458 - The Future of Pretestantism in North America

The Future of Pretestantism in North America
By Douglas John Hall

"Protestantism now faces the most difficult struggle of all the occidental religions and denominations in the present world situation." So wrote one of the greatest modern interpreters of Protestantism fifty years ago. It is the first sentence of a chapter in Paul Tillich's The Protestant Era bearing the intriguing title, "The End of the Protestant Era?"¹ Tillich's answer to the question posed by his chapter head is, of course, a complex one, still deserving of serious study; but its essence is contained in two sentences: "Protestantism ... can continue to exist only if it succeeds in undergoing a fundamental change.... But the precondition for any readjustment is that the Protestant leaders become aware of the seriousness of their situation. "²

The point of view expressed in this essay will mirror both Tillich's question and his answer. My field of investigation, however, is more circumscribed. I wish to reflect on the Protestant future in the North American context, specifically in the United States and Canada; and, in view of the confusion that the term "Protestant" conjures up in this context, it is necessary at the outset to state that I intend to refer to what is usually designated "mainline" Protestantism, that is, the denomina­tions that trace their origins to the principal movements of the Reforma­tion of the sixteenth century and, in theory at least, desire to perpetuate the primary emphases of that tradition.

In my opinion, Tillich's question, whether we are experiencing the end of the Protestant era, applies a fortiori to the North American context half a century later. Some now speak of "the sidelining of the mainline"; some write frankly of the "once-mainline" churches; and some, more

Douglas John Hall, recently retired Professor of Christian Theology at McGill University, Montreal, is the author of numerous books, including Professing the Faith (1993) and, with Rosemary Radford Ruether, God and the Nations (1995).
¹Paul Tillich, The Protestant Era (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948), p. 222.
²Ibid., p. 229.

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drastically, ask whether the "culture religion" (Berger) characteristic of Protestant North America has ever really appropriated the foundational assumptions of the Reformation. Certainly, in terms of what Protestantism means to the average Protestant churchgoer, the latter suggestion is not unfounded.³ The judgment that Protestantism, classically conceived,

has never achieved a hearing on this continent, however, is obviously excessive. One name alone, that of Reinhold Niebuhr, suffices to banish such a suggestion. It is nonetheless true, as Niebuhr's own struggle with his society demonstrates, that the spirit of Reformation Christianity never sat easily with the New World experiment and could only become the dominant element in American culture religion by being significantly reduced, That reduction, in my view, has become visible in the latter part of the present century. The question that Tillich asked half a century ago-a question that seemed strange to North American ears at the time-is today altogether existential with us.

Accordingly, the answer that I shall give to the question of the Protestant future is also continuous with Tillich's. It may be stated succinctly in the following thesis: Unless there is a radical theological renewal affecting the Protestant denominations at the congregational level, the remnants of classical Protestantism in North America will not survive the twenty-first century.

A RADICAL THEOLOGICAL RENEWAL

Let me first explain what I mean by "a radical theological renewal." In the simplest terms available, I mean the revival of a thinking faith in the churches. Whatever else Protestantism classically conceived could be said to involve, thought must be considered vital to all aspects of this tradition. By thought, I do not mean merely the assimilation of information or even of knowledge (scientia), such as the knowledge of the Scriptures and traditions of the faith. Obviously, a movement that placed the Bible at its methodological center and insisted upon catechetical instruction for all seeking membership in the church assumed that such knowledge was mandatory. But, contrary to those who lament the passing of Bible knowledge and familiarity with Christian doctrine, I would insist that the recovery of such data, however significant as means, would not achieve

³What Wilhelm Pauck contended in his still-provocative work, The Heritage of the Reformation, remains, I think, quite true: "Ask almost any man who is not a clergyman to give you a definition of the nature of Protestantism. If he does not refuse to make a try at it, he will say something like the following: Protestantism lives of two sources: 1) the direct word of God to man in the Bible (this is the source of its Biblicism or literalism) and 2) of the direct judgment of man's own conscience (this is the source of its individualism). It rejects the authority of the church, especially in the form of the sacramental-hierarchical institution­alism of Roman Catholicism, as a barrier to men's direct approach to God. The authority of the individual conscience which is responsible to God is regarded as the guide to the truth by which men live. That is why Protestantism, Bible in hand, preached that individual effort was everything" ([Glencoe, IL: Free Press; Boston: Beacon, 1950], p. 147). Pauck goes on to demonstrate, from the side of classical Protestantism, the almost complete misunderstand­ing implicit in such a response.

