“Engaging the World in Conversation: Coexist?”2015 NACCDr. Robert C. Kurka, Professor of Theology and Church in CultureLincoln Christian University

In the U.S. today, the religious landscape looks like…

and…

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore…”

But should we really be surprised at this? Indeed, an ethos for a plurality of religions is rooted in the United States Constitution

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” -- Constitution of the United States, Amendment 1

Consequently, without a “state church,” the US has become fertile soil for many religions…

• In the Nineteenth Century, these groups were largely Christian in character…

Some very orthodox …

• Stone-Campbell (Restoration )Movement

And others, not so much… Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons)

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Christian Science

In the Twentieth Century, Immigration brought…

European Roman Catholics

and a host of non Christian religions from the East…

Buddhism Islam

Hinduism

and more than a few “non-orthodox” Eastern religions as well...

Hare Krishna Unification Church (Sun Myung Moon)

Transcendental Meditation(Maharishi Mahesh Yogi)

What may be “NEW” to you and me --the existence of a plurality of non-Christian religions--is not really all that uncommon to the majority of Christians in the world…nor in the major part of the Church’s two millennia of existence

History of Christianity is a story of conversation and coexistence…

“Christians… have long had to face the challenge of other religions. For the first hundred years of Christian history a traditional religious culture (which was not. As once thought, moribund) set the agenda for many intellectuals, and its spokesmen energetically contested what seemed to be the pretensions of the new religion. Since the seventh century a large part of the Christian world, Christians residing in the Eastern Mediterranean, for example, in Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, have lived in the face of the seemingly invincible presence of Islam, as well as those in the great Orthodox capital of Constantinople, as well as those in Greece, Bulgaria, and the neighboring regions, had to adjust to life under the rule of Ottoman Turks. Even in the Middle, once thought to be a period of Christian spiritual as well as political hegemony, Western

Christian thinkers were challenged by the continued vitality of Jewish communities in their midst and by the boldness of Islamic philosophy. “ --Robert Wilken, Remembering the Christian Past, 26

Yet…

“What is different today, I suspect, is not that Christianity has to confront other religions, but we now call this situation ‘religious pluralism.’ For behind the term ‘religious pluralism’ lurks not so much a question as an answer, the view that particular traditions cannot be the source of ultimate truth.” --Wilkens, Remembering the Christian Past, 26 [emphases, mine]

Plurality of Religions is a general, non-threatening state of being, Religious Pluralism is a dangerous ideology (worldview)

On a more academic front, Religious Pluralism has been championed by people such as the British theologian (and

former evangelical), John Hick:

“ [T]he great world faiths embody different perceptions and conceptions of, and correspondingly different responses to, the Real [the religious ultimate] from the major variant ways of being human.” --Interpretation of Religion, 240

• On a more popular level, Religious Pluralism has been extolled by the celebrated, Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama:

“[T]he variety of the different world philosophies is a very useful and beautiful thing. For certain people, the idea of god as creator and of everything depending on his will is beneficial and soothing, and so for such a person such doctrine is worthwhile. For someone else, the idea that there is no creator, that ultimately one is oneself the creator--in that everything depends upon oneself--is more appropriate…for such persons, the idea is better and for the other type of person, the other idea is more suitable.” -- “The Bodhgaya Interviews,” 167-68

And on “the street,” Religious Pluralism sounds like this…

• “In my mind there is only one God, no matter what you may call him. Muslims pray to the same God I do. They call him Allah or whatever, but it’s the same entity for all world religions, those who believe in a supreme being. They’re talking generally about the same one.”

• “I am not a believer in missionaries. If we want to go to Africa and provide medical help and teach people how to farm, great. But if we go to Japan and try to convert Shintoists, no way. If they came here and tried that on me, I’d get mad and I think they have every right to feel the same. Christianity is great. If I’m anything I’m a Christian. But I think others have a right to believe for themselves, and if they go to hell, they just took the wrong turn.”

• “To say that other religions are wrong is self-centered and egocentric. I am not even comfortable with saying all religions point to the same God. Whatever trips your trigger is fine with me, if that’s your belief system. We are mortal. Who is to say who’s right and wrong? If it helps you get through your life and helps bring meaning to your life, then fine.”

--Christian Smith, et al., American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving, 53, 60-61

• “Most emerging adults (57 percent) believe that many religions may be true.”

--Smith, Souls in Transitions, 134

While culturally accepted, Religious Pluralism simply

cannot be reconciled with the words of Jesus…

• “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” --John 14:6

• “I will tell you whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.” --Luke 12:8-9

• “Before Abraham was born, I am!”--John 8:48 * All Scripture citations from NIV (2011)

I

Or the Great Commission and the Mission/Message

of the Church• “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”--Matt. 28:19-20

• “Salvation is found in no one else [but Jesus], for there is no name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”--Acts 4:12

• “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…”

--Rom. 1:16

•Question of the Hour: How do we as Christians peacefully and constructively coexist in a culture with a plurality of religions without compromising the CONVERSATION in religious pluralism?

• Many assume that it can’t be done (especially since Christianity is no longer the major voice in the Conversation). The late Christopher Hitchens wrote: “[R]eligion is not unlike racism. One version of it inspires and provokes the other.”

--God Is Not Great, 35

Coexistence and Conversation: A Pauline Model

Then they [Epicurean and Stoic philosophers] took him [Paul] and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus… -- Acts 17:19

Acts 17:16-31• While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed

to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as those in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

• “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth, and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

• Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship--and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

“Si deus, si dea…”

• …Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone--an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. He has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

Observations• Paul takes the Gospel into the “marketplace” and their place of his

neighbors’ discourse rather than inviting them to come to a “church meeting.” He is the GUEST rather than the host of the assembly, and the Gospel holds no inherently “privileged place” in the conversation.

