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Editorial:
Faith in the Future? From
the director: Finding ourselves in the City Traveller,
the road is made by walking it The
Word made Flesh: A Sign and Foretaste in Limerick Comment:
The Architecture of Faith The
Word made Flesh: Down and Out in Dublin The
Word made Flesh: Cork Methodist Church, Ardfallen The
Word made Flesh: Reflections from the Maiden City Cathedral
Quarters: Interviews with Rev Dr Houston McKelvey and Very Rev Hugh
Kennedy Review:
Journey Towards Holiness Economics
and the economy: what are they for? Bible
Study: Beyond Silver Coins Reflection:
The 'F' word Review:
Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living Difficult
Conversations: Looking for God in the City... |
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THE SCANDAL OF THE EVANGELICAL CONSCIENCE: Why are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World? If this title hasn’t already grabbed you or resonated deep within you, then this book probably will be of no interest to you – or perhaps you are already part of a distinctive Christian community which I need to hear more about. Taking research figures from surveys done in USA, Ronald Sider presents the disheartening facts that in areas such as divorce, materialism, sexual obedience, racism and physical abuse within marriage, Christians (defined as both evangelicals and in slightly broader terms) fare no better than any other section of the population. Why? What has gone on in our Christian culture (and I suspect UK and Ireland figures would indicate a similar story to that of the USA) that has caused us to lose our social distinctiveness in the world? Things go wrong when we reduce the gospel down to the forgiveness of personal sins and ignore its central focus – the Kingdom of God. Christians are to form a new community, to live according to Kingdom values and to challenge the status quo – by welcoming the stranger, embracing the marginalised, challenging the rich to share with the poor and loving our enemies. The gospel is all about word AND deed and salvation is all about transformation of our inner selves AND our external behaviour. Jesus must be accepted not just as Saviour, but as Lord. We must recognise that people consist of both body and soul and therefore material sufficiency is as important as spiritual sufficiency. Also, we are communal beings – created for community. Our rampant individualism ignores this fact and results in the destruction of covenantal family life and the neglect of our responsibility to our neighbours and the common good. (73) Many Christians have also come to view sin as primarily personal, but the Bible shows sin as both personal AND social. Sider argues that society cannot be changed “one person at a time” – we must challenge, redeem and restore social structures as well. So, how do we “be the church” rather than conforming to culture? A brief historical account explains how, through the enlightenment to postmodernity, “the gospel of individual self-fulfillment now reigns” (85) and that cultural conformity leads to the individual replacing God at the centre of reality. (86) The church is to look very different: with Jesus at the centre, the church is called to be a holy, countercultural community: “God’s grand strategy of redemption does not focus on redeeming isolated individuals; it centers on the creation of a new people, a new community, a new social order that begins to live now the way the Creator intended.” (97) The last section of the book deals in practicalities - how to strengthen our accountability (which includes discipline) and dethrone materialism for a more faithful use of money. This section feels woolly after the facts of the previous chapters and lacks in-depth practical applications. However, the book is very short, mostly very punchy and highlights the issues to a Christian community that is, sadly, very unaware of how its distinctiveness has been compromised. A PERFECT FOLLOW-ON to this book is Journey Towards Holiness by Alan Kreider. Sider’s book is a great way to quickly cover the issue – it injects a dose of facts and bursts bubbles, but Kreider’s book gives you the meat of the issue that you need to chew on in order to really change how you live. Where Sider gives a skimmed overview of how Christians have ended up in their current predicament and how they might get out of it, Kreider starts right at the beginning of the story at the time of the Exodus when God called the Israelites out of Egypt to be a “holy nation”. He details how they were to be different, why they were to be different and how they gradually lost their distinctiveness. Krieder continues the story through to God revealing his nature and ways in Jesus, on to the growth of the church right up to today and beyond. In a helpful last section he lists pertinent and insightful questions that individuals, families and churches might ask of themselves in exploring their own “journey towards holiness”. For me, bursting the bubble rapidly as Ronald Sider does, has a similar effect to reading an uncomfortable article in the newspaper – I’m stunned about how awful something is but feel I just don’t have the resources to address it or change anything. Kreider’s book, on the other hand, presents such a deeply rooted, well explained, slow, step-by-step vision of life on this planet, that I think I feel better equipped – to take it in, understand it and do something about it. I don’t think I’ve been so blown away by a book in a very long time, if ever. Whether I will sustain this passion and commitment to live a better life induced by reading the book or whether it will just take a little longer to fade, I don’t know, but at the minute I’m excited by the challenges these books have posed for me and by what it might mean for the Christian community if others read them also. CLAIRE MARTIN is former Programme Co-ordinator at the Centre for Contemporary Christianity. |
THE SCANDAL
OF THE Ronald J. Sider Published
by: Baker Book House Co
Alan Kreider Published by: Herald P, US 1987 |
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