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the end that is intended by the phrase "a radical theological renewal." The thought that is intended by the adjective "theological" is sapiential rather than merely scientific thought. For the difference between the two, we could -consider Heidegger's distinction between rechnendes Denken and besinnliches Denken: "calculative or reckoning thinking" and "meditative thinking"-literally, thinking about meaning or "making sense" (Sinn).⁴

"The 'radical theological renewal, 'without which the remnants of classical Protestantism in North America will disappear, is thinking that 'seeks understanding' (Anselm) through afresh encounter with the Scriptures and traditions of the church, seen through the eyes of persons fully participating in the spirit of their age. "

The Reformers, for all their castigation of human sin and total deprav­ity, held what was after all a very high opinion of human possibilities under God (coram Deo!): They believed that the human being, being visited by holy sophia, is capable not only of getting knowledge (that is the Gnostic heresy) but of engaging in a lifelong quest for wisdom. "The true genius of Protestantism is to make extraordinary spiritual demands of very ordinary people."⁵ The thought that is presupposed by every one of the major doctrinal emphases of Reformation theology (the sovereignty of God, the centrality of "Jesus Christ and him crucified," justification by grace through faith, the authority of Scripture, the universal priesthood of believers, etc.)-theological thought-is that kind of thinking. The "radical theological renewal," without which the remnants of classical Protestantism in North America will disappear, is thinking that "seeks understanding" (Anselm) through a fresh encounter with the Scriptures and traditions of the church, seen through the eyes of persons fully participat­ing in the spirit of their age and asking not only for knowledge but for the wisdom that is necessary "for the facing of this hour."

Such thinking is perhaps rare in human experience generally, and many of the greatest cartographers of our "technological society" (Ellul), including Heidegger, have claimed that it is particularly rare in the modern epoch, which apotheosized scientific thinking at the expense of the quest for wisdom. What is more distressing from the perspective of our present concern is that we have to reckon with the possibility that precisely such thought has been inhibited by Protestant Christianity in its North American expression. The observant de Tocqueville, as Martin E.

⁴See Martin Heidegger, Discourse on Thinking (New York: Harper, 1966).
⁵Ronald Goetz, "Protestant Houses of God: A Contradiction in Terms?" The Christian Century, 102 (March 20-27, 1985), p. 299.

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Marty has noted, commented on this topic in a quite devastating way. In America, he opined,

". . . the majority draws a formidable circle around thought. Within its limits, one is free: but woe to him who dares to break out of it." Religion, he saw, was a major element in the formation of this circle. He believed there was no country in the world where the Christian religion retained a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.⁶

One may feel that this assessment of North American Protestantism needs to be qualified: There are exceptions. Yet the association of mainline Protestantism with "the Religion of Progress" (George P. Grant),the “official optimism” (Sydney Hook), and a sentimentalized version of "the pursuit of happiness" has been such that a thoughtful and thought-provoking Protestantism has had to be subservient to Protestantism's role as purveyor of comfort and legitimator of "our way of life." Thus, in a summary statement under the heading "Theology" in the recently published Christianity: A Social and Cultural History, Mark A. Noll writes, "Formal religious thought has never been of utmost importance in the history of Christianity in America."⁷ But precisely for that reason, theological renewal is basic to the survival of Protestantism in North America; for its paucity-including its reduction to "formal religious thought"-is robbing Protestantism of its very raison d'etre and leaving it open to further co-optation by powerful movements (for example, "The Christian Right") that are inimical to the survival of classical Protestantism.

AT THE CONGREGATIONAL LEVEL

The second aspect of my thesis that requires explanation is the insis­tence that such a theological renewal must occur at the congregational level. Protestantism cannot be satisfied with professional theology ("formal religious thought"); it drives towards the confessional stance.⁸ That is to say, it assumes that the profession of faith on the part of every Christian, lay and clerical, is only a means (though a necessary one) to the end of faith's actual confession; and it assumes, furthermore, that the congregation (in Luther's language, the Gemeinde) is the locus of this confessional life and labor. Theology, therefore, far from being reserved for a professional elite, is the business of the whole church. Without it, the church is left open to every manner of external and internal confu­sion. In the words of a recent pronouncement of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), "Theology matters!"

