A Faith for Every None

I co-wrote with Neil Hudson, one of my colleagues, this week’s ‘Connecting with Culture’, a weekly email service provided by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Christianity doesn’t rise or fall with affirmations from the national press, but it’s interesting to read them when they come along. Two recent ones in this case.

First up was an editorial in The Guardian, noting that Christianity’s move to the margins of public life ‘could change the country profoundly’, wondering – as we face the challenges of the next century – what will supply ‘a vision of humanity that transcends narrow self-interest’.

Then, writing in The Telegraph, Tim Stanley observed that in the peaks and troughs of the history of Christianity in Britain, one thing has turned around decline – evangelism. Christians, he says, have become their own worst enemy – killing their faith with silence. He has a point. We’ll never bring people to Jesus if we don’t tell them about him.

Both articles were reflecting on recent British Social Attitudes data which shows we are experiencing a rise in the number of self-labeled ‘Nones’ – those who, when asked the multiple-choice question about religion, identify themselves as ‘None of the above’. Apparently, it’s now the largest single identification in England and Wales.

Even so, having rejected formalised religion, people have not stopped engaging on a ‘spiritual’ quest. It has simply shape-shifted into different forms. Back in 1969, Peter Berger, a sociologist of religion, wrote of ‘a rumour of angels’, signals of transcendence that won’t disappear: desires for order, joy, hope, justice, and a humour that mocks the self-pretension of the world.

It doesn’t take too long in a conversation with a friend, colleague or neighbour to find such yearnings embedded in the ordinary experiences of life, a sense that things aren’t as they should be, a desire for connection to something higher. It’s not that people don’t believe in fairness and freedom and decency, but they might struggle to articulate a coherent story which makes sense of those beliefs.

We saw it exemplified in the Brussels Vigil in March, where people gathered together, lit candles, sang, declared their hopes that evil will not have the last word, and offered prayers to whoever. For those and those like them, we can say that there is a light which shines in the darkness, and the darkness will never overcome it.

Just because many in this generation have the confidence to self-identify as ‘Nones’ doesn’t mean that they don’t long for more. For them, as for others, we have good news.

Tim Chester on the Kingdom and the Cross

I’ve written some mini book reviews for EG, a quarterly publication from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. I’ll post them individually here over the next week or so.

Tim Chester, Crown of Thorns: Connecting Kingdom and Cross (Fearn: Christian Focus, 2015).

The kingdom and the cross: what God has joined together, let no one separate. That’s the gist of this short but enormously valuable and timely book. Tim Chester helps us see that there are not two competing versions of the gospel – one focused on the kingdom with God’s plan to restore all things, the other focused on the cross with the offer of forgiveness for sin. Nor is the solution a delicate balance between the two dimensions, but a coordination ‘in which the cross is central to the gospel of the kingdom and the kingdom is central to the gospel of the cross’. Read this for a helpful exploration of the relationship between the kingdom announced by Jesus and the cross proclaimed by Paul, and for a wonderful reminder that the way of God’s rule is the way of the death and resurrection of the king.

Themelios 41, 1 (April 2016)

The latest Themelios is online here (and available here as a single pdf), containing the below articles.

Editorial

D.A. Carson

When Did the Church Begin? 

Off the Record

Michael J. Ovey

The Art of Imperious Ignorance 

Gavin Ortlund

Conversion in C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength

C.S. Lewis’s That Hideous Strength is often regarded as one of his most bizarre and unwieldy books. There are very few studies of it, and those that do exist tend to focus on its central social critique, leaving its ancillary theological and philosophical themes largely unexplored. This article examines the motif of conversion in That Hideous Strength. It traces out the contrasting conversion narratives of Mark and Jane Studdock, situates them in relation to the larger social message of the novel, and then draws two applications for what we can learn about evangelism today from this book.

Joel D. Estes

Calling on the Name of the Lord: The Meaning and Significance of ἐπικαλέω in Romans 10:13

In Rom 10:13, to “call on the name of the Lord” (ἐπικαλεῖν τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου) involves more than simply invoking the Lord, but expresses a prayer for deliverance with cultic connotations, that is “to worship Jesus as Lord.” Paul’s use of ἐπικαλέω in Rom 10:13 resonates with strong liturgical overtones, draws on a long OT tradition of employing such language in cultic settings, parallels closely other NT texts that are cultic in orientation, and coheres with our earliest evidence about the worship practices of the early church. These observations, in turn, suggest a tighter thematic relationship between Rom 10 and Paul’s description of humanity’s fundamental predicament as false worship in ch. 1, his exhortation for renewed spiritual worship in ch. 12, and his vision for unified Jew/Gentile worship in ch. 15. 

