There is a sense among some evangelicals that the gospel message is not well received in today’s culture. In response, some suggest this failure to respond to the gospel only proves that the lost just don’t get it and our culture is very lost. They suggest, in some circles, our culture’s rejection of the gospel is to be expected since we are nearing the “end times” when everything is supposed to get really bad. In these circles, culture’s deterioration and resistance to the gospel is a welcomed sign that we are just about to wined things up here on planet earth.
But what if it wasn’t the culture’s fault? What if things aren’t about to wind up? What if there are still many generations to come? What if the American church has a hand in our culture’s resistance to the gospel?
It has become cliché to label our present American culture as postmodern, but it is still an appropriate signifier of the signified. However, what that signifier (postmodern label) points to is ill defined. Does it simply mean that we are good relativists now? Does it mean we all can put bumper stickers on our cars that say “Co-Exist” or “Celebrate Diversity?” I suggest to you it may be these, but more fundamentally for the church and its gospel mission it means that people operate with a hermeneutic of suspicion. WAIT! Don’t check out on me yet…its not as complicated as that may sound.
A hermeneutic is simply a way, rule or philosophy of interpreting text. It originally was used in the field of biblical theology, but it has expanded into literature and other academic disciplines.
The suspicion of Freud, Nietzsche and Critical Theory were added to the discipline of hermeneutics, creating the hermeneutic of suspicion. These thinkers and schools of interpretation desired to read “beneath” the text; they did not take the text at face value. Particularly, Critical Theory sought out the powers behind the text, asking, “Who benefits from this text?” “What power interests are served by this specific interpretation of the text?” Texts are fundamentally “about” something other than what they immediately presents themselves to be.
Believe it or not this hermeneutic of suspicion (reading behind the text for power interests) has filtered down into the broader, popular culture. Now the common man or woman reads the events of their day and the statements made within the culture for what power interests are served by such events or statements. Think about the culture’s reaction to President Bill Clinton’s statement to the American people that he did not have “sexual relations with that woman.” As it turned out the American people were correct to disbelieve Clinton, but that example only serves to show how common it is for our culture to read with deep suspicion.
Take another example, when you (a Christian) “share the gospel” to someone it is interpreted very differently from your intent as an author or even how previous generations would have interpreted the presentation. They hear in our “good news” the following: Surrender control of your life and decision making capacities to this god we have imagined so that your decisions must conform to our groups’ interpretation of what is “right” (authorized by the group). Grant your assent to our god and our vision of the good, and empower us over you.
This interpretation is especially poignant when the gospel is presented from someone that is part of the upper middle class, politically conservative establishment (probably most evangelicals). When we pull out of our three-car garage in our European sedan past our well-manicured lawn it is easy for our gospel message to look like just one more political, power play at work in culture. I am not suggesting this is a right reading or even a fair reading, but it is the reading of our gospel text by our culture.
So how does the church in America get over this level of cynical and suspicious reading? How do we get a fair hearing or reading of the text? I suggest that we need to imbed a missing piece into our gospel narrative. We need to add a twist to the old story that will defeat any possible reading of power interests into the text. In fairness, it is not that we need to add something or imbed something new; we need to bring back something we have lost. The cross.
We often see the cross and discuss the cross solely in terms of substitutionary atonement (Jesus in my place for my sin). But, there is more at work in the cross than just substitutionary atonement, without denying it either. In part, the cross is an emblem of defeat to empire.
The cross in the Roman Empire was a symbol of Caesar’s authority and power to take life of those that did not serve the interests of Caesar and his empire. The cross was a way of defeat. Messianic movements (anti-empire) often came to a crashing halt when the proclaimed Messianic leader was put on the cross to die.
It seems this is what Jesus had in mind in Matthew 16:24-26. Jesus laid down the law of the Kingdom. Up is down, and down is up. Losing is winning, and winning is losing. If we want to be followers of him we must be crucified like him.
Our culture preaches winning and being on top of the pile. It serves the interest of economic empire to have us all striving for as much stuff, position and power we can attain; it is the pro-growth policy. And as long as the church is participating with hearty “amens” in this race to nowhere our culture should read our text (actions and speech) with suspicion. We are just another interest group seeking to be up and not down, winners and not losers.
If we could live a crucified life…if we could sacrifice so deeply and painfully that it cost us everything the narrative would change. Where are the interests of power in dying? Where is the motive to win and dominate in sacrifice? A life lived on Jesus’ terms cannot be read with suspicion, or at a minimum it would much tougher to do.
The problem with our gospel might not be the culture’s suspicion of our text…it might be the text of our lives.
The fellas on the White Horse Inn talk about this a lot--how the dominant American culture has crept into our churches. We're living out the dominant culture rather than the teachings of Christ and it smacks of hypocrisy. No wonder no one wants to believe what we have to say.
ReplyDeleteInteresting you should bring this up. It was my prayer this morning that God would continue to work on my heart so that my interests will be aligned with His and that I would die to myself. Good post.