Liberalism and the American evangelical church

Proposed Task and Title:

Critically evaluate the effect of liberal secularism on the church and explore the challenges this presents to current paradigms of American evangelical ecclesiology.

Introduction to the Subject:

Liberalism insists that religion is apolitical and that the secular is a neutral space devoid of private religious opinions (Oliver 2009: 4). However, numerous authors are beginning to challenge these claims by investigating the inherent political, ethical, and social nature of the church and the kingdom of God (cf. Yoder 1994: 11-20; Wright 1992, 1996, 1999; Hauerwas 2004). This reassertion of the political nature of the kingdom resists the privatization of Christianity and subsequently reveals a theological conflict between liberal secularism and the church. The work of authors such as Cavanaugh (2002; 2008), Ward (2009) and others authors writing from a Radical Orthodox perspective (Smith 2004; Oliver and Milbank 2009) propose to expose liberalism’s account of the secular as “the natural result of the inevitable progress of human knowledge and thinking” (Oliver 2009: 6). Milbank’s claim that “once, there was no secular” redefines the development of the secular by naming it a positive ideology created by thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, and Rosseau (Cavanaugh 2002: 15-17; cf. Smith 2004: 127). What is arguably revealed is that liberalism and the social construction of the modern secular state is a competing soteriological narrative, and thus a pseudo-ecclesia (Smith 2004: 237; cf.Cavanaugh 2002: 20). If these claims are substantiated, they propose for a re-politicizing of ecclesiology that understands “the ecclesia as the only authentic polis” (Smith 2004: 237).

The implications of these claims leads to a necessary exploration of how evangelical theology (and thus also ecclesiology) has accommodated the ideology of liberalism (cf. Smith 2004:35-37). If liberalism is a not merely discovered, or natural, but imagined and intentional (cf. Cavanaugh 2002:2-7) then the practices embedded in secular society are better seen as teleological rather than neutral (cf. Smith 2009). In light of this, evangelical ecclesiology and the practices of the local church in America need to be reevaluated. Discussion in this study will revolve around the local church’s role in terms of the two mandates specified in the Lausanne Covenant; the evangelistic mandate and the cultural mandate (Winter and Hawthorne 1999: 759-763).

In discussing the evangelistic mandate, this paper will focus on the practice of mission current in America by examining the Church Growth Movement and subsequent Church Growth material (cf. Gibbs 2003; McIntosh 2004; Wagner 1988, 1998; Warren 1995). It is clear that the “church-growth movement is extraordinarily influential and significant within American churches today” (McIntosh 2004: 9). Indeed, the popularity of the principles inherent to church growth advocates have “become so deeply imbedded that leaders do not realize they are actually using Church Growth insights” (McIntosh 2004: 22). However, there continues to be much debate over the validity of these principles especially regarding marketing techniques and seeker-sensitive services (cf. Warren 1995). Many argue that in light of the conflicting telos of liberalism which fosters individualism and consumerism, the church should call into question the “gospel of consumption” (Smith 2009: 103).

While these principles do help churches grow numerically, it is questionable whether the disciples and communities that they form are equipped to stand against liberal secularism and the de-politicization of religion. Here, the reassertion of discipleship as becoming part of an alternative political community which embodies God’s story, provides a paradigm by which Christians can learn to be God’s people (cf. Hauerwas 2003: 111-115). Explorations in political discipleship and community will move ecclesiology towards a place of counter-formation which redirects Christians towards love for the kingdom (cf. Ward 2009; Smith 2009; Claiborne 2008; Wilson-Hartgrove 2006).

The cultural mandate will be discussed around the paradigm seen in the work of those who have a “passionate concern for social justice” and “an intense involvement in politics” (Campolo 2008:23). Here discussion about the legitimacy of the church’s involvement in politics will be contrasted with accounts which claim that the church, in its practices of worship, is political (cf. Smith 2009). The cultural mandate embodies much about the kingdom of God yet it often does not call into question the “theological legitimacy of the imagination of modern politics” (Cavanaugh 2002:3).

These discussions will lead towards a praxis which can assist local American evangelical churches to foster communities of counter-formation who can better learn to be the church and to embody the kingdom. The recovery of two aspects of Christian practice will be proposed as steps to foster the formation of these communities; liturgy (cf. Milbank and Oliver 2009; Smith 2004, 2009) and monasticism (cf. Claiborne 2006; Wilson-Hartgrove 2008).

Liturgy will be approached from the perspective of Hauerwas and others who claim that rites such as baptism and the eucharist are much more than “religious things that Christian people do” claiming that the practices of the liturgy “are our effective social work” (cf. Hauerwas 2004; Smith 2004: 239).

Monasticism has begun to re-emerge under the label of New Monasticism (cf. Wilson-Hartgrove 2008; Claiborne 2006) and can also be opportunity for American evangelical churches to practice things such as hospitality, economic distribution, and reconciliation in concrete ways. This expresses something significant about Christian communities yet issues regarding the engagement between the communities and the church still remain. Wilson-Hartgrove (2008) and Smith (2009) offer possibilities for resolving these issues in bringing the practices of “urban monasticism” into the American evangelical church.

Aims:

The aims of this project are to attempt to understand better the effects that liberalism, modernity, and secularism have had on American evangelical ecclesiology. The claims that liberalism and the creation of the secular are theologically founded and not merely natural and objective realities challenge much more than can be explored here. I am instead attempting to focus on how awareness of the theological conflict between liberalism and the church allows for re-evalutation of the practices of evangelism/discipleship and social involvement. There are many theologians (for example, Hauerwas, Smith, Ward) who argue that the church has unconsciously accommodated the telos of liberalism and thus compromised its task and character. Again, the claims regarding the level of accommodation cannot be fully explored as the scope would be far too broad for any real evaluation to take place. Therefore, this study will focus on the two locus’ of the church’s practice of mission as expressed in the Lausanne Covenant: the evangelistic mandate and the cultural mandate. I aim to delineate how the American evangelical church can better accomplish each of these mandates by moving to re-politicize practices of discipleship and worship in order to better foster communities which embody the kingdom of God.