February, 2005 Calendar In This Issue: Confirmation Class A Christmas Card Greeting The Genesis of a Kitchen The Christian Right Via Media Transition

by The Rev. Hartshorn Murphy

The purpose of this lecture is to put in historical and theological perspective the so-called "Christian right" and secondly, to encourage us to a deeper grounding in our own distinctive theological traditions as Anglicans and Episcopalians. It is my hope that we can move beyond the defensive place we, as progressive Christians, often find ourselves; are better able to compete in the marketplace of ideas in American and world culture and finally, that we become more effective evangelists as a result of having more confidence in our identity. In the contemporary culture wars, we are losing the battle. Pat Buchanan is right: the struggle is for the soul of America and we need to become much more intentional in our outreach and witness and more skilled in working with other Christians, Jews and others with a progressive vision.

Three things: First, this will be a broad sweep as we speak in generalities. Two, I will use the words "evangelical" and "fundamentalist" interchangeably for simplicity's sake. Three: this reflection is intentionally provocative.

In the beginning: The Christian church began, of course, first in Palestine as a Jewish sect who claimed Jesus as Messiah and Lord. That initial movement moved rapidly throughout the Gentile Roman Empire. That story of growth in reflected in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles. With the victory of Constantine the Great (d. 337), Christianity became the state religion of the Empire and Constantine reestablished his capital on the site of the Greek city of Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople.

In the ancient world then, there were 5 great Apostolic Centers of Authority - or Sees: Jerusalem, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria and Rome. At the same time, in the British Isles, Christianity was planted no later than the 2nd century (whether you accept the myth of the Holy Grail as fact or legend) and enjoyed a vibrant life and unique spirituality reflective of that culture.

It would be accurate to characterize the first Christian Age as being marked by theological and cultural diversity which occasionally resulted in conflict as a Christian consensus was seeking to emerge.

Over time, the Eastern Patriarchies of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria and Constantinople fell to Islam and at the Council of Whitby in 664, the Celtic Church acknowledged the primacy of the Church of Rome. Thus by the end of the first millennium, Rome was preeminent and the theological insights of Augustine of Hippo (354-430) defined the Western Church for over 1,000 years. Over time, Celtic tribal spirituality was absorbed into a more urban Roman Catholic structure although remnants of that spirituality continues to inform Anglican identity and ethos even today.

A distinct Anglican Church can be dated legislatively from the year 1554 when the English Parliament declared that the Bishop of Rome no longer had any authority over the English Church. Or you could date it 5 years earlier with the work of Thomas Cranmer who translated the Bible into the vernacular and produced the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549. But best would be the work of Richard Hooker, who in 1534, articulated a diffuse authority of scripture, reason and tradition- a 3 legged stool - which established the character of Anglican Catholicism as being comprehensive, inclusive and rationalistic. These actions are best understood as Catholic reformation rather than Protestant separation.

The English Protest: In England, a protest movement emerged during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) who had accelerated the renewal of the English Church. These churchmen, rallying around a cry of "sola scriptura" (scriptures alone) became known by their critics, pejoratively, as "puritans." Additionally, they attacked the use of church ornaments, wearing of vestments, use of organs, the sign of the cross and governance by Bishops, preferring a more Presbyterian polity of Elders. Some leaders, by 1600, began to advocate congregationalism. John Smyth, who so strongly advocated adult baptism, rebaptized himself in 1609, and established the first Baptist church in England. As the protest failed - especially after the Act of Conformity of 1622 - some Puritans immigrated to America and in 1624 founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony which became Presbyterian and the Plymouth Colony, which became Congregationalist: the two strains of Puritanism in the New World.

Their great legacy was not the primacy of scriptures - other protestant churches adopted a high view of scripture as a corrective to the abusive authoritarianism of Rome - but it was the adoption of a Congregationalist polity in a time in which other churches were organized denominationally. This legacy is evident in American Baptist congregationalism in which, at least until the latter half of this last century, each congregation was fiercely independent.

The Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century was centered in New England, Western New York and the Cumberland Valley and was seen as a revival to the spiritual malaise evident in congregationalism. This revival movement would redefine American Christianity. In the Colonial period, the big three churches were Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Episcopalians. Following the Great Awakenings, the big three frontier churches were Baptist, Methodists and Disciples of Christ.

Theological Legacies: New England Puritans were pre-millennialists in their theology of the End Times. The Millennium refers to the 1,000 year reign of Christ over the earth biblical literalists saw prophesied in the Book of Revelations. Pre-millennialists believed that before the millennium, Christ will return to the earth in judgment and will separate the righteous from the unrighteous, the righteous reigning over the earth with Christ. Such theology was consistent with Puritan doctrines of predestination which held, with most Calvinists, that those who were saved and those who were lost, was predetermined by God's election.

Most 18th and 19th century evangelicals were post-millennialists. Post millennialists held that Christ will come at the end of 1,000 years of peace and that we, as Christians, are working toward that millennium now in these latter days. This could be described as New World optimism which saw the new world as the initiation of that blessed age. Post millennialists were optimistic about human progress and were active in the reform movements of their day like abolition, the temperance movement, educational reform, prison reform and the female seminary movement.

Two things fractured this evangelical unity and optimism: the Civil War with its brutality and urbanization of the industrial age with its tenements, public drunkenness and increased migration (esp. of Roman Catholics). As a result, evangelicals began to doubt the perfectibility of humankind.

