A TRANS-RELIGIOUS CHRISTIANITY

Benjamin Robinson | July 15, 2015

The cry for the deconstruction of the sacred-secular divide is undergirded by two very poignant observations. The first is that the divide between the sacred and the secular has had the effect of deadening the impact of the Christian worldview upon the broader culture. Rapper Lecrae alluded to this travesty in at a leadership conference in Irvin, CA a few years ago. “We (Christians) are great at talking about salvation and sanctification.” But, he continues, “we are clueless when it comes to art, ethics, science, and culture. Christianity is the whole truth about everything. It’s how we deal with politics. It’s how we deal with science. It’s how we deal with TV and art.”

The second observation is that the sacred-secular divide has led to the centralization of Christian activities to the “church building.” Since the “church building” is sacred space, the church building then becomes the only space in which we encounter God by engaging in worship, prayer, and the hearing of the word. The result is the production of a Christianity that is confined to the church house and is thus reduced to a set of norms–like lifting your hands and closing your eyes during prayer–which are only practiced in the physical location of the church building.

Sacred in Non-Sacred Spaces

In calling for a deconstruction of the sacred-secular divide, the contemporary Christian world is seeking both to make it possible for the Christian worldview to have a dramatic impact upon the world at large and to open us to the possibility of encountering God and worshipping him in “non-sacred” spaces. The result should be a renewed understanding of what it means to be a Christian outside of our Christian activities . . . a Christianity that is trans-religious.

By trans-religious, I do not mean non-religious or post-religious. I do not think Christianity can or should ever become less than a religion. Those who call for the abolishment of “religion” are simply operating under the pretense that their faith is completely devoid of any religious content. But this is not possible. A completely non-religious faith is no faith at all. A religion is “an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.” To say that Christianity should be completely non-religious is to say that it should be disorganized, non-propositional, and devoid of any sense of order, or standard.

While I do not believe that the true Christian faith can ever be non-religious, I am equally certain that it should never be exclusively religious. Christianity is a religion, but it is not just a religion. True Christian faith is trans-religious; while it includes an organized system of beliefs and cultural norms, it can never be reduced to these systemic components. The essence of the Christian faith is not religion; the essence of the Christian faith is a living relationship with Jesus Christ.

A Christian faith that is exclusively religious only works within the four walls of the church building. But a trans-religious expression of the Christian faith bursts the boundaries of the church house and becomes a very public spirituality.

A People, not a Place

The cry for the deconstruction of the sacred-secular divide emerges from the observation that contemporary Christianity has by and large replaced the church as an institution with the church as a people. We are supposed to be a praying people, but instead we have prayer meetings, and most of us only pray at the prayer meeting. We are supposed to be a worshipping people, but instead we have worship services, and the majority of us only worship at the worship services. We are supposed to be a people of the word and of the Spirit, but the majority of us have nothing to do with word and Spirit except when engaging in the calendared activities of the institutional church.

By no means am I suggesting that we cancel (or even diminish) any of the activities of the local church. In fact, most Christians need to beef up their commitment to the scheduled activities of the local church. They are of utmost importance! Instead of diminishing the activities of the local church, we need to transcend them. This is what it means to be trans-religious. If the only time you pray is at the prayer meeting, you are religious. If the only time you worship is at the worship service, you are religious. But if your participation in the prayer meeting is a corporate expression of a life-long, daily commitment to worship God in Spirit and in truth, you have transcended religion.

A Christian spirituality that bursts the bounds of the activities of the local church; this is the great cry of the hour. Truth in the inward parts. Acknowledging God in all of our ways so that he might make our paths straight. Walking in the light as he is in the light. This is not anti-religion; this is more than religion!