| Jason Interview (1) | | Date Created: Oct 17, 2006, 11:24 AM |
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I was at the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity last night, either doing "story-telling" or "Narrative Theology" depending on your perspective. Afterwards, Jason Gardner was going to interview me. Except that, even with me cutting out bits of my presentation proper, there wasn't time.
His questions were good ones and I'd spent a little time thinking through my answers, so I thought perhaps I'd share them here.
JASON: In the opening of the Christian Life & the Bible DVD, you say that the Bible should be one book that needs no introduction. Yet Bible Society figures imply it may not be that familiar after all. Only 16% of Christians read it daily. What do you think is the root cause of that?
I think the reason for that is a complex one. I'm not sure that the Bible Society polls ask the right questions, but the statistics are instructional in any case. A low percentage read the Bible regularly. A high percentage watch TV and listen to music and go to films regularly.
This shows one of the huge differences between the modern and postmodern eras within the church. In the 1960s and 70s you had tons of evangelical Christians who knew their Bibles very well and the challenge facing thinking Christian leaders was how to get believers interested in relating to the people and culture around them.
Nowadays, you have tons of evangelical Christians who have no problem at all interacting with the culture around them but who don't know much about the Bible and the basis of their faith.
I'll say more about the root causes as we go on, but here's one of the problems: many contemporary Christian leaders are still fighting the battles of the 1960s -- a disconnected buried-in-their-bibles Christianity -- instead of confronting today's Christianity -- connected, but with underdeveloped roots.
We're at the point where 'go wider' is already happening. Hallelujah. Now we need to help with the 'go deeper.' It's great to show school kids the real world, but when you discover the problem is basic literacy, it's probably time to stop adding more field-trips and get back to the book. |
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