Hollow Faith 7 - Pluralism

 The last century has seen some of the most dramatic shifts in human social interaction in the entirety of our existence.  World War II. The Cold War.  Landing on the moon.  The Internet.  As Dr. Graham Walker (McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University) notes, "We used to think about having to do post-Holocaust theology; now we have to think about what it means to learn to do Google theology."

"We are living in a time of great integration, pluralism and change.  We live in a time and place where different cultures, religions, lifestyles, and ways of living are interacting with one another more than ever before.  With this closeness, not only in knowledge but also in proximity, the faith of and the way the modern Christian interacts with the 'other' has to be reconsidered and reevaluated unlike ever before."

Many readers will remember the events of 9/11, especially since, as of this writing, the most produced play in North America is currently Come From Away, which chronicles the events of one community on that day.  But does one remember the social aftermath of that event?  We saw two social shifts that diametrically opposed one another.  First, there was the patriotic "closing of the ranks," in which people developed an unusually pronounced Us v. Them attitude, especially targeting as "Them" those of Middle Eastern descent and Muslims most specifically.  Second, there was simultaneously a greater sense of unity, not only among American nationalists, but also among those who advocated for a more substantial concern for and understanding of peoples of other religions, nations and cultures.

In times of crisis or fear, it is normal for people to polarize themselves into competing camps.  It may even be an ancient survival mechanism.  That doesn't mean, however, that it is the best, most civilized, or most humane approach to human interaction.  Ingram lists three models for handling different ideologies, with the first two the more predominant.  Examining these models - and their theological ramifications - explains much of what we see happening in our current pluralistic climate and the church in particular:

The Crusades - Conquest and Conquer

The Crusades (c. 1095-1291) were labeled "Holy Wars," but they were as geo-political as they were religious.  Basically, they were battles for property.  One side would push the other out of the Holy Land, then the loser of that battle would regroup and push the defenders back and take the land again.  Both sides' strategy was to be always on the offensive, always re-seizing the land, always conquering the enemy.

There seems to be a lot of that going on today.  Some very high-profile churches and religious groups seem to think that their sovereignty over the moral landscape has been usurped and they must take up their swords to re-conquer the territory and return the Saracens to their rightful place.  Sometimes the sword in question is evangelism, other times it's public policy.  "No matter the vehicle, many have approached the changing religious landscape believing the only way to survive is to constantly gain ground and make sure the other is losing ground." 

The School of Athens - Discuss and Debate

I like this model much better than the first one on our list, but it is not without its shortcomings.  Christians do well to interact with our pluralistic culture by discussing and debating our differences.  Christianity is, after all, "different from other religions in many ways...If more people were to practice the art of discussion - listening as much as we speak - we would have a greater understanding and appreciation of other religions." [Ingram fails to point out the difficulty in even accomplishing this.  In the West, we are taught to listen only insomuch as needs be to point out the flaws in our interlocutor's case and be prepared to push our own.]

The first problem I have with the "School of Athens" model is that it is our very desire to debate our differences that brings us together, and just being together isn't enough.  "There has to be something more in common than the things that we do not have in common.  The second is that there's nothing uniquely Christian about just coming together.  While it's good, it's still lacking."

Convivencia - Coexist and Collaborate

La Convivencia (Spanish for "living together") describes a period in the history of Spain starting with the Moorish conquest c.700CE until the expulsion of the Jews in 1492.  It is thought by many historians and archeologists that this period saw an unusual level of cultural coexistence between Christians, Jews and Muslims.  The belief is that in this time and place, the peoples of the Iberian peninsula not only lived, worked and created together, but did so with an unprecedented level of religious and cultural tolerance.  They did not find the proximity of other ideologies to be a threat, but an opportunity to understand and learn from one another.

Other historians argue that this near-utopian concept is idealizing a period that was far more complex than La Convivencia would have one believe, but it can still serve as a model for our church today when applied to an increasingly pluralistic society.  Not only does the possibly make sense, but, if successfully deployed within our congregations, could be understood as uniquely Christian in nature.

"I don't believe that this idea was invented in the eighth century.  Throughout Scripture, the tenets of hospitality and love are in places of prominence, especially when referring to how a follower of God interacts with strangers, both enemy and alien.  In both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, we see countless stories of God commending those who made it their habit to treat the 'other' with hospitality and love." 

Here's an interesting historical fact that one isn't likely to learn in Sunday School.  In Roman times, Judea laid smack dab in the middle of the Empire, stretching in an arc as it did around the Mediterranean Sea from present-day Spain to Libya.  Romans built a lot of roads, but two of the most traveled of these were the Way of the Sea (running from Damascus to Egypt and inner Africa) and the Silk Road (running through India and the Tibetan Empire into China), which happened to intersect near the Sea of Galilee in a Judean province called Galilee.  This was the area where Jesus grew up, began his ministry and selected his first disciples.  As a tekton (often translated as carpenter, but more accurately a traveling handyman), Joseph (Jesus' earthly father) would have had numerous occasions to travel the area and would no doubt have taken his son on many of these trips.  Jesus would have seen the busy markets and would have been exposed to the free exchange of not only goods, but also the ideologies of the foreign traders.  In other words, he could not have helped but be familiar with many religions beyond Judaism.  There is not a single passage in any gospel to insinuate that Jesus - a Palestinian Jew - ever took a combative stance toward any of these other beliefs.  On the contrary, he appears to have been open to them, helped them, loved them, and, on occasion, even quoted them in his own sermons.

The Good Samaritan, the Syro-Phoenician woman, and the woman at the well all belonged to groups other than Palestinian Jews.  All were "Thems."  Of these examples, perhaps the most telling is that of the Good Samaritan.  We tend to forget that Jesus told this story in the context of how to inherit eternal life.  "All of a sudden, how we treat others, even people of another faith, becomes a matter of inheriting eternal life."

In a world of 24-hour news cycles, social media click-bait and ubiquitous "you deserve it" advertising, it is all too easy for us to see ourselves in competition with others, even as we struggle to figure out whom these "others" are.  The world has gotten much, much smaller; you can literally fit the whole of humanity into your hip pocket.  As plurality has become an evermore pronounced part of our lives, it is now more than ever incumbent upon the Church to adapt to these changes and find how we can be inclusive enough to honor our Lord's commandment to "love each other.  Just as I have loved you, so you must love each other.  This is how everyone will know you are disciples, when you love each other." (John 13:34-35)

Pax