Week Six: The Rise & Fall of Modernity

The Nineteenth Century

We begin with the backdrop of the Nineteenth Century . . .

The Great Century of Modernity .

It began with a series of political upheavals which opened the way for ideals of democracy and free enterprise—North American Independence, the French Revolution, and then the independence of the Latin American nations.

Part of the ideal of these new nations was freedom of conscience, so that no one would be forced to affirm anything of which they were not entirely convinced of.

As we saw lived out in the history of the Methodist Movement in America, the independence of the United States posed to the churches in the new nation the question of their relation with Great Britain and the churches there, and of the relationship between the various churches and the newly formed states.

Eventually, in America, all churches became independent , and the American Constitution assured the separation of church and state .

The Second Great Awakening

As a result of the Second Great Awakening, the churches that grew most rapidly in the newly settled lands were Baptists and Methodists.

In fact, by 1820, the Methodist Episcopal Church was the largest church in the world.

The Second Great Awakening was launched at a camp meeting known as the Cane Ridge Revival.

It began as an outdoor, ecumenical sacramental meeting in Cane Ridge, KY.

It is said at this revival, people began experiencing various spiritual experiences such as being slain in the Spirit, weeping, and other charismatic occurences.

It is also at this revival that the mourner’s bench/anxious seat/altar call/sinner’s prayer are developed.

This revival developed highly emotive overtones, and set the pattern for what would from then on out be known as “revivals,” which became customary periodical celebrations in many churches.

Not only did the Cane Ridge Revival launch the Second Great Awakening, but they also led to the birth of several “holiness” churches out of this expanding Methodist Church.

The Holiness Movement

The Holiness Movement came naturally out of the Wesleyan tradition because it’s core theme was sanctification.

The core theme of the (Wesleyan) Holiness Movement was sanctification .

There was an intense focus on social perfectionism in this time period, and holiness was a great way in which to enact such endeavors.

It found its beginnings in the natural outgrowth of American Revivalism, but it followed several of it’s early adherents, eventually making it’s way to Los Angeles in 1906. It led to the birth of the Pentecostal movement.

Pentecostalism began with the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, when members were gathered for “holiness meetings,” and began to experience the charismatic gift of tongues.

In response to this emotion-filled movement, the rise of modernity continued to distinguish itself through a variety of new theological movements and biblical interpretations.

Modernity Contin

Modernity Continued

New discoveries often clashed with ancient interpretations of the faith during this period.

For example . . .

Many came to the conclusion that the theory of evolution, as well as much of modern science, was completely incompatible with biblical revelation.

The most important result of this clash was the development of fundamentalism, which took that name by the reason of the five “fundamentals” of Christian faith proclaimed by a conference at Niagara Falls in 1895.

The Five Fundamentals:

The Innerancy of the Bible

The Literal Nature of the Biblical Account

The Virgin Birth of Christ

The Bodily Resurrection and Physical Return of Christ

The Substitutionary Atonement of Christ on the Cross

(Go Over Thomas C. Oden’s Comparison of Classical Christian Consensus vs Fundamentalism from Classical Christianity)

While the fundamentalists attempted to respond to modernity by attempting to enforce their strict beliefs upon all Christians, other theologians responded to the challenges of modernity by reinterpreting the faith.

The first important protestant theologian to respond to the challenges of modernity by reinterpreting the faith was Friedrich Schleiermacher.

According to Schleiermacher, Christian faith is not a matter of doctrines or of morality, but rather of a feeling of absolute dependency upon God.

On the basis of that feeling, Schleiermacher reinterpreted all the main doctrines of Christianity in such a way that they would not conflict with the modern view of reality. (In other words, he is saying that Christianity isn’t about doctrines, but here is what you should believe *insert eye roll here*)

For this reason . . .

He is known as the “Father of Liberalism.”

Others such as F.C. Baur, Adolf von Harnack, and Albrecht Ritschl devoted themselves to the new field of historical criticism .

Another important is Wellhausen (Documentary Hypothesis)

Although these studies clarified many matters regarding the Christian faith, they also cast doubts on many items that until then had been taken for granted.

What resulted was a widening gap between the simple faith of the common believer, and the ever more sophisticated interpretations of scholars and theologians.

While Protestantism, or at least its academic theologians and leaders allowed itself to be swayed by the innovations of the modern world, Roman Catholicism took the opposite path.

Basically, anything that could be seen as modern—democracy, freedom of conscience, public schools—was considered heretical, and as such was condemned by Pope Pius IX.

Birth of Papal Infallibility at the First Vatican Council in 1870

Also emphasized the immaculate conception of Mary

It was also in this period in which the Christian faith achieved such a wide geographic expansion that for the first time it became truly universal.

