The Secularization of Christianity Part VIII - Repercussions on Secularization of Society on the Church

In concluding the first chapter of Mascall's The Secularization of Christianity, there are a few small notes I wanted to add myself in regard to what Mascall is saying, as he is addressing an important but fundamental issue that has more relevance some 50 years after he originally wrote the text than it even did at his time.  In 1965, when Mascall's book was published, the effects of secularization were starting to be felt, which in turn were the culmination of many years of gradual influence of Enlightenment-era rationalism as well as other secularizing factors.  These factors primarily impacted the society at large, but they also began to make inroads into Christianity as well - we saw that with discussions of Scheiermacher, Bultmann, and other secularized liberal theologians and Bible "experts" in the 18th and 19th centuries, and we still continue to see it today in a greater capacity than ever.  This is why now I want to offer a few observations to preface the final section of Mascall's first chapter, as they will sort of "set the stage" for what he discusses as well.

Traditional Christianity has in the past faced two major foes, one being secularism and the other being reactionary mysticism and legalism in the form of heresies and false religions.   The two are actually diametrically opposed to each other, but when it comes to their attacks on traditional Christianity, they almost seem to work together.  The most evident example of this was in the 19th century, when society and the Christian Church both experienced a wave of secularism which diminished the influence of the latter and radically transformed the former.  Enlightenment-era rationalism succeeded in separating faith from reason and theology from philosophy, a separation which in previous generations was incomprehensible.  The result was the rise in such things as social Darwinism, as well as Freudian psychology and Marxist political thought and economic theory.  Each of these sought to make Spinoza's vision of confining religion to "its proper place" a reality by discrediting faith and instead practically deifying science and natural reason, and therefore religious identity was all but gutted from society.  Now, herein lies the problem - man was created to be a religious creature, and when man is denied true faith, it leaves a void for counterfeits.   This led to a rise in fascination with occultism in the 19th century, as "Spiritualism" became a parlor fad for the Victorian upper-crust and thus provided a filling of the void left by the excising of Christianity from societal influence.  "Spiritualism," as Nichols, Mather, and Schmidt note in their Encyclopedic Dictionary of Cults, Sects, and World Religions (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2006) on page 281, noted that the 19th century was an age of romanticism, characterized by a pathos, feeling, and existential longing, which in turn fostered the revival of interest in the occult.  The Darwinist-infused rationalism of the time, which had begun to infiltrate Christianity as well, didn't leave room for the questions of life, such as what happens after death, etc.  Until this time, Christianity had given answers to those things, but once Christianity was diminished and secularized, people looked elsewhere for answers, and of course Satan is only too happy to oblige.  Even Darwinian thought was incorporated into this new fascination with the occult, as was seen in people such as Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), who founded the cult of Theosophy in order to seek the application of reason and wisdom to the quest of knowledge of divine matters (Nichols, Mather, and Schmidt, p. 291).  People like Blavatsky took concepts such as the Hindu belief in reincarnation, transformed them in Darwinian evolutionary terms, and thus Darwinian evolution was seen by such occultists as a natural step toward "godhood."  Although strict secularists and rationalists dismissed Blavatsky and those like her (and, in many cases, they lumped orthodox Christianity in with it) as bunk, what many such people failed to realize was that Blavatsky and others were appealing to something very fundamental to human nature, that being a supernatural dimension.  Unfortunately, what started with Blavatsky would tragically end in 1945 with the wanton destruction wreaked by the Nazis, who would use this racially-based occultism to launch one of the most evil and murderous regimes of the 20th century, and it all started with the secularization of the Enlightenment.  We then saw the same thing happen in the 1960's again, when secularists attempted to remove God, prayer, and the Bible from American schools and thus opened the way for a counterculture which turned American society on its ear, and from which we still haven't recovered (if anything, it's getting worse).  But, in recent years, this trend has taken another direction.

