Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

Russ Shumaker

Nones, Dones and Religionless Christianity, Part 3

by Russ Shumaker in Christian Issues

In my previous post, I introduced the concept of secularism, not as a looming evil that must be resisted, but as a lived statement of disenchantment that is experienced by even the most ardently religious: We no longer conceive of God as “outside” the universe in a primitive sense, dragging the sun through the sky with his chariot, nor “outside” in the sentimental sense, sitting on a golden throne in the sky looking down on us. Formerly mysterious occurrences like freak weather patterns or catastrophic disease outbreaks are no longer attributed to “magic” or the supernatural, but rather to natural patterns of cause and effect. Secularism in this sense is not to lose faith in God, or even to make ontological claims about God; it’s a framework that we can’t escape by our own volition, just like people in the ancient world couldn’t just choose to reject supernatural causation.

In a letter dated June 8, 1944, Bonhoeffer put it this way:

The movement that began about the thirteenth century (I’m not going to get involved in any argument about the exact date) towards the autonomy of man (in which I should include the discovery of laws by which the world lives and deals with itself in science, social and political matters, art, ethics, and religion) has in our time reached an undoubted completion. Man has learnt to deal with himself in all questions of importance without recourse to the ‘working hypothesis’ called ‘God’. In questions of science, art, and ethics this has become an… [Read more…] about Nones, Dones and Religionless Christianity, Part 3

Nones, Dones and Religionless Christianity, Part 2

by Russ Shumaker in Christian Issues

In my last post, I left off with the question, “Can we speak meaningfully about God without religion?” For Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and founding member of the confessing church, religious language is often a mask or a shield that protects us from saying what we actually mean. It allows us to hide ignorance behind certitude. In 1944, writing from a German prison cell less than a year before he was executed by the Third Reich, Bonhoeffer wrote:

Religious people speak of God when human knowledge (perhaps simply because they are too lazy to think) has come to an end, or when human resources fail — in fact it is always the deus ex machina that they bring on to the scene, either for the apparent solution of insoluble problems, or as strength in human failure — always, that is to say, exploiting human weakness or human boundaries. Of necessity, that can go on only till people can by their own strength push these boundaries somewhat further out, so that God becomes superfluous as a deus ex machina.Letters and Papers from Prison, 281-282

Deus ex machina, literally translated, is “God from the machine.” This is a reference to ancient Greek plays in which, at the end of a performance, a “god” would be lowered onto the stage by a crane to artificially resolve loose plot twists. If Bonhoeffer was writing today, he might use the phrase “God of the gaps.”

An illustration may make his point clearer:

Prior to the scientific revolution,… [Read more…] about Nones, Dones and Religionless Christianity, Part 2

Nones, Dones and Religionless Christianity, Part 1

by Russ Shumaker in Christian Issues

Religious nones and dones are some of the fastest growing groups in America. For those unfamiliar with the terms, “nones” are those who self identify as having no religion, including atheists, agnostics, and those who believe in God but reject particular religious traditions. “Dones” are formerly religious individuals, often people who were highly involved but became disillusioned and burned out.

Articles and conversations about the nones and dones from a religious perspective often have an undercurrent of panic as people try to understand why so many are leaving organized religion. Anxiety is a normal human response to change (especially when those changes expose our own hidden doubts). But there’s a better way to think about the future of religion. It’s found in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison.

Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran theologian, one of just a handful who took a stand against the Third Reich and spoke up for the Jewish people. Although he was offered sanctuary in the U.S., Bonhoeffer believed that he needed to be present in Germany during the war to have any role in healing and rebuilding the nation when it was over. He was eventually imprisoned by the Nazi regime for avoiding military service ​(his interpretation of the gospels led him to being a pacifist)[1] and executed. His writing while in prison has been collected into book form. Put it on your reading list.

In April, 1944, Bonhoeffer wrote:

We are moving toward a completely… [Read more…] about Nones, Dones and Religionless Christianity, Part 1

It's Time to Rethink Judgment

by Russ Shumaker in Christian Issues

In Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis points out that westerners have been largely spared an age-old experience regarding our legal system:

​In most places and times it has been very difficult for the “small man” to get his case heard. The judge (and doubtless, one or two of his underlings) has to be bribed. If you can’t afford to “oil his palm” your case will never reach court. Our judges do not receive bribes. (We probably take this blessing too much for granted; it will not remain with us automatically). We need not therefore be surprised if the Psalms, and the Prophets, are full of the longing for judgment, and regard the announcement that “judgment” is coming as good news. Hundreds and thousands of people who have been stripped of all they possess and who have the right entirely on their side will at last be heard. They know their case is unanswerable–if only it could be heard. When God comes to judge, at last it will.
Evangelical Christians (and I’m sure others as well) often focus on the idea of God’s judgment as a terribly frightening event that will bring about the end of the world or condemn people to hell for their misdeeds. But Lewis notes that when Jesus talked about judgment He tended to paint a very different picture, of the type that is reflected in the Psalms. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, judgment comes not on those who have committed wrong acts or believed the wrong thing but on those who failed to act with compassion toward the… [Read more…] about It's Time to Rethink Judgment