Looking Back to the Future: Lived Christianities and the Politics of Tradition and Innovation

Abstract

The question of whether, how, and to what extent a church should innovate or grow seems an ambiguous one. Perhaps more complex is what shape such innovation should take, the attendant risks, and how far this can go without upending an assumed tradition. Yet, it remains a pertinent one to ask at a perceptibly secular global era in which we are in, a period characterized by the growing secularization of the church and society. Arguably, this is a time in which some forms of traditional Christian institutions continue to witness dwindling church attendance, membership disaffiliation, the proliferation of religious nones, and a growing public irrelevance of the church in the global North. These indices have perhaps led scholars like Steve Bruce to forecast the obituary of religion and the death of God in the UK (Europe) and, by extension, the global North. At the same time, the US context is witnessing the proliferation of Christian nationalism or the Christian Right. How and in what way does Christian nationalism, Christian extremists, or white evangelicals present collateral damage on the public face, psyche, and social respectability of Christianity in America? In considering the public image and political activism of white evangelicals and the complacency and conspiracy of silence by other Christian constituencies, what does this portend for the preservation and resilience of American democratic values and cultures? The problems confronting churches are rather complex and challenging, thus calling for a crucial examination of tradition, the roots of commitments and routes of innovation. This will entail looking back to the future where tradition meets innovation, by sustaining and sharing many resilient values of the past as well as hopes for the future.