Growing through debate

From ‘Focus on Faith’, Stretton Focus, March 2013

Christianity first took shape in small church groups which multiplied around the Mediterranean and spread across the Roman Empire. As the churches grew debate also grew voicing new ideas about what Christian faith was, and what it meant. Debate shaped those early years.
Then in the 4th Century the Emperor Constantine sought a single church. The Council of Nicaea gave the churches of the Roman Empire one statement of belief, endorsed by the state. The debate at the Council was apparently long and contentious. Eventually the Emperor had to force a conclusion. However, many churches from the western Empire were absent from the council, and churches from outside the Empire had no interest in being there, so debate continued despite the threat of imperial sanction.
The Nag Hammadi gospels are ancient Christian texts discovered in the Nile Valley in 1945. They were probably hidden by dissenting monks a few years after the Council of Nicaea. Their local bishop was a strong supporter of the Nicene decisions. These ancient writings offer a new insight to what many early christians thought and understood about Christ, understandings which were suppressed. Even today many would like to pretend that they do not exist.
The mediaeval European church walked in Constantine’s footsteps. To be taken seriously Martin Luther had to nail his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg. It opened up debate and the dawn of protestantism, which was adopted by millions.
Nearly five hundred years later church attendance is down and we are told there is a search for spiritual inspiration among the general population. They want relevance to their life. They see the Bible as a book not as a guide to protocol, and they readily ignore churches which cannot adapt or which hold a dogmatic view about faith.
If our faith is to grow perhaps it is time we re-discovered open debate, considering every view and challenging ourselves. Debate could energise our faith just as it did the early church so long ago. Let’s be open, inclusive and questioning, grasp debate as a way forward, not fear it as a threat.

Roger Wilson

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