Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

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entity, and Christianity is anaemic at best. While most in the UK consider themselves
Anglican, fewer than 4% actually attend services. Attendance figures are comparable in
New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere -- other lands where Western Christendom was
practiced. Compare this to the United States, however, where church and state were
constitutionally disestablished, or separate early on. Today nearly 50% of all who claim
to be adherents of the faith actually do attend church regularly. Instead of having a
friendly relationship with the state, the church in the US has an often-tense relationship,
which seems to contribute to internal strength.
In Russia, we have a different dynamic. Here, church and state existed in close
relationship for a thousand years. With the coming of the Communists c.1917, the
Orthodox Church was violently dis-established and forced underground for seventy-odd
years. The Orthodox Church fought to regain its stature in Russian society following the
collapse of the Soviet Union (c.1990), and has proven to be amazingly resilient. As
Russians re-embrace their history, many are also re-embracing the traditional Orthodox
faith. While contemporary Russia is a secular state, the Russian Orthodox Church has regained
considerable social influence, even within government.
Corpus Privatus or Publicas
Lesslie Newbigin believed the corpus Christianum, or Christendom, was a great
blessing to the world: but certainly not all blessing. He believed the church needed to
learn to live privately and publicly, to “embody Christ over all life -- its political and
economic, no less than its personal and domestic morals -- yet, without falling into the
Constantinian trap” (ibid. 102). Since the time of the early church, Christians have
wrestled with their proper role in society. Should the church primarily pursue a role as
corpus privatus (private church), or corpus publicas (public church) To be sure, in
many instances the church is not in a position to choose what place it will hold in larger
University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa