REHEARSING A TRADITION *GEORGE BLANKENBAKER* Academic Dean Westmont College In the Appendix of Habits of the Heart, Bellah et. al. state, "We have taken the position that our most important task today is the recovery of the insights of the older biblical and republican traditions" (p. 303). In that same context they stress the importance of dialogue. To that end the following observations are made about the older biblical traditions as a part of such dialogue. The older biblical traditions begin in the Old Testament and particularly with Abraham who, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, is the father of faith and of a community. The Old Testament is a narrative--in a sociological rather than literary sense--about community. Within that narrative it is clear that Abraham is the father of a community which is not limited by genealogy or time. It covers the whole world and spans all of history. The Abrahamic blessing/promise (Gen. 12:1-3) includes all peoples, and Abraham's faith is affirmed (Gen 15:6; cf. Romans 4:9-13) prior to circumcision, that too narrowly nationalistic sign. In challenging the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to him, John the Baptist said, "...do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, we have Abraham for our father; for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham" (Matthew 3:9). We enter the community in a way that says something quite different than, "I was born into it" or "I received my training in it." We enter individually through an act of the will, but we must also submit ourselves as individuals to the community--and to an even higher order because of the One who called not only Abraham but us as well. The key factor is belief, not circumcision of the flesh but circumcision of the heart, so that the habits become habits of the heart, habits of a redeemed heart. It is a matter of promise and therefore of vision, a vision greater than any one time or place, a vision of a city "whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10). We enter the community by faith, but faith entails commitment, and that commitment is defined in terms of covenant, in terms of obligations that frame the whole community. We are called outside of ourselves as individuals and even outside of ourselves as a community. We are called to something that is objective, that we must subjectivize, and internalize. However, it cannot be simply personalized or privatized. Nor may it be simply defined by the corporate will. It is not an expression of man's will (individually or corporately); it is God's will. Analogous to the suzerain/vassal treaties of ancient times the covenant and its stipulations originate with the greater person (in this case God) and is to be accepted by the lesser (in this case Israel and, through Israel, all who believe). This is true both of the Abrahamic and the Mosaic covenants. The Mosaic, however, provides more specific statements of obligation in the framework of the Ten Commandments--moral and ethical obligations. These moral and ethical obligations form the basis for the community. They are also the sociological and spiritual measure of the vitality of the community. These are what transcend time and place. They are valid for any time and any place, for any society, from the most primitive to the most technologically advanced. By these the Old Testament prophets challenged the lives of individuals and the community, and to these they called them back. The significance of Israel's religion is not to be found in the trappings of ceremony which may be only temporally and culturally relevant, and even then only to the extent they support the ethical mandates (cf. Micah 6:6-8). The significance is in the way ethical issues are identified and handled. Although we cannot simply privatize commitment nor simply define it by the corporate will, there are both individual and corporate aspects to it, and each may be expressed in negative or positive ways. On the negative side of individualism we have anarchy which has been so aptly defined by the writer of Judges, "...everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). Community in the abstract is not necessarily the answer to negative individualism. Take the story of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:19), for instance. People can band together for evil as well as for good. On the positive side is shalom: peace, health, wholeness. It is a state of being as well as a description of relationship. The foundation for this is the law, a positive force for life which Christ affirms by the statement, "Do this and you will live" (Luke 10:28) and the psalmist extols as "more desirable than gold" and "sweeter than honey" (Psalm 19:10). The Ten Commandments are framed in the singular form (Ex. 20). To paraphrase, "You as individuals are to do or not to do these things." It also has corporate significance. In the historical narrative which details the events surrounding the giving of the Ten Commandments, Moses is commanded to tell the people on behalf of God, "If you (plural) will indeed obey My voice and keep my covenant, then you (plural) shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine" (Ex. 19:5). The Law is to govern the entire community--not just individuals in isolation from one another--in the everyday activities of relationship. The consequence of such wholeness of relationships is the lack of conflict and an individualism described by the formula "each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree" (Micah 4:4). But it does not stop there. Each must be willing to reach out to others, to express the spirit of community. It is to be a caring community, supporting those who cannot support themselves. By means of the tithe they were to give "to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, that they may eat...and be satisfied (Deut. 26:27); and if not, "Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow" (Deut. 27:19). Jeremiah warned his people in regard to this point (Jer. 7:5-7), but they refused to listen. As a result Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, and Zechariah many decades later rehearsed the same theme with those who were then in captivity in Babylon and had a chance to start over afresh when they would return again to the land of promise and covenant (Zech. 7:9,10). Such love of one's neighbor is given further dimension by Christ when he says, "you have heard that it was said `You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy!' