A tough day at the office today, the office being teaching remedial English III to a small class of kids who failed it. A couple are new and one is not happy- at all- to be in school this summer. So I’m earning the big bucks like a real teacher this week. My fan club is small and getting smaller.

Into all this I have the assignment of teaching a short lesson on Jonathan Edwards and “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God.” (I won’t skip it. Too significant in American Lit.) The excerpt we use is a collection of the most intense metaphors, and I’m supposed to teach Edwards’ linguistic approach, not his theology. So I try to extract Edwards from the stereotypical ditch this sermons puts him into and I hope that someday a student will associate Edwards with the excerpts from his diary I also share with them and not just spiders hanging over flame.

Actually, I’m not an Edwards’ fan. As far as I am concerned, he made the entire Christian faith much more difficult and considerably less Jesus shaped than I believe that it is. Despite his brilliant intellect, Edwards seems to be about more about speculation and revivalism than the Gospel. His desire to awaken unconverted church members sounds very familiar to me, and his rhetorical intensity is familiar ground as well. I heard it all in the front row of fundamentalistic revivalism growing up. An inscrutable angry God demanding we wake up and realize we’re going to hell. Yes, church member who thinks he’s saved, that means you. [Continue reading]

Just in case you haven’t picked up: this is a chance for readers to comment on things that are meaningful to them in spiritual practice. No one is being told they are a bad Christian if they don’t see Jesus in the toast. Human beings aren’t quite as unattached to matter as some of our gnostic-fundamentalist friends would like us to think. Little things that give our senses a connection to what we believe are meaningful. Just like some of you tear up when you hear a song or see a family Bible or church cemetery.

Top Picture: Pantocrator Jesus icon. From my classroom. Available from Conciliar Press, who really ought to be advertising here. A wonderful icon of Jesus that I try to keep close to me when I’m teaching.

Middle: A very nice Franciscan cross that is in my classroom. It prompts a lot of discussion. I have a poster of a larger one. This cross has a lot of the Gospel witnesses on it as well as other symbolism. It reminds me that God spoke to Francis to “rebuild” from the ruins, not to build a megachurch from scratch. [Continue reading]

From left to right:

A custom made metal cross given to me as a gift many years ago in high school by my good friend and mentor Tom Meacham. The cross is empty and says, “He is Alive!” Tom was my introduction to Anglicanism, C.S. Lewis, all things Inter-Varsity and many good times. [Continue reading]

The Eclectic Christian, Michael Bell, is a long-time IM reader and commenter. He can also count all his digits, which puts him way past me when it comes to the statistical evaluation of the ARIS data and the Evangelical Collapse posts. Welcome Michael as an IM guest blogger and take note of his conclusions.

Michael Spencer has published a series of articles about a coming Evangelical collapse in the United States. One, published in the Christian Science Monitor, has stirred up a great deal of debate, both inside and outside the Christian community. As a person who is greatly interested in statistics, I was very interested in seeing if Michael’s claims could be borne out by statistical analysis. Let’s look at some of his statements and see if these ideas can be statistically supported.

1. “Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.” [Continue reading]

A lot of people write me every year and they say “Why don’t you write a book?”

Honestly, no one would like to be a published author more than me. I am eaten up with envy toward friends like Jared Wilson, Trevin Wax and Travis Prinzi who have turned their studying/writing/preaching/blogging into books.

Bill Kinnon writes me once a month and asks me if I realize I have enough material on the IM web site for several books. I know, I know. But that’s exactly the problem: some kinds of writing simply don’t seem like they belong in a book. Or maybe that’s just my problem.

I think part of my problem is that I have a definition of a real book that has this bottom line: It’s more serious literature than a blog.

“I can’t believe you’re bad-mouthing blogging, Spencer. What a crass hypocrite.” [Continue reading]

UPDATE II: Fr. Ernesto pointed out that I had wrongly used the word “proscribe” in several sentences. I have changed those sentences, and that may have been the problem a few of you were having with my post and comments. Thanks Fr. E.

UPDATE: I’m not denouncing fasting, or any other traditional practice. I’m saying that whatever we do must be new covenant, Gospel centered, Christ glorifying in nature.

As a post-evangelical, I am an advocate of bringing the resources of the broader, deeper, ancient Christian tradition into the starved experience of contemporary evangelicalism. The includes such things as the Christian calendar, the lectionary and the prudent use of the Lenten season of preparation for suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. Today is Ash Wednesday, and I would hope many evangelicals would hear the words “Thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return” as a sobering reminder of why we are seriously focusing on the journey to the cross.

