We live in a very
pluralistic society. So much of the discourse is focused on “your
truth, and my truth”, without ever asking the question, is there
such thing as the truth? The question this begs as well is what is
the response of the Christian faith? We practice an ancient faith
that stretches back to early human history, telling the story of the
almighty creator God who has been revealing Himself to humanity, to
show the way as bring creation back to how it was intended.
In the 21st
century the Church faces the issue that it has since it’s
inauguration at Pentecost. From time to time the vision and holistic
picture of who God is gets muddied up and lost. Combined with ideas
that help calm the human mind to reconcile God Himself with their own
desires. Instead of being transformed by the Gospel, they seek to
transform the Gospel to look like them.
This is the question
that Trevin Wax seeks to answer in his book The Thrill of
Orthodoxy. Trevin defines
orthodoxy as what can be called “classic Christianity”, or the
consensus that has been formed on the faith since the apostles that
is found throughout the Church till today. Orthodoxy is composed of
the essential truths that define what being a Christian is. We define
orthodoxy through what we call creeds (the 3 primary ones being the
Apostles, Nicene & Athanasian creeds). They provide concise
universal statements of the defining truths of the Christian faith.
Which means that going outside of them puts you in the category of
heresy, or wrong teaching.
The
discussion on what theology actually is, is important. Theology is
the study of God. While many may write-off theology as unimportant,
what we can often miss is that theology defines who God is, and if
that is off then we face the challenge of understanding Him
incorrectly. How can we get to know someone if our perception of who
He is, is incorrect?
Trevin
then discusses the natural we have as humans to drift, “because of
out natural tendency to apathy and inattention”. After exploring
the four primary ways that people tend to drift from orthodoxy (going
through the motions, works focus, unsettled by the counter cultural
truth of the Gospel, activism over evangelism), the discussion shifts
to how orthodoxy ultimately is swimming against the flow of the
river. In order to stop the drift we must have “the thrill of
orthodoxy.” We need to find a better excitement about the truth of
God that holds us to Him, rather than being taken away.
The
main crux of Trevin’s work deals with rejecting some of the
presuppositions in some popular theology today. Many seek to provide
either a theology that is either totally interested in the here and
now, or only interested in the world to come. Orthodoxy provides a
true tension between the two. A poignant example he discusses in
regard to this is the topic of justice, and social justice. Yes,
Scripture calls us to be just, personally and sin a societal way. But
something happens when we miss the premise of orthodoxy in this
pursuit.
“When
you lose that larger perspective, and when you stress only those
aspects of life that are “this world” and downplay the reality of
future judgment you lose the hope of eternal justice, which means
that earthly justice is all that’s left. Unless you achieve total
justice here and now, you’ll never see it, which makes every
pursuit of justice in this world a life-or-death struggle.”
Orthodoxy
expands out vision above the here and the now, giving us the ultimate
perspective that justice will be had by a loving and holy God. This
should not make us disinterested. In fact, it should activate us to
action, while not leaving behind the vision of when He makes all
things right.
A
final point of focus that struck me was his discussion towards the
end of tradition vs traditionalism, and how orthodoxy combats the
ideologies of our day to stay Gospel focused. Often times people
discount the need for orthodoxy by challenging that “you’re just
holding on to dead religion”. But this is an incorrect assumption.
“Tradition
is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of
the living”
Because
of the saints who have gone before us, we are called to live the
truth that they held to as well. But when we lose the trill and
excitement of knowing God truly, then it turns into dead faith that
does not live.
Fundamentally,
as followers of Christ we must have a definition of our faith. There
are things that must be held dogmatically. Our culture does not like
that, but that is the truth.
“The
problem with doctrine-less and ‘undogmatic’ Christianity is that
it becomes a religious veneer for blessing your life as it already
is. Christianity without dogma leaves us with a tame God.”
Truth
orthodox Christianity challenges our feelings and assumptions. It
will offend our sensibilities because our human nature does not want
to change. But that is the word of the Gospel. To take and change us
to be more like Christ. Some would charge that to progress forward we
must change and reject orthodoxy. All that does is lead us toward
heresy, which will kill us.
I
highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. We live in
challenging times. With so many ideologies and theologies that seek
to take the historic Christian faith, and neuter it to be “kind &
nice”, rather than a sword that divides soul and spirit. Process
theology seeks to take God and adapt him to our own ideas of what is
right so that we can live how we want (and most of the time sleep
with who we want). Instead of transforming us, our culture seeks to
make Jesus into our image.
So
what does the future look like? Trevin encourages us to dig into the
historic Church. Read the early church fathers and see how their
unwavering commitment to Christ, even in the face of death answers
most of the questions we have in our day. Ill close with this final
quote as an exhortation as to what to do.
“The
future Church will not be forged by those who tire of the thrill of
orthodoxy, but by those whose roots run deep through the ages of the
Christian church and back into the pages of God’s inspired Word.