Whither, Liberal Christianity

As I sit here in my favorite coffee shop, I cannot help but pay attention to the conversation taking place at the table next to me. A group of pastors from one of the largest and most prominent progressive mainline churches in our community are meeting and talking about various issues. Among other things, they are talking in general terms about their evangelism plan but have made no mention of Jesus Christ or the Gospels.  One of them just remarked that she was reading Rob Bell’s recent book about Hell, and that she has really enjoyed it because “progressives already know all of this, but he (Bell) is addressing evangelicals.” That comment itself says a lot in that it reinforces the notion that conservatives and evangelicals read the Scriptures through a very different lens than do progressives.

(Note: Some may argue that conservative and evangelical are, or should be, synonymous terms. We will save this topic for later!)

This provides me a perfect segue to discuss an article in last week’s New York Times by writer Ross Douthat titled Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved? Douthat charts the increasing progressive theological trajectory which the historic Protestant mainline churches have pursued over the last 50 years. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/opinion/sunday/douthat-can-liberal-christianity-be-saved.html?_r=2&ref=religionandbelief

Many mainline church leaders over these past five decades have claimed that Christianity has needed an alternative reading of the Gospel, and that mainline denominations are responding to the need for social justice and an increasingly pluralistic society. Nothing captures this idea better than former Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong’s 1998 book, Why Christianity Must Change or Die. Douthat observes that Bishop Spong advocates for a complete rejection of traditional Christian teachings such as the Virgin Birth or a literal bodily Resurrection. These tales, according to the Rt. Rev. Spong, should be seen as no more than ancient myths which have no relevance in the modern world, and should be reinterpreted as such. In a multi-faith society, it is arrogant and intolerant to claim that any one religious system should be seen as the vessel for absolute truth, thus the Protestant mainline has embraced a Gospel that accommodates multiple pathways to salvation and rejects literal interpretations of the Biblical narrative.

These churches are also in a state of utter collapse, which, as anyone who is even a casual observer of church and society, will recognize as old news. What Douthat points out, though, is that mainline leaders seem to have turned a blind eye to their impending demise. Douthat writes that many voices blindly “hail these forms of Christianity as a model for the future without reckoning with their decline.” He concludes with a dire prediction for mainline leaders should they continue to ignore the reality of their evaporating memberships: “they will change, and change, and die.”

A piece which could be considered somewhat of a companion article to Douthat’s appeared this week on the The Christian Century’s online site. http://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2012-07/rename-mainline

Amy Frykholm, the Century’s associate editor, posted an entry titled Rename the Mainline? in which she offers remarks on historian David Hollinger’s belief that the phrase “Protestant mainline” should be refashioned as “ecumenical Protestants.” Frykholm correctly observes that “so-called mainline Protestants are less ‘main’ and less ‘line’ than they’ve ever been.” She also remarks that the term “liberal” should be discarded when describing mainline Protestantism because it is primarily a political term. It is a very short article and worth reading, but what I found most interesting was one of the comments that a reader left. This person really hit the heart of the matter with the comment: “Frankly, you guys have more problems than just the name itself. You need to fix these problems first.”

Ouch! I agree with this person that simply adopting a new term to refer to mainline Protestantism will not cure the ills which plague progressive Christianity. In fact, I would answer Douthat’s question Can Liberal Christianity be Saved? with the following answer: NO. Liberal Christianity is already dead, thus simply renaming it is a meaningless exercise. I am not saying that these progressive denominations are going to fade away into oblivion. Some of their individual congregations may disappear, and church property sold off, but the Protestant mainline – no matter what term it uses to describe itself – will always exist in some shape or form. To use a crass marketing term, the mainline will always have a baseline market share which will prevent its outright extinction. As for its place in the larger Christian family, however, liberal Christianity has ceased to be relevant in any meaningful way.

