Professor Hauerwas called himself a "Catholic Mennonite" in the 80's; in other words, a Methodist. Stanley has never convinced me of this. I've always read Professor Hauerwas as a catholic; in other words, a Methodist. Not denying the influence of John Howard Yoder on Hauerwas or myself, nor the Christological, pacificist, non-Constantinian lessons that Stanley learned from the "radical reformation" tradition, I have always read Stanley more in terms of Aquinas, particularly through Alasdair MacIntyre, and Barth. Often, however, those who have read Hauerwas around me have read him through contemporary "Mennonite" experiences, particularly their concern with "social justice" and "community". Ironically, the non-Constantinian resources of Hauerwas' thought become undercut. Hauerwas becomes read as a "radical Protestant" speaking against "the powers" in order that the church might challenge the "powers" with more just social structures through exercising political influence by affiliation with other like-minded social movements. Within this reading (not without some support in his corpus, especially when read through Yoder), Hauerwas becomes a "communitarian" in which congregations live as a democratic community of discernment through a type of shared authority to empower persons to engage personally a counter-cultural life against the global capitalist-militarist culture in which we live.

It seems to me that Hauerwas, as a Methodist, uses Yoder to return to the high scholastic preservation of the pre-Constantinian Catholic tradition, the Christological center of which he also found in Barth. If this is so, Hauerwas' commitment to a Ressourcement of pre-Constantinian Christianity ironically become undercut through Hauerwas read through contemporary radical reformation ecclesial existence.

This is where Wells's reading of Hauerwas is helpful -- he reads through the polemic that characterizes the Hauerwas text to get to the positive agenda for congregations that is really Hauerwas' concern. Whereas the radical reformation readings of Hauerwas focus on the polemic (something that I can do as well given the depth of sin and pain that the world provides especially those who are poor or recent immigrants to the US or who live in places who have suffered from the colonialism of the Western liberal-democratic nation-state or the socialist nation-state controlled society), what Hauerwas is against, a Catholic reading emphasizes the positive side of Hauerwas' return to the sources within an evangelical, catholic, and orthodox Christianity. Wells gives a "summary of Hauerwas' constructive proposals" (pp. 126-30):

"(1) Stanley Hauerwas believes in a holy God who has revealed himself through the patriarchs, through Moses and Exodus, through the joys and struggles of Israel, through Jesus and the coming of the Spirit, and through the Church. He believes in the sovereignty of this God, in the way God rules through creation, providence and coming eschaton, in the definitive way God shows the character of his kingdom in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hauerwas also recognizes that the creation is not all that it was intended to be, that sin has infected the world to such a degree that, even after the coming of the Son of God, human projects are invariably subject to pride, jealousy and fear.

2. Hauerwas maintains that the holy character of the God of Jews and Christians is not self-evident from the workings of nature or the moral law in the human heart or the collective yearnings of humankind. Instead, it is revealed in a holy story, the story of Israel, Jesus and the Church, begun in the Scriptures and developed through the history of the Church. From this story Christians learn that God is revealed through human contingency. This means that human contingency is the location for understanding both the character of God and the nature of human response. The way of Jesus went to the cross, despite the pressing demands that the world be saved some other way, is the definitive part of the holy story.

