{"id":2044,"date":"2012-06-20T10:38:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-20T10:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/06\/the-politics-of-the-church-and-the-humanity-of-god.html"},"modified":"2012-06-20T10:38:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-20T10:38:00","slug":"the-politics-of-the-church-and-the-humanity-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/06\/the-politics-of-the-church-and-the-humanity-of-god.html","title":{"rendered":"The politics of the church and the humanity of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Stanley Hauerwas<\/p>\n

I am a Christian. I am even a Christian theologian. I observe in my memoir Hannah\u2019s Child, that you do not need to be a theologian to be a Christian, but I probably did. Being a Christian has not and does not come naturally or easy for me. I take that to be a good thing because I am sure that to be a Christian requires training that lasts a lifetime.<\/p>\n

I am more than ready to acknowledge that some may find that being a Christian comes more \u201cnaturally,\u201d but that can present its own difficulties. Just as an athlete with natural gifts may fail to develop the fundamental skills necessary to play their sport after their talent fades, so people naturally disposed to faith may fail to develop the skills necessary to sustain them for a lifetime.<\/p>\n

By \u201ctraining\u201d I mean something very basic, such as acquiring habits of speech necessary for prayer. The acquisition of such habits is crucial for the formation of our bodies if we are to acquire the virtues necessary to live life as a Christian. For I take it to be crucial that Christians must live in a manner that their lives are unintelligible if the God we worship in Jesus Christ does not exist.
Read the rest here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Stanley Hauerwas I am a Christian. I am even a Christian theologian. I observe in my memoir Hannah\u2019s Child, that you do not need to be a theologian to be a Christian, but I probably did. Being a Christian has not and does not come naturally or easy for me. I take that to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe politics of the church and the humanity of God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Stanley HauerwasI am a Christian. I am even a Christian theologian. 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