Waiting for Gospel, by Douglas John Hall

Introduction

 

1.  Hall begins by announcing that “most of the once-powerful ecclesiastical institutions of North America will disappear entirely within the near future”…a conclusion recently corroborated by a team of researchers.  While the typical response is to look for more effective means of preserving the churches, Hall says, “The only thing that can salvage a moribund religion is a lively recovery of its life-giving essence…it is whether we are able to hear and to proclaim – gospel!” 

What signs and trends have you observed in recent years that point to this widespread decline in churches?  With many so-called “gospels” circulating and completing for our allegiance, which of them can truly be called “life-giving good news?”

 2.  Hall notes that this great recession of Westerners has created an empty void that no substitute can fill.  Religious and non-religious folk alike are quietly waiting and longing for something of genuine spiritual substance.  In the meantime, the old church bodies fail to speak to this inquietude…seemingly trapped in another time warp.  Hall labels this a systemic problem…an historical condition that has been brewing for centuries.  The great cultic clock of Western history called Christendom is at the end of its life…its pendulum barely swinging.  Those in the minority who continue to look up…are waiting for gospel (and not just the same old same old)! 

How is the steady religious decline in the U.S. becoming more homogenous with European attitudes, values, and trends?  Why is this happening here and now?

3.  Next, and rightly so, Hall lays into evangelical aggressiveness.  Can I get an “Amen?”  Such proselytizing systems and behaviors have never been effective or welcome.  Hall observes, “established churches are prevented from proclaiming gospel precisely on account of their establishment, or the remnants of the same!”  His conclusion: “We are shallow…and must go much, much deeper than our superficial routines!  No one is to blame; everyone is to blame.”  Also contributing is the inevitable dumbing down of theological thought, dialogue, and biblical studies…resulting in simplistic slogans, abbreviated discourse, and ultimately worship as mere entertainment.  Ugh!

 So…let’s look again at our rapidly shifting cultural attitudes, priorities, and behaviors.  How have they re-shaped our religious landscape (for better and for worse)? 

 4.  Hall persists, “In my opinion, the evangelical, biblicist, fundamentalist takeover of biblical and theological language is one of the most deplorable aspects of contemporary North American Christianity.”  Them’s fightin’ words, alright!  But I couldn’t agree more.  “It constitutes an almost insurmountable barrier to all thoughtful Christian theology that wishes to be true to the best insights…”  “The point then, I contend, is not to behave as if these ancient biblical and historical categories were optional.  It is rather to find ways of thinking, speaking, and writing about them that at once puzzles and intrigues those who are…waiting for gospel.” 

 Let’s take a moment to look at our own preferences and behaviors.  How have your own religious patterns of late been influenced and re-shaped by current cultural trends (again, for better and for worse)?

 5.  Finally, Hall recognizes “two problems that pinpoint the failure of liberal and moderate Protestantism to address the human quest for gospel: 1) the substitution of moral or ethical counsel for gospel; and 2) the neglect of personal life in favor of attention to the public sphere.”

Let’s use our remaining time to further examine and unpack these two powerful statements.  Where do they hit home?