Time for a shout out to a couple of good smack downs on the sacred/secular split. One from Ryan Bolger and another from Jill Carattini.
What is the sacred / secular split? It is phrase given to describe the divided thinking that characterizes so many Christians today. They attempt to keep their faith private and cordoned off from the rest of their lives. They try to have two minds: a Christian mind and a secular mind.
This dualistic way of thinking and living not only flies in the face of scriptural teaching, it turns out to be basically impossible to do. You can't live as a follower of Christ during certain parts of the day, or certain days of the week, or with certain people and not others. Does. Not. Work.
Either you have a Christian mind, or you don't. Either you have a Christian ethic, or you don't.
One of the core values of the emerging church movement is to tear down the secular / sacred divide and make all of life sacred. "Emerging churches tear down the church practices that foster a secular mind-set, namely that there are secular spaces, times or activities. To emerging churches, all of life must be sacred."1
This is somethign that those in the Emerging Church share with those from neo-Calvinist thought: living in reality of reign of King Jesus over all of creation, both in this age and in joyful anticipation of the age to come.
In Bolger's post on workplace evangelism, he writes about a question he was asked by a friend. The question was (in my words), would there be any difference between an average person from an emerging church and a typical Christian when Monday rolls around and the work week begins.
Bolger responds,
"Boy, I hope so," I responded. I thought to myself -- if there is no change in the daily lives of ordinary people, then this whole thing has been a huge waste of time."
He continues,
"Because of an emphasis on Jesus and the kingdom, and the recognition that the sacred/secular split ought not exist, the perspective on workplace interaction changes dramatically (just as it does with the school, the neighborhood, the club, the pub, etc). Instead of a sole focus on individual evangelism with a possible invitation to church, the kingdom-minded person thinks within other categories. What would it look like if Jesus were here? What would it look like if the marginal voices here got a say in things? What would it look like if people were paid fairly for their work? What might it mean for our company if we made products or offered services that actually help people, actually resemble God's goodness? What would it take to create an environment of creativity rather than control? The kingdom-minded agent would look to embody God's reign both in their individual responsibilities and in the corporation as a whole. As an advocate on the inside, he or she would look to create alternatives to the dominating practices of that particular institution. By serving as such a prophetic example, other possibilities for action become viable options within the organization."
Those are some great examples of kicking down the divide and living out your faith 24 x 7. We need to think beyond the great commission and think of the cultural commission. We need to be kingdom-minded in everything. We need to ask ourselves, what does it mean to think Christianly about all of life, and how are we to live differently and push back the darkness all around us.
Jill Carattini, of Ravi Zacharias Int'l Ministries, makes a similar point in her essay entitled Undivided and Alive about those who try to compartmentalize life into secular -vs- secular realms.
"On one hand this sounds ridiculous, something on the level of King Solomon's request to cut the baby in two for each of the mothers who claimed it. And yet, for many of us, the shelving of certain sides of life comes quite naturally. Compartmentalizing can seem helpful, if not necessary--public and private, sacred and secular, work ethic and life ethic. We live in a world where we carefully delve out our time and divide our loyalties. As a pastor friend once told me, we give our hearts to romance, our minds to philosophy, our strength to vocation, and our time, money, and attention to everything else in between. Spirituality has become one of the many popular things to pursue, but it is categorized quite readily as a private and personal affair, another compartment that is to fit within our previously existing framework of life."
She adds, "but where we minimize the gospel message into lessons applicable to the private and internal aspects of our personal lives, we have misunderstood the gospel entirely. We have dangerously attempted to stamp out a message intended for the whole of life, a sovereign God at work through all of history."
Boo-yah. If followers of Christ don't recognize these partitions in their life, and seek to tear them down, they will truly look no different than the culture, and act no different than the culture ... and if the truth be told, think no different than the culture.
1 Emerging Churches, Bolger and Gibbs, p66
I used that book very briefly for a paper I wrote analyzing the Emerging Church last semester. I found the amount of references to books, pastors and churches to be dizzying...but maybe I should give it a read this summer.
