Marginal Christianity

Nov 01st, 2015 0 Comments by Leonard Allen -  It mostly hasn’t hit us yet that we are living in a post-Christendom culture. The cultural status and power that Christianity in America held from about the 1850s to the 1960s is virtually gone. In Christendom, the church occupies a central and influential place in society; after Christendom, it gets pushed to the margins, out of the place of power. And that’s where we find ourselves now—more and more at the margins. So let’s be clear: Any sort of Christian establishment has definitively ended. As David Bentley Hart put it recently, “we now live in the time after Christendom, among the rapidly vanishing fragments of its material culture, bound to it by only a few lingering habits of thought.” Christianity’s loss of cultural power in America is waking us up to the reality that we are in a missionary situation in our own culture. And this is forcing us to rethink our mission, our theology, and our priorities. http://www.l...

- From the center to the margins: in Christendom the Christian story and the churches were central, but in post-Christendom these are marginal. - From the majority to the minority: in Christendom Christians comprised the (often overwhelming) majority, but in post-Christendom we are a minority. - From settlers to sojourners: in Christendom Christians felt at home in a culture shaped by their story, but in post-Christendom we are aliens, exiles and pilgrims in a culture where we no longer feel at home. - From privilege to plurality: in Christendom Christians enjoyed many privileges, but in post-Christendom we are one community among many in a plural society. - From control to witness: in Christendom churches could exert control over society, but in post-Christendom we exercise influence only through witnessing to our story and its implications. - From maintenance to mission: in Christendom the emphasis was on maintaining a su...