The Essence of the American Religion

As a follow-up to my earlier review of Os Guinness's book Prophetic Untimeliness here are a few thoughts gleaned from Harold Bloom's book The American Religion.

The essence of American religion

I read a few lines this morning from Harold Bloom's book The American Religion.

Related Tags: Religion, Theology, Christianity, American Christianity, American Religion, Harold Bloom

There is one line that really set me to thinking. Before I tell you this, it is useful to point out that Bloom is a modern day gnostic. He says that tradtitional Christianity is not biblical. But, he is an astute observer of the social side of American religion. Here is the quote that got me

The essence of the American (religion) is the belief that God loves her or him, a conviction shared by nearly nine out of ten of us, according to a Gallup poll.

If he is correct, and I'm afraid he is, the core creed of American religion (American Christianity?) is "God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life. Truly, God's love is wonderful beyond imagination, but that is not the essence of Christianity, although many must think it is.

I go back to a recent message I heard from Brennan Manning on the cross of Christ. Manning's popularity continues to grow, even in American evangelical circles, despite his low view of Scripture and tendencies toward universalism. In this message on the cross, he continually spoke of the cross as a demonstration of God's love toward us and he continually implored us to accept the fact of God's love for us. What troubled me is not his statements that God loves us, but his utter lack of any reference to the cross as a substitute for sin. Sin was not part of the equation, and God's only attribute seems to be love. God's love is seen on the cross, but it is His holiness and justice that come into the most vivid focus on the cross.

If Bloom is correct, and if Manning (and plenty of others) is illustrative, in saying that the essence of American religion is the belief that God loves me, this would go a long way to explaining the state of American Christianity. In a country where so many claim to be Christians, maybe its the case that most of those believe in a God who is only half a god, or one quarter, or one tenth of a God. To believe in a God of love, without believing a God who is also holy, righteous, omnipotent, merciful, wrathful, omnicient, etc., is to believe in a dimunitive god. Thus we have a diminutive Christianity - a Christianity adhered to by millions yet which is grows more and more irrelevant in our day (on the modern irrelevance of Christianity see Os Guinness's book Prophetic Untimeliness and my review of the same).

I read a few lines this morning from Harold Bloom's book The American Religion.

Related Tags: Religion, Theology, Christianity, American Christianity, American Religion, Harold Bloom

There is one line that really set me to thinking. Before I tell you this, it is useful to point out that Bloom is a modern day gnostic. He says that tradtitional Christianity is not biblical. But, he is an astute observer of the social side of American religion. Here is the quote that got me

The essence of the American (religion) is the belief that God loves her or him, a conviction shared by nearly nine out of ten of us, according to a Gallup poll.

If he is correct, and I'm afraid he is, the core creed of American religion (American Christianity?) is "God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life. Truly, God's love is wonderful beyond imagination, but that is not the essence of Christianity, although many must think it is.

I go back to a recent message I heard from Brennan Manning on the cross of Christ. Manning's popularity continues to grow, even in American evangelical circles, despite his low view of Scripture and tendencies toward universalism. In this message on the cross, he continually spoke of the cross as a demonstration of God's love toward us and he continually implored us to accept the fact of God's love for us. What troubled me is not his statements that God loves us, but his utter lack of any reference to the cross as a substitute for sin. Sin was not part of the equation, and God's only attribute seems to be love. God's love is seen on the cross, but it is His holiness and justice that come into the most vivid focus on the cross.

If Bloom is correct, and if Manning (and plenty of others) is illustrative, in saying that the essence of American religion is the belief that God loves me, this would go a long way to explaining the state of American Christianity. In a country where so many claim to be Christians, maybe its the case that most of those believe in a God who is only half a god, or one quarter, or one tenth of a God. To believe in a God of love, without believing a God who is also holy, righteous, omnipotent, merciful, wrathful, omnicient, etc., is to believe in a dimunitive god. Thus we have a diminutive Christianity - a Christianity adhered to by millions yet which is grows more and more irrelevant in our day (on the modern irrelevance of Christianity see Os Guinness's book Prophetic Untimeliness and my review of the same).