Posted by: | March 22, 2006 at 20:43
The basis of the research was interviews with many who are participating in the emerging church movement. That is a strength, because it gives a broad look at a movement; but as you point out, it is a weakness because the number of references is dizzying.
I would be interested in reading your paper -- mind sending it along?
Posted by: Mr. Dawntreader | March 23, 2006 at 08:00
I'll give the paper a read again and see if it would be something worth passing on. I found it extremely difficult to write because the movement is so new and undefined. Also, I only came upon Bolger's book when I was close to finishing my paper...
Posted by: Joel Haas | March 23, 2006 at 11:52
What would it look like if Jesus were here?
Maybe the server wouldn't crash so much!! ;)
Everything you quoted above is pretty vague, though. Do they go into more specific issues - like software piracy, gossip, use of the Internet during down time...? (oops, better get back to looking busy)
Posted by: carlaviii | March 23, 2006 at 13:58
The question becomes, then, how do you live peacefully with those who don't share your worldview? If you try to push Christianity onto all aspects of your life, there are going to be others you encounter who don't share your beliefs (even other Christians), and you have problems. This post seems to disallow the idea of "agreeing to disagree." Not to mention religious freedom -- forget about that. All those other One True Religions are wrong!
Cynical? Maybe. But I just don't see how you can have a civil society without either compartmentalizing religion to a certain extent, or converting or eliminating those who don't share your beliefs.
This isn't to say that you should not or cannot allow religion to influence all aspects of your life -- you should. And that's what I think you're misunderstanding about this "divide." It's entirely possible to live by your principles without forcing others to do so as well, or cramming your beliefs down the throats of others. People do it all the time, despite your protestatings that it "Does. Not. Work."
Posted by: tgirsch | March 23, 2006 at 16:54
Ya know, that first entry sounds like a Jesuit I knew as a kid. it is almost exactly what he told us the Doctrine of Works required from us. Is that first writer Catholic or an ex-Catholic?
Posted by: kevin | March 23, 2006 at 17:09
Blah. protestatings should be "protestations." Kevin's rubbing off on me. :)
Posted by: tgirsch | March 23, 2006 at 17:14
"Is that first writer Catholic or an ex-Catholic?"
I assume you mean Ryan Bolger. I just met him a week ago, but I did not ask him his background. He is not a Catholic now -- he teaches at a Protestant seminary and attends a Presbyterian church. But he may be an ex-Catholic ... not really sure.
Posted by: Mr. Dawntreader | March 23, 2006 at 19:04
Jeff, I'm lovin this relationship you're striking up with Bolger. Now you see why a guy like me is attracted to some of the stuff in this movement!
Tom:
Cramming it down people's throats? Man, you are totally missing what's being said here. This is talking about living the ethic of Jesus every day -- standing up for the poor and marginalized, seeking justice, doing acts of mercy, stuff like that. Why on earth would even the most ardent liberal oppose that?
Kevin:
I think you're probably missing it too. Maybe the Jesuit you're referring to had some good things to say? One of the hallmarks of the "emerging Church" movement is to minimize denominational and sectarian divides as much as possible. But I don't think Bolger is talking about earning your place at the table with God. The idea is that those who claim to know and follow Jesus should live like it. All Christians of every stripe agree on that at least in principle.
Posted by: dopderbeck | March 23, 2006 at 21:38
Joel,
I have had two other readers privately email me and request to read your paper. There are three of us now ... and the numbers are growing. Please, please, please send it along. We all want to read it.
We won't grade it, I promise. :) We want to learn from your research. I won't post anything on this blog without your express written permission. Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.
Posted by: Mr. Dawntreader | March 24, 2006 at 08:03
"Now you see why a guy like me is attracted to some of the stuff in this movement!"
Absolutely, and with good reason. The core values of the EC should be the core values of the church (capital C church).
