Institutional Christianity seems fearful of inquiry, fearful of freedom, fearful of knowledge – indeed fearful of anything except its own repetitious propaganda, which has its origins in a world that none of us any longer inhabits.
John Shelby Spong (1)
After retiring as bishop, John Shelby Spong told us Why Christianity Must Change or Die, speaking as someone in exile from a church that was alienated from modern reality. I would like to add “Why is change so difficult?” and answer from the perspective of history in combination with science.
My answer, in short, is: because we live in an age of hyper change as the incredible growth of evidence-based knowledge along with its application through technological innovation often overpowers human capacity for absorbing change. Resorting to denial and narratives filled with “alternative facts” indicates cultural trauma – and Christianity has been a sensitive indicator of traumatic resistance to new forms of truth.
Before examining hyper change, we will discuss new concepts of time emerging from the combination of historical and scientific study. Readers should also know that I am especially interested in the field of Big History as it helps understand world religions and the Judeo-Christian tradition.
Convergence of Science and History.
When science and history are combined, the result is not “scientific history” or “social science.” The two forms of history plus science growing in importance are Deep History and Big History.
Leopold von Ranke, a pioneer of professional historical standards, saw his work as scientific when it relied on official written sources of Venetian diplomats to describe “what really happened.” Evolving better principles for basing history on evidence has been a hallmark of professional history. Ranke’s use of literary evidence was expanded, especially as social sciences like economics, demographics, and statistics were introduced into narratives; yet professional history continued to distinguish between “history” that began with writing and “pre-history” as everything before human writing. Deep History and Big History have demolished limitations on evidence and enlarged history far beyond what had been a miniscule period in the story of the universe and planet Earth.
Deep History is a new term for the variety of historical and scientific fields that push knowledge of humanity, life, and planetary conditions increasingly further back in time. Geology, climatology, anthropology, and archaeology have long traditions of pushing knowledge to earlier periods. Biology is now making enormous contributions through genetic research and genetic archaeology.
Professional history relied on periodization (ancient, medieval, modern) starting from the origin of complex societies and their written sources. Dating becomes far more remote and complicated when history includes the geological periods going back 4.5 billion years, or the 8-9 million years needed to follow evolution of hominids and periods based on tools used by Homo sapiens. Time markings change from BCE and CE (which replaced BC and AD) to thousands (k), millions (m), and billions (b or g) of years Before the Present (BP). Putting this new vision of dating together leads to interesting charts, like the one in Deep History: The Architecture of Past and Present. (2)
Professional history, like the ancient story-telling from which it emerged, assumed human exceptionalism. Some writers of Deep History are antagonistic to our traditional species-centered values, making ethics supported by the Genesis creation accounts special targets for attack. Denigrating Christian views is not a purpose of Deep History itself; nevertheless, the probing of evolutionary relationships within the great apes and describing long histories of other hominids (such as the 2-million-year span for Homo erectus) calls into question traditional human-centric values in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The persuasiveness of the evidence, even without interpretations that directly challenge biblical accounts, undermines the viability of Genesis as history.
The second combination of science with history is Big History, whose theme is the emergence of order and complexity since the Big Bang. Moving forward from chaotic beginnings, this narrative brings in all sciences to describe the emergence of order. One of the accomplishments of Big History is showing the absurdity of excluding evolution of the universe prior to human origin from the definition of history.
Big History narratives move forward in time, covering greater expanses than Deep History and using the same modifications to dating notation. New periodization markers have been adopted to make large time spans comprehensible. The college text Big History: Between Nothing and Everything divides time into eight thresholds, which are dramatic leaps in the overall complexity of the universe. The early transition points affect the entire universe. But then come the thresholds of life on earth and evolution of humanity. The narrative becomes more species-centered as the most recent thresholds lead to human distinctiveness; to the development of agriculture and the resulting complex societies; and finally the transition to industrial society based on capitalism, science, and applied technology. (3)
Periodization by leaps in complexity is extremely helpful in understanding history as a two-sided coin. Each advance in complexity brings new arrangements of order that make an increased range of achievements possible; but each upward movement has a dark side bringing more danger and greater risk of collapse because of increased fragility.
Human distinctiveness began perhaps 100k BP with a Cognitive Revolution making possible more complex communication, group organization, and collective learning. About 11k BP, a species that had lived for over 200k as hunter-gatherers began to settle down and rely on agriculture. This led to hierarchical societies in which small elites dominated peasant farmers and built early societies with the advantage of writing to enhance collective learning. About 400 years ago Europe began developing an industrial-based society. Nine thousand years of agricultural societies had not overcome the dominance, oppression, and organized violence that made them very different from the less organized and more leisurely hunter-gather style of life. Industrial life brought greater possibilities for accomplishment along with tremendous danger of greater regimentation of daily life.