⁶Martin E. Marty, Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1970), p. 90.
⁷Mark A. Noll, "Christianity and Culture in America," in Christianity: A Social and Cultural History, by Howard Clark Kee et al. (New York: Macmillan, 1991), p. 745.
⁸For an elaboration of this distinction, see the first two volumes of my proposed trilogy, subtitled Christian Theology in a North American Context (Minneapolis: Fortress). Vol. I is entitled Thinking the Faith (1989), vol. 2 Professing the Faith (1993), and vol. 3 (currently in manuscript form) Confessing the Faith.

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Just here, however, we encounter the nub of the crisis of Protestantism in North America today. The theology that has been undertaken by professionals since the failure of Protestant liberalism, which in our context coincides roughly with the societal crises dating from approxi­mately 1960,⁹ has simply not affected the churches. Liberalism-to be sure, in reduced forms-made its way into the pews, partly because of its relative simplicity and partly because it was so compatible with the regnant worldview. One does not lament its passing, but one does lament the passing of the incipient articulation of thought that liberalism engen­dered at the congregational level. Neither so-called neoorthodoxy nor any of the various "theologies of" that have succeeded it can claim to have continued and deepened that beginning.

Emil Brunner noticed this already in 1960 with the publication of the third volume of his dogmatics, Die christliche Lehre von der Kirche vom Glauben und von der Vollendung.¹⁰ Discussing "the crisis of preaching," in which (he believed) "the crisis of the Church is most evident," Brunner wrote: "Even the powerful movements for the renewal of theology for the new understanding of the Biblical message have up to date made no decisive difference at this point .... they have not succeeded in bridging the gulf that yawns between contemporary man and every kind of Church

"In the pluralistic and 'politically correct' world of the modern university, devotion to a specifically Christian intellectual pursuit can seem questionable.”

preaching."¹¹ Since Brunner expressed this opinion about the theological movement of which he himself was a part, it is true that sloganized aspects of secular theology, the death-of-God movement, the theology of hope, and liberation theology have reached minorities within the Protestant mainline; but they have not penetrated deeply enough to make much difference. As for the theologies emanating from special-interest groups, while they have undoubtedly contributed to a certain necessary ferment in the churches, they have not greatly stimulated the kind of foundational thinking that (in the language of my thesis) renews. At their best, they have challenged the status quo by bearing witness to the real oppressiveness that is the shadow side of "the good" pursued by the dominant culture and church; at their worst, they have created the impression that the only thing that can be said about the majority element in the churches is that it is inherently oppressive.

⁹See the insightful essay by Joseph C. Hough, Jr., "The Loss of Optimism as a Problem for Liberal Christian Faith," in Liberal Protestantism, edited by Robert S. Michaelsen and Wade Clark Roof (New York: Pilgrim, 1986), pp. 145ff.
¹⁰The English edition is entitled The Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation (London: Lutterworth, 1962).
¹¹Ibid., pp. 99-100.

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The "gulf' of which Brunner spoke is further complicated today by the virtual abandonment of the churches by serious scholars in the theologi­cal disciplines. For the past two or three decades, this scholarship has engaged in an internal discussion that is made possible, in part, by the renewed interest of the academy in Religionswissenschaft, and its tone is accordingly geared to the "scientific" pursuits of the intellectual commu­nity; it does not deliberately lend its weight to the need within the churches for sapiential understanding, and it rather distrusts those who do. In the pluralistic and "politically correct" world of the modern university, devotion to a specifically Christian intellectual pursuit can seem questionable. In consequence, the faith dimension of much of this scholarship is carefully concealed, if it exists at all, and the metier is more secular than sacred. One sympathizes with Daphne Hampson when she writes, "What strikes me ... about much modern theology-and this is not least true of feminist theology-is how profoundly secular it is. It is as though theology had lost its moorings."¹²

To achieve the kind of hearing that makes for original thinking at the congregational level, professional theology must take the reality of the churches very seriously and not settle for either doctrinal stereotypes or ideological preconceptions of what the church is. Interestingly, between about 1960 and 1975, an extensive literature on renewal developed in North America that attempted to do just that. Such works as Peter Berger's The Noise of Solemn Assemblies, J. C. Hoekendijk's The Church Inside Out, William Stringfellow's My People Is the Enemy, Stephen Rose's collection of essays titled no's Killing the Church, and countless other titles of this genre combined theological depth with profound historical-sociological knowledge to awaken the leadership of the churches to the situation-precisely what Tillich identified as "the precondition for any readjustment" in Protestantism.

