Moving from the assumptions of Christendom into a Post-Christendom, Mission-focused praxis.
“In a London school a teenager with no church connections hears the Christmas story for the first time. His teacher tells it well and he is fascinated by this amazing story. Risking his friends’ mockery, after the lessons he thanks her for the story. One thing had disturbed him, so he asks: ‘Why did they give the baby a swear-word for his name?’”
When I was growing up in Detroit, Michigan in the 1950’s and 60’s, there were a few cultural realities on which we base the rhythm of our lives. One of which was that everything was closed on Sundays except local churches. You could not buy groceries, shop at department stores, look for a new car, or even go to the movies. Everyone assumed that it was the Sabbath day…one to keep “holy” by clearing it of the mundane. In my neighborhood, everyone made his or her way to one of two local churches. You were either Roman Catholic or Lutheran. If you did not make your way to church, you hid out in your home as to not be regarded as overtly “irreligious”. Other realities included the unchallenged habits revolving around issues of faith – the recitation of the Ten Commandments in my third grade class at Von Steuben Elementary School and the unapologetic celebration of distinctively Christian holidays. Most people that I knew could articulate a good portion of the Christian story. The meta-narrative of Christendom had been fully integrated into daily life.
Over the decades of my life, times have been changing. Christianity, though still influential in a cross-section of Western culture, is not as prevalent as it once was. The Christian story is not central in life. Christians no longer dominate the majority of people in local neighborhoods. Many people who trust and follow Jesus Christ no longer feel like they are at home in culture but now experience daily existence as more of an “exile” or aliens in a foreign land. For the first time in many centuries, Christ-followers in western culture are able to tell the story of the faith to people who have no idea of its prime content. Ignorance of Christianity is increasing and church buildings are becoming as alien as mosques or gurudwaras. This is the phenomenon that some have labeled “Post-Christendom”.
In order to understand Post-Christendom, we must at least give a brief description of the observable fact of Christendom is history. Most church historians would agree that the foundation of Christendom began with the Emperor Constantine in the 4th century A.D. Whether Constantine’s conversion to Christianity was sincere or politically motivated will be debated for centuries to come. Undoubtedly, his insistence that Christianity be adopted as the imperially favored religion of the Roman Empire made a huge impact on the Church. His reign as Emperor was long enough to establish a history sweeping solidification of Christianity’s preferred status. Even with Constantine’s influential edict thrusting Christianity to the forefront, it was not until a theologian and bishop by the name of Augustine brought theological clarity and innovation that Christendom actually took shape. Augustine wrote prolifically and defended the Church against its earliest, substantial foes. In addition to his monumental contribution to the theology of Christendom, during the time of Augustine, the western and growing eastern expression of Christianity began to institutionalize what has become known as the “Christendom shift”. Some of the factors in this shift included:
• The movement of the Church from the margins of society to the center.
• The assumption that all citizens were Christian by birth.
• The development of a society where there was no freedom of religion.
• The development of a society where political power was divinely authenticated.
• Where orthodoxy was not only protected by Church leaders but by the state.
• Where morality was legislated.
• Infant baptism became the norm for most of the population as an obligatory incorporation into society.
• Where clergy became separate and not equal from their counter-parts, the laity. Clergy were distinguished as “more faithful” and enjoyed the “highest calling”.
• No distinction between the “world” and the Church.
• No need for the world “pluralism”. Everything was united in the institution of the Church.
• “Conversion” was a term exclusive to those individuals taking monastic orders.
• “Evangelism” became that movement by which foreign cultures were coerced into the Church by whatever means necessary including “holy” war.
• The Church’s role moved quickly toward maintenance and not mission.
• Loving the enemy was replaced by the “just war” or “holy war” justification for battling the enemy.
Lesslie Newbigin, foremost theologian and missiologist, commented about the breakdown of Christendom when he stated, “in this phrase I mean Christendom’s dissolution by which Christianity had become almost the folk-religion of Western Europe.” His clarification of the influence of Christendom is helpful,
“That (Christendom) synthesis was the work of the thousand-year period during which the peoples of Western Europe, hemmed in by the power of Islam to east and south, had the Gospel wrought into the very stuff of their social and personal life, so that the whole population could be conceived of as the corpus Christianum. That conception is the background of all the Reformation theologies. They take it for granted. They are set not in a missionary situation but in this situation in which Christendom is taken for granted. This means that in their doctrines of the Church they are defining their position over against one another within the context of the corpus Christianum. They are not defusing the Church as over against a pagan world. It is not necessary to point out how profoundly this affects the structure of their thinking.”
Post-Christendom is the culture that is emerging as the Christian story loses its primacy as that which shapes lives and institutions. In societies where the Christian worldview dominated for centuries, the demise of Christendom involves dramatic changes. Power structures and mindsets are changing. Cultural shifts occur as new stories are adopted and/or as skepticism rises about any or all-explanatory or culture-shaping meta-narratives. Post-Christendom is a reality that includes the following transitions:
• From center to the margins – the Christian story no longer holds a preferred place in culture.
• From majority to minority – Christian population is no longer the undisputed majority of population.
• From settlers to sojourners – Post-Christendom creates a community of people who feel that they are exiles and aliens.
• From privilege to plurality – Post-Christendom sees the inclusion of other stories and faith systems as equally valid.
• From control to witness – no longer able to coerce society, Christians now influence via witness and lifestyle.
• From maintenance to mission – with the demise of the status quo, post-Christendom wrestles with a new understanding of mission.
• From institution to movement – there is a new understanding of the power of movement and the fluidity of a non-reliance on institutionalism.
Some may see these transitions are a tragedy. Others, including myself, see this age as an age of excitement and opportunity. Christ-followers have not had to deal with these dynamics since the early days of the Christian movement. It is not an easy environment to live but it does provide a chance to see faith and life from a radically new perspective. It also demands new ways of thinking about mission, discipleship, leadership development and theology as the movement of Christianity enters one of its most challenging eras in history.
“So what?” That is the question I try to pose to myself as I encounter any new information or try to learn something that could have the potential of impacting my life. If we have moved into an era of Post-Christendom, what are the “take aways”…what leassons do we need to learn as we attempt to be faithful to the call of our Lord Jesus and track His Spirit’s movement in our lives and the lives of others? Part 2 (practical implications) coming later this week!
Comments or questions: rdugall@apu.edu
Bibliography:
Lesslie Newbigin, "Household of God - Lectures on the Nature of the Church"
Stuart Murray, "Post-Christendom"
Rodney Clapp, "Peculiar People - The Church as Culture in a Post-Christendom Society"
No comments:
Post a Comment