by T. A. McMahon
Here’s an idea. Let’s go back through historical church eras and glean from such time periods those issues deemed to be of value in the development of the Christian faith. Let’s review the first-century church, the church between A.D. 100 and 600, then consider the medieval era (A.D. 700 to 1500), followed by the Reformation period (A.D. 1500 and later), and so on. To be effective in this endeavor, it’s important to have a good understanding of the cultural context in which the Christians of each era practiced their faith. In addition, we’ll need to study the Church Fathers and gain the insights they provided. Why? Well, those who are promoting this “re-presenting the past” believe that today’s Christianity will greatly benefit as it “re-invents itself” in order to effectively bring the message of the gospel to the postmodern world. If you think this may not be a good idea, you could be labeled a “traditionalist,” one whose faith and practice is inflexible and out of touch with our rapidly changing culture-and church.
That’s the view that Christianity Today (CT) has of what’s going on in evangelical Christianity. In introducing its February 2008 feature article with a cover-page declaration, “Lost Secrets of the Ancient Church: How evangelicals started looking backward to move forward,” CT senior managing editor Mark Galli writes:
You might say a number of CT editors have a vested interest in this issue’s cover story. David Neff, Ted Olsen, Tim Morgan, and I have been doing the ancient-future thing for many years, at Episcopal and/or Anglican parishes. And if this were not enough immersion in the topic, in his spare time, David Neff heads up the Robert E. Webber Center for an Ancient Evangelical Future, founded by the father of the ancient-future movement.
Acknowledging the magazine’s inherent (and historic) bias, Galli notes that “the ancient church has captivated the evangelical imagination for some time [yet] it hasn’t been until recently that it’s become an accepted fixture of the evangelical landscape. And this is for the good ” (emphasis added). That, of course, is Galli’s opinion and, sadly, a growing multitude of influential Christian leaders agree.Click here to read this entire article.
