(Ir)religiosity

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I’ve been out of the loop for a few weeks now.  My original “week” long break from blogging turned into two — and it’s been great.  I didn’t make as big of dent in my stack of books as I would have liked, but oh well.  Time off is good.

I’m sure it’s old news to most everyone now, but a piece by Michael Spencer (the Internet Monk) in the Christian Science Monitor titled “The Coming Evangelical Collapse” has made asizable splash in the blogosphere over the past few weeks.
His predictions are bleak (or encouraging, depending on your point of view.

In the opening paragraph alone he claims that a “major collapse” of evangelicalism will occur within 10 years that will “fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West” resulting in a new “anti-Christian chapter” of our history in which “intolerance to Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible.”

Why?  He lists seven reasons, chief among them the reality that evangelicalism has — rightly or wrongly — been close related to fundamentalism and the Christian Right resulting in politicization and a reputation for intolerance and anti-intellectualism. As Spencer succinclty observes, evangelicals “fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith.” As we saw in last presidential election, the political power of the Christian Right is crumbling.  Combine that with the rising disenchantment of many “cradle evangelicals” with what they perceive to be the politicization and co-option of a vibrant and robust faith, and the outlook for evangelicalism as a cultural and religious monolith is not good.

So what will happen?  Spencer lists some interesting ideas, some I agree with, some I don’t, all of them are worth reading.  His main point is that this is not a bad thing.  As evangelicalism dies, the opportunity arises for new “forms of Christian vitality and ministry” to be born.  To paraphrase Tony Jones , a new church can emerge from the compost of Christendom. But I’m getting ahead of myself.  And now you know where I stand.

Evolution, not Complete Collapse

Here’s my take.  I don’t know that collapse is the right word.  Maybe evolution.  To be sure, I completely agree that evangelicalism has a cultural and political monolith will fall.  We’ve already begun to see that.  But I don’t know that traditional evangelicalism will be wiped completely off the Christian landscape.  I just get the sense however many or few of them there are, they will always be around.

But make no mistake.  The face of Christianity is definitely changing — radically changing.  No longer are evangelicals defined by the likes of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, or Al Mohler.  No, many of them are striking out on their own, moving from the center back to the margins were their faith originally began.

So here’s what I think will happen.  Though many evangelical will continue business as normal, albeit without the power high, many of us will abandon the word “evangelical” and traditional modes of evangelism altogether.  We may not even call “evangelism.”  Instead of belligerently proselytizing to potential “converts” we will be inviting people to rediscover their personal story as a part of God’s larger story and we will be fervently looking for the places where God is working in the world — most likely the least likely places — so we can join in the cosmic project of restoration.  Instead of coercing others to assent to creedal propositions, we will be faithfully bearing witness to the gospel of whole life transformation and responding to grace as we joyfully participate in God’s incoming kingdom.

If you’re a usual reader of my blog it will be no surprise to you that I see this future being brought to bear by the many emerging expressions of Christianity.  The temptation of course, is to follow suit with previous movements, evangelicalism included, and to assume the reigns of power.  History clearly isn’t in favor of the emerging movement, but I am hopeful that as evangelicalism falls from power we will resist, as Jesus did, the temptation of power.

Christianity began on the margins, that is where it thrives and, in my opinion, that is where it belongs — that is where it is most effective.  Not in the corridors of power.  Our world, as Tom Friedman has written, has gone flat.  It will only get flatter.  The fall of evangelicalism from power and the evolution of Christianity into more decentralized and emerging forms is but one symptom of that.  It is my hope that these expressions will continue to thrive in the shadow of their past ancestors and in doing so return to the subversive and transformative heart of their faith.

What do you think of Spencer’s predictions?  What is your hope for the future?