The Bible and beliefs of the Judeo-Christian tradition are products of agricultural societies and the elites then in power. It is the transition to industrial society that has called into question traditional values regarded as “eternal truth” based on revelation and backed by authoritarian power structures. Political struggles in the United States since the Civil War have often centered around the difficulty of changing societal attitudes toward the poor and unemployed to see them as a responsibility of industrial society rather than being immoral, lazy, and unworthy based on values of agricultural societies.
An overpowering yet often ignored aspect of industrial society is the way it accelerates change. Big History points to the growth of scientific knowledge, in alliance with capitalism that drives application of new technologies, that makes acceleration of change a key factor in modern society. Everyone is aware of change, especially as consumers grab up innovative and life changing products with increasing eagerness. Life today is filled with products we depend on that are upgraded or dramatically transformed routinely. Recognizing the importance of hyper change is becoming increasingly necessary.
Living with Hyper Change.
Combining science and history has dramatically changed our images of time. Big History moves forward from the origin of time in giant leaps called transitions. Since the beginning of the industrial period, accelerating trends are represented in graphs of largescale change (world population, resource depletion, or growth of carbon in the atmosphere and oceans) that move dramatically upward at increasing rates over short periods of time.
Here’s a new image. Think of time since the Industrial Revolution as Mount Everest. Industrial change set off an avalanche near the summit that increased in volume and speed as it descended from the top. This is no small or self-contained event. As it descends, the avalanche keeps growing in expanse and volume as it also gains speed. Now look down and notice that time, as a mountain, has NO BOTTOM. There is nothing visible to stop the avalanche as it expands and accelerates indefinitely. This is what is meant by the term hyper change.
David Christian called attention to accelerated change in Maps of Time, his monumental introduction to Big History.
On the cosmological scale, changes occur mostly at the stately pace of millions or even billions of years. In the biological realm, where natural selection sets the pace, significant alternations take place on scales ranging from thousands to millions of years. In human history, shaped increasingly by cultural change, the pace is more rapid.… The extraordinary dynamism of the Modern Revolution has accelerated the pace of global historical change once more. Time itself seems to have been compressed in the twentieth century. (4)
The changes that occurred in the twentieth century are, by many measures, greater than the changes that took place in all previous eras of human history.… The acceleration in the pace and scale of change is perhaps the most striking and (for contemporaries) the most frightening aspect of twentieth-century history. (5)
A notable feature of modern life is a sense that everything has speeded up. Efficiency has been the watchword of business as technology compresses many jobs into fewer and fewer that do more and more – and multitasking has become an inescapable fact of life. Distracted driving is one symptom of how people live on adrenaline, trying to do several things at once. At work we are jugglers of more and more duties without increased pay. In most aspects of life, we are inescapably connected to phones, television, or social media so that we stay “plugged in” and overstimulated.
Life in an environment of hyper change is exhilarating as we seek out the newest trend or gadget. But it is also dangerous because of unanticipated consequences – or results that could have been foreseen if we had adopted technologies more slowly. Advertising, for example, has thrived in our consumer economy. We have grown accustomed to being manipulated through ever-present ads. Sesame Street showed how short videos modeled on advertisements could be used for education through simplification, repetition, and entertainment geared to short attention spans. One result is that now students expect education to be indistinguishable from entertainment. Sophisticated political advertising has manipulated emotions so that elections no longer deal with issues or anything calling for thought. Most recently our hunger for convenience through social media shared massive amounts of personal data that was sold and weaponized to undermine democratic values by poisoning and undermining elections.
Two important factors are driving hyper change – incredible growth in evidence-based knowledge through scientific and historical discoveries; and the transformation of that knowledge into marketable products by an increasingly powerful capitalism driven by ever larger and more powerful international corporations.
American society has reacted with a love/hate set of responses to consequences of hyper change, two of which could be labeled conservative. The one calling itself “Conservative,” which identifies with the Republican party, too often rejects evidence that goes against preferred traditional morality and religious belief; yet they also embrace the unfettered march of capitalism that keeps overwhelming traditional structures with technology transforming every aspect of daily life. Deregulation of business, the latest form of old fashioned laissez faire commitment to business freedom, has been coupled with preservation of traditional morality and religion in a paradoxical and ultimately self-defeating alliance.
Those on the other side of the equation are referred to as liberal or progressive because they favor more governmental involvement in adjusting to changes necessitated by industrial society. These people are also conservative as they try to slow down new technologies to determine their impact and side effects, or even reverse directions in society when proof emerges of damage to the environment, consumers, or groups of people because of race, gender, or ethnic identifiers.
