Thinking Christ in a Pagan World

In Acts 15 we read of the Jerusalem council, a meeting of the Apostles to decide what should be done with the Hellenistic followers of Christ, what rules they must follow and to what extent the Jewish law would define their lives. At the end of the council the Apostles write a letter stating that, “It seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place any greater burden on you than these necessary rules: that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well.” Acts 15:28-29 (NET Bible).

Andrew Walls, an eminent Scottish missiologist, argued that this was a defining moment in the development of Christianity. Prior to the Jerusalem council there was a way for gentiles to become followers of the One True God, but this involved becoming a proselyte, one who took on all the symbols and traditions of the Jewish faith, including circumcision, the Torah, and the law.[i] Walls argues that had the Jerusalem council chosen to demand that gentile believers follow the traditions and symbols of the Jewish faith, “It is safe to say that huge areas of Hellenistic life would have been left untouched by Christian faith.” The implication of being a proselyte was that one was required to follow all of the laws of the Jews, thus there was no need to worry about how to respond to a pagan world, because joining the Jewish faith meant effectively leaving that world. As a proselyte there was no way a Hellenistic believer could have gone into a pagan’s house to have dinner, or participated in the pagan community’s culture. Walls goes on to explain, “But Paul envisioned a new sort of Christian lifestyle, where believers do join pagans at the dinner table and have to face the implications of acting, thinking and speaking as a Christian in that situation…He envisioned Hellenistic Christians operating within Hellenistic social and family life, challenging and disturbing it, bringing about radical change in it…”[ii]

To be Christian converts in Greek culture, rather than Jewish proselytes in Greek culture was a greater challenge than simply converting to Judaism and living according to the Law. Walls reminds us that, “Greek speaking Jews were negotiating someone else’s culture while retaining their identity; Greek Christians were negotiating their own culture while expressing a Christian identity.”[iii] This means that they had no precedent for their behavior, no model to follow, save Christ, who, filled with the Holy Spirit, came to do the will of His Father. Proselytes were able to look back to the law, back to the traditions of the Jewish faith; the new followers of Jesus had to rely on the Holy Sprit, who alone could lead them into Christian action within the cultural realm in which they lived.

As these new converts brought Christ into their own Hellenistic traditions, lifestyle and intellectual traditions, they began to shape Christianity not by obeying the Jewish law, but by applying the truth revealed by the Spirit to their lives as Greeks. Walls sums up the distinction between a proselyte and a convert by saying, “Converts have to be constantly, relentlessly, turning their ways of thinking, their education and training, their ways of working and doing things, toward Christ. They must think Christ into the patterns of thought they have inherited, into their network of relationship and their process of making decisions…Proselytes may walk by sight, converts must walk by faith.”[iv]

It was this converted Christianity that turned the third century world upside down; as followers of Jesus who were Greek, Roman, and African applied Christ to their intellectual and cultural traditions, they developed the church as it has existed over the centuries. Over the centuries and decades the Holy Sprit has led, forming the church, correcting errors, and allowing the church to continue applying truth to the cultures into which it enters; however, there continues to be a grave danger that we, as the church, will proselytize, rather than convert, those with whom we come into contact.

The Modern Church: Converts and Proselytes

The unfortunate reality is that the “judaizing” tendency of the church did not end with the Jerusalem Council, instead it has been a continual battle to remember that we were not called to a specific set of traditions, rather we were called to God, by Jesus Christ, and it is through the leading of His Holy Spirit that we come into all truth. The modern church stands, again, on the brink of such a decision, with a strong need for a new Jerusalem Council to reaffirm that converts are called to “think Christ” into the intellectual, social and cultural reality from which they come, rather than converting to a set of traditions which, while providing specific guidelines on how to live a traditional Christian life, will remove them from the culture into which they have been freed to speak.

