Friday, August 23, 2013

The Cumulative Effects of Post-Modernity on Christianity Today- " A Mile Wide But Only An Inch Deep"

In one of the few exchanges I have ever had with a Christian leader in which I felt constrained to speak candidly and some might even say harshly I recall the words coming out of my mouth that if things continue on the path that had been apparent for some time, he would end up with a fellowship "a mile wide but only an inch deep". My words were not intended as a personal assault on his integrity or his abilities but were an observation of a trend which I believed was apparent over wide swathes of evangelical Christianity. That is not to say that I was essentially any different, but that perhaps like the alcoholic searching for an answer, the first step towards healing is a recognition of the problem.

In the following video Ravi Zacharias alludes to this problem of shallowness in the American Church which does not have a monopoly on the problem but is indicative of something common to the Church in Western culture. We here in New Zealand are similarly in dire need of coming to grips with a problematic system of belief that seems to run high on emotions and feelings but lacks the cohesive torque necessary for deep personal renewal and cultural shift.

Thankfully, this situation has not gone unnoticed by others. "The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind" is a book by evangelical Christian scholar Mark A. Noll, who is currently Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame. This critical yet constructive book explains the decline of evangelical thought in North America and seeks to find, within evangelicalism itself, resources for turning the situation around. (Wikipedia)

"The scandal of the evangelical mind, " says historian Mark Noll, "is that there is not much of an evangelical mind."  
Unfortunately this problem of shallowness does not end with North America, nor indeed Western culture. We have "succesfully" exported this brand of Christianity "lite" elsewhere and the results are all too clear.

J.M. Njoroge of RZIM laments the lack of depth in the Church in Africa, and in a piece entitled: Apologetics- Why Your Church Needs It.  he writes an excellent article exploring the reasons why there is an apalling difference in the way the Gospel has failed to deeply impact African cultures compared to the deep sociological changes that occurred in Great Britain in the times of John Wesley and George Whitfield and others.

The impact of the Gospel was so deep and widespread it became known as "The Great Awakening". More than one historical commentator has remarked that had it not been for this widespread embrace of the Christian hope at a deep cultural level, Great Britain also would have been experiencing its own cultural revolution along the same lines that was then raging just a few miles across the English Channel in France. That period left an indelible picture in my own mind where the Guillotine was kept constantly busy, and chaos and blood intermingled freely on the streets. The pace of that blade was matched equally by the grotesque gawping bystanders whose knitting needles barely paused their ceaseless clacking as the heads rolled one after the other.

On a website dedicated to "The Great Awakening" a clergyman from the era just prior to the awakening is cited where he deplores the spiritual condition of England. Archaic language aside, it is strongly reminiscent of the current spiritual decline of Christendom:
"It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry; but that it is, not at length, discovered to be fictitious. And accordingly they treat it, as if, in the present age, this were an agreed point among all people of discernment; and nothing remained, but to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were by way of reprisals, for its having so long interrupted the pleasures of the world."

J.M. Njoroge:

...the Gospel in Africa ...does not seem to have the impact one would expect it to have...
[D]espite the seriousness of the physical needs, I am convinced that the biggest problem Africa faces is ideological,,,Reflecting on the impact of the Gospel in Africa over the last few decades, missiologist Ralph Winter laments the fact that it does not seem to have the impact one would expect it to have in places where a majority of the people claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.

Even Rwanda was considered to be one of the most Christianized nations in the world just before the genocide. Winter refers to this as “the nightmare of a thought that our vast global, hard-won expansion of Christianity is falling to pieces before our eyes."
His conclusion is worth pondering: A Christianity that does not teach the Bible points the way nowhere but to New Age groping, ambiguity and relativism. However, a Christianity that only teaches the Bible is blind to all the other knowledge God wants us to discover and value.  A full examination of how we got where we are goes well beyond the scope of this short article. Suffice it to say that the church, for the most part, did not respond well to the assaults on the faith that gained prominence in the intellectual centers of the world in the nineteenth century. Philosopher J.P. Moreland identifies three principal areas in which the Gospel was poorly defended against intellectual attacks: philosophy, science, and German “higher criticism.”

...the real problem...is not hard to identify...the version of Christianity that was planted in Africa was largely divorced from the intellectual legacy of Christendom that had produced first-rate Christian scientists, moral philosophers, political thinkers, artists, business entrepreneurs...It was instead the product of a pietistic strain of evangelicalism which was already in intellectual retreat in the West...

Bible institutes were built to train lay believers to reach the lost for Christ, rather than to equip a generation of believers to defend their faith. As Evangelicals retreated from the broader society, an unhealthy escapism with an emphasis on End Times teaching became popular. The result was a severe marginalization of Christian ideas from the public arena. Needless to say, reaching souls for Christ is the central objective of our calling, and as Spirit-filled believers, we “groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons” (Romans 8:23). But in the meantime, we are to endure the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in the believers (Galatians 4:19). If Moreland’s analysis is largely correct, then the real problem that plagues believers in places like Africa is not hard to identify. Simply stated, the version of Christianity that was planted in Africa was largely divorced from the intellectual legacy of Christendom that had produced first-rate Christian scientists, moral philosophers, political thinkers, artists, business entrepreneurs, etc. It was instead the product of a pietistic strain of evangelicalism which was already in intellectual retreat in the West by the time it was coming to maturity in Africa. In short, since the advent of the missionary movement in the latter eighteenth century, the Judeo- Christian tradition has never been rooted in Africa as it had once been in the West.
Njoroge continues his article with a strong message confirming the importance of a Church dedicated to defending the faith and the essential nature of engaging cultures at a worldview level on a par with the best of the thinkers of other belief systems.
"If we do not learn to value the life of the mind, then we will be doing a great disservice to all the missionaries who have sacrificed their resources, time, health, and even lives to take the Gospel to places like Africa. In spite of the anti-intellectual flavor of the version of the faith that made it to Africa, the missionaries proved faithful with what was at their disposal."
It seems we are constantly having to revisit history in order to avoid repeating its mistakes.
“For though argument does not create conviction, the lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish.”
Austin Farrer “The Christian Apologist”(1904-1968)

Clearly the African church has the same problem as the Westernized church-  a lack of depth in Christian character and the flow on effects within society- with one major difference. In the West- though it is in decline- the culture in general still live in the afterglow of a Christianized conscience. The culture is in effect living on the borrowed moral capital of a prior Christian worldview- even as the source of it is denied.
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: 2 Timothy 3:5 (KJV)
J.M. Njoroge:
"The West may presently be busy hacking away at the root of its moral foundations, but Africa in one sense has yet even to break ground in order to lay down a strong biblical foundation within its many cultures."
"An expenditure of words without an income of ideas will lead to conceptual bankruptcy"
Ravi Zacharias