Is Bad Theology Responsible for the Metacrisis?

Is it possible to resolve the metacrisis? I don’t know if it’s possible, but it’s necessary. There is no other way forward, and it requires big changes, starting with a major retooling of our bad theology. (The metacrisis refers to the underlying, interconnected web of root causes driving today’s global challenges, such as climate change, political polarization and economic instability.)

I wrote about the benefits of deconstruction here. In that column, I contrasted the abstract, impractical nature of Christian theology with the concrete, practical nature of Jesus’ teachings, saying:    “Unconditional love is the heart of many traditions. Love is NOT difficult to understand or embrace. Also, it is NOT difficult to practice, if we are convinced of its necessity and of its power.”

Have We Lost Sight of Our Great Tribe?

Is it possible to resolve the metacrisis?

Recently, I participated in a discussion with several Progressive Christians about an article by Steven Charleston, a member of the Choctaw Nation and the former Episcopal bishop of Alaska:

“Throughout the centuries, oppressive cultures have invented scores of ways to pretend human beings are fundamentally different. They have invented the concept of race. They have developed elaborate caste systems. And they have engineered class distinctions. They have economically separated people by gender. They have practiced religious exclusivity and intolerance. The list goes on, but the results have been the same. Humanity has remained fractured along imaginary fault lines created by fear and perpetrated for social control and domination…. We are not different; we are the same. The light exposes these false divisions and helps us recognize one another for what we are: brothers and sisters in the great tribe of the human beings.”

I wrote that unconditional love is NOT difficult to embrace or understand. Still, these real and significant (albeit false) divisions continue to exist. We dug deeper into the question:

Q:  Why is that?

A:  We are reluctant to be vulnerable. We have fragile egos, and we have trouble trusting others.

Q:  Why is that?

A:  We feel unworthy. We do NOT feel that we deserve unconditional love. So it is NOT easy to accept love or to extend love.

Q:  Why is that?

A:  We were taught that we are “intrinsically disordered” or “totally depraved” or “unworthy,” destined for “eternal conscious torment.” It’s a Christian thing, but it pervades Western culture.

Is Bad Theology Responsible for the Metacrisis?

My jaw dropped. Are we saying that it is more difficult for Christians to love unconditionally than it is for other people, because Christian theology has convinced us all of our unworthiness?

“Yes,” said my good friend, a retired Methodist minister. “You let loose of your Christian conditioning, so you think that unconditional love is NOT difficult to understand or embrace. However, many people still hold tight to their Christian conditioning, so they think that unconditional love is difficult to understand or embrace.”

No doubt, Jesus is turning in his grave (if he has a grave).

Are we experiencing a metacrisis? A meaning crisis? A climate crisis? An economic crisis? A mental health crisis? A political crisis? A”sense-making” crisis? A technological crisis? All of the above, but the underlying problem is something deeper. We are so focused on our persons that we have lost sight of our tribe. Is it possible to resolve the metacrisis?

Our theology, in part, created this problem. Unfortunately, our theology also created an easy (but impractical, unconscionable and unworkable) solution: Jesus is coming, and he’ll fix everything. Maybe Jesus is NOT coming. Maybe Jesus is NOT coming in time to save us from ourselves. What if nobody is here to greet Jesus, if or when he comes back?

Separation and Lack of Separation

The doctrine of original sin is arguably one of the most harmful Christian doctrines. According to the story, which is almost certainly mythology, not history, Adam and Eve disobeyed God. According to the doctrine of original sin, their sin was passed on to their descendants. Although the Hebrew Bible describes the Fall, the Jews do NOT believe in original sin.

Augustine developed the doctrine 400 years after Jesus’ death. He asserted that the Fall created a cosmic rift between God and man. In fact, some Protestant churches believe that original sin suggests that man is subject to “total depravity.” Augustine associated the Fall with sexuality. He was preoccupied with sex, and his misogynistic views colored his theology.

The Western worldview is based on separation. In the Bible, everything is separated—light and dark, land and water, animals and people. And in church, people are separated too—clergy and laity, men and women, straight and LGBTQ+ people. It is no wonder that we have created false divisions that separate us. In the West, God is “apart from us.”

However, the Eastern worldview is based on a lack of separation. A perceived sense of separation between ourselves and others is illusory. The mystics and the scientists see the world this way, too. In the East, God is “a part of us,” not “apart from us.”

Is It Possible to Resolve the Metacrisis?

In The Way, I quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said, “It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.”

Imagine that we can repair our harmful theology, reminding ourselves that we are all made in God’s image. We can revive the lost sense that we are all worthy; we all deserve unconditional love. We can restore our damaged egos, allowing us all to be vulnerable, to love and to trust. Ultimately, we can remember that we are all “brothers and sisters in the great tribe of human beings.”

Is it possible to resolve the metacrisis? I don’t know if it’s possible, but it’s necessary. There is no other way forward, and it requires big changes, starting with a major retooling of our bad theology. This is NOT an impractical, philosophical dream. It’s a practical, existential understanding of The Way to live our lives in the twenty-first century.