My own basic Christian instincts, however, are more Protestant than Catholic, and very much “New Covenant” in applying the Bible in my quest for a “Jesus-shaped” spirituality. I understand the impulse of the Puritans in simplifying Christian practice and devotion.

While I do not share the anti-liturgical, anti-ritualistic direction of Calvinistic Protestantism, I understand it as an expression of something important. I agree with my Protestant tradition that scripture should constantly, but generously judge tradition, especially in regard to practices and rituals such as Lent and Ash Wednesday. While I do not conclude that these practices should be discarded, I do understand the dangers and concerns that motivate that response. An important balance has to be pursued if post-evangelicalism is to be pursued in the Protestant context. [Continue reading]

“Part of the problem is that evangelicals really don’t have traditions,” said Carter. “Instead, we have these fads that are built on the strengths and talents of individual leaders. … But a real tradition can be handed on to anyone, from generation to generation. It’s hard to hand these evangelical fads down like that, so it seems like we’re always starting over. It’s hard to build something that really lasts.”- Joe Carter as quoted by Terry Mattingly

What’s your church going to be doing next week?

How you answer that question says a lot about where you are in Christianity.

If you are in the kind of Baptist fundamentalism I grew up in, you know that your pastor is going to preach whatever God leads him to preach, and that’s basically it.

You can usually count on a sermon themed around the national holidays, the election, Christmas and Easter. Other than that, you just never know. (We never picked Pentecost over Mother’s Day at any Southern Baptist church I attended.)

If you are part of the various congregations of the new evangelicalism, you can look at the current sermon series guide and know what your pastor is preaching for the next several weeks. You may be going through a book of the Bible, a topical series on sex and marriage, or a more open series on questions asked by the congregation. [Continue reading]

UPDATE: Great Minds Think Alike: Jared Wilson heard Tim Keller recently. Here’s the quote from Jared’s summary:

Related to that, he predicted, in response to someone’s question in the Q&A time, that in one generation’s time, there won’t even be the nominal Christianity in the South that there is now. The megachurches will flounder and people will just stop going. Now they are only going b/c it is somewhat expected, part of the culture, or as some moral exercise to “stay right” or raise “good families” or do what their parents did or to “connect” with other Christian consumers.

Keep reading IM, Dr. Keller. (That’s a joke.)

3. Is all of this a bad thing?

I’ve received many notes and emails over this series of posts, and I’m glad that it has been provocative and discussion-producing.

Is the coming evangelical collapse entirely a bad thing? Or is there good that will come from this season of the evangelical story?

One of the most encouraging developments in recent evangelicalism is the conviction that something is very wrong. One voice that has been warning American evangelicals of serious problems is theologian Michael Horton. For more than 20 years, Horton has been warning that evangelicals have become something almost unrecognizable in the flow of Christian history. From the prophetic Made in America to the incredible In The Face of God to the most recent Christless Christianity, Horton has been saying that evangelicals are on the verge of theological/ecclesiastical disaster. [Continue reading]

2. What will be left after the evangelical collapse?

a. An evangelicalism far from its historical and doctrinal core. Expect evangelicalism as a whole to look more and more like the pragmatic, therapeutic, church growth oriented megachurches that have defined success. The determination to follow in the methodological steps of numerically successful churches will be greater than ever. The result will be, in the main, a departure from doctrine to more and more emphasis on relevance, motivation and personal success….with the result being churches further compromised and weakened in their ability to pass on the faith.

For some time, we’ve been at a point that the decision to visit a particular evangelical church contained a fairly high risk of not hearing the Biblical Gospel. That experience will be multiplied and expanded in the years to come. Core beliefs will become less and less normative and necessary in evangelicalism. [Continue reading]

I’ve written another essay (March of 08) on this topic called “The Happy Enough Protestant.” I recommend it highly, but it doesn’t deal with depression.

I am going to write rather directly to those of you who feel that you are experiencing some measure of mental anguish, anxiety and depression in regard to theology and, especially, the church. I have in mind, particularly, those who are tormented about the so-called “Search for the true Church.” I’ll be relating at least some of this to the subject of depression, which has been a major part of the menu here at IM this past week.