American conservative groups are known for denying foundational scientific and historical discoveries. “Counter narratives” or “alternative facts” relying on emotion and denial of evidence-based truth have been popular reactions, unlike the “principled conservatism” argued in the past by people like William F. Buckley. This phenomenon is seen in Southern resistance to Reconstruction with a false narrative now recognized as the “Lost Cause Interpretation.” The fundamentalist movement that came together in the 1920s and emerged as the Religious Right from the 50s onward emphasized resistance to Darwin and then “moral relativism” associated with Einstein’s discoveries. An industry of museums promoting Genesis creation accounts has been supported as a form of Christian morality. This has culminated most recently in cable networks that are openly propagandistic with “news” supporting conservative religious, political, and social views – even to the extent of endorsing presidential statements that are transparently false and made with slanderous intent.
Popular culture among younger generations has also boosted preference for alternate realities. Video games and movies are successful as they draw younger audiences into increasingly bizarre and hyper-violent imaginary worlds. New technologies for experiencing virtual reality or augmented reality, along with hours spent on phones or social media with people not physically present, are pushing youth away from normal experience of daily face-to-face relationships.
Strategies for enjoying or coping with social impacts of hyper change too often lead either to denial of evidence-based knowledge or refuge in imaginary realities made to seem real by new technologies.
Fundamentalism and Trauma.
In the Battle for God, Karen Armstrong studied the emergence of Protestant fundamentalism in the twentieth century along with fundamentalisms in Islam and Judaism. She compared the challenges facing religion since the emergence of industrialization with those of the Axial Age (700-200 BCE) which produced Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism. Each of the fundamentalisms, she said, presented themselves as conservative yet they are essentially modern responses that resist combining secularism and scientific rationalism.
The economic changes over the last four hundred years have been accompanied by immense social, political, and intellectual revolutions, with the development of an entirely different, scientific and rational, concept of the nature of truth … (6)
Armstrong’s discussion is an example of intellectual history, examining the ideas and leading spokespersons of the fundamentalisms. The essence of the problem, in her view, is loss of appreciation of the mythical, symbolic, and liturgical aspects of religion (which she called mythos) as non-rational aspects of religion are combined with the rational (logos) through extremely literal interpretations of scripture as if it were meant to be factual. Each fundamentalism, she maintains, leads to an ideology for political attacks on liberal opponents.
Nevertheless, she recognizes that intellectual arguments do not capture the essence of fundamentalisms. They represent “embattled forms of spirituality” responding to “a perceived crisis” representing a “cosmic war between the forces of good and evil.” (7) There is an emotional foundation, she says, to all the fundamentalisms.
During the middle of the twentieth century, fundamentalists in all three of the monotheistic faiths were beginning to retreat from the mainstream society to create counter-cultures that reflected the way they thought things ought to be. They were not simply withdrawing out of pique, but were often impelled to do so by horror and fear. It is important that we understand the dread and anxiety that lie at the heart of the fundamentalist vision, because only then will we begin to comprehend its passionate rage, its frantic desire to fill the void with certainty, and its conviction of ever-encroaching evil. (8)
Propagandistic counter narratives are used to defend these counter cultures. Armstrong failed to mention the connection between Protestant fundamentalism in the South and the “Lost Cause” interpretation of the Civil War. Protestant ministers promoted opposition to the social tampering attempted during Reconstruction by supporting the claim that violation of Southern rights, not slavery, was the cause of the war. They defended policies oppressing African-Americans as biblical, using many of the same arguments they employed to support slavery and the “Southern way of life” before the war. Variations on this counter narrative were expressed in opposition to civil rights legislation in the 50s and 60s. The connection between fundamentalism and racial injustice continues today even though many of the visible indicators of prejudice have disappeared.
It was surely no accident that the Roaring Twenties were when overwhelming social changes of industrialization and Protestant fundamentalism became prominent. After two decades of Progressive reforms, Americans voted into office Republicans who rejected international involvement, recently seen in World War I, and promised a return to “Normalcy,” in other words “the good old days.” A national boom led by automobile manufacturing and a surging stock market led to shocking violations of traditional morality.
Henry Ford’s automobile, coming off his production line in large numbers in the 1920s, was probably the most destabilizing innovation prior to the Internet. Paying his workers a wage that allowed them to buy cars boosted the economy and transformed it into a consumer-based engine prompting neighbors to buy the newest hot thing to “keep up with the Joneses.” Women had just been successful in gaining the vote and in shutting down saloons through Prohibition. Now young “flappers” cut their hair, wore short dresses, danced immodestly to jazz music, and went with men to illegal speakeasies. The automobile gave young people increased independence as they escaped adult supervision and enjoyed new sexual freedom in the privacy of the automobile.
