Truth Found in Humble Orthodoxy

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.