Bible Students

A reflection based on “Christianity’s Dangerous Idea” by McGrath (chapters 12-13)

This week’s reading covers chapters 12 and 13 of Christianity’s Dangerous Idea. Chapter twelve and thirteen discuss the unique way Protestantism has interacted with the world around it throughout history. It surveys some of the most common reactions to culture and world advancement, and gives thoughts on how Christ is to be seen in the world today. 

First, chapter twelve covers the shaping of western culture and Protestantism’s reaction. There are many thoughts on how the Christian church is to see Christ interacting with the world. The following are a few of the most common models. First, Christ can be seen as going against culture. Culture is of the flesh, the world, and so Christ naturally will oppose the evil in the culture. In this view, culture is seen as largely negative, and if not negative than at least not positive. Christ is placed against the culture, and efforts must be made to be completely different. Second, there is the Christ of culture. In this view, Christ is to be seen in the culture. In some sense, this is what the biblical authors did sometimes when tying the positive aspects of culture to the God of the Bible. In this view, Christ is seen as permeating culture and causing cultural advancement, though not all cultural things are good. Third, there is the Christ who is above culture. In this view, Christ is greater than all culture, regardless of if the culture’s aspects are positive or negative. In any case, Christ is above the culture. This is similar to another view, which is Christ as the transformer of culture. In this view, Christ takes the culture and points it to Himself, which transforms the way culture occurs. 

Next, there are uniquely Protestant methods for interacting with society as a whole. Are Christians to be completely separate from society, or are they to join in? Should Christians join monasteries, or hermit societies, or be fully engulfed in changing the culture? Of course, there is some expectation biblically that Christians would be a part of the positive change in the world, though there is also a lack of this engagement where one might expect it in the New Testament, especially involving slavery. One could argue either way for this. 

Further still, there is the interaction between church and state. Should the church control the state, or the state control the church, or be completely separate? If the church controls the state, religious freedom is completely gone. The sect which controls the state will take over and abolish other forms of Christianity. However, on the other side, if the state controls the church, then the church will be secularized and not have the power it needs. If church and state are completely separate, there may be a lack of accountability between the two. This is not a clear-cut issue, though America has leaned toward the separation of church and state. 

There are a few more subjects for this section, including the interactions with economics, work, education, and women. How separate should the church and the education institutions be? What about companies? There is a huge question of how to handle the separation between church and other institutions. Additionally, historically Protestantism has had counter-cultural views, especially in recent years with the issues regarding women. Should women be able to pastor, preach, lead, educate, or have some other role in the church? 

Next, chapter 13 discusses the interactions between Protestantism, the arts, and natural sciences. Protestantism, from its very roots, has been largely against statues and other forms of representations of God and biblical characters. However, the issue around icons is much more complicated. Icons, paintings of biblical stories or theological ideas, have been largely disapproved of in Protestantism. However, there may be some space for the painting of biblical stories for teaching the illiterate. Overall, icons may act as a form of idolatry, and are largely avoided. 

Additionally, poetry has had an interesting history in Protestantism. Poetry has been largely accepted, as it allows Christians to express themselves, especially in song. There has been a history of rejection of poetry, as some churches only allow the singing of biblical poetry, apart from the use of new poetry. However, overall, poetry has shown itself to be a helpful tool in the life of Protestants. 

Next, the stage and novel have also been helpful in the development of the demonstration of the gospel. Both dramas and fiction novels have aided in the communication of gospel principles. Sports also aided in the development of Christianity in the West, as it brought out the masculinity of Christian men, for better or for worse. Of course, there have been some positive aspects of “muscular Christianity,” though with every shift in culture there are some oversights. 

Now, the latter half of this chapter is extremely interesting. This second half covers the interaction between Protestantism and scientific advancement in the past, especially regarding Genesis’ primeval history. 

Copernicus largely introduced the idea of a solar system, an idea that seemed to contradict the biblical message of an earth-centered universe. The displacement of the earth from the center of the universe was a huge theological shift. Next, Darwin’s new ideas brought absolute havoc onto the theological scene. Interpretation of the Bible in light of Darwin’s thoughts is still widely discussed today, with special controversy. 

There are four ways Protestants typically interpret the biblical text in regards to the creation of the universe. First is young earth creationism, or fiat creation, which argues that the days in Genesis are seven literal days, which correspond to a universe around 6,000 years old. Second is old earth creationism, which has a few different interpretations. First is the view of theistic evolution, which claims God used natural processes and some miracles to direct creation to where He desired it to go. Second is the day-age theory, which states that the days in Genesis are a general framework for how God has created the world, over a long period of time. Intelligent design is a popular theory today, especially in the theistic scientific community. It claims that the universe and humans are a result of intelligence, which can be seen through investigation of what is here in nature, rather than attempting to answer questions from the biblical text. 

This week’s reading was especially interesting, specifically as it applies to the way Christianity will interact with other cultures on the mission field in the majority world throughout the future. The interactions between Christianity and evolution have been a specific topic I loved reading about.