The 20s were a time when the KKK, an instrument of racial terrorism born to oppose Reconstruction, spread nationwide as immigrants became targets along with Jews and Catholics. An estimated 30,000 KKK marchers demonstrated in Washing D.C. in 1925, a year after impacting deliberations at the conventions of Republicans and Democrats. Then the 1927 Scopes trial in Tennessee became a national showcase for fundamentalist rejection of science in favor of biblical literalism.
Kevin M. Kruse, in One Nation Under God, documented the emergence of Protestant evangelicalism from the crises of the Great Depression, New Deal, and World War II, with a religious revival in the 50s based on an alliance between fundamentalists and big business. Franklin Roosevelt’s dramatic social reforms appealed to the Social Gospel, said Kruse, to justify the welfare state through belief in “Christianity as a faith concerned less with personal salvation and more with the public good.” (9) But the New deal was opposed by a carefully fostered relationship between conservative religion and capitalism, which Kruse called “Christian libertarianism,” and which “saw Christianity and capitalism as inextricably intertwined and argued that spreading the gospel of one required spreading the gospel of the other.” (10) This became the foundation of “Eisenhower spirituality” in the 50s as public life became notable for prayer and other public markers of religious observance. Out of this development came propaganda declaring that America had always been a “Christian Nation.”
The person associated with the emerging spirituality of the 50s was Billy Graham, whose crusades in large cities, subsequently aided by use of modern media, projected him as the face of evangelical Christianity. The emotional underpinning of the new public spirituality was expressed by Graham in an autobiographical record of doubts assailing him prior to his breakthrough crusade in Los Angeles in 1949. A product of Wheaton College, Graham was versed in literalist biblical study. A friend made him aware of problems with biblical infallibility. Graham recorded his prayer and decision before going forward with his crusade.
The exact wording of the prayer is beyond recall, but it must have echoed my thoughts: ‘O God! There are many things in this book I do not understand. There are many problems with it for which I have no solution. There are many seeming contradictions. There are some areas in it that do not seem to correlate with modern science. I can’t answer some of the philosophical and psychological questions Chuck and others are raising.’
I was trying to be on the level with God, but something remained unspoken. At last the Holy Spirit freed me to say it. ‘Father, I am going to accept this as thy Word – by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be Your inspired Word.’
When I got up from my knees at Forest Home that August night, my eyes were stung with tears. I sensed the presence and power of God as I had not sensed it in months. Not all my questions were answered, but a major bridge had been crossed. In my heart and mind, I knew a spiritual battle in my soul had been fought and won. (11)
Spiritual battles became ever more prominent in the Civil Rights demonstrations of the 50s and 60s which came to be led by African-American Evangelical Protestants. Not allied with capitalist leadership, African-American programs coupled Social Gospel values with traditional concerns for individual salvation. Opposition between biblical literalism and science were played down as long neglected human needs came to the forefront.
The social protests against the Vietnam War and ever accelerating student resistance to all forms of authority made the 60s seem a time of change out of control. The national mood, as in 1920, swung to more conservative political candidates; yet disruptive technologies like television promoted awareness of injustices and the proliferation of more open sexuality. Protestant Evangelicals responded with calls for traditional family values and organized to fight “moral relativism.”
Stepping back from the battles over ideas and movements in the twentieth century, we can see the avalanche of hyper change coursing through American life. Various forms of denial can be detected, especially in evangelicalism, to combat unwanted change – yet Americans eagerly snapped up the cars, telephones, televisions, oral contraceptives, and personal computers that kept turning old patterns on their head.
Cultural and intellectual histories portray reactions based on fear and denial of evidence-based truth as reasoned positions to be examined or as movements with an underlying rational explanation. My argument is that the perspective of Big History makes us aware of irrational consequences of hyper change.
Trauma is a relatively new diagnosis for the physical and mental consequences of war and severe personal injury. Medical treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is replacing the kind of fear and moral judgment previously experienced by victims of trauma, mirroring the change in attitude as addictions became medical problems rather than moral failures. In a recent segment on 60 Minutes, Oprah Winfrey discussed the work of Dr. Bruce Perry with childhood trauma that may lie behind a great many social problems that become manifest later in life. Oprah says it has changed her entire outlook on how to examine social issues. (12)
I believe that recognizing the increasing problems caused by hyper change is an important product of Big History. Recognizing the proliferation of counter narratives, most of which are propaganda founded on denial and fear of truth, as forms of social trauma not very different from what we are learning about Post-Traumatic Stress may lead to constructive methods for coping with unrelenting change.
