Cathedral Thinking

Someone named Dee read my post, "A Transcending Vision", and sent me a link to an internet article called "Cathedral Thinking." The article is terrific. "Cathedral Thinking" is long term thinking, and by "long term" I don't mean a five or ten year plan, I mean a plan that spans generations. Here's a section from the article:

The 12th century began a wave of cathedral building throughout Europe. Magnificent large cathedrals were built for the glory of God and the prestige of the cities. These mammoth building projects, without the benefit of modern construction equipment, were a tremendous feat. Cathedral vaults reached heights of 80 to 160 feet. The spires and towers could be twice that height.

Not only did it require vast amounts of material resources; it was a task that would take many years to complete. The average cathedral took 80 years to complete and some took over 200 years of continuous labor. (The current St. Peter's Basilica in Rome required 150 years of work to complete by 1656. More so - the cathedral in Cologne, Germany, with its two great bell towers, each bursting more than 500 feet skyward, required 350 years of work spanning six centuries.)

It involved a generational effort. The generation that began the cathedral would not live to see it through to completion. The first generation passed on their building skills and in many instances their tools, to the next generation, which did the same to the third generation, so that there was an unbroken continuity in the construction. The first generation hired the architect, who not only designed the building, but also supervised its construction.

The vision of that first generation would only come into reality long after they were gone. They labored in faith, believing that the "seed" they were sowing would ultimately grow to maturity. They passed on the responsibility of the vision to the next generation. They built into their children a reverence for the task, and a sense of meaning and purpose. They imparted to their children a vision that would govern their lives.

This whole idea of "cathedral thinking" thinking is terrific. I'm trying to come up with an antonym for it, but nothing is coming to mind. I guess "revolutionary thinking" would be antonymous. Revolutionaries want big changes real fast. A revolution is considered a failure if the world isn't changed inside of a prescribed time frame. Such thinking permeates the church today. If we don't see results quickly, we figure our plans was a failure and move on to something else.

Cathedral thinking digs in for the long haul. One of the other benefits of "cathedral thinking" is that it can keep going in the face of set-backs. George Grant quoted someone (I think Hillaire Belloc) who said:

Christianity is perpetually defeated, yet it always survives and outlasts its enemies.

I probably butchered the quote, but you get the gist - Christianity is a rugged, stable, victorious faith, victorious even in the face of defeat.

The article brings up one of the fundamental reasons for the lack of cathedral thinking in our age - our eschatology. Earlier generations looked for Christ to return, but they realized He may not return for thousands upon thousands of years. They hoped for Christ to return now, but realized it may be a long time out. Those who had a postmillennial eschatology looked for the gospel to go forth throughout the earth before the return of Christ. They realized that it would take a long time for the gospel to go through the earth. Thus, they built and worked for the long term.

Also, their understanding of the eternal state was very different from ours today. They understood that Christ was going to come back and renovate the present earth, not replace it with a totally new earth. The renovation involved the removal of all that was sinful. However, there were things on this earth that were not sinful in and of themselves, i.e. cathedrals, and they had no reason to believe that Christ would destroy their cathedrals when He came and removed sin from the earth. So as far as they knew, their cathedrals might stand in the new heavens and the new earth, even if Christ did return soon.

In other words, their eschatology allowed for the possibility that Christ might not return for thousands of years and thus, they had a responsibility to build a Christian civilization on the earth - to occupy till He came. And, this might have taken a really, really, long time to accomplish, so they planned for the long term - i.e. cathedral thinking.

Also, their eschatology didn't have the sharp disjunction between the current heavens and earth and the new heavens and earth. The new heavens and new earth were to be a renovation of the current heavens and earth, this world with sin removed.

In any case, their eschatology allowed and encouraged them to build for the future. You know where I am going with this don't you. Our modern eschatologies don't allow us to think in terms of thousands of years. We are "The Terminal Generation." Christ will return in 1988, . . . , oh wait a minute I made a slight miscalculation, I meant to say He's coming back in 1989, . . . oops I meant to say that now that Gulf War 1 has started and Saddam is rebuilding Babylon he's surely coming soon, . . . whoops wrong again, but He's definitely returning in 1994, . . . aw man, missed it again . . . but we all know that Y2K marks the end of the world, and so on and so on and so on.

Our eschatology doesn't allow for long term "Cathedral Thinking," the important thing is to get our house in order so that we aren't left behind.

The writer of the "Cathedral Thinking" article made a good point about Osama Bin Laden and Islam, how they employ long term, cathedral-type thinking. He quotes Gary North (I wish he could have found someone else to quote - I'm not a Gary North fan, but he makes a good point):

"Bin Laden looks at the grand sweep of Islam in the past. He has a sense of history because he has an eschatology: the doctrine of last things. He has a view of history that involves the expansion of Islam across the face of the earth. This vision goes back to the origins of Islam in the seventh century when, in just one century, 632-732, Islam conquered all of North Africa, crossed the Mediterranean in 711, conquered Spain, and then crossed the Pyrenees, where the Arab army was defeated at the Battle of Tours in 732. Meanwhile, in the east, Islam probably would have conquered Byzantium, had it not been for Greek fire (napalm?), which enabled the Emperor Leo III's navy to defeat the Arabic fleet in 717-18 at Constantinople. A little over seven centuries later, Islamic Ottoman Turks did what Islamic Arabs had not done: capture Byzantium.
They came close to taking Western Europe in the seventeenth century. They were defeated just outside of Vienna in 1683, only five years before England's Glorious Revolution. They remember. We do not. They regard that defeat as one lost battle in a permanent war. We do not."

Osama's eschatology leads him to believe that Allah will be victorious in history. So, setbacks are no problem for him. He's involved in a permanent war that he is sure he will win. This is why the Islamic faith is making such great progress in the world.

My eschatology isn't quite postmillennial, although it is of a more optimistic amillennial sort. While I don't look for a totally Christianized world before the return of Christ, I do look and hope for a far more substantial Christian influence on the world, so Cathedral Thinking fits well.

The upshot of all this is that we need to heed the advice of the "Cathedral Thinking" author:

Cathedral thinking means that we must live strategically, rather than simply "day-to-day." We must manage our resources and prepare for the future. We must leave an "inheritance" for the next generation. We must prepare the next generation to receive the "baton" from the current generation. This is exactly what Scripture admonishes to do. Paul instructed Timothy: "The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." (II Tim. 2:2).

I would add that we should teach our children with the mindset that they will embrace and further our work, not reject it for the newest fad. Further, we must rule out discouragement. Even if I fail, even if I die trying to advance the kingdom of Christ, Christ will reign victorious over all the earth.

Comments

[Tom Grey]

Fine thought. My own: A World Without Dictators.

I'm pretty sure Christ would prefer such a world; as would most folks.