Retaking Mars Hill

A closer look reveals that Paul was not building bridges to the popular culture on Mars Hill. Touchstone senior editor Russell D. Moore uses what Paul really said there to suggest how Christians might engage American culture.

Paul did not start speaking in Athens with a “common ground” idea of a generic god, and then reason along to Jesus. He started with the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth, proclaiming among the Gentile philosophers exactly what he had proclaimed among the Jewish rabbis: that God had raised him from the dead. Where Paul starts is also where he ends: with the guarantee that God will bring about judgment found in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (Acts 17:31).

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Comments

[Seth R.]

I pretty-much think the article is spot-on. Why turn church into something that the worshipers can get elsewhere, and at better quality? That's a fast-track for social irrelevance.

But on the other hand, we have to be careful with talking up the "in-your-face" aspect of the Biblical heroes, like Paul, Elijah, John the Baptist, and of course Christ himself. Too many religious take such examples as license to essentially act like self-righteous jerks.

What about the "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" crowd who harass military funerals to send the message that the Iraq War casualties are a result of America's embrace of homosexuality? I'm sure they think they're just having their own "Mars Hill" moment. "Oooh, look here! Jesus said mean things. That means I can say mean things too!"

Well, not quite...

[Drew M.]

On a similar note, I think many Christians misapply Peter's admonition to always be ready to give a reason/defense/apology for their hope. They seem to think that this verse means we must know all the different strategies of apologetics, be familiar with all the latest debates on Darwinism vs. I.D. and so on in order to win unbelievers to Christ. These are the more brainy pop-culture-savvy Christians, but like those mentioned in the Dr. Moore's article, forget about the whole gospel proclaiming part. Far too much emphasis is placed on getting the listener to adopt a theistic worldview instead of an atheistic (or something similar) than on proclaiming the death and resurrection of Christ. Also, many of these people seem to forget what Peter said to be ready to give a reason for...their HOPE. I'm not sure but I think our hope is "in Christ alone," to quote my favorite hymn, not in whether or not Darwin is wrong. I'm not so sure giving a reason for Christian hope is anything more than sharing the gospel story.

[Nick]

High props for getting so many modern cultural references Dr. Moore. The article totally teh pwned. :)