{"id":1162,"date":"2013-10-10T09:02:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T09:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html"},"modified":"2013-10-10T09:02:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T09:02:00","slug":"when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html","title":{"rendered":"When Liberal Christians Draw the Circle Narrow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by Crystal St. Marie Lewis<\/a>
R3 Contributor<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
First published at the blog Crystal St. Marie Lewis\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
\"Why<\/a>In his book titled \u201cWhy Christianity Must Change or Die,\u201d a controversial bishop named John Shelby Spong wrote in very frank terms about Christianity\u2019s growing conundrum. He explained that his faith (and mine) is simultaneously experiencing, among other hurdles, a science problem, and an exclusivity problem, and a history problem, and a doctrine-believability problem, and consequently a credibility problem. He wrote that the Christian faith\u2019s \u201cgood news\u201d has been transformed in such a way that the itinerant rabbi who first preached the message would likely not recognize it. And he wrote that today\u2019s Christians, who are largely uninformed about the true roots of the faith, have so bought into the morphed message of fundamentalism that they defend it to the detriment of greater society.<\/span><\/div>\n
On the outskirts of today\u2019s Christianity exists a small minority of people who after identifying one or all of the religion\u2019s problems, (its science problem, or its exclusivity problem, or perhaps its credibility problem), become distanced from the faith in some way. This creates a subculture of Christians who, rather than leave the faith, carve out an alternative space that doesn\u2019t include institutional worship, or personal doctrinal adherence, or both. This separation is causing a ripple that Christianity is not prepared to address and can no longer control.<\/span><\/div>\n
Bishop Spong says that these Christians\u2013 the separated ones who now peer into the religion like strangers observing a foreign nation\u2013 are in\u00a0exile<\/b>. This exile manifests itself both literally and figuratively. In literal terms, one may feel unwelcome in the institution and separate himself\/herself from the group; in figurative terms, an exiled Christian may sit on a pew every Sunday while feeling wholly disconnected from the words and symbols of the liturgy. The chasm between mainstream Christianity and those in exile, he bleakly explains, is one that will be difficult if not impossible to bridge.<\/span><\/div>\n
The exile is imposed on Christians by Christians\u2013 often with the more conservative religious folks pushing the liberal folks out into the \u201cwilderness\u201d in some way or another.\u00a0The exiled space is ever-populated by people who were told by members of their own religion:\u00a0We draw the circle wide, but not wide enough to include you. We draw it wide, but not intellectually wide enough to host your questions. We draw the circle wide, but our circle has high walls. Our circle exists inside an information vacuum, and inside an echo chamber.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
I thought deeply about this exile (a state of religious existence that has now been my own for several years) as I read\u00a0Tony Jones\u2019 latest blog post<\/a>. In it, he criticized theologian and bestselling author Marcus Borg for his unwillingness to affirm the bodily resurrection of Jesus as historical fact. Borg (along with Spong and myself) prefer to read the Bible\u2019s resurrection accounts as loaded (and certainly powerful) metaphor. The choice to read such a central doctrine as metaphor is never made lightly\u2013 particularly in a religion where eternal damnation is the consequence for disagreeing with the church. Certainly, Dr. Borg has good reasons for turning from literalism, as do Dr. Spong. Dr. Borg, and other liberal Christians like myself.<\/span><\/div>\n
I made peace with my decision about the resurrection many years ago, at a time when I was still an altar worker and Bible study teacher at my former fundamentalist church. When I tried to talk with my pastor about the books I\u2019d been reading and the questions they were raising for me, he told me that he doesn\u2019t read \u201cthat stuff\u201d because it\u2019s not \u201cdoctrinally sound\u201d\u2026 And when I asked a \u201cprayer warrior\u201d to pray for me as I decided how to act on my new theological perspectives, she prayed that I would \u201cstop reading those evil books\u201d because they were \u201ctools of the devil\u201d. I left my church shortly after that, profoundly disappointed that seemingly reasonable people had mistaken something as innocuous as my private book collection for Satan\u2019s hammer and screwdriver. It was clear that I needed to find a new circle, because the one we were \u201cdrawing\u201d was simply not intellectually wide enough for me.<\/span><\/div>\n
Tony Jones\u2019s insistence that we must all \u201cbelieve in\u201d the bodily resurrection of Jesus reminds me of my experiences at my former church shortly before leaving. Jones seems to assume that the circle we\u2019ve drawn in the liberal realm
