On Becoming Post-Gnostic
By Steve Lewis |
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With all the hype surrounding the public discovery of the gospel of Judas and the Da Vinci Code, gnosticism has been in play quite a bit lately. It's caused me to do a bit of thinking about the degree to which gnosticism is working itself out in Christianity these days. I've heard a good lot of arguments from emerging church folks that criticize the modern evangelical church of gnosticism in its reliance on scientific methods of discovery, which pave the way to a higher knowledge of God. This, of course, is exacerbated by the best-selling books that give formulas for prayer and “spiritual growth,” which promise to lead to new levels of enlightenment. The implicit message is that there are a few special keys – only recently discovered, mind you – that will certainly unlock all the hidden blessings that we know we deserve. This kind of stuff is a turnoff to many of us.
However, to be honest, I've also observed (in myself and others) a kind of smugness within the emerging church circles. While it is true that we have been awakened to a lot of the broken ways of thinking that modernity and mainstream evangelicalism have brought about, I believe we need to be careful here. When I have conversations with emerging types about the state of the church in North America, it seems that we tend to fancy ourselves as those who have figured stuff out to the degree that we've arrived at some higher state of spiritual awareness. Of course, we'd never state it in those terms, but I have to wonder if there's not some of that going on just below the surface. Is that not a gnostic way of thinking?
Let me stress a couple things here: first, I'm talking primarily about potential, and second, I'm talking only about attitudes, and not theology or teaching. The truth is that the emerging church potential for gnostic thought or theology or practice is no more or less present than its modernistic predecessors. But we make a mistake if we congratulate ourselves for getting past whatever hang-ups we may have observed in the church culture from which we are emerging. We need humility in realizing that we’re still not getting it right. Thirty or forty years from now I suspect that we’ll look back and laugh at some of the silly stuff we bought into. We’re trying hard here, and we mean well, but hey, we screw do up a lot.
The point is that we often spend far too much time and energy on talking (or in the case of bloggers, typing). The talking is of value for many --- this ride we're on is getting more and more riders all the time, and it's important to remember that we were all beginners at one point or another. The talking helps us sort out a lot of the assumptions we've made along the way, and do so in a community (virtual or physical). However, at some point, we've got to get beyond just talk. Some of the people I respect the most in this grand journey are those who were active members of the conversation for a good long time, but then went quiet on their blogs and public appearances. Why? Because they discovered that the only way to get to the next level in this process was to try to work it out on a local, physical level, rather than merely in the communal space of the blogosphere. Ironically, they've done the stuff that is actually worth talking about and have much to teach the rest of us, but they've found the comfort of working below the radar so appealing that they've chosen to stay quiet. Perhaps some day they'll find their way back into a more public role --- who knows?
So wherever you are on your journey --- pre-emerging, emerging, nevergonnabeemerging --- take your time to talk and relate and grow. But don't miss your opportunity to work it out. That's the real way to avoid gnosticism. Get into the practice of it.
 Steve Lewis lives in Kirkland, Washington with his wife Michelle. He is a campus minister at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he is developing a holistic missional learning experience called inter::mission. He enjoys reading, writing, music, art, and good coffee. He has been blogging at www.stevespot.blogspot.com for four years. |
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Since when was the "reliance on scientific methods of discovery, which pave the way to a higher knowledge of God" so bad a thing. Surely all of us should be doing all we can to explore our relationship with God. Someone once described reality as 'That which continues to exist, after you've stopped believing in it'. and if we are not 'off with the fairies' then our faith does not have to be found in doctrines and texts, but is also alive and around us in all that we experience and feel. What is this antipathy to 'Scios' - to knowing, or to Gnosis. We are not talking about a religion here, or a doctrine, just a way of knowing. Give us a break from that old time religion - please!
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