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An Anglican couple, an American Presbyterian couple, a Baptist Union couple and a Grace Baptist couple. (It sounds like the opening line of some embarrassing joke. Should I set an en competition to see who can write the most amusing anecdote with that entrée?). But we were at a wedding reception and for some reason the bride and groom had decided to seat all the clergy around one table – perhaps so that the other guests could enjoy themselves!
The conversation at the table was stimulating, gracious and generally encouraging. We were all gospel people. But into the table talk – I won’t say from which quarter – came the idea of a gospel without boundaries. ‘If we have Christ at the centre and point people to him we need no fences. People are so put off by “fundamentalism”. I don’t want to get tied up on creation, or abortion, or the gay issue, etc. They need to hear about my Saviour, the Lord Jesus!’ Sounds convincing? Here we have the idea, in mathematical terms, of truth as an open set. There were all kinds of comments flying around to which I listened. Finally, everyone turned to me and asked me what I thought. But within a moment there was the sound of a spoon on a champagne glass and it was time for the speeches, so I went unheard. But what are we to think of this idea of Christianity having a centre but no boundaries?
When is a circle not a circle?
In an editorial for Christianity Today in 1996, the theologian Thomas Oden wrote: ‘There is a fantasy abroad that the Christian community can have a center without a circumference. Since we gather around Jesus, it is argued, it is our center, not our boundaries, that matter. But this is the persistent illusion of compulsive hyper-tolerationism. A community with no boundaries can neither have a center nor be a community. ... Without boundaries, a circle is not a circle. The circle of faith cannot identify its center without rec-ognizing its margins. The debate about whether heresy can be defined is a struggle to specify margins, the legitimate boundaries of the worshiping community. The rediscovery of boundaries will be the preoccupation of 21st-century theology.’*
In Scripture we find that the removal of the hedge around the Lord’s vineyard is his judgment (Isaiah 5.5; Psalm 80.12). And a Jesus at the centre of a community without boundaries is a Jesus of our own making, for the Lord often explained who can and who ‘cannot be my disciple’ (Luke 14.27, 33). Theological and ethical boundaries imply membership boundaries for local churches too.
Rage against God
I recently read The Rage Against God by Peter Hitchens – a fascinating and stimulating repost to his now deceased brother, the atheist Christopher Hitchens. Arguing from the trajectory of atheism in Communist Russia, brother Peter leaves us in little doubt where our secular, politically correct (Lenin was the first to use that phrase) society is heading in its aspirations, typified by the recent Commons attempt to legalise assisted suicide. ‘Why is there such a fury against religion now?…Only one reliable force stands in the way of the power of the strong over the weak. Only one reliable force forms the foundation of the concept of the rule of law…and restrains the hand of the man of power…the Christian religion has become the principle obstacle to the desire of earthly utopians for absolute power.’ Take note!
But a church without boundaries will play right into the utopian tyrants’ hands.
* I am indebted to Bobby Jamieson, studying presently in Cambridge, for this quote.
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This article has been shared with you to read free of charge. If you like what you read, please consider supporting us by subscribing to en-online or to the printed newspaper (which will also give you access to en-online).
- The en team
The Editorial
Open sets?
There were four ministers and their wives.
An Anglican couple, an American Presbyterian couple, a Baptist Union couple and a Grace Baptist couple. (It sounds like the opening line of some embarrassing joke. Should I set an en competition to see who can write the most amusing anecdote with that entrée?). But we were at a wedding reception and for some reason the bride and groom had decided to seat all the clergy around one table – perhaps so that the other guests could enjoy themselves!
The conversation at the table was stimulating, gracious and generally encouraging. We were all gospel people. But into the table talk – I won’t say from which quarter – came the idea of a gospel without boundaries. ‘If we have Christ at the centre and point people to him we need no fences. People are so put off by “fundamentalism”. I don’t want to get tied up on creation, or abortion, or the gay issue, etc. They need to hear about my Saviour, the Lord Jesus!’ Sounds convincing? Here we have the idea, in mathematical terms, of truth as an open set. There were all kinds of comments flying around to which I listened. Finally, everyone turned to me and asked me what I thought. But within a moment there was the sound of a spoon on a champagne glass and it was time for the speeches, so I went unheard. But what are we to think of this idea of Christianity having a centre but no boundaries?
When is a circle not a circle?
In an editorial for Christianity Today in 1996, the theologian Thomas Oden wrote: ‘There is a fantasy abroad that the Christian community can have a center without a circumference. Since we gather around Jesus, it is argued, it is our center, not our boundaries, that matter. But this is the persistent illusion of compulsive hyper-tolerationism. A community with no boundaries can neither have a center nor be a community. ... Without boundaries, a circle is not a circle. The circle of faith cannot identify its center without rec-ognizing its margins. The debate about whether heresy can be defined is a struggle to specify margins, the legitimate boundaries of the worshiping community. The rediscovery of boundaries will be the preoccupation of 21st-century theology.’*
In Scripture we find that the removal of the hedge around the Lord’s vineyard is his judgment (Isaiah 5.5; Psalm 80.12). And a Jesus at the centre of a community without boundaries is a Jesus of our own making, for the Lord often explained who can and who ‘cannot be my disciple’ (Luke 14.27, 33). Theological and ethical boundaries imply membership boundaries for local churches too.
Rage against God
I recently read The Rage Against God by Peter Hitchens – a fascinating and stimulating repost to his now deceased brother, the atheist Christopher Hitchens. Arguing from the trajectory of atheism in Communist Russia, brother Peter leaves us in little doubt where our secular, politically correct (Lenin was the first to use that phrase) society is heading in its aspirations, typified by the recent Commons attempt to legalise assisted suicide. ‘Why is there such a fury against religion now?…Only one reliable force stands in the way of the power of the strong over the weak. Only one reliable force forms the foundation of the concept of the rule of law…and restrains the hand of the man of power…the Christian religion has become the principle obstacle to the desire of earthly utopians for absolute power.’ Take note!
But a church without boundaries will play right into the utopian tyrants’ hands.
* I am indebted to Bobby Jamieson, studying presently in Cambridge, for this quote.
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