By Brad Brisco
Christendom is the term given to describe the religious culture that has dominated Western society since the fourth century when the Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Post-Christendom refers to the time after Christendom, when the church lost its place of power and influence.
When thinking about the decline of Christendom from a biblical perspective, many people turn to the metaphor of exile. It is popular to think about the post-Christendom church living as exiles, similar to the nation of Israel when taken into Babylonian captivity in 586 BC. There are certainly parallels between the contemporary Christian experience of displacement, uncertainly, and irrelevance and the struggles of the Jews in Babylon.[i] However, this may not be the best metaphor when considering the relationship between church and culture. The idea of exile presupposes a desire to be restored to a previous way of life. The exiled Jews hoped for a time when their lost nation would be reestablished. When applied to the church in a post-Christendom era it may lead some to place their hope in the return of Christendom. However, this is not what is needed today.
Instead, the church would be better served to look to the words of Jeremiah, the Prophet who spoke during the time of the Babylonian exile. Jeremiah challenged the Jews who had been taken into exile to withstand the desire to return to a restored Israel. He urged them to accept their new situation as the will of God, and to seek God’s blessing on those they perceived as their enemies. Jeremiah called on them to seek the welfare of the city where God had sent them into exile.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
~ Jeremiah 29:4-7
While the church today may feel a sense of exile, brought to a place of uncertainly and unfamiliarity, lets not desire to return to a time of Christendom. God is not calling us to return to things of old, but to participate in something completely new.
What do you think of when you hear the word “exile”? What do you think about its use as a metaphor of the church today?
How do the words of Jeremiah change the way you think about being exiled?
Adapted from Missional Essentials: A Guide For Experiencing God’s Mission
[i] Walter Brueggeman, Cadences of Home: Preaching among Exiles. Louisville: John Knox, 1997.
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Great blog Brad. Still need to work through “Missional Essentials” with the guys I am discipling, but looking forward to it more now after this post.I think you’re spot on brother. The Church shouldn’t desire to return to Christendom, but instead allow God to move in a new, unique, and New Testament way in the 21st Century. I think it would serve the Church in the West well to learn more about the ancient history of our faith as well as how believers in more hostile and unpredictable countries live holistically on worship and mission. With all the recent political turmoil regarding marriage, abortion, international relations, and the economy I keep scratching my head in amazement to why pastors and well meaning Christians want to stand up so aggressively in the fight for biblical principles in government. I am all about being “salt and light” to every area of society, but at the same time, want to remind these brothers and sisters that Christianity began at the margins and become institutional, hierarchical, and corrupt once supported by the state. Christendom isn’t the answer. Jesus is.
It has become more and more common lately to connect American churches and faith today with the Exile. It’s fun to imagine American believers as the faithful few like Daniel in Babylon, we love to use the verses from Jeremiah 29 as an “encouragement” to ourselves that God has a plan for us, and one day we will be saved and all things made right. I will admit it has a sexy appeal, but it is a misunderstanding of the story of the exile.
Your point seems to be that while “American Christians” are in exile that we should not hope for restoration of influence and power like the Jews did in the Babylonian Exile.
The Israelites have been brought out of slavery and brought to the land that God prepared for them. They were in Israel, the Temple had been build, and sacrifices were being given. But in their disobedience, continuous sin, idolatry, and injustice to those in need, the Assyrians were raised up to conquer the Northern Kingdom. Shortly after, the Babylonians conquered the Southern Kingdom. This was completely devastating. The Israelites were removed from the land that God had given them, the community was scattered, and they could no longer offer sacrifices at the Temple to atone for their sin.
Now let’s bring this to our day: We have not been exiled from a land, we have not been removed from the Temple (i.e. symbol for the presence of God), and we have not been removed from a system that atones for our sin. Rather, we have been sent to the “ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8), we are the Temple (1 Corinthians 6:19), and Jesus has atoned for our sin once and for all (1 John 2:2). To compare the current circumstances of the American Church with the Babylonian Exile is completely insensitive to those that actually experienced the exile, and we must seek to use Bible stories properly to encourage the people of God.
Your thoughts are welcomed because the teaching that we are in exile really concerns me.
This is very late to the conversation but it caught my eye because this is something I think about a lot. I think exile is an appropriate metaphor but not in the sense that we need to return to Christendom. I think exile is appropriate because it’s what we are experiencing spiritually because we’ve abandoned our missional purpose in North America. The prophets in the OT spoke of exile happening because the people of God had abandoned their purpose of being the light of the world/living faithfully to the covenant. So the idea of returning from exile was not returning to the way things were before, but a return to God and his purposes. So returning from exile would not be a return to Christendom but rather a return to the vitality that the church experiences when it lives out God’s missional and redemptive purposes in the world. This may take it a little far, and I’m more thinking out loud, but I think exile bears some similarities to our lamp stand being removed. Does that mean we aren’t Christians? I don’t think so, I just think it means we’ve abandoned our purpose and now we are feeling the effects of it.
Love the insights charlie!