Theological Worlds
Part 7, The Theological Worlds of Progressive Christianity
Having described the theological worlds of evangelicalism, let me turn to the theological worlds of progressive Christianity.
By "progressive Christianity" I am gathering mainline Protestants with progressive evangelicals and ex-evangelicals. The label "progressive" here is pointing to a more liberal political orientation. By progressive Christianity I mean Christians who tend to vote for Democrats out of social justice concerns.
Given those social justice concerns, a primary obsessio of progressive Christianity is Injustice. Two other obsessios are Suffering and Ecological Grief.
Basically, where the obsessios of evangelicalism are largely focused upon the self--Guilt, Belonging, and Self-Alienation--the obsessios of progressive Christianity tend to be focused upon the pain and suffering of the world. Injustice. Oppression. Social marginalization. Victimization. Dehumanization. Famine. Food scarcity. Poverty. Destitution. Violence. War. Environmental devastation. Climate Change. Animal suffering.
Related to these concerns, the experience of epiphania involves the pursuit of justice, the alleviation of suffering, inclusion of the marginalized, and creation care. The focus shifts from away from human guilt toward a non-judgmental, unconditional declaration of God's love and care. Social inclusion and welcome are paramount, leading these churches toward more progressive views regarding gender and sexuality.
Also, visions of penal substitutionary atonement are replaced with moral influence perspectives. Christ doesn't die to satisfy the wrath of God but shows us how to love and live a human life. As an example of this, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) wanted to add the song "In Christ Alone" to their hymnal Glory to God. They asked the authors of the hymn if they could change the original lyric “Till on that cross as Jesus died / the wrath of God was satisfied” to “Till on that cross as Jesus died / the love of God was magnified.” This change was rejected, but it illustrates the point. The two lyrics, original and proposed change, come from different theological worlds. This is only one example. A perusal of mainline hymnals will reveal many others.
On the progressive evangelical side, consider the prayerbook created by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. Common Prayer, as a daily prayer book like the Book of Common Prayer from the Anglican tradition, reflects the outward-facing obsessios of Injustice, Suffering, and Ecological Grief. Here are liturgies and prayers to form you into an "ordinary radical," an activistic Christian seeking political and environmental justice and change.
Stepping back, we can see why evangelical and progressive Christians experience mutual incomprehension when they encounter each other. They come from very different theological worlds.
This comment concerns the different theological worlds mentioned at the end of the post.
When God wanted to divide the people as they were building the tower of Babel, he confused the language. We have so many theological worlds because our language has been confused.
As you recall in Genesis 2, God brought the animals to Adam to be named. Words are meant to represent entities. When teaching language to a child, you show her a cup and say "cup." You associate the word with the object. When you used a word you had in your mind the thing the word represented.
We have lost the concept of words representing entities. To us, words can have multiple definitions, and even grow new meanings. Our language has been confused, and we are divided.
The Old Testament writings spoke of a New Covenant using words that referred to things in the kingdom of heaven. Those words represented things. The problem was that no one had seen the kingdom of heaven, nor could anyone fathom the things that made up the kingdom of heaven. We were forced to concoct definitions that fit the context of what we interpreted the scriptures to mean, even though we had no way to comprehend their meaning. The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven had been kept secret for ages and generations - the best kept secret of all time.
Being comfortable with words having multiple meanings, and unable to conceive of a singular definition being able to fit all contexts where a word is found in scriptural discourse, we are forced to assign multiple definitions. The result is that we have lost the concept of words representing things.
How to recover? Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Walk through it, get to see how everything works. Jesus spoke in parables - "the kingdom of heaven is like." Once you are familiar with how everything works in the kingdom, you can take your theological vocabulary and begin assigning words to the things you see. You would be surprised how the words, each representing a singular thing, flow together into a comprehensive understanding of the scriptures. And, if you hadn't guessed, what you will see is much different from what you have been taught.
This all sounds theoretical, but it is not. I have seen the kingdom of heaven, and I can show you what all the theological terms represent. For example, when you walk into the kingdom of heaven, the first thing you will see is grace. I can give you a two-word definition of grace, but unless you see it in the kingdom, you will not know what it represents.
Without a common language, we will continue to talk past one another. May God unite us.
This is interesting.
Social justice is an interesting topic.
I can see how for some people this is their primary obsessio and is a highly motivating place to be located in to trigger human action - the search for & realisation of the epiphania. In a sense I have felt this is important to Jesus. He seemed to radiate towards the poor and the oppressed. He said to the rich young ruler about giving away wealth to the poor etc. But, at times he did not seem to be bothered by worldly systems e.g. “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” End of. He did not seem to invest much passion about it. He even seems to just accept its existence and learned to work round it rather than trying to change it from within. He seemed quite chilled out and rational when he said to the flapping disciples “give to Caesars what is Caesars”. I would like to be more like this. Living in a non-flapping epiphania!
Having said that, he did challenge the Pharisees with their burdensome laws, and express anger in the temple, but I think he was angry at them as they claimed to be on the holy high ground and used it for economic gain and as a way to oppress and exclude the poor which was an antithesis to the very heart of the Old Testament political system. They were meant to be custodians of Yahweh’s covenant, not replicate Caesars. He seemed to suggest that they should help lift the burden, not actually be the oppressors themselves. So, Jesus does show signs of being a progressive activist at times. Or, is he actually a dismantler? A demolition man as opposed to being a builder?
I think he is a dismantler NOT a builder.
He builds people, but not organisations. If he wanted to build an organisation, he would not have dismissed the very crowds he gathered - he did not trust the crowd.