3. . . . . Though these two convictions underlie his constructive position, Hauerwas . . . . concentrates on the human response to revelation. Christians are called to be a holy people, the communion of saints, imitating the character of the one, sovereign, holy God. Like Israel and Jesus before them, the Church's vocation is to imitate God -- to be perfect even as the heavenly Father is perfect. Christian ethics is about forming the human response to God's revelation. And the human response is the Church -- a holy people, a historical community.
. . . Actions are good if they lead to the formation of good people; good people are those who imitate the reconciling, serving character of God; to sustain such people, and to teach them the holy story that reveals God's character, requires a community; and that community must begin by being nonviolent, because Christ was, and because refusing to use force demonstrates faith that God, rather than the means of force, is sovereign.
. . . The uniqueness of Jesus lies fundamentally in his acceptance of the cross as the way of disarming the powers that oppress us, and in the vindication of his nonviolent witness in the resurrection. Christ is at the center of Hauerwas' theology, in so far as Christ inaugurates and makes possible the peaceable kingdom -- the nonviolent witness of the Christian community. . .
The Church is called to be holy in the way that Jesus is holy: it should be wary of the temptation to control the wider society, since this invariably results in setting up some norm other than Jesus as the path for al to follow. The resort to violence indicates a lack of trust in God, a lack of faith in his definitive revelation in Jesus. In order to avoid resorting to violence, the Church must set up a form of politics which creates the right kind of conflict -- thus showing the rest of creation that politics is not simply a cover for violence. The politics of the Church is based on the practices of forgiveness. . . . .
4. The question of ethics should focus on what kind of person one wants (or is called) to be. One will want to develop practices that help to make on such a person, and learn to see the world as such a person would. This process is the formation of Christian character. . . . Character is most fully displayed in the way a person or a community responds to adversity. . . . In the face of the stranger -- the undesired pregnancy, the retarded baby -- the community of character recognizes the contingency and fit of all forms of life and affirms that the Church is a form of community prior to the family. Self-deception is a lurking trap, and only the truthful story of God can enable Christians to be truthful about their stories. . . . .
5. The Church seeks to reflect the character of the God revealed in the Christian story. In order to do so, it develops particular habits and practices modelled on its understanding of virtue. Just as one needs to study and train if one is to be a medical doctor, or to do an apprenticeship if one is to be a good bricklayer, or to learn skills of community-forming if one is to be a scholar in a healthy university, so one needs to practice with experts if one is to become a Christian disciple. . . . Cautious about the way love can become an abstraction, and starting from a position of faith, Hauerwas concentrates on hope. The key hopeful virtue is that of patience. . . . one can learn the time-consuming nature of that which is done well: thus worship and having children, two-time consuming activities, gain great significance in a patient community. Every society will gain from having communities that honour honour: the Church helps wider society not by leaving the practice of virtue in order to enter the world of hasty achievement, but by improving its own practice of virtue."

To end with patience as a virtue that enables faith, hope, and love, is interesting -- and very counter-intuitive. Yet it seems to me that this is right on. Patience drains the drama that we tend to spin in our individual and institutional lives and allows us to respond to situations in light of what God has done and will do -- and therefore is doing -- in and through Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit. It reminds us that the church -- specific congregations -- is charged to produce, not influence, not impact, not numbers, not dollars, but saints -- holy persons. It is that which underlies our Eucharistic prayer to unity, constancy, and peace.

Two brief recent experiences that highlight this. Yesterday I took Pastor Deron and Sukuma to the Brazilian barbecue for lunch. Sukuma told me that we first met in the fall of 1997 -- nearly 10 years; we met downtown at the Bread of Life through the witness of Charisma Agony Barrett. Sukuma has been quietly patient with us -- he recently turned 34. During these ten years Sukuma probably has participated in more worship at Mid-City than anyone else, even me. He has held the same job with the County Parks and Recreation for 14 years -- working to care for a Rec Center in Barrio Logan with great expertise, willingness, and care. Sukuma represents the patient life, quietly going his way, thankfully accepting life as it comes, visiting his mother, letting God enfold his life within our congregation time after time. God has taught me much through the witness of Sukuma. He is the "least of these" to whom belongs the kingdom of God. It was a profound honor to share a special "feast" with him and Deron.

Second, since I did not have classes this morning, I was able to participate in the "holy waste of time" of our Lenten "liturgy of the hours." Praying the psalms, gathering in the sanctuary, listening to Scriptures, it reframed my whole day. I learned the patience that comes out of gathering together that opens one to the Spirit's bringing forth faith, hope, and love.

Sukuma and the liturgy of the hours this morning help me to make Professor Hauerwas' work intelligible to me in its truthfulness. "Radical Protestant's" tend to not learn the patience necessary to receive God's kingdom, but work to bring the kingdom to pass by their works. Patience requires catholicity, a confidence that God who began a good work in you (pl), will see it to completion on the day of the coming of Jesus Christ.