Running Home To Mummy: C.S. Lewis, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, Emerging Conversation, Postmodernism and Felt-Relevance
***Why sure. If I could believe the Bible with traditionalist, evangelical, Vacation Bible School naiveté without having to shove my brains in my pocket to git ’er done, I’d ah done it years ago. But I’m all growed up now, what with all the book-larnin and post-enlightenment storying and postmodern profanity and verb conjugating and noun declining and most especially, blogging―I find myself stuck in a patronizing pose and having to settle for all manner of proud doubting and nuancing and on-the-one-hand-but-on-the-other-handing and such. In this postmodern world, as Walter Truett Anderson put it so well some sixteen years ago in a book of the same title, “Reality, Isn’t What it Used to Be.”
Or isn’t it?
Perhaps no theologian (besides F.D.E. Schleiermacher himself) attempted so impressively to keep Christianity relevant in the face of the Enlightenment as did Paul Tillich (1886-1965) in his 3 volume Systematic Theology. This unapologetic embrace of the utterly apologetic method of correlation insisted that the unbelieving audience of Christian proclamation determine the itches preaching had better scratch if it expects to survive.
Among the many ominous warnings Tillich issued was the pronouncement of the obsolete status of the word “God” itself. Thankfully, Tillich provided the positively brimming-with-relevance replacement for the tired old nomenclature for the divine creator of us all. That’s right. We have none other than Paul Tillich to thank for the now all-too-familiar and oh so precious term of endearment for the heavenly father we have come to take for granted . . . “The Ground of Our Being”. . .oh well . . . I guess making felt-relevance one’s chief aim does not always result in the achievement of it.
When Rudolf Bultmann averred that the question of Jesus’ historical, bodily resurrection or the possibility of resurrection for future disciples mattered little to modern persons like himself and his Swiss buddy, Karl Barth suggested that when God actually stood Rudi up from the ground at some future date, the relevance of a straightforward reading of 1 Corinthians 15 would likely lock-in for him fairly quickly.
Meanwhile two worldwide phenomena present themselves for consideration: Traditionalist, orthodoxy-protective, Bible-loving, evangelicalish Christianity (read e.g., Roman Catholicism, the Southern Baptist Convention and the global charismatic movement et.al.) expands while Left-leaning, doubt glorifying, Christianity re-shaping communities (think especially of mainline Protestants) shrivel up and find it harder and harder to gin up as much doubt as they had hoped for while fewer and fewer dollars present themselves for the propping up of the doubters in their endowed chairs and cushy administrative posts. Go figure.
And then there goes little Jack Lewis all growed up and running home to mummy. The solid traditional Anglican Christianity of his mummy that is. I do declare, the more that boy studied the further his brain and body and heart listed to the right and the less impressed he became with “things new, shiny, and relevant.” Who is this Lewis? Why, its the writer, lover, and interpreter of stories; stories happily laden with nuance and mystery yet without the slightest pinch of that squeamishness regarding the story’s capacity to carry both embedded and in-your-face truth claims even of a propositional sort and meant to be taken as universal and permanent truth claims at that.
But some Narrative shepherds of our souls would free us from the shackles of such horrifying certainty as might be gained [and millions of Christians past and present (poor dullards) thing they do gain] should we actually believe in the truth thus taught. It must be frustrating when such an unreconstructed, old style (not necessarily modern) truth lover sells so many books and keeps being found relevant left and right. Does C.S Lewis not know better than to be caught being found relevant when so many bloggers have proven he can’t be? Do not be fooled. The Bible’s narratives lose nothing in nuance and mystery when their truth claims are allowed to stand.
And the gall of Mark Driscoll and Tim Keller, reaching that thoroughly postmodern twenty-something set on both the Right and Left coasts of our great nation (and Darrin Patrick smack dab in the middle) not only without chucking their doctrines (even election and predestination!!) but just carrying them about in the open! For shame!
