In Post-Christendom, Stuart Murray surveys the history of Christendom from its inception to its recent demise. Many currently moan Christendom’s death and seek to turn back the clock to this bygone era, but Murray celebrates the end of Christendom and all of its abuses of power.
In this work, Murray gives many reasons why the brave new world of post-Christendom is preferable to Christendom, drawing insights primarily from history, sociology, and theology.
One reason that Murray gives for why post-Christendom is to be preferred to Christendom is that it produced nominalism. The Christendom era began with Constantine, who showered the church with favors such as tax exemptions, land and food endowments for church employees, the closing of many pagan temples, and an honored place at the table of the emperor. With this political endorsement, thousands swarmed into churches. Church leaders were overwhelmed, and so the pre- and post-baptismal process was shortened, greatly reducing the commitment of disciples.
A second reason that Murray gives for why post-Christendom is to be preferred to Christendom is that Christendom created resentment towards churches and thus the gospel. With Constantine’s conversion, the state soon began to enforce Christianity through the use of force, and hundreds of years of bloodshed and abuse of power ensued. This history, combined with the rise of secularization, has caused the culture to reject propagation of the gospel or morality through laws or institutional Christianity.
A third reason that Murray gives for why post-Christendom is to be preferred to Christendom is theological in nature. Under Christendom, everyone was “Christian” virtually by birth. This led to the death of mission and the maintenance mode of the church. With Christendom’s demise, the church by necessity must take up mission once again. This, however, is the biblical model of the church.
Murray asserts that the church must approach mission as Christ did, from the margins of society, ministering to the margins of society. In post-Christendom, mission does not begin with evangelism due to the coercive practices of the past. Instead, mission begins with genuine relationships in neutral locales. Murray also questions the divorcing of missions from under Christendom. In post-Christendom, theology and mission are inseparable. This view is confirmed by an examination of the Apostle Paul’s writings. Paul did not set out to write theological tracts, but instead he theologized “on the fly” in order to lay out the theological basis of his mission work.
Murray’s work is well-researched and his analysis is excellent. He covers virtually every angle of the origins and demise of Christendom, its lingering affects upon society, and how the church should respond to this new paradigm. Its breadth is also its weakness, however, for the reader is left wanting greater depth on the wide ranging topics that he covers. Still, this book is an excellent introduction to post-Christendom and a seminal work.
