04/03/2024
April 2024
Dear Jim,
Easter greetings from the Consortium! This is the first year that my wife Julie and I celebrated Easter in Tennessee, and how different it is! Everybody from my barber to the bank teller has acknowledged this most Christian of holidays in ways that are startling to these New Yorkers. Even our more secular acquaintances in the local bicycle club seem prepared to respectfully acknowledge this turning point in the liturgical calendar. The experience has reminded me of a great little book I read recently, and also of the task before us as we seek to bring Christian learning to secular universities (please bear with me—I’ll return to the point).
In From Christendom to Apostolic Mission: Pastoral Strategies for an Apostolic Age, James Shea draws a contrast between two types of societies, and two corresponding modes of societal engagement by Christians. When there is “a general acceptance of basic Christian truths and an assumption of the Christian narrative and vision of the world,” we have what he calls a “Christendom society.” This doesn’t mean everybody is Christian, but Christians who preach the gospel in such a society often find rapid resonance—at least understanding if not receptivity. Consider, as examples, the Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries.
The early church, of course, did not inhabit a Christendom society. It was in fact swimming upstream against the dominant culture in any number of ways. In this scenario, the task for Christians is very different and arguably more difficult. For the apostles, presenting the radically new gospel of Jesus Christ required seeking not just conversion as commitment or recommitment (a matter of the will), but rather a deeper conversion of mind and imagination. They had to tell an altogether new story about the way the world is—to re-narrate the world. Consider, as examples, the thoughtfully contextualized presentations of the gospel to Jews (Acts 2), the pagans of Lystra (Acts 14), and the Athenians (Acts 17).
I have relocated only twice in my life, and this framework of Christendom vs. non-Christendom societies sheds light on my experience. Growing up in the suburbs of New York, it seemed as if everybody attended services of sort. And if they didn’t, they were respectful. Whether Protestant or Catholic or even Jewish, many of the underlying assumptions of society were widely shared. When at 18 I drove a mere four hours to Cornell University, it was as if I had landed on a different planet. One of the first things I learned in college is that faith is something like an embarrassing birthmark—a thing to be ignored or, better, surgically removed. Even Christians eventually learn not to talk about their faith in public.
I lived in Ithaca so long (38 years) that I had forgotten what it was like to live anywhere else. But in Tennessee, I’m experiencing a kind of culture shock in reverse. When somebody says something as simple as “God bless you,” Julie and I look at each other as if to wonder, is that even allowed? To be sure, not everybody believes in or practices Christian faith, but Christian ways of thinking and speaking nevertheless remain very much the norm. In Shea’s framework, Tennessee and the Metro NY of my childhood are “Christendom societies.” Cornell, by contrast, is not.
This framework helps me think not only about my move but also my work. As you surely know, our nation’s pluralistic universities have a dominant culture largely shared in common among them. Even in the south, because faculty members were trained at peer institutions, universities share a common cosmopolitan culture not unlike that of Cornell. Here, the most basic assumptions of what it means to be human in general, and of how to think about aspects of life such as gender and sexuality in particular, are very much at odds with historic Christianity and Christian ways of understanding the world.
Once we diagnose the depth of the cultural change that has taken place, the way forward comes into better focus. We can no longer assume a Christendom culture. We cannot present the gospel straightforwardly like Wesley or Whitfield and expect much response. That ship has sailed. I don’t mean to put limits on what the Holy Spirit can do, but surely Paul demonstrated Spirit-led wisdom in the way he engaged skepticism and responded to mockery at Mars Hill.
Shea’s point is precisely that our new environment requires new mission strategies:
“Our academic institutions are often so decayed in purpose (apart from technical training) that not much wisdom or light is to be hoped from them; for various reasons, they can tend to deform rather than enlighten the minds of those who come under their influence. Rather, what is needed is the sort of intellectual life that was characteristic of the Church in her early centuries, a life possessed to some degree by every Christian. It is not simply or primarily a matter of college degrees but of the conversion of the mind to a Christian vision of reality and of readiness to live out the ramifications of that vison. A compelling Christian narrative is called for, one that provides a counter to the secular vision, that helps Christians understand and fend off false gospels. There needs to be a re-articulation of the truth that can provide those who are languishing under the malnourishment of the modern spiritual diet a way out of their predicament.”
As a mini-manifesto for Christian learning on pluralistic or “secular” campuses, that is not bad. Indeed, we need to go back to the most basic assumptions about reality—how we think about God, yes, but also how we think about human personhood, the good life, and the just society. I would only add to what Shea has said that this work requires communities, moral and spiritual communities, to do the hard work of rendering the requisite conversion of mind and imagination attractive and plausible. Which is why I believe in Christian Study Centers.
The good news is that the church, though possessing an ancient tradition, “is still the youngest and freshest institution on earth.” Why? Because of “the ever-new presence of the Holy Spirit with her.” The good news of Easter is so good, and so comprehensive, that it inspires (in every sense of the word) Christian Study Center work.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Dr. Karl E. Johnson
Executive Director, Consortium of Christian Study Centers