With the growing secularization and moral decline of the West, the unfortunate result is a culture which devalues life to such a degree that abominations such as abortion are adversely affecting populations of Western nations.  Again, this has created a void, and the same problem is evident in that man wants to reach beyond himself in order to satisfy the questions related to the supernatural in his life.  Being Christianity has been sidelined, discredited, and marginalized in much of contemporary society these days, people are beginning to look elsewhere - the appeal of the occult is still evident, as seen in the activities of such demigodlike celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, but with a declining population, a physical void has been created as well that needs to be filled, and what is filling it is a flood of immigrants from parts of the world where religion and culture are seen as inseparable, but in this case the consequences could be catastrophic.  What I am referring to of course is the rise of Islam.  Islam, due to its heretical appropriation of some Judeo-Christian elements within its belief system, is starting to unfortunately provide a popular alternative to the waning influence of the Christian Church, and the way it is doing so is not only through waves of immigration, but also through a rich picking of American converts.  Many of these converts see morality as a major concern, yet they don't like Christianity - Islam gives a moral code, and thus attracts these types of people.  However, it is a false moral code, and a closer examination of Islamic doctrine would reveal glaring inconsistencies in its system.  Oddly, the very forces of secularization that have sidelined Christianity are throwing the doors open and laying out a welcome mat for Islam, and that is where a problem arises.  In Robert Ferrigno's 2006 fictional novel Prayers for the Assassin, the plot of the story is a scenario where much of America becomes an Islamic "republic," and in the pages of the novel Ferrigno presents a scenario as to how it happened.  This background scenario begins on page 23 of the book, where a fictional American President, in the wake of an era of violent terrorism, takes the Oath of Office on a Quran instead of the traditional Bible, and in doing so it is a climax to a climate where, as Ferrigno writes, a societal collapse left open a spiritual void that Islam stepped into - as he writes, "the moral certainty of Islam was the perfect antidote to the empty bromides of the churches, and the corruption of the political class" (Ferrigno, Prayers for the Assassin.  New York: Pocket Books, 2006. p. 22).  Those "empty bromides" are in essence the fruits of secularization that were cultivated in the 19th century, and led to a moral and spiritual vacuum.  When that happened, in Ferrigno's fictional scenario a fanatical religious substitute such as Islam stepped in to meet the need left by the banishment of the Gospel.  And, Ferrigno's quote from the book is telling - "moral certainty."  There are certain universal norms, which the Bible has canonized in the Decalogue and elsewhere, which we as Christians believe were established by God as part of the natural order He created.  So, when you have the secularist coming along trying to divorce that, people are going to find that life doesn't make a lot of sense without them and thus they seek alternatives.  And, that is why secularization is dangerous.

It is apparent from the discussion that over the centuries the Church has had three enemies who seek its destruction and disappearance from public life - secularism, occultic mysticism, and Islam.  While that may not sound "politically correct" and may appear simplistic, the evidence suggests that the first often paves the way for one of the other two.  Reason is, these two false religious systems provide flawed substitutes that seem to fill a need for those who lack certain things that secularism abolishes - the occult provides a supernatural dimension, while Islam provides a system of morality, both of which are integral to the spiritual dimension of human existence.  The problem with Islam and the occult both though is that both belief systems are incomplete at best and dangerous at worst - both, if allowed to have full influence in a society, allow for death and oppression.  We seen what the occult does when unchecked in the regime of Nazi Germany, and in recent times we see in Iran and also the murderous reign of both ISIS and the Taliban what Islam is capable of.  Only an authentic, traditional, and balanced Christianity can provide the real dimensions of morality and recognition of the supernatural, and the Gospels provide the perfect model for both.  The problem is though is that secularism is at its core about self-gratification, and if morality and the supernatural hinder personal happiness for the secularist, they must be eradicated.  And, when that happens, a void is left, and in time something needs to fill it, and hence systems such as Islam and the occult come along to create an inferior substitute to fill the void left by the eradication of Judeo-Christian faith.  At this point, we now turn back to Mascall's text. 

As Mascall points out on page 35, even theologians who are secularized (in this case he references J.A.T. Robinson and Paul Van Buren, who we had discussed earlier) are making false allegations that traditional Christian theology is somehow "narrow and sterile" and thus in need of reinterpretation (a "fresh approach," they say).   Mascall says that the problem of such approaches is that they tend to conform to the alleged demands of twentieth-century secularized man, and thus more than eager to discard the accumulated wisdom of centuries of Christian belief, ignoring its profound insights and even to the point of discarding the concerns of all religious faith, Christian and non-Christian.  As Mascall elaborates, the root problem is not trying to present the Gospel in language that is relevant and intelligible, but it reflects something much deeper - the secularist is trying to banish Christian faith from the public square essentially, and seeks to do so by couching it it in criptive "contemporary language" in order to diminish it and eventually make it irrelevant.   This leads Mascall to conclude the chapter with the central problem that he feels is at the core of the discussion.

