Culture is evolving. Christianity no longer occupies the center of public discourse. The civil religion of the American empire used to be “Christian,” but the truth of the matter is that our society (like the rest of the West) is in the transition toward post-Christendom.
“Post-Christendom is the culture that emerges as the Christian faith loses coherence within a society that has been definitively shaped by the Christian story and as the institutions that have been developed to express Christian convictions decline in influence.”
With that basic definition, here are some of the major transitions that take place culturally as post-Christendom takes root:
Our words, even when they are true, can damage our witness.
From the center to the margins: In Christendom, the Christian story and the churches were central, but in post-Christendom these are marginal.
From the majority to the minority: In Christendom, Christians comprised the (often overwhelming) majority, but in post-Christendom we are a minority.
From settlers to sojourners: In Christendom, Christians felt at home in a culture shaped by their story, but in post-Christendom we are aliens, exiles and pilgrims in a culture where we no longer feel at home.
From privilege to plurality: In Christendom, Christians enjoyed many privileges, but in post-Christendom we are one community among many in a plural society.
From control to witness: In Christendom, churches could exert control over society, but in post-Christendom we exercise influence only through witnessing to our story and its implications.
From maintenance to mission: In Christendom, the emphasis was on maintaining a supposedly Christian status quo, but in post-Christendom it is on mission within a contested environment.
From institution to movement: In Christendom, churches operated mainly in institutional mode, but in post-Christendom it must become again a Christian movement.
Choose well how we speak of the world and better how we speak of ourselves.
Had another thought this morning as I was looking at a friend’s book proposal. A great deal of academic work now deals with the post-secular, which is an interesting counter-point to the church’s belief in the post-christian. Of course, the post-secular may or may not be christian, but it is interesting that as the church is looking at the supposed decline of faith, the world is seeing its rise.
I glanced at this earlier today and have thought about it off and on this afternoon. I’d like to offer a slightly contrary perspective, though it amounts to essentially the same thing. I would say that rather than watching christendom in America pass away, we are actually at a high water mark and watching it grow. The church has infiltrated politics and other forms of public discourse/institutions (tv, radio, film, schools, markets) to the point that it is quite impossible to separate one from the other and it does not appear that this turn of events is likely to lessen any time soon.
I think that the reason that we like to speak of this situation as post-christian is because it implies that the people out there have stopped listening to us; as such, the situation is not the fault of the church and we know who to blame–the pagans, the liberals, the secular humanists, or whatever other made up bogey man we’re decided to direct our ire at (this statement is not in any way a comment or judgment on your post, just what I was thinking about this afternoon).
However, when we speak of these situations, we are usually talking not about the lack/or lessening of christian influence, but of its secularization and commodification. The American church has always been particularly susceptible to this due to the fact that it had no established church. Secularization in Europe could proceed outside of the church because the church was nationalized and separation from the church was protest not only against the church, but against the state. In time, the state would respond to that protest and absorb the dissenters. Secularization in American has generally occurred through the church itself, as the church has contested with other groups for power and adherents. It has done this through a lowest common denominator style of evangelism that has been perfected over the past three decades and has entrenched christianity firmly within the realm of American consumer culture. The result of that entrenchment has created a mass christian culture that consumes christian goods and services in the realms of both the sacred and profane, and it has simultaneously fragmented christianity into perceived minority status as theological distinctives are lost, christians are less and less capable of discerning what is happening around them, and believe that they are experiencing some level of persecution because of the loss of coherence of their faith. At that point, the things that you identify come in–but the central thing for me is that the loss of coherence within society occurs first and primarily within the church, rather than outside it. That may actually be implied in your post, but those are some of the thoughts that it raised for me. Thanks!