Due to missionary expansion in places like Asia, the Pacific, Africa, the Muslim World, and Latin America.

Generally went hand-in-hand with European colonialism .

This moves us into . . .

The Twentieth Century

For the purpose of our division of church history, it may well be said that the nineteenth century ended with the beginning of the First World War in 1914, and so we’ll finish up by talking about the period from 1914 to the present.

The rationalist principles of earlier centuries, especially as applied to the sciences and to technology, brought about unexpected results. At the high point of modernity, it was believed that humankind was approaching a glorious time of abundance and joy. Every human problem would eventually be solved by means of reason and its younger sister, technology. The industrialized nations of the North Atlantic (Europe and the United States) would lead the world towards the promising future.

The twentieth century put an end to the hope of a life of abundant joy and carelessness due to reason and technology with a series of events that showed that the supposed promise of modernity was but a dream.

Although today we look at colonialism in a different light, the fact is that throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century the colonizing powers sought to justify their enterprise on moral and religious grounds.

It was thought that science, technology, and progress in general were the great contribution that the West was to make to the rest of the world.

Some writers claimed that it was “the white man’s burden” to take these benefits to the more “backward” peoples of the world, and even to do this by force if it were necessary.

In the United States, the doctrine of the nation’s “manifest destiny” played into this.

Thus, while the colonozing powers and their entrepreneurs became rich on the basis of colonial and neocolonial systems, it was claimed that this was justified in that eventually all of humanity would benefit from the progress brought about by the colonizers.

However, during the twentieth century an entire series of events showed that, although the benefits of modern technology were important, they could also cost dearly.

During the thirty years between 1914 and 1944, practically all of humankind became involved in two “world wars” which , although worldwide in their impact, were mostly due to conflicts among Western powers.

In those wars, the use of modern technology produced great casualties—and especially greater civilian casualties—than any war in the past.

Although on a smaller scale, but with equally tragic consequences, several of the poorer nations of the world became involved in civil wars in which the “advances” of technology had ample opportunity to show their deadly efficiency.

Furthermore, even in their more pacific uses, modern technological advances produced drastic ecological imbalances in every continent. In a few decades entire forests that had stood for millennia disappeared, great rivers became chemical sewers incapable of sustaining life, and in some of the most populated areas even breathing became dangerous. All of this gave rise to the growing suspicion that the globe was incapable of sustaining the sort of human life that modernity had enthusiastically promised and promoted.

The world, now divorced from the belief that reason and technology would, in and of itself, produce a better society turned to communism with its promise of a better life for all and especially for the poor and the oppressed.

After seven decades of social experimentation and four of “cold war,” it became clear that this other version of the modern promise was equally incapable of delivering on its claims.

Throughout the world there was a rapid process of decolonization.

This was also part of the end of modernity, for what actually took place was that people began to distrust the promises of modernity which had been used to justify the colonial enterprise.

People begin to distrust modernity for its place in justifying colonialism

Throughout the world there was a movement of return to ancient traditions, customs, and cultures that had been previously submerged and even suppressed under the impact of colonialism.

Throughout the world there was a movement of return to ancient traditions.

This meant that churches had to cope with religions and traditions that had previously seemed dead or impotent.

In order to understand the impacts of these events on the life of the church, the simplest procedure is to follow the course of the three main branches of Christianity:

Eastern Orthodox Church

Early in the twentieth century, the entire Eastern church was shaken by the Russian Revolution and its impact on Eastern Europe. Marxism, as applied in the Soviet Union, was a version of the promise of modernity. But towards the end of the twentieth century it was clear that the enterprise had failed and that the Russian church, which for several decades had to survive under strong governmental pressure, was showing new signs of life.

The dismembering of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries gave rise to several national churches independent of Constantinople in countries such as Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Rumania. Throughout most of the twentieth century, several of these churches lived under hostile governments (first Muslim, then Community). But in spite of this, they gave signs of vitality.

The demise of Marxism and the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire made the church stronger under oppression.

Roman Catholic Church

The dismembering of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries gave rise to several national churches independent of Constantinople in countries such as Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Rumania. Throughout most of the twentieth century, several of these churches lived under hostile governments (first Muslim, then Community). But in spite of this, they gave signs of vitality.

Roman Catholicism continued its struggle against various aspects of modernity throughout the first half of the twentieth century.

Beginning in 1958 with the papacy of John XXIII, the church began to open itself to the world.

Called the Second Vatican Council which took measure favoring freedom of conscience, the development of liturgies fitting each culture and condition, and the celebration of the mass in the vernacular language of each land.

By then, however, the world itself was moving toward postmodernity, and the theology which developed after the Second Vatican Council became increasingly critical of modernity—not on the basis of the reactionary attitude of earlier generations, but rather looking toward a future beyond modernity.