Whenever you hear the word “postmodern” just prior to being told what you are allowed to find relevant―Achtung, Baby! Taking on traditional, orthodox, evangelical Christianity might sell a lot of books and play well on the PC circuit but it has yet to prove it can build and sustain over time anything recognizable as “church.” Carl Henry urged Protestant liberals to stop trying to fix Christianity and just admit that they don’t like it, reject it, and move on. Most eventually did! Folks who work too hard attempting to fix Christianity in the quest to keep it relevant (Protestant liberals and perhaps now, the “left,” most provocative wing of the emerging conversation) too often break the Christianity they started with and achieve precious little relevance overtime to boot.
Or isn’t it?
Perhaps no theologian (besides F.D.E. Schleiermacher himself) attempted so impressively to keep Christianity relevant in the face of the Enlightenment as did Paul Tillich (1886-1965) in his 3 volume Systematic Theology. This unapologetic embrace of the utterly apologetic method of correlation insisted that the unbelieving audience of Christian proclamation determine the itches preaching had better scratch if it expects to survive.
Among the many ominous warnings Tillich issued was the pronouncement of the obsolete status of the word “God” itself. Thankfully, Tillich provided the positively brimming-with-relevance replacement for the tired old nomenclature for the divine creator of us all. That’s right. We have none other than Paul Tillich to thank for the now all-too-familiar and oh so precious term of endearment for the heavenly father we have come to take for granted . . . “The Ground of Our Being”. . .oh well . . . I guess making felt-relevance one’s chief aim does not always result in the achievement of it.
When Rudolf Bultmann averred that the question of Jesus’ historical, bodily resurrection or the possibility of resurrection for future disciples mattered little to modern persons like himself and his Swiss buddy, Karl Barth suggested that when God actually stood Rudi up from the ground at some future date, the relevance of a straightforward reading of 1 Corinthians 15 would likely lock-in for him fairly quickly.
Meanwhile two worldwide phenomena present themselves for consideration: Traditionalist, orthodoxy-protective, Bible-loving, evangelicalish Christianity (read e.g., Roman Catholicism, the Southern Baptist Convention and the global charismatic movement et.al.) expands while Left-leaning, doubt glorifying, Christianity re-shaping communities (think especially of mainline Protestants) shrivel up and find it harder and harder to gin up as much doubt as they had hoped for while fewer and fewer dollars present themselves for the propping up of the doubters in their endowed chairs and cushy administrative posts. Go figure.
And then there goes little Jack Lewis all growed up and running home to mummy. The solid traditional Anglican Christianity of his mummy that is. I do declare, the more that boy studied the further his brain and body and heart listed to the right and the less impressed he became with “things new, shiny, and relevant.” Who is this Lewis? Why, its the writer, lover, and interpreter of stories; stories happily laden with nuance and mystery yet without the slightest pinch of that squeamishness regarding the story’s capacity to carry both embedded and in-your-face truth claims even of a propositional sort and meant to be taken as universal and permanent truth claims at that.
But some Narrative shepherds of our souls would free us from the shackles of such horrifying certainty as might be gained [and millions of Christians past and present (poor dullards) thing they do gain] should we actually believe in the truth thus taught. It must be frustrating when such an unreconstructed, old style (not necessarily modern) truth lover sells so many books and keeps being found relevant left and right. Does C.S Lewis not know better than to be caught being found relevant when so many bloggers have proven he can’t be? Do not be fooled. The Bible’s narratives lose nothing in nuance and mystery when their truth claims are allowed to stand.
And the gall of Mark Driscoll and Tim Keller, reaching that thoroughly postmodern twenty-something set on both the Right and Left coasts of our great nation (and Darrin Patrick smack dab in the middle) not only without chucking their doctrines (even election and predestination!!) but just carrying them about in the open! For shame!
Whenever you hear the word “postmodern” just prior to being told what you are allowed to find relevant―Achtung, Baby! Taking on traditional, orthodox, evangelical Christianity might sell a lot of books and play well on the PC circuit but it has yet to prove it can build and sustain over time anything recognizable as “church.” Carl Henry urged Protestant liberals to stop trying to fix Christianity and just admit that they don’t like it, reject it, and move on. Most eventually did! Folks who work too hard attempting to fix Christianity in the quest to keep it relevant (Protestant liberals and perhaps now, the “left,” most provocative wing of the emerging conversation) too often break the Christianity they started with and achieve precious little relevance overtime to boot.
posted by Mark DeVine at 2:22 PM
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