After reading James Davison Hunter’s To Change The World, and then Ken Wytsma’s Pursuing Justice, I’ve kept thinking about the idea of “changing the world” and the extent to which such a thing is, or is not, possible.
In a section on vocation and the Kingdom of God in Cornelius Plantinga’s excellent book Engaging God’s World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living (Eerdmans) he draws on the thinking of John Calvin, who noted that short of redemption and the experience of grace, we all have a tendency to oscillate between pride and despair. When we realize, however, that we’re incapable of doing anything on our own, our pride is (or ought to be) shattered. And when we grasp the good news that God’s grace and power are in no short supply, our despair begins to melt away. Redemption, in other words, frees us from performance anxiety.
Plantinga expands on this concept in terms of Christians’ approach to reforming culture, writing that while “changing the world” doesn’t depend on us, the world will in fact someday change, and we have every reason to want to get in on the action:
As a matter of fact, Christians have been put in a solid position where the reform of culture is concerned: we have been invited to live beyond triumphalism and despair, spending ourselves for a cause that we firmly believe will win in the end. So, on the one hand, we don’t need to take responsibility for trying to fix everything. The earth is the Lord’s, and he will save it. On the other hand, we may take responsibility for contributing what we uniquely have to contribute to the kingdom, joining with many others from across the world who are striving to be faithful, to add the work of their hands and minds to the eventual triumph of God.
In other words, we can be honest about our finitude without despairing. And we can get to work without thinking too highly of ourselves. I’ll take it.
Legit timing on this, friend! When talking about change in any context or magnitude, it can certainly be overwhelming when we think we have to do it alone. I run into this from the financial aspect of dealing with wealthy Americans … trying to change perspective is a daunting task. Gladly, I don’t have to do it alone
We’re reading his Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be on my blog- this idea is shadowed in that book as well of course, and I have a difficult time with it. There is this tension between accepted that we and the world are redeemed by Christ… But really, you could always be doing a little more / a little better. This is not a comforting or restful message!
Thanks for your comment, Mary. I think the Bible definitely leaves us living in the tension on this and a number of other matters. I’m not sure the flip side to being accepted and redeemed is “you could always be doing a little more / a little better.” That sounds to me like we’re partially accepted and the world is partially redeemed, and that it’s up to us to fill in the gaps. I think our role as Christians can be better understood as pointing to what God has done, is doing, and will do (to the best of our understanding, at least) in our lives and in our world. We “point” with words and deeds, but this “pointing” is the grateful response to God’s freely given grace, not a dutiful slog up a never-ending hill depending on our own power. That’s how I see things. Does that make sense?