Preservings $20 No. 25, December, 2005 - Home at Plett Foundation
Preservings $20 No. 25, December, 2005 - Home at Plett Foundation
Preservings $20 No. 25, December, 2005 - Home at Plett Foundation
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in L<strong>at</strong>in America and police raids for drugs<br />
are an almost daily occurrence in areas of the<br />
Province where Mennonites are in the majority,<br />
or is this somehow also the fault of the<br />
Old Colonists?<br />
Mennonites and Evangelicals<br />
An editorial column in the July 4, 1998,<br />
Globe and Mail referred to the immense h<strong>at</strong>red<br />
against gays and lesbians spewing forth from<br />
the religious right, the so-called Evangelicals.<br />
The article brought forth the imagery of promiscuous<br />
homosexuals indulging in wanton<br />
behaviour noting th<strong>at</strong> the glossolalia manifest<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
of charism<strong>at</strong>ics such as the so-called<br />
Toronto Revival and/or the Vineyard Movement<br />
frequently displayed on N<strong>at</strong>ional Television,<br />
are equally obscene and distasteful in the eyes<br />
of the general public.<br />
At the same time, the religious right, often<br />
portrayed in the media as a spiritual support<br />
group to the ultra right-wing political movement,<br />
takes itself extremely seriously, claiming<br />
not only to be the exclusive purveyor of truth<br />
but also the sole arbiter of salv<strong>at</strong>ion, decreeing<br />
all others, including other Christians, to<br />
be “unsaved” he<strong>at</strong>hen and dammed to eternal<br />
Hell fire.<br />
<strong>No</strong>thing is more fascin<strong>at</strong>ing than the study<br />
of the origin, evolution and development of<br />
religious ideas and cultures. Mennonites have<br />
had an ongoing love affair and fascin<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
with the Evangelical movement for the past<br />
decades, and prior to th<strong>at</strong>, a flirt<strong>at</strong>ion with<br />
American Fundamentalism, Revivalism and<br />
German Separ<strong>at</strong>ist-Pietism, in th<strong>at</strong> order. It<br />
is an eye-opener to examine these religious<br />
cultures with all their variant subspecies, in an<br />
<strong>at</strong>tempt to understand their appeal.<br />
Before going any further, there are always<br />
those who say, the critical point is to separ<strong>at</strong>e<br />
scripture from culture and, therefore, we must<br />
abandon the Mennonite faith as it is articul<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
by culture and not by scripture.<br />
Such a st<strong>at</strong>ement is nonsense. <strong>No</strong> one, not<br />
even the Apostles, could or can read the scripture<br />
divorced from a historical and/or experiential<br />
context. Typically such claims are made<br />
by Evangelicals, and wh<strong>at</strong> they really mean is,<br />
you can only get the “correct” understanding of<br />
“The anti-communal premise of<br />
P<strong>at</strong>rick Friesen’s “Shunning” is<br />
only one small drop in this raging<br />
storm surge of anti-communitarian<br />
thinking.”<br />
scripture by reading it from the perspective of<br />
my particular cultural and historical heritage,<br />
namely, Calvinist triumphalism.<br />
To say th<strong>at</strong> faith and culture can be separ<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
and experienced on two separ<strong>at</strong>e tracks<br />
is about as valid as saying th<strong>at</strong> faith and works<br />
are separ<strong>at</strong>e and divisible entities.<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> is it th<strong>at</strong> has <strong>at</strong>tracted so many to<br />
the religious cultures of Fundamentalism and<br />
“Calvinist religious ideas dovetailed<br />
nicely with the concept of<br />
laissez faire,...”<br />
Evangelicalism which are often seen as fan<strong>at</strong>ical<br />
by main stream churches such as C<strong>at</strong>holic,<br />
Anglican, United, Orthodox, etc? Certainly<br />
Mennonites who have joined and/or adopted<br />
the religious language and culture of Evangelicalism<br />
tend to share one commonality, a gre<strong>at</strong><br />
ignorance both of the faith they have rejected<br />
as well as the religion culture and language<br />
they adopted.<br />
It is important to distinguish here between<br />
“evangelical” as in the sense of a faith articul<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
by scripture, and “Evangelicalism” as in<br />
a particular historical social movement and<br />
religious culture which arose out of American<br />
Fundamentalism during the 1950s and 60s.<br />
Part of the difference between the two<br />
religious cultures is explained by the ways<br />
Mennonites and Evangelicals read and interpret<br />
scripture. So-called Evangelicals trace<br />
their interpret<strong>at</strong>ion to Calvin in Reform<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
times where Paul was read as superseding the<br />
Gospels. Fundamentalists held to a “fl<strong>at</strong>” Bible<br />
where all scripture had equal authority, thus<br />
allowing for unlimited proof-texting--decide<br />
wh<strong>at</strong> you want the Bible to say, and then find<br />
a line-up of verses which can be massaged into<br />
supporting th<strong>at</strong> view. The decision is made, for<br />
example, th<strong>at</strong> the words in the Bible “Thou<br />
shalt not kill” cannot be taken literally, and<br />
then the Calvinist gurus go to work dreaming<br />