Beginning on page 36, Mascall notes that while some formulations of Christian doctrine may differ, the core substance of it must be preserved.  It is not so much an issue of development of doctrine, he notes, than it is a development of doctrinal formulations and implications.  This leads to the central issue - if the formulations differ, how can the specifics of substance be retained and recognized?  Theology is rightly seen, as Mascall notes, as an essential function of the Church as the Body of Christ, and as such no theologian has the right to change the substance of it.  A theologian, it is noted, can express the substance in relevant language of the time, but the integrity of the substance has to be maintained.  The problem with much of post-Enlightenment liberal theology is that it often changes the substance because much of the wisdom of the Christian Tradition is often beyond natural reason - it has a supernatural dimension, in other words, which cannot be expressed adequately in human discourse.  The problem for the secularized theologian though is that he only sees this through the eyes of natural reason, and what he can't comprehend is not worth his time - this cuts out or at best diminishes the supernatural dimension of the Christian faith.  And, when that happens, the Christian faith is then stripped of something vital, and it can no longer serve the seeker of truth, and thus said seeker has to look elsewhere - as noted above, that often leads to demonic deception and the occult.  Also, without the moral boundaries of the Christian faith, which the secularist sees as constricting, there are no absolutes, and things end up becoming defined by the whims and fancies of those who encounter them.  This is very evident in today's society, where now a man who is biologically a man can now redefine himself as a "woman" simply because he "feels like it."  It also causes confusion in society when this moral breakdown happens, because then human life is devalued, and killing for the sake of convenience (such as in abortion and euthanasia) becomes the new norm.  Unfortunately, there is somewhere at the core of human identity something that instinctively knows these moral "upgrades" are somehow not right, but a conditioned denial and rejection of Judeo-Christian worldview (often over several generations) rules out the Church as a place for answers to questions, and thus the seeker begins to look elsewhere for a morality - often, unfortunately, such a person finds it in radical Islam.  This therefore gives a new impetus to the "jihad" mentality of the Muslim, and now the kafir for the Islamic zealot becomes the secularist, and it opens a new realm to be converted to "Allah's will."  However, if that is fully implemented, a far more repressive moral climate than Christianity ever advocated is imposed, and it causes some tragic problems for the society that capitulates to the Islamic model as well.  The secularist, then, essentially signs his own death warrant when he opens the door for either occultic mysticism or extreme Islamic Sharia.  

In quoting a speech he gave in 1962 at King's College, London, on page 37 Mascall notes that the theologian's motto should never be "it all depends on me," but rather he should realize that he is part of something greater than himself and that he is a custodian and heir to a rich Christian tradition that spans centuries.  While a fresh contribution is warranted and even noble, it is also important that the Christian theologian exercise humility and care with that which he has been entrusted.  As Mascall puts it, a theologian is to "theologize within a great historical tradition."  To elaborate with my own reflections upon what Mascall has said, essentially a true theologian doesn't question doctrine, nor does he find ways to oppose what he finds uncomfortable within centuries of the Deposit of Faith.  Rather, the theologian is a contributor to that rich tradition, maybe even bringing fresh insight on certain things that maybe past generations may not have been ready to see, yet is consistent with the body of doctrine and Tradition the theologian studies.  The root problem of the secularist who tries to play theologian is this - he tries to redefine and divorce theology from its moorings, and in essence strips it of essential things because he as an individual finds such things "unpalatable."  When that happens, unfortunately, we have established that it renders the Church powerless, and unable to engage the culture, thus opening up the door for some belief system that will, often with catastrophic consequences.  Many people in the field of theology today, even among some Catholic and Protestant Evangelical circles, forget this - they think that open-mindedness and dialogue with opposing views is true "theologizing," yet they fail in this because if you open the mind too far, things fall out, and if you act too conciliatory with one's enemy, it leads to conversion to your enemy's view, and thus one forfeits being an authentic Christian theologian.  Same is true in Biblical studies as well, which often overlaps and addresses may of the same concerns.  This then wraps up Mascall's opening chapter on secularization of Christianity, and hopefully in future discussions we can delve further into the issues.