On the Verge of Reformation
Questions and comments:
Has the intellectual Christianity of the West broken away from the true core of biblical Christianity? What is biblical Christianity? Whose interpretation of scripture is more right than another's? Is there only one right? Is the rightness of a plurality of voices on biblical issues compatible with the one true Christianity? Why or why not? Is there an absolute right and an absolute wrong, God aside? Is there an absolute right and an absolute wrong, God included? Is a relative right and wrong incompatible with Christian beliefs? What is an absolute? Do true absolutes really exist within our experience as human beings? Are what we consider absolutes, absolutes for our individual selves and families that we use to organize our ethical lives, or for the global community. What about the human limitation of personal experience when labeling absolutes? If Christianity is an enculturated phenomenon passed on from generation to generation, then absolutes may be relative to a specific subculture within a specific paradigm. If Christianity is a linear temporal phenomenon with a supernatural God at its head, then are absolutes necessary and sufficient throughout all of history and the history yet to come for humans to live fruitful lives and achieve gracious salvation? Who defines absolutes? Is it us or God? Why can an absolute not be dynamic, plastic? God made nature as such.
In a society obssessed with postmodern thought, too anxious for something new, something different, is the arena of academia just looking beyond in hopes of something new, using the old tools of modernism to describe it? As of late, I have been careful not to use the term 'postmodernism' in a sentence and have critically questioned some professors and students who so quickly extend their faith to an unchecked idiom. To be quite honest, I think the academic world finds postmodern thinking attractive because it's new, it's not a set in stone concept or way of thinking (meaning intellectuals can intellectualize for hours without losing interest), and because it seemingly satisfies many debates.
But despite my doubt, something is brewing in the heart of men.
Western intellectual Christianity is not the dominant form of Chrisitianity and is limited to Europe and the United States especially. But Christianity is at a standstill in Western cultures. Africa, South America and Asia are continuing to grow by leaps and bounds each year, and will soon vastly outnumber Christians in the West. Christianity will look much different. Peoples in Africa have adapted a conservative, supernatural Christianity with their culture. Music is much more rhythmic, theology is much more liberative. The same is true in South America. Pentecostal and conservative supernatural Catholicism is on the rise with an emphasis on liberation and the supernatural aspect of the faith. I read an article from a Christian journal about two months ago that outlined a Christian's pilgrimmage from South Africa to the United States. He was/is a missionary sent to the United States to spread 'the Word' to, well, to put it simply, to those who have gotten it wrong: us. Pretty soon, I would wager within the next fifty years, Christianity will have a very different face altogether. A new Reformation and new Protestantism is on the move in the Third World, and America, being the rich nation that it is (with a superiority complex) doesn't even notice.
Christianity has become segmented into different denominations and sects because there are different takes on who is right and who is wrong, and because the world population is a plurality of different peoples in different places in different circumstances who have relatively different takes on theologies that all center around a catholic Christian message. (Do Christians celebrate differences among themselves or does the preoccupation with the self have more bearing, especially in the West?) ...
Christianity has a plurality of faces, taking on different attributes in different cultures. This is a fact. More than likely most would probably agree on key absolutes: There is a God and Christ is his son who graciously died for the sins of the world. Everything else is up to interpretation based upon a person's experience, research, relationships, etc... Feel free to add onto my list; these are just the Big Two. I'm not spoon-feeding you my own prolegomena -- I did that few blogs ago.
Enough rambling...back to work before I offend more people with my verbose flatulence.
Has the intellectual Christianity of the West broken away from the true core of biblical Christianity? What is biblical Christianity? Whose interpretation of scripture is more right than another's? Is there only one right? Is the rightness of a plurality of voices on biblical issues compatible with the one true Christianity? Why or why not? Is there an absolute right and an absolute wrong, God aside? Is there an absolute right and an absolute wrong, God included? Is a relative right and wrong incompatible with Christian beliefs? What is an absolute? Do true absolutes really exist within our experience as human beings? Are what we consider absolutes, absolutes for our individual selves and families that we use to organize our ethical lives, or for the global community. What about the human limitation of personal experience when labeling absolutes? If Christianity is an enculturated phenomenon passed on from generation to generation, then absolutes may be relative to a specific subculture within a specific paradigm. If Christianity is a linear temporal phenomenon with a supernatural God at its head, then are absolutes necessary and sufficient throughout all of history and the history yet to come for humans to live fruitful lives and achieve gracious salvation? Who defines absolutes? Is it us or God? Why can an absolute not be dynamic, plastic? God made nature as such.
In a society obssessed with postmodern thought, too anxious for something new, something different, is the arena of academia just looking beyond in hopes of something new, using the old tools of modernism to describe it? As of late, I have been careful not to use the term 'postmodernism' in a sentence and have critically questioned some professors and students who so quickly extend their faith to an unchecked idiom. To be quite honest, I think the academic world finds postmodern thinking attractive because it's new, it's not a set in stone concept or way of thinking (meaning intellectuals can intellectualize for hours without losing interest), and because it seemingly satisfies many debates.
But despite my doubt, something is brewing in the heart of men.
Western intellectual Christianity is not the dominant form of Chrisitianity and is limited to Europe and the United States especially. But Christianity is at a standstill in Western cultures. Africa, South America and Asia are continuing to grow by leaps and bounds each year, and will soon vastly outnumber Christians in the West. Christianity will look much different. Peoples in Africa have adapted a conservative, supernatural Christianity with their culture. Music is much more rhythmic, theology is much more liberative. The same is true in South America. Pentecostal and conservative supernatural Catholicism is on the rise with an emphasis on liberation and the supernatural aspect of the faith. I read an article from a Christian journal about two months ago that outlined a Christian's pilgrimmage from South Africa to the United States. He was/is a missionary sent to the United States to spread 'the Word' to, well, to put it simply, to those who have gotten it wrong: us. Pretty soon, I would wager within the next fifty years, Christianity will have a very different face altogether. A new Reformation and new Protestantism is on the move in the Third World, and America, being the rich nation that it is (with a superiority complex) doesn't even notice.
Christianity has become segmented into different denominations and sects because there are different takes on who is right and who is wrong, and because the world population is a plurality of different peoples in different places in different circumstances who have relatively different takes on theologies that all center around a catholic Christian message. (Do Christians celebrate differences among themselves or does the preoccupation with the self have more bearing, especially in the West?) ...
Christianity has a plurality of faces, taking on different attributes in different cultures. This is a fact. More than likely most would probably agree on key absolutes: There is a God and Christ is his son who graciously died for the sins of the world. Everything else is up to interpretation based upon a person's experience, research, relationships, etc... Feel free to add onto my list; these are just the Big Two. I'm not spoon-feeding you my own prolegomena -- I did that few blogs ago.
Enough rambling...back to work before I offend more people with my verbose flatulence.
posted by Timcom at 10:35 AM
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