Bible Students

A personal reflection based on “Christianity’s Dangerous Idea” by McGrath (chapters 16-17)

This week’s reading covers chapter 16 and 17, which discuss the ever-changing nature of Protestantism throughout the world. Chapter 16 covers the shift out of the western sphere of Protestantism. Protestantism in the last few centuries has been mostly in the West, but has shifted to the global South around the year 2,000. Protestantism in the South actually has more in common with other southern denominations than it does with Protestantism in the West. This is because western Protestantism holds an entirely different worldview and culture than the global South, so even though denominational differences are big, they do not come close to the cultural differences between the global West and the global South. The global South is very charismatic. In missions, missionaries must be willing to set apart the spread of Christianity from the spread of western culture. Western culture is not necessary to the spread of the Christian faith. 

There are many theories as to what the first religious experience was, either worship of ancestors or monotheism. Is Christianity the first religion, or the fulfillment of religion? Was Christianity being sustained in places like Africa only due to western presence there? This question was answered when western missionaries ceased their presence in many parts of Christianized Africa. In fact, it was after the western presence left that the church was able to flourish more fully. Missionaries to Africa often saw African culture as evil. They believed all of the culture, not only the religious aspects, were evil. This is a foolish mistake. All culture has some God-honoring parts, and Christian missionaries must be able to become all things to all people. Catholic missionaries in the same places took advantage of this and were often more optimistic about the cultures they were addressing. Because of this, they had much more success. Culture can be used for the spread of the gospel, so long as the missionary knows how to find and use the God-honoring parts of the culture. 

The reading of the Bible in African culture is often seen as too literal, as they read sections about the casting out of demons and other spiritual things as literal commands. In the West, this has been viewed as a more primitive way of reading the Scriptures. However, the African leaders argue that this is a more authentic way of reading the Scriptures, as the biblical authors believed in a world where there were spirits all over. In fact, it may be the post-Enlightenment culture of the West that blinds westerners to this biblical worldview. In fact, one of the biggest church movement in the majority world, especially the global south, is the Pentecostal movement. The Pentecostal movement is difficult to define, as it contains many groups with varying views, however they all value the active presence of the Spirit and take commands about spiritual things as literal. In a worldview that sees the world as inhabited with spirits, one can see why this would be an appealing view. I too see this as an appealing view, though I do not believe some of the doctrinal points. Dependence on the Spirit, especially in Africa, has overshadowed dependence on westerners for biblical influence. Most church leaders are almost all black, and are continuing in that trend. 

In Korea, Christianity has been seen as an ally, especially during war time. The enemy was not the West according to the Koreans, but rather Japan. Korea is now home to some of the biggest Protestant churches, and is overwhelming Presbyterian. It may be understood that the Buddhist background of Korea, which is largely agnostic, would find a more structured Presbyterian system more appealing than a very charasmatic system. Where Africans saw a world full of spirits, and so depended on the Spirit, Koreans may see a more systemized world and so depend on a strong church structure. Neither of these systems or responses are wrong, but demonstrate the adaptive nature of Protestantism. 

Latin America in the South is now very much Catholic. One of the strongest movements in the South has been liberation theology, which claims that Christianity should liberate society from oppressors. This has been increasingly conreversial. There are some Pentecostal events in the area, but these were not brought on by the western influence. Rather, the foundation for these events had been laid long ago. Pentecostalism outnumbers many other groups in the area in the South, though it is beaten by Catholicism still. Latin America has had a long history of the poor and marginalized, so both Pentecostalism and liberation theology make sense as responses to this culture. 

The Philippines, after becoming a Spanish country, was a rock-hard defense against Protestantism. Protestants had an incredibly difficult time penetrating the culture, compared to Catholicism. Protestant churches were only growing by virtue of child birth. Pentecostalism, however, has a growing presence in the nation as of recent. Essentially only in Islamic states is the suppression of Protestantism and Pentecostalism effective. 

Chapter 17 then covers the expanse of Protestantism and Pentecostalism. The growth of Protestantism is like a mutation of a cell, adapting to new cultures. There are seemingly new ways of reading and applying the Bible for each culture, which is the very essence of Protestantism. Protestantism is unfortunately not a very unified movement, but is a movement that is able to adapt to all sorts of cultural issues. There is no single or simple Protestantism, but an endless cycle of birth and rebirth. Reform is a key aspect of the Protestant identity. Wooden religion is reformed into emotional religion and is reformed back into wooden. The imbalances are constantly being reevaluated and changed. Protestantism must be willing to correct itself in light of the Bible. No past expression of Protestantism is normative. No age or group could ever read all of the depth of Scripture. The living tradition must be applied to all different contexts. For example, consider premillenialism. Premillenialism was believed in the early church but abandoned until around the mid-1900s. What about the gifts of the Spirit? What about women and sexuality? There are so many ways to read the Bible, and so where one culture sees something very clearly, another culture may struggle to understand the passage, but have its own proper understanding somewhere else. The use of the internet is such a great way for ideas to spread, and be evaluated. Many beliefs in a culture will remain unchallenged until a new challenger comes on the scene, and the whole system will be reformed. There is no centralized Protestant religious government, so Protestants can do whatever they want. Now, they may not be truly Protestant, but they still will not be controlled by a central authority. Religion must be considered a proper force on earth, because the values of the people control where they go. 

This has been a great book to go through, and I have appreciated the modern takes on Protestantism in the West and the majority world. The nature of Protestantism is one of the most interesting parts of this book, as the constant form and reform of the church must be taken seriously.