marketplace theology

As I look around at my surroundings, I find that the landscape of the pluralistic, diverse society of modern America often mirrors aspects of a marketplace.

In the marketplace of ideas, one worldview or rivaled by several other alternate ways of viewing the world just as food or goods of one vendor stand in a crowded market would be rivaled by that of another vendor. These ideological theories or lens by which people view and interpret the way around them is at the center of what people seek to understand in the marketplace of ideas. Dallas Willard defines ideas and describes how they impact our lives with the following:

“Ideas are very general models of or assumptions about reality. They are patterns of interpretation, historically developed and socially shared. They sometimes are involved with beliefs but are much more than belief and do not depend on it. They are so pervasive and essential to how we think about and approach life that we often do not even know they are there or understand when and how they are at work. Our idea system is a cultural artifact, growing up with us from earliest childhood out of the teachings, expectations, and observable behaviors of family and community.”¹

Everyone has ideas. Whether these ideas were more self-contemplated, socially inherited, or discovered from historical voices of the past (I would imagine it is often a blend of these things), every individual and community possess ideas by which they view and interpret the reality surrounding them. And as these ideas interpret the individual’s reality, they collect images. Dallas Willard goes on to define images in this sense by stating:

“Closely associated with governing ideas are images that occupy our minds. Images are always concrete or specific, as opposed to the abstractness of ideas, and are heavily laden with feeling. They frequently present themselves with the force of perception and have a powerful emotional and sensuous linkage to the governing idea systems. They mediate power of those idea systems into the real situations of ordinary life. Every idea system is present among us as a life force through a small number of powerful images.”²

This way of viewing the world ideologically has been described by some as imagination. Historian Karen Swallow Prior describes imagination as something which “engages our whole humanity: physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. This truth is the starting point of any right understanding of the imagination, including its role, power, and significance.”³

We inhabit a world of competing ideologies that all have their own powerfully influential images attached to their interpretive blueprint of reality.

War Among Consumers

Seemingly now more than ever, consumerism dominates Western society. More and more in the post-modern world – at least more than in past time periods – ideas and worldviews are valued on the merit of convenience and benefit rather than being accurate and correct depictions of reality.

Again, I don’t intend to make an assessment on this ideological shift of the postmodern era within this post; instead, I merely intend to observe and point out this occurrence. I also realize that there is something inherently economic and consumeristic about the analogy of a marketplace in a way that might seem contradictory to my overall point. But with this imagery I am more seeking to reflect on what kind of marketplace (as a place of discovery and exchange) should the pluralistic modern society of America be rather than the literal place where goods are sold.

As I survey the American church and consider the splintering developments of the church of the Western world in the last 500 years, I can’t help but think that in many ways theology has entered the ideological marketplace as well. I am not suggesting this is inherently good or bad in this post; rather, I am merely observing. Theology seems to be viewed (at least in the American context I survey) as a commodity which serves the interests of the individual consumer.

In this marketplace, theological stances can be challenged by conflicting interpretations. Within more dogmatic, narrowist/fundamentalist circles, the mere existence of other theological positions becomes a threat.

At the center of the current problems within the marketplace is a kind of capitalistic competition among denominations desperate to save losing ground and recapture squandered influence which has been long lost. It would seem that the marketplace of theological thought and imagination is no longer a place of charitable intertrade and the exchange of ideas for the edifying of Christ’s Body, the Church. This current landscape is more interested in dominating debates and winning theological crusades than in the economic flourishing of everyone within the marketplace.

This happens in the church in the West, both in its splintering and multiplying of its denominations as well as in its insufficient engagement with secularism and the various blend of cultures.  

Seemingly, the theology and church in the West is less a marketplace then it is a place of tribalism and war of words. In this current landscape, as a pastor friend of mine Stan Newton says, “everyone chooses their own Moses.”

Finding Our Way

Followers of Jesus must ask themselves: “What is my role in the marketplace?”

Are we called to be vendors of our theological and ideological positions? If so, are we to sell our product by any means necessary? Should we shout out over other vendors, demean their objectives and value as people with other beliefs, and win the debates with whatever proves effective?

Are we called to be followers of Jesus who are always learning, always seeking to hear new perspectives, always trying to honor the Scriptures, the orthodox traditions of the Church (Trinitarian and Christological reading of the Bible for example), and Jesus as Lord above any one theological camp? Does this leave us as nomads in the marketplace, never settling at one booth or vendor? Can we ever hit “the mark” of Christian theology and attain a perfect reading of the Bible? 

Some might even suggest we shouldn’t enter the marketplace all together. Don’t listen to any other perspective. Don’t even try to learn or reevaluate the foundations we have inherited from past generations. Take what we get and live our best. Ignore intellectual and academic endeavors because all they produce is division, arrogance, and distraction from the “mission.”

In a marketplace of theological positions, theories, and lenses that view the reality of our world, what is the follower of Jesus to do? Should we sell our own theological position ruthlessly by any means necessary? Should we timidly and quietly (some might say spinelessly) offer our position as an option while honoring every other option and vendor as an equally worthy option and honor preference above all else? Should we enter the marketplace as consumers? Should we drift among the crowds, forever learning and never settling? Or should Christians avoid the marketplace of ideas and theology at all costs? Is it merely a waste of time for those who want to be “conformed into the image” of the Son of God? (Rom 8:29).