Ched Spellman

The Scribe Who Has Become a Disciple: Identifying and Becoming the Ideal Reader of the Biblical Canon

The literary notion of “implied reader” invokes a series of hermeneutically significant questions: What is it? Who produces it? and How can it be identified? These questions naturally lead to a further query: What is the relationship between this implied reader of a text and an actual reader of a text? This type of study is often associated primarily with reader-response theory and purely literary approaches. However, the concept can help uncover an often-neglected aspect of biblical interpretation, namely, the role of the reader. If biblical authors envision certain types of readers, then identifying the nature of this “implied audience” is an important part of the interpretive task. Further, because Christians read the biblical writings within the context of a canonical collection, this concept can be pursued in light of the Christian canon as a whole. Through this literary and theological study, I seek to demonstrate that strategic biblical texts envision an “ideal reader,” namely, an actual reader who seeks to identify with the implied reader. 

Thomas R. Schreiner

Paul and the Gift: A Review Article

John Barclay has written a stimulating and ground-breaking book on Paul’s theology of gift. He situates the meaning of gift in antiquity, noting that a return for a gift was part and parcel of what it meant to receive a gift in the ancient world. Barclay profiles the different conceptions of what it means to receive a gift in antiquity and explores the notion of a gift further in some Second Temple Jewish writings. He also provides a useful history of interpretation, concentrating on key figures. Finally, he explores Paul’s theology of gift, especially in Galatians and Romans. What marks out Paul’s understanding of the gift, according to Barclay, is its incongruity. Barclay’s work is a significant step forward, showing that there wasn’t a consensus in Second Temple Judaism as to what it meant to receive a gift. Different notions of grace and a gift were current. Nevertheless, some questions are raised in the review. Against Barclay, Paul’s theology of gift provides a platform by which other Second Temple notions of the gift can be criticized. Furthermore, evidence for a polemic against some form of works-righteousness is present in Galatians and Romans. 

Kyle Faircloth

Daniel Strange on the Theological Question of the Unevangelized: A Doctrinal Assessment

Although evangelicals agree the church must be fervent in seeking to reach those who have little or no access to the gospel, this missiological consensus has not led to a theological consensus regarding the salvific state of those whom the church never reaches. Yet Daniel Strange seeks to throw fresh light on the discussion by proposing an alternative understanding of “unevangelized” based on a more nuanced explanation of divine revelation. This article will summarize Strange’s theory and then evaluate his approach by using the doctrinal rules instantiated by the solus Christus, sola fide, and fides ex auditu principles. For however one answers this disputed question in theology, Scripture is clear that salvation is through Christ alone by faith alone and that faith comes from hearing. The hope is that this doctrinal typology will facilitate not only this particular review, but also indicate a common theological environment in which evangelical theories on the unevangelized might be formulated and assessed. 

Daniel Strange

This Rock Unmoved: A Rejoinder to Kyle Faircloth

Kyle Faircloth argues that Daniel Strange’s earlier work on the question of the unevangelised is undermined by his more recent theology of religions, and in particular his theory of a ‘remnantal’ revelation. This rejoinder argues that Faircloth has misunderstood Strange on this point and that his original work on the unevangelised is consistent with later work.

Pastoral Pensées

Wayne Grudem

The Eighth Commandment as the Moral Foundation for Property Rights, Human Flourishing, and Careers in Business

The Eighth Commandment, “You shall not steal,” has massive implications for human life on earth. Exodus 20:15 provides the necessary foundation for system of private ownership of property, of stewardship and accountability, and of an expectation of human flourishing. This article also argues that “business as mission” is a legitimate calling and that founding and running a profitable and ethical business glorifies God. 

Book Reviews

From Fear to Faith

I contributed this week’s ‘Connecting with Culture’, a weekly email service provided by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

How do you talk to your friends about Jesus in multi-faith Southall? Answer, according to one six-year-girl, ‘I ask them, “What do you like about your God?” And then I say what I like about my God.’