These works are now all but forgotten. Why? At one level, the answer is that they were replaced by the interest-oriented theologies of the late seventies and eighties. At a more profound level, I think, the answer is that they were too close to the truth. They knew that Christendom American-style was as doomed as its more legally established European counterpart, and they called for a rethinking of the faith-in particular, a rethinking of the nature of the church and its relation to its host culture. These works did not stop with justice and peace issues or the legitimate complaints of the excluded, though they knew most of them very well. They demanded, rather, a whole new understanding of the church and its vocation in the world. Their authors wrote with a sense of urgency, in the belief that the mission of Protestantism on this continent-and perhaps of Christianity as a whole-was under threat of being lost.¹³

¹²Daphne Hampson, Theology and Feminism (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990), p. 170.
¹³Peter Berger, for example, in the "Interlude" between his analysis and his "cure" ("The Task of Disestablishment") in The Noise of Solemn Assemblies, asserts that if Protestantism in the U.S.A. continues along the lines of a "culture religion," what will be lost to it is the faith as such: "What does this defense of our religious establishment leave out? Our answer

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THE PROSPECTS FOR RENEWAL

And they were right. Twenty-odd years later, we are witnessing the loss in conspicuously concrete terms: lost members, lost young people, lost finances, and, especially, lost self-confidence. Protestant Christians for whom Bible and clear-cut doctrine (as well as true-blue Americanism!) matter most are finding new church homes among biblicist and fundamentalist groupings-the so-called Christian Right. Those for whom the primary importance of Protestantism is its ethical thrust, while they may retain their membership in the friendly churches of their youth, expend their energies elsewhere. Meanwhile, the struggling denominations and congregations turn to the technicians of church growth for succor and salvation and sometimes manage to postpone a little the great question of their purpose in the world.

Only a rudimentary theological renewal can alter the trajectory that has been set by the dynamics of Christendom over the past two centuries or more, namely, "the end of the Constantinian order." I do not believe that that end should be averted; it holds the promise of a new beginning. But that promise will be realized only if a genuine renewal of theology is able to lend intentionality and direction to the process of disestablish­ment. In this historical moment, Protestantism, as Tillich affirmed, is the most vulnerable form of informed thought that is the "modest science" (Barth) that we call theology, there is literally nothing that can hold it together.

Is such a theological renewal at all feasible? Perhaps, as the mainline churches dwindle and the question of their raison d'etre becomes more blatant, minorities within all the churches will be sufficiently alerted to "the seriousness of their situation" (Tillich) to risk truly basic things. "The owl of Minerva takes its flight at evening" (Hegel). To a limited extent, this has begun to happen. And perhaps, as more Christians contemplate the sins of denominationalism, classism, racism, and individu­alism, mainline Protestants will form new alliances with moderate evan­gelicals¹⁴ and progressive Catholics, and, in the process, begin to recover a gospel that is more than both law (ethics) and culture religion.¹⁵ And perhaps too, as Protestants engage in a more substantive dialogue with

will be quite simple: It leaves out the Christian faith" ([Garden City: Doubleday, 1961], p. 112).

¹⁴See the provocative essay "Evangelical Theology Today" by Mark Noll, Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., and David Wells in Theology Today, 51 (January, 1995), especially observation 1, pp. 504-505.
¹⁵See James H. Cone, Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation and Black Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), p. 166: "How can we, black and white together, build a just society if we do not know each other and do not share in the responsibility of breaking down the walls that separate us? How can Christians do theology, preach the gospel, and live in faithful obedience and not actively seek to create one community defined by justice and love rather than racism and hate?" See also Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Metaphors for the Contemporary Church (New York: Pilgrim, 1983), p. 154: "of all the possible metaphors for the church, the two that need to be heard today in the North American Protestant Church are the Poor and the Body of Christ."

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the other faith traditions that are increasingly visible in our context, they will of necessity become more articulate about their own faith tradition.

In any case, serious Christians have no alternative other than to believe that such a renewal is possible, and to work for it in whatever ways open to them. Protestantism is not eternal. Jesus Christ did not promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against Protestantism! But the Protestant spirit and principle (Tillich) is of the essence of Christianity; therefore, to abandon the once-mainline Protestant churches to their own confusion and the designs of the ideologues ought to be considered in some profound sense a sin against the Holy Spirit!