M u s i n g s - o f - a - G e n t l e - C y n i c

M u s i n g s - o f - a - G e n t l e - C y n i c
Staying actively engaged in the interpretive process of renogotiating our lives

An Invitation to the Practice of Gentle Cynicism


This gentle cynic invites you to take a tour of his episodic public journal (blog)--if you wish--where he share his practice of gentle cynicism. This practice does not follow the modern concept of cynicism, but a philosophical way of living with ancient biblical, classical and medieval roots. It takes the form of a dynamic filter between one’s full self (to include one's community) and the world, like shifting chaff from wheat. Moreover, it is a search for what is best (or simply good) rather than what is simply accepted, and what it means to actually participate with or work toward God’s Shalom while differentiating what misses the mark (illusions). By "Shalom", he seeks a vision of God's promised and emerging wholeness, peace, grace, wellness, wisdom.

Gentile Cynicism is thus a way of training the whole self (soul, mind, body) to actively discover and experience more fully the vibrant, flowing, and invigorating reality of God's creative energy and purposes, and less the draining emptiness and forthcoming bitterness of a fragmented world. It is a way of moving through (not stepping away from) tensions where there is a complex array of easy-to-get-to thin practices, answers and ideals on one side; while on the other, profound, thick sources of questions and insights that invite persistent souls toward the way of becoming more fully human.

Some Musings of a Gentle Cynic

A gentle dealing with the limitations of my world juxtaposed with the social and moral issues of the day filtered through the Christian narrative and social ethic--the church of Jesus Christ

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Living in the Reality of God’s Kingdom Come


Jesus, writes Richard Hayes, is 'a "king" who claims an ultimate allegiance that transcends Caesar’s jurisdiction'. If the church is to live in this reality, how might it be perceived by the wider world; and how will it appear as it lives out the fundamental distinction of church and empire, which is often mingled? Jesus’ is presented as a non-violent leader in the midst of an aggressive empire who refused "to defer to the existing political authority" (126). As in the early church, the contemporary church finds the “kings of the earth” in opposition to her Lord, and His kingdom (Ps. 2.2; Acts 4.26; Rev. 19.19). Thus, the church must guard itself against the notion that it has a responsibility to accept power over the other. Rather, like Jesus and the early church, it is to re-socialize people into its community life which defines its norms by the life and teachings of Jesus (Acts 26.18; Matt. 11.28-30). Thus the church will appear and be a counter-cultural witnessing community that orients its life around the reality that God’s kingdom has come (Acts 17.6-7); i.e., making present what is yet to come (Matt. 6.10; living eschatologically).

Quotations from Richard Hayes in The Moral Vision of the New Testament. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
Posted by Daniel Seifert at 3:07 AM

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Daniel Seifert
Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States
Reared in Hamilton OH, served as an altar boy, excelled as a Boy Scout, an aviation enthusiast, and a golfer; joined the U.S. AF in '77 and stepped out in a lonely world. In '80 I encountered the Story of Jesus in a big way which began to transform me in all aspects. Aware of God's kingdom, I discerned a call to ministry and studied at Trinity College. Married in '87, taught mid. sch. English. Later I began pastoral work in Richmond, VA, was ordained in '92 in a Baptist trad. In '93, I encountered ministry with a meta-church structure until '97, when I took a sabbatical and followed a path of enrichment, taking on classic spiritual disciplines and the broadening of my theological horizons while applying doubt to my advantage. Moved in '98 to Harrisonburg, VA, and consulted in two industries. '03 I worked out some significant formational projects at Eastern Mennonite Seminary (MDIV) seeking to inch my way into something missional in purpose while responding to the ongoing emerging church conversation and being more cognizant of God's Kingdom coming non-violently into a chaotic, fragmented and violent world filled with harsh realities and challenges.
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