The problem with liberal Christianity is not that it has done a poor job in telling its story, or that it has not offered enough modern programmatic accoutrements to attract new congregants: the problem is liberal Christianity itself. Douthat correctly points out that, unlike its conservative and evangelical counterparts, liberal Christianity has departed from the idea of “a personal transcendent God, the divinity of Christ” to such an extent that it does not “seem to be offering anything you can’t already get from a purely secular liberalism.” Despite the mainline’s steady protestations, there is nothing essentially counter-cultural that one will hear in sermons coming from progressive pulpits. If there is indeed nothing unique about Jesus Christ; if there is no bodily resurrection; if Jesus is to be regarded as merely a social radical, and not the Son of God eternally begotten of the Father; if there is no salvation through Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross; if pastors continue to talk about evangelism and outreach but do so without Christ… then why bother going to church at all? Until the historic mainline denominations offer something more than what one can find in secular modernism, more and more people will continue to not bother. Perhaps the question should not be whether liberal Christianity can be saved, but can liberal Christianity be resurrected?

Tragedy in Colorado

I had intended to get into some theological weeds today regarding an article which appeared in the New York Times earlier in the week. Instead, we awoke this morning to learn of the tragic news coming out of Colorado about yet another senseless act of violence. A gunmen opened fire in an Aurora, CO movie theater at the midnight showing of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. At this point 12 people have been killed and at least 50 people have been injured. The police have the suspected gunman in custody, and we have just learned that his apartment was boobytrapped with sophisticated explosives. It will take some time before we know what this person's motives were, or the state of his mental condition.

It is altogether natural that at moments such as this we should feel sorrow, confusion, and distress. It also easy to give in to visceral emotions such as anger toward the suspect, and speak the venom-filled language of retribution and vengeance. We feel tremendous empathy for the victims and their families not only because of the incomprehensible nature of this crime, but because we know that such an act can happen anywhere at anytime.

That is why in moments such as this the only place we can turn for true solace and guidance is to the Lord. With that in mind I offer up this prayer from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer:

For the Human Family
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; united us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes here on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Given that I am one who in difficult moments often turns to music, I also offer up this inspiring piece of music from the great American composer Aaron Copland to help renew our faith in the goodness of God's creation. Even amidst sorrow and dismay let us never forget that with God's help we can make this a better world.

"The Promise of Living" from Aaron Copland's "The Tender Land"

Heritage

My 85 year old uncle passed away last week and my mother, my wife and I travelled to Eastern Kentucky for his funeral. What set out to be a simple overnight trip for the visitation and funeral turned out to be a very thought-provoking trip about heritage and culture.

When my ancestors from Ireland and Germany came to the new world at the end of the 18^th century and beginning of the 19^th century they made their way to the mountains and hollows of Appalachia and largely stayed there until a handful of their 20^th century descendants moved on – mostly to the Bluegrass region of Central KY. My parents left the mountains in the mid-1960s, due to my dad’s recognition that the region offered limited economic opportunities for him and his family. Another way of saying that is much more blunt: Dad did not want to be trapped working in a coal mine all of his life. Once he and Mom moved to Lexington he found many more economic opportunities he had long dreamed of – he eventually became the owner of two businesses and also fulfilled his dream of owning a very small thoroughbred horse farm. Dad did not necessarily look back with fondness at his old home in the mountains. He more or less viewed it as a land of limited economic and cultural opportunities and hardships. Once he moved to Lexington he became a true citizen of the Bluegrass, and had no desire to return other than to visit family.

My mother could not be more opposite. All of her life I have heard her say that she would move back in a heartbeat, and that she would be perfectly happy in a log cabin nestled away in the mountains. Unlike my dad, Mom has never wavered from her idyllic view of the mountains’ beauty and the romanticism of the culture and way of life. Even the coal tipples that dot the mountain sides, which are as ubiquitous as the steeples of the Old Regular Baptist, Primitive Baptist and Pentecostal churches, hold a special place in her heart because they are so ingrained in the landscape of the region. To be fair, it’s not that my mother does not see the geographic devastation of strip mining or the financial hardships that confront many of the communities and families in “coal country,” but she has always focused on the majestic beauty of the landscape and the resiliency of the people as attributes which vastly outweigh the negatives.

