(Dave Tomlinson)
Smothering Jesus in a Heap of Trivialities - A Foreword by Dallas Willard
...what Tomlinson calls post-evangelicalism is by no means ex-evangelicalism.
...post-evangelicals are evangelicals, perhaps tenaciously so.
...post-evangelicals have also been driven to the margins by some aspects of evangelical church culture with which they cannot honestly identify.
...inner conflict... usually rooted in a simple but devastating situation... the details of what is "only right and proper" to achieve social acceptance within the evangelical group increasingly focus upon things that have little to do with the heart of evangelical faith, or even run counter to it. However, these details are treated as basic, or at least highly desirable, if one wishes to maintain status as an "acceptable" evangelical Christian.
Thus, in Jesus' day, there wiere people who painstakingly gave a tithe of one seed in ten from their herb garden, and yet disregarded justice and the love of God. They replaced, probably without even realizing it, the genuine commandments of God with the traditions of human beings. Tragically, this kind of incongruity drives people - who will never be anything but evangelical in their deepest beliefs - to the margins or out the doors of the evangelical church. [This is the problem I want to fight!]
While our secular culture may have some influence on the move toward a post-evangelical posture, most of the motivation in that direction, as I have observed it through the years, is from within evangelical teaching and experience. This is due to an inherent tension that has always existed within the evangelical tradition. On one hand, it emphasizes as essential a personal, life-transforming experience of God. The one thing that has always been distinctive to evangelical Christianity is its rejection of second-hand faith, mediated through institutions of which one is a member. On the other hand, the evangelical tradition takes the certain interpretations of the Bible, or certain biblical texts, as ultimate authority on what is to be believed and practiced. These two elements of evangelical Christianity are in constant tension. [Duality.]
...anytime a significant social group or institution develops around a teaching or an individual, authority typically wins out.
The vital relationship to Jesus is smothered in a heap of trivialities.
We shouldn't spend too much time worrying about the failures of other forms of religion, Christian or not. We must accept that the house of God - where judgment begins - is our house.
- We haven't figured out what the spiritual life is really like, inside and out.
- We haven't dealt successfully with the challenge of transforming our characters into routine Christlikeness.
- We haven't succeeded in transforming our workplaces and vocations into extensions of the kingdom of Christ.
- We haven't learned how to live in God's power in every aspect of our lives. "Whatever you do in word or deed," as Paul told us, "do all in the name of [on behalf of, in the power of] the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3.17) How do evangelicals do that?
Introduction
...people who struggle with restrictions in evangelical theology, spirituality, and church culture - yet who still desire to pursue their faith journey.
The post-evangelical impulse does not necessarily imply a move away from Christian orthodoxy or evangelical faith.
...an attempt to articulate the experience, thoughts, and feelings of post-evangelicals, as well as to help them understand, refine, and critique their experiences.
One conservative writer went so far as to admit: "The weaknesses Tomlinson identifies in evangelicalism are genuine, and there is a potentially large constituency of Evangelicals who, without reading his book, may nevertheless soon seize on its title to describe their own position."
Now, nine years later, many people do customarily refer to themselves as "post-evangelical," whether or not they have read the book, or even heard of it.
I wrote the book for disaffected evangelicals in their twenties or early thirties (Generation Xers), whose general outlook and attitudes were significantly influenced by post-modern culture.
The letters told stories about the struggles people experienced trying to make sense of their faith in churches not always comfortable with their questions. Some talked about intellectual tussles with doctrines they couldn't swallow, others of longings for a deeper spirituality. Some were frustrated at the lack of social and political engagement in their churches, others cringed at self-righteous moralizing. Most found the evangelical subculture insular, self-congratulatory, and often, embarrassing.
Many of the letters I received also voiced exasperation at the sense of certainty and hype experienced in some evangelical churches, where they found it particularly hard to express disquiet or to question prevailing attitudes. Indeed, I contend that the fundamentalist tone in much charismatic theology fuels the post-evangelical impulse.
...the widespread nature of the post-evangelical impulse suggests that it is much more than just a reaction against extreme fundamentalism.
Wherever there are evangelicals (in the Western world, at least), there are post-evangelicals, whether or not they adopt that label.
...even though their faith journeys differ from those in the evangelical camp, they find themselves traveling the same road, perhaps as "post-Catholics" or "post-liberals," for example.
We shouldn't be surprised that an impulse similar to post-evangelicalism is shared in different ways by people around the world and in different sections of the Church. The changes we evangelicals are experiencing are linked, after all, to a wider cultural shift in Western societies.
The notion that our broader cultural context shapes how evangelicals and all other Christians "do" church will be highly suspect for many evangelicals. They believe that the message of Christ must be, and can be, protected from cultural entanglements.
...I am advocating critical engagement with the wider culture, not unthinking absorption into it.
Christians must engage contemporary culture if they wish to know how to make the good news of Jesus relevant to people in that culture. By engaging critically, Christians will also identify those elements in postmodern culture (e.g., hedonism) that run counter to the claims of Christ.
Much more work is needed to develop post-evangelical themes...
...the book comes from a pastoral concern. I hope it empowers ordinary people with the confidence to think for themselves as they explore the breadth of the Christian community...
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