See Post by John R. and Responses at BAS here.
As of 8/19/2025 at 8:30 AM, the responses end with:
Jen Olmos – Admin
Ahhh, I’ve been thinking a lot about this question recently. There are, of course, infinite ways to respond, and I suspect any attempt to address them all in one fell swoop risks collapsing the paradox into something far, far too neat. So I’ll take just one angle.
Maybe the only “safe” philosophical move is to qualify the question a bit: What is lived Christianity? Or, what is the lived Christianity that Christians do? (Ought to do?) I put it that way to narrow the concept of “Christian”and move away from its sociological or cultural sense (both valid angles here, of course) in order to clarify the focus.
To me, the lived Christianity that Christians do is the ongoing act of wrestling with Christ. I guess that’s my response simply put.
That wrestling could take place in one’s community, in one’s conscience, in one’s time alone, in worship, in war, and so on.
I suppose I have to define “wrestling” then. I think to wrestle is to be unsettled by the Christ-event, stirred to measure one’s life against his words, his actions, and his paradoxical way of power through weakness.
By this measure, many may be “Christian” in the cultural sense yet never enter that struggle. But lived Christianity (the thing that Christians do, try to do, ought to do)begins where the wrestling begins. Every other definition (doctrinal, cultural, political, etc.) risks softening a paradox that, I think, is meant to unsettle.
Somethin’ like that.
From Charles Bledsoe to Jen Olmos – To my mind, your answer boils down to a moral influence Christology, in which Jesus, his love-based religiosity, serves as a model of proper alignment with God’s nature, and the relational nature of being-in-the-world—a model which, as you say, stirs us to measure our lives against it, inspires us to emulate and embody it in our own conduct of life. And, as you also observe, by the touchstone of such a Christology being a “Christian” consists in the lived practice of engaging its Jesus, although “many may be ‘Christian’ in the cultural sense” who fail to do so.
Jen Olmos – Admin
Charles Bledsoe Oh yes, I quite like your way of putting it.
Charles Bledsoe, and the other responders – This is a very interesting post with many good insights to “wrestle” with. For me, Charles, you sum it all up in a few words that resonate with me:
…a moral influence Christology, in which Jesus, his love-based religiosity, serves as a model of proper alignment with God’s nature, and the relational nature of being-in-the-world
…the touchstone of such a Christology being a “Christian” consists in the lived practice of engaging its Jesus.
Thank you!
