Who are we humans and how do we respond to our mortality? Drawing on Ernst Becker’s "theory of generative morality anxiety" Daniel Liechty proposes that "taming this terror is quite literally the most important human task" (p. 35). We can choose the path of acceptance by taking responsibility to nurture an inclusive freedom of the human soul and spirit. Or we can deny death by devoting our lives to the illusory pursuit of projects to preserve our immortality. Flight from mortality is the root of evil, resulting in projects that repress the human spirit through authoritarian dogma, domination and violence. We see a contemporary demonstration of Liechty’s thesis in the United States pursuit of imperial domination of the world through military might. The refusal to accept our human limits is manifest in the effort to eradicate evil, which paradoxically perpetuates even more evil. Liechty persuasively delineates the explanatory power of Becker’s paradigm. The question raised for me is whether that paradigm is a universal explanation for the human predicament. Does the theory account as well for those who are poor, without power, and experience life on the underside, who do not have the option to pursue projects to preserve immortality? He claims as his method religious reflection, not theology, though the book addresses central theological concerns such as our models of God, the roots of evil, and Christology. I welcome Liechty’s provocative thinking, some of which is sure to raise eyebrows. Being married to a Jewish wife, keeping a Jewish household, and his professional experience as a clinical social worker inform his creative challenge to traditional Christian belief and practice. I hope the church is ready to welcome him as a conversation partner. We need more provocative proposals like Liechty’s to awaken us from our dogmatic slumbers. Liechty’s religious reflection is, above all, grounded in a real human Jesus whose orientation is theocentric, not focused on himself. He suggests that the church needs to move beyond dogma to rediscover a Jesus who models the way of acceptance of mortality in his teachings and life of nonviolence. He supports the uniqueness and universal relevance of Jesus but criticizes those who hold to the superiority and exclusiveness of Christian truth. Though Liechty views Jesus as the "paradigmatic incarnation of God’s spirit in history," he advocates that the church become more open and accepting of a wide spectrum opinions in relation to the doctrine of the Trinity. The Trinity compromises the Oneness of God, and is simply unnecessary baggage from the tradition that is no longer functional for healing, ethical responsibility, and dialogue with persons of other monotheistic faiths. Liechty’s controlling principle is a "functional social and political hermeneutic." He reminds us that Anabaptists held to a diversity of points of view on this dogma. He criticizes a number of contemporary Mennonite theologians who make the Trinity central to their thought. His ideas are sure to provoke further conversation among Mennonite theologians. In view of Liechty’s own functional hermeneutic, could not one make a persuasive rendering of trinitarian thought that serves the very path of acceptance that leads to healing and renewal of the human spirit for which Liechty yearns? Is that not what Gordon Kaufman (a theologian to whom Liechty is deeply indebted) does in his major work, In Face of Mystery? In a provocative appendix on September 11, Liechty rightly challenges pacifists to think through, more carefully than we have, that we do benefit from defense and protection, and we do desire protection and defense from harm. Liechty answers his own challenge with a form of vocational pacifism. Though we do benefit from protection, pacifist Christians should not participate in violence in the defense of the nation, lest we be "salt without savor." In a democratic and pluralistic society there is a need for people with an alternative vision that transcends national self-interest and narrow patriotic loyalties. In our "post-Christian" world
of radical pluralism, Liechty is committed to a free
church perspective. He believes it is less bound to the
authoritarian structures of institutional religion. It is
thus ideally suited to respond to the deep spiritual
needs of people. This vision of life will nurture a
spirituality that involves an immediacy of relationship
with God, an ethic of discipleship oriented to following
the example of Jesus, and a commitment to the church as a
disciplined community where relationships of mutual love
and care are nurtured and sustained. Reflecting on Faith in a Post-Christian Time orders:
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