My career has led me down a pathway of working with adult prisoners and adolescents with mental health conditions, including currently working on an in-patient psychiatric ward. I am moved by social justice, many of these young people have had a whole series of adverse circumstances to contend with - they have often been dealt a bad hand. However, I cannot get passionate about progression and seeing the system, the powers that be as the solution. There are many systemic problems, however I am sad to say I do not hold out much hope for how these systems and governmental organisations can fix the problem that is essentially a deep wound in the earth and humanity: the fall.
I see the very real influence of Satan, as being relentless in these systems and the hope that these systems will permanently change and offer some form of messianic hope is not something I believe will ever happen. It is a false hope. I have watched organisations that have been failing, progress and then very shortly become toxic and cult like all within the span of a few years. And, the criteria for progression is often based on one assumed, normally political, trending sets of criteria and agendas.
I think I lean more towards my epiphania is seeing Jesus as providing a tangible, experiential, spiritual solution to mental health conditions (albeit I am very cautious about this rather than having a gun-ho approach). More like yeast in a batch of dough approach. The holy spirit and its fruits of peace, joy etc. can be of great comfort in difficult circumstances. Some of these young people have positive home experiences, it is in their personal beings they are struggling with extreme pain and torment. Some caused by systemic issues, such as their families, socio-economic, demographic or the education systems OR conversely, some have been supported by helpful UK NHS systems. Some are just afflicted. A progressive system, or more systems cannot provide the type of healing these young people need, I think fundamentally if I strip this to the bone, I think people need the empowerment of the divine.
From my observations, things in the world will get worse before they get better. I have no political hope in any institution, or any person, or any political party. I have zero earthly political hope. Due to this I do not have the motivation, or energy to be a social, political activist. Just being honest.
Jesus deliberately said his Kingdom was not of this world.
That being said, I do hold some of these progressive values e.g. I do think that all are welcome etc. And, I do think that focusing on the wrath of God, the scary part of atonement theory feels unfair to let’s say the deep, complex damage caused in vulnerable, helpless, powerless victims of abuse.
And, I do think having sound political systems, organisations can either add to the problem, or help alleviate the problem. Hot soup is very comforting if you are outside in the cold and homeless. It IS Jesus like to serve the soup. In the same way Jesus served burdened, broken Peter some hot bbq fish on the beach before restoring his hope, his soul.
I guess doing Christian good is progress.
What I do think we can do is help alleviate suffering for the people we meet along the way. Sometimes allowing people to simply be themselves, be free and kindness can be a great comfort in their obsessio’s and be a taste of the epiphania. And, acknowledging injustice can go a long way, even if justice isn’t fully served.
When I stop and reflect on the young people I know with acute mental illness, I do wonder what it is that Jesus is thinking, what are his thoughts and what would he like me to do about it. I look at them and can feel quite powerless. But, I find kindness, concern, gentle encouragement and allowing them to be themselves and have their voices heard can go a long way. I think being free, just free to be themselves, free from the worldly system is often part of their epiphania. The hospital bed does provide this rest. An escape actually, even though some of them frequently try to escape the rest.
But, it can be frustrating when I look at the stories of Jesus. He did bring healing to greatly troubled people, but I see very little healing happening for these young people. Often the meds are just managing it, managing their troubled thoughts, or gut wrenching pain, or desperation and some therapeutic tools can be a comfort much like the huge collection of fluffy blankets, glitter pens, sensory boxes and soft toys that occupy the unit I work in do. I am not sure if progress in ‘the system’ they are already existing in is going to bring about a radical change. There are some, who in a sense, are just being metaphorically chained to a wall like Legion was, as a way of keeping themselves and others safe, or some that want to throw themselves off a bridge despite the kindness and support in the system, or genuinely loving concerned parents. More is needed. In the gospels people ran to Jesus for the both very human touch fused with the divine solution.
Thinking about it, maybe healing is an epiphania for me, even though personally I am not unwell. Worn, tired and battered, but not unwell.
Sorry, this is not very optimistic! But, I do have hope. I do think the spirit of the kingdom is at work like yeast in a heavy batch of dough. The world is a very heavy batch of dough and it can feel like it is dumped on us and weighty. A heavy load. But, what lightens this load is I do actually believe in the second coming of Jesus. I do think he is coming back and in the end there will be no more tears. This is for me though, eschatological not an over realised belief. And, I guess in the mean time all we can do is ask for help, ask for more of the Holy Spirit, ask for miracles, ask for systemic change to alleviate and bring freedoms, relief, food, ask for a taste of the coming kingdom, even if it is only temporary at our point in history. Jesus taught us to never give up asking.
BUT I think progress is a myth. But, it is a myth I used to believe, that the world would become a better place, onwards and upwards to victory so to speak - but no, that is not how history has played out, not at all, even within my short lifetime I can see it has got worse not better. The horrors of what is now possible with AI, our modern tech, social media amongst other things is truly alarming. And, recently something has been exposed to me, a truth came out that has shown me how easily I was tricked, deceived that that has shocked and rocked me to my core.
Evil at the moment feels very real ti me. And evil is very clever.
I am learning to appreciate the basics at the moment, not something the west has taught us very well. But, having to face some of the horrors of what life is, the realities is Stan appearing as an Angel of light, has recently humbled me, alarmed me and has forced me to learn this lesson. Seeing a simple robin with a mouth full of worms has been such a delight to me recently - how our father provides for our needs. Creation itself does have this wonder built into it.
Thank you for this series, I am finding it interesting how I re approach church. And, actually re approach my work.
I am in a season of full circle moments and reflection and this idea of theological worlds has been like a scaffold to work with, a tool, a way of navigating this season of life.
Well, actually, it has helped me in how to relocate myself in life generally! I am just coming up from rock bottom, so I having to regroup big time!
Selah!