I am
leading an adult Sunday school class this month—the topic is Morgan Guyton’s
provocative 2016 book, How Jesus Saves
the World from Us. My predecessor
chose this item, which offers “12 antidotes to toxic Christianity”. He thought the material would elicit fruitful
discussion and self-reflection among church members, which it most likely will,
with a vengeance.
Worried
about their aging and declining membership, many churches are going through a
period of painful self-examination.
Where are the young people? What
can we do to attract them? Is there
something in our worship style, our theology, or our approach to evangelism
that needs tweaking or even an overhaul?
The church is after all supposed to be “reformed, always reforming.”
There
are a number of books like Guyton’s that have been recently published. The debate over how the church can best
accommodate trends in contemporary society is a perennial one. Guyton presents a long list of problematic
attitudes—“…our disingenuous posturing, our exhibitionist martyrdom, our
isolationism…”—and so forth, along with mostly scripture-based cures. For example, the anxiety-driven obsession to
“perform” works of piety and compassion, as the Pharisees do, can be countered
with an abiding trust in God’s love and mercy for us.
The
author tries to locate the origin of Christianity’s bad attitudes in its early
history, in philosophical dead ends, misreadings of scripture, and in
American culture. There is probably some
truth here. But it’s reasonable to
ascribe them to just one source ultimately—our essential sinfulness, which
leads to an imperfect understanding of God’s teaching. As many suspect, devout Christians can be
saved and forgiven by Christ—and still remain idiots.
Reading
between the lines, one suspects Guyton’s critique is rooted in his personal
response to the shortcomings of his childhood experience in a very conservative
denomination. This doesn’t make the book
any less valid, but does call into question the author’s purpose in writing it. Is the intent to stimulate discussion among
Christians concerned with the decline of church life? Or does it primarily serve a therapeutic need—the
cathartic expression of frustration and despair over “toxic Christianity”?
Perhaps
both; this is a very emotional book, seasoned with the author’s personal epiphanies
across a troubled young life. Here and
there Guyton’s exuberant expression might have benefited from some filtering, to
avoid clouding key ideas with excessive emotionality. (Disclosure: your humble blogger is a Presbyterian, one of the "frozen chosen".)
In the
coming weeks our church will review Guyton’s thoughts on Christianity’s less
edifying habits of mind. Given the
content of his book, there will be spirited discussion, some defensiveness, and
probably embarrassed acknowledgement of where we could do better. (The fourth chapter, “Breath, Not Meat: How
We Gain Holy Bodies”, will likely offend more genteel members.)
Overall,
the book serves an important need for self-reflection and adaptation in the contemporary
church. I am eager to hear how our
church members respond to the material, and may share some of their insights in
future posts. Guyton is in a long line
of thoughtful Christian writers who have battled complacency and negativity in
order to cultivate ongoing reform in the church.
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“Write
therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.” Revelation 1:19