Over the last twenty years the culture of the United States has changed dramatically. Gone is the faith in organization and academic understanding as means of perfecting the world. Over the last two centuries Christians spoke into a Modern world, thinking Christ into the structures and organization in which they lived and worked. In cultures founded on professionalism and structural organization, evangelical Christians developed highly structured, professionally led churches; churches with ridged structures, professional pastors, and careful academic defenses of doctrine. These churches (as in every generation) had their problems. Looking back we can question the wisdom of professionalizing Christian work, of forming such ridged structures that many attendees of churches feel their role was primarily that of a spectator while paid staff attempt to lead them into spiritual health; yet despite all its problems, we must also recognize that in its time the “traditional” church has had a major impact on the world around it. “Traditional” pastors like Peter Marshall and A. W. Tozer carried the person of Christ into 19th and 20th Century America in a way that touched the lives and academic currents of the age. They thought Christ into their culture and the Lord blessed their work. But cultures change, and though the change is gradual, it is easily missed. Over the past twenty to thirty years the culture of the United States has changed, and the church has largely missed the change, contentedly bringing in proselytes rather than calling for converts.

The church has continued to pursue traditions that served it well in the decades of the 1930s and 1940s: it has continued to maintain a firm structure, with seminary educated pastors, university trained musicians and neatly subdivided ministry areas. Christians continue to publish logical arguments against evolution, or for the existence of God, even as the culture questions logic as the bedrock of human knowledge. The culture has shifted, and in shifting it has moved away from those perspectives that made the church of the past two centuries so effective. The culture has shifted away from structure, and has become skeptical of claims to objective truth. They have seen the failure of organizations. The promise that given the right structure and organization, the right education and the correct truths we could perfect the world, have proven empty lies. The current generations is looking for experiences that give meaning to their lives, rather than truths that will define their lives; they are interested in hearing stories rather than carefully orchestrated arguments, and they are open to the existence of a reality beyond what is visible. The transformation of the culture, and the resistance of the church to change, has left the church in the position of once again demanding proselytes rather than calling people to conversion. Unchanging church structures demand that individuals enter into a new culture, a church culture, in order to follow Christ, instead of demanding that new Christians think Christ into the patterns of culture in which they live.

Let me clarify, I am not arguing that there is no universal truth, nor that we are called to live just like the world. The Word of God is clear that there is universal truth, there is sin, and there are things we are called, as followers of Jesus, to leave behind; but the church has complicated these things by adding the need to enter into a culture based on structures, traditions and intellectual movements that grew out of the 1900s; a culture that is largely foreign to youths who come to know the Lord today.

So what does it look like to call converts, instead of proselytes? Does that mean we cease to have churches or no longer train pastors? I don’t think so, rather it means that we allow those who are of this generation to define the form church takes so that it fits into the cultural, social and intellectual traditions in which they live. Like the apostles we recognize Biblical truth, that there is a necessity to obey certain things (including abstaining from sexual immorality, which is a huge part of the current culture), we recognize that we are called to follow Christ, and that any disobedience to His commands is not acceptable; but we also recognize that the call of the converted has never been clear. That within the bounds of Christ’s commandments there are areas of gray, in which we must depend on the Holy Spirit to lead us into the wisdom of God. If the church wishes to have an impact on the current generation like the impact had by the early Christians, or like the impact had by those pastors and elders who applied to truth of Christ to the 19th and 20th century in which they lived, we must set converts free to enter into the messy task of thinking Christ into the social and cultural traditions, into the intellectual landscape and into the pagan world in which they live. It is only as they are given freedom in the Spirit that the church will again touch the culture in which it exists.


[i] Andrew Walls. “Converts or Proselytes? The Crisis Over Conversion in the early Chruch.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research. Vol. 28, #1 January, 2004.
[ii] Ibid, 5.
[iii] Ibid, 6.
[iv] Ibid, 6.

Defined and quoted

I have recently been digging my way through Clifford Geertz "The Interpretation of Culture," a collection of essays on anthropology and understanding cultural systems. It is a fabulouse book and I have enjoyed both the content and the extended, complex sentences that the author uses. Here are two of my favorite definitions so far, with some notes or translations of my own.

