What is a Christian?
This should be a simple question but it has gotten more than a bit muddy over the centuries. People have literally been put to the sword over different definitions as to who is and is not a bona fide "Christian".
I take the matter simply and literally. A "Marxist" is somebody who takes the world view of Marx seriously and tries to apply it.They need not believe everything Marx wrote and, if they are familiar with his work at all, they know much of it is out-dated and irrelevant in 2012.
A "Christian", then should be somebody who takes the teaching of Jesus and his "school" (the disciples) very seriously. He or she is knowledgeable about these teachings and makes an earnest attempt to apply them. However, he or she understands that the founders of this school lived in a given place and time, accepting the ideas of that time as they breathed in the air. The entire corpus of teachings needs to be subjected to a bit of common sense and, yes, Skepticism.
Now many folks will say a "Christian" is somebody who has accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour or some such formula. That's magical thinking which has no place in the mind of an educated citizen of the 21st century. We do not need to be "saved" from some mythical misdeed in the Garden of Eden, nor are we born saddled with a curse of inborn sin that needs to be exorcised (at a price) by somebody who makes a living convincing people they need his services. These same folks assign an alarmingly low priority to understanding the teachings of the Christian "school", much less applying those teachings.
In any case, you now know what I mean when I self-identify as a Christian. Unlike many who self-identify this way, I have nothing to say about the validity of the claims of others along these lines, but I do note that the majority of conventional church goers would not think of me as a "real" Christian. Oddly enough, the majority of Theologians and Professionals in the Church would accept me. My attitudes are formed largely by being trained in the excellent Theological College at Queen's University in Kingston Ontario. There, my views would be found interesting but hardly controversial.
I take the matter simply and literally. A "Marxist" is somebody who takes the world view of Marx seriously and tries to apply it.They need not believe everything Marx wrote and, if they are familiar with his work at all, they know much of it is out-dated and irrelevant in 2012.
A "Christian", then should be somebody who takes the teaching of Jesus and his "school" (the disciples) very seriously. He or she is knowledgeable about these teachings and makes an earnest attempt to apply them. However, he or she understands that the founders of this school lived in a given place and time, accepting the ideas of that time as they breathed in the air. The entire corpus of teachings needs to be subjected to a bit of common sense and, yes, Skepticism.
Now many folks will say a "Christian" is somebody who has accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour or some such formula. That's magical thinking which has no place in the mind of an educated citizen of the 21st century. We do not need to be "saved" from some mythical misdeed in the Garden of Eden, nor are we born saddled with a curse of inborn sin that needs to be exorcised (at a price) by somebody who makes a living convincing people they need his services. These same folks assign an alarmingly low priority to understanding the teachings of the Christian "school", much less applying those teachings.
In any case, you now know what I mean when I self-identify as a Christian. Unlike many who self-identify this way, I have nothing to say about the validity of the claims of others along these lines, but I do note that the majority of conventional church goers would not think of me as a "real" Christian. Oddly enough, the majority of Theologians and Professionals in the Church would accept me. My attitudes are formed largely by being trained in the excellent Theological College at Queen's University in Kingston Ontario. There, my views would be found interesting but hardly controversial.
I must add that a person who is much smarter than myself and fully qualified to weigh in on this subject has a totally different opinion as to what Christianity is all about. George Pitcher, in the monumental "Death of Spin". On page 146 he sums it up: "There is a God, who loves humanity ... who expiated human sin through his death and ... resurrection ". Sorry, George, on THIS matter you have set aside your imposing analytical skills to hold on to your identity as a professional Anglican. Twitter -- #thedeathofspin
ReplyDeleteThankfully, this idea seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with anything else George has to say in the book, which is a perfect example of what I consider to be the irrelevance of the "mythical" side of religion, or, more accurately, my willingness to tolerate any silly belief as long as it doesn't interfere with real human values.