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Writer's pictureDom Theodore Phillips

Christianity, Infantilized

Time and again, we hear people comment on the lack of maturity in young adults, as compared with "before." We leave it to others, more qualified, to analyze this; but we must seriously consider what the effect of this phenomenon has on the life and worship of the Church. Even though phenomena like holding a Rave in the nave of a cathedrdal is not something most Orthodox Christians would imagine, let alone do -- at least yet -- we mustn't make the mistake of believing ourselves exempt from the unfortunate trends in the world around us. Even though we strive to be "not of the world," we remain very much "in the world." The influence of the world all-too-easily seeps, almost unnoticed, into our view of the universe, the world, and the Kingdom of God, often before we are even aware of it.


Inappropriate and childish novelties do, now, take place in many places where not so long ago, they would have been unthinkable. In an article written for First Things, Carl Trueman, Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Grove City College, examines the apparent childishness of many Christians as exemplified by two events in English cathedrals: last February's "silent disco" in Canterbury Cathedral, and the upcoming November "rave" in Peterborough Cathedral (which he characterizes as "events easily held in a makeshift tent [rather than in] buildings built for the serious and sacred purpose of worship"). I was struck by his clear articulation of things that, from time to time, my own mind has tried to wrestle with.


Professor Trueman, in the heart of his article, reflects on the "[the fusion of] the two great spiritual pathologies of our modern world, desecration and childishness..." He continues:

"This fusion of the profane and the puerile makes sense: The more that human beings supplant God as the measure of all things, the smaller they become. They cannot grow up, for, lacking a given end, there is nothing really for them to grow into. And as the holy is desecrated by human power, so human beings are themselves reduced, no longer bearers of the divine image but mere lumps of matter attached to wills. Athanasius in the fourth century could declare that God became human so that humans might become gods. Human beings were exalted by the act of the transcendent God. Today we might say that humans have made themselves gods so that God might be reduced to mere man. More than that, that he might become a childish construct whose concerns never move beyond the immediate needs of the human condition, whether these be entertainment, politics, or simply feeling good about ourselves. Of course, liberals do not have a monopoly on this: Any professing Christian who speaks of “the big man upstairs” or who apes the childish idioms and brickbats of our current political moment is guilty of the same."


The childishness of which we are writing is a cruel parody of what our Lord meant when he chided his disciples in Matthew 18:3, "Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Verse 4 makes this clear: "Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." It is the likeness of a child's sense of wonder and awe, of trust in its parents, of openness to to the transcendent, that we are to imitate; their impatience with anything beyond "now," their selfishness, their tantrums when they do not get their way, and their need to be constantly entertained or treated as the center of the universe: these are to be overcome, not imitated!

Crucifixion, Gelati Gospels

Childlike? Good. Childishness? Bad. St. Paul tells us, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things" (I Cor. 13:112). We are meant to attain the "stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13), the Christ who is sober and wise, who sacrificed himself for, and in so doing, overcame the world and its childish. Let us thoughtfully and prayerfully recall that the mind of the world is in opposition to the mind of Christ, who says to us, "Come, take up the cross, and follow me (Mk 10:21)." We cannot afford to believe the lies of the world, which desires us to, "lay down thy cross, and play with us." When the world, as it will, trivializes, demeans, or persecutes Christ in the person of his disciples, true disciples must stand fast, no matter the cost. Here in the western part of the northern hemisphere, we have grown unaccustomed to that over the last few centuries. But now is the time for us to step up, grow up, and lay our lives on the line: because the true life of the world, the life found in following Jesus Christ, is at stake.


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