Alex Forrest

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Challenger

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January 28, 1986 was a snow day in suburban Atlanta. But it turned out that most of the roads were passable. Because of that, and for scheduling reasons I don’t remember, I wound up heading over to Mrs. Mann’s house for my weekly piano lesson sometime in the late morning. Somewhere in the middle of it, her teenage son came running in yelling, “The space shuttle blew up! The space shuttle just blew up!” So Mrs. Mann and I ran in to the live network coverage of the Challenger blowing up.

That was twenty years ago today – one of those occassions where you remember where you were when it happened. Where were you?

Happy Reformation Day

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While most people concern themselves with that other October 31 holiday (see previous post), I want to remind you that today is Reformation Day. On this date in 1517 an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg. The immediate cause of his frustration was clerical abuse – specifically the selling of indulgences. (Basically, an indulgence was a “get-out-of-purgatory-free” card; except they weren’t free. They were sold so people could spring relatives from purgatory or escape it themselves, with the proceeds used for various papal projects – in this case the building of St Peter’s basilica in Rome.

The Reformation, sparked by this German monk, was one of the great spiritual revivals of all time; one that continues to impact the world (and you and me) in a deep way. Of course there were a host of issues involved, but I submit that the chief benefit of Luther’s work was the return of the Word of God to the people. Prior to Luther, the Scriptures were not available in common language and most people, clergy and laity alike, had no access to them. Luther returned the Scriptures to the people and rediscovered in them the gospel by grace through faith alone.

So instead of getting fat on candy, sit back and watch the recent film “Luther” (starring Ray Fiennes and reviewed here) and get acquainted with Reformation Day.

“Dark Ages” and “Enlightenment”

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I’m reading a very interesting book by sociologist Rodney Stark entitled For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery. The subtitle aptly describes the gist of the book, but the research and the historical details are fascinating.

One thrust of the book is Stark’s strong argument that the whole idea of a historically deep divide and hostility between science and Christianity is a historical fiction created by intellectuals who sought to discredit religion in general and Christianity in particular. Stark argues, “To these ends they sought credit for the ‘Scientific Revolution’ (another of their concepts), even though none of them had played any significant part in the scientific enterprise. One of the first steps in this effort was to designate their own era as the ‘Enlightenment,” and to claim it was a sudden and complete disjuncture with the past.” Men like Hume and Voltaire sought to “[wrap] themselves in the achievements of science to authenticate theri condemnation of reigion in general.”

Stark argues that science did not just emerge out of nowhere, but rather evolved out of the fertile intellectual climate of the Middle Ages – one that invented the university. And scientists were not standing and courageously shaking their fist at the Church but were, rather, mostly very devout believers who sought to grow in the knowledge of creation as an act of worshipping the Creator. The Christian belief in a perfect and orderly God who had created the universe with a likewise ordered complexity that could be discovered. There is, after all, a reason that science as we know it developed in Europe. Its not that Europeans were smarter, just that they had the worldview framework necessary for the emergence of science.

So, contrary to the popular myth, science and faith have not always been avowed enemies; the Church did not stifle scientific discovery as a matter of regular policy. Indeed, the Church gave rise to science.

The Legacy of Revivalism in Christian Leadership

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In a fascinating section in her important book Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey examines the historical context that gave rise to two-storied thinking.

She shows how the changing political ethos of 18-19th century America influenced and shaped the religious experience of the country, paying particular attention to the revivalist impulse of the Second Great Awakening in the 1800s. In reading this section, one can’t help but become very aware of how these impulses continue to define and shape Evangelicalism – especially in the areas of ecclesiology (the theological doctrine of the Church) and soteriology (the theological doctrine of salvation).

You need to read it.

In one particularly telling section, she describes the changing model of leadership and Christian ministry that emerged. Circuit riders and big-tent revivalists replaced pastors as those who wielded primary spiritual influence. No longer, then, did these leaders have much personal connection or relationship with those they influenced. And it didn’t really matter that much because religion was becoming increasingly an individual matter of the heart anyway.

The evangelical celebrity culture was born.

Pearcey writes:

“The populist branch of the evangelical movemenet cast aside an older model of leaers as holy men and instead gave rise to leaders who were entrepreneurs – pragmatic marketers who were willing to use whatever worked to get conversions.”

Pragmatic methods of evangelism, aimed at “producing” conversions (or “decisions for Christ”), were honed and practiced. The evangelical ideal of a Christian minister shifted from theological instruction and care to a “popular crusader and exhorter,” and theological education became more focused on practical instructions and pastoral techniques.

Not surprisingly, preaching changed too. “Expository preaching on biblical texts gave way to topical sermons on the felt needs of the congregation.” The goal was not instruction but an emotional charge.

“Increasingly, the populist preacher became a performer, stringing together stories and anecdotes, often from his own life.”

Does all of this sound pretty familiar to you too?
(Quotes are from p. 286-7)

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