Christian history hasn't always been mono-theistic. I don't mean DaVinci code kind of "theology" here - I mean, that when you trace back the Jewish roots of the Christian tradition you find out that this idea of there only actually being one God wasn't always what they thought to be the case. They were, however, monolatrous. That is, they only worshipped one God.
It's right there in the first commandment: You shall have no other God's before me. If there were no other God's wouldn't that commandment be redundant?
This idea really crystalized though around the time of the exile into Babylon when they were inundated with new ideas and philosophies and became the mono-theistic religion we all know and love.
Well, sort of.
That idea it turns out was pretty much the apex of modernity. If there is only one God then His will is absolute - and if His will is absolute then everything is either right or wrong - and the universe quickly becomes a black and white place. Monotheism spread like fire until it had covered most of the globe in some way, shape, or form.
This wasn't all bad - because this kind of thinking actually led early scientists to examine the most minuscule elements of nature in search of the fingerprints of God. It may be a stretch, but we probably wouldn't be where we are today without monotheism.
Here endeth the lesson.
For real this time.
So that was modernity.
But we don't live in modernity anymore.
We live in a world with all sorts of options. Getting up on Sunday morning for church is just one voice among many; the Good News of Jesus is really just one voice among many. And I don't just mean only the many formally recognized religions that make up our landscape today. I mean sports; sex; money; science. These are the temples that most people worship at today.
We scrunch our noses when we hear religious language associated with things like these - but what if that's only because we've been overwhelmed with the language of monotheism? What if we've told ourselves for so long that there is only one God and so it doesn't matter who or what we worship - that we've actually started to believe it?
When the apostle Paul visited Mars Hill in Athens, the book of Acts tells us that he pointed out all of the gods being worshipped in this place and that they even had a temple to the unknown God - in case they missed one I guess... and so Paul proceeded to tell them about this unknown God.
He didn't go in and tell them that there was only one God and they were stupid for praying to stone and wood. Paul was monolatrous; not monotheistic.
For my money, that sounds a whole lot more like the world we live in today. I'm not saying it's a perfect translation - you lose some steam when you move from pre-modern to post-modern - but the principle remains the same. There are so many things that people treat like Gods today - more than one thing for so many.
What if that's how the church worked today? If we didn't go in telling people why their God was wrong - but went about explaining - in words and in deeds why our God was better? What if life wasn't about what we were against, but was defined by what we were for?
"Let me tell you about the God you don't worship yet"...
Had Jesus not come we could still be living in a world of polytheism. Because of His resurrection, ascension, and Second Coming - everyone knows there is but one God.
ReplyDeleteSure. We live in a world - and more specifically, in a part of the world - where the vast majority of people check the little box on their survey that says "Christian" - or more accurately, "theist". Most people assume there is a God somewhere, like an old man sitting on a cloud ala The Simpsons, but their energies go into making as much money as they can so they can have the coolest stuff. They know there is one God, but don't live like it.
DeleteAlas, agreed.
DeleteIf then the goal is to awaken the masses from their stupor, I'd agree our goal is indeed to speak the way Paul spoke on Mars Hill. Nevertheless, I'd also suggest we first think as Paul thought before we attempt to speak as Paul spoke.
By this I mean we should be sure that we think regularly and constantly that in Christ we live and move and have our being, rather than wishing more people did so that it wouldn't be so hard for us to do so.
I will say Amen to that. When Christ becomes our focus he becomes our only focus.
DeleteThanks!
"Paul was monolatrous; not monotheistic."
ReplyDeletePaul was "monolatrous" in the qualified sense that he recognized there are competing loyalties that can divert people from the true God. But he was clearly monotheistic in that he believed there is in fact but one God.
1 Corinthians 8 expresses the balance nicely:
4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
Good point. But I wonder if it doesn't better highlight the philosophical assent of mono-theism as a theological principle rather than a practical reality... As I said above, most people check a box that says (broadly) theist and (less broadly) mono-theist, but I don't know if the evidence suggests that quite so many people live like that is the case.
Delete