Compassionate Ministry: Theological Foundations by Bryan Stone

Compassionate Ministry: Theological Foundations by Bryan Stone

In Compassionate Ministry: Theological Foundations, author Bryan Stone, a liberation theologies, attempts to explain the model of the church as a liberation community. In fact, the idea of community is central to the core of the book, as it focuses on the coming together of a group of people with similar beliefs, ideals, and moral values. Stone examines the idea of evangelicism, but takes a more historical approach to evangelicism than many modern churches, so that one understands Christianity as a lived religion. This actually relates Christianity very strongly to biblical Judaism, which was marked by the idea that religion permeated all parts of the lives of observant Jews.

Stone opens with the story of Jonah and the Whale, which he considers a call of compassion and compares to the way that many people live in modern times. He moves on to a discussion of modern theology and modern ministry and broaches the idea that there is a disconnect between theology and ministry, which must be remedied if one is to return to the compassionate ideals that prompted the creation of the early Christian church. He talks about how ministry, which necessarily involves discussions of the horrors of daily life, can sometimes forget about Grace, so that theology begins to mirror the social sciences, rather than reflecting the intervention of God. Stone then goes on to talk about the role of God in Christian self-image, and how God's image is supposed to define certain aspects of humanity, and how Stone believes those aspects should include freedom, community, and creativity. He uses literal creation stories to describe the role that God plays in the creation of humanity. Most notably, he treats the nativity story as a creation story, comparing it to Adam and Eve in a way that was unfamiliar to the reviewer. Next, he tackles compassion, first in demonstrating how God is a compassionate God, and then in explaining how Jesus is both a symbol of God's compassion and a means of transformation for God. As He is for most Christians, Jesus is crucial to Stone's understanding of God. Stone views Jesus as God's reply to the question, "Who are you?" (Stone, 1996). That is not to suggest that Stone does not believe that God existed prior to Jesus or even that Stone suggests, like other evangelicals do, that God cannot exist in someone's life without Jesus, but that Jesus is how God has chosen to define Himself to others. Upon further examinination, what this necessarily implies is that God views Himself as love.