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Tuesday, 06 February 2007 15:38 |
By JIM GENARO
The evangelical Christian community is in need of serious reform if it is to stay true to its calling, according to theologian Paul Metzger, who spoke Jan. 30 at UNC Asheville.
His talk, which was titled "On the Christian Religion: A Latt?© for the Consumer Masses," drew about 50 people to Rhodes-Robinson Hall.
The lecture was co-sponsored by the universityës Multicultural Student Programs Office and the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship as part of UNCAës celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Metzger
is a professor of Christian theology and theology of culture at Trinity
Evangelical Divinity school, as well as the director of the Institute
for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins. He is the author
of several books on Christian theology.
"The church is called to serve as a witness to the broader community
... for the greater good of all, not just the church," Metzger told the
audience.
However, many churches have lost some of their potential to reach
people effectively, as they have watered down their messages in an
attempt to be more appealing, he argued.
He noted that in many evangelical churches, coffee bars have taken the
place of the "Lordës Table" ÇÄÓ a table traditionally set up at the front
of a church to symbolize the Last Supper.
"No doubt, some of this is bound up with sophisticated marketing techniques" meant to engage popular culture, he said.
What is lost, he argued, is "sacred space," which is an important
factor in creating services that have a deep impact on peopleës lives.
Furthermore, Metzger warned, the church has tended to avoid the more challenging issues of modern times.
"How has this movement succeeded in confronting suffering ... such as racism?" he asked.
He made the comparison between the coffee bar and the Lordës Table, noting that the former embodies "pleasure and relaxation."
"Christ, on the other hand, drank from a different cup ... one of suffering" and transformation, he said.
The sacred space of a church, Metzger noted, can have a powerful effect
on the lives of its parishioners even when they are not there.
"Dr. Martin Luther King (Jr.) looked at his Ebenezer Church as a
microcosm of the entire universe, which he took with him in his
imagination into his battles" for civil rights, he said. "The one place
where African-Americans could have power in a sense of engaging with
the political process was in the church."
The power of sanctified space is not just used by churches, he noted.
Adolf Hitler employed many of the same ritualistic trappings to
psychologically reinforce his supremacy, Metzger said.
The title "führer," he noted, means "lord," and the "Third Reich" referred to "the millennial kingdom," prophesied in the Bible.
"Hitler was proclaiming himself as the messiah," Metzger told the audience.
Returning to the topic of the churchës mission, he said, "The
evangelical church often functions as a latt?© for the masses and the
time for a house cleaning is in order."
Many churchgoers have become complacent, he argued, only engaging
politics in the form of campaigns to "legislate morality" ÇÄÓ campaigns
that "cost us nothing more than money, time and signatures."
This stands in contrast to the historical role of evangelicals, he
noted, who "played key roles in abolishing slavery in the U.S. and the
U.K."
However, he added, "during the Civil Rights Movement, we were hardly to be found ÇÄÓ and I lament that."
The major factors working against the ability of evangelical churches
to combat racism and other social issues are homogeneity and a tendency
to value "upward mobility," Metzger said.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, "evangelicals confronted slavery,
shipping and sugar," he noted. "Today it must confront consumer church
culture, homogeneity and upward mobility."
He admitted that he identifies with these values, but added, "I am part
of the problem. But I hope, by God, to be part of the solution."
Furthermore, these tendencies have historically reinforced divides between black and white churches, Metzger noted.
He argued that many black evangelicals chose not to join their white
counterparts in opposing abortion in the aftermath of the Roe vs. Wade
decision because they saw the issue as one of racism. Many
African-Americans, he said, perceived it as a decision made by a
Republican-controlled government that wanted to eliminate the numbers
of black babies born in order to reduce welfare payments.
Christians, Metzger argued, must engage racism and other social issues.
"We need to move beyond pious patriotism ... to an all-embracing politics of life," he told the audience.
On a lighter note, Metzger praised Bono, lead singer for the band U2,
for his activism on behalf of the worldës poor and diseased.
Bono was instrumental in inspiring a national campaign by evangelical churches to combat HIV/AIDS, he said.
The singer personally called a number of church leaders to complain of
a study he had read that indicated that only seven percent of
evangelical Christians considered combating the disease important,
Metzger said.
In response, a national dialogue began that led to a campaign so robust
that Bono later praised the church leaders, saying, "Theyëve taken some
of the punch" out of his criticisms.
"I really do look at (Bono) as a prophet," Metzger said. "He is immersed in the biblical prophets in his lyrics and such."
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