The "Angle Diagram" is a quick estimating tool for understanding where individuals or groups are "located" in terms of two dimensions of life: Spirituality and Humanity.http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?language=english&version=RSVIf you make a little graph with the vertical axes indicating spiritual maturity and the horizontal axis indicating human maturity, you can then place any person or any group on the graph in a way that indicates their emphasis on (or maturity in) those two dimensions. You can also indicate where the person or group has been in its history, where it is now, and where it is headed. You can indicate a person's maturity level on both dimensions, where they like to "hang out", and where they like to "eat". It also gives some clues as to which people a particular group will likely appeal to at any particular time or circumstance.
It important to be aware that
- Sub-groups within larger denominations sometimes are in different positions from their larger grouping.
- Individuals may be in a variety of different positions and have had a variety of different journey maps.
- Leaders will have had their own journeys, and may be trying to move a group from where it is now located to a different position on the graph.
I find this tool a very good tool for quickly assessing what is being said and done by a group, without having to know a lot of detail as to their particular beliefs. I also find the graph useful in a loose generic way in regards to religious groups outside my own, but I tend to "hold the tool more loosely in my hand" in those situations, as they are farther beyond my own experience.
The usefulness of this tool is seen as we examine the two divisions in the Protestant Christian Church. Since the Reformation, Protestant groups have tended to locus themselves around one or another of those two axes, taking one or the other of those emphases.
The one group of churches, is clustered along the vertical axis, and its leadership tries, for the most part, to move them "upward" towards increased "holiness", that is, a closer relationship with God, which expresses itself in a more righteous personal life. The underlying theology expresses the imperatives of the "Perceiver" (from the Gifts Model of personality types), with its outlook that "if you change the inside of a person, the outside will also change", and its emphasis on "cosmic justice" issues. Individual groups will modify this often, but that is the underlying outlook. The two buzzwords amongst this group of Churches are "prayer" and "evangelism", not that they necessarily do any more of it than the others, but that is the most common set of activities people are exhorted to undertake. Their theology can be seen in the Christology issues addressed by the medieval theologian Anselm. Initiation through Baptism tends to be "adult" baptism by "profession of faith" because it marks the beginning of one's journey to full spiritual maturity in Christ. The interpretation of the "garden of Eden" story tends to the "one tree" version: emphasizing a choice between drawing life from God or the world, so a theme is gratitude for his salvation with no doubt about the security of his provision.
The other group of churches is clustered long the horizontal axis, and its leadership tries , for the most part to move them "outward" towards increased "humanity", that is, a greater practical expression of God's love in self fulfillment or actualization as a whole person interacting lovingly in the world. The underlying theology expresses the imperatives of the "Compassion Person" (from the Gifts Model of personality types)with its emphasis on "suffering with" others, creating pleasure and removing pain. Sub groups may have modifications of this emphasis but that is the underlying approach. The buzzword in this group is "social action", not that they necessarily do any more of it than others, but that is what they are most commonly exhorted to do. Their theology can be seen in the Christology issues addressed by the medieval theologian Abelard. Initiation tends to be as children owing to the emphasis on the growth into Humanity in Christ, with some sort of "confirmation" of that initiation taking place later as he "spiritual part of that journey is taken up as an adult. The interpretation of the "Garden of Eden" story tends to the "two tree" version, emphasizing a choice between drawing life and attitude to the world from God or self, as one lives in the World God provides, so a theme is gratitude for God's provision, with no doubt about the security of his salvation.
Needless to say, groups from these two differing emphases have charactures of each other, usually focussing on the part that the other lacks:
- The vertical emphasis group are viewed as being "so holy they are no earthly good", while the horizontal emphasis group are regarded as being "Spiritually bankrupt and Biblically illiterate";
- The Vertical group are viewed as having the "Heebeegeebees", while the Horizontal group are viewed as being "flatliners";
- The vertical group are viewed as being "(W)holy unpractical", while the horizontal group are viewed as being "Practically unholy";
- The vertical group are viewed as being "social klutzes", while the horizontal group are viewed as "splashing in the shallows of spiritual life", enamoured by "new age" thought;
- The vertical group are regarded as confusing the "world" (which all agree is in a shambles) with the horizontal "humanity" dimension which Christ invites us into, while the horizontal group are regarded as confusing spirituality with emotion, forsaking the riches of that distinction;
- The vertical group is regarded as not believing God can only act directly God's real acts can only be seen in the spectacular), while the horizontal group are regarded as believing that God never acts directly (they wouldn't believe a miracle if they saw one);
- The vertical groups' leaders are seen as "guilt manipulating" their people by "dangling the question of assured salvation over their heads" (if you are bad, you can lose your eternal salvation), while the horizontal groups' leaders are seen as "guilt manipulating" their people by "dangling the question of assured providence over their heads" (If you're bad, God will cut off your provision here and now);
All this is just a matter of emphasis of course. In both groups Christ is regarded as being fully spiritual and fully human; (often expressed as wholly human and wholly divine) which would place him over on the upper right hand part of the diagram. That means that he would be inviting people to be his "body" or earthly expression at that location on the chart, and our journey over to that location would start wherever we happen to be and wind its way over there as we grew up both "spiritually" and "humanly". The desired trajectory then would be on the diagonal (hence my name the "angle diagram"), though our route might be somewhat more circuitous.
It is interesting to note that the United Church of Canada, established in 1925 was a "marriage of economic convenience" between denominations from both these two axes. Methodists and EUB were from the vertical and the Presbyterians and Congregationalists were from the horizontal. As the denomination now unravels, it is interesting to note that individuals and congregations tend to drift to one axis or the other, but that for some, neither of the extremes are very satisfying any more. For those who were profoundly affected by those denominations living in such close proximity (and for others finding the blessings of both emphasis in other ways) there is a distinct lack of balance in both of the extremes. They feel a call move towards Christ's fullness in both dimensions, rather than one or the other. To use the mathematical expressions for the graph, it's not rise or run but some equation of "rise over run".