Maybe the Baptists have it all figured out. Maybe the Charismatics have rediscovered the true way of Jesus. Maybe the huffing and puffing fundamentalists have been right all along. Or are the Anglicans or Presbyterians who have remained faithful with their honoring of liturgy and sacraments? What about Catholicism or that one non-denominational church around the corner? As one news article on religion from 2001 notes, “According to David B. Barrett, coauthor of the World Christian Encyclopedia, there are now 33,800 different Christian denominations.”⁴

Dallas Willard teases this statistic by adding: “The irony is that each one of the 33,800 groups is ‘right.’”⁵ Every group is THE group, every tribe THE tribe, every denomination THE church.

If our theological objectives are solely based on the modern era’s value of absolute certainty, we will be forced towards exclusivity and superiority by any means necessary within the marketplace. If the post-modern era’s value of inclusion and individual preference reign supreme, we will be hidden away in a crowded corner of the marketplace as timid spokespeople. If we ignore intellectual and academic learning endeavors all together as Jesus’ disciples (ironically this word means ‘student’) our worship might be zealous and virtuously passionate, but shallow and premature in its understanding of God, His people and Kingdom, and the entire reality He has created and sustains.⁶

It seems that following Jesus as students is no easy task. This shouldn’t surprise us as Jesus laid out the cost very clearly during His time on earth.

Luke 9:23-27 ESV

²³ And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. ²⁵ For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? ²⁶ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. ²⁷ But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

Costly Following, Crowded Marketplace

Our entire life is demanded to be holistically yielded to Christ. The kind of loyalty and devotion we offer Him is complete and total. It seems that one who aspires to follow Jesus cannot avoid the theological marketplace. Yet, entering into it is no simple task either.

What seems to be clear to me is that our posture entering the marketplace must be in conformity with Christ’s character with the fruits of the Spirit flourishing within our being. Humility towards our own worldview, sacrificial service in regards to others and their beliefs, and a reverence for the truth of God and the Scriptures also seem to be important things to carry with us into the market’s crowds. Reverence means more than just deeply caring about the Bible and our brand of theology above all else. It means a humble, awe-shaped passion that leads us to think of ourselves less and view the surpassing value and worth of God and His revelation kindly given to us.

It breaks my heart to survey the landscape of American Christianity and see so much division that is based so little on righteous character, discipleship seeking after the character of Christ, and education and informed perspective on theology, Biblical exegesis, and history.

At some point we have to look in the mirror very honestly and ask ourselves a set of questions very soberly:

Who should I be following after and allowing to shepherd me towards Jesus?

What are my ultimate values and priorities?

What am I really striving for?

Where should my ultimate confidence be placed?

Perhaps, if we entered the marketplace with this posture and fidelity towards the King more and more, the environment of the marketplace – where theological ideas and viewpoints are exchanged – would be less hostile, less divided, less at war with each other.⁷ The real Enemy has never been people anyways.⁸ I have to imagine that our Enemy enjoys seeing a church divided, constantly bickering and accusing each other of misplaced loyalty. What must the fallen, broken world of people think of this spectacle?

People are searching for God’s goodness, God’s justice, God’s love, God’s righteousness in a marketplace that roars in quarreling Christian division and aches with theological consumerism. Will they find Jesus in the modern markets of the American church?

1. Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard, 96-97.  ↩︎
2. Renovation of the Heart, 99. Willard goes on soon after to say that “images increase the danger of inadequate ideas. They have the power to obsess and to hypnotize, as well as to escape critical scrutiny (101). ↩︎
3. The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images & Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis, 10. ↩︎
4. The Changing Face of the Church, Newsweek, https://www.newsweek.com/changing-face-church-149993  ↩︎
5. Renovation of the Heart, 282. ↩︎
6. Obviously discipleship is more than just intellectual understanding. I merely want to ensure that we understand that there is an intellectual element to discipleship of Jesus that should not be ignored or abandoned. ↩︎
7. Nouwen describes the tragic results of such an environment very aptly. He is quoted by the following: “As Henri Nouwen notes, teaching can easily degenerate into rabid consumerism of ‘getting just the facts’ – mindlessly memorizing dogma, fixing sermons in three points, and so on- with teachers as sellers and students as the consumers. He states, ‘As long as teaching takes place in {an enclosed} context it is doomed to be a violent process and evoke a vicious cycle of action and reaction…The teacher who enters this arena is forced to enter a a process which by its nature is competitive, unilateral, and alienating. In short, violent.’”
   Nouwen, Creative Ministry, 6. quoted by Keuss, Jeff. “Developing a Theology of Education” in Teaching the Next Generation: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching Christian Formation.  ↩︎
8. In his book, Cultural Intelligence, Darrell Bock excellently points out the implications of the spiritual war that Christians encounter in a theological marketplace and blending mixture of cultures in pluralistic society. He states: “In {Eph 6:10-18}, Paul is telling the Ephesians to stand strong as they resist the devil (vv. 11, 13). Ground has already been won. That ground is spiritual and is tied to things such as our theology and our character. That ground resides in the church and with the believing people of God. We need to hold our ground, not take over new territory.” (12). We tend to make the war against people, a culture war against another faction. Yet, the real war is not against people. They are being led astray as active, sabotaging victims Eph 2:1-3 states. Bock goes on to cite passages such as 1 Pet 3:13-18, Col 4:5-6, Gal 6:10, 2 Cor 5:17-21, and 2 Tim 2:22-26 that share a lot of perspective and wisdom with followers of Jesus on how to engage with people in the theological marketplace (16 -34). Gentleness and respect, faithful suffering, serving others needs,  the gospel message of hope and reconciliation, dependance on Christ are among some of the principles to be gleaned from these instructive passages. In the pointing fingers and quarreling, it is easy to let these principles slip from our grasp and set down. But I think that a posture thoroughly soaked in and holistically embodying these things among other Christian principles from the Bible would go a long way. ↩︎