When Christians equate evangelism with undermining cultural ideologies, it can quickly become white noise and easy to dismiss. In my work in the Canadian context, this distortion of evangelism that leads to less positive engagement, and more pushback even from within a marginalized Christian community. In September, 2021, Alpha Canada held a \u201cLife Shared Summit\u201d after an extensive Canadian research study, which included many Catholics, where 31.7% of Church leaders agree or strongly agree that it is wrong to share faith in hopes that someone will become a Christian\u201d. This was, the study revealed, as much a critique of unhelpful evangelism tactics as anything else. [1]<\/p>\n
So although Matthew Petrusek\u2019s argument for responding to the cultural battlefield in Evangelisation and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture<\/em> is intended to rally the troops, I am left with the impression that his self-perception of help for the cause for Christ may outpace the reality. Instead, it feels like fighting fire with fire, and the cost is that the good news is heard as a mere political trope.<\/p>\n As an ethicist, and a Catholic intellectual addressing moral philosophy and social issues, Petrusek is trying to share insights that help Catholics engage with a hyper-politicized society, [2] and this I agree is a noble and useful cause. Yet I find something lacking in his approach. In its attempt to dialogue with four current ideologies: utilitarianism, classical liberalism\/ libertarianism, progressivism\/ wokeism, and non-theistic conservatism, [3] <\/span>it plays by the same rules as these other ideologies by declaring its own way as the right way, and not giving us any sense as to why people are drawn to them. In light of Christianity\u2019s stronger presence in the Western world\u2019s past, I think it is an oversight to not address our the Church\u2019s blind spots which contributed to it being unpalatable for all those who\u2019ve flocked to other ideologies and religion-less religions. After all, post-modernity is declared post-Christian, and the sentiment grows stronger with every covered-up sexual misconduct scandal. Something of the way we\u2019ve been living our faith is seen as harmful to the culture. They don\u2019t always know how much God and many followers of Christ are grieved about these things. The sound-bytes have already eroded trust.<\/p>\n Yet into this cultural milieu, we are sent to bless others and invite them to follow Jesus. We are called to do the work of evangelists. (2 Timothy 4:5) Where is the winsomeness to Christ by becoming all things to all people in order that I might win some? (2 Corinthians 9) Where is the leaven in the dough that grows through influence? (Matthew 13:33).Where is the Areopagus approach that references elements within the cultures, in order to reveal the counter-cultural ways of the unknown King of Kings? (Acts 17:16-34) There are ways to be counter-cultural without becoming smug or glossing over our failures.<\/p>\n Stephen Bevans presents living counter-culturally as one of his Models of Contextual Theology<\/em> but cautions away from <\/span>becoming anticultural\u2026 He says, \u201cThis was certainly a danger for missionaries in times past, and while many accusations of missionaries destroying cultures in their efforts to preach Christ are surely exaggerated, such destruction did indeed take place\u201d. [4] In an interview Petrusek gave to EWTN Nightly new in 2023, he expressed his reason for writing this book was that after ten years in Academia which had \u2018become extremely woke\u2019, that he had many things which he longed to say, which now shaped this book. [5] He had to resign from Academia and join Word on Fire to shape how to be an evangelist to those he left behind. In a different portrayal of being counter-cultural, Bevans argues, \u201c<\/span>It is not enough for Christians to be an inviting milieu; Christians must “dirty their hands” in real work with real institutions in the world\u201d. [6]<\/span><\/p>\n Petrusek is longing for a window to share the beauty of a social ideology and ethic with God at the centre [7], and helps unmask what gets argued for as \u201capplied morality\u201d in the realm of politics as actually better located within a map of concentric circles that understands its influence from the outer rings. Politics is then, in Petrusek\u2019s framing dependent upon morality, which is dependent upon epistemology, anthropology, ontology, and theology. [8]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My concern is that by calling for \u201cthe Church\u2026 to re-enter the sociopolitical fray, re-engage the secular mind, and call the culture back to Christ\u201d, [9] Petrusek needs to provide something more than tools to \u201ceffectively understand and respond to the contemporary ideological battlefield\u201d and know how to show them as hollow and irrational. [10] It is my contention that in order for there to be a powerful sharing of the good news that transforms, one needs to consider the right-heartedness, or Theocardia <\/em>that accompanies good doctrine (Theology) <\/em>misinterpreted as it often is by the world as foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:23), \u00a0and good deeds (Theopraxis) <\/em>done by those living as \u201cresident aliens\u201d (1 Peter 1:1).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n [1] Alpha, \u201cLifeShared Summit Recording\u201d, Accessed April 5, 2024, \u00a0https:\/\/alphacanada.org\/lifeshared-summit-recording\/.<\/p>\n [2] Matthew Petrusek,\u00a0<\/span>Evangelisation and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture,<\/span><\/em> Word on Fire, 2023<\/span>, 7.<\/p>\n [3] Petrusek,\u00a0Evangelisation and Ideology<\/em>, 149.<\/span><\/p>\n [4] Stephen B. Bevans, <\/span>Models of Contextual Theology<\/span><\/em>.<\/em> Vol. Revised and expanded edition, Faith and Cultures Series, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002, 49.<\/span><\/p>\n [5] EWTN. Matthew Petrusek on Evangelizing the Political Culture | EWTN News Nightly, 2023. https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=2zlDXJ8A5Rs.<\/p>\n [6] Bevans, <\/span>Models of Contextual Theology<\/span><\/em>,<\/em> 49.<\/span><\/p>\n [7] Petrusek, Evangelisation and Ideology<\/em>, 161.<\/p>\n [8] Petrusek, Evangelisation and Ideology<\/em>, 50.<\/p>\n [9] Petrusek, Evangelisation and Ideology<\/em>, 7.<\/p>\n [10] Petrusek, Evangelisation and Ideology<\/em>, 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Christians equate evangelism with undermining cultural ideologies, it can quickly become white noise and easy to dismiss. In my work in the Canadian context, this distortion of evangelism that leads to less positive engagement, and more pushback even from within a marginalized Christian community. 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