Book Review: The Thrill of Orthodoxy

 

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 21^st 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.