From the catacombs … through Christendom … to the marketplace
a sermon by Bob Faser
29th May 2011
St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Bacchus Marsh, Victoria
There was once a time when it was possible to speak about something called “Christendom”. Christendom referred to a state of mind in which the western society and culture as a whole saw itself as somehow “Christian”.
Christendom began when the Roman Emperor Constantine first gave official toleration to Christianity, and then later converted to Christianity himself and declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Empire. During the era of Christendom, the Christian faith claimed a whole range of privileges for itself from the wider society that it was not prepared to see other faiths enjoy.
Making Christianity the official faith of western society did not really make society more Christlike in its attitudes and practices. In many ways, this made western society far less Christlike in its attitudes and practices.
It was very difficult for Christians to have Christlike attitudes and behaviour toward other people during the time of Christendom. It was during the era of Christendom that Christians were involved in Crusades, Inquisitions, wars of religion, heresy trials, burning supposed witches at the stake, and such other atrocities. During the time of Christendom, many evil things were done in the name of Christianity.
This whole “Christendom” mentality became terminally ill on the 31st of October in 1517. On that day, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to a church door in the city of Wittenberg, so beginning the Protestant Reformation. Having a variety of styles of Christianity co-existing within one culture eventually made that whole notion of Christendom permanently unsustainable.
In much of Europe, in nations such as France and Germany, Christendom ended many years ago, well before the oldest person here was born. In English-speaking countries, some Christians still persist in a “Christendom” mentality, but it’s no longer appropriate for our time.
I believe the end of Christendom is a good thing. Some people may bemoan the end of Christendom. Occasionally, you may hear people say, with a sense of loss and regret, that we no longer live in a “Christian society”. The reality, though, is that whenever a society, a culture, or a nation believed itself to be “a Christian society”, the authentic message of Jesus really had a much harder time getting through to the people living in that society, culture, or nation.
Whenever you hear someone say, “We no longer live in a Christian society,” the best response is “We never did. Such a thing as a ‘Christian society’ never existed.”
Christendom is no longer with us, and we are well rid of it. But, to hear some people talk about the alternatives, you may not be sure.
Some tell us that, since we are no longer in the era of Christendom, our attitudes as Christians toward our society need to return to the time before Christendom …. to the time before Constantine … to the time of persecution … to the time when Christians met for worship in hiding … to the time of the Catacombs.
And some Christians tell us that the church needs to be developing attitudes similar to the church prior to Constantine. These would urge us to develop what I call a “Catacomb mentality”. For example, they would have very strict rules about who is “In” and who is “Out” of the Christian faith. So (as a result) they’d be very pedantic about such things as whose babies the churches would baptise and what should (and should not) happen in a Christian funeral service, and so on.
But the Catacombs do not really correspond to the present reality of the Christian churches in western society.
• Sure, many of the privileges enjoyed by the churches during the Christendom era have ended.
• Sure, there is a growing level of strident public criticism of the Christian churches: sometimes with good reason, sometimes without.
• Sure, there is a growing level of sarcastic humour -mostly very juvenile humour - directed at Christian faith and practice.
But there is no active persecution of Christians in western society, not unless you have a really overactive imagination.
The Christendom era in western society in which Christianity was singled out for special privileges is over. (And I believe this is a good thing.) But there is no real sign that the Christendom era will be replaced in western society by a new Catacomb era in which Christianity will be singled out for active persecution.
The era of Christendom is not our reality. Neither is the era of the Catacombs. Neither the Christendom mentality nor the Catacomb mentality is a realistic attitude for Christians today to hold toward our culture.
Our present reality as the people of God is as participants in the marketplace of ideas. It is very similar to the story we hear in today’s lesson from the Acts of the Apostles.
Paul was in Athens, the great centre of classical Greek culture. He was on his own in Athens and he had a good look around. He visited the temples. He talked to people in the marketplace. He got a feel for the culture. And, while he did so, he shared his Christian faith.
Among many Christians today, Paul has a rather arrogant reputation, principally because of the way some of Paul’s more unfortunate statements – frequently statements made in Paul’s name by later writers - are overemphasised by a number of ultraconservative Christians today.
Despite his arrogant reputation today, Paul in Athens didn’t share his faith in an arrogant way, as if to say “I’ve got something that’s very important for you but, of course, you’ve got nothing to teach me”. Instead, Paul seemed to share his faith in a context of mutual learning and dialogue, as a participant in the marketplace of ideas.
First of all, he spent time discussing his faith with people of other beliefs who were serious about their beliefs. We’re told he discussed issues of faith with members of the Jewish community in the local synagogue. He also debated with the professional philosophers, the sort of philosophers for which Athens was famous, part of a tradition which earlier included such great names as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. We’re told that these philosophers were from the Stoic and Epicurean schools of thought. These were big-time philosophers. Students today are still studying their work. Paul was talking with some people who were really serious about their beliefs.
But we also get the impression that some of the people he talked with may have been a bit less serious in their quest for truth. Paul also spoke with those looking for the latest novelties of thought. Luke tells us, with a bit of delicious irony, “Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.”
Perhaps there were a few of those in Athens who, like some people today, were developing an eclectic, eccentric, do-it-yourself, “New-Age” spirituality. And Paul spoke with them too, and spoke with them with respect.
When Paul was asked to explain himself to the Council, he spoke with respect for the local beliefs. He didn’t denounce – or even merely lampoon - the inadequacies of the people’s faith. Instead, he affirmed the sincerity of their spiritual longings. “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.” He tried to draw connections between the spiritual longings of the people and his Christian faith. He made a link between Jesus and the “unknown god” to whom he saw an altar dedicated.
Paul spoke to the people in terms of their own culture. Twice in his speech to the Council he quoted Greek poets:
• once when he affirmed that “In … [God] we live and move and have our being”;
• and once when he said, in regard to God, that “For we too are his offspring”.
These quotes were important in two ways.
• The quotes themselves proclaimed God who was not distant from people but who relates intimately with us all.
• In using the quotes, Paul made a connection between the Christian faith and the existing culture of the people.
Paul’s behaviour in Athens is a good example for our situation today.
• We are no longer living in the age of Christendom, in which the Christian faith can claim privileges from the wider society that are not extended to other faiths.
• Neither are we living in the age of the Catacombs, huddling together for dear life in a cozy little Christian ghetto.
We have a far better option, a far more creative option than either Christendom or the Catacombs. We are participants in the marketplace of ideas, living with confidence in our own faith and with respect for the convictions of others, relating our faith to whatever part of the culture we identify with. We can offer to our neighbours with confidence our share of the truth we’ve received, as we also receive with gratitude their share of the truth they’ve received.
As we participate in the marketplace of ideas alongside other honest seekers for truth, we do so knowing that the living God, in whom we “live and move and have our being” is no “unknown god” but God-in-our-midst, who is “not far from each one of us”.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Copyright: Robert J. Faser, 2011
