March 5 An Underground Lay Movement: The Early Days of Christianity Dr. Matthew Myer Boulton,  Professor of Worship & Preaching Andover Newton Theological School   Download (right-click save) this version for podcasts (16-bit, 6.5 megabytes) or right-click "Open in New Window" to listen now (stream)  this version below (32-bit, 13 megabytes, clearer but bigger download) Agenda Program (PDF) Lecture Outline to Follow

“An Underground Lay Movement:  The Early Days of Christianity”

Matthew Myer Boulton, Assistant Professor of Worship and Preaching
Andover Newton Theological School

Lecture Outline
Old South Church, Boston
March 5, 2006

As an outsider – and a friend – of Old South Church, I want to make 3 proposals to you all, as you consider the next chapter in the Old South’s history.  And each of these proposals is grounded in the history of early Christianity.

1) That Old South become a flagship church in Boston for interfaith dialogue

2) That Old South recommit itself to exploring, understanding, and living through the sacraments:  baptism and Communion

3) That Old South found a new Protestant monastic community for the 21st century

So, one at a time:

1) That Old South become a flagship church in Boston for interfaith dialogue

    a. Early Christians were – Jews!

    b. There was a range of early Christian ways to think about their relation to Judaism – all of them equally “early” or “original”

    c. Old South today could become a flagship congregation devoted to Christian-Jewish dialogue, and to Christian-Jewish-Muslim dialogue – perhaps in partnership with Andover Newton Theological School (and ANTS’s neighbor, Hebrew College)

2) That Old South recommit itself to exploring, understanding, and living through the sacraments:  baptism and Communion

    a. Early Christian baptism was often figured as an “ordination” or “anointment” as a priest, into “a royal priesthood”

    b. Early Christian communities had no “pastors” or “bishops” – they were home-based worship services of equals

    c. Women often played key roles – perhaps because the home was understood as a realm in which women could lead

    d. Communion was often in the form of a meal (see Luke’s account of the Last Supper); communion was (and is!) how Christians build community

3) That Old South found a new Protestant monastic community for the 21st century

    a. When church buildings emerged, some early Christians worshiped in the town square, at the church (these morning and evening services (before and after work), the so-called “Cathedral office.”

    b. Some early Christians wanted a more integrated, all-encompassing spiritual life (to “pray without ceasing”):  the so-called “ascetic” stream of Christianity, often carried out in “the desert,” away from city life.

    c. But some Christians didn’t want to choose between these two options.  After Constantine, when Christianity became the “establishment” religion, these Christians (most of them lay people) wanted an deeper, all-encompassing, thoroughgoing spiritual life (like the ascetics), but they wanted to stay in the city (like the Cathedral office worshippers).  These Christians founded new institutions:  urban monasteries, devoted to spiritual life, but also devoted to city life.

    d. There is a “new monasticism” afoot today, all over the world, as people (often in cities) found intentional communities – live-in or not live-in – devoted to robust spiritual life and the heart of city life.  And Old South could be a home in Boston for this kind of new community…