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you; in order that you may be the sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:43-45). The year of Jubilee is an ideal, the principles, even if not the particulars, of which are significant to our understanding of individualism and community in this world. The law states that "each of you shall return to his own property, and each shall return to his family" (Lev. 25:10). "The land shall not be sold permanently for the land is Mine," God says (Lev. 25:23). We need to recognize who the real owner is as we interact with one another. God says, "It's Mine." He then provides perspective on our place in the economy of things, "You are but aliens and sojourners with me." Too often we usurp God's place in the world. We say, "This is mine; God can come and be a part of it if he cares to." A cardinal rule is that we must acknowledge God as the real owner of all we have. In conjunction with this is the principle that we are sojourners, foreigners in this world. God calls us into relationship (community) with him as the basis for community in the world. Countrymen were not to be subject to slave service (Lev. 25:39) for as God said, "They are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale" (Lev. 25:42). As a nation Israelites had been slaves in Egypt. The community was to remember that tradition and structure itself accordingly. The Israelites were to see each other as God's servants whom he had brought up from Egypt. We too must acknowledge that people belong to God and therefore are not to be abused. This involves simple issues as often, or perhaps more often, then those we consider more complex. "No one shall take a handmill or an upper millstone in pledge, for he would be taking a life in pledge" (Deut. 24:6). There are some things that drive life itself, and we must recognize them as requiring our utmost care in order to insure the stability of the whole community. We must also recognize certain limits. For instance, "When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge. You shall remain outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you." (Deut. 24:10,11). It is a matter of respect for the person and a recognition of the sanctity of his home not to enter into his house as though you own it. You may have a right to surety for the loan, but do not abuse the person by stepping over the threshold into his house. "If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge" (Deut 24:12), i.e., his outer garment, for that is his covering at night from the cold. The significance of the small details of personal interaction is underscored by Christ in his discourse on the basis of judgment in Matthew 25:31-46. In response to the question about when they had seen him as a stranger, and invited him in, etc., the king answered, "To the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me" (v. 40). We could be in for some big surprises, unless we learn what this means. What we do as individuals affects those around us. This corporate responsibility is, in the Old Testament, forcefully presented in the narrative of Achan in Joshua 7. When Achan sinned, in a sense all Israel sinned, and because of that the nation in its entirety suffered a severe penalty. However, once it was determined by lot that Achan was the responsible party, guilt could be properly assigned, the culprit (and the sin) punished, and the corporate guilt removed. Wrong doing weakens the fabric of society. As much as we should affirm the rights of individuals to be and do what they wish, there are necessary limits. We are responsible for more than ourselves. It is not ok simply to say, "I'm ok; you're ok." There are corporate dimensions to how we should conduct our lives. This corporate reality involves a dynamism which in and of itself is neither good nor bad but may serve as a handmaid for either good or bad actions and consequences. As a manifestation of this, peer pressure is a force we must reckon with. Although it can influence a person toward the greater good of the community, too often it is directed toward the negative elements of life. It cuts two ways; it is both inclusive and exclusive. There are those who are in, and those who are out. The person who is excluded often suffers the pain associated with ostracism. Thus to be forced to acknowledge one's individualism, in isolation from the corporate entity, is usually stressful and points up the fact that human beings are meant to be in, rather than outside of, relationships with others. The balance between individualism and corporate reality in the Old Testament is a tradition which should be rehearsed to and by each generation because it is basic to shalom. To the extent we have lost the Old Testament understanding, we are indeed the losers. It is not something that was merely culturally or period specific. It has to do with what we are as human beings. The corporate dimension must be recognized as a definition of humanity and not just something to be manipulated because we can accomplish more by being a community. The body life that is described by Paul and others, as a way of talking about the church, gives further dimension to the Old Testament narrative and begins to extrapolate for us from the Old Testament sense of corporate reality. It is up to us to project it on into the 20th and 21st centuries. We must continue the narrative and to define for ourselves, in both traditional and new ways, the whole notion of community. It is worth struggling together to find ways to honor both the individual and the community aspects of life.