I’ve been reminded of her response in recent weeks. The election of Sadiq Khan as the first Muslim mayor of a major western city was widely reported around the world. An internal review by the BBC has concluded that the Corporation’s output is too Christian, suggesting that Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths should get more airtime, while plans for new laws to tackle extremism were announced in this week’s Queen’s Speech.

Whatever we make of these issues – and responses vary – they are a reminder, if we need it, of the religiously plural nature of contemporary society. In many parts of the UK, through globalisation and migration, trade and technology, we increasingly live and work in close proximity to people who are adherents of different world faiths.

It’s not the first time the church has carried out its mission in a pluralistic context. Christianity was born into such a situation, and has faced the challenge many times in its history.

That challenge also brings opportunities in public life. In Flourishing: Why We Need Religion in a Globalized World, Christian theologian Miroslav Volf argues that world religions can contribute to societal wellbeing not by one winning out over the others or by their amalgamation into a common ‘essence’, but by the recognition that each carries within itself something of benefit to which its adherents can appeal, which outsiders can recognise as they engage in conversation with each other.

Of course, truth claims about Christ and salvation matter. Being civil doesn’t require us to leave our Christian convictions at the front door of any discussion. On the contrary, it’s only as we engage in conversation from a firm stance of faith in Jesus and his lordship over the whole of life that we’re able to find places to connect with others, confident that the gospel answers the deep longings of men and women even while it challenges the way those longings are understood.

The danger would be to dig in or fight back, as if there was no other way but to respond in fear. A six-year-old girl in Southall would beg to differ.

Mission Frontiers 38, 3 (May-June 2016)

The May-Junes 2016 issue of Mission Frontiers, published by the U.S. Center for World Mission, contains a number of articles on ‘Getting to No Place Left: Fostering Kingdom Movements Everywhere’.

Editor Rick Wood writes:

‘The key to finishing the task of world evangelization is the fostering of movements to Christ within every people and region on earth until there is No Place Left where the gospel is not available... It is not enough just to go to every people group and plant a Western style church that does not make disciples and does not establish new churches. We must learn how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in order to see thousands of rapidly growing movements around the world. It is the only way that every person will be able to have access to the gospel.’

Individual articles can be accessed from here, and the whole issue (3.3 MB) can be downloaded as a pdf here.

European Union Referendum Resources

Friends and colleagues in several organisations are producing some helpful information and resources on the forthcoming EU Referendum which seeks to engage with the issues from a Christian perspective rather than perpetuating the battle of ‘fear’ narratives that seems to typify much of the debate elsewhere.

See here for a short post by the Joint Public Issues Team (representing The Baptist Union of Great Britain, The Methodist Church, The United Reformed Church, and The Church of Scotland). They have a page on their website devoted to the referendum here, with a short pdf booklet downloadable here, aiming ‘to encourage individuals and churches to think through Britain's membership of the European Union in the light of the gospel command to love your neighbour’.

Theos, the public theology think tank, have produced some helpful material...

Ben Ryan, A Soul for the Union (London: Theos, 2016) – a Theos booklet, with information here and downloadable as a pdf here.

Ben Ryan, ‘The EU Needs Its Soul Back’.

Ben Ryan, ‘Does Europe Need to be a Christian Continent?’

Nick Spencer and Ben Ryan, ‘Putting Principles Back into the EU’.

As has the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, with a special page here, with (to date) the following individual pieces...

Jonathan Chaplin, ‘What is the EU for? Introducing KLICE’s Referendum Coverage’.

Jonathan Chaplin, ‘“It is not so among you” – The Transformative Power of Powerlessness’.

Michael Schluter, ‘Brexit Unless... Three Fundamental Conditions for Staying in the EU’, Ethics in Brief EU Referendum Series 1 (April 2016).

This article sets out five biblical principles for political and economic life and finds that the EU currently breaches them significantly. It proposes three conditions for remaining within the EU but, in the absence of other EU countries supporting such conditions, argues that British people should vote for Brexit. The article represents the views of the author and not of KLICE.

Ben Ryan, ‘Rejecting Project Fear for Project Hope: Creating the Moral Case for the Remain Campaign’, Ethics in Brief EU Referendum Series 2 (May 2016).

The European Union has spent years staggering through a crisis with political, economic, theoretical and practical elements. It has been, in many ways, a disappointment, failing to live up to the standards that were set for it in the 1950s. It stands in need of some redemption. Despite all this it remains the best hope for a genuinely international, voluntary and moral model of governance. This article makes that case for the EU as the body with the potential to be the moral force the 21st century world needs and, therefore, an organisation for the UK to help save, not leave.

