Some years ago, I came across an important insight in a book about Judaism in the time of Jesus that has helped shape my understanding of the Christian religion. I wish I could remember the name of the book and author, but I don’t. The author made the point that in Jesus’ day there was not one “Judaism” but many “Judaisms.” Jews understood and expressed their faith in a wide variety of ways through an equally large variety of institutions and groups. They were so diverse that it makes little sense to lump them together under one name.The same is true of Christianity in every age. There is no such thing, strictly speaking, as “Christianity.” Rather, we have many different Christianities, each one part of an amazingly diverse family of loosely associated faiths centered (in many different ways) on Jesus Christ.
In a better world than this one, we would celebrate the richness of all of these Christianities, historical and contemporary. They affirm the fact that we can come to faith in many different ways. No one version will appeal to everyone, but that does not mean those who refuse one brand of Christianity or another are left without options. The Spirit moves in so many different ways—and this just among the followers of Jesus! In a better world than this, we would give thanks for all of the gracious ways in which God keeps reaching into our lives.
The truth is, however, that over the centuries relatively few Christianities have taken any pleasure in the existence of other faiths in Christ. We seem to find it all but impossible for Christians to accept the great diversity of ways in which Jesus makes sense to people. We, at best, tolerate their existences. It is as if one of the few things that unites us across our Christianities is our my-way-or-the-highway attitude toward any Christianity but our own. That's sad.
In a better world than this one, we would celebrate the richness of all of these Christianities, historical and contemporary. They affirm the fact that we can come to faith in many different ways. No one version will appeal to everyone, but that does not mean those who refuse one brand of Christianity or another are left without options. The Spirit moves in so many different ways—and this just among the followers of Jesus! In a better world than this, we would give thanks for all of the gracious ways in which God keeps reaching into our lives.
The truth is, however, that over the centuries relatively few Christianities have taken any pleasure in the existence of other faiths in Christ. We seem to find it all but impossible for Christians to accept the great diversity of ways in which Jesus makes sense to people. We, at best, tolerate their existences. It is as if one of the few things that unites us across our Christianities is our my-way-or-the-highway attitude toward any Christianity but our own. That's sad.
