The Notebooks of Schubert Ogden

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If Marxsen is essentially correct, as I take him to be, that talk of Jesus' death or his birth as the saving event is legitimate if, and only if, a particular event in Jesus' career thereby becomes the bearer of the experienced meaning of his entire ministry, why couldn't one say something analogous about the legitimacy of word, sacraments, and special ministry as secondary means of transformation?

In other words, talk of preaching the word, administering the sacraments, or exercising the special ministry as the means of transformation is legitimate, if, and only if, a particular religious act thereby becomes the bearer of the experienced meaning of the church itself as the primary means of transformation.

Thus, for example, the Eucharist can be legitimately said to be the center of the church's life if, and only if, the Eucharist is understood to bear the experienced meaning of the whole church.

14 December 2007

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