up some contrivance to circumvent something<br />
inherently found<strong>at</strong>ional to the teachings of<br />
Christ.<br />
Mennonites, on the other hand, read the<br />
Bible as “progressive revel<strong>at</strong>ion”, essentially<br />
as documenting the unfolding of history, with<br />
the Gospels, and Christ as the focal point. In<br />
the case of apparent conflict, the Gospels were<br />
accepted as paramount.<br />
The two interpret<strong>at</strong>ions have resulted in<br />
very different religious cultures. The Pauline<br />
interpret<strong>at</strong>ion has resulted in a Calvinist triumphalism<br />
as reflected in the Scofield Bible<br />
which was the “Bible” of the Bible School<br />
movement of the 1930s and 40s. As odd as<br />
it may seem from today’s more tolerant perspective,<br />
Scofield and his supporters actually<br />
believed th<strong>at</strong> the teachings of Christ were not<br />
applicable in the present time (Scofield called<br />
it the “church age”) and th<strong>at</strong> in fact any <strong>at</strong>tempt<br />
to practice these teachings was sin, a form of<br />
works-righteousness.<br />
Scofield arrived <strong>at</strong> this startling conclusion<br />
by a teaching called “dispens<strong>at</strong>ionalism”, the<br />
result of which was th<strong>at</strong> the Gospels were<br />
dispensed with and only applicable in a future<br />
age, after Christ’s Second Coming. Anyone<br />
doubting this is referred to the 1967 edition of<br />
the Scofield Bible published by Oxford University<br />
Press, page 996. When Christ preached<br />
(M<strong>at</strong>thew 4:17) th<strong>at</strong> the “Kingdom of Heaven<br />
is <strong>at</strong> hand”, Scofield explained it by st<strong>at</strong>ing<br />
th<strong>at</strong> “The Bible expression `<strong>at</strong> hand’ is never<br />
a positive affirm<strong>at</strong>ion th<strong>at</strong> the person or thing<br />
said to be <strong>at</strong> hand will immedi<strong>at</strong>ely appear...”<br />
Wh<strong>at</strong> is most amazing is not th<strong>at</strong> someone<br />
would write things like th<strong>at</strong>, after all a crackpot<br />
is born everyday, but th<strong>at</strong> so many thousands<br />
of Mennonites flocked to these teachings in the<br />
1930 and 40s, as if Scofield had received new<br />
tablets of stone on Mount Sinai.<br />
The difference between Evangelical and<br />
Mennonite religious culture can also be understood<br />
in terms of a communitarian ethos<br />
verses individual freedom. In the l<strong>at</strong>ter half of<br />
the 19th century, the small “l” liberal philosophy<br />
of John Stuart Mills and others perme<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
Western European academia. Although initially<br />
an economic teaching, as in the laissez faire<br />
economy, these ideas were transferred to and<br />
applied to other areas of life, including political,<br />
religious, etc.<br />
Any emphasis on individual liberties was<br />
seen as a positive extension of laissez faire and,<br />
in the converse, any <strong>at</strong>tempt to promote communitarian<br />
values was seen as evil and sinister.<br />
Because the individual profit motive was seen<br />
to be the best engine to drive the economy,<br />
presumably the same concept would be equally<br />
valuable in other areas.<br />
This unst<strong>at</strong>ed premise of P<strong>at</strong>rick Friesen’s<br />
“Shunning” is only one small drop in this raging<br />
storm surge of anti-communitarian thinking<br />
which enslaved the English-speaking world in<br />
the 19th century. It was certainly a startling<br />
concept for students of history, as the expanse<br />
“The two religious cultures are<br />
fundamentally and inherently<br />
incomp<strong>at</strong>ible and in conflict with<br />
each other.”<br />
of time has demonstr<strong>at</strong>ed over and over th<strong>at</strong><br />
the n<strong>at</strong>ions and communities th<strong>at</strong> continued<br />
to oper<strong>at</strong>e on a communitarian ethos, were the<br />
most successful.<br />
The obsession with individual liberties<br />
and values has resulted in lawlessness and a<br />
victim orient<strong>at</strong>ed society starting in our public<br />
schools, glorifying disrespect for authority. As<br />
libertarian ideas continue to e<strong>at</strong> away <strong>at</strong> the<br />
core values of Western Civiliz<strong>at</strong>ion, the role<br />
of communities is once again on the rise with<br />
law-abiding citizens seeking refuge in g<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
suburbs and even criminals flocking into gangs<br />
for mutual protection.<br />
Another difference between Mennonite and<br />
Evangelical teachings is found in the view of<br />
salv<strong>at</strong>ion. Calvinist religious ideas dovetailed<br />
nicely with the concept of laissez faire, fostering<br />
and accommod<strong>at</strong>ing the idea th<strong>at</strong> salv<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
was a subjective, internal and individual m<strong>at</strong>ter<br />
between penitent and Saviour. Because the<br />
Mennonite faith was articul<strong>at</strong>ed by a communitarian<br />
ethos, they saw salv<strong>at</strong>ion as something<br />
taking place through the community of saints,<br />
namely, between God, His/Her people and the<br />
penitent, within the context of a communitarian<br />
<strong>Preservings</strong> <strong>No</strong>. <strong>25</strong>, <strong>December</strong> <strong>2005</strong> - 13