\n of the faith isn\u2019t wide enough for people like Borg\u2026 or people like me. He doesn\u2019t seem to create a space in which we can all have an equally meaningful experience of the resurrection\u2013 metaphorical or otherwise. He only assumes that something must be missing for those of us who can no longer affirm the truth of his interpretation. His approach is not one that says, \u201cThis means something to you. I\u2019m glad you find such meaning in the story\u201d\u2026 Rather, his approach says, \u201cThere\u2019s something wrong with the meaning you derive from the story. Here. Allow me to correct you so that your beliefs match mine perfectly\u2026\u201d In so doing, heexiles<\/i>\u00a0the\u00a0exiled<\/i>\u00a0once again\u2013 pushing an already ostracized chorus of voices farther outside the religion\u2019s circle.<\/span><\/div>\n
I\u2019ve said many times that beliefs aren\u2019t turned on-and-off in the same way that electrical appliances are turned on-and-off. It\u2019s not as easy as flipping a switch. Belief systems are intensely personal things that are informed by personal experience and information and needs and community values and sometimes insecurities. Beliefs are based on sociological and geographical context, intellectual capacity and at times, mental stability. Beliefs cannot be boiled down to the kind of black-and-white thinking that we\u2019ve demanded. Rather, beliefs exist on a continuum of gray areas, with some ideas finding more footing in our hearts and minds than others.<\/span><\/div>\n
In a world where information is abundant and beliefs change all the time, the Christian faith must decide that actions are primary and beliefs are secondary. We must ask ourselves: Is our circle wide enough for those who, after careful consideration of all facts and evidence,\u00a0cannot<\/i>\u00a0believe what they once did? What are we doing to welcome people who have changed their minds, but not their hearts? Is there a bridge that can lead Christianity\u2019s Jesus-loving doctrine doubters\u00a0home from exile<\/b>? And for goodness sake, how wide is the intellectual circle in liberal Christianity, really?<\/span><\/div>\n
Follow Crystal on twitter @crystallewis<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 Contributor First published at the blog Crystal St. Marie Lewis\u00a0 In his book titled \u201cWhy Christianity Must Change or Die,\u201d a controversial bishop named John Shelby Spong wrote in very frank terms about Christianity\u2019s growing conundrum. He explained that his faith (and mine) is simultaneously experiencing, among other hurdles, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Liberal Christians Draw the Circle Narrow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 ContributorFirst published at the blog Crystal St. Marie Lewis In his book titled \u201cWhy Christianity Must Change or Die,\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When Liberal Christians Draw the Circle Narrow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 ContributorFirst published at the blog Crystal St. Marie Lewis In his book titled \u201cWhy Christianity Must Change or Die,\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-10T09:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/crystalstmarielewis.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/05\/why-christianity.jpg?w=197&h=300\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html\",\"name\":\"When Liberal Christians Draw the Circle Narrow\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-10T09:02:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-10-10T09:02:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\"},\"description\":\"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 ContributorFirst published at the blog Crystal St. Marie Lewis In his book titled \u201cWhy Christianity Must Change or Die,\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When Liberal Christians Draw the Circle Narrow\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\",\"name\":\"Andre E. Johnson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andre E. Johnson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When Liberal Christians Draw the Circle Narrow","description":"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 ContributorFirst published at the blog Crystal St. Marie Lewis In his book titled \u201cWhy Christianity Must Change or Die,\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"When Liberal Christians Draw the Circle Narrow","og_description":"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 ContributorFirst published at the blog Crystal St. Marie Lewis In his book titled \u201cWhy Christianity Must Change or Die,\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2013-10-10T09:02:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/crystalstmarielewis.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/05\/why-christianity.jpg?w=197&h=300"}],"author":"Andre E. Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andre E. Johnson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html","name":"When Liberal Christians Draw the Circle Narrow","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-10-10T09:02:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-10-10T09:02:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc"},"description":"by Crystal St. Marie LewisR3 ContributorFirst published at the blog Crystal St. Marie Lewis In his book titled \u201cWhy Christianity Must Change or Die,\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/10\/when-liberal-christians-draw-the-circle-narrow.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When Liberal Christians Draw the Circle Narrow"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc","name":"Andre E. Johnson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andre E. Johnson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2251"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}