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American Protestantism splintered with the liberal mainline churches drawn to the "social gospel" and to the emerging disciplines of German higher criticism in biblical studies. Such biblical criticism was anathema to fundamentalists who held to the strict inerrancy of the bible in their "original autographs." Evangelicals thus became more insular and culturally isolated as they sought to be untainted from modernity and from biblical liberalism.

Three Developments: First, in Scotland in 1830, Margaret MacDonald had a private revelation of some of Christ's followers meeting Jesus in the air at his return in a Rapture. One who heard this vision was John Nelson Darby of the Brethren Church. Darby was inspired to develop an interpretative scheme of history in which all history could be divided into seven ages - or dispensations - and he suggested that we are presently in the last age and the Rapture is near. His thesis found little traction in England but found fertile ground in revivalist America in 1862.

Second, the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909 has had a major impact. The Scofield bible was written as a cross-referenced text which sought to construct a lens to read the bible in support of the doctrine of the Rapture and pre-millennialism. Unknown in liberal circles, the Scofield Bible has sold some 50 million copies.

Third, the impact of the public humiliation of evangelicals at the Scopes Trial in 1925 - seen as a defeat of fundamentalists in the press - actually drove evangelicals underground to focus on building an institutional base for a subculture the dominant culture was hostile to. A prime example is the Dallas Theological Seminary, founded in 1924, which has trained generations of pastors in fundamentalist orthodoxy.

The legacy of the Puritans in their pre-millennial worldview and biblical inerrancy, has found a home in the American evangelical and fundamentalist churches. Thus evangelicals today see no point in engaging in social activism or renewal, since the end of time is drawing near. Instead, much of evangelical imagination is bound up with questions of worthiness and the publication of rigid, legalistic morality lists to determine if one if good enough for the Rapture which is imminent.

As a subculture, many fundamentalists stand in judgment of the dominant culture and await the destruction of a society they see as careening towards judgment and which can only be redeemed by fire.

Emerging problems: The greatest problem with evangelicalism firstly is its lack of a unifying principle (like a pope or a denomination). Without such a principle, evangelicals tend to splinter.

Secondly, evangelicals tend to be swayed by charismatic leaders who are unaccountable (Jimmy Swaggert and James Bakker come to mind). And thirdly, holding onto their youth. Evangelicals highly value conversion experiences; the turning from worldliness to God. But because they greatly fear losing their children to modernity; they have created vast networks to shelter their kids (youth camps, bible colleges etc.) - and thus their children find it difficult to replicate the conversion experiences of their parents in coming to faith because they've always been believers.

Conflicting worldviews - Ten Points:

1. Celtic spirituality saw the world essentially as good and shot through with the glory of God as reflected in the beauty of Creation. That legacy survives in the Anglican tradition. Fundamentalists see the world as hopelessly fallen and sinful and under the domination of Satan. 2. Anglicans affirm the value of human agency as conduits for the will of God. We believe that we are co-creators with God in working out God's purposes on earth. Fundamentalists see little value in engaging in social justice efforts as the world is ending and the Rapture may occur today. 3. Anglicans believe in scripture but with Hooker, affirm a diffuse authority of scripture, reason and church teaching traditions as a guide to Truth which will emerge over time. For fundamentalists, truth is found in "sola scriptura." 4. Anglicans dismiss the Rapture and pre and post millennialism doctrines as novel misreadings of scripture. Fundamentalists see these doctrines as central and non- negotiable. 5. Anglicans tend to embrace modernity; fundamentalists tend to fear it. 6. Anglicans, when we are at our best, value a lack of doctrinal conformity. We are not a confessional church. Fundamentalists seek doctrinal uniformity and tend to punish novelty and innovation. 7. Anglican identity is formed by corporate experiences in sacramental worship. Fundamentalist identity is formed by an interior emotional experience of being "born again." 8. Anglicans tend to value ecumenism and recognize the baptism of other Christian traditions. Fundamentalists disparage non-evangelical traditions and require a believer's baptism (re-baptism). 9. Anglicans tend to value the mysterious and the mystical vision. Fundamentalists tend to rationalism and distrust mystery. 10. Authority for Anglicans is externally conferred (seminary training and testing, ordination by a Bishop). For fundamentalists, authority is internally conferred (God's call, God's giftedness for ministry).

The future: Given their pre-millennialist theology and doctrine of the Rapture, fundamentalists did not vote in large numbers until the 1980's and Pat Robertson's abortive run for the White House, which was energizing. In a sense, voting and participating in the public arena contradicted their theology. The emergence of fundamentalists in politics may signal a theological shift, a move towards a neo-post-millennialism, called Christian reconstruction, which holds that it is the Christians' duty to "make the world safe for Christ" by taking over government and social structure (especially, for example, schools in the Christian academy movement) and to establish essentially a Christian theocracy in America.

Cynical politicians have successfully joined together conservative politics with fundamentalist identity. Responsible evangelical leaders, over the last year, have begun to ring alarm bells over the captivity of the evangelical and fundamentalist imagination by the Republican Party. The threat this fall from James Dobson of Focus on the Family to organize born again Christians to target moderate politicians who seek to block the appointment of right wing justices is a symptom of that destructive union.

The questions: The questions are many. Puritans in England were thwarted by the extreme oppression of William Laud's Star Chamber in the 17th century. It is not inconceivable that in a generation, a fundamentalist American Star Chamber could target non-believers, Jews, Muslims and liberal Christians. Intolerance is, after all, a function of power.

The actions or inactions we take over the rest of our lifetimes will determine that future.

Copyright © 2005 St. Augustine by-the-Sea