Protestantism

In the case of Protestantism, the optimism of liberal theologians in Europe was shattered by two world wars. Something similar, although of lesser and slower impact, took place in the United States. To a degree the rebellion of Karl Barth against liberalism was a first glimpse of the need for a postmodern theology.

Karl Barth reacted against the liberalism of his teachers with a “theology of the Word of God,” or “neo-Orthodoxy.”

Although few followed him in every detail of his teachings, Barth’s impact was enormous and he may well be said to mark the end of liberalism.

It was on the basis of this new theology that some branches of German Protestantism were able to meet the challenges of Nazism.

Heavily influenced Dietrich Bonhoeffer , the best known martyr of recent history.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer founded the Confessing Church. That is, churches that establish themselves based off the creeds of antiquity, which staunchly aligns them in opposition to many of the heinous actions of the Nazi party.

He was a pastor, a theologian, and a vocal opponent of Adolf Hitler’s euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews.

He was arrested in 1943 by the Gestapo, or secret police of Nazi Germany, and imprisoned for one and a half years. Later, he himself was transferred to a concentration camp.

After it was discovered that Bonhoeffer was heavily involved in the July 20 plot, also known as Operation Valkyrie, to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was quickly tried and hanged on April 9, 1945 just as the Nazi regime was collapsing.

The process of secularization that was typical of the modern age continued in Western Europe, where the number of those actively participating in the life of the church did not stop its decline.

Events in the United States followed a similar, albeit less dramatic, path.

In America, the Niebuhr brothers (H. Richard and Reinhold) played a role similar to that of Barth in Europe.

The struggle for the civil rights of African Americans, under the Leadership of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. offered opportunities for radical obedience—that is obedience to God and disobedience to unjust human laws—similar to those provided by Nazism in Europe.

Worldwide, in all Christian traditions there was a movement parallel to anti-colonialism known as Ecumenism.

This resulted from the missionary enterprise, since those who served in distant lands soon became aware of the divisions among Christians were one of the main obstacles to the conversion of others.

As a result several missionary conferences gathered seeking greater collaboration and communications among the various missionary enterprises. The most important of these conferences took place in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910. That conference stands at the root of the International Missionary Council, the Faith and Order Movement, and eventually the World Council of Churches.

Leads to the growth of “contextual theology.”

In Asia, Africa, and Latin America new theological currents appeared that took into account the political, economic, and cultural circumstances of each place.

Throughout the Christian world ethnic minorities as well as women began claiming that traditional theologies did not respond to their condition nor their experiences. This gave rise to a number of theologies known as “contextual theologies”—for instance, Latin American liberation theology, the various feminist theologies, Black theology in the United States, and more.

However, the truth is, all theology has always been contextual.

(This is why folks like Adam Hamilton are fighting for a contextual theology in the United States, especially regarding the Methodist Church, which would allow us to forego the debate regarding homosexuality.)

Most remarkable, and what truly marks the beginning of a new age in the history of the church is the change that has taken place in the demographic composition and the geographic distribution of Christianity.

The Move to the Global South

While many people in the United States are worried about the seemingly dying Church, it turns out that the church is just making a dramatic shift.

A century ago, eighty percent of Christians lived in America and Europe, compared with just forty percent today.

By 1980, more Christians were found in the global South than the North for the first time in 1,000 years. Today, the Christian community in Latin America and Africa, alone, account for 1 billion people.

Today, one in four Christians in the world is presently in Africa, and that number is estimated to grow to forty percent by 2030.

For the first time EVER, missionaries are being sent to the United States and to Europe from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Additionally, Global Christianity is becoming more charismatic.

There are . . .

Two Main Reasons for Growth in Global South:

Historical relationship with the development of orthodoxy

As we talked about in the past, some of the greatest theologians came from North Africa.

Extensive relationships with those trained in classical theology

Questions?

What does Jesus mean by this text and how does it relate to the history of the Church? How do you know the wheat from the weeds? In other words, throughout the history of the church, what are the markers that helped you identify who was the church and who wasn’t? (For me: One, Holy, Apostolic)

1 Corinthians 1:20–31 CSB

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence. It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

Matthew 13:24–30 CSB

He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. The landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’ “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he told them. “ ‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up?’ the servants asked him. “ ‘No,’ he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’ ”

How does this scripture apply to the study of God's mission in history? (Shows how God works in the world, using the “seemingly foolish” to shame the wise. Is this what is happening now?)

1 Corinthians 1:20–31 CSB

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence. It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

Matthew 13:24–30 CSB

He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. The landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’ “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he told them. “ ‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up?’ the servants asked him. “ ‘No,’ he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’ ”

1 Corinthians 1:20–31 CSB

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence. It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.