1923

I keep forgetting this book was published in 1923…

There have been several sentences in this book that I simply am just completely baffled by. Whyyyyy is this written for posterity? Also, there are a few points that seem completely opposite to culture today. This doesn’t describe what is happening today…

Qualms aside, let’s take a look at some of the main points in chapter three of Christianity & Liberalism.

First, Machen talks about how liberalism has caused Christians to reduce Christianity to a feeling of spiritualism. “It is unnecessary, we are told, to have a “conception” of God; theology, or the knowledge of God, it is said, is the death of religion; we should not seek to know God, but should merely feel His presence.” (47, Machen) This has been the complete opposite of my experience and education. So many churches are so concerned about being theologically correct, truth being held above relationship with God and others, and issues being apologetically defended that we can miss God’s grace and love that is inseparable with his truth and justice. Maybe in 1923, were churches less concerned with apologetics, but in this time, churches are sorely lacking the experiential and relational aspect of Christianity.

Further on this point, I did appreciate how he addresses that God is a personal God. I wish he would have included a story of God’s faithfulness or personal relationship with himself but that is a personal preference. I did appreciate his quote on page 49, “On the contrary, it was a relation to a real Person, whose existence was just as definite and just as much a subject of theoretic knowledge as the existence of the religion of Jesus was a triumphant belief in the real existence of a personal God.” (49, Machen)

Second, Machen inserts his own interpretation of Luke 15, the story of the Prodigal Son into his analysis of culture. His argumentation style is unconvincing on this point and his interpretation begs for a deeper look. In the midst of reading about this, I had to keep reminding myself that this was written in 1923, and Christianity and culture would have looked much different than today. Reading this and reminding myself of the time differences makes me wonder how much our culture impacts our understanding and interpretation of theology.
Till the next chapter...

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