1. Depression has a variety of causes, from strictly bio-chemical to completely event related. There is no simple, one-note description of depression. If you are confused about what is depression, find a diagnosed and successfully treated person and let them describe to you what depression was like. Read a few accounts of depression. Realize it’s not just being down or feeling bad. It is the closing in of the mind, hope, and clarity. It is a kind of abyss and it doesn’t give up easily. [Continue reading]

Readers of Internet Monk.com are aware that my perspective on the future of evangelicalism is often controversial. The keepers of the flames of blogosphere orthodoxy often ridicule my choice of “post-evangelical” as an identifier, and my prediction that younger evangelicals are heading for the exits is often criticized as too dire and without basis.

Matthew Lee Anderson writes in the Winter 2008 edition of “The City,” a publication of Houston Baptist University, on “The New Evangelical Scandal.” It’s a comprehensive look at the future of evangelicalism through what we know about the emerging generation of younger evangelicals. It’s very long, but the second half in particular will be of interest to IM readers.

Anderson sees what I see. He’s more optimistic than I am, but this is an article that all evangelicals with concerns for the future will want to read. The times they are a-changin’. More importantly, evangelicals themselves are rapidly, significantly changing. While the movement will remain, what will it look like, and who won’t be around to see or care?

After reading, your pertinent comments are welcome:

Dedicated to all of you on the same journey. Keep faith and keep going. You’re not alone.

It’s time for one of your favorite programs here at Internet Monk.com: “Secret, Terrible, Unspoken Thoughts…REVEALED!”

Today’s secret thought was uttered by a commenter in a recent discussion thread, but it’s the kind of terrible thought that lurks in the minds of many of you reading this post. What terrible, shameful, embarrassing secret thought am I referring to?

Frankly, I’m to the point where there isn’t that much a pastor/teacher is going to be able to say that I haven’t heard 100 times already.

I know, I know. Shameful. Can you believe there are people like that out there? Someone call the watchbloggers.

Well…..I’ve thought about his kind of statement a lot. I preach about 10-12 times a month, and have preached as often as 20 times a month at my current ministry. I’ve listened to thousands of hours of sermons on tape, mp3, cd. I’ve read sermons- thousands of them. I’m on both sides of the comment, both criminal and consumer. [Continue reading]

Somewhere in the previous orgy of comments I’ve had this week, someone asked me to write about “What do you see as the ideal evangelicalism?”

There is no ideal evangelicalism and there’s not going to be. It’s certainly not going to be ideal if I am the architect. So let’s not get out of hand here. I’m a blogger, which tells you about all you need to know on the subject of my credibility.

But that won’t stop me from answering the question in a slightly different form: “What would make for a much better evangelicalism?”

I promise the answers are going to be short. [Continue reading]

If I didn’t need written permission, I’d reprint this entire sermon here on the site because I want it in the archives. But I’ll be a good blogger and link it to its home at Zenit, the Catholic News Service. You can get it in various formats there.

A more Christocentric sermon you are not likely to hear. Would to God we in evangelicalism could dependably hear this much focus on Jesus as the PERSON in whom Christianity entirely consists. (And a similar prayer for all Christians.)

Fr. Cantalamessa is an impressive preacher. I have several of his sermon series and I recommend them, especially to those of you whose exposure to Catholic preaching has been unimpressive. Fr. Cantalamessa was at Asbury Seminary earlier this year to preach in their chapel (and those sermon audios are available in English on his web site.). You don’t see that much in evangelical circles. Trust me, there’s a reason. (Look at this little article on the doctrine of “Limbo.”)

In the middle of this sermon, the focus turns to the reformation and Protestant/Catholic relations. His point is dead on target: It’s largely irrelevant arguing about the details of the book of Romans while we live in a world that denies anyone needs to be saved because no one is a sinner. [Continue reading]

More good reasons right here for everyone to order the Treasury of Daily Prayer from New Reformation Press. Click their ad on the sidebar for a great price on a product that has the FULL Lutheran scripture readings for every day.

Internet Monk lurker Dave McGowan sends along this piece from America magazine (I know, I know) on the increased importance of Bible study in the Roman Catholic Church, and the opportunities presented by the study of the scripture in parishes, classes, ecumenical settings and individually.

Is it true that Catholics don’t read the Bible? Many don’t, but similar numbers of Protestants don’t read the Bible either. Catholics believe they get the Bible in Mass. Protestants think they get it in sermons and Sunday School. But I can tell you firsthand after 30+ years of teaching the Bible, that very, very few people actually read the book at all. Most know a view of various stories and teaching that couldn’t be substantiated by any serious presentation of texts. They just know that some preacher or family member assured them that this was “what the Bible said.”

When people actually read the Bible, they are always surprised. It’s never what they expected. [Continue reading]