I happened to be skimming through a book from my college days and came across this great quote from Charles Cousar’s A Theology of the Cross:
If the church is to move beyond triumphalism and individualism, it must from its traditions discover afresh its own individuality and discern its identity in distinction from the dominant culture. The Pauline letters with their insistence that the risen Christ is the crucified one represent a slice of the church’s tradition that speaks pointedly and persuasively to that task. (pgs. 20-21)
This may seem too big a task to accomplish, but if this rediscovery begins in our own churches, where it can most readily, then it becomes something we can seek out with purpose.
Early Church Studies 