Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Priorities in the Christian life

In class the other day we were discussing how when you look at Christian art you almost always see the person praying with head up, eyes open, and arms out. So, the question was, when did we start praying with head bowed, eyes closed, and hands folded? When did such an open expression become so closed? The answer was, after the Protestant Reformation. The idea being that the reformers wanted to block all that was physical, as it hindered the spiritual connection.

We then discussed a number of dichotomies that reflect dominant Protestant thought. I will list a few of these here: Reason vs. Imagination, Word vs. Image, Spirit vs. Flesh, Intellect vs. Emotions, and Fact vs. Fiction. In all of these cases Protestants have generally placed a higher value on the first member of each set. Now, I don't believe anyone would deny that valuing the first is incorrect. However, it seems that there is a place for all of these in the Christian life. Instead of devaluing one over the other, we should rather just assign them different levels of importance.

For example, I believe that reason is more important to understanding God and His revelation, rather than imagination. However, I do not dismiss imagination or imaginative works just because they may not be as important. They same could be said for fact and fiction, in terms of literature. Certainly, fact is more important, but I believe there is a important role fiction can play in the Christian life (see C.S. Lewis), such as proclaiming moral truth and pointing to the revelation in God's Word.

My point here is that while the reformers reacted correctly to some of the theological errors of their day, they may have reacted too harshly and for around five hundred years we have followed their lead, possibly to some detriment. One of the consequences of this can be seen in the emergent church movement. Many young people are drawn to the emergent church because they tend to worship in a more open fashion. That is, bodily expressions are allowed or even encouraged. Of course, many of our more charismatic Christian brethren practice this already, but among mainline and conservative evangelicals, such expressions are rarely seen.

There is no place in Scripture that shows people worshiping like some evangelicals do today. In fact, the examples of worship in Scripture are very expressive. David even danced before God, even though he was criticized for it (2 Samuel 6:14). This and other texts are not telling us we have to worship this way, but they do tell us that God is not displeased by such worship. The flip side of this coin is that some in the emergent church go too far by valuing emotion higher than intellect and imagination higher than reason, which is the exact opposite of the reformers problem. If we are going to err, I hope it is on the first of each of the previous mentioned sets, since they are rightly more important. But, please do not devalue God given gifts. Rather, incorporate them into your life in a God honoring way that allows you to realize a more fully rounded Christian life.

The dichotomies and many of the thoughts of this blog came from Dr. Steve Halla and his class Christianity and Science Fiction. I just added my own reactions to ideas he presented.