Some Theses on the Church in North America Today (2)
2. Because
the church is identity and DNA-deprived it cannot get from where it is to where
it ought to go. Indeed, it cannot even understand where it is much less imagine
“where” it ought to go.
a.
“But our entire nineteen hundred years of
Christian preaching and theology are built on the “religious a priori” in human
beings. ‘Christianity’ has always been a form (perhaps the true form) of ‘religion.’
Yet if it becomes obvious one day that this ‘a priori’ doesn’t exist, that it
has been a historically conditioned and transitory form of human expression,
then people really will become radically religionless—and I believe that this
is already more or less the case (why, for example, doesn’t this war provoke a ‘religious’
reaction like all the previous ones?)—what does that then mean for ‘Christianity’?
The foundations are being pulled out from under all that ‘Christianity’ has
previously been for us, and the only people among whom we might end up in terms
of ‘religion’ are ‘the last of the knights’ or a few intellectually dishonest
people.”[1]
b. That “religionless” age has arrived. The “Churchianity”
long mistaken for Christianity has lost is credibility and viability and it
passing away (see #1). This is in part what Bonhoeffer means by a “world come
of age.” This is where we are and we must come to terms with that and begin to
discern the possibilities for new forms of church within that reality.
c.
The forms and structures of religious Christianity
which are dying/dead do not facilitate but indeed hinder forming the relational
infrastructure intrinsic to and necessary for the church to be and do what God
wants in the “world come of age.”
d.
“Business as usual” will no longer work.
Working harder, doing “church” better, new programs or techniques will not help.
We are in new territory, new conditions and what we think we know will mislead
us.
e.
The attitude we have to have in facing this
crisis is reflected by Rod Dreher[2]:
[1] Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from
Prison: DBW 8 (Augsburg Fortress. Kindle Edition.) Kindle Locations 10242-10249.
[2]
Rod Dreher,
“Christianity in the Brave New World,” http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/christianity-brave-new-world-benedict-option/.
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