The Astonished Heart

Book Review.
Capon, Robert Farrar. The Astonished Heart. Reclaiming the Good News from the Lost-and-Found of Church History. Wm. B. Erdman Pub. Co. 1996.
R.C. - is an Episcopal priest and author.
Comment. Henry.
The humor of this author is a delightful distraction as he deals with a lot of not so humorous material. Robert’s focus on Church History is by and large not on the positive elements of the various phases of the Church’s history. The primary characteristics of that church have been its status as an institution and its religion. Neither one of these reflect the Gospel of Jesus Christ which has always ‘astonished the heart’. Robert’s assessment of the ‘problem’ is well taken. His solution is presented in theory but not with a lot of contemporary examples and a doable ‘game plan’. His humor reminds me of an old song title, “Just a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down”.
There is a huge difference between the Gospel and religion. The church “is not an institution; it is a community- entrusted with the proclamation of an astonishing catholic salvation”. (2) The Reformation’s influence on Christendom was the rise of “mini-Christendoms all over Europe”. (6) When the Christendom model of the church died in the nineteenth century it was replace by the corporate model (in America).
It matters not which camp we are in, either extreme (liberal-conservative) or the middle; we have all missed to some extent the proclamation of the Gospel as centred in the message of Christ. “The heart of Christian astonishment is the mindboggling goodness of the Good News- the sheer fun of the Gospel is the other side of the coin of our astonishment.” (16)
The development of Judaism as an institution happened during three distinct periods (and beyond); the wilderness period, the excilic period and the monarchical period. The temple and its replacement the synagogue were part of this development. The Jerusalem church in its establishment and development was built on these models. Even the name ‘church’ was the name that stuck when other names such as the brethren, the disciples, etc. were being used. Something that characterized the ‘family of God’ from Abraham’s time and on is its catholicity. “The church is a sacrament” (42)
One of the changes of the church during the Greco-Roman times was that it became predominantly Gentile. It also became increasingly an institution and a religion. “Christianity as a religion is always at odds with the Gospel.” (56)
The passing of the Edict of Toleration (337 ad.) by Constantine marked the beginning of Christendom. The Reformation brought in mini-Christendoms. By the nineteenth century we have the development of “religious corporations”. (76) A consideration of all present day models of church comes to the conclusion that any future model that is going to work will have to involve the ‘death and resurrection’ of all present models. This is a very high ‘standard. A future “new form of the church must always be; sufficiently unacceptable to the world and non-religious”. (105) Robert makes the suggestion that the model that might work (for the church) is the Alcoholics Anonymous model.