{"id":85409,"date":"2025-09-12T06:00:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T10:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=85409"},"modified":"2025-09-05T17:55:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T21:55:26","slug":"full-fat-faith-vs-the-diet-versions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/09\/full-fat-faith-vs-the-diet-versions\/","title":{"rendered":"“Full-Fat Faith” vs. “the Diet Versions”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I came across a quotation with a wonderful metaphor in the Wall Street Journal<\/em> op-ed piece Has Britain Stopped Secularizing?<\/a>\u00a0by Dan Hitchens, the son of the British Christian conservative Peter Hitchens<\/a> and the nephew of the late \u201cnew atheist\u201d Christopher Hitchens<\/a>.\u00a0 Dan is a journalist\u2013indeed, a Senior Editor of First Things<\/em>\u2013who says<\/a> that he converted to\u00a0 Catholicism nine years ago.<\/p>\n

\n

His op-ed piece is about the revival of church-going in the UK, especially among the British young.\u00a0 \u201cThere are genuine signs that secularization might have peaked,\u201d he writes, \u201cand that whereas older generations were bored by their parents\u2019 Christianity, younger people might be rediscovering it as something fresh and exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the course of his discussion, he quotes Anglican vicar and sociologist David Goodhew:<\/p>\n

\n

The most successful Christian communities in Britain\u2014Pentecostalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, High Church Anglicanism and \u201cthe more traditional strands\u201d of Catholicism\u2014are those that make the boldest doctrinal claims, or what he calls \u201cfull-fat faith.\u201d The diet version doesn\u2019t have the same appeal.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You can buy low-fat milk, ice cream, salad dressing, and other products.\u00a0 Or you can buy the full-fat version, which usually tastes better, though some people avoid it for their health.\u00a0 The term \u201cfull-fat\u201d is not used in marketing as much as \u201clow-fat,\u201d but according to Wiktionary<\/a>, it has acquired an additional metaphorical meaning:\u00a0 \u201cHaving all of the\u00a0features\u00a0or\u00a0traits; not cut down or simplified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodhew applies this to religion.\u00a0 Low-fat or \u201cdiet versions\u201d of Christianity, with all of the heavy, controversial content removed, is not so popular today.\u00a0 But the \u201cfull-fat\u201d versions of Christianity, with their in-your-face supernaturalism and the \u201cboldest doctrinal claims,\u201d somehow taste better to searching secularists and are bringing more of them to church.<\/p>\n

First of all, why do you think this is?\u00a0 One might think that removing elements that go against the grain of the prevailing secularism would make a religion more attractive to secularists.\u00a0 That, after all, is the professed tactic of liberal theology.\u00a0 And yet, it doesn\u2019t seem to.\u00a0 Why doesn\u2019t that work?\u00a0 Why are versions with all of the supposed \u201cobstacles\u201d more compelling?<\/p>\n

Second, how does\u00a0Confessional Lutheranism fit into this scheme?\u00a0 There aren\u2019t that many in the UK\u2013though there are some, as at Westfield House<\/a> in Cambridge\u2013so we can\u2019t expect that option to register much in the British studies.\u00a0 What about in the U.S.?<\/p>\n

Surely Lutheranism in its full-blown liturgical, sacramental, Biblical, doctrinal, and evangelical manifestation would be \u201cfull-fat faith.\u201d\u00a0 There are, indeed, low-fat versions\u2013also, reduced-fat and no-fat versions\u2013but full-fat Lutheranism is very real.\u00a0 It is certainly among the Christian traditions that \u201cmake the boldest theological claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pentecostals promise a direct, tangible experience with the Holy Spirit, and so do Lutherans, not in speaking in tongues<\/a>, but in the waters of Baptism, the bread and wine of Holy Communion, and hearing and reading God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 The Catholics and the Orthodox believe that the body and blood of Christ are present in the elements of Holy Communion, and so do Lutherans.\u00a0 High Church Anglicans may, though they generally draw back from \u201cthe boldest theological claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are \u201cfull-fat\u201d Lutherans getting their share of converts?\u00a0 Yes, indeed, according to Lyman Stone\u2019s Lutheran Religious Life Survey<\/em> that we blogged about in March of this year (see this<\/a> and this<\/a>).\u00a0 And those of us in confessional congregations usually know of quite a few fellow members who have swum the Elbe River\u2013or perhaps the Mississippi\u2013from evangelical, Catholic, and unchurched backgrounds.<\/p>\n

However, there are differences between Lutherans and Pentecostals, Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglo-Catholics, that might might limit our appeal in this high cholesterol smorgasbord.<\/p>\n

Luther contrasted the \u201ctheology of glory\u201d with the \u201ctheology of the cross.\u201d\u00a0 (Read what I wrote about that here<\/a>.)\u00a0 Briefly, the theology of glory is all about success, victory, and power.\u00a0 Pentecostalism, with its miracles and prosperity gospel; Catholicism, with its institutional power and earthly rule; Orthodoxy, with its mysticism; and Anglo-Catholicism, with its social prestige\u2013all these are kind of that way.\u00a0 (Not necessarily, but this is part of their appeal.)\u00a0 The theology of the cross, in contrast, is about failure, suffering, and weakness.\u00a0 But that\u2019s the path Jesus followed when He saved us, not by conquering the Romans, but by being crucified on the cross.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the mindset we need to come to, facing up to our own weakness and failures to keep God\u2019s law, so that we cling to the cross of Jesus and the free forgiveness He won for us.\u00a0\u00a0Theologies of glory will probably always be more popular than theologies of the cross.<\/p>\n

But still, it is a good sign that people investigating Christianity are looking to the kinds that have \u201call of the features or traits; not cut down or simplified.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s just that some fat is too unctuous and unhealthy.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>

Illustration:\u00a0 Healthy Fat<\/a> via Bel Vista Medical Spa, CC BY-NC 4.0<\/em><\/p>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A writer on the resurgence of church attendance In the UK says that the churches that are growing are “those that make the boldest doctrinal claims,” what a sociologist calls \u201cfull-fat faith.\u201d “The diet version doesn\u2019t have the same appeal.” What does that mean for Lutherans?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":85457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,12,8254,47],"tags":[14717,3310,1289,15707,13763,17075],"class_list":["post-85409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-culture","category-sacraments","category-theology","tag-christianity-and-secularism","tag-confessional-lutheranism","tag-liberal-christianity","tag-revival-of-christianity","tag-sacramental-christianity","tag-theology-of-the-cross-vs-theology-of-glory"],"yoast_head":"\n"Full-Fat Faith" vs. "the Diet Versions"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A writer on the resurgence of church attendance In the UK says that the churches that are growing are "those that make the boldest doctrinal claims," what a sociologist calls \u201cfull-fat faith.\u201d "The diet version doesn\u2019t have the same appeal." 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