The Lost Soul of American Protestantism
I started reading "The Lost Soul of American Protestantism", a book that is helpful in tracing the history and movements behind the current state of affairs in American religion.
American religion is a unique brand in the history of the Christian religion because ideas such as "conversion experience" (emphasis on personal crisis), a radically casual view of Jesus, the right of private individual judgment in determining the meaning of scripture apart from historical statements of faith, and the assumption that its about having a radically individual relationship with God... these were all invented on American soil. It really picked up in the 19th century with all the revivalist movements, as a sort of spiritualist reaction to Enlightenment influences on the larger culture. Liberalism and fundamentalism arose as two sides of the same coin, both recasting the Christian faith in pragmatic terms that were useful in making us better citizens, better political animals, and better aware of issues of social justice. The non-denominational movement, fringe cults, charismatic chaos, modern evangelicalism, and liberal mainstream Protestantism are all from the same stock, historically speaking. In different ways they have trivialized the Christian faith in order to claim sectors in the public life of Americana, especially through reshaping the Christian faith to accommodate the particular sentiments of the American soul. They all believe in a faith that is pragmatic (for social justice, for growing numbers, for political gains, for real experiences, for material blessings, for reforming lives and mending relationships, etc).
The lost strand in all this is confessional Protestantism, which has been quietly moving along under the public radar. Ironically, confessional Protestantism was the only form of Protestantism before the 18/19th centuries and remains to be the true heritage of the Reformation. And more broadly, "confessional" Christianity was the only Christianity of note in existence before the American innovations. The assumption is that a Christian's relationship with God is defined primarily in terms of participating in the life of the confessing Church. Private worship, prayer, and good works ('acts of mercy'), all come together so that the community humbly stands as a beacon and a Christ-imaged society within the larger society (as opposed to just being another subculture with their own codewords and T-shirts).
Most importantly, confessional Protestantism is characteristically _confessional_ rather than fill-in-the-blank -- evangelistic, socially aware, politically triumphant, revivalistic and open to the free work of the Spirit, etc. Confessionalism is a cluster of traditions that consciously stand together in a sober unity despite the variations within the traditions, confessing one holy apostolic faith before a watching world. The method is bringing self-aware sinners to repentance and renewal, understanding that God works through the appointed means of Word and sacrament. The goal is to create and expand a community who worships the triune God in Spirit and in truth. The goal of right worship is therefore the soul of confessional Protestantism, and worship is something that engages the mind, the thoughts of the heart, as well as the affections. Hence the emphasis on right doctrine and practice. The worship services are structured as teaching instruments to consume the mind with poetic and didactic descriptions of the mighty redemptive acts of God as revealed in scripture. And worship is liturgical; a scripted event in which God is the audience and the worshipers are the collective performers.
This book's author claims that paradoxically, by trying to make the Christian faith relevant in society, American Protestantism (especially in the liberal mainstream and fundamentalist strands) has rendered itself irrelevant through various techniques and religious pragmatisms. Though they appear on the surface as polar opposites, Jerry Falwell and Martin Luther King Jr. have in fact much more in common than either have with any confessional Protestant theologian. Marrying the Christian faith with any particular social or political cause may get good pragmatic results but it is also one more nail in the coffin of the church as the visible body of Christ. It is the dangerous mingling the kingdom of God with the kingdoms of men.
The lost strand, confessional Protestantism, is the antithesis proposed against all extremes and trivializations that typically get the attention from the media and historians.
The major strands of American Christianity are being called upon to stop repackaging Christianity, stop taming God and stop pushing a public religion that transcends the particulars of biblical theology, just so it can achieve certain worldly agendas in the public square. The call is to return to the roots of confessional tradition, that firmly keeps the community planted in a counter-culture focused on a God who seeks true worshipers, and the rest shall be added. Become more relevant by stop trying to become so relevant.
I started reading "The Lost Soul of American Protestantism", a book that is helpful in tracing the history and movements behind the current state of affairs in American religion.
American religion is a unique brand in the history of the Christian religion because ideas such as "conversion experience" (emphasis on personal crisis), a radically casual view of Jesus, the right of private individual judgment in determining the meaning of scripture apart from historical statements of faith, and the assumption that its about having a radically individual relationship with God... these were all invented on American soil. It really picked up in the 19th century with all the revivalist movements, as a sort of spiritualist reaction to Enlightenment influences on the larger culture. Liberalism and fundamentalism arose as two sides of the same coin, both recasting the Christian faith in pragmatic terms that were useful in making us better citizens, better political animals, and better aware of issues of social justice. The non-denominational movement, fringe cults, charismatic chaos, modern evangelicalism, and liberal mainstream Protestantism are all from the same stock, historically speaking. In different ways they have trivialized the Christian faith in order to claim sectors in the public life of Americana, especially through reshaping the Christian faith to accommodate the particular sentiments of the American soul. They all believe in a faith that is pragmatic (for social justice, for growing numbers, for political gains, for real experiences, for material blessings, for reforming lives and mending relationships, etc).
The lost strand in all this is confessional Protestantism, which has been quietly moving along under the public radar. Ironically, confessional Protestantism was the only form of Protestantism before the 18/19th centuries and remains to be the true heritage of the Reformation. And more broadly, "confessional" Christianity was the only Christianity of note in existence before the American innovations. The assumption is that a Christian's relationship with God is defined primarily in terms of participating in the life of the confessing Church. Private worship, prayer, and good works ('acts of mercy'), all come together so that the community humbly stands as a beacon and a Christ-imaged society within the larger society (as opposed to just being another subculture with their own codewords and T-shirts).
Most importantly, confessional Protestantism is characteristically _confessional_ rather than fill-in-the-blank -- evangelistic, socially aware, politically triumphant, revivalistic and open to the free work of the Spirit, etc. Confessionalism is a cluster of traditions that consciously stand together in a sober unity despite the variations within the traditions, confessing one holy apostolic faith before a watching world. The method is bringing self-aware sinners to repentance and renewal, understanding that God works through the appointed means of Word and sacrament. The goal is to create and expand a community who worships the triune God in Spirit and in truth. The goal of right worship is therefore the soul of confessional Protestantism, and worship is something that engages the mind, the thoughts of the heart, as well as the affections. Hence the emphasis on right doctrine and practice. The worship services are structured as teaching instruments to consume the mind with poetic and didactic descriptions of the mighty redemptive acts of God as revealed in scripture. And worship is liturgical; a scripted event in which God is the audience and the worshipers are the collective performers.
This book's author claims that paradoxically, by trying to make the Christian faith relevant in society, American Protestantism (especially in the liberal mainstream and fundamentalist strands) has rendered itself irrelevant through various techniques and religious pragmatisms. Though they appear on the surface as polar opposites, Jerry Falwell and Martin Luther King Jr. have in fact much more in common than either have with any confessional Protestant theologian. Marrying the Christian faith with any particular social or political cause may get good pragmatic results but it is also one more nail in the coffin of the church as the visible body of Christ. It is the dangerous mingling the kingdom of God with the kingdoms of men.
The lost strand, confessional Protestantism, is the antithesis proposed against all extremes and trivializations that typically get the attention from the media and historians.
The major strands of American Christianity are being called upon to stop repackaging Christianity, stop taming God and stop pushing a public religion that transcends the particulars of biblical theology, just so it can achieve certain worldly agendas in the public square. The call is to return to the roots of confessional tradition, that firmly keeps the community planted in a counter-culture focused on a God who seeks true worshipers, and the rest shall be added. Become more relevant by stop trying to become so relevant.
posted by Joe Branca | 12:35 PM
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