Posted by: Mr. Dawntreader | March 24, 2006 at 08:06
"Cramming it down people's throats? Man, you are totally missing what's being said here. This is talking about living the ethic of Jesus every day -- standing up for the poor and marginalized, seeking justice, doing acts of mercy, stuff like that. Why on earth would even the most ardent liberal oppose that?"
I was thinking the same thing as David. Tom, you have a caricature of Christians that you have yet to let go of. Have David and I tried to force our beliefs on you?
We agree with some things you say, and disagree with other things you say, and tell you why (ideally with gentleness and respect). Is that forcing our beliefs?
I can't help but feel that you still have this idea that Christianity is about convincing non-Christians to adopt Christian beliefs.
If that is what you have reduced Christianity to, then it is no wonder you have such a low opinion of Christians.
Christianity is far more than you have reduced it to. It is way of living and thinking and acting stemming from a heart overflowing with gratitude over the grace that has been showered on us. It starts with a faith based relationship with Christ made possible by his finished work on the cross, but it is transformational from there. All things are made new -- one's thinking, one's attitude, and one's behavior toward others. That must be lived out, not stowed away in a private compartment.
Posted by: Mr. Dawntreader | March 24, 2006 at 08:24
David and Jeff:
Yeah, Kevin pointed out to me yesterday that I brought my biases to the party, and was a little (a lot?) heavy-handed. Remember, I blog politically first, and when I see people decrying the "secular / sacred" divide, it's usually a gateway to railing against church / state separation (which, in my opinion, ultimately benefits the religious more than the non-religious). So I allowed that expectation to color my views.
In my defense, I did point out that it's entirely possible to live a Christian ethic without being overbearing or disrespectful toward those of other faiths.
But yeah, I totally jumped the gun. :)
I do feel the need to clarify a couple of things, however:
I can't help but feel that you still have this idea that Christianity is about convincing non-Christians to adopt Christian beliefs.
I don't feel that this is all it's about, but I do think that's a big part of it. Your conversations with Jim (which you blogged a few months ago) served only to reinforce that perception.
If that is what you have reduced Christianity to, then it is no wonder you have such a low opinion of Christians.
While I can see where you might get this impression, I do not have a low opinion of Christians! If I did, I wouldn't be married to one, I wouldn't have been married by a Christian minister, I wouldn't have recommended my wife's church, and I wouldn't count you and David among my friends!
I do have a low opinion of certain things that certain types of Christians do, but that's an entirely different can of worms. Most of those things involve what I perceive as hypocrisy, and I can think of at least one other guy who had a low opinion of that sort of thing without having a low opinion of Christians in general. :)
All that said, once I remove the political lens, and re-read your post in the context of "Sunday-only" Christians, I can see your point, and how my rant was out of place.
David:
standing up for the poor and marginalized, seeking justice, doing acts of mercy, stuff like that.
I thought we were supposed to let the Invisible Hand of the Market(tm) take care of that sort of stuff!
*ducks* I kid, of course. :)
Posted by: tgirsch | March 24, 2006 at 12:17
" The idea is that those who claim to know and follow Jesus should live like it. All Christians of every stripe agree on that at least in principle."
Absolutely -- its just that Catholics have the extra weight of it being a requirment for salvation behind it, and Bolger's comments sounded so much like what I have heard from Jesuits that I was struck by it. Frnakly, its not the kind of thing I hear a lot of or in such clear non-sex related social terms from prominent Protestant writers/thinkers. His educational/religious background would be interesting, I think.
And whether he means to or not, when he talks like that, he definetly comes across to Cahtolic slike he is talking about the doctrine of works.
Posted by: kevin | March 24, 2006 at 12:25
Please, please, please send it along.
Alright, alright...
Posted by: | March 24, 2006 at 16:38
"Alright, alright...
LOL. I figured if I asked nicely, it might work. :)
I will forward it to the other readers when I get it.
Thx!
Posted by: Mr. Dawntreader | March 24, 2006 at 16:43