimately unrelated to this world, to time, or history, or human culture, and instead makes it about the ‘other world.’” Instead we are called to love, serve, die, and be raised as Christ did. We are called to the practicing of patient forgiveness, reconciliation, serving, loving our enemies making sure our doctrine and ethics are inseparably intertwined. We are called to an eschatology of the already and yet not yet.

The Savior: The Slaughtered Lamb

“The alternative to how the kings of the earth rule is not ‘spirituality but servanthood”
-JOHN HOWARD YODER-

“The gospel is not an offer of after death life insurance, nor is it merely an offer of personal peace and serenity in the here and now.” As we proclaim the resurrection of the slaughtered lamb, we strike at the heart of fear because fear is grounded in self-preservation. The very identity of Jesus as Lord and Messiah is authenticated by his suffering and service.

The Church: The Body of Christ

“Suffering then, is the badge of true discipleship. The disciples is not above his master.”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer-

Camp reminds us that we cannot attempt to beat the powers of the world at their own game. Christ has promised us that if the authorities persecuted him they will surely persecute his followers. Camp says that church is not just the right doctrines, fire insurance, or simply inner peace, this is what Bonhoeffer has called cheap grace. Instead the church must first and foremost be a community of disciples of Christ who is living loving forgiving an detaching the ways of Jesus. As followers we are called to a way of weakness, suffering and marginalization, reinterpreting our identity and existence in light of the cross.

3. What Disciples Do

Worship: Why Disciples Love their Enemies
Camp calls us to remember that our means are just as important as our ends. Our worship and ethic should reflect and build upon one another. “ In worship we ascribe praise, adoration, glory and honor to a God who loves enemies, who loves the unlovable, who loves us.”

Baptism: Why Disciples don’t make good Americans or Germans, or Frenchmen
Baptism is clothing ourselves with Christ. This new identity transcends race, economic class, ethic grouping and national citizenship. In baptism we are grafted into a ministry of reconciliation. Two parodies of this are “Nationalism and patriotism” which are “self-centeredness writ large, community habits that prepare us to do ‘whatever is necessary’, as our politicians put it these days, to ‘preserve our cherished way of life.’” Camp says that the nation uses all means necessary to do this using “public education, national holidays, churches, culture, media and even his child’s preschool.” Baptism teaches us to sow the seeds of the kingdom, which are forgiveness, repentance, justice, mercy, prayer and celebration

Prayer: Why Disciples Trust God Rather Than Their Own Calculations
Living by faith means living dangerously. One of the biggest points Camp makes is that the prayer in the New Testament doesn’t assume that walking in the way of Christ is an unrealistic, unattainable utopian ideal. This is important because many people have argued that texts such as the Lords Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount are idealistic, utopian and should not be imposed upon Christians as an ethic for life.

Communion: Why Disciples Share Their Wealth
Our communion with one another is an act of the community. The Eucharist is simultaneously sacrament, sign and sustenance. It is a remembrance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The community shares its possessions realizing that all we have is a gift from God. We have been freely given grace and so we freely give.

Evangelism: How Disciples “Make a Difference”
Evangelism is the church being the church, our actions being the same as our words. “The gospel is not sectarian but a call to an indiscriminant, suffering love. “Evangelism is not about selling Jesus but showing Jesus, evangelism is not mere telling about Christ but about being Christ.”