{"id":25619,"date":"2020-01-29T08:56:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T16:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=25619"},"modified":"2020-01-29T08:56:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T16:56:00","slug":"do-the-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/do-the-evolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Do The Evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

The germination story of Christianity is a marriage of two cultures and the theological struggle holding them both in tension. \u00a0On the one hand we have the Hebrew culture, the culture that originated in a nomadic, tribal people; whose history consisted of grand stories of Exodus and Exile.\u00a0 The people rarely had autonomous political power over themselves and this can be seen clearly in their writings.\u00a0 And yet the themes and characteristics that are culturally lifted up as good were righteousness, justice, wisdom, and mercy.\u00a0 Though written in a context entirely not my own, where societal roles and interpersonal expectations were vastly different than mine (Twenty First Century East Coast United States of America), the over arching themes of liberation and caring for one another radiate through the Hebrew Scriptures, and can be reimagined for my modern setting tangibly.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, the other culture coming into this divine partnership is the Greco-Roman culture, one that did not necessarily share the same values.\u00a0 Justice and liberation were not dominant themes, but instead were ones that focused on self-elevation, beauty, and power.\u00a0 Additionally, the \u201cinterfaith\u201d relationship was bound to be difficult when Israel was monotheistic and the Romans clearly were not.\u00a0 From this cultural marriage arises the first generations of the people who called themselves followers of the Way, until Nero gave them the name Christians as a derogatory moniker, demonstrating both his desire for power and lack of wisdom.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Both of these cultures brought different worldviews, different scholasticism, different societal expectations, that in the best of times enhanced the Christian movement, and in the worst of times, have done it damage.\u00a0 As Christianity has expanded, it has incorporated numerous other cultural artifacts, teachings, and concepts into the way its followers live out their faith.\u00a0 From Christmas Trees to Day of the Dead celebrations, the life of faith, and the benefits Christianity shares with society are always evolving.<\/p>\n

Recently, popular authors (Donald Miller in Blue Like Jazz <\/em>is an example), share stories of lifting up the bad things that have been done in the name of Christianity in a confessional fashion, as a unique public act of cleansing.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Though spiritually moving, and liturgically quite interesting, the confessional act described in Blue Like Jazz<\/em> was far more moving for those who were confessing the \u201cThe Great Sins of the Church\u201d[4]<\/a> than those who were hearing those confessions.<\/p>\n

It is in stark contrast to this that Theos writer, Nick Spencer compiles the collection of essays that share the good things that Christianity has shared with the world, in particular in the last 500 years, in his work The Evolution of the West<\/em>.\u00a0 Making the argument that Christianity has played a lead role in the overall development of civilization for the better Spencer is still quick to point out that while, \u201cChristianity has played a big role in this show\u2014indeed it has played the lead for much of the last 1,500 years\u2014but the play has been no mere soliloquy, and the lead has had a somewhat ambiguous relationship with the overall plotline.\u201d[5]<\/a> Spencer acknowledges the shortcomings, acknowledges the sin, but gratefully moves far beyond it.<\/p>\n

Which leaves me with the question of \u201cwhat\u201d and \u201chow\u201d Christianity should claim the good it has done in the world.\u00a0 Needless to say, boasting is not a Christian trait, and yet as Mark Noll has indicated universities, hospitals and many public goods have come to be because of the physical manifestation and outpouring of Christians\u2019 faith.\u00a0 Spencer acknowledges the numerous good things that Christianity has brought to the table and yet unlike Donald Miller is not a New York Times Bestselling author.\u00a0 So much of spiritual direction is the understanding of one\u2019s self.\u00a0 What would it be like if Christianity could see itself, though yes flawed and imperfect, as a movement for change in the world; change of the heart, the mind, the soul, the community?\u00a0 Not change just for the sake of change, but change with the understanding that we evolve; we evolve as people, as institutions, as traditions.[6]<\/a> And when that evolution is in the spirit of love, we get ever closer to bringing about the realm of God.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Helmut Koester, Introduction to the New Testament Volume 1: History, Culture, and Religion of the Hellenistic Age<\/em>, (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1995), 211.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Koester, Introduction<\/em>, 371.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz<\/em>, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 120.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Intentional play on \u201cThe Great Ends of the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Nick Spencer, The Evolution of the West: How Christianity Has Shaped Our Values<\/em>, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2018), 5.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Spencer, Evolution<\/em>, 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The germination story of Christianity is a marriage of two cultures and the theological struggle holding them both in tension. \u00a0On the one hand we have the Hebrew culture, the culture that originated in a nomadic, tribal people; whose history consisted of grand stories of Exodus and Exile.\u00a0 The people rarely had autonomous political power […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1043,1754,1755,1753],"class_list":["post-25619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-evolution","tag-evolution-of-the-west","tag-nickspencer","tag-spencer","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25620,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25619\/revisions\/25620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}