Contemporary Christianity in a Post-Religious World
I don’t presume to be able to comment on something as amorphous as “Contemporary Christianity,” at least not in the depth that others are carrying out the discussion. Rather, I would like to put forth a recent experience I had that has helped confirm other experiences and observations I have had over the years, and that provides at least part of the impetus for a website such as this.
My oldest son is a sophomore in a non-sectarian New England liberal arts college. He elected to take an “Old-Testament-as-Literature” type of course, and occasionally we converse about it. What is striking to me is the manner of interaction he describes with his classmates.
Now, what I am about to say will not make the 6:00 news, nor will it be anything other than stating the obvious for most readers. Still, let me make the point, for it is my experience it is not taken as seriously as it should.
The students in my son’s class are, let us say, not really evangelical. Most of them are certainly not Christian in any viable sense of the word. But neither are they “liberal” in any viable sense of the word. In fact, I would neither describe them as “agnostics” or “atheists,” since both terms presume at least some minimal interaction with what they are either unsure about or dead set against.
These young people are, in fact, more than simply “post-Christian.” They seem to be post-religious. They may have some sense of spirituality, perhaps even find themselves on a self-conscious spiritual journey. But the ultimate truth claims of any religion, let alone the gospel, are not on their radar screens.
They are not primed to come to church to seek out spiritual solace, let alone be challenged. The world in which many of us operate, i.e., which religion is best, or more narrowly, which version of Christianity is best, is not so much ridiculed as it is incomprehensible.
This may strike some as a bit reductionistic of an analysis of our current religious climate, but, in my view, it is born out not simply by this anecdote but by virtually every aspect of the world in which I live every day. People just don’t care.
I have heard it said more than once that the contemporary West has more in common with the paganism of 1st century Palestine–where there was no “Christian subculture” to complicate things–than with the America of our parents. I think this is true, and this is the world into which we as Christians are called to speak. This will involve some risk, some discomfort, some moments of “tearing down” and “building up,” both our own views as well as those of others.
I am interested in seeing how I, in my own little micro-universe of irrelevancy, biblical studies, can bring to bear a field that is my life’s work on the world in which I live. I wish to be engaged in such a project so that I can better understand what it means to have a biblical, Christ-centered understanding of myself and world, so that I can do a better job of representing our Lord (i.e., king, master) wherever I happen to be.
I hope this website will contribute toward that end.
More specifically, two of my areas of interest are Biblical Theology and Biblical Studies. As I hope to clarify, Biblical Theology can offer a paradigm for “building up” our understanding of Scripture that has been challenged (“torn down”) by numerous developments in the modern study of Scripture (as well as many other areas).
I am not quite so self-centered as to think that these two interests of mine should be shared by all. Nor do I think they will shift the balance or win the day. Rather, the task calls for biblicists, theologians, pragmatists, historians, etc., to work collaboratively. All I feel I can do is, as I said before, work in my own area, and contribute as best as I can to help myself and others be more fitting bearers of Christ’s image to a world that has lost interest with “religion,” or “the church,” or “Christianity.”
Interactions such as the ones I envision might help us develop models of Scripture and the Christian faith that are firmly rooted in Scripture and that could provide counter-points to their perceived irrelevancy in our world.
