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Friends United Meeting |
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June 2005
The With God Life
An Interview with Richard Foster
By Trish Edwards-Konic
During the month of May, The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible appeared in bookstores and began to be seen in the hands of people in churches and on the street. For Friends, it was a great month; for the first time a study Bible was released that reflected Quaker theology.
“There is a great deal of Quaker thinking in this Bible,” stated Richard Foster, Editor. “One of the great gifts Quakerism has is that its greatest treasures are focal and very foundational Quaker insights are found in the pages of this Bible.” Work began five years ago when Steve Hanselman, then Vice President and Publisher for Harper San Francisco approached Richard Foster and Renovare with the idea of working with them to publish a study Bible that looked at Scripture through the lens of spiritual formation. General Editors were selected: Gayle Beebe (Quaker), Foster (Quaker), Lynda Graybeal (Renovare staff & nondenominational), Tom Oden (United Methodist) and Dallas Willard (Southern Baptist with many travels among Friends).
“Dallas Willard understands Quaker thinking about as well as anybody,” Foster acknowledged. “I had him do a study once on George Fox and his insights just blew me away.”
The other Quaker who worked on this Bible is Howard Macy, Professor at George Fox University. Marva Dawn, although not a Friend, also teaches at George Fox. Other names well-known among Friends are Eugene Peterson, Walter Brueggemann, David DeSilva, Emilie Griffin and James Earl Massey, plus 44 other contributors.
“The concept that Christ has come to teach His people Himself is central to this Bible,” according to Foster.
In the General Introduction, the General Editors write: …God is with us. Christ is our ever-living Teacher. The Spirit will guide and direct…Our only task is to listen. And obey.”
The overall theme of this new study Bible is “the with-God life” grounded in “The Immanuel Principle.”
“The Immanuel Principle and the with-God life are the same exactly,” explained Foster. “We say the Bible is all about life with God and we are stressing the unity of the Biblical principle — that God is working with people and we work with God.”
“God is with us throughout history in many different ways. And we have divided the Bible into ‘stages of formation’ that tell us how God worked with differing people during various periods of history.”
“It’s a way of saying that Christ is alive and has come to teach us or Jesus’ words: ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ But the questions are: but how does that work in travail, in exile, in restoration, in mission, in community and finally in eternity?”
There is a two-page overview of the whole Bible divided into these stages of formation; it includes Scriptures, God’s Action, Human Reaction, Type and Locus of Mediation, Social Context, Key Individuals and Key Spiritual Disciplines. The Stages of Formation convey how the People of God relate to God throughout the Biblical record.
“The Immanuel Principle is ultimately cosmic,” according to Foster. “We are to reign with God and be with God forever and forever. In the past God worked first directly, then indirectly with his people. Since Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, God works both directly and indirectly. Quakers in the gathered silence experience God both directly and indirectly.”
I noticed that the focus on the with-God life circumnavigates inconsistencies found in Scripture and differing opinions about theology. By looking at how God revealed himself to people throughout Biblical history negates all those arguments. “You bypass it all,” stated Foster. “You put your focus on how God has been with a person and what does that say to me, now? What are their strengths and weaknesses and how does that apply to me? It’s all about developing charact — character that goes on into the future where we will reign with God and be with God eternally.
“The goal is to develop character so that we can make choices that please God and are in God’s way. You may feel abandoned by God’s consciousness although God is present; it is often during those times that we grow the most in character. Even George Fox in his early experiences developed this way.
“The idea is that God is with us, not constant in the sense that our consciousness is not interrupted, but like a parent with a child. The parent is always conscious that the child doesn’t have the total ability to grow up, and the parent leaves the child from time to time so they can learn.”
The 15-section essays are heavy on inner transformation and conformity to God’s character which fits into Friends tradition. They lay out the progression of how God’s people have related to their God and the changing nature of the with-God life. “Their function,” stated Foster, “is to form us into God’s character by building a transforming relationship through the God-life.”
An introduction for each book of the Bible explains not only the historical and theological content but also highlights the main themes for spiritual formation. Spiritual exercises are included to help incorporate and deepen what the reader encounters while reading the text. Pro- files of Biblical characters tie in some person in church history and then make a contemporary application. John Woolman is the key person in one of these Profiles. A Spiritual Disciplines Index provides a glossary and Biblical references for spiritual disciplines and the key themes of spiritual formation. Dallas Willard combed the Bible to create this index. During the next few years, HarperSanFrancisco plans to publish Spiritual Formation guides that expand and further explore the themes found in the Spiritual Formation Bible. The first one will concentrate on The People of God in Individual Communion (Genesis 1-11) and The People of God with Immanuel (the Gospels).
“The need for a renewal of the role of Scripture is exceedingly urgent,” says Foster. “So many people today see Scripture primarily as an object for historical criticism, on one hand, or ‘God’s Little Instruction Book,’ on the other. The practical effect of this trivialization of Scripture is that people today are seeking wisdom from the latest self-help fad rather than from the Bible and Jesus. Clearly, we need a richer, fuller understanding of Scripture for daily life.”
For four days, June 19-22, a conference will be held in Denver, Colorado — “The With-God Life: The Dynamics of Scripture for Christian Spiritual Transformation.” It will begin to answer the question, “How does the Bible serve as the primary written resource for transforming our hearts and minds into the very nature of the heart and mind of God.” Information is available through Renovare, 8 Inverness Drive E., Suite 102, Englewood, CO 80112-5609; phone (888)736-6273; email 2005ic@renovare.org; website www.renovare.org/2005ic.
A Recorded Friends Minister, Richard Foster is also the founder of Renovare, teaches at Spring Arbor University and travels worldwide teaching on Christian spirituality.
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