Moravians: Theological Trailblazers, Part 2 – Jesus & Scripture
Cookbook Theology
Many (perhaps most) Christian denominations, especially those that identify as “Protestant”, consider themselves “Jesus-centered.” They may claim this, but when the rubber meets the road, they often reflexively default to a generic and defensive form of Biblicism that isn’t Jesus-centered at all. For example, some Christian denominations support highly controversial and harmful doctrinal positions and policies regarding ordination and marriage by exclusively citing passages from the Hebrew Bible and the letters of Paul. Jesus’s life, ministry, teaching, example, death, and resurrection aren’t the foundation of their theology. Rather, they consult the Bible like it’s a cookbook: Turn to any page and all the recipes are equally applicable. How odd, considering these same traditions disregard commands from the Hebrew Bible on a whole host of subjects ranging from dietary restrictions to farming prohibitions to child-rearing. These denominations don’t require their members to follow laws regarding Kosher eating. Those, they conclude, have been conveniently done away with by the New Testament. Yet the laws these denominations pick from the Hebrew Bible like options in a buffet are the laws that reinforce their preconceived positions on human sexuality, which can be employed as a bludgeon against those they perceive to be “sinners.” This is hermeneutical malpractice.
Essentials vs. Ministerials
From our fraught history, Moravians understand that the Bible can be used as a weapon against those with less power by those with greater power. After the bloody Hussite Wars and merciless persecution, the ancient Unity knew that contentious divisions that produce destructive violence was not what Christ wants for his church. They also knew that at any moment those in power could imprison their ministers, seize their places of worship, and burn their sacred books. They also knew that some holy things, like scripture itself, could be used against them as weapons, as it was in the inquisitions. This is why Luke of Prague refined the Unity’s thinking around “essential” matters of faith by clearly distinguishing them from “ministerials.” By creating this second category and placing highly important things like scripture, the church, sacraments, the priesthood, and even doctrine in this category, the Unity distinguished itself from all other Christian traditions. Early Siblings (also called “Brethren”) like Luke were convinced that as good as these things were, they are “sacred tools given by Christ and the Holy Spirit to lead us to what is essential. They are sacred not in and of themselves, but because of the essential things to which they lead and direct us.” 1
Tools aren’t unimportant; ask a specialist of just about any craft. Tools are extremely important! But the brush of a painter isn’t the painting. Neither is the chisel in the same category as the sculpture. As prized and indeed cherished as they are, tools are meant to facilitate expression, formation, production. “Ministerials” are so called because they serve, they facilitate, the process by which one experiences Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier; Faith, Love, and Hope. As vital as scripture is, scripture used improperly is not sacred, but desecrated. As powerful as they can be, the sacraments when used to divide or oppress human beings are no longer holy.
The Chief Ministerial
Moravians honor scripture as the “chief ministerial.” This means scripture is the standard we use to evaluate our doctrine and practice. However, it also prevents the scriptures from being worshiped as in the bibliolatry of Biblicism. The Ground of the Unity, one of the most important statements of Moravian faith says,
The Triune God as revealed in the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments is the only source of our life and salvation; and this Scripture is the sole standard of the doctrine and faith of the Unitas Fratrum and therefore shapes our life.”
It is God, not the Bible, who is the source of our life and salvation. The Bible is a sacred tool that God uses, but it is not God. “The Moravian Church recognizes that Scripture is the witness to faith in God rather than the source of faith.” 2 This means that we must decide how to interpret the Bible in a way that comports with our allegiance to Jesus Christ.
Christocentric Hermeneutic
Since the formation of the ancient Unity, the Moravian tradition has been upfront about our Jesus-centered hermeneutic. The early Siblings prioritized the New Testament and particularly Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount in their discernment of how to live out their faith. In more recent times, in North America in particular, the affirmation of LGBTQ+ siblings in Christ has raised hermeneutical questions afresh. Will the Moravian Church continue its tradition of Christ-centered interpretation, or cave in to the peer pressure of Biblicism? To meet this question, Moravian theologians and pastoral leaders joined together to draft “Guiding Principles of Biblical Interpretation in a Moravian Context.” 3 Through scholarship and dialogue, the statement thoroughly explores the history and theology of the Unitas Fratrum. Among its conclusions is this:
…as Moravians… we do not believe that Jesus points us to Scripture so that we can find the answers there, but rather that Scripture points us to Jesus so that we can find the answers in him. As a church we must be attentive to God’s Word (the word of the cross, the word of reconciliation, the word of personal union with the Savior, the word of love between one another), and our faith and order must be formulated under Scripture and the Holy Spirit. Yet, it is not Scripture and our conformity to a particular interpretation of it that unites us, but rather Christ, our Chief Elder, who holds us together by keeping us all close to Him.”
At a gathering at New Philadelphia Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on January 19th, 2016, Pastor Worth Green share about his own journey of understanding the hermeneutical and pastoral complexities of interpretation the Bible’s teaching around sexuality, and the affirmation of same-sex unions in particular. In his presentation (linked to below) he shared about a conversation he had with his 90+ year old father, who expressed that he must oppose same-sex marriage on the grounds that it is prohibited in the Bible. Pastor Green asked his father about the Bible’s command to stone disobedient children (e.g. Deuteronomy 21:18–21). Pastor Green asked his father, “Is this the word of God for us today?” His father responded, “My spirit will not accept it and it does not measure up to Jesus Christ.” Pastor Green commented, “Wow, what a Moravian answer.”
The Moravian Church doesn’t just say it is Jesus-centered—it proves it by how it categorizes and interprets the Bible.
- Craig Atwood, “In Essentials, Unity: Understanding the Essential Things” The Moravian Magazine, Jan/Feb 2014, quoted in The Moravian Catechism (IBOC, 2020), p.25.
- Craig Atwood, Jesus Still Lead On: An Exploration of the Ground of the Unity and The Moravian Covenant for Christian Living, Second Edition (The Interprovincial Board of Communication, Moravian Church in America, 2023), p.111.
- For more on this, see the Full Program of the Moravian Interpretation of the Bible conference and the document it produced:
https://youtu.be/sa4O8_ub9rw?si=ivQ0RrUH5E4gWXcf https://www.trinitymoravian.org/download/Guiding-Principles-Handout.pdf