Anti-Climacus

ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESIS: Reportage on the subject of religion is frequently entertaining. This TNR piece is no exception. If one overlooks its central claim, the article is an interesting look into the process of growth in the spiritual lives of Christians: what makes an evangelical move to another form of Christianity? But instead, we get:

"While it's unlikely that the Orthodox Church--which, according to the best estimate, has only 1.2 million American members--will ever pose any sort of existential threat to evangelical Christianity in the United States, it is significant nonetheless that a growing number of Southern Baptists and Presbyterians and Assemblies of God members have left the evangelical fold, turning to a religion that is not only not American, but not even Western. Their flight signals a growing dissatisfaction among some evangelicals with the state of their churches and their complicated relationship with the modern world."

Well, okay. I mean, I'm fairly certain people leave churches for other churches all the time, and the causality involved is idiosyncratic and complicated. A little closer:

"But, at the same time, with its belief in the importance of saving lost souls, evangelicalism hasn't been able to completely divorce itself from modern culture--and, in the latter half of the twentieth century, it began to increasingly try to employ or co-opt aspects of the modern world in its efforts to lure "seekers" and others to the faith."

Alternative hypothesis: evangelicalism is entirely about trying to bring people to faith who previously have not had much (or any) experience with Christianity ('evangelism' and all that). Unsurprisingly, a number of them will not stay in that environment. For some, it will be matters of style and form (prefering liturgy and ritual to the more free-flowing evangelical/charismatic-style services), and for others, theology. Non-denominationalism, when it works, is a good thing; but people do have serious differences on questions of justification, works, interpretation, etc etc. It stands to reason that the more a person devotes themselves to studying these subjects, the more likely they are to develop firm opinions, and thence to seek out people who share their beliefs.

But even if the Orthodox church really was going to supplant evangelical churches, it still wouldn't be an 'existential threat.' From the non-denominational perspective, it's a conservation of mass. Evangelicals are orthodox, but so are the Orthodox, Catholics, Anglicans, etc. The differences matter, but they're all still Christians--and if going to another church helps the work of vocation, and sanctification, and adds something to the world Christian community, that's a good thing, not a bad thing.

(there's also something to be said about the 'anti-intellectualism' of evangelical belief, but that's another post for another day)