• In a religiously-plural culture, the GOD OF THE BIBLE is foreign and “strange”

• The Gospel message of salvation is unfamiliar and “strange” to many of our neighbors

• Our message is clear: the heart of our proclamation of the Gospel is JESUS CHRIST AND HIS RESURRECTION (these cannot be marginalized by our neighbors --or by us!)

• Our religious neighbors are genuinely and sincerely seekers after God not ENEMIES…and they get some things “right” (Stoic poet)

• Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel is set in a WORLDVIEW FORMAT that both connects with and clearly challenges the beliefs of his/our neighbors

Worldview

• “ A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart that can be expressed as a STORY or in a SET OF PRESUPPOSITIONS (assumptions which may be true or partially true, or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being.”

-- James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door, 5th ed., 20

• Every worldview attempts to address the HUMAN STORY--how/why we are here, how or why things went wrong, and how this situation will be fixed (Christians: Creation-Fall-Redemption narrative)• Paul knows his NEIGHBORS’ actual worldview

story (ies)--not simply demeaning caricatures• In connection and in contrast with the stories of

the Epicureans and Stoics, Paul tells the STORY of the Gospel (in actuality of the Bible, in general)

Biblical Worldview STORY• Begins with GOD and not human wisdom--both in terms of

origin and why we even have access to this story (v. 23)• GOD who creates everything: the cosmos and all people

(inclusive, not a tribal story)• GOD who does not need his human creation to exist and

thrive but rather HE freely gives them life and breath• GOD who wants to be KNOWN by people• …a desire that has been brought to fruition in the

RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST• WHO, uniquely, makes this GOD intelligible to SEEKERS who

have not found him to be so• Jesus Christ is the final stage of God’s self-communication not

simply another person in the story (e.g., Qur’an)

and… a Set of Presuppositions

Paul identifies:• Distinctive understanding of GOD--pre-existent,

transcendent, immanent, Triune• Distinctive understanding of CREATION--good, fallen,

redeemable• Distinctive understanding of HUMANITY--all are imago

dei• Distinctive understanding of the human problem--SIN• Distinctive understanding of SALVATION--God’ Grace in

Christ• Distinctive understanding of KNOWLEDGE--God’s

Revelation in the world/Word

• Distinctive understanding of ETHICS--transcendent, revealed in the character of God• Distinctive understanding of HUMAN HISTORY--linear,

guided by God’s Providence• Distinctive understanding of DEATH--resurrection of the

body• Distinctive purpose of LIFE-- to serve and glorify the

Triune God … “enjoy him forever” (Westminster Shorter Catechism)

One other worldview distinction: Impressive 2,000- Year Portfolio of “World-changing” Products

While we must readily admit that there have been some disgraceful things done in the name of Christ by some Christians through the ages (e.g., slavery, religious wars, the Crusades, etc.), we must more importantly CELEBRATE how the world has been positively re-shaped by consistent Christian living:

• CARING AND CLASSLESS HUMAN COMMUNITY• SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE• SEXUAL MORALITY• FREEDOM AND DIGNITY OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN• CHARITY AND COMPASSION

• HOSPITALS AND HEALTHCARE• EDUCATION• LABOR AND ECONOMIC FREEDOM• SCIENCE• LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL• ABOLITION OF SLAVERY• GREAT ART, ARCHITECTURE, MUSIC, AND LITERATURE

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered….Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. --vv. 32, 34

• This rather “meager response” to Paul’s message actually illustrates the NON-COERCIVE nature of Christianity

• As well as how the genuine conversion of a small number of people to the Faith can result in a future, significant Christian movement…

• In the 2nd Century AD, the Church of Athens became known as a center of Christian apologetics due to such stalwarts as Quadratus, Athenagoras, and Aristides

• …and TOLERANCE OF DIVERSE RELIGIOUS VIEWS --a Christian virtue that has made places like the United States “inviting” for a plurality of religions…coexisting and conversing

* Contrast Paul’s approach to unbelievers in Acts 17 with the sentiment of the Qur’an’s view of how Muslims relate to Jews and Christians: “O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors; they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust.” (Surah 5:51)

To coexist and converse with our culture’s diverse religions, we must live as MISSIONARIES (not “mercenaries”)

Veteran missiologist, David Hesselgrave has proposed that there are five, indispensable missional guidelines that ought to govern our relationship with and evangelism to our religious neighbors:1. We must have the disposition and attitude of a missionary by showing genuine interest in the religion, ideas, institutions, and sentiments of the people--this is the true “point of contact” (cf. Acts 17:22)2. We must manifest “self-exposure” as the common ground for communication--we are all sinners in need of God’s word and grace (cf. Acts 17:23, 27-28)

3. We need to respectfully emphasize the dissimilarities between the Christian Faith and other world religions (especially Jesus) in order to facilitate genuine understanding (cf. Acts 17:18, 24-31)4. We should communicate the Gospel by “Storying”--laying out the basic Scriptural storyline from Genesis to Revelation (cf. Acts 17:24-31) 5. We must have a competent, basic understanding of our religious “competitors” in order to truly dialogue. This includes the ability to responsibly employ their language and writings and appreciate (not necessarily endorse) various rites and practices. Indeed, Paul, views “idolatry” as a the imprisoning product of a search for spiritual truth without God’s revelation (Acts 17:16-32). [In today’s world, every Christian could benefit from a class on Islam] --D. Hesselgrave, Paradigms in Conflict, 81-113--

To the Church of 2015: “Welcome to OZ!” (But take heart! We have been there before)