The American Jesus?
Douglas Johnson
The American Jesus?
Copyright © 2020 Douglas Johnson. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
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Biblical quotations are taken from the Revised Standard Version, 2nd edition, copyright © 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Preface
Some personal thoughts: For many years, certainly by the time of my doctoral dissertation in 1969, one question has continually bothered me: the relation of my faith to my culture. To put the matter somewhat crudely: I want to be a good Christian. I also want to be a good American. Are they the same thing? Are they basically opposed, at odds with one another? Do they overlap? And if so, where, and to what extent?
I believe that many sincere persons have struggled with similar questions, and likely reached many differing answers. But there are also many holding on to both intentions, who may go on their merry way without being aware that they have a problem!
So this book is autobiographical, but it also intends to serve as a kind of guidebook for those who might be dealing with the same issue. I have not come to any earth-shaking conclusions for myself or for others. Yet I do hope that by giving both a historical and a theological treatment of the matter, I may be of some help in at least guiding others through the thicket of faith and culture.
An underlying assumption of this book is that faithful Christians throughout the ages have already been struggling with this issue, and some of them have come up with answers that, although not absolute, can be helpful to us in our own journey through this thicket. So in this journey, we may find, hopefully, a number of faithful believers who can be helpful as we look at our own assumptions and our own culture. Persons from other cultures may find much that is presented here applicable to their own, and helpful also to them.
This endeavor should not be and need not be an abstract enterprise. The issues are too existentially important for many of us. First, because many may have lost sight of what is at the heart of our faith. A review of the basics of that faith and how it has been understood and embraced by some of the great saints and thinkers who have gone before us might well reorient some of us who have lost sight of what is and has always been essential.
Second, it is crucial for Christians to realize that we are under increasing attack, often from some individuals and forces from within our own beloved culture. A review of the essential views and attitudes of that culture may enable us to see exactly what forces are arrayed against us. And even more, it may enable us to begin to see which attitudes of that culture have become part of our own thinking and are having important influences on the patterns of our faith and are affecting us unawares.
Third, and more positively: our becoming aware of the true bases of our Christian beliefs is particularly important in a world where believers and denominations within the body of Christ are divided and sometimes at each others’ throats. It can help us to begin to overcome our narrow parochialism and work toward that unity for which Jesus himself prayed, when he prayed that his followers might all be one.
A thank you! to all of those who have given me good advice on this book.
Special thanks to Nathan Rhoads and Dr. James Aydellotte, whose careful reading and sound scholarship have been very helpful in this endeavor.
An even more enthusiastic thank you to my patient wife, Ann, whose support has been invaluable to me during this project.
Introduction
Faith, Hope, and Love
Questions Concerning American Christianity
Give, therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.
—Matt 22:21
To set the stage for our journey, it might be helpful to take a trip to Plymouth, Massachusetts, the place where, as every American school child knows, the Pilgrims landed in 1620. There we will see a replica of the famous Mayflower, that sturdy little ship that crossed the Atlantic with its precious cargo of Pilgrims and other hardy and adventurous folk.
The stone near the water’s edge is inscribed with the numbers 1620, which we are at liberty to believe were inscribed there at some later date.
There had been explorations and settlements before. But we can still see at Plymouth some historic images that can give us some insight into what the American experiment, especially in religion, is all about.
For one thing, most of these settlers were devout Christians, particularly influenced by the teachings of John Calvin, the great sixteenth-century reformer. But they differed from many other Calvinists in one regard. Unlike many Calvinists, they believed in freedom of religion; that is, they believed in the separation of church and state, something thought very odd and even dangerous by many in that day. They had moved from England to the Netherlands, a place of more religious tolerance than in many other nations. Yet they decided to move on to the New World, to America. So we see that in the very beginning those who came here were by and large Europeans, and they were Christians of the Protestant faith. They had also come as those fearing persecution for that faith. They were seeking not only a new place, but a new start in a new world. It is also true, of course, that some of the passengers came for reasons other than religion.
If you go up to the top of the hill in Plymouth, you will see more. There stand two churches, almost side by side. They represent, not the early settlers, but the later developments of the area in culture and religion. One is a beautiful chapel. Its stained-glass windows are truly delightful. They portray, not biblical scenes, but events from the early New England leaders. The chapel proclaims itself as the church of the Pilgrims. This church is Unitarian, a denomination that finds its home more in the beliefs and hopes of the Enlightenment than in the theology of Calvinism, or, indeed, in traditional Christianity. As we shall see, this rational enlightened faith will to some extent replace traditional Christianity in much of New England and beyond.
Quite near to this Unitarian church there stands another, a Congregational church. There a sign proudly proclaims that, even if the other is the church of the Pilgrims, this is the church that has preserved the faith of those Pilgrims.
Whenever we deal with the issue of the Christian life, we find so many differing explanations of exactly what that is that it is hard to know where to start. Some concentrate on matters of correct belief and doctrine. Others stress individual commitment. For still others it is a matter of the heart. Perhaps all of these can give us some insight into what is central to the faith.
It is hard to find a better expression of this center than in the Apostle Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 13:13: “Faith, hope and love abide, but the greatest of these is love.” Christians throughout the ages have wrestled with this simple phrase and have found in it riches that could be applied to their own personal struggles and to the culture in which they lived.
Another expression of this same idea is found in the fifth