{"id":695,"date":"2007-10-24T15:44:29","date_gmt":"2007-10-24T19:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/2007\/10\/24\/the-drama-of-grace-taking-it-to-the-streets\/"},"modified":"2007-10-24T15:44:29","modified_gmt":"2007-10-24T19:44:29","slug":"the-drama-of-grace-taking-it-to-the-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/2007\/10\/24\/the-drama-of-grace-taking-it-to-the-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"The Drama of Grace: Taking it to the Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"

So. That’s the theory side<\/a>. In sum, if you’re going to take the Bible seriously, your drama should be different. You should tell the story of Grace. Your rhetoric must be a comedy.<\/p>\n

\"book.jpg\"<\/a>The Book<\/strong><\/p>\n

I got my box of a dozen free copies today. You never know . . . . you might\u00a0get one as a Christmas present from me this year. \ud83d\ude09 But it’s weird to see so much of yourself shrink-wrapped and stacked on the counter.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometime I might explain in the style of Nothstine, Blair, and Copeland<\/a> all the behind-the-scenes steps that brought me to that last, now-expunged chapter. Currently t<\/a><\/span><\/strong>he book<\/a> is nearly unchanged from its original 2001 form. It both describes and prescribes to religious sectarians. I argue that separatists are crafting a new drama in the public sphere. Instead of killing off their Other (which doesn’t jibe with the Great Commission<\/a>) and instead of critiquing (which implies an equality that’s a little too vulnerable), religious sectarians are trying to woo<\/em> the secular Other to Christ. They separate from those outside the faith in order to win them over. My BJU texts are the campus museums, the art gallery, the extension ministries, and Campaign 2000. My critical voice is very feminine. Very Esther-like. Very Christine de Pisan<\/a>. I’m whispering in the King’s ear with that book — “stay beautiful, dear King” — while asking the secular scholar, “What happens if we add to the Burke canon?”<\/p>\n

<\/span>The Chapter<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

But living in ongoing romance is tough. We might say with an empathetic giggle, \u201cDating\u2019s hard!\u201d It\u2019s difficult to be beautiful all the time. And since my 2001 defense, I heard a different story that wasn\u2019t as romantic as the histories or as comedic as the Museum and Gallery. This was tragedy plain and simple.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong>The drama of sanctification is a key story in the Christian life. After justification and before glorification, what\u2019s up with the still-sinning, but no-longer-condemned believer? Pick up any respected Protestant theologian or read any New Testament Text, and the drama is the same. The catalyst for my closer-look at this drama was my former grad student, Christie Moye, and her rhetorical critique of Jonathan Edwards\u2019 \u201cResolutions<\/a>.\u201d A pentadic analysis would look like this:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n