Reason for Hope?
The writings of John Shelby Spong have attacked all varieties of Christianity but are especially relevant to Evangelical Christianity. The Sins of Scripture (2006) and most recently Unbelievable (2018), hit evangelicals with blunt force trauma; but Spong has been ignored by evangelicals who do not listen to criticisms from outside their fold.
My role as historian does not involve offering a cure for the trauma of hyper change. As a Progressive Christian who grew up as an Evangelical Christian, I look for positive approaches to the challenge of our time. If Christianity reflects cultural trauma, perhaps constructive therapies for coping can also emerge from religion. My personal view is that hope can be found where groups heed the message of Jesus to serve God through service to others, by caring for “the least of these” as members of the human family. Thus, I am encouraged when I see religious groups and individuals following the 8 Principles of Progressive Christianity.
Three sources of hope I see in Evangelical Christianity are: Francis Collins, the New Baptist Covenant, and David Gushee.
Francis Collins is an outstanding medical doctor and scientist who led the Human Genome Project and then the National Institutes of Health. In The Language of God, Collins sought to reconcile Evangelical Christianity with modern science. The book opens with an account of his conversion experience as the result of working with terminally ill patients. His religious convictions are clearly on display as he explains genetics and how it substantiates Darwinian evolution. His book is an easily read explanation of difficult science that is also a plea for fellow Christians to recognize truth based on evidence. His later book, The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions,written with Karl Giberson, provided answers to the many questions generated by Collins’s first book that were sent to the BioLogos website. Through BioLogos, Collins and others are seeking to build support for science among Evangelical Christians.
In 2007, the New Baptist Covenant (NBC) was formed with the leadership of President Jimmy Carter and in cooperation with Mercer University. The NBC concentrates on action rather than belief “to champion the weak and oppressed, honor the diverse workings of the Holy Spirit and to share the love of Christ.” They encourage Covenants of Action that bring together “churches from different racial and ethnic backgrounds to build relationships with each other and work together to create positive change in the community beyond their churches.” Opposing racial injustice has been a special concern of NBC, as indicated in their support of the “Unite to End Racism” events in April, 2018, to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination.
In 2010, the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer launched a Center for Theology and Public Life, which recognizes values of the NBC while engaging in current social and political issues. The CTPL states its values as: “The common good – moral passion – love of neighbor – service to the marginalized – human dignity – these are the themes taken up by Center events.”
David P. Gushee, the founding director of the CTPL, came from within the ranks of evangelical leadership. In his autobiographical Still Christian: Following Jesus Out of American Evangelicalism, Gushee described ties with evangelicalism and how his life changed since arriving at Mercer. The decisive event was publication in 2014 of Changing Our Mind in which he called for acceptance of Gay Christians, setting off reactions that have led to new editions to respond to critics. Gushee also addressed Christian unrest on a range of current issues in A Letter to My Anxious Christian Friends (2016). Through his voice, we see an effort to face the problems of hyper change rather than hide in outmoded beliefs and illusions.
As a graduate of the Mercer of fifty years ago, I am one of many that are proud of a religious tradition giving priority to truth over illusion and to living the message of Jesus to love God by serving others. Our professors ingrained a tradition that supported the messages of prophets like Martin Luther King, Jr, and Will Campbell. Although a great many of us are no longer Baptists, we value a tradition that expects Christian beliefs to recognize and adjust to evidence-based knowledge even in confusing times.
The voices that have been identified as sources for hope have focused on actions more than belief. In a time of hyper change when it is increasingly difficult to find sources of stability, following Jesus in acts of loving service can be a coping strategy. Healing was at the heart of Jesus’s public ministry. Perhaps new understanding of the message of Jesus to Galilean Jews, rather than later theological and political doctrines, can guide us as we live within continuing hyper change.
Notes:
About the Author
Dr. Edward G. Simmons was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1943. A graduate of Mercer University, he earned both an M.A. and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. Dr. Simmons taught history at Appalachian State University until he was drafted to serve during the Vietnam era. Stationed in California, South Dakota, and then Georgia, he served in the Air Force. Following his military tenure, Dr. Simmons became an expert in the field of organizational management as a result of thirty-four years of service for the Georgia Department of Human Resources, during which he continued to teach history part-time at local colleges in addition to consulting for top-level managers in various state organizations. In retirement, he teaches history part-time at Georgia Gwinnett College and Brenau University. He is the author of Talking Back to the Bible: A Historian’s Approach to Bible Study.
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