"Ya Mama Don't Dance. . ." (Thoughts on Moralism -- Part II)

William H. Willimon writes in his book Peculiar Speech - Preaching to the Baptized, "Unfortunately, most of the theology I learned in seminary was in the translation mode. Take this biblical image and translate it into something more palatable to the people who use Cuisinarts. The modern church has been willing to use every-one's language but its own. In conservative contexts, gospel speech is traded for dogmatic assertion and moralism, for self-help psychologies and narcotic mantras. In more liberal speech, talk tiptoes around the outrage of Christian discourse and ends up as an innocuous, though urbane, affirmation of the ruling order. Unable to preach Christ and him crucified, we preach humanity and it improved."