One of the most overlooked failures of evangelical (and mainline to a certain extent) theology in the last century is its inability to connect people with the world they live in. For the most part, it has built its main argument on the premise that we live in a fallen world beyond hope of repair. It does that so in the second breath, it can say that God is the only solution. In other words, it exacerbates the problem so it can better sell a solution. After all, a world that is intrinsically good needs no saving.
By building its argument as a sales pitch for the salvation of the soul, Christian theology left a legacy of disengagement. It has often produced disciples as the saying goes: ‘too heavenly minded to be any earthly good.’ It is great for filling stadiums and auditoriums but terrible for producing civic engagement. This is not to say that Christians in general, and evangelicals more in specific, have not engaged in productive action to help the common good. It is, however, to recognize that this came in spite of not because of this prevailing ethos that narrowly focuses on after-life fire insurance.
Oftentimes, civic engagement was a means to the goal of preaching salvation. Hence, public theology for this new decade, must re-define and re-orient this ethos of service away from being a means to being an end. Instead, it should see serving the world as the goal, a tangible incarnated reflection of our worship to the Creator. Because God ‘so loved’ the world, we, in turn, love the world too.
The world here is not just human beings but our whole planet, everything about this rock in our galaxy. Hence, we love this planet enough to work with people from all faiths to address human-generated climate change. We need to include notions of sustainability in our concept of holiness. The righteous person is the one who not only cares for their human neighbor but also for the global neighborhood. If we fail at loving the ground we live on, loving other humans may be a mute point if our planet cannot sustain life.
Of course, turning our gaze to the world also means loving other humans. I believe we demonstrate this best by how we love both the marginalized and the very people that oppose us. Let’s also be honest: to be opposed for supporting or failing to challenge systems that oppress the poor, the different and the stranger is not the type of persecution we should be after. Yet, regardless of how or why we are opposed, loving our adversaries is at the heart of the Christian faith.
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