Let me begin by saying I do not recommend that you read this book by David Chidester. His presentation of Christianity, while aiming at objectivity, is dangerously misrepresentative of the Christian faith. No reputable scholar could produce a work on Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or any other Eastern Religion with a similar reinterpretation of history and get away with it. At least Bart Ehrman is honest enough to recognize that there is a majority view of Christianity. Nonetheless, there is some value in the work.
Chidester presents several minority views of Christianity. He shows how Western Christianity has been many times oblivious to its own culture and how that has affected the spread of the religion. He also shows how superstition and syncretism (though he wouldn't call it that) have gone hand in hand.
However helpful the final section of his book, if you do read this work, remember that I didn't recommend it!
Chidester, David. Christianity: A Global History. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2000.
The purpose of Chidester’s work is to explore the “rich variety of local forms of Christianity…to give a sense of depth and dimension to our understanding of the many distinctive locations of Christianity in the world” (vii). His descriptive approach to Christian history favors minute idiosyncrasies over traditional orthodox understandings. Is he trying to correct confessional histories or does he have a chip on his shoulder? Nonetheless, he portrays a view of Christianity in contrast to a Western ethnocentric view of history. However valuable his perspective, Chidester arrogantly neglects major works of church history.
In part one, Chidester presents early Christianity as a battle between diverse theologies. Reminiscent of Bauer’s thesis, he argues that “diversity characterized Christianity from the beginning” (98).” Thus, Christianity sought a center that it could never find. Neither faith nor reason, Empire nor Pope, doctrine nor devotion, could unite Christianity.
In part two, Christianity’s ambivalence towards heretics, Jews, and Muslims indelibly scarred its image. Ultimately, medieval Christianity supported a feudalistic worldview that oppressed the working masses (192). Thus Christianity controlled people through its superstitious worldview. Even the scholastics propagated an Aristotelian misogynistic worldview. The high points of medieval Christianity were poets and mystics. In contrast to the contemplative life of the mystic, the Catholic Church inquisitionally persecuted deviants and forayed through Europe on massive “witch hunts.” Nonetheless, though he will blame the rise of capitalism on the reformers, Chidester sees significant advances during the Reformation.
When he begins to discuss global Christianity, he notes that the monolithic European worldview was inadequate to convert global religions. In discussing the conquests of the New World by the Spanish, he notes Columbus’ desire to fund the millennial conquest of Jerusalem. Following, he decries the slaughtering of the Great South American civilizations by the conquistadors under the sign of the cross (356–7). Concerning Russia, he lauds the preserving of the Eastern Orthodox faith. However, he notes the error of the Tsarist Imperial approach to Christianity that failed in converting the Muslim. In North America, he finds fault with the Puritan “city on a hill” that also failed to convert the Native, but he praises the forming of African American churches. However, Chidester is overwhelmingly positive towards African Independents, for His appraisal of African prophets disdain of traditional religion and allegiance to Christ is worth consideration. Moreover, his positive treatment of the Jesuits is outstanding. They represent some of the earliest concerns for contextualization. Yet his chapter on the Holocaust reveals the danger of theologies that cannot understand God’s plan for the Jews. His concluding sections on cargo, Cold War and Consumerism are invaluable critiques of the relationship of economics to missionary endeavor. These were the best chapters of the book!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment