Category: Gedanken zu Religion

Frank Viola’s book concludes with a look at the nature of apostolic authority. He makes the point that we often look at Paul (particularly) as being a very authoritarian leader. Examining his writing, however, we find appeals, arguments presented, and references to fellow workers such as Timothy and Titus as ‘sons’, writing that Titus, for example “has gone to you of his own accord” (2. Cor. 8:17).
This ties in with Paul’s statement about apostles in 1. Cor. 4:9, “For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena.” That does not sound like someone professing great authority in his position.

In summary, Who is your covering? gives a good insight into the meaning of many of the New Testament’s statements about authority. Even though I did not agree with everything he said, the book was thought-provoking. It is well worth reading.

Much of Frank Viola’s book is concerned with taking particular teachings related to the question ‘Who is your covering?’ and presenting an argument against those teachings. In his section on denominational covering, he makes the point that “When a denominational headquarters is infected by false teaching, every church connected with it falls into that same falsehood and the heresy becomes widespread”, contrasting this with what he claims is the intended “autonomous nature of every church“. I’m not convinced that his argument is entirely correct; individual pastors do not automatically accept new teaching or policies from the denominational headquarters, and supposedly autonomous house churches are linked by relationship, which is also a potential method for heresy to spread. However, I do believe that a looser relational link is more likely to resist heresy than a hierarchical structure.
Continue reading “Who is your covering?: denominations and orthodoxy”

I’ve read further in Frank Viola’s book ‘Who is your covering?’. It is a quite remarkable book, going back to the Greek words and examining their meaning, also looking at the context of the period in which they were written.
He starts by looking at models of leadership (basically contrasting hierarchical models with Jesus’ words):
Continue reading “More on ‘Who is your covering?’”

I’ve just started reading Frank Viola’s book “Who is your covering?”, which discusses leadership structures in the church. His precept is basically that the hierarchical structures in today’s church, whether Catholic, Protestant, Reformed or most independent churches or denominations, do not conform to the pattern of the early church. He paints a rather black and white picture, but I understand what he is aiming for. Some of Mary-Anne’s comments in “Heiliger Vater” are similar to the points he is making. I agree with his statement that an organised hierarchy tends to stunt the church members’ spiritual development, because they can, or even must, delegate or defer many spiritual responsibilities to the hierarchy. Imagine permanently confining a person to a playpen from birth; their development would be severely limited, and they would never reach the maturity required of an adult. As adults, it is our responsibility to raise our children so that they become adults capable of assuming responsibility for their lives and the community in which they live. I believe that this responsibility is also echoed in the spiritual realm; it is the responsibility of mature Christians to care for and mentor younger Christians, with the aim of seeing them grow to their full potential, taking the responsibility and using the gifts God gives them.