Then there is the Jubilee Centre, with a collection of pieces, including four briefing papers, here.

In addition, Christians in Politics have a page here with several links to short articles.

Andrew Goddard has revised a Grove booklet on the European Union first written nearly 20 years ago. It’s available for purchase from here, with some additional resources available here, and a helpful summary gist here.

Finally, here are a couple of friends who have offered their own reflections:

Eddie Arthur, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’.

Mark Meynell, ‘Brexit Schmexit: Some (VERY) Random Bremainer Thoughts’.

Australian eJournal of Theology 23, 1 (2016)

I always find something of interest in the Australian eJournal of Theology, which is produced under the auspices of the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy at Australian Catholic University. The latest edition is now online (available from here), containing the following essays:

Articles

John Kinder

Dante 750 anniversary

Last year marked the 750th anniversary of the birth of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the Florentine poet. As our culture becomes more distant from the coherent, religiously informed world view that produced it, interest in Dante’s Divine Comedy continues to grow, especially in the English-speaking world. This essay argues that the source of this interest is not just awe at Dante’s remarkable summa of medieval culture, but the fact that his Comedy touches something peculiar to the modern condition. The adjective “Divina”, added after Dante’s death, might suggest an unearthly meditation on the other world. In fact, Dante is most interested in the human condition. The essay explores the notion of “religious sense”, coined by Pope Paul VI, developed by Luigi Giussani and a leitmotiv in papal writing up to the present, as the key to the relevance of this medieval masterpiece to our modern search for meaning.

Darren Cronshaw, Rowan Lewis and Stacey Wilson

Hemorrhaging Faith

Australia recently had the opportunity to consider the results of a Canadian research project Hemorrhaging Faith through a series of conferences in capital cities. The conferences sponsored a conversation between those who played an active role initiating the Hemorrhaging Faith research and a number of Australian researchers and practitioners who considered the research findings in the light of our context. This article offers an Australian critical review of the Hemorrhaging Faith report. It will consider whether Australian churches are also hemorrhaging young people in much the same way as Canadian research would suggest, or whether the situation may be conceived more accurately as one of exodus or exile. The article plots a course for the ongoing discussion we believe we need in Australia concerning the interpretation and implications of this story.

Neil Ormerod

Secularisation and Resacralisation

In his work, Theology and Social Theory John Milbank proffers the alternatives of naturalising the supernatural, which he identifies with the theology of Karl Rahner and claims promotes secularisation, and supernaturalising the natural which he identifies with the theology of Henri de Lubac with a political goal of a restored Christendom; these two options of a secularism which excludes the divine from the social order and a resacralisation which seeks to restore the sacred alliance between Church and state present false alternatives. This paper considers the alternatives of sacralisation and secularisation through the lens of the grace-nature debate and what Pope Francis calls the “missionary option.” The distinct ecclesial styles of Popes Benedict XVI and Francis will be drawn upon to illustrate the position developed.

Gwayaweng Kiki and Ed Parker

Education that Enables and Satisfies

Education (including theological education), by its very nature is deeply theoretically based. This is as it should be, but there are some real problems for non-first-world learners. Not only are they confronted with ideological issues, and theoretical problems, there is the issue of cultural diversity including communal and individualistic ways of being and doing. This article argues that the assessment task is where the two ways (Western and non-Western) can meet. Facilitating students via a pathway of compassion, care and concern becomes crucial. The educational insights of Terry Lovat have been used to open doorways that enable students to discover, understand and use effectively the knowledge and understanding that they have gained. The article arrives at a practical conclusion by opening avenues for non-first-world learners that traditional first-world-lecturers have tended to ignore. Human kindness should always be part of the tool bag of effective teaching and lecturing.

Christopher Friel

Lonergan on Pride

This article explores the relative lack of attention to the sin of pride in Bernard Lonergan, a lack he shares with Aquinas, in contrast to the Augustinian tradition. In order to explain this lack the article considers the dialectical nature of pride leading in turns to suggest a slightly surprising detour into the origins of social structures which Lonergan explains in terms of “challenge and response.” Most significant is the redemptive response to the challenge of sin, and it is here that we can discover Lonergan’s delicate transposition of traditional teaching in his deployment of the concept of general bias.

Book Reviews