ABSTRACT
The “eclipse of biblical narrative,” in modernist scriptural study and scholarship, detailed by Hans Frei, in turn has meant marginalizing the particulars of Jesus’ ministry and praxis as orienting guides for Christian life. As evidenced in the synoptic Gospels, the passion of Jesus radically scales down all other desires, subordinating them to the central imperatives of proclaiming and living the new reality of the Kingdom. Some trends within Catholicism are pushing against the double-standard counsels of the Christian life. Most notably, the Church’s renewed theology of baptism, which sees the sacrament as binding all—equally—in service to Jesus’ mission on earth, undercuts much of the theological ground from beneath minimalist readings of popular discipleship. For Catholics and other Christians to become more passionate about being church, they must realize how much in-house work is necessary in order to disagree appropriately, much less derive common agendas.
