![\"ManWit.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/ManWit.jpg\")
<\/span>John Franke<\/a>, in his new and exciting book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth (Living Theology)<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jescre-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0687491959\")
\n<\/strong><\/em>, learned as a kid that one way to settle theological questions was to appeal to the \u201chistoric Christian faith.\u201d<\/p>\n
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So John looked into it, and he began \u201cto wonder how we can talk about something like the historic Christian faith in light of the diversity that has characterized Christian history\u201d (22).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
John appeals to Andrew Walls\u2019 church history space traveller who visits the first Jerusalem community \u2014 very Jewish. Then he visits the Council in Nicea \u2014 very unJewish, many single males, eucharistic, theology unlike anything heard in Jerusalem. Then a few centuries later in Ireland \u2014 odd monks doing heroic things, illustrating manuscripts, lots of creed but not much interest in theology. In the 1840s, a congregation in London: English, missionary emphasis, holiness. Then to Lagos in the 20th Century: white robes and chanting on their way to church, healing and reception of messages from God.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What is the historic Christian faith?<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
Yes, there is a history that connects each of these congregations. Yes, also, there is an essential continuity in the exaltation of Jesus Christ from beginning to last; same sacred texts; and a consciousness of communion with all others like them.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Franke adapts Walls: there is an indigenization and a transformative principle at work in the historic Christian faith. The gospel comes to us where we are; our faith has a particularism about it, a locality, a very local shape. But God meets us where we are \u2014 in our locality \u2014 in order to transform us into what God wants for us. So there is a \u201chere but not here\u201d shape to the Christian faith, to the historic Christian faith.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
From the beginning, then, there has been diversity: a gospel that takes shape locally but that transcends the local. The Church tells the story of plurality, not uniformity.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manifold Witness 3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John Franke, in his new and exciting book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth (Living Theology) , learned as a kid that one way to settle theological\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/10\/20\/manifold-witness-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Manifold Witness 3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John Franke, in his new and exciting book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth (Living Theology) , learned as a kid that one way to settle theological\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/10\/20\/manifold-witness-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-10-20T05:00:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/imgs\/ManWit.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/10\/20\/manifold-witness-3\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/10\/20\/manifold-witness-3\/\",\"name\":\"Manifold Witness 3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-10-20T05:00:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-10-20T05:00:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"John Franke, in his new and exciting book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth (Living Theology) , learned as a kid that one way to settle theological\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/10\/20\/manifold-witness-3\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/10\/20\/manifold-witness-3\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2009\/10\/20\/manifold-witness-3\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Manifold Witness 3\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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John Franke, in his new and exciting book Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth (Living Theology) , learned as a kid that one way to settle theological questions was to appeal to the \u201chistoric Christian faith.\u201d So John looked into it, and he began \u201cto wonder how we can talk about something like the historic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1736],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emerging-movement"],"yoast_head":"\n