While
I am confident that Joshua Harris and myself would be at odds with what exactly
orthodoxy is, not the definition, but the actual “right beliefs” that
Christians should hold and adhere to, I am greatly encouraged by his book. I believe that we each could certainly sit at
a table together to discuss those differences with love and respect for each
other. This is the second book that I
have read in the past year that essentially discusses the fact that Christians
tend to be on one of two extremes. It is
good to see that each of these books come from, what I believe the authors
would agree, different perspectives or traditions.
Brian
McLaren’s is the author of Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road. In his
book McLaren argues that most Christians do one of two things well. Their faith
is either strong and hostile or weak and benevolent and that we need to
have a faith that is strong and
benevolent. Harris argues similarly
that Christians tend to have arrogant
orthodoxy or humble heterodoxy. This is what Harris writes regarding humble heterodoxy: “Another popular
option is humble heterodoxy. Heterodoxy is a departure from
orthodoxy. So a person who is humbly
heterodox abandons some of the historic Christian beliefs but is a really nice
person who you’d enjoy having coffee with” (pg. 7). Moreover, Harris’ contention is similar to
McLaren’s in that we need to maintain a humble
orthodoxy (benevolent and strong).
I
was able to take away a number of challenging questions and life-applicable
quotes from Humble Orthodoxy. I
would like to include several of them here.
Here are some questions I found challenging: “Does God’s word speak to the priority of both
humility and orthodoxy?” (pg. 4). “…do humility and kindness and engagement
with our culture have to involve watering down conviction?” (pg. 8).
And here
are some quotes that I found both applicable and challenging to my
journey: “We don’t get to choose between
humility and orthodoxy. We need both”
(pg. 6). Quoting Greg Dutcher: “We cross
a line when we are more focused on mastering theology than on being mastered by
Christ.” (pg. 27). “…all of us should be
less concerned with whether others are being faithful to God’s truth than with
whether we are being faithful to God”
(pg. 33). “Don’t measure yourself by
what you know. Measure yourself by your
practice of what you know” (pg. 37). “…there’s a difference between having a
critical mind that carefully evaluates and a critical spirit that loves to tear
down and belittle” (pg. 44).
Orthodoxy
is defined as right belief. Despite all
the things that I like about Harris’ book, as stated in the opening paragraph,
I believe we would disagree with what the meaning of Christ’s crucifixion means
in our lives. On page 61 Harris writes,
“We’re going to be opposed as we preach substitutionary atonement and the truth
of God’s wrath toward sin.” Also, on
page 49: “Now,
there’s always a need for innovation and new ideas and change in methodology to
proclaim the gospel more effectively.
But the conversation that’s taking place in our generation is going
beyond mere methodology or practice.
It’s not about how we can be more effective in evangelism. Really, the conversation is about whether we
can reinvent theology and belief.”
So while
I completely agree with Harris that we need to maintain or hold to an orthodoxy
that is humble, I believe that we also need to be careful about what exactly
our orthodoxy and right beliefs are today. I would argue that theology has
evolved since Christ’s crucifixion and continues to evolve today. How we read scripture should be an organic
experience. Therefore, it is not about
reinventing theology but about continuing to wrestle with it; moving deeper
into the mysteries of God. What Harris
points to with substitutionary atonement is not really found in the writings of
the early church fathers. It was born
out of the writings of Augustine 300 years after Christ and lionized in
American culture through seminaries that hold the writings of Calvin, if not
canonical, at least close to it.
However, with that said Harris’ book lays the groundwork for people to
come to the table to have these discussions and for this reason I would
certainly recommend this book.
I
received this book without charge from Waterbrook Multnomah for the purposes of
this review.
