Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

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Stuart Murray on Post-Christendom
Stuart Murray Williams, who uses the pen name, Stuart Murray, has made the term,
‘Post-Christendom,’ something of a ‘buzz-word’ in recent years, especially among those
interested in the current state of Christianity in the West. Murray says that post-
Christendom “is the culture that emerges as the Christian faith loses coherence within a
society that has been definitively shaped by the Christian story and as the institutions that
have been developed to express Christian convictions decline in influence” (Murray,
2002:19). In post-Christendom, the church has moved from the cultural centre to its
margins. The church is no longer the dominant settler, but is once again sojourners. The
church moves from a place of privilege to plurality; from control to witness and
influence; from maintenance to missional. In this cultural marginalisation process,
postmoderns are very happy to assist.
As Stuart Murray says in his work, Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a
Strange New World (2004. Cumbria, GA: Paternoster Press), the faith is not gone from
Europe. Rather, the protective veneer has been exposed, revealing an anaemic faith that
is more cultural apparition than dynamic faith expression and practice. All across the
Western world and even into post-Soviet Russia are millions who identify themselves as
‘Christian,’ but have little more than an institutional relationship with the church.
European Christendom produced a socio-religious, or Christian veneer, that left only a
remnant with a real commitment to Christ. Again, to emphasize, in the UK (c.2006),
over 25 million people claim allegiance to the Anglican faith, but only about 4% actually
ever attend church. There are now more practicing Anglicans in Nigeria, than in the
United States, Australia and Canada combined. African Anglicans are, overall, more
conservative than their Western brethren. In many Western nations, ignorance of
Christianity is increasing, while interest in postmodern ‘spirituality’ increases. A residual
cultural Christianization will persist for years to come.
Murray has identified a number of characteristics that help distinguish Christendom
cultural patterns from contemporary cultural dynamics now emerging in the post-
University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa