Microsoft Word - ChristianityNotReligionBkMSS.doc

theological objectivities of the restorative action of God in
Christ, the spiritual work of God in Christ by the Spirit
must be subjectively unified in the experience of men who
are receptive to such in faith. Despite the tendency to shy
away from such, due to mystic excesses and such
ecclesiastical abuses as internal infusion and divinization
that have arisen throughout the history of “Christian
theology,” there must be a balanced explanation and
presentation of the objective and subjective, epistem-
ological and experiential, historical and personal work of
God in Christ. Apart from the experiential work of God in
man, Christianity soon degenerates into merely static
historical remembrances, theological categorizations,
biblicist interpretations, moral conformations, liturgical
repetitions, etc., as noted above. On the other hand, apart
from the historical and theological foundations, Christianity
easily degenerates into sensate subjectivism, emotive
ecstaticism, ethereal mysticism, temporal existentialism,
charismatic enthusiasm, etc. Thus the importance of our
quest for a balanced Biblical understanding that integrates
the external and internal by maintaining an integral unity of
the eternal person and work of Jesus Christ.