View from Pine Mountain

I suppose my own point of view is a blend of both my mom and dad. Visiting my family in Eastern KY has always been like an immigrant to America who takes his children to the “old world.” My mother could never understand my muted reaction when she would say to me “this is where you are from.” I would always counter with, “no, Mom – this is where YOU are from. I’m from the Bluegrass.” Make no mistake – they are very different regions of the Commonwealth, not only in terms of economic opportunity but in geography and culture as well. My parents were raised in the shadows of Pine Mountain and Black Mountain and were accustomed to seeing big trucks filled with coal or lumber race up and down the roadways. Lined out hymns from Old Regular Baptist churches filled the air alongside the fire and brimstone of Pentecostal preachers. The Cumberland River served as a directional guide as people travelled daily either “up the river” or “down the river.”

This is a different world from the one in which I was born and raised in rural Clark County. In some senses it was as if I was born and raised in a different Kentucky. The landscape is vastly different: there are no mountains but sloping hills, endless streams and creeks, and vast expanses of meadows. Although they are almost extinct now, tobacco farms once dotted Central Kentucky and the rhythms of life revolved around the planting, cutting and hanging of tobacco. The ruins of rusted coal tipples in Eastern Kentucky find their counterparts in the remnants of old tobacco barns in the Bluegrass region. Of course, there are also the horse farms which are like no other anywhere else in the world. Elegant and ornate barns and miles of fencing are distinct characteristics which make the Bluegrass unique.

This is not to say that one region or way of life is better than the other – they are just different. I am proud to say that my parents, grandparents, and most of my family are mountaineers. The same resiliency which has sustained the mountain peoples of Appalachia for so long is the same quality which helped make my parents, and so many people like them, become successful professionals, business owners, involved citizens and stakeholders in new communities. When I visit my family in Bell County, Harlan County and Letcher County, and when I travel across Pine Mountain, I cannot help but be moved by the incredible beauty which God has bestowed upon this part of the country. Like my mother, I too appreciate the steadfastness with which the mountain communities have managed to hold on to a rich Appalachian culture.

At the same time, I recognize that when I travel to Eastern Kentucky I am an outsider to some degree. Yes, I am loved and welcomed as family, but I am not a native. No matter how many times I look in awe at the mountain tops and valleys, I will never be able to see them through my mother’s eyes. But nor will my mountain cousins ever be able to look at the morning fog as it sets upon a thoroughbred horse farm with my eyes – or my dad’s eyes for that matter.

Foggy morning in the Bluegrass

That, however, is not really necessary. The point is that it is entirely possible to be proud of one’s ancestral homeland without actually being “from” a certain place. I am a true son of the Bluegrass, but the lessons which were instilled in me by my parents were the same lessons and values which molded them in a very different part of Kentucky. For that I am truly grateful.

Getting Started

Starting a blog is not the easiest thing in the world. I'm probably like most people in that I want everything to be perfect right away - however, it will probably take me a while to figure out the technical aspects to get this blog looking the way I want it. Having that disclaimer out of the way, I'm excited to be sharing some thoughts about various local, regional and national issues as they present themselves. I am fascinated with politics & history (hence my background as a history major at the University of Kentucky) as well as theology & church history (hence my background as a seminarian at Lexington Theological Seminary), so there will numerous posts on here related to important political and religious issues.

Add to the mix that I am recently married to a wonderful woman whose ideological viewpoint is very different from my own, and whose spiritual journey has taken her some vastly different directions from the path that I have travelled. As we build a life together we are exploring new ways to express our love of Christ, and to examine how our diverse political views can yield common ground in ways which can benefit all of us.

Let the journey commence...

Blue Lion

Welcome to Blue Lion, my new blog dedicated to personal reflections and observations about family, faith, and community. This is also a place to explore cultural, ideological, and theological issues which are impacting our local communities as well as our nation. Rather than having a preconceived idea of where this blog will go or how it will develop, I will let the path and the nature of the journey reveal themselves as we go along. Who knows? We may end up in some very unexpected places!