Definition I

Culture is historically transmitted patterns of meanings embodied in a symbols, a system of inherited coneceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life.


Definition II
Religion is (1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existance and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.

An old poem rediscovered.

I was looking through old blog posts that I hadn't posted and found this. It is better than I remembered.

It is my way the path to seek,
the older roads and trails to meet.
And never here to stop and rest,
But always seek a different quest.

When will I end this weary jest,
This cursed, endless restlessness?
I wish now to stop, to call it quits,
To find that home, a place that fits.

But ever on I wander anew,
and lands I love soon pass from view.
For I am but a pilgirm, a passer through,

"Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammer." E.B. White.

Long ago, in a far distant land there was a man who had three sons. The eldest was named Aaron and he was a tall and fair man, with hair like the sun on a winter morining. The next was named Kaleb, and he was shorter than his brother, but deep chested and broad so that his appearance was like a bull and his strength like a young ox. The last son was named Pilgrim, for he was born in the midst of a great pilgrimage that the man had taken with his wife and sons to the oracle in the temple at Delphi.

Now, it happened that the youngest son's birth had been much different from his elder brothers, for his brothers had been born at home in the presence of birth mothers and at the time's of harvest, so that they were born great and strong men. The elder had been born on a most auspicious night, for he had been born at sunrise on the first day of summer, thus it was that his hair shown like the sun and his laugh radiated like a spring thaw. Kaleb had been born in the spring, when the cows were bringing forth their calves and the sheep their lambs, thus it was that he carried in him the strength of all such beast as roam the field and eat upon the heath. But the youngest, poor pilgrim that he was, had been born in the midst of winter deep in the heart of the mountains between their land and the great land of Greece. The youth was pale as the waning moon under which he had been born, and there was little grace in his pointed and sharp features. His eyes were deep and dark, but seemed too wide, as though he lived always in the depths of a cave.

The family had returned from pilgrimage with their young son weeping and gnashing his teeth. Always their child was seeking how he could provide for himself and his future. Always he was looking for how he could ensure his life and comfort. As a child he would hide food in the cupboards of his room, in case there was not enough at some future date. He would pretend to spend the money that his mother gave him on sweet meats, but always he would hide most of it away in case he should ever want. His father and mother were much troubled by this and sought always to ensure that he knew that he had no need to fear, for there was plenty and they had already ensured that he could never lack...but still he refused to believe their promises.

The older brothers were assured of their parents love and provision, so that they freely gave all that they had to anyone they came across, but not the youngest, for he always feared to give to freely lest he not have in the future.

It happened that one day, while they were still boys, the three brothers went to the fields to pick wild berries. The elder brothers wandered about laughing and jesting, eating as much as they saved and smearing themselves with juice. Young Pilgrim sat a ways away, industriously picking berries and putting them in his basket...not a one reached his mouth but all of them were placed directly into his basket where they would be safe until he could get them home. As they were picking they heard a someone crying, and the elder brothers went looking to find the cause the this noise and commotion. Around a bend they found a young girl, weeping as though the world would end. "What is wrong, my friend?" Asked Aaron, his pity quipped by the weeping.

"I was to bring home a basket of berries for my mother to make pie, but now I have dropped them and they are spread all over the ground and I'll never pick them up and this is just so horrible...and..." and she burst back into tears.

"Well, that will never do," said Kaleb. "Here, you must take our baskets of berries and go have your mother make that pie. My parents always have plenty of berries around the house, we'll never miss them." Of course, this was not exactly true, for though they often had berries around the house, these were the first of the season and so they would have not have berry pie if they did not bring home what they had picked, yet the girls weeping touched the brothers hearts deeply and they knew that though they might not have pie, still their would be plenty of food for them, for their parents always ensured that they had enough.

