Modernity

One area that the 21st century church has adopted modernity, is in theology and how we value knowledge. Growing up in an ethnic minority church with a much shallower history of Christianity, personal encounter and experience is valued greater than a wealth of theological understanding. I personally do not remember ever having a major theological conversation or debate with anyone in my church growing up. Most of liturgical practice and spiritual discipline was traditional and never in question because Christianity is almost a part of my culture now. Nobody really seems to know “why” something is done a certain way, but because the culture is to not question tradition, nobody ever does. But when I personally began to study and encounter the universe of theology and biblical studies, it opened my mind to all the questions I always wanted to ask but was always afraid to.

Modernity’s effect on the church appears to be both a positive and negative. Positive in the sense that we have rational and logical reasons for what we believe that can be communicated in an articulate manner to non-believers. In other words, Christians do not have to feel like ignorant fools of lesser intelligence than their atheist counterparts. Christians can look to history, philosophy, science, archaeology and other fields of study to deepen their understanding of their faith and come to the realization that the truth of God can stand up for itself on those platforms. So there is more to the faith than simply mysticism, ancient mythological stories and spiritual practices. I believe that this helps in both evangelism and personal assurance of faith as the church wrestles with opposing worldviews that attempt to deny the validity of Christian faith. However, with this rise in intellectual understanding and rationality, The progress of theology has also begun to undermine spiritual experiences and elements of the Christian faith that cannot be explained by scientific methods. So with the rise in value of modernity within the church, and the emphasis on the intellectual component of Christian faith, I have observed two major detriments as a result of this shift. One being, the judgment of those who do not have strong theological knowledge by those who do, and secondly, major disagreements that lead to division and argumentation within the church. It is unfortunate that modernity has helped the church to stand on secular grounds to display its validity, yet at the same time has caused massive division within the church. Many of my colleagues and those I know who are heavily educated on theological matters seem to have a superiority complex when they engage with those who don’t. And in some major cases, they wrongfully judge those who do not possess the knowledge that they do as being unbelievers simply due to their lacking in theological intellect. It is my personal belief that this is not the purpose of theology, but rather that those who are well versed must learn to teach others what they know, as Paul instructed Timothy (2 Tim. 2:2) and as Jesus instructed his disciples (Matt. 28:18-20).

Theology should be used first and foremost to bring glory to God and make him known rather than being used simply to boast of one’s intellectual prowess. Modernity has influenced the church, in my opinion, to further its studies and verify many things that were unknown to early church members. However, knowledge is not the ends to our means, but the church must use its knowledge to help others know as well.