Living in the mix

" The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.” Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. I, ch. II:

Leslie Newbigin alludes to this quote as reflective of the situation in Western culture in our own day as well.

Spirituality is quite popular and accepted as long as it’s about how one attains some measure of interior, personal peace in a chaotic world.

The academic culture studies religion as a human phenomenon but is skeptical of the intellectual integrity of anyone who actually shapes their life by a particular faith. As one humanities professor at Bates College told me as he reflected on his conversion at the age of 50, “To acknowledge to my peers that I was now a Christian felt like I would be wearing a big sign on my forehead that said ‘I am stupid!’”

Politicians are glad to make alliances with religious movements that support their agenda with no intention whatsoever of actually endorsing the religion as uniquely true or becoming a committed member of that religion.

This is the mix in which we live. Many of us have a rich prayer and worship life and find strength, guidance and comfort from that. Yet we study and work in an environment that denies the reality of that core experience, or at least our understanding of its reality in terms of an actual relationship with the Living God. In light of the questioning we might receive when we speak of this experience, Newbigin writes, “What is really being asked is that we should show that the gospel is in accordance with the reigning plausibility structure of our society, that it accords with the assumptions which we normally do not doubt; and that is exactly what we cannot and must not do. ….we have to offer a new starting point for thought. The starting point is God’s revelation of his being and purpose in those events which form the substance of the Scriptures and which have their center and determining focus in…Jesus.” P. 28 Truth to Tell

So it is a question of where we ultimately place our trust. Will we lean on the current assumptions of our social and academic environment as expressing what is really true about the world and try to somehow fit our faith into that framework? Or will we lean on the assumption that in Jesus the new creation of God really is at work in the world and makes all things – even our approach to academics - new? As Newbigin says, we are not the first generation of Christians to face that sort of choice! Next time… a 4^th century cased study…