Phyllis Tickle, in her new book, “The Great Emergence,” makes some interesting points about the current status of Christianity and the direction it is headed.
One of the main points she makes is that “About every five hundred years the empowered structures of institutionalized Christianity, become an intolerable carapace that must be shattered in order that renewal and new growth may occur.” She walks through history showing how every 500 years or so there is a major upheaval in the Christian movement that sets the Church in a new fresh direction, the last upheaval being the Great Reformation symbolized by Martin Luther’s tacking his thesis to the door of the church at Wittenberg Castle.
Tickle points out that in the late 1300s there were three warring popes, each claiming to be the authentic pope. To point out how disturbing this conflict was to the believers, she wrote, “Up until then, the world of human affairs had run on the principle that there was one Pope and that he was directly and specifically chosen of God to be the final arbitrator, not only of religious matters, but also of political ones.” So, with warring popes, the credibility of this common belief was shattered, and people looked for a new authority. The Scriptures became the authority. Sola scriptura, scriptura sola, or “Scripture only and only Scripture,” became the rallying cry of the Protestants and has continued to this day in many cases.
It’s been about 500 years now since Luther made his mark, and now the authority of the Bible is being challenged, Tickle contends. People are hungry and wanting more than Sola scriptura, scriptura sola. Just saying the Bible is the authority is not enough because there are so many different interpretations of what the Bible teaches. Who is right? People wonder.
So, that’s the big question today. Where is the authority? Where do people turn for the final word on Truth? Tickle believes the answer to this question is pivotal as to where Christianity heads over the next century and beyond.
After reading her book and pondering the many good questions Tickle posits for consideration, I grew in gratitude for what Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, has contributed to the discussion.
Mary Baker Eddy knew well that there were many interpretations of Scripture available to the public and readers could get easily confused about what to believe. She resolved the dilemma with her first tenet of Christian Science, “As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.” In my thought, “the inspired word,” is the ultimate authority, and Science and Health helps me find it.
Over the years, several times I have had unpleasant experiences with people who interpret the Bible literally and work to press their point of view on me. I’m one to happily discuss what I believe and listen to another person’s point of view. I believe that is healthy for me and for them. But literalists are typically not open to discussion at all. They are absolutely convinced they are right and if I don’t agree with them on all points, they accuse me of not believing what the Bible says. It doesn’t matter if their interpretation of the Bible is right or wrong, they expect you to agree they are right because they told you so. It’s like the popes of yonder centuries expecting people to follow them because they were the pope, regardless of whether they had credible authority or not.
After reading Tickle’s book, I gained great hope for the future of honest discourse on what the Bible says, for she contends the reign of the literalist is ending. They will still be around, but they aren’t going to the authority on the Bible. People en masse now can see through their illusions sufficiently to not be persuaded any longer. Sincere students are seeking truth and they consciously know, or at least intuitively, that the old doctrine of “Scripture only and only Scripture,” is not working. There has to be something better.
So, again, Tickle posits the question, where is the authority going to be for the Christian in the coming centuries?
What’s your answer?
In the last couple of decades there has been an explosion of books on spirituality. It shows the hunger that people have for something higher, and better in their lives, whether they’re searching for healing (health, finances, relationships, carrer, etc) or for a deeper meaning of existence, God, etc. I believe that most institutionalized places of worship will continue to decline, because preaching/teaching/healing will once again be found largely by the “wayside”, as Jesus often was found speaking to and healing people wherever he traveled to. People today are forming private study groups, meeting in coffee shops, in one-another’s homes, libraries, empty church halls, etc, with their chosen books, because “The time for thinkers has come” is a quote from my favorite book called, “Science and Health with key to the Scriptures” written by Mary Baker Eddy. I do not share the literalists’ opinion, I believe the Bible is full of symbolism that needs to be spiritualy understood, and Science and Health with key to the Scriptures has helped me to open Scripture’s deeper meaning. In the back of that book is a chapter with testimonies from people who were healed from all troubles in their lives just from reading this book. So in my opinion, Christianity is heading toward a more personalized form of study and worship in the pursuit of gaining a higher, clearer understanding of Truth.
Very interesting, Evan.
I sometimes think I, as a Christian Scientist, am more literal that some literalists, because I take literally that Jesus meant what he said when he said we would do the works he did, and greater.
OTOH, there are many things that cannot be taken literally in the Bible, such as baptism by fire. A literalist would have to admit that at no point did Jesus literally baptize with fire, though John the Baptist said that he would (but not literally.)
Welcome to the slippery slope… good for skiing… not so good for theological doctrine. Sorry to disagree (full disclosure… I lean toward literalist). Once scripture is no longer the standard, than you can make up anything you want.
“For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty…
And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” II Peter 1:16-20
We can add to our knowledge and understanding, but ultimately the truth of the scriptures is the benchmark, despite what the latest trendy author says.
To above,
I agree with you, that the Bible has the truth in it. So, I don’t think we disagree. And I’m not sure that’s what Tickle believes either. She is just saying that the interpretation, the literal intrepretation in particular, is what people are suspecting because it can be so contradictory.
I believe when one studies the Bible from the point of view that God is all good, and evil is not the reality it appears to be, the Bible makes perfect sense. There are no contradictions. The stories from beginning to end illustrate the unreality of evil and the reality of life eternal with God. But it takes some spiritual digging to see it.
I remember working a Christian Science Monitor booth at our state fair. A literalist saw our display and came over to straighten us out. My coworker took him on and while I prayed she led him through the Tenets in Science and Health one by one. We didn’t convert him,I am sure. but the encounter ended amicably. It certainly was a healing moment for me,
As one brought up in a fundamentalist denomination, I can say that reading the Bible used to always leave me wondering about the stories and the promises I read. Different preachers at this church basically told us that all the evil was real and all the good was for someday after we died (if we had lived good enough here). I used to try to ask questions and was told that I would go to hell because I questioned! Thank God I found CS or it found me. MBE surely titled the book correctly: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Now I don’t profess to understand the entire Bible , but S& H IS (for me) the key to the scriptures. What joy it is to read the Bible now! Spiritual understanding is wonderful! It just keeps unfolding as I sincerely seek the truth. I know I don’t have to wait for good at some other time and place but can experience it right here and now! Now when I question, I find answers, not condemnation. I think questioning is good and leads to more understanding. As Evan said, some denominations do not like questions or honest discussion or sharing–too bad–since light can’t enter closed thought! I love the way the Bible is so central to the study of CS–love that our hymns are so based on the Bible, too.
I love the the way the Mother Church is reaching out worldwide to bring Christ’s gospel in a way that all can understand. I love having found that, instead of a wrathful God who was always watching and waiting for a way to punish me eternally, there is one true God who is Love and that I (ane everyone) is eternally enfolded in that love whether or not they are awake to it right now! 🙂
As one who accepts and understands the Truth that heals, that book was a tickle. : )
G
Seems like many books today written on Christianity have a negative bent to it or a foreboding overshadowing its overall message.
It would be nice and correct to find and read more books with a positive promise, a more optomistic viewpoint in regard to Christianity today and into its future. My feeling is that writers write this negative way, like Tickle, because it seems to be a fad and fashionable.