Palmer Theological Seminary’s motto shows how different it is, and how difficult it is to pigeonhole it as “liberal” or “conservative.” Palmer is theologically orthodox, but not fundamentalist. It has progressive social and political values, but it is not “liberal” in the sense of falling in line with any particular political ideology. It holds and advocates traditional Christian moral values and teachings, while at the same time denouncing social and corporate sins that are often overlooked by, or even condoned by, the Christian Right. Palmer’s motto, “The whole gospel for the whole world through whole people,” captures this distinctiveness. I knew about the theological orthodoxy before I came here. I wasn’t entirely sure my “Proud Member of the Religious Left” bumper sticker would be welcome, but I think it is.
The Bible tells how God desires, and is calling all humanity into, a whole, healthy, loving, creative, reconciled relationship with God and with one another. People are made in God’s image and likeness. God is the Creator. God is Love. If we are created in God’s image and likeness, then human beings are destined and designed for realization of our potential as creatures who love, create, and have abundant life.
The whole gospel is the entire good news, as set forth in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. The Bible gives us a story of God’s mercy and love, and of God’s longing for God’s creation to be restored to wholeness. The Bible contains thousands of verses dealing with poverty and injustice, in addition to (or as part of) the parts about repentance, forgiveness and salvation. To read, preach, and live the whole Gospel is to try, as much as possible, not to leave out anything. As Ron Sider says, Jesus spent an awful lot of good preaching time healing people, feeding them, and loving them instead. If it was important to him, then it must also be important to us if we are to claim that we are his disciples.
The cross can be a helpful reminder of the two aspects of the greatest commandment (love of God and love of neighbor), and of the fact that the two dimensions are inseparable. Christians are called to both a “vertical” relationship with God, individually and as the Church, and a “horizontal” relationship with one another. This necessarily requires that Christians be aware of, and engaged in reforming or replacing, evil social and political structures, and it requires that the Church work to alleviate the suffering caused by injustice and oppression.
Each side of the Evangelical/Ecumenical debate leaves out part of the Gospel. Both sides are able to show that their positions have biblical support, but neither is able to claim “whole Gospel” support for choosing between Word and Works. Holistic ministry embraces a both/and rather than either/or approach to mission.
Part of the “split” comes from a perceived soul/body dichotomy, from seeing “the world” as evil and the soul as existing on a different, higher level. This idea that spiritual reality is superior to physical, and that soul is more important than, and superior to, body, is not biblical. By his actions of healing and caring for people’s physical needs, Jesus gave equal priority to restoring people to physical wholeness as to repentence and atonement. Indeed, many of his healing works made it possible for people who had been ritually unclean to return to full participation in society. Furthermore, the evidence for repentance and atonement is a fundamental change in the way people behave, and treat each other. Zacchaeus offers an example of that. He didn’t just believe, he did things that showed that his life had been changed and that he had decided to follow Jesus.
The whole gospel, then, is not simply a matter of memorizing rules, or, as the tract publishers like to say, of simply accepting Jesus Christ as one’s personal savior. It’s not just the good news that Christ died for us, which is not to say that’s not important. It is a lived, practiced, committed horizontal and vertical love of God and love of neighbor.
The whole world is everyone, and everything. The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it. God made it, all of it, and loves it all. God’s desire is for God’s shalom to come to everyone and everything. A Gospel for the whole world eschews false dichotomies between the Church and the World. It recognizes that faithful environmental stewardship is inextricably linked to human rights and human welfare. It rejects divisive discrimination against, and marginalization of, any groups of people, on the basis of any classification that forgets that in Christ there is no male or female, no master or slave, no Jew or Greek. Every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. As a matter of simple common decency, Christians should agree that every person in the world has the right to a safe, secure, healthy, productive life. It would also go a long way to proving that Christians serve a Lord who desires salvation and abundant life for everyone.
Whole persons recognize that love of God and love of neighbor includes a healthy, respectful, humble love of self. I cannot give with empty hands. I cannot lead anyone where I myself have not gone. Love is not an emotion, but something practiced deliberately in relationship. By allowing my loving, reciprocal relationship with God to heal me and make me more whole (by allowing God to love me, and by trusting God) I both “practice what I preach” and gain more capacity to serve God by loving others. A whole person is congruent. Her public and private selves are in alignment. She is committed to taking good care of her whole self, body, mind, and spirit. Whole persons imitate Christ in their spiritual disciplines and in their ministry to others. Whole persons make a commitment to kingdom values and kingdom ethics, in their business practices, in their civic life, and in their emotional life. Although God can use our broken and damaged aspects in God’s own, mysterious ways, Christians have an obligation to be the best they can be.
However, I have to agree with Professor Al Tizon that the motto is missing an important piece. None of this is possible without the Church. The Church, despite its brokenness and imperfection, is how God has chosen to usher in the kingdom. Christian perfection is a process that occurs in community. People cannot achieve wholeness in isolation. They have to be members of a loving community in order to grow and mature. By the same token, church members need to take care that congregations and denominations reach for wholeness, and for solidarity with all Christians everywhere. This is an essential element of “The Whole Gospel to the Whole World through Whole Persons.” People are not going to buy the idea that our Lord is the Prince of Peace, or that God is love, if we can’t even manage to treat each other with love and respect.
When God looks at his Church, he doesn’t see denominations. He doesn’t see race, class, income level, sex, sexual orientation, fancy or plain buildings, vestments or blue jeans. He sees the “one, true, apostolic, universal church,” the body of Christ. Although individual congregations and denominations may have, or emphasize, different gifts and different senses of what they are specifically being called to do, the Church as a whole must do all it can to bring about reconciliation and unity among all Christians.