The young girl took the berries and looked at the two brothers with wonder. "You mean I can have them? Like to take home for my mother to make the pie!" Her voice, once shrill with weeping now sounded with the laughter and hope of a new day. She picked up the baskets they handed her and went running off to tell her mother that they could have pie after all.

The brothers watched her, laughing at her excitement and glee, before turning back to their brother and from there home. On the way home, young Pilgrim carried his basket carefully, making sure that no berry dropped on the path. Upon reaching the house he carefully carried his basket behind the house to a little storage shed under which he had dug a little seller. In the cellar he would hide all his treasures and here he placed the basket of berries, for it could easily be that a day would come when he would need them, and so they should be saved.

That evening at dinner time the boys sat at the table, enjoying the custard that their mother had made for dessert, but wondering why there were no berries on them; after all, their youngest brother had brought home a big basket of them. At last, Aaron could stand it no longer:

"Pilgrim, where are the berries that you picked? I thought that surely we would eat them tonight, before they rot and become useless."

"Those are my berries, and I must keep them in case I ever run out." The boys eyes narrowed, "Are you trying to take my berries from me?" The anger and suspicion in his voice was palpable.

"No, but they will go bad tomorrow if you leave them sitting."

Of course, Pilgrim's berries did go bad the next day and all had to be thrown out. Much to the disappointment of everyone, for now they had to go pick more and they did not even enjoy the fruit of their past labor.

Taxed

What is the standard deduction?
Cut taken by the unseen for it's
Own use?

Could it be that if I measure,
If I take a tally of my total
I can pay a little less?

But what is less than this?
If there is a price to pay
I can.

But it might kill me.

II
Let me ask the question
First.
Let me question your math,
Your reason and your words.

Perhaps I pay to much?
Could the price be placed beyond
My reach?

You might pretend that it is not,
That it is fine to demand soul
For labor.

You can tell me that you work
So hard,
That you need the money to make
My life better.

Chances are I won't believe you.
Why should I?
I am paying a price in tears and blood
And empty nights.

You might say your work is hard,
That you have put yourself
In dangers way.
Who hasn't?
To love is to put yourself in dangers way,
And where I have not loved I've died.

Still, it may be this death is better.
If the world is cold and gray, like a grave
In winter, at least there is no
Fear of greater failure.

The dark I see comming is welcome
I have no need to escape it.
Color and light and all the joy of
Life is long gone.

Why not die now?
It is as good a time as any.
There is nothing special about
That moment when one dies.

Nothing unique to set it off.
The world walks on,
Usually won't even notice the absence.
Like a whole in a cave, it hardly matters,
What is a little more darkness?

III
Here in the tomb it is comfortable.
A small dark hole,
Like your bed when the storm
Is raging outside.

It is safe, you cannot be hurt more
Because who could possibly kill
A dead man?

It is so easy to live in grayscale.
There is no need to destiguish
Between colors.
No one says, "I don't understand!"
It is all so clear and so simple.

I wish it didn't hurt so bad to
Live here, to see the world through
Uncolored lenzes.

IV
What about the other side?
The freedom of flight in sky blue
Wind?

Is it freedom when you know you could fall,
And never rise again.
Is the hawk free, with a legion of
Crows on its tail.

Broken and bleading he fights to gain
Air. To escape, to be free.

He will be free, eventually.
When his bloody carcass
Hits the lightless soil.

A Prayer for Today

"Your goal is to get into a manna rhythm. Seek His grace today, be faithful in the tasks in front of you, and trust Him for tomorrow. Then, when you look back and see that He was faithful, your faith will be 'fed' for the next day." Depression: a stubborn darkness by Edward T. Welch

Lord would you give me
strength for today?
Lord help me know I have
reason to pray?

Help me be faithful in
all of my tasks.
Help me to walk in all
of Your paths.

Let me have wisdom to
trust for tomorrow.
Let me have Your joy in
all of my sorrow.

Lead me to know You
in all of Your glory.
Lead me to know that
Your goodness is holy.

And let me deny me and
all my desires.
And let me pursue You
my burning fire.