Spiritual But Not Religious
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What should we make of so many recent conversions to Christianity? Some of these conversions rely on an argument, not just about Christianity but the West more generally. What resources are there in the secular West to keep our great tradition alive and our values at the center? Many are going back to the roots. It was Christianity that produced this great society that now wants to jettison Christianity.
Bretherton warns against conversion as part of the culture war. There are far better reasons to become a Christian, and he hopes recent conversions will highlight Christianity’s essential merits. “A turn to Christianity, however, need not entail making it either a defensive civilizational project anchored in a sanitized version of history or a sectarian faction fuelled by an aggrieved sense of entitled victimhood. Following Christ and discerning the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit should be about discovering just and generous forms of life here and now that bear witness to and prefigure the new creation.”
Again, “The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, rather than Western culture or a particular intellectual tradition, are the condition for the possibility of movement into new kinds of relationship with God and neighbour. Any such journey of conversion demands that we orient ourselves to living in time and the experience of flux and transition that is part of what it means to be a finite and fallen creature rather than a god. Becoming Christian is properly about discovering—with these people, in this place, at this time—communion with Christ amid and through our differences, a communion we receive only as a gift of the Spirit (and that can never be a work of frail flesh).”
I take this as an important caution. Conversion is never a means, only an end. Conversions lead to wonderful ends, but there is no motivation higher than being reunited to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Bretherton offers another intriguing point. Celebrity conversions often stress the important of authenticity. Bretherton pushes back; “Authenticity is a deeply modern sentiment alien to Christianity. Christianity is about being faithful, not authentic. All forms of Christianity—if they are being faithful—are subject to ongoing dynamics of continuity and change as they embody the paradoxical movement of restoration and new birth.”
There are two paths forward for the public intellectual converts embodied in the life of Jacques Maritain. Shortly after conversion, Maritain joined a political action group. The wave of public conversions in France at the time had a similar political component to the trend we’re seeing today. But as the movement drifted from the core concerns of Christianity and the Pope condemned the movement, Maritain had another conversion experience. This time, he moved from a defensive posture to an active pursuit of a “Christ-centred story.”
Regardless of the differences many of us may have with Maritain’s own story, we should identify with the fundamental shift that took place, from being more about what he was against to what he was for. Christians have their own agenda for the world, set in the word of God through the leading of the Spirit. We don’t have the need or the time to be captured by the prevailing cultural winds. This is what it means to be salt and light anyway.
As it applies to the conversion of public intellectuals, I hope this message takes root. I pray that these conversions are not a means to anything, but a true surrender to Christ, a changed heart, and life in the Spirit.
I’m reminded of C.S. Lewis’s point about heavenly-mindedness in Mere Christianity, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”
Following on this trend, what will evangelism look like among the new “spiritual but not religious” group? In this article, Taylor Combs shares a descriptions of three friends who fit this description, who are not Christians yet, but with whom he has had some promising conversations. He rightly points out that the assumptions we often make about unbelievers are out of date. The landscape of belief/unbelief is changing.
“The growth of this new (or new again) religious category presents a challenge for Christians called to share our faith and make disciples. Many of us were trained in evangelism and apologetics focused on atheism. We were given tools designed to engage with secular, naturalistic, scientifically minded atheists. But the backdrop against which many of us now share the faith is no longer a cold, dead atheism; it’s a teeming, magical supernaturalism. This calls for different questions, different approaches, and different arguments.”
With these changes taking place, our methods are the same. “There’s nothing so powerful in turning the heart of a lost person to Jesus as prayer. There’s no word so capable of piercing a sinner’s heart as God’s Word. And there’s no plausibility structure more compelling than the living and loving church.”
Here’s a bold claim I fully support: “Home libraries will save civilization. Why? Because a home overcrowded with books sets the tone for how its inhabitants spend their time at home. Bored? Read a book. Want something to do for fun? Read a book. Have friends over? Read a book together. Relaxed family night at home? Start a read-aloud.”
I saw a post a few weeks ago that the ideal masculine space has shifted from the study to the man cave. Now, no offense to man caves, but there’s a point there. Is our ideal space one of relaxation through detachment or relaxation through engagement? Do we want to numb ourselves or better ourselves in our free moments? For what it’s worth, I think the mindset has much more to do with it than the space. That being said, it’s rare to come across a biography of someone who changed the world who was not a prodigious reader.
I’ll keep beating this drum as long as it takes; the “social” part of social media is illusory, and it’s making our young people miserable. Ted Gioia, who coined the term “dopamine culture,” looks at the kind of connectivity offered on our phones and the true connectivity we need as human beings.
“I’m often a harsh critic of dysfunctional tech—and it certainly has its share of blame here. But nobody is forcing us to abandon these vital connections.
Every type of connectedness listed above is within our grasp—we don’t need anybody’s permission.
Nobody can stop us from loving, art-making, civic engagement, connecting with nature, or pursuing other pathways to connectedness. But don’t expect to find an app for any of these things.
Your smartphone can order an Uber driver or delivery pizza, but it can’t give you a glorious sunset or gratitude or a trusted friend—or any other form of genuine connectedness.”
I’m looking forward to getting a copy of Paul Tripp’s new devotional book, Everyday Gospel. If you’re looking for a great daily devotional, his previous book, New Morning Mercies, is fantastic, and I expect this one will be just as good.
Here’s an excerpt on dealing with sin and temptation in our lives: “These words have been recorded and preserved for us by our loving heavenly Father. They have been recorded for us as a defense against sin’s deceit. Just as with the tribes of Gad and Rueben, our sin is never secret or without consequences. It’s wonderful to know that our Lord meets us in our weakness and not only warns us but also empowers us to live inside of his boundaries. It is encouraging to see that God’s warning to Gad and Reuben was not in vain.”
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Dr. Cole Feix is the founder and president of So We Speak and the Senior Pastor of Carlton Landing Community Church in Oklahoma.
