An Evangelical Awakening?

A current article in the religious periodical Christianity Today (CT) suggests that evangelicals are “rediscovering the neglected beauty of classical Christian teaching” – rich, biblical, spiritual, and theological treasures …. within the early church.

I think it’s about time.

For at least 10 years, I’ve been asking question after question as to why evangelicals (of which I then was one) said the things they said and did the things they did with regard to the practice of the Christian faith. In the evangelicalism I was part of, historical church tradition was virtually ignored, and liturgy was passed off as “vain repetitions”.

Theologian J. I. Packer is quoted in the CT article as identifying this evangelical enigma as “stunted ecclesiology,” that is, having a faith praxis that is rooted in alienation from the past.

The article’s author, an evangelical, says “without a healthy engagement with our past, including historical definitions of ‘church’, we are being true neither to scripture, nor to our theological identity as the church”. He further implies that evangelicals have allowed present-day culture to shape the church possibly more than its own tradition and history (you can see my observations here on Marva Dawn's book on the subject).

But now, suddenly, there appears to be a clamoring among evangelicals – especially college age students and “Y-geners,” – for historical creeds, ancient prayers and medieval hermeneutics in preaching, all from the church of old. What’s happening?

I’m not qualified to answer that inquiry (the CT article opens the door), but I do know the questioning process through which I went for many years. Frustration with the following practices of evangelicalism was what started my own journey toward authenticity.

First, the whole focus on confrontive evangelism and a “decision-based” faith always left me with a feeling of “is that all there is?” Rarely did churches I attended have organized, in-depth Bible studies on a consistent basis.

The lack of a clear understanding of the historical church creeds was also bothersome (I eventually learned them on my own). The mis-information (dis-information?) about alcohol abstinence, the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist, and the amalgamation of conservative theology and conservative politics all added to my personal spiritual dismay. And where was the social action that I knew instinctively ought to be an important part of one’s faith?

I think it’s healthy, finally, for evangelicals to ask questions. I also think it’s important to be open to fresh answers (not that every question has an obvious answer). Each person needs to seek, push, and search to find a meaningful, functional faith by which they can live their life and find the peace for which they long.

As an aside, my wife and I have found such in a nearby Lutheran Church. I’ve posted a lot about it before. Click here for just one.

The interesting title of the CT article mentioned above is The Future Lies in the Past (Lost Secrets of the Ancient Church). My prayer is that many who read it will discover the